Hughes, Bohannon may give Badgers tournament edge

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/17/2010 -

MILWAUKEE (AP) -It's perhaps the most oft-repeated nugget of conventional NCAA tournament wisdom and it bodes particularly well for Wisconsin this year: Experienced guard play can be a decisive edge.

The Badgers start one of the tournament's most experienced guard pairs, Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon. Both are seniors making their fourth straight NCAA tournament appearances. Going into Friday's first-round matchup with Wofford in Jacksonville, Fla., both must excel if the No. 4-seeded Badgers are to make an extended run this month.

``It always gives you a pretty good chance,'' Badgers coach Bo Ryan said. ``If you want to put it down as percentages when you make out the batting lineup - who bats first and who's in the third spot and who's batting before the pitcher - you take all the percentages and you say, 'What is it in tournaments?' Guard play is extremely important.''

Wofford starts three guards in Brad Loesing, Junior Salters and Jamar Diggs. Salters is a senior, but none of the guards has the experience of the Badgers' backcourt.

Hughes and Bohannon have played in all seven of Wisconsin's NCAA tournament games during the previous three seasons. Hughes played sparingly in the tournament as a freshman, but Bohannon hasn't played fewer than 26 minutes in any NCAA tournament game during his career.

The two have experienced highlight-reel highs, including Hughes' overtime game-winner against Florida State in the first round last year. And when they've struggled, so has Wisconsin: They shot a combined 5 of 28 from the field in last year's second-round loss to Xavier.

Now given one last chance to play in the tournament, they're looking to create a few more highlights.

``Obviously, we're excited,'' Bohannon said. ``Me and Trevon have been fortunate enough to play four years in the NCAA tournament consecutively, and that's a great accomplishment. We're really looking forward to another chance to go out there and perform again.''

Hughes said he expects to make some noise in the tournament, especially after following up his fireworks against Florida State with a disappointing performance against Xavier. Hughes was 3 of 16 from the field in that game, while Bohannon shot 2 of 12. The duo combined to go 1 for 14 from 3-point range.

``Every time we step on the floor, we feel like we could do some damage,'' Hughes said. ``Everybody on our team, the coaching staff, we feel like we could win every game. We prepare for everybody the same way, so we figure we've got a chance every time we go into a match.''

Hughes is a point guard who can play good defense, create his own shot and come through under pressure. Bohannon is mostly known for his outside shooting, including 40.2 percent from 3-point range this year. He hasn't found as many shooting opportunities of late, putting up only 12 3-point attempts in the Badgers' last four games.

Bohannon was 1 of 10 from the floor in an ugly Big Ten tournament loss to Illinois that ranks among Wisconsin's worst outings of the season. Hughes wasn't much better, shooting 4 for 16 from the field, but his late flurry of 3-pointers at least managed to make the game close.

``Even though we lost a game, we've got to bounce back stronger and better than we have before,'' Bohannon said. ``And we've done that throughout the course of the season. When we had a loss, we would bounce back very strong, and we've got to have the same mentality going into this one.''

Never one to gush, Ryan sounds optimistic going into Friday.

``If you just take a look over the years, I know there are a lot of people who subscribe to the theory that talent is what's really important because lack of preparation time, things like that,'' Ryan said. ``But that's not always true. You need defense to keep you in it and you need some players to get hot offensively. I haven't seen a team advance without a combination of those things, so, we've got senior leadership, we've got some guys who potentially can be very hot in a game.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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