Underdogs ruling at upset-filled ACC tournament

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 -

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -The underdogs are trying to top each other at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament - and they're succeeding.

``I've been seeing all the highlights of all the games, and what it seemed like is all the lower seeds were coming out on top,'' North Carolina State freshman Scott Wood said. ``I kind of didn't want to let them all down.''

Three upsets in the quarterfinal round set up a pair of unlikely semifinal matchups Saturday: Top-seeded Duke faces 12th-seeded Miami, and seventh-seeded Georgia Tech takes on 11th-seeded N.C. State.

The fourth-ranked Blue Devils - the only one of the top six seeds to make it to the semifinals - beat Virginia 57-46 before the Hurricanes started the binge of upsets by topping fourth-seeded Virginia Tech 70-65.

Then came the evening session, when the Yellow Jackets toppled No. 19 Maryland 69-64, and the Wolfpack beat third-seeded Florida State 58-52.

The ACC's two bottom seeds have made it to the semifinals, and five of the top six seeds are done - both firsts in the storied league tournament's history. In fact, never before had four of the top six been eliminated by this stage of the event.

``That's just one thing that I've noticed, and it just shows that the lower seeds have probably been wanting it a little bit more,'' Wood said. ``I think that's how it should be.''

At least one team - either N.C. State or Georgia Tech - is assured of becoming the latest ACC team to play four tournament games in four days. The Hurricanes, who sprung their second upset in a 24-hour period, hope to join them.

``In AAU, we played four games in one day. This is what I'm here for,'' said Miami's Durand Scott, who scored 11 of his 17 points in the final 6 minutes against the Hokies. ``This is what I like. I love to play basketball. I live for this. If I could play it nonstop without a break, I would do it.''

Three of the league's top players struggled just as mightily as its top teams.

ACC player of the year Greivis Vasquez of Maryland and fellow all-conference players Jon Scheyer of Duke and Malcolm Delaney of Virginia Tech combined to make 14 of 53 shots, including 3 of 25 from 3-point range.

The ACC's only favorite to win Friday used Scheyer's timely scoring surge. He scored seven of his 15 points during the decisive run against the Cavaliers.

Kyle Singler had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Nolan Smith also had 15 points while Scheyer, the third member of Duke's ``Big Three,'' keyed the 11-0 run that saved the Blue Devils from joining the league's growing list of upset victims.

Instead, they'll face the Hurricanes, who had dropped 11 of 14 games before arriving here and joined the 2006 Wake Forest team as the only 12th-seed to reach the semifinals. DeQuan Jones added 14 points for the Hurricanes, who had never won two games in their previous five ACC tournaments.

In the other half of the bracket, Wood had his second hot shooting performance against the Seminoles, scoring 18 points on six 3-pointers to send the Wolfpack into the semifinals for the first time since coach Sidney Lowe reached the title game in his first season in 2007. They'll face a Georgia Tech team that blew most of a 19-point lead, overcame 25 turnovers and needed Iman Shumpert to strip the ball from Vasquez in the closing seconds.

That gave the Yellow Jackets' NCAA tournament resume a boost, with Selection Sunday drawing closer. Not that coach Paul Hewitt is looking that far ahead just yet.

``Right now, we're in this tournament. We can answer all the questions ourselves,'' Hewitt said. ``It's in our hands. We'll just see what happens tomorrow, and we'll take it from there.''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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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.

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