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.
PITTSBURGH - The only surprises these days for No. 17 Pitt seem to be unpleasant ones.
After beating Syracuse, Connecticut and Louisville during a five-game winning streak that began Big East play, the Panthers probably realized it would be difficult to maintain that unexpectedly high level of play.
They were the surprise team of the Big East after being picked to finish ninth in the conference, and a breakout team nationally during what is supposed to be a start-all-over-again season.
While a falloff probably was inevitable for a team that returned only one regular from a year ago, the Panthers (15-4, 5-2) didn't expect so much to go wrong so suddenly.
Their guards, steady and productive all season, lost their shooting touch. Their defensive intensity lessened. They began turning the ball over at a rate uncharacteristic for a Jamie Dixon-coached team.
"It's not like we're overconfident now," Dixon said following successive losses to now-No. 7 Georgetown (74-66) on Jan. 20 and unranked Seton Hall (64-61) on Sunday.
While the Panthers didn't tumble out of the Top 25, they dropped eight spots this week after reaching the Top 10 for the first time this season at No. 9. They have a chance to get turned around when they play St. John's (12-7, 2-5) on Thursday night, and it's one they don't want to waste.
"We just have to bounce back from these losses and get going again," center Gary McGhee said. "We haven't lost any confidence. We just committed too many turnovers (20) against Seton Hall and had a few defensive mishaps against Georgetown that kept us from winning those games, so we need to turn those games around."
It would help if leading scorer Ashton Gibbs (17.3 points per game) would rediscover his shooting touch.
After going 18 of 28 during a three-game stretch, Gibbs has made 21 of 58 shots (36.2 percent) during his last four games. There's nothing wrong with his free-throw shooting — he's 22 of 23 during the same stretch — but defenses aren't giving him the open shots he saw earlier this season.
Jermaine Dixon also is slumping, making only 16 of 47 shots (34 percent) in his last four. Pitt has been so reliant upon its guards for scoring, the rest of the offense isn't making up for all those missed shots.
Nasir Robinson scored a career-high 26 points against Louisville on Jan. 16, but had only nine points combined in the two losses.
"Our offense is based on our perimeter guys," Jamie Dixon said. "But when you turn it over, you don't get enough shots. And that was our problem (against Seton Hall). We didn't get enough shots."
St. John's is coming off losses to Connecticut (75-59) and No. 4 Villanova (81-71). The Red Storm's leading scorer is guard D.J. Kennedy (15.3 points), a Pittsburgh native who played three seasons ago with former Pitt star DeJuan Blair on Schenley High's Pennsylvania state championship team.
"Basketball is a game of ups and downs, so after a five-game winning streak in the Big East we've got two losses in a row," Pitt forward Gilbert Brown said. "That's due to a loss of focus on the court. I really believe in this team, and I think it's going to pull out of this quickly."
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.
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.