Big Ten brawl pits Buckeyes against Wolverines

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/18/2012 - Ann Arbor, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bitter rivals meet in Ann Arbor tonight, as the sixth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes challenge the 17th-ranked Michigan Wolverines in what is an important late Big Ten Conference affair.

Ohio State comes in sporting a 22-4 overall record, and its 10-3 league ledger has it tied with Michigan State for first place entering the weekend. Michigan is 19-7 on the year, and at 9-4 in conference is just a game back in the standings.

The Buckeyes claimed a 78-68 win at Minnesota on Valentine's Day to mark their seventh victory in the last eight games, and improve to 5-3 in true road bouts in the process.

Michigan is a perfect 14-0 at home this season, and the team knocked off visiting Illinois in its most recent outing last Sunday. It was the second straight win for the Wolverines, marking their first winning streak since also prevailing in back-to-back outings at home versus Wisconsin and Northwestern on January 8 and 11, respectively.

This is the second meeting of the season between these two teams, as Ohio State claimed a 64-49 win in Columbus back on January 29 to take a 91-71 lead in the all-time series. The Buckeyes have won the last six meetings, and 15 of the last 17 overall. OSU is 5-2 in the series when both teams come in among the nationally ranked, but the Wolverines are 52-26 in games played in Ann Arbor over the years.

William Buford scored 24 points and Jared Sullinger tallied 23, leading Ohio State to its 10-point win at Minnesota earlier this week. Buford added eight rebounds and five assists to his solid stat line, while Sullinger also grabbed eight boards and converted 10-of-12 free throws. Deshaun Thomas chipped in 12 points for the Buckeyes, who shot 44.6 percent from the field and made good on 22-of-28 foul shots. OSU claimed a 37-32 edge on the glass, and committed just nine turnovers compared to 14 for the Golden Gophers. The Buckeyes are in the enviable position of challenging for the Big Ten regular-season title and possible top seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament thanks to the efforts of Sullinger (17.6 ppg, 9.2 rpg), Buford (15.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and Thomas (14.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg), a trio of double-digit scorers who happen to contribute in a host of other ways as well. As a team, Ohio State owns significant margins in scoring (+18.7), rebounding (+7.0) and turnovers (+5.3), with their effort at the defensive end (57.1 ppg) perhaps being its most impressive.

The Wolverines put four players in double figures, led by Tim Hardaway, Jr. with 15 points, as they topped visiting Illinois last weekend in a 70-61 final. Trey Burke added 14 points despite an poor shooting effort (5-of-15, 0-4 from three-point range), Evan Smotrycz came off the bench to tally 13 points and Zack Novak chipped in a dozen for the Maize and Blue, who nailed half of their total shots while holding the Illini to 38.9 percent field goal efficiency. UM lost the battle on the boards (33-27), but committed just nine turnovers compared to 13 for Illinois. The Wolverines claimed a 10-0 edge in points on the break, and they outscored the Illini in the paint, 26-18. Hardaway, Jr. (14.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg) and Burke (14.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.8 apg) form one of the top backcourts in the Big Ten, but neither has been all that lethal when it comes to hitting their shots, the former doing so just 41.1 percent of the time, and the latter at 43.1 percent. As a team, Michigan is averaging 66.9 ppg in knocking down 46.1 percent of its field goal attempts, while yielding 60.5 ppg and goading the opposition into just shy of 13 turnovers per outing.

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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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