Monroe Doctrine: Hoyas dominate paint to reach Big East final

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greg Monroe dominated the paint with 23 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, and 22nd-ranked Georgetown returned to the Big East Tournament final for the third time in four years with an 80-57 victory over Marquette.

Monroe, the talented 6-foot-11 center, even added a three-point basket for the eighth-seeded Hoyas (23-9), who will play either seventh-ranked West Virginia or Notre Dame in Saturday's final. Georgetown pulled away from the Golden Eagles in the final 10 minutes behind a dominant 14-1 run, which turned a five-point lead into a 70-52 rout with 5:32 to play.

Chris Wright and Jason Clark each scored 15 points for Georgetown, which avenged a 62-59 loss to Marquette on January 6 and snapped a three-game losing streak in the series. The teams have now split 10 all-time meetings after the Hoyas ruled the glass on Friday, outrebounding Marquette, 39-19.

Jimmy Butler scored 17 points to pace the fifth-seeded Eagles (22-11), who had beaten Villanova and St. John's en route to Friday's semifinal. Maurice Acker and Lazar Hayward posted 16 and 15 points, respectively, but nobody else on the team had more than four, as Marquette shot a dismal 37.7 percent from the field in the loss.

The Eagles registered just two field goals in the final 10-plus minutes, going 2-of-15 from the field during the stretch.

The Hoyas held three separate double-digit leads before the fourth finally proved to be too much for the Eagles to handle.

Leading by five with just under 11 minutes left, Georgetown poured in eight consecutive points, and a Monroe dunk made it a 64-51 game with seven minutes to go.

Monroe drained only his seventh three of the season on the following possession, and an Austin Freeman three-point play with 5 1/2 minutes remaining extended the margin to 18, effectively sealing the win.

The Hoyas opened the game on a 15-4 spurt, only to have the Eagles come roaring back. A Hayward three got Marquette back to within four at 15-11, and he later tied it with another triple for a 29-29 game with 5:50 remaining.

Georgetown managed to go into halftime holding a 37-34 advantage and began the second half on an 11-3 burst to take a 48-37 lead on a Clark three. The Eagles quickly answered with 10 points, with Hayward's three-point play cutting the deficit to one with 13 1/2 minutes to play.

Game Notes

Georgetown advanced to its 13th Big East Conference Tournament final, second only to Syracuse (14)...The Hoyas are 5-0 on a neutral court this season...Georgetown went a combined 0-2 against West Virginia and Notre Dame in the regular season...Marquette has never been in the final of this tournament in five tries since joining the Big East...Freeman finished with 12 points...The Hoyas own a record seven Big East Conference titles.

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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.

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Football Betting: Defensive Rookie of the Year Awards

Oddsmakers have released the odds for the 2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award and Seattle Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry has been made the opening favorite.

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Seattle took Curry with the fourth overall pick in April's NFL draft and plan on inserting him into its starting lineup right away. The Hawks traded linebacker Julian Peterson in the offseason, so Curry is expected to have a significant role in Seattle's defense next year and that's one of the primary reasons he is the favorite to win the NFL ROY Award.

Oddsmakers from online sportsbook MySportsbook.com have made Curry a 5/1 favorite to win this year's NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. Given that he was the best defensive prospect in this year's draft and how he'll have plenty of opportunities to make plays in '09, Curry offers a ton of value at 5/1.

Another thing working for Curry is the position he plays. A linebacker has won the defensive ROY award six straight times and eight of the last nine years. Jerod Mayo, Patrick Willis, DeMeco Ryans, Shawne Merriman, Jonathan Vilma, Terrell Suggs, Kendrell Bell and Brian Urlacher were the most recent linebackers to take home the award.

Following Curry at 5/1 are Tyson Jackson (Chiefs) at 7/1, James Laurinaitas (Rams) at 8/1, Brian Orakpo (Redskins) at 10/1, Rey Maualuga (Bengals) at 10/1 and Jerry Peria (Falcons) at 10/1.

All the players mentioned above are expected to start for their respective teams, but Jackson and Peria are going to have a tough time being recognized on a national level given they're both defensive linemen. D-linemen rarely put up the numbers that it takes to win an individual award like the ROY.

A couple of players with some value are Clay Matthews (Packers) at 12/1 and Larry English (Chargers) at 15/1. Matthews is expected to start at outside linebacker in Green Bay's new 3-4 defense and could rack up a ton of tackles. English, who was an impressive player at Northern Illinois, is expected to be a situational pass rusher for the Chargers and could rack up a ton of sacks.

For complete odds on the 2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, see below. And for complete odds for the 2009 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, click the link provided.

2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award

Robert Ayers (DEN) 12/1

Ron Brace (NE) 25/1

Everette Brown (CAR) 16/1

Darius Butler (NE) 40/1

Patrick Chung (NE) 30/1

Aaron Curry (SEA) 5/1

Brian Cushing (HOU) 12/1

Vontae Davis (MIA) 30/1

Louis Delmas (DET) 30/1

Larry English (SD) 15/1

Evander Hood (PIT) 25/1

Tyson Jackson (KC) 7/1

Malcolm Jenkins (NO) 25/1

Paul Kruger (BAL) 50/1

James Laurinaitas (STL) 8/1

Sen'Derrick Marks (TEN) 20/1

Clay Matthews (GB) 12/1

Aaron Maybin (BUF) 15/1

Rey Maualuga (CIN) 10/1

Roy Miller (TB) 20/1

Michael Mitchell (OAK) 45/1

Fili Moala (IND) 30/1

Brian Orakpo (WAS) 10/1

Jerry Peria (ATL) 10/1

B J Raji (GB) 7/1

Clint Sintim (NYG) 35/1

Alphonso Smith (DEN) 40/1

David Verkune (CLE) 20/1

Jason Williams (DAL) 30/1

Field (Any Other Player) 6/1

NFL football gambling

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.