Wildcats set up rematch with Kansas in Big 12 title game

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jacob Pullen scored 26 points, and ninth- ranked Kansas State gained a spot in the Big 12 championship game with an 82-75 victory over No. 21 Baylor.

Denis Clemente added 24 points and dished out seven assists for the Wildcats (26-6), who set a school record for victories in a season. Next up for K-State is a game against No. 1 Kansas, which posted a 79-66 victory over 23rd-ranked Texas A&M in the other semifinal.

"They've earned the right to play for the championship," K-State coach Frank Martin said. "Now, we've got to go deal with the best team in the country who we've been nose to nose twice before. So it's a great opportunity. KU is great."

Dominique Sutton logged 14 points, 14 rebounds and four steals for the Wildcats, who are trying to win the conference tourney for the first time. They've already lost twice to the Jayhawks this season, including a rough 81-79 defeat in Manhattan on January 30. Now they'll face a team that's won the Big 12 tournament six times.

"We wanted to win the regular season Big 12, and we felt like we lost it at Kansas," Pullen said. "We just want a chance to get a ring. Denis never got a ring, I never got a ring, I don't think Frank got one. I want to get one while we're here. That's our goal right now. We have the opportunity in front of us. That's our opportunity tomorrow."

LaceDarius Dunn scored 26 for the Bears (25-7), who will wait for Sunday to see where they'll be placed in the NCAA Tournament. Ekpe Udoh added 18 points and 11 rebounds for Baylor, which had a five-game winning streak broken. Josh Lomers scored 12 in defeat.

"I think we just stopped executing well," Dunn said. "They really took us out of playing our game doing the things we do well. So hats off to Kansas State."

Clemente drained a three-pointer for a 71-67 lead with 4:10 left, but Udoh responded with a dunk. After Quincy Acy blocked a jumper from Jamar Samuels, Baylor failed on a few attempts to tie the game.

Tweety Carter missed a pair of foul shots with 3:05 left, but Curtis Kelly gave the ball right back to the Bears on a turnover. Carter turned the ball over on the ensuing possession on a Sutton steal, but K-State couldn't widen the margin initially.

Kelly misfired on a jumper, but Sutton came up with a huge offensive rebound. That led to a Pullen three-pointer with 2:02 left and a 74-69 lead. Pullen added a pair of free throws for a seven-point edge, and it was at least a two- possession game the rest of the way.

Baylor led by as many as nine in the first half, at 23-14 on a layup from A.J. Walton with under 11 minutes left. K-State came back with an 11-1 spurt to go in front, but the Wildcats trailed, 37-36, at the break. The Wildcats led by eight in the early stages of the second half.

Game Notes

Carter accounted for six of his team's 18 turnovers...Baylor shot 54 percent from the field, compared to 45.9 percent for the Wildcats...K-State beat Baylor, 76-74, on January 26...Pullen made half of his 10 three-point shots.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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