February 14, 2007 - SPORTS NEWS - SPECIAL EDITION MARCH MADNESS COLLEGE BASKETBALL SPORTS NEWS

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COLLEGE BASKETBALL PICKS- (associated press): indiana @ purdue rivalry game postponed. The men's basketball game scheduled for Wednesday between Indiana and Purdue has been postponed to Thursday because of heavy snow that has blanketed much of the state. Oddsmakers had Purdue listed as a 2-point favorite for the game.

The winter storm hit the north-central portion of Indiana with blizzard conditions that dumped nearly a foot of snow in some areas and 40 mph winds that left drifts up to 6 feet high. Purdue officials canceled classes at the West Lafayette campus until noon Wednesday. ''After talking with several state and county officials, we've decided to move the game to Thursday to allow for more time to make roadways safe for travel,'' Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke said Tuesday. Burke said Indiana and the Big Ten also were involved in the decision to reschedule the game. ''We will take a look at the conditions again tomorrow, but we think we can play the game on Thursday,'' he said.

NCAA BASKETBALL PICKS: (associated press): key players return for ucla. Injuries to point guard Darren Collison and center Lorenzo Mata proved costly in UCLA's weekend loss at West Virginia. Now, the fifth-ranked Bruins are waiting to see if their starters will be in the lineup for this week's road trip to Arizona.

The Bruins (21-3, 10-2) head to the desert with a half-game lead over Washington State (10-3) in the Pac-10 race. They play Thursday at Arizona State, winless in 13 conference games, and Saturday at No. 24 Arizona (8-5). "We're in crunch time now," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. Oddsmakers have yet to release a line for Thursday's game. Collison said his left shoulder was feeling better Tuesday, when he spent 20 minutes shooting but had no contact in practice. "I can't really extend my left arm all the way, but they said I shot the ball pretty well," he said. "I'm not going to be 100 percent Thursday, but if I'm near 100 percent, then I'm going to feel comfortable playing." Howland said Collison's status would be decided before tip-off Thursday. Collison injured his shoulder in the second half of last Wednesday's 70-65 victory over Southern California. He believes it happened when he ran into the basket support after getting fouled. "It's a lot better than it was last week," he said, explaining the pain was so bad after the USC game that he couldn't use his left hand. Collison didn't play in UCLA's 70-65 loss at West Virginia last Saturday, giving freshman Russell Westbrook his first start. It was a rocky one, with a rattled Westbrook turning the ball over and missing shots in front of the loud road crowd. "Without Darren, we are in a little bit of chaos," leading scorer Arron Afflalo said. If Collison can't go Thursday, Westbrook likely would replace him again. "I have faith in Russell if he does get that opportunity, he's going to be successful," Collison said. "I told him to keep his head up. It was a team thing. We all played bad." Mata sat out the second half Saturday because of a sore left hip. "I feel much better," he said. "I feel confident I'll be ready." Arizona State would seem to be an easy game for the Bruins, who won 60-50 at Pauley Pavilion last month. But they fell behind by 11 points to start the game against the Sun Devils' zone. The Sun Devils (6-18) had a pair of four-point losses to Oregon and Oregon State last week. Before that, they lost to Washington State by one and by five to Washington. "They have nothing to lose," Collison said. "ASU is still a good team. They brought everyone down to the wire." The game will reunite Collison and his high school teammate Jeff Pendergraph, the Pac-10's second-leading rebounder who is shooting 55 percent from the floor. "I spoke with Jeff and he was asking how I was feeling," Collison said. "You look forward to the game a lot more than other games." It also pairs brothers Josh Shipp of UCLA and Jerren Shipp of ASU. In their other meeting, Josh finished with 12 points and Jerren eight. "This game has me very nervous," Howland said.

NCAA BASKETBALL FREE PICKS- (associated press): 2 Illinois players injured in car crash . Two Illinois basketball players were injured when their car struck a tree and one was in critical condition Tuesday.

