Kentucky clobbers ETSU in first-round matchup

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03/18/2010 - New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eric Bledsoe scored a career-high 29 to go with four steals, and the top-seeded Kentucky Wildcats blew out the East Tennessee State Buccaneeers, 100-71, in a first-round matchup of the NCAA Tournament.

Bledsoe went an incredible 8-of-9 from three-point range for the Wildcats (33-2), who will next take on the winner of Texas/Wake Forest on Saturday in an East Region matchup. Patrick Patterson went 9-of-10 from the field for 22 points, while John Wall posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 assists in the lopsided victory.

UK, appearing in this tourney for the 50th time, is beginning its road toward an eighth national championship, with its last coming in 1998 under now- Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith. With one more win, the Wildcats can secure their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2005.

Micah Williams scored 19 to lead the Buccaneers (20-15), who captured their second straight Atlantic Sun championship in 2009-10. Justin Tubbs added 15 points, while Adam Sollazzo contributed with 14 in defeat.

East Tennessee State held a 10-9 lead after a Tubbs three-pointer in the early minutes, but Kentucky took over the game from there and never looked back. The Wildcats responded with the next 14 points -- seven from Patterson -- and a Wall jumper made it 23-10 with 13 minutes left.

Bledsoe later capped a 10-0 burst with eight straight points on three shots, drilling a three-pointer for a commanding 37-14 margin with 7 1/2 minutes to play in the opening half. UK held a dominant 54-26 advantage at halftime.

A Patterson three a little more than five minutes into the second half expanded the Kentucky lead to 40, 77-37, and the Wildcats cruised to the finish line.

Game Notes

Kentucky has taken each of the three all-time meetings with ETSU...UK garnered its 10th top seed in the NCAA Tournament...The Wildcats need only one more win in the tourney to reach 100 NCAA Tournament victories...Isiah Brown had 11 points for the Buccaneers, who shot 35.9 percent and 4-of-17 from three-point range...UK shot 51.7 percent overall and 15-of-33 from beyond the arc.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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