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.
APSOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame's 2010 recruiting class includes two players from the Sporting News Top 100. Seven of the players rank among the top 250 in the country, according to Rivals.com. Of the 23 new Irish, two made USA Today's All-American team; one earned the honor from Parade.
So on the way in, this group of Irish won't make the wall with The Four Horseman image or reserve a spot with the national championship trophies. And their cumulative honors and ratings likely had Notre Dame fans seething at their computer screens Wednesday afternoon.
But Brian Kelly says fear not. The man has built his 18 winning seasons in 19 years legacy on taking players that nobody wanted and turning them into collegiate wonders and, on occasion, NFL contributors. So the thought that this year's class isn't full of Terrelle Pryors and Bryce Browns doesn't faze Notre Dame's new coach.
"I kind of like it," Kelly said at his news conference Wednesday afternoon. "I certainly don't have the pedigree, either."
The philosophy sounded great, and it worked well at Grand Valley State and Central Michigan and Cincinnati—schools that lack five-star tradition and five-star facilities and don't deal much with five-star recruits. But taking the same tact at Notre Dame? Well, history says he's got a chance.
The answer could come as soon as 52 weeks from now. Kelly said he spent much of Wednesday offering scholarships to highly touted juniors, promising them a one-year recruiting journey that will culminate with them faxing a signed letter of intent to Notre Dame this time next year. He pledged, as he did in his introductory news conference, to recruit the best players in the country that fit his system, regardless of anyone else's analysis.
"If they happen to have four or five stars," Kelly said, "beautiful. That's great."
Two obstacles prevented Kelly and his staff from doing that this year. First, they lacked time, with Kelly taking over less than two months ago. Second, they lacked success. The Irish have gone 16-23 in their last 39 games, most with (five-star recruit) Jimmy Clausen leading the team at quarterback.
Kelly's beliefs don't mean to indict the world of recruiting rankings. The consensus top 10 players in the Class of 2006, which is scheduled to graduate in May, included this season's NFL offensive rookie of the year, at least four first-round draft picks and maybe two No. 1 overall picks (Matthew Stafford in 2009, Oklahoma DT Gerald McCoy in April). These evaluators aren't just reading tarot cards.
Still, not everybody endorses the system. Wednesday, Phillip Fulmer sat in a New York television studio analyzing recruiting classes. During a break from the airwaves, he laughed as he recalled that when he coached Tennessee, he never paid attention to signing day analysis on the tube.
He also laughed about star ratings. Fulmer has four former players participating in Sunday's Super Bowl. Peyton Manning and Robert Meachem ranked among the most recruited players he ever signed, he said. Marvin Mitchell and Jabari Greer were anonymous before they came to Tennessee.
"And then you look at Drew Brees," Fulmer said. "Almost nobody was interested in him. You're never sure how things are going to turn out. You spend all this time, money and effort, and the fans get so high or so low, and you just, nobody knows."
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Nobody knew about Connor Barwin a few years back, either. He signed with Cincinnati and then-coach Mark Dantonio as an undersized tight end out of Jesuit High in Detroit. Rivals gave him two stars. As a college junior, he caught 31 passes and dreamed of a pro career.
Kelly, who took over at Cincinnati before Barwin's junior year, dreamed something else. He saw his team's best athlete dependent on a quarterback to get him the ball and a line to block for the quarterback. So Barwin became a defensive end, where he needed no help to wreak havoc. A conference-best 12 sacks and 4.37 40-yard dash time later, he was a second-round NFL draft pick.
"A lot of people wouldn't have made that switch," Barwin said by phone. "But that's Coach Kelly. The players always think he's doing the right thing. I can't really put my finger on it, but that's why they gravitate toward him."
So maybe Kelly and company will start pulling in Florida-level recruiting classes. Or maybe Notre Dame, circa 2014, will feature 22 Barwin-types in the starting lineup.
Either way, those seething fans expect more murals of legends, and more trophies. And only a slight clue of the future comes on national signing day.
It took a while for the light bulb to go on, but when it did, Jonas Gray finally showed the talent many had expected from the blue-chip prospect from Detroit. In a recent interview, Gray, who is rehabbing an ACL injury to get ready for the NFL Scouting Combine, expressed the confidence and support he has for head coach Brian Kelly.
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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.
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.
The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.
