No. 15 Creighton tops Bradley for 10th straight win

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/28/2012 - Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Doug McDermott finished with a game-high 24 points and pulled down six rebounds as No. 15 Creighton topped Bradley, 73-59, on Saturday.

Gregory Echenique recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Josh Jones contributed 14 points and four assists for the Bluejays (20-2, 10-1 MVC), who extended their winning streak to 10 games.

Dyricus Simms-Edwards paced the Braves (6-17, 1-10) with 19 points and six rebounds, while Taylor Brown donated 16 points and seven rebounds in a losing effort. Bradley has lost four straight games.

Bradley jumped out to a quick 11-5 lead, capped by a Simms-Edwards three- pointer, but the Bluejays quickly responded with a 9-0 run to go ahead, 14-11 with under 12 minutes to play in the opening half.

A trey by Grant Gibbs with 4 1/2 minutes left in the opening 20 minutes put Creighton up 29-19 and a layup by Echenique gave the Bluejays their largest lead of the half at 33-21 with 2:29 left.

Bradley fought back though, closing out the opening half with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 33-28 at the break.

Creighton opened the second half with an 11-4 push, capped by a Jones trey, to open up a 44-32 lead with 14:38 left in regulation.

The Braves again fought back with a 13-4 run to cut the deficit to three with 10 minutes left, but Creighton answered with a quick 8-0 burst to go ahead 56-45 with 8:21 to play.

The Bluejays led by double-digits the rest of the way, and a free throw by Gibbs with 1:35 left put them up 69-54 -- their largest margin of the game -- en route to the easy win.

Game Notes

Creighton owns a narrow 44-41 lead in the all-time series with Bradley, and the Bluejays topped the Braves in the first meeting this season, 92-83, on January 7...Bradley fell to 0-12 this season when allowing at least 70 points...Creighton shot 54 percent from the floor and 8-of-20 from three-point range, while Bradley shot 39 percent from the field and 6-of-17 from beyond the arc...The Bluejays have now won 20 or more games for the 13th time in the last 14 seasons.

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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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