Duke routs North Carolina in ACC final

Nolan Smith scored 20 points and the Blue Devils ended No. 6 North Carolina's run of big comebacks at the ACC tournament, beating the Tar Heels 75-58 in Sunday's final in Greensboro, N.C.

Kyle Singler added 11 points for the Blue Devils (30-4), who led the entire way for a record 19th tournament title. They won their third straight tournament and their 10th in 13 years, the latest sign of just how seriously they have approached this event over the years.

"I love the ACC. The ACC has made me a better coach," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I just feel that when you are a part of something that's bigger than you and you're in a tournament representing that conference, you should try to be at your best. That's my attitude with it."

North Carolina is 26-7.

No. 15 Kentucky 70, No. 12 Florida 54: At Atlanta, Brandon Knight scored 17 points, MVP Darius Miller hit two crucial 3-pointers and Kentucky (25-8) cruised to another Southeastern Conference tournament title, beating Florida (26-7).

No. 1 Ohio St. 71, Penn St. 60: At Indianapolis, Jared Sullinger had 15 points and 11 rebounds and No. 1 Ohio State (32-2) defeated Penn State (19-14) in the Big Ten tournament final.

This will be Idaho's second CIT appearance. The Vandals played in the tournament in 2009, Verlin's first season at Idaho. The Vandals beat Drake, 69-67, in the opening round at Memorial Gym, then fell in the second round at Pacific, 69-59.

"We're just hoping it's a preview of things to come," Verlin said of the bid. "We just want to continue to build this program, and we want to take the necessary steps to keep playing in things like the CIT and to get to the NCAA tournament in the near future."

n Boise State: The Broncos were selected to play in the 2011 College Basketball Invitational, and will host Austin Peay on Tuesday at 6 p.m. PDT at Taco Bell Arena.

The Broncos (20-12) and Governors (20-13) are one of eight first-round matchups in the tournament, and the winner will advance to face either Hofstra or Evansville.

The CBI is a 16-team, single-elimination tournament, up until the championship series, with all games being played at campus sites of the higher seed. The championship will be decided by a best-of-three series.

"The way we've played recently, we're really excited to continue playing," said Boise State coach Leon Rice, the former Gonzaga assistant. "Anytime you get to play in the postseason, you're going to play a quality opponent. It's nice to play different teams from different regions and different conferences, so this is exciting for us."

Boise State also played in the CBI in 2009, falling to Stanford 96-76 in the first round.

Montana (21-10) will play host to Duquesne (18-12) in a first-round game Wednesday at 6 p.m. PDT. Oregon (16-17) will play host to Weber State (18-13) in a first-round game Wednesday at 7 p.m.

San Jose State (17-15), which upset Idaho in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament, plays at Creighton (19-14) on Tuesday.

n Overton cleared to play for Huskies: Washington backup point guard Venoy Overton was reinstated Sunday and will play in the NCAA tournament Friday against Georgia (21-11), giving coach Lorenzo Romar's Huskies (23-10) some needed backcourt depth.

Overton was suspended for the Pac-10 tournament after he was charged by the Seattle city attorney with providing alcohol to a minor. Overton was a spectator on the bench as Washington won the conference tournament title Saturday with a 77-75 overtime victory over Arizona.

With Overton unavailable, Isaiah Thomas played 123 of a possible 125 minutes in the conference tournament.

Overton spoke briefly Sunday for the first time since he was charged, while not directly addressing his case. Overton still has a court date scheduled for April 1. He said the last two months have been difficult and that the talk going on in public was almost more of a punishment than his suspension.

"It was hard. I feel like just all that being said was kind of a bigger punishment than sitting out, from the fact this is my hometown and just reputation," Overton said. "You don't want the reputation of being known for that."

The charge is a gross misdemeanor that carries up to a year in jail, though such a harsh punishment is extremely unlikely.

The case stemmed from an allegation by a 16-year-old girl that Overton sexually assaulted her at an apartment in Seattle on Jan. 8. King County prosecutors declined to file charges in that case because other witnesses reported that the contact appeared consensual. They referred the case to city prosecutors because of evidence Overton bought alcohol for the girl and her 16-year-old friend.

Romar immediately suspended Overton after charges were filed and said there had been internal punishment already placed on the senior guard before suspending him for what turned out to be three games.

"After watching that tournament I'm blessed to be able to still play," Overton said.

Washington's placement in the tournament popped up so quickly when the brackets were announced Sunday that the reaction was subdued from the Huskies, even as the fans that attended the announcement cheered wildly.

Of course, that was until they saw their team was getting shipped a six-hour flight away from home after playing the last two years in the tournament on the West Coast - just down the road in Portland, Ore. two years ago and last year as a No. 11 seed in San Jose, Calif.

And, if Washington (23-10) can get past Georgia (21-11) in its opener, it will likely be No. 2 seed North Carolina awaiting in the next round a mere 140 miles from its campus in Chapel Hill.

"I thought we would be a seven seed after winning the Pac-10 tournament, but if you don't win that game you don't know what is going to happen," coach Lorenzo Romar said. "You can rest a little easier, mentally."

But celebrating a tournament berth was a stark turnaround from a week earlier when the Huskies were in question about their tournament validity after losing three of their final four conference games to end the regular season.

"We've been on the brink of being a great team," forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning said. "And I think if we just take care of business and buy into everything and understand what the coaches are asking us to do we can have success."

n Saint Mary's snubbed: There will be no return trip to the NCAA tournament for Saint Mary's.

The Gaels, one of the darlings of last season's tournament after advancing to the round of 16, were hoping for back-to-back trips to the NCAAs for the first time in school history after going 25-8 and earning a share of the West Coast Conference regular season title.

Instead they will have to settle for a spot in the NIT after being passed over by the NCAA selection committee Sunday. Saint Mary's will host Kent State (23-11) in the first round Tuesday.

"We're just going to have to get tough and play well in the NIT, but right now it's tough," coach Randy Bennett said. "It's tough on our kids. I'm proud of them. They've done about everything they could to put themselves in. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me right now how we're not in, but we're not. That's reality. So we've got to deal with it."

Saint Mary's lost in the conference tournament final to Gonzaga and hurt its chances of making this year's field of 68 by losing four of its final seven games, one of those defeats coming against San Diego, which finished 6-26.

"We can't let ourselves get deflated," forward Rob Jones said. "We've got more games left. The season continues."

As the WCC's regular season co-champion and top seed at its conference tournament, Saint Mary's earned an automatic bid to NIT after being left out of the NCAA tournament.

"Two years ago when we played in the NIT it was a great experience," guard Mickey McConnell said. "Our guys are mature enough to turn the page."

Bennett took issue with the fact that some teams from larger conferences which had much worse RPI rankings than the Gaels' 48 got into the tournament. He said the NCAA tournament should adopt a system similar to the BCS rankings in college football to select its at-large teams.

"As a coach, as players, all you want to know is that you're given a fair deal," Bennett said. "You need to go by the numbers, exactly like they do in the BCS."

Last year Saint Mary's beat Richmond and Villanova before falling to Baylor in the NCAA tournament.