Conviction for man who hit Pacers' Jackson with car

Basketball Betting Lines

02/12/2007 -

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -A man who hit former Indiana Pacers guard Stephen Jackson with a car during a fight outside a strip club last fall was convicted Monday in a ruling by a judge.

Deon Willford waived his right to a jury trial, allowing Marion Superior Court Judge Patricia Gifford to render a verdict. She found the 23-year-old man guilty of felony battery and failure to stop at a scene of an accident, a misdemeanor.

He will be sentenced Feb. 28. He faces two to eight years in prison for the felony and up to a year for the misdemeanor.

Jackson, who now plays for Golden State, left the courtroom to catch a flight to Denver, where the Warriors play Monday night.

``I leave everything in God's hands and continue to work on playing basketball,'' he said.

Jackson was booked into jail Oct. 12 and has been free since on $10,000 bond. He has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of criminal recklessness and misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct in the fight outside Club Rio on Oct. 6. His trial is April 12. The criminal recklessness charge carries a prison term of six months to three years.

Willford's car hit Jackson after the fight started. The defendant testified Monday that the 6-foot-8 player was walking toward his car and pointing a gun at him.

``I thought he was trying to kill me,'' Willford said.

Other witnesses said Jackson was walking away from Willford's car and had no weapon out at the time. Jackson said he was hit by the car after he fired shots in the air from his pearl-handled 9 mm pistol to try to break up the fight. He had chipped teeth and bruised knees and needed plastic surgery on his lip after being hit by the car, he said.

Jackson testified that when he was walking from the club to his car, a man approached him shouting, ``dump, dump!''

``Where I'm from, 'dump' means pull out your gun and shoot,'' he said.

Pacers guard Jamaal Tinsley testified that he also grabbed his gun and put it in his pocket when he heard ``dump.'' He did not fire any shots and was not charged.

Jackson said the man, identified by prosecutors as Willford's cousin, Quentin ``Fingers'' Willford, had one hand in a back pocket and another in his shirt. The fight started after Jackson and those with him realized Willford had no weapon.

``It was like an all-out brawl,'' Jackson said. ``I started seeing more and more faces I didn't know.'' He said he fired a couple of shots in the air to break up the fight, and then the car hit him.

Besides Tinsley, Pacers swingman Marquis Daniels and former Pacer Jimmie Hunter were with Jackson at the club during the fight but not charged.

At the time, Jackson was on probation for his role in a brawl between Indiana Pacers players and Detroit Pistons fans in 2004. Jackson pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery charges in September 2005 for his role in the 2004 brawl.

A Michigan judge ruled that the Indiana charges constituted a violation of Jackson's probation. Jackson, who was traded earlier this year, faces up to 30 days in jail on the probation violation.

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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