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 three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
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
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - As an assistant coach at Memphis last season, Derek Kellogg watched Kansas guard Mario Chalmers take a handoff on the wing and hit a 3-pointer that sent the national championship game into overtime.
Faced with a similar situation, this time as Massachusetts’ head coach, Kellogg knew what was coming — and his team defended it perfectly.
Tony Gaffney got a piece of Sherron Collins’ final shot and Massachusetts survived a mad scramble in the closing seconds, holding off No. 25 Kansas for a 61-60 victory Saturday.
“They ran the same play they did in San Antonio,” Kellogg said. “I kind of told my guys what play they would run.”
UMass (3-6) had trouble pulling out close games this season, with four of its six losses by seven points or less. The Minutemen appeared to be headed for another disappointment after watching a 14-point first-half lead get trimmed to one on a long 3-pointer by Collins with 20 seconds.
Chris Lowe had a chance to push the lead to three, but missed two free throws with 20 seconds left. Kansas had a final shot.
In the national championship game, Collins dribbled up the court and handed the ball off to Chalmers, who hit a tying 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left. Kansas went on to win 75-68 in overtime for its fifth national championship.
This time, Collins kept the ball and drove to the basket, flipping up a tough left-handed shot that Gaffney partially blocked. Kansas guard Conner Teahan grabbed the rebound, decided he couldn’t get a shot off, then tried to flip it to the top of the key.
Tyrel Reed ended up with the ball, but it was too late to get a shot off before the buzzer, setting off a celebration by the Minutemen near midcourt.
Ricky Harris had 18 points, Lowe added 12 and Massachusetts improved to 5-1 against defending national champions.
“We always joke around because the ball never seems like it trickles our way at the end of the game,” said Gaffney, who had 13 rebounds, six blocked shots, three assists and three steals. “We joke around about the basketball gods not being with us. I guess they were today. It’s a great feeling.”
Kansas (7-2), back in the Top 25 after being knocked out last week, came out flat, making sloppy passes and taking quick shots to fall behind by 14. The Jayhawks rallied to make it close, but couldn’t hit the shots down the stretch and saw their 30-game home winning streak end.
Cole Aldrich had 12 points and 13 rebounds for Kansas, which shot 34 percent overall and 5-of-23 from 3-point range. Collins, the Jayhawks’ leading scorer, had 19 points on 6-of-21 shooting, including 1-for-7 on 3-pointers.
“We deserved to get beat today — they controlled the game today,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “There’s a lot of times you don’t deserve to win and you do, and there’s a lot of times you don’t deserve to lose and you do. This is one of those games where UMass controlled the game.”
The game was played at the Sprint Center, about 45 minutes from KU’s campus. It was still considered a home game for the Jayhawks and felt like it, with most of near-sellout crowd of 17,252 wearing red and blue, cheering like it was Allen Fieldhouse.
They spent most of the first 20 minutes grumbling, watching Kansas play its worst half of the season.
Making weak passes and struggling against the physical Minutemen, Kansas went more than 7 minutes without a field goal and shot 8-for-28. Gaffney had something to do with it, blocking four shots by halftime, and the Jayhawks didn’t help themselves with 10 turnovers, most on ill-advised passes that had Self screaming from the bench.
Kansas also had numerous defensive breakdowns, giving UMass uncontested jumpers from the top of the key, 3-pointers from the corners. The Minutemen took advantage, getting eight points from Harris during a 16-1 run that put them up 32-18 with just over 3 minutes left.
“There’s not just one person you can blame,” Aldrich said. “We lost it as a team at the beginning when we didn’t come out and play.”
Kansas finally came to life late in the first half.
Sparked by Reed’s 3-pointer from the wing, the Jayhawks started hitting shots and picked up the defensive pressure, pulling within 36-30 by halftime.
Kansas kept the momentum going in the second half, chipping away until Reed hit a 3-pointer to give the Jayhawks a 46-45 lead, setting up a back-and-forth final 12½ minutes.
This time, UMass was able to finish it off.
“We’re starting to understand what it takes to win basketball games,” Harris said.
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.
Beyond the Arc: No. 11 Michigan State ends No. 3 Ohio State's 39-game home winning streak with a 58-48 victory.
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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.