Brian Carlwell, a 6-foot-11 freshman center, was in critical condition at an Urbana hospital, according to Carle Foundation Hospital spokeswoman Debra Inman. He had a severe concussion, Illinois sports information director Kent Brown said. Jamar Smith, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard, was treated and released from the hospital. He suffered a concussion, Brown said. Smith, 19, was driving the car late Monday night when it crossed the center line and struck a tree, according to University of Illinois police Sgt. Vanessa Horsman. ''The accident is still under investigation,'' Horsman told The (Champaign) News Gazette. ''We're trying to determine why he crossed the street and struck a tree.'' Illinois coach Bruce Weber spent the night in the hospital with Carlwell. ''We just hope and pray Brian is going to be OK,'' Weber said. Smith averages 8.1 points per game for the Illini. Carlwell, 19, averages 1.7 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. NCAA BASKETBALL PICKS- (associated press): kansas starting to hit stride. Losing a 10-point lead at home to Texas A&M in the final 6 1/2 minutes may turn out to be the best thing that could have happened to Kansas. Since that 69-66 loss on Feb. 3 knocked the eigth-ranked Jayhawks out of first place in the Big 12, they've played two of their most impressive games of the year.

SPORTSBETTING.com has the Jayhawks listed at +1200 to win the NCAA Basketball Tournament. First they mangled Kansas State 97-70 on Wednesday, then on Saturday went to Missouri and made it back-to-back wins over archrivals with a 92-74 romp that was so easy it even surprised the players.

''After we gave the game away to Texas A&M, we started focusing better, finding the open man on offense, things like that,'' said guard Brandon Rush, who leads the team with almost 15 points per game. So the Texas A&M loss could be beneficial? ''Yeah,'' Rush said. ''I think it could.'' Keying the Missouri win was a 33-point performance by Julian Wright. Not only did the 6-foot-8 sophomore have the Jayhawks' highest-scoring game of the year, he had their highest point total in a conference game since All-American Danny Manning scored 37 against Missouri in Kansas' national championship season of 1988. No. 6 Texas A&M (21-3 overall, 9-1 Big 12) still stands atop the conference standings. But Kansas (21-4, 8-2) leads the league in scoring margin, field goal percentage, rebounding, rebounding margin, steals, assists and blocked shots. Heading to Colorado on Wednesday, a team they've beaten 35 of their last 36 meetings, the Jayhawks could be prime for a closing burst to the regular season. ''Last week we were at that fired-up level where we weren't too anxious and still poised,'' said coach Bill Self. ''Hopefully, we're just getting better and we're going to play our best ball as we move forward. We're not always going to shoot 56 percent or have guys go for 33 and play like Julian did. ''But as a team I think we're getting better.'' Self believes the improvement actually began with the A&M game. ''I thought we played very well in that game,'' he said. ''Except for the last five minutes. I thought we handed the hoopla of (ESPN) GameDay pretty well. I just think we're kind of maturing and growing into becoming a better team. ''This time of year, as much as you want to practice, rested bodies are as important as anything,'' Self said. ''Hopefully, we'll cut down our practice time. And we've got some guys nicked up. We need to cut back in some areas. Maybe do more shooting. But if you're going to practice you might as well practice. You just don't have to practice quite as long.'' Shorter practices will be a welcome relief for the players. ''The guys will be glad to hear that,'' said guard Russell Robinson. ''We're playing some tough games against tough teams down the stretch. We're getting our second wind. We've just got to continue to go out there and play. It's going to get more intense.'' Self doesn't plan any major changes in a routine that's worked well enough already to lock up the Jayhawks' 18th-straight 21-win season. ''We won't really change much of what we've been doing,'' he said. ''There are certainly some things we can work on and get better at. The biggest thing is just cut down the reps.''

NCAA COLLEGE BASKETBALL FREE PICKS- (associated press): va tech upsets north carolina. Virginia Tech topped North Carolina for the second time, after previously upsetting Duke. Maybe the Hokies should push for an extension of Tobacco Road.

