Super Bowl XLVI
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.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Adreian Payne scored 15 points, Draymond Green added 12 and No. 11 Michigan State beat No. 3 Ohio State 58-48 Saturday night, ending the Buckeyes' 39-game home winning streak.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
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
NEW YORK - Same old story for Marquette. A close game and another win.
Same old story for the best teams in the Big East tournament. Earn a double bye and head home early.
Lazar Hayward gave Marquette the lead for good with a 3-pointer with 1:51 to play, then added the clinching free throws with 3.2 seconds left, and the Golden Eagles beat No. 10 Villanova 80-76 on Thursday in the quarterfinals.
The Golden Eagles have played 20 games against Big East opponents this season and 13 have been decided by four points or less. Marquette has learned how to survive the close ones, winning seven of the last eight games in that situation and all of those were by three points or less.
“It’s very hard to win games when your opponent shoots 54 percent and outrebounds you by five,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. “But our guys hung in there. We were a little out of sorts over the last minute because we were concerned that the scoreboard malfunctioned. We ended up winning by four. It’s been a long time since we’ve done that. And so we’re thankful it ended the way it did.”
Fifth-seeded Marquette (22-10) will face eighth-seeded Georgetown in the semifinals Friday night. The loss for fourth-seeded Villanova (24-7), coupled with top-seeded Syracuse’s 91-84 loss to the Hoyas earlier, dropped the teams that had earned double byes to 0-2 — and both came against teams they had beaten twice during the season. Last year, the first one with all 16 teams participating, the top four seeds followed their double byes by going 2-2 in the quarterfinals.
“I think that happens every year in the tournament. I think that’s what is great about tournaments,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said of top teams getting beaten in the postseason. “We’ve all played each other. We all know each other. I think that’s what makes the games great.”
Wright is still a fan of being allowed to skip the first two rounds of a tournament.
“If we would have won, you only have two more games to win a championship,” he said. “We all know the NCAA tournament is important. Your top teams aren’t beat down. ... There’s still a great advantage to only playing three games in a tournament and having a chance to win it all.”
Marquette, which beat St. John’s 57-55 in the second round, is making its second semifinal appearance, losing to Pittsburgh in 2008.
Darius Johnson-Odom was 5 of 7 from 3-point range and scored a career-high 24 points for the Golden Eagles, while Hayward had 20 points and seven rebounds.
“I think today I was attacking more, trying to create not just for myself but for my teammates,” said Johnson-Odom, who had seven points on 3-of-7 shooting against St. John’s. “Yesterday I thought I was a little passive on both ends of the court.”
Corey Stokes had 22 points for the Wildcats, who have lost five of six and have seen their expected seeding for the NCAA tournament continue to drop.
“We need to get better. I think we can,” Wright said. “We’ll take a day or two off. But we’ll have some good practices and we’ll improve between now and the time we play our first tournament game.”
These teams met twice in early January and Villanova won both games by two points. They were part of a stretch that saw the Golden Eagles get off to a 2-5 start in conference play. They were able to turn that around with a five-game winning streak and finished 11-7 in the league.
Adreian Payne scored 15 points, Draymond Green added 12 and No. 11 Michigan State beat No. 3 Ohio State 58-48 Saturday night, ending the Buckeyes' 39-game home winning streak.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
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Adreian Payne scored 15 points, Draymond Green added 12 and defense-minded No. 11 Michigan State beat No. 3 Ohio State 58-48 Saturday night, ending the Buckeyes' 39-game home winning streak.
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Trae Golden scored 17 points, Jeronne Maymon added 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Tennessee upset No. 8 Florida 75-70 Saturday, ending the Gators' home-winning streak at 19.