Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
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
SPOKANE, Wash. - Candice Wiggins checked off the one accomplishment missing in her career at Stanford — getting the Cardinal back to the Final Four.
The three-time Pac-10 player of the year, Wiggins scored 41 points, and got some help from unlikely sources as the second-seeded Cardinal pulled away from No. 1-seed Maryland 98-87 on Monday night in the Spokane Regional final.
Playing with a swagger and confidence bred from Stanford being denied a No. 1 seed in the tournament, the Cardinal are back in the Final Four for the first time in 11 years. They will face either Connecticut or Rutgers in the national semifinals in Tampa.
“We knew coming in we were the underdogs,” Wiggins said through tears as her teammates jumped up-and-down on the NCAA logo as “All Right Now” was played by the Stanford band. “We stayed tough and did the things that got us here and we’re going to keep it going.
“It’s amazing. It’s the most incredible feeling.”
With a young supporting cast, Stanford took its cue from Wiggins, its senior star who failed in two previous regional finals as a freshman and sophomore. She bounced all over the court, providing problems for the Terrapins, whether hitting step-back 3-pointers or rising between defenders in the lane.
Her best bouncing may have come at the end, when Wiggins started hoping around, leaving the ball on the court as the final seconds ticked off.
“My teammates had my back, they always had my back,” she said. “We knew coming in we were going to win this game. It’s such a wonderful feeling.”
After hitting for a career-best 44 against UTEP in the second-round, Wiggins was 10 of 22 shooting, including five 3-pointers, and made 16 of 19 free throws. The 41 points was the fifth best performance in tournament history and she is the first player with two 40-point games in tourney history.
When teammates JJ Hones and Kayla Pedersen, both complements to Wiggins, hit big shots in the first half to give Stanford a comfortable advantage, Maryland could never climb back.
Hones scored a career-high 23 points — then laid down on the giant NCAA logo at midcourt after the final buzzer. Pedersen added 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds as the duo made up for a night where Jayne Appel, Stanford’s second leading scorer, was held in check and scored just 11.
Stanford won its 22nd straight, and will be the first Final Four team from West of the Rockies since the Cardinal’s appearance in 1997. It will be Stanford’s seventh Final Four trip, and the Cardinal matched a school record with their 34th win of the season, behind their third-highest scoring output of the season.
“I’m so proud of our team,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.
Meanwhile, the Terrapins (33-4) failed in their attempt to reach the Final Four two years after winning their only national title. Kristi Toliver led Maryland with a career-high 35 points, but was forced to be more of a scorer than distributor as ACC player of the year Crystal Langhorne was stymied by the swarming interior defense of Stanford.
Langhorne took just six shots and scored 13 points as Appel and Pedersen collapsed on Maryland’s senior center every time she touched the ball. Langhorne scored 28 in Maryland’s regional semifinal win over Vanderbilt.
It was Wiggins who ignited the Cardinal’s decisive run early in the second half. Toliver’s 3-pointer got the Terrapins within 56-51 with 14:50 left, the closest they had been since trailing 41-38 late in the first half.
Wiggins immediately answered with a catch-and-shoot 3 of her own, and after a Maryland miss, Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, scoreless at the time, hit Stanford’s 11th 3-pointer of the night.
Appel then blocked Laura Harper on defense, and put back Pedersen’s miss for a 13-point Cardinal advantage. Pedersen then capped the spurt with a three-point play.
Maryland made one final charge. Toliver scored nine straight points to pull Maryland within single digits at 79-72 following a 3 with 6:19 to play. Wiggins answered with a 3 from the top of the arc moments later.
Toliver added a rainbow baseline jumper to stay within eight, but Maryland went 1 of 5 at the free-throw line over the next two minutes, missing its best chance to rally.
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.
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