The Atlantic Coast Conference newcomers are making a habit of upsetting the league's traditional powers, with Zabian Dowdell scoring a career-high 33 points Tuesday night in an 81-80 overtime victory over No. 4 North Carolina which sealed an improbable season sweep of the Tar Heels. "Something special brewing around the program," Dowdell said. Dowdell and Deron Washington combined to stop Ty Lawson cold in the final seconds of overtime and preserve the victory for the Hokies (18-7, 8-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who gave their NCAA tournament hopes a significant boost with another road victory against a Top-5 team. "Probably the understatement of the day is [that] I couldn't be more proud of our team," Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. Markus Sailes gave North Carolina one last chance when he missed two free throws with 7.1 seconds left. Lawson rushed down the court and took a quick shot which was tied up by Dowdell. Lawson got the rebound and shot again from the lane, but Washington swatted it away. "They came and doubled, so that messed everything up," Lawson said. "I couldn't find anybody open, so I tried to get a shot off, but they blocked it in the lane. They were clogging the lane. ... I think they knew what we were going to do." Wayne Ellington grabbed the ball and the buzzer sounded just before he released and hit a 3-pointer. "The basketball gods were on our side today," Dowdell said. Virginia Tech beat the Tar Heels 94-88 last month in a game the Hokies led by 23 before North Carolina's furious rally came up short and its 18-game winning streak was halted. "We knew it was going to be tough because they were ready to get revenge for the last time we beat them," Washington said. This time, Dowdell bounced back from his worst game of the season -- a five-point outing against Virginia -- with the best of his career. He surpassed his career high of 30 set last month against Miami, and bested the 30 points Ohio State's Ron Lewis scored as the most points the Tar Heels have allowed to one player this season. "It's great to come here and have a good game, but it's even better to leave with a win," Dowdell said. Washington had 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Hokies, who made their first visit to Chapel Hill since 1975 and won here for the first time since 1966 -- their second impressive overtime victory this season in central North Carolina's hotbed of big-time college basketball, joining last month's 69-67 upset of then-No. 5 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tyler Hansbrough had 22 points to lead North Carolina (22-4, 8-3), while Ellington had 14 and Lawson finished with 13. "I did absolutely the worst job I've ever done in my entire life," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "It was just one awful, awful job of coaching by me -- that's the bottom line of the whole thing." North Carolina fell to 14-1 at the Dean Smith Center, where they had been dominant. The Tar Heels entered averaging nearly 92 points at home and winning by an average of 30 points with only one game decided by fewer than 10 points, a 98-89 win over Ohio State in November. But this time, neither team led by more than eight points. Virginia Tech could have taken the lead late in regulation when Washington was fouled hard by Reyshawn Terry with 36.4 seconds remaining, briefly leaving the game. The Hokies brought Nigel Munson off the bench to shoot the free throws, and he missed his first shot but swished his second to tie it 73-73. Lawson then missed a 3-pointer from the key with about 1 second left, the Hokies got the rebound and their full-court heave sailed into the crowd as time expired. "I felt very comfortable at the end of regulation that we would get a much better shot than we did," Williams said.

NCAA COLLEGE BASKETBALL FREE PICKS: (associated press): southern illinois get key road win. Randal Falker had a feeling that the first team to score 50 points would win the defensive struggle between Southern Illinois and Missouri State.

