Turner leads Ohio State to Big Ten title with rout of Gophers

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/14/2010 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evan Turner capped a dominant performance in the Big Ten Tournament with 31 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, as fifth-ranked Ohio State pulled away late to notch an impressive 90-61 win over Minnesota to secure the conference championship.

David Lighty was equally impressive with 20 points, seven boards and five assists, while Jon Diebler knocked down five three-pointers en route to 19 points.

The balanced attack also included 13 points from William Buford as the Buckeyes (27-7) won their third Big Ten title and made their case for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Lawrence Westbrook had 17 points and Devoe Joseph added 14 on four three- pointers for the sixth-seeded Golden Gophers (21-13), who were aiming for their first Big Ten Tournament championship.

Minnesota's incredible run through the conference bracket certainly placed it squarely on the bubble for an at-large bid, having toppled the likes of No. 11 Michigan State and sixth-ranked Purdue following an opening-round rout of Penn State.

The Gophers kept it close throughout the first half and early on in the second before the likes of Turner and Lighty ignited an incredible 23-5 run to shatter what was a two-point game.

Minnesota trailed by only three at halftime and was within a basket at 42-40 more than six minutes into the second half following a Devron Bostick three- pointer.

Turner then opened the game-changing OSU surge with a jumper and a trey, and Lighty scored the next six points. Diebler banged home a three for a 56-42 difference before Joseph countered with one of his own to slow the Buckeyes' roll.

The run continued, though, as Lighty and Diebler hit from beyond the arc on back-to-back possessions, and Turner converted the conventional three-point play to open up a 20-point lead, 65-45, with a little more than seven minutes to play.

The Gophers were never able to recover down the stretch.

Things looked promising for another exciting Big Ten finish in the first half. Minnesota had it tied at 11-all just past the midway point after a Joseph three-ball found its mark.

The three-point shot dominated certain stretches, and Westbrook used two long distance shots to help keep the Gophers' deficit at 24-21 near the four-minute mark -- bookending one each by Turner and Diebler.

Joseph was able to fake off a defender and sink a three-pointer just before the horn for only a 33-30 Minnesota deficit at halftime.

Game Notes

OSU last won the conference tournament in 2007 and lost to Purdue in last year's finale...Ohio State shot an amazing 65.6 percent from the floor in the second half and 57.6 percent overall...Minnesota connected on 42.3 percent of its shots.

Wrollingstone NCAA Basketball Betting News

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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