Pitt routs Rutgers to close out regular season

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/06/2010 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gilbert Brown poured in a game-high 19 points while pulling down six rebounds, as the 17th-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers destroyed the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 83-54, in the regular-season finale for both clubs.

Ashton Gibbs added 13 points for the Panthers (24-7, 13-5 Big East), who will be the No. 2 seed in the Big East tourney next week. Pittsburgh snuck past Providence, 73-71, on Thursday to clinch a two-day bye in the tournament.

Coming into Saturday, the Panthers needed a victory combined with a win by West Virginia over Villanova to secure the second seed. The Mountaineers completed the first part of the equation for Pitt by claiming a 68-66 overtime victory over the Wildcats.

Brad Wanamaker donated 12 points and five assists, while senior Jermaine Dixon tallied 10 points in his final home game for the Panthers, who finished an impressive 17-1 at home this season.

Mike Rosario finished with 14 points for the Scarlet Knights (15-16, 5-13), who were coming off a loss to Seton Hall on Thursday. Austin Johnson and Mike Coburn added 12 and 10 points, respectively, in defeat.

A Jonathan Mitchell layup and James Beatty three-pointer put Rutgers ahead 5-3 early on, but the Panthers scored the next 15 points to take control. Dixon tallied six points during the run, which Dante Taylor capped with a layup for an 18-5 margin with over 11 minutes to go.

Ahead 28-11 moments later, Pittsburgh ripped off seven consecutive points to build a 24-point lead. Brown's trey capped the burst, making it a 35-11 game with three minutes left. The score was 40-16 at the half.

Jonathan Mitchell's three-pointer had the Scarlet Knights within 50-28 five minutes into the second half. The Panthers made it a full-on rout from there, going on an 11-2 spurt. Dante Taylor's free throw made 61-30 with 11 minutes to play.

Game Notes

Pittsburgh was awarded the second seed by virtue of tiebreaker wins over West Virginia and Villanova. Each school went 13-5 in conference play to tie for second place...Despite the loss, the Scarlet Knights still hold a 23-22 series advantage...The Panthers' 13 wins in the Big East is tied for the second highest win total for the school in league play since Pitt joined the Big East in 1982-83. Pitt set the record with 15 wins in 2008-09. Pittsburgh also won 13 Big East regular season games in 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04...The Panthers shot 48.3 percent from the field, while Rutgers made 40.9 percent of its shots.

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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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