Cowboys tangle with Wildcats in Big 12 quarterfinals

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quarterfinal action of the Big 12 Conference Tournament pits the ninth-ranked and second-seeded Kansas State Wildcats against the seventh-seeded Oklahoma State Cowboys.

Awaiting the winner of this tilt is a semifinal clash with either sixth-seeded Texas or third-seeded Baylor.

Oklahoma State has captured the Big 12 Tournament title twice, and it has been five years since its last championship. The Cowboys finished 21-9 overall during the regular season, including 9-7 versus league opponents, and they closed out the schedule with a 74-55 romp over Nebraska. They carried that momentum into yesterday's first round matchup with Oklahoma, as the result was an 81-67 victory.

Kansas State has never won the Big 12 Tournament and is 7-13 all-time in the event. This year's group of Wildcats is a serious threat to capture the crown, however, as the club enters the tournament with a 24-6 overall record, including 11-5 in league action. On a down note, the final two regular-season contests resulted in defeat, including a 17-point loss to in-state rival Kansas and an overtime setback to a mediocre Iowa State squad at home.

The Cowboys beat K-State in Manhattan in a 73-69 final during the regular season, but the Wildcats still own a 69-46 advantage in the all-time series.

Keiton Page poured in 24 points to lead Oklahoma State to the 14-point victory over Oklahoma last night. Obi Muonelo tallied 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Cowboys, while James Anderson, the Big 12 Player of the Year, was limited to 11 points. Matt Pilgrim added 10 points for OSU, which rolled to a 45-23 lead at intermission behind 19 first-half points from Page. Despite a shaky defensive effort in the second half that permitted the Sooners to shoot 60 percent from the floor, the Cowboys cruised to victory. The Pokes shot 53.6 percent from the floor in the game and earned a 31-26 rebounding advantage. Anderson is averaging 22.5 ppg for Oklahoma State, which is generating 74.6 ppg while yielding 67.6 ppg.

The strength of the Kansas State team is its All-Big 12 Conference backcourt duo of Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente. Pullen is scoring 18.9 ppg this season, and he has dished out 109 assists to go along with a club-best 49 steals. Clemente checks in with 16.0 ppg despite his shaky 39.1 percent shooting from the floor, and he has handed out 118 assists. Jamar Samuels and Curtis Kelly are both contributing 11.4 ppg, and Kelly is ripping down 6.3 rpg to complement his 56 blocked shots. The standout frontcourt performer is shooting 58.9 percent from the field, impressive by any standards. The Wildcats are generating 79.9 ppg on 45.3 percent field goal efficiency, and they are limiting opponents to 69.3 ppg on 41.8 percent shooting. A positive rebounding differential of 5.2 rpg has helped the team to its outstanding win total.

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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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