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: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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.
It’s Monday, there must be a new No. 1.
This time it is Connecticut taking over at the top of The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, the fourth straight week with a new No. 1.
The Huskies (20-1) moved up from second to replace Duke (19-2), which fell to fourth after losing on a last-second shot to Wake Forest in its one week on top.
Wake Forest (17-2) was No. 1 two weeks ago, but the Demon Deacons lost to Virginia Tech and fell out. They had replaced Pittsburgh (19-2), which was No. 1 for two weeks before losing to Louisville. North Carolina (19-2) was a unanimous No. 1 in the preseason poll and for the first seven weeks of the season before losing to Boston College.
The five teams which have been No. 1 this season are from two conferences: North Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Pittsburgh and Connecticut of the Big East.
The record for consecutive weeks with a different No. 1 is seven in the 1993-94 season.
This is Connecticut’s first appearance at No. 1 since March 2006, and it is the Huskies’ 25th week on top, all since 1995.
“I look at it like winning a good in-season tournament like Maui, it’s an accomplishment for a minute, a day an hour, a week or whatever, but you want to be there in April,” Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said Monday. “It’s still a nice little niche. Out of 343 Division I teams how many have a chance to be No. 1? So it is nice to be there.”
The Huskies were challenged immediately and they answered with an impressive 68-51 victory at No. 5 Louisville on Monday night.
“This will be our fourth game in eight days and we have played in Chicago, South Bend and now here,” Calhoun said at his team’s morning shootaround. “That’s life in the Big East.”
Connecticut received 64 first-place votes from the 72-member national media panel to easily outdistance Oklahoma (21-1), which moved up from fourth. The Sooners were last ranked No. 2 in the 2002-03 season. The Sooners were No. 1 on five ballots.
Connecticut is also ranked No. 1 in the women’s poll, the fourth season in which both programs from that school have been on top.
“I’ll keep on saying something is going on in Storrs,” Calhoun said with a laugh. “I don’t know if anybody is listening, but there’s something going on in Storrs.”
North Carolina, which received three first-place votes, went from fifth to third and was followed by Duke, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Marquette, Xavier and Clemson.
Just as the top of the poll keeps changing so does the bottom. Three teams moved in this week: Minnesota returned after a one-week absence. Defending national champion Kansas had been out seven weeks. Utah joined for the first time this season.
Butler moved from 13th to No. 11 and was followed by Purdue, Michigan State, Memphis, UCLA, Texas, Villanova, Gonzaga, Minnesota and Syracuse.
The last five ranked teams were Kansas, Washington, Illinois, Arizona State and Utah State.
Saint Mary’s (18-3), which lost two games last week and had Patrick Mills, it best player, break his hand, and Kentucky (16-6) both fell out after being ranked for the one week.
Georgetown (12-8) dropped out from 25th after losing its fifth straight game. The Hoyas were ranked all season, getting as high as No. 9, which was when the losing streak began.
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Kentucky’s absence means the Southeastern Conference does not have a team in the poll for the first time since March 7, 1989, when it was still a Top 20. Tennessee, Florida and Kentucky of the SEC were all ranked at some point this season.
Minnesota (18-3), which was ranked for five weeks before dropping out last week, moved in at No. 19 following its dominating 59-36 victory over Illinois.
Kansas (17-4), which had to replace all five starters and a top reserve from the team that won it all last season, moved in at 20th having won six straight games since a loss at Michigan State.
Utah State (21-1) is ranked for the first time since a six-week run in 2003-04. The Aggies have won 16 straight since their only loss to Brigham Young.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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.
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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.
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