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.
AP
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Rick Pitino kept waiting for John Wall to lose his cool.
Moments after Louisville quieted a record Rupp Arena crowd by taking a one-point lead over No. 3 Kentucky midway through the second half on Saturday, Pitino thought for a second maybe — just maybe — the freshman superstar would finally blink.
Instead, Wall responded with six straight points to spark Kentucky’s gritty 71-62 win over its archrival — and win Pitino’s admiration in the process.
“When a game gets a little tight like that, with the game on the line, it just shows you how great Wall is because it didn’t faze him,” Pitino said.
Not much does.
Not the constant jawing with Louisville players. Not the countless bumps, nudges and hits he took while trying to get down the court. Not the pressure of playing in the spotlight while trying to return the Wildcats to national prominence.
“He decided to take the game over,” Kentucky forward Patrick Patterson said. “John got the ball and pushed it, blew by defenders and made several big shots.”
Wall scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half as the Wildcats (15-0) matched their best start in 40 years by breaking a two-game losing streak to the Cardinals (10-4).
“I’m playing at another level I never thought I could play at,” Wall said. “I always played good when I was in high school but playing for (Kentucky coach John) Calipari, he’s going to take you to another level and get you better. I thought I was at the top of my potential when I was in high school. I’m nowhere near it.”
It’s a scary proposition for opponents, particularly after the Cardinals did their best to frustrate Wall in one of the most contentious meetings in the series’ long history.
The jawing started in the tunnel well before tipoff, continued through warm-ups then really got going once the ball was in the air.
The teams combined for 51 fouls — including five technicals — and had to be separated on several occasions.
Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson added 17 points and teammate DeMarcus Cousins posted his fourth straight double-double with 18 points and 18 rebounds, though he narrowly missed being ejected 45 seconds into the game after getting tangled up with Louisville’s Jared Swopshire.
The two were battling for a loose ball when Louisville’s Reginald Delk pushed Cousins from behind. Cousins appeared to swing his right forearm at Swopshire’s head as he tried to get up. All three players received technical fouls but none was ejected.
Cousins said it was simply the cost of doing business.
“It was intense,” Cousins said. “I was just going for the ball. They tried to get physical and we got physical with them. They tried to rough us up.”
The Wildcats pushed back and dominated at times. Louisville missed 18 of its first 19 shots and Kentucky built an 18-5 lead.
Yet Louisville hung tough behind the play of Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith. The senior guards finished with 11 points each and helped the Cardinals rally to take a 42-41 lead on a free throw by Terrence Jennings with 9:51 to go.
“I guess they tried to intimidate us from the beginning, but it didn’t happen,” Sosa said. “We wanted this game bad. They were doing a lot but we didn’t want to play dirty.”
Still, the Cardinals couldn’t contain Wall when it mattered. He started the game-turning 14-3 run with a tough leaner along the baseline then added a pull-up jumper to extend the lead to three. He stripped the ball from Louisville’s Peyton Siva and knocked down a pair of free throws after being fouled trying to finish on the break.
In the midst of his run he even managed to get the first technical foul of his college career after exchanging words with Smith. Though Wall admits he came “close” to losing his temper, he simply used his anger to fuel the Wildcats.
“We were saying everything,” Wall said with laugh.
Perry Stevenson added a reverse layup, Ramon Harris drilled a 3-pointer and Patrick Patterson converted a three-point play to give Kentucky a 55-45 lead with 5:35 to go.
Louisville kept scrapping but got no closer than seven the rest of the way.
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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