Smith, Hawks bring down hammer on Bulls

Basketball Betting Lines

03/01/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Smith paced a balanced scoring attack with 17 points and a season-high 18 rebounds, as the Atlanta Hawks dominated the glass to defeat the shorthanded Chicago Bulls, 116-92, at United Center.

Smith had six offensive boards, as the Hawks outrebounded the Bulls by a 63-37 margin overall. Atlanta had 22 total on the offensive side, compared to just eight for Chicago.

Jamal Crawford came off the bench to provide 21 points, while Marvin Williams had 18 with nine rebounds in the win. Al Horford added 15 points and 10 boards, while Joe Johnson had 14 points and nine rebounds in the lopsided victory, Atlanta's fourth in five games.

Derrick Rose paced Chicago with 24 points despite leaving briefly in the first half with a minor knee injury, but the Bulls couldn't avoid having a four-game home win streak snapped due to the absence of Luol Deng (knee) and Joakim Noah (foot). Brad Miller provided 15 points and seven boards, while Taj Gibson had 11 and 13 in a losing effort.

The Bulls trailed by seven to start the fourth and got as close as five several times in the opening moments, but an ensuing 9-0 Hawks spurt essentially put the game away.

Williams had seven of the nine points, including an acrobatic three-point play that had the visitors ahead, 94-79, with 5:37 to play.

Atlanta cruised to the finish line from there.

The Hawks jumped out to a 34-23 lead after one quarter, partly due to Rose's absence, and Atlanta increased its advantage to 59-43 at halftime.

The Bulls, though, made a game of it in the third, outscoring the Hawks by a 25-16 margin. Gibson scored the first five points of the period to get Chicago within 11, and a Miller jumper had the hosts within single-digits, 67-58, with five minutes left.

Atlanta pushed its advantage back up to 15 before a 10-2 Bulls burst ended the quarter. Flip Murray had four points during the stretch, including a layup in the final moments to make it 75-68 heading to the fourth.

Game Notes

Atlanta won the season series, 3-1, and has captured seven of eight against Chicago...The Bulls began a four-game homestand Monday and will also play Memphis, Dallas and Utah during the stretch...Chicago fell to 19-10 at home, while Atlanta improved to 15-14 on the road...Murray had 12 points for the Bulls, who got 10 points from Hakim Warrick...Rose banged knees with Atlanta's Mike Bibby in the first quarter and limped to the locker room before returning late in the second quarter...The Bulls never led in the game.

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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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