Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
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Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Cornell players jumped up and down near midcourt, exchanging chest-bumps and high-fives, then ran toward their fans.
And stood around.
Forgive those Ivy League guys for not knowing how to celebrate. After all, they’ve never experienced anything like this before. Then again, maybe they’re waiting for something bigger and better.
Either way, the Big Red made a big statement on college basketball’s biggest stage. They might have something for Big Blue!
Louis Dale scored 26 points, Ryan Wittman added 24 and No. 12 seed Cornell upset the fourth-seeded Badgers 87-69 on Sunday, becoming the first Ivy League school in more than 30 years to advance to the round of 16.
“You can’t sleep on us,” Dale said.
Nope, just ask the Badgers and Temple.
The Big Red (29-4) will play top-seeded Kentucky in the East Regional semifinal Thursday in Syracuse, N.Y., about an hour from Cornell’s campus. It could be a tough ticket, though, since Kentucky’s basketball-crazed fans got a head start when their team advanced Saturday.
“Maybe all the Syracuse fans bought tickets and can help us out,” said Cornell coach Steve Donahue, whose team played close games on the road this season against fellow No. 1 seeds Kansas and Syracuse.
Cornell wasted little time taking care of its end.
The Big Red controlled things from the opening tip, picking apart Wisconsin’s vaunted defense the same way they did Temple in the opening round.
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Cornell had a 12-point lead early, a 20-point lead late and very few moments of concern in between. The lopsided affair should make for some interesting conversation this week at the “Dog Pound,” the nickname given to the three-story, off-campus house that 13 players and a team manager call home.
“We’re definitely going to enjoy this one,” center Jeff Foote said. “But we’re not done yet.”
Cornell became the lowest seed to advance to the round of 16 in this year’s tournament and the first Ivy League team to get that far since Penn 31 years ago.
Wisconsin (24-9), meanwhile, failed to get past the opening weekend for the fourth time in five years.
“The momentum and confidence they played with, we kind of ran into a buzz saw,” Keaton Nankivil said.
Jon Leuer led the Badgers with 23 points, including the team’s first 12. Jason Bohannon added 18, Ryan Evans chipped in 11 and Trevon Hughes finished with 10.
But Wisconsin’s problem was defense.
Cornell shot 61 percent from the field, 53 percent from 3-point range and dominated every aspect of the matchup. Anyone believe the Big Red were seeded correctly now?
“We want to take this ride as long as we can because after this it’s just nothing but babies and memories,” Dale said.
Foote had 12 points and seven rebounds. Chris Wroblewski added 12 points, and Jon Jaques finished with nine before fouling out.
Cornell couldn’t miss to start this one. The Big Red made their first five shots. Wittman hit consecutive jumpers to set the tone. Cornell led 16-4 with a little more than 5 minutes gone and never looked back.
“It’s always tough to end your season this way,” Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor said. “We thought we could go a little farther.”
Cornell could go a long way with its senior-laden team filled with castoffs and misfits.
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Dale, the dynamic point guard who grew up in Birmingham, Ala., but got very few scholarship offers, connected on 10 of 17 shots.
Foote, the 7-footer who once weighed 195 pounds and was recruited only by Division III schools until his mother, a nurse, met Cornell coaches in an emergency room, was perfect from the field. He also clamped down on Leuer in the second half.
“We have a bunch of guys with something to prove,” Dale said.
Not anymore.
A win against the Wildcats, though, might give Cornell reason to really celebrate.
“We’ve played teams like Kentucky before,” Foote said. “We’re very experienced and very confident in ourselves.”
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 15 points and Evan Smotrycz added 13, helping No. 22 Michigan remain unbeaten at home with a 70-61 win over Illinois on Sunday.
2010 men's NCAA tournament |
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 | College hoops power rankings A look at the top teams in college basketball based on performance and potential. NBCSports.com |
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Five up, five down from college hoops’ huge day16 hr 19 min ago Michigan State sure shook up Big Ten by beating Buckeyes17 hr 4 min ago UNLV’s thrilling win vs. SDSU adds spice to MWC race21 hr 32 min ago |
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 Getty Images Highlights: No. 14 UNLV 65, No. 13 SDSU 63 Mike Moser scored 19 points, and UNLV forced three turnovers in the final 42 seconds to win. |
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
