Fourth Quarter Carries Players At Rotation

Basketball Betting Lines

Meanwhile, Washington, despite the fact that John Wall had finally started to play like a No. 1 overall pick over the team's past five games, came in with the league's worst record at a miserable 2-12 and showed why rather quickly.

 

The Wizards tapped out in almost record time, falling behind by as many as 34 points en route to a 103-83 drubbing at the hands of a Sixers team playing with an ill Elton Brand and without centers Spencer Hawes and Nikola Vucevic. S.D. Jones was more competitive in the inaugural Wrestlemania when he lost in eight seconds to King Kong Bundy that Washington was on Monday night.

 

It's not like Flip doesn't have any talent on hand. What he doesn't have, however, is a glue guy -- a player like Bruce Bowen.

 

And that got me thinking. As important as Bowen was to three different Spurs championship clubs, retiring the number of a role player -- any role player is heresy or at least it should be.

 

Others like Mo Cheeks, Bobby Jones, Hal Greer and Charles Barkley have also been given the royal treatment by Philadelphia. All Hall of Famers or in the case of Cheeks and Jones -- darn close. One day Allen Iverson will join that contingent once a few open wounds have had time to heal.

 

The Spurs have not and believe me I understand how Bowen exemplified the Gregg Popovich-era in the Alamo City. The 6-foot-7 swingman out of Cal State Fullerton earned a spot on the NBA's All-Defensive Team in eight of his nine seasons with the Spurs (was a second team selection in 2001, 2002 and 2003 before earning first team honors in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008).

 

But, understand those other four players were no one-trick ponies and could hurt you at both ends of the floor. Bowen was a non-entity for most of his career on offense.

 

Some romantics have already told me that Bowen's honor will send future players a message that professionalism, hard work and unselfishness are rewarded in San Antonio.

 

Larry Kenyon should be insulted and Tiago Splitter should be getting ready.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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