He was right. Falker scored 20 points to help the 15th-ranked Salukis to a 51-47 win on Tuesday night in a matchup of the top two teams in the Missouri Valley Conference. "The defense did it for us. It was a dogfight and in a dogfight, the first one to 50 wins," Falker said. "We got there first. Thankfully, we won." It appeared that SIU (22-5, 13-3) might be on the verge of seeing its eight-game winning streak end late in the second half but Falker and Jamaal Tatum combined for seven-straight points to put the game out of reach for Missouri State. "We just tried to stay poised and I wanted to make sure that they knew I had confidence in them to make plays," said Southern Illinois coach Chris Lowery. "It's a great character trait of these seniors to never say die. We've had some bad losses here so it was very important to these seniors to come here and get a win." The Salukis, who have the fourth-best scoring defense in the nation allowing 56 points per game, stymied the Bears. Missouri State came in averaging 75.7 points. "Everybody on our team stepped up and contributed. We had people makings stops, making shots, making free throws," Tatum said. "We really executed down the stretch like a veteran team." SIU watched a 27-22 halftime lead melt away as Missouri State opened the second half with an 11-6 run to tie the game at 33. A zone defense that Missouri State started to use early in the second half bothered SIU who made just two field goals in the first 9:03. "They defended us well. We were not aggressive. It's a credit to them that they made some halftime changes," Lowery said. The defense helped Missouri State take its first lead on a basket by Blake Ahearn with 7:50 left to make it 37-35. Missouri State went up 43-40 on a shot by Tyler Chaney with 3:14 left, but Southern Illinois answered with a 5-0 run. Tatum's 3-pointer with 1:09 left gave the Salukis a 45-53 lead. Blake Ahearn had a chance to recapture the lead, but he missed an open 3-pointer from the corner. The miss surprised Tatum. "When Blake Ahearn got open in the corner ... it was in. I would have bet $100 it was going in. But that was really his only clear-cut open shot of the night. We was open. For him to miss it and us get the rebound, that was huge," he said. Missouri State coach Barry Hinson said his team didn't play well enough in the final minute to win. "I don't think we can guard much better than we guarded tonight ... but they made the plays down the stretch. They made their free throws and executed to perfection. That's what good teams do and that's why they are in the top 15. We did not deserve to win the ballgame by how we executed from the free-throw line and down the stretch. I think that's pretty clear," Hinson said. Tyler Chaney led Missouri State with 13 points. Dale Lamberth added 11 points. Neither team shot well from the field. Southern Illinois was just 17-for-52 (32.7 percent) while Missouri State was just 14-for-37 (37.8 percent).

FREE COLLEGE BASKETBALL PICKS- (covers.com): top ten ats teams as of 2/14/07.

1. Butler 2. Mississippi 3. Davidson 4. Weber St. 5. West Virginia 6. Indiana St. 7. Stanford 8. Duquesne 9. Southern California 10. Kansas St. 13

FREE COLLEGE BASKETBALL PICKS- (coverscom) college basketball betting report card. Take a step in the right direction and join John Thompson III's School of Dancing, where even the clumsiest, most awkward and uncoordinated can learn the right moves.

