Cornell clinches Ivy League, first team into NCAA Tournament

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/05/2010 - Providence, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Jaques scored 20 points, going 6-of-8 from beyond the arc, and Cornell hit 20 shots from beyond the arc and clinched the Ivy League crown with a 95-76 victory over Brown.

Louis Dale, Ryan Wittman and Chris Wroblewski each hit four three-pointers with the trio scoring 18, 16 and 14 points, respectively, for the Big Red (26-4, 12-1 Ivy League), who sewed up their third consecutive berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Cornell tied an Ivy League record and set a school mark with the 20 made three-pointers, accomplishing the feat on just 30 attempts.

Jeff Foote also scored 14 for Cornell, which won its sixth in a row overall and beat the Bears for the eighth straight time.

This is Cornell's fourth Ivy League crown and fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament. Last year, the Big Red gained a No. 14 seed in the West Region and lost in the first round to Missouri.

Peter Sullivan had 23 points for the Bears (11-19, 5-8), who were swept in the season series by Cornell, also losing 65-54 on Feb. 6. Garrett Leffelman added 16 points in defeat.

It was a great start for Cornell, as Jaques nailed a pair of three-pointers and Wroblewski connected from long distance for a 9-0 lead for the visitors.

Brown battled back and grabbed a 25-24 edge on a three-pointer by Sullivan midway through the half, but Wroblewski responded with a three-ball.

Cornell managed to hold onto a 51-47 edge at the break and pulled away with a sizeable flurry early in the second half. A layup from Leffelman had Brown within 56-51, but Cornell responded with the next nine points, culminated by Dale's jumper with 16:15 remaining.

The Big Red continued to pull away, building the cushion to 20 at 81-61 on a Dale three-pointer inside nine minutes to go.

Cornell shot 57.4 percent from the field.

Wwwequibase NCAA Basketball Betting News

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.