Turkey and Serbia move into semifinals at Worlds
Basketball Betting Lines
09/08/2010 - Istanbul, Turkey (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ersan Ilyasova poured in 19 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead Turkey to a comfortable 95-68 win over Slovenia in the quarterfinals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
Turkey will meet Serbia, a dramatic quarterfinal victor earlier in the day, in the semifinals.
Ilyasova, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, connected on 7-of-9 shots from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point territory as Turkey shot a blistering 66.7-percent during the game and was never really challenged. The hosts made 22-of-31 from inside the arc and 10-of-17 from long distance.
Sinan Guler added 12 points, while Hedo Turkoglu of the Phoenix Suns, Kerem Tunceri and Omer Onan chipped in with 10 apiece for the victors, who led 50-31 at the break.
Former NBA forward Bostjan Nachbar and Sani Becirovic led Slovenia with 16 points while Primoz Brezec, a free agent after splitting last season with Philadelphia and the Bucks, added 10 points and five boards in a losing cause.
Slovenia shot a ineffective 35.7-percent from the floor in bowing out.
Meanwhile, in the first game of the day, Milos Teodosic drilled a long three-pointer with 3.1 seconds remaining to lift Serbia to a 92-89 victory over Spain.
Spain trailed throughout most of the fourth quarter, but tied it at 89-89 on a dunk by Marc Gasol with 25.8 seconds to play. After the Serbs called timeout, Teodosic worked his way free well beyond the top of the key with time running out and connected on a shot from about 27 feet.
The Spaniards turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play, sending the Serbs into Saturday's semifinals against the winner of Wednesday's second game between Turkey and Slovenia.
Teodosic was just 1-for-7 from beyond the arc before hitting the winning shot. He finished with 12 points, while Novica Velickovic and Marko Keselj each scored 17 in the winning effort. Nenad Krstic contributed 13 points with nine rebounds.
Juan Carlos Navarro led Spain with 27 points and Jorge Garbajosa added 18. Rudy Fernandez scored 15 and Gasol finished with 13 in defeat for the European champions.
Serbia opened a 27-23 lead after the first quarter and extended the advantage to 49-41 at halftime. Spain, though, began the second half with 10 straight points, the last two on a bucket by Navarro, to move in front 51-49.
It remained close for the rest of the third quarter and Serbia took a 67-64 edge into the fourth. The Serbs led by as many as eight in the final period until Spain rallied late.
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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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