Using a blueprint passed down from generation to generation, John takes it slow at first. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is your run to the Big Dance. First, John requires you to have a solid foundation, and some confidence. Winning in Madison Square Garden, and the Continental Airlines Arena in Seton Hall, were the ballon. The allegro came in Louisville and the jete (to cover space) came at the expense of Marquette and West Virginia. Eight straight wins, seven checks, and one refund later, you're on top of the world – almost. Losing has taken on a foreign feeling like drinking milk in another country. But there’s still that Michael Flately-looking fellow from Pittsburgh. He’s a half-step ahead of you, but he did stumble Monday night. Maybe it was the footsteps, the clumsy giant. Less than two weeks from now, you'll get your shot at him, don’t worry. First though, the Princeton Offense must run through Philadelphia and Cincinnati. Following those performances without falling flat on your face might be hard to do. But as you’ve shown, playing under pressure is second nature. Plus, eight paydays to one bounced check while on the road is nothing to be ashamed of. Grade: A Duquesne Like everyone else, I wrote off Duquesne this year. Historically, the Dukes had little fight in them to begin with. When five players were shot outside a school dance early in the season, their chances of a successful season faded even faster. Then, a premonition by Coach Ron Everhart: abandon the half-court game for a more up-tempo style. A 10/40 he calls it – run 10 players for 40 minutes. Seven games ago, and with nothing to lose, Everhart made the switch. The impact was immediate. The Dukes covered six straight and combined to play over the total in all seven. Since the move Duquesne totals have jumped about 30 points and the Dukes are actually getting respect. They were slim 1-point home favorites versus Rhode Island on Sunday. Although they didn’t cover, it’s the only the second time in 18 games with odds the Dukes were favored. Grade: B Alabama Each time I look at Alabama I wonder if this is the day. Will the Crimson Tide finally wake up and realize their potential or will they become another victim of SEC parity? Either situation has a realistic shot at paying out, unlike the Crimson Tide themselves. But parity is definitely costing Tide backers their share of the pie at the ticket window. Alabama, 18-6 and on top of the West division, is the worst bet in the SEC and among the worst plays in the country. That says a lot about a team playing in such a balanced conference as the SEC. Really, outside of Florida and maybe Kentucky, any team can lose on a given night. Look at LSU’s collapse or Vanderbilt’s run. Georgia had a nice run of upsets but has settled down. But when a team with as much talent as Alabama can’t string together back-to-back wins against named opponents, it worries me. Don't even get me started on how the Tide’s three-game winning streak came by a total of seven points either. I like Ronald Steele and I like the Tide a lot. They’re a fun team to watch as long as my money isn’t involved. Grade: B- Santa Clara When Gonzaga fell off the national radar, someone needed to fill its place. Like catching a girl on the rebound, the Santa Clara Broncos have done just that. At 19-7 SU (15-9-0 ATS), the Broncos are on top of the West Coast Conference after steamrolling through conference play. Only two schools, Gonzaga and Loyola-Marymount, have beaten Santa Clara and its supporters in conference play. The success, you can argue, is the offspring of Coach Dick Davey’s final year in California. True. But Broncos backers are thanking another man rounding out his final days for the Broncos: senior guard Scott Dougherty. He’s been phenomenal since taking over for the injured Mitch Henke and has scored double-figures in 10 of 12 conference games. Doherty dropped a career-high 23 points in a win over St. Mary’s last week and matched that again in Monday’s victory over Gonzaga – both Broncos paydays. The Bulldogs are about the only team with a realistic shot at beating Santa Clara. The teams won’t meet again until the MVC championship game. By that time, Dougherty will be hungrier than ever.

Grade: B+

COLLEGE BASKETBALL FREE PICKS: (associated press) betting college basketball on the bubble. Much of the talk the next couple of weeks in college basketball will be focused on which teams are on the bubble when it comes to getting into the Big Dance in March. Schedules will be combed over and good wins versus bad losses certainly will be debated. However, unless the topic of conversation is about your team, the only real question worth asking is whether or not these teams are good bets? Should you be playing on them or against them? We have put together a list of a few teams from the Power Conferences that are on the bubble. We’ve also addressed whether they might be a good bubble bet or whether their bubble will burst with losses against the spread.

ACC – Duke Oh how fast the once mighty have fallen. Duke is indeed on the bubble after four straight losses. The Blue Devils sit below .500 in the conference and have a very tough schedule remaining. Finishing below .500 in the ACC is a very realistic possibility and that will definitely make for a very tough call on Selection Sunday. This is a young Duke team and facing the added pressure of making the tournament might be too much to handle. It also always seems to be given the benefit of the doubt when the line is set, so our advice is that you look very closely at the other side. Big East – Syracuse This tournament fixture has struggled to find consistency this season. With a projected seven teams from the Big East already penciled into the tourney, the Orange will need some big wins down the stretch. They have winnable games on the schedule but you won’t see them as a heavy favorite so you might see some manageable numbers. The Orange have a history of playing well at this time of year and it would also be wise to look for them when they are underdogs. Big Ten – Michigan State The Spartans might have used everything they had in back-to-back Saturdays trying to beat the Ohio State Buckeyes. Michigan State came up short each time and they have two games with Wisconsin and one with Indiana still up ahead on their docket. Translated, that spells NIT and probably a team to keep an eye on fading down the stretch. The Spartans can get blown out easily based on relying so heavily on Drew Neitzel for scoring. If he’s having an off night so will the team. MSU won against Michigan on Tuesday night but do have some tough Big Ten games on its upcoming schedule, including two against the Badgers. Big 12 – Texas Tech Bobby Knight had his team playing well early but they have struggled mightily of late. The Red Raiders will need a win or two in the Big 12 tournament to get their ticket punched. One thing to watch with the Red Raiders is that they rely so heavily on Martin Zeno and Jarrius Jackson. These guys are wearing down as the season has gone on and there is reason to believe the Red Raiders' fade will continue. Texas Tech snapped a five-game losing skid against Texas A&M on Tuesday and have some tough game ahead. PAC-10 – Stanford Four of the Cardinal last six games are against teams ahead of them in the conference. A 9-9 conference record will have them as one of the biggest bubble teams. This squad can look really bad at times and play way above the rim on other nights. The key comes down to their seven-foot twin towers, Robin and Brook Lopez, in the middle. If the twins are playing well the team is capable of dominating. If they’re struggling, so is the team. Keep this in mind before you go to the betting window on a Cardinal game. How Stanford’s frontcourt matches up with the opposition is a key in going with or against it down the stretch. Selection Sunday will make for some hard times for these teams but watching where they are in regards to making the tournament might just make you some easy money.

