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?
LIVE VIDEO: NBCSports.com shows Washington-New York, with alternate camera angles, HD views and more.
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
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Even at less than his best, Tyler Hansbrough was a welcome sight in the lineup for his North Carolina teammates.
A rusty Hansbrough scored 13 points in his delayed season debut, one of six players in double figures for the top-ranked Tar Heels, who beat UC Santa Barbara 84-67 Friday night.
Hansbrough missed the first two games for Carolina (3-0) because of a stress reaction in his right shin. Last season’s national player of the year had only practiced a few times this week after being held out since the injury was diagnosed in October.
“I’m not in the best shape, but it was good to help out my team,” he said. “I feel a little out of sync. I was just trying to come out and get in the groove.”
Coach Roy Williams said he decided 15 minutes before the game to play Hansbrough after watching him warm up.
“I wanted to see how he felt. He felt great about it,” Williams said. “Every time I took him out, he told me he was ready to go back in.”
Hansbrough played 25 minutes in the Tar Heels’ first road game of season, a sellout in the 6,000-seat Thunderdome. The last time the Gauchos hosted a No. 1 team was in 1991, when they lost 76-55 to defending national champion UNLV.
James Nunnally scored a career-high 19 points off the bench for the Gauchos (1-2), who fell to 0-3 against Carolina, all double-digit losses.
“My teammates looked for me early, and I appreciate their trying to find me and get me going,” Nunnally said. “I try to be a spark off the bench and just try to come with energy every game, and that’s what I did. It paid off.”
Hansbrough had played in all 108 games in his first three years for Carolina before missing the first two this season. He finished with seven rebounds, two assists, two turnovers, one blocked shot and one steal. He made 9-of-10 free throws, all in the first half, and dunked early in the second half.
Ty Lawson scored 19 points, Wayne Ellington added 17, Deon Thompson 12 points and 10 rebounds, Danny Green 11 and Ed Davis 10 for the Tar Heels, who controlled the boards, 34-24.
North Carolina opened the game on an 18-10 run, with Hansbrough scoring seven points — all on free throws — and coming up with key assists in his first minutes of the season.
But then Hansbrough went to the bench for a breather and the Gauchos put together a 17-7 spurt to take a 27-22 lead. Greg Somogyi, a 7-foot-2 center, got things going with a dunk, then Jesse Byrd scored six points in a row and Paul Roemer tossed in two 3-pointers that had the student section delirious.
“I thought we got a little more rattled at times that you’d like to see,” UCSB coach Bob Williams said. “And we’re not as far along in terms of being able to execute and control our pace. A couple of times we were in the midst of a pretty good run and we would just get overzealous and try to do a little bit more than what we we’re capable of.”
Hansbrough returned and having their floor leader back brought the desired effect. The Tar Heels regrouped and closed the half on a 23-10 run to lead 45-37. They scored 13 in a row, including seven straight by Lawson that gave them the lead for good.
“The first half they made a nice run and we made a nice run right back at them,” Roy Williams said. “We played with a great deal of poise. The enthusiasm of the crowd was sensational.”
The Gauchos came out strong to start the second half, twice drawing within five, both times on baskets by Nunnally, whose jumper had them trailing 53-48.
“They’re the No. 1 team in the country — they’re awfully good — and I thought we had some really good moments,” Bob Williams said. “We just need to put together a lot more of those really good moments to be the type of team that we really want to be.”
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.
 | Slideshow |
 | College hoops power rankings A look at the top teams in college basketball based on performance and potential. NBCSports.com |
Latest from Beyond the Arc |
Five up, five down from college hoops’ huge day14 hr 53 min ago Michigan State sure shook up Big Ten by beating Buckeyes15 hr 38 min ago UNLV’s thrilling win vs. SDSU adds spice to MWC race20 hr 5 min ago |
 | College basketball videos |
 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. |
| Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
 | Slideshow |
 |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
Ask the college basketball expert |
 |
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.
NBC Sports TV and livestream listings
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.