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.
Getty Images
ST. LOUIS - Unbeaten, unchallenged and national champions.
After one last blowout, Connecticut could finally exhale and take its place in basketball history.
Tina Charles had 25 points and grabbed 19 rebounds Tuesday night as UConn routed Louisville 76-54 and captured the Huskies’ sixth title.
“I’m so overwhelmed how I feel about the way it ended,” Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said a few minutes after he helped cut down the nets at the Scottrade Center and was carried off the court. “This is the first time since the brackets came out I didn’t feel like I’m going to get sick, physically sick, thinking about everything that was ahead of us.”
It wasn’t just that Connecticut claimed another championship. It was how they did it.
UConn won every one of its 39 games by double digits, a first in college basketball.
“This is first time we can stop and enjoy the win for more than a couple of days,” said senior guard Renee Montgomery, with a beaming smile and a championship net dangling around her neck. “We’re always looking to the future. Now we have time to enjoy this win and all the other ones.”
Charles was the star of the final victory. She commanded both ends of the floor and Louisville, which lost badly to UConn for the third time this season, had no one who could stop her.
Auriemma had said before the tournament that his junior center would be the key to UConn winning the title. A year after he benched her in the NCAAs for inconsistent play, Charles delivered.
“I’m really happy for her,” Auriemma said.
“I told Tina before the game, I said ’Sunday night you played against an All-American center and you played defense and you worked as hard as the best center in America and now you have to prove it tonight’ and she did.”
Charles was 11-for-13 from the field, and fell just one rebound short of becoming only the second player ever in a championship game to have at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. She was named the outstanding player of the Final Four.
|
Maya Moore and Montgomery each added 18 points for the Huskies.
“It was another challenge and I wanted to show my teammates they could depend on me,” Charles said. “I wanted to send off Renee being happy. I wanted her to have all smiles for the next step in her career.”
Angel McCoughtry finished off her stellar career for Louisville with 23 points. Candyce Bingham was the only other Cardinal in double figures with 10 points as Louisville (34-5) shot a dismal 31 percent from the floor.
“We have nothing to be disappointed about,” McCoughtry said. “We’re going to hold our heads up high and we’re grateful to be here. We have so much to be proud of.”
Unlike its previous two wins over Louisville, it took about 15 minutes for UConn to begin pulling away from the Cardinals.
With the game tied at 17, Connecticut scored nine of the next 11 points, including seven by Charles, to take a 26-19 lead on her three-point play.
After Bingham scored to draw Louisville to 30-24, the Huskies turned up their defense. Louisville missed 18 straight shots spanning the half and Connecticut built a 19-point advantage.
“It’s the big stage, our first time playing in a national championship game,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. “The first five minutes was what I was most concerned about. We went back and forth and I felt really good about things. Then we started to rush some shots.”
Louisville came into its first title game with little pressure. The Cardinals were big underdogs, bidding to knock off three No. 1 seeds on their way to a championship.
Busloads of Louisville fans made the 250-mile trip from Kentucky to pull for the Cardinals, and even though the game wasn’t sold out for the first time in 17 years, the matchup of Big East schools still had a raucous feel to it.
But it was the Connecticut players celebrating at the end.
The victory put the Huskies in the same class as UConn’s other unbeaten teams, in 1995 and 2002. Besides Connecticut, only Tennessee and Texas have run through a season without a loss.
The title was Connecticut’s first since 2004. UConn was suffering through its longest “drought” since first winning in 1995.
Only the Lady Vols, with eight titles, have more than the Huskies.
With most of Connecticut’s team returning, it might be only a few more years before that changes.
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.
 | Video |
 |
Husky pride April 8: UConn defeats Louisville to claim their sixth NCAA women's basketball title. Coach Geno Auriemma says he is speechless and overwhelmed by the way it ended. |
 | 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 |
Latest NCAA tourney projections a seeding mess in middle3 hr 26 min ago Would Rick Pitino’s white suit work its magic vs. Syracuse?8 hr 21 min ago Here’s a shot you just can’t defend11 hr 28 min ago Five up, five down from college hoops’ huge day1 day 3 hr 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 |
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.
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.
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.