NCAA BASKETBALL PICKS: (covers.com): wed's feb 14 college basketball best bets.

No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes at Penn State Nittany Lions Covers.com pick: Penn State +12 In their last six games the Buckeyes have had a tough time climbing the mountain of chalk oddsmakers have handed them. Ohio State has failed to cover spreads of 8 ½, 9 ½, 12 ½ and 13 points against some of the weaker schools in the Big Ten. During these games the Buckeyes' scoring has dipped, scoring only 67.5 points per game, almost 10 points less than their season average of 75.9. Two of their top scorers could be to blame for this, freshman Daequan Cook and senior Ron Lewis, have failed to match their early numbers. Cook, whose minutes have been cut back, has only cracked double figures three times in the last 10 games and Lewis, despite getting good floor time, is averaging only 8.6 points per game in the last 10 after scoring 11.2 points per game this season. Maryland Terrapins at North Carolina State Wolfpack Covers.com pick: Maryland -2 ½ Wednesday’s game against the Wolfpack should have let-down written all over it after Maryland ran over the Duke Blue Devils this past Sunday. However, beating Duke on your own floor just isn’t what it used to be. It wasn’t even enough for the Terrapins student section to rush the floor in celebration. Maryland isn’t dwelling on Sunday’s game and knows the real battle is its final ACC games, including Wednesday’s tilt with NC State. A strong finish from the Terps could get them back in the race for tournament consideration and a win against the Wolfpack could be the team’s first back-to-back wins in conference play. No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks at Colorado Buffaloes Covers.com pick: Kansas -17 The last time Kansas faced Colorado, oddsmakers stuck the Jayhawks with a big 26 ½-point price tag and Buffaloes guard Richard Roby did everything possible to make sure Kansas couldn’t cover it. Roby, a 6-foot-6 junior, lit up the Jayhawks and more specifically, Brandon Rush, for 30 points in a 97-74 Kansas win. According to the Kansas City Star, Jayhawks coach Bill Self is putting this task on his star defensive player again for the Wednesday game in Boulder. “I like playing against him,” Rush told reporters. “He could easily go for 30 or 35 points. I’ve got to limit his touches. I can’t let him get to the free-throw line or get a lot of open shots.” Roby has peppered outstanding performances with random power-outages, like Saturday’s game against Kansas State in which he only scored 5 points. He is averaging 17 points per game and has only failed to score double digits in three games all season. No. 11 Washington State Cougars at Washington Huskies Covers.com pick: Washington -2 ½ Always keep them guessing – that’s UW head coach Lorenzo Romar’s motto during the last 11 Pac-10 games. Washington has started five different lineups during this time and has begun to reap the benefits, winning five of its last six (4-1-1 ATS). The latest change to the Huskies first five is the addition of freshman star Spencer Hawes, who started early in the season but was recently used as a reserve due to injury trouble. The 7-foot center leads the team in scoring and field goal percentage. A win over the No. 11 ranked Cougars is just what Washington needs to draw some tournament votes but it hasn’t had recent success against its hated rival. Washington State has won the last three meetings between these teams, covering in all three.