Wizards choose Wall with No. 1 pick

Basketball Betting Lines

06/24/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Wizards selected Kentucky point guard John Wall with the first overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.

The 6-foot-4 Wall, the first Kentucky player selected No. 1 overall, completed his first collegiate campaign with 16.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.5 assists per contest for the Wildcats, who fell to West Virginia in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

The athletic floor general joins a Washington team that was plagued by bad play on the court and off-court issues last season, headlined by the suspension of Gilbert Arenas for bringing guns into the Verizon Center locker room.

The Wizards last had the No.1 overall selection in 2001 when they selected Kwame Brown, who never panned out in the nation's capital.

The Philadelphia 76ers, now under the guidance of new head coach Doug Collins, took Ohio State guard Evan Turner at No. 2. The 2010 Naismith and Wooden Award winner led the Big Ten in scoring (20.4 points) and rebounds (9.2) this past season while also averaging 5.9 assists and 2.0 steals per game. He missed a month's worth of action after suffering a back injury on a hard fall to the floor in early December. Turner appeared in 101 games during his three years at Ohio State.

The 76ers were in need of a tall shooting guard and got their man in the 6- foot-7 Turner.

The New Jersey Nets, coming off a franchise-record 70-loss season, took Georgia Tech forward Derrick Favors with the third pick. The 6-foot-10 Atlanta native was named the ACC Rookie of the Year after ranking second on the team with averages of 12.4 points and 8.4 rebounds.

Minnesota, which entered the night with the most draft picks this year with five, took Syracuse forward Wesley Johnson at No. 4. Johnson, as a junior, was named Big East Player of the Year and a consensus All-American after averaging a team-high 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in 35 games for the Orange this past season. The 6-foot-7, 205-pound versatile forward spent the first two years of his collegiate career at Iowa State before transferring to Syracuse following the 2007-08 campaign.

Johnson joins ex-Syracuse teammate Jonny Flynn on the Timberwolves. Flynn was the sixth overall selection last year.

DeMarcus Cousins became the second Kentucky freshman to be taken in the draft when he was picked by Sacramento at No. 5. The 6-foot-11 center recorded 15.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game with the Wildcats.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.