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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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

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