Minnesota crushes Purdue to reach Big Ten final

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ralph Sampson III scored a team-high 13 points and Minnesota continued its quest to an unlikely NCAA Tournament bid with a dominating 69-42 drubbing of No. 6 Purdue in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

Minnesota (21-12), coming off an upset over Michigan State in the quarters on Friday, held the second-seeded Boilermakers to 11 points and 18.5 percent shooting in the first half to cruise to the lopsided win.

Another sublime performance will be needed for the sixth-seeded Golden Gophers to advance to the Big Dance though, as the top-seeded and No. 5 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes stand in their way in Sunday's championship game.

Colton Iverson had 11 points and six rebounds, and Devoe Joseph chipped in 10 and seven for the Gophers, who have won seven of their last nine games.

Purdue (27-5), the defending conference tourney champs, had won three straight since a 53-44 loss to the Spartans, but a poor showing in this one, plus the absence of star forward Robbie Hummel, has the Boilermakers looking at a much lower seed than what they were anticipating several weeks ago.

E'Twuan Moore, who rolled his ankle during the game, came in averaging 17.0 ppg but had just two points on 1-of-14 shooting for Purdue, which was led by JaJuan Johnson's 17 points.

Chris Kramer made a jumper 4:13 into the game to get Purdue within 9-4.

The Boilermakers, though, went without a point on the next 16 possessions, as Minnesota tallied 17 straight during the 11-minute stretch.

Purdue's ugly half was epitomized by a 3-on-1 break that ended in a turnover when Lewis Jackson threw the ball out of bounds near the seven-minute mark.

Justin Cobbs' bucket resulted in a 26-4 game with 4:20 left, and Johnson's make just before the buzzer finally put the Boilermakers in double digits, though they were down 37-11.

The 11 points was the lowest first-half total for Purdue since 1950. The previous low was 13, which occurred against Minnesota in 1982.

A 10-0 run in the early stages of the second half did little to give the Boilermakers momentum, as two Cobbs free throws past the midway point pushed the differential to 54-24.

Game Notes

The NCAA record, post-shot clock era, for the fewest points scored in the first half is six, posted by Northwestern against Illinois on February 19, 2000...Purdue had won the previous five meetings in the series...Minnesota made 48.0 percent of its shots, while Purdue ended with a 27.6 percent shooting effort...Paul Carter had eight points and 10 rebounds for the Gophers.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.