Bears and Wildcats meet in Big 12 Tournament semifinals
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
03/12/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The ninth-ranked Kansas State Wildcats and the 21st-ranked Baylor Bears are slated to collide in the semifinal round of the 2010 Big 12 Tournament from the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
Awaiting the winner of this contest is a matchup with either top-seeded Kansas or fourth-seeded Texas A&M in Saturday's championship game.
Second-seeded Baylor was dominant in yesterday's 86-67 quarterfinal romp over sixth-seeded Texas. Now, the goal is obvious, as the program has never won the Big 12 Tournament and is 9-12 all-time in the event. Scott Drew has done a phenomenal job of resurrecting a program that was in peril when he arrived, and the 2009-10 Bears own a 25-6 overall record. They carry a four-game win streak into tonight's affair.
As for Kansas State, the tournament's second seed, it crushed Oklahoma State by an 83-64 final in yesterday's quarterfinal round. The program has never won the Big 12 Tournament and is 8-13 all-time in games at the event. This year's group of Wildcats is a serious threat to capture the crown, however, as the club entered the tournament with a 24-6 overall record, including 11-5 in league action.
The Wildcats holds a slim 11-10 series advantage over Baylor after a thrilling 74-72 victory over the Bears during the regular season.
Baylor forward Ekpe Udoh is sometimes overshadowed by his teammates, but the forward has been a key to the team's success all season. He stepped to the forefront against Texas yesterday, shooting 9-of-14 from the floor en route to 25 points. Tweety Carter added 20 points for the Bears, who received 19 points from LaceDarius Dunn. Baylor connected on 53.6 percent of its field goal attempts in that clash and limited the Longhorns to 36.4 percent efficiency. Through 31 games, the Bears are scoring 77.7 ppg while allowing only 65.4 ppg on 38.1 percent shooting by foes. They are outrebounding foes by 6.9 rpg and are paced by Dunn's 19.2 ppg. Carter is generating 16.0 ppg to go along with an impressive total of 167 assists, and Udoh brings 13.8 ppg, 9.7 rpg and 124 blocks to the mix.
Kansas State was dominant in the first half against Oklahoma State yesterday, as the Wildcats shot 53.1 percent from the floor and limited the Cowboys to 33.3 percent efficiency en route to a 25-point halftime lead. For the game, K-State finished with a 43-27 rebounding advantage and racked up 20 assists. Jamar Samuels was outstanding, as he racked up 27 points and 10 rebounds off the bench in 27 minutes of action. Jacob Pullen scored 19 points on the strength of a 5-of-8 effort from three-point range, and Denis Clemente added 12 points and 10 assists. Dominique Sutton rounded out a foursome of double- digit scorers with 11 points for Kansas State, which is posting 80.2 ppg while limiting opponents to 69.2 ppg this season. Pullen continues to pace his squad with 18.9 ppg, and Clemente adds 15.9 ppg and 128 assists. Samuels contributes 12.0 ppg, and Curtis Kelly adds 11.3 ppg. The Wildcats are outrebounding opponents by 5.6 rpg, key to their success.
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Big 12 Conference betting odds
Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State
Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.
Work left to do:
Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.
Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.
Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.