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.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
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.
AP
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Here’s a rare sight: Kansas, of all schools, playing the no respect card.
Unranked all season with a team made up almost entirely of freshmen and sophomores, the Jayhawks won their fifth straight Sunday, using a stirring comeback from a 16-point second-half deficit to beat No. 19 Oklahoma 59-58.
Mario Chalmers, who hit the go-ahead basket with 20 seconds left as Kansas won for the 12th time in 14 games, is hoping the national media take note.
“It’s a big win for us,” said Chalmers, one of three freshmen who start for the Jayhawks (15-6, 6-2 Big 12).
“People on ESPN have been talking — ‘Kansas can’t win the close games.’ Hopefully, they will get off our backs a little bit. I think that we earned a lot of respect by beating one of the toughest teams in the league.”
Freshman Brandon Rush, who had vision problems much of the first half after getting poked in the eye, wound up with 18 points and triggered the Jayhawks’ biggest comeback of the year with two quick 3-pointers after Oklahoma went ahead 50-34.
The Sooners (14-5, 5-3), who had won five in a row and beaten Kansas in three of their four previous meetings, seemed to seize command with a 16-4 run early in the second half. The Sooners were dominating the boards and Rush, Kansas’ leading scorer, was having a poor shooting day.
But then Rush came to life and the sellout crowd of 16,300 put up a deafening roar as Kansas ran off a 17-3 spree in the matchup of last year’s co-Big 12 champions.
“We couldn’t have played any better for 34 minutes,” Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said. “We had the crowd out of the game. It’s disappointing. This one is hard to handle because I thought we outplayed them for a long time and they outplayed us the last 6 minutes.”
Freshman Julian Wright dunked on a fast break in the run, following baskets by Chalmers and Rush.
Also prominent was C.J. Giles, who had three blocks in the second half and forced the Sooners to continually alter their shots.
“It gives me a lot more confidence about working hard and focusing more on the defensive aspects than the offensive,” he said.
Wright hit a follow shot that finally tied it at 55 with 2:06 to go. The 6-foot-8 Wright dunked home a miss by Rush for a 57-55 lead with 53 seconds left.
Michael Neal’s 3-pointer put Oklahoma on top 58-57, then Chalmers canned a floater for the game-winner.
The Sooners inbounded the ball with 19 seconds left. Rush blocked Terrell Everett’s shot, then Everett put it up again and missed. There was a held ball with 1.6 seconds to go and Oklahoma had the possession arrow.
Then, in a boneheaded move one might expect of a freshman, Rush threw the ball into the air instead of handing it to the official.
“I thought I was going to get a technical,” he said sheepishly.
But he didn’t. Oklahoma inbounded the ball, but Neal’s 3-pointer was short.
“I got it off as quick as I could,” Neal said. “There was contact I thought, but I wasn’t expecting to get a call. That’s just the way it goes.”
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The Jayhawks appeared rusty from a six-day layoff and missed 11 of their first 14 shots.
Then they began finding holes in the suffocating Oklahoma defense and unleashed a 10-0 run, highlighted by Jeff Hawkins’ crosscourt pass to Rush for a fast break layup and a three-point play by Chalmers.
The Sooners took a 29-26 halftime lead after Taj Gray stole the ball near midcourt and made a spectacular dunk a few seconds ahead of the buzzer.
The Sooners shot only 34.8 percent against Kansas’ NCAA-leading defense, but the nation’s rebound leaders held a 44-34 advantage on the boards.
Wright had 14 points for Kansas and Chalmers added 10.
Everett had 14 points and Gray added 13 points and 12 rebounds for Oklahoma. Neal had 11 points.
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.
Herb Pope scored 19 points, including four free throws in final 10 seconds, and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Seton Hall to a 73-66 victory over Pittsburgh on Sunday.
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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 day15 hr 10 min ago Michigan State sure shook up Big Ten by beating Buckeyes15 hr 55 min ago UNLV’s thrilling win vs. SDSU adds spice to MWC race20 hr 23 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.
