Buckeyes battle streaking Golden Gophers for Big Ten title

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03/14/2010 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - An unlikely matchup will take place at Conseco Fieldhouse, as the sixth-seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers will battle the top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes in the championship game of the Big Ten Conference Tournament.

Minnesota is one step away from claiming its first-ever Big Ten Tournament championship, and even though the top-seeded Buckeyes stand in the way, the Golden Gophers are riding a tremendous wave of momentum. The Gophers dominated Penn State in the opening round (76-55), but that was nothing compared to the team's next two wins. In the quarterfinals, the Golden Gophers defeated the third-seeded Michigan State Spartans, 72-67, in overtime, and if that was not impressive enough, Minnesota completely dominated the second-seeded Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday, winning by a 69-42 margin.

Ohio State, which claimed the Big Ten regular season title with a 14-4 league record, is looking to erase the memory of last season's loss to Purdue in the championship game. Ohio State has won this event twice however, with the last title coming in 2007. The Buckeyes avoided disaster in the quarterfinals with a last second, 69-68, victory over Michigan, and followed that win with an 88-81 decision over Illinois in double overtime on Saturday.

In regard to the all-time series between the two schools on the hardwood, the Buckeyes own a commanding, 75-55 edge over Minnesota. Earlier this season the Golden Gophers defeated Ohio State, 73-62, but the Buckeyes responded with an 85-63 victory over Minnesota on January 31st. The two teams have never clashed on a neutral site, but when ranked, the Buckeyes are an outstanding 21-3 against Minnesota.

The Golden Gophers used the perfect time of the season to put forth their best showing at the defensive end of the court, as Minnesota held Purdue to just 42 points in the semifinal victory. Minnesota simply dominated the Boilermakers in the first half, limiting Purdue to just 11 points on a horrific 18.5 percent shooting effort. Overall, the Gophers held Purdue to a woeful 27.6 percent clip from the floor and that included an equally poor 2-of-14 showing from behind the arc. At the other end of the floor Minnesota shot 48.0 percent overall and was paced by Ralph Sampson III, who finished with 13 points. Colton Iverson added 11 points off the bench, while Devoe Joseph tallied 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists. On the season however, the Gophers have been led by Lawrence Westbrook, who is averaging 12.5 ppg. Blake Hoffarber is contributing 10.5 ppg, while Damian Johnson is posting 10.1 ppg.

The Buckeyes needed double overtime, but eventually Ohio State was able to avoid another scare by pushing past Illinois, 88-81. Ohio State shot 47.8 percent from the floor in the matchup, and also connected on 9-of-25 shots from behind the arc. Evan Turner continues to show why he is one of the best players in the nation, as the guard poured in 31 points, to go along with 10 rebounds. However, Turner was not flawless in this contest, as he finished the game with 10 turnovers. William Buford also finished with a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Jon Diebler and David Lighty helped out with 14 and 12 points, respectively. While the Buckeyes possess a few options offensively, the team is clearly led by Turner, who comes into this title game pacing the squad with 19.9 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 160 assists and 49 steals. Buford is contributing 14.5 ppg and has also dished out 104 assists for Ohio State, which as a whole is producing 73.8 ppg on the season.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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