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
Dexter Strickland hit the go-ahead free throws with 2:34 left and North Carolina held William & Mary scoreless for the final 5 minutes in the Tar Heels’ 80-72 win in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday night in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Deon Thompson scored 20 points to lead the Tar Heels (17-16), the reigning national champions who found themselves in the NIT for the first time in seven years after a disappointing season. But they weathered a flurry of 3-pointers from the Tribe to ensure they would finish at least .500.
Tyler Zeller added 13 points for the fourth-seeded Tar Heels, who advanced to the second round to face Mississippi State.
David Schneider scored 21 points on seven 3-pointers for the fifth-seeded Tribe (22-11), who shot 16 for 43 from behind the arc and nearly eliminated North Carolina.
William & Mary led 72-69 on Schneider’s 3 with 5:07 left, but the Tribe missed its last six 3-point attempts while the Tar Heels kept getting to the line. Strickland hit four straight free throws that put North Carolina ahead 73-72, then Larry Drew II added two more. Two possessions later, Zeller stole a pass and raced downcourt for a dunk that gave the Tar Heels a 77-72 lead with 48.9 seconds left to effectively seal it.
It marked the first NIT appearance for North Carolina’s Roy Williams, who had won at least one NCAA tournament game for the past 20 seasons. He had missed the NCAAs only once before, in his first season when he inherited a Kansas program that was on probation, and had led the Tar Heels to a pair of national championships and three Final Fours in the past five seasons.
As if the sight of basketball royalty playing in the NIT wasn’t unusual enough, the game also marked the first time in 24 years that the men’s program played a regular-season or postseason game at Carmichael Arena. Carmichael was the program’s campus home for 20 years before moving into the Smith Center — which is currently undergoing some renovation work — in 1986.
Recent renovations at Carmichael had cut its capacity from around 10,000 in the 1980s to about 6,800 for this game, yet the game was a sellout and offered a surprisingly charged — and loud — environment in the building where program legends like Phil Ford, Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins once played under Hall of Famer Dean Smith.
The Tar Heels even got into the nostalgic spirit, donning the throwback uniforms from the 1957 national championship campaign that they had worn occasionally as part of a yearlong celebration of the program’s centennial season. Meanwhile, it also offered William & Mary coach Tony Shaver the chance to return to his alma mater and the building where he played in the 1970s.
The Tribe played without Quinn McDowell, its top 3-point shooter who sprained his right ankle during the Colonial Athletic Association tournament semifinals.
North Carolina scored the first nine points of the game and led 43-33 at halftime, but William & Mary rallied to take a four-point lead midway through the second half.
Jacksonville 67, Arizona State 66
Ben Smith scored a game-high 26 points, including a 24-foot jump shot with 1.5 seconds remaining and Jacksonville rallied to upset top-seeded Arizona State in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday night.
Sun Devils senior guard Derek Glasser missed the second of two free throws with 8.6 seconds remaining to give Arizona State (22-11) a 66-64 lead.
But Smith came down and hit his fourth 3-pointer of the half two steps behind the arc to give the Dolphins their first postseason win in eight games going back to the 1974 NIT.
"I want Ben Smith to have the ball at the end of the game," Jacksonville coach Cliff Warren said. "Every shot he takes I think is going in. But that one especially, I knew it was going to go in."
Ayron Hardy added 11 points for Jacksonville (20-12), which will face Texas Tech on Monday in the second round.
Rihards Kuksiks scored 16 of his team-high 21 points in the second half for the Sun Devils, who finished the season with consecutive losses after winning eight of their previous 10.
Mississippi State 81, Jackson State 67
Jarvis Varnado scored 21 points and had 11 rebounds to lead Mississippi State.
MSU (24-11) shot 40.7 percent from the field (22 for 54) and hit just 8 of 29 from 3-point range.
Jackson State (19-13) turned the ball over 16 times in the loss.
The Bulldogs will play North Carolina in the second round of the NIT on Saturday.
MSU opened the game on a 13-6 run and led 32-23 at the half. JSU rallied to within five points early in the second half, but came no closer after a 15-5 Bulldog run.
Dee Bost added 18 points for the Bulldogs and Kodi Augustus chipped in 13.
JSU’s Garrison Johnson scored a career-high 32 points, and Tyrone Hanson chipped in 11.
Connecticut 59, Northeastern 57
Jerome Dyson scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half and Connecticut hung on to win.
Dyson, who scored a total of 18 points in his previous three games, had 11 points in the final 7½ minutes to help bring UConn (18-15) back from a six-point deficit. His free throws with 53 seconds left provided the winning margin.
UConn’s Kemba Walker had a chance to ice the game, but missed the front end of two 1-and-1s in the final minute.
Baptiste Bataille’s 3-point attempt, which would have won the game for Northeastern at the buzzer, fell short.
Matt Janning scored 17 points for Northeastern (20-13), which finished second in the Colonial Athletic Association. Manny Adako added 14 points.
Connecticut advances to play the winner of Wednesday night’s game between Quinnipiac and top-seeded Virginia Tech.
Texas Tech 87, Seton Hall 69
John Roberson scored 22 points and Darko Cohadarevic recovered from a first-half low blow to score 12 points for the Red Raiders.
It was the 10th straight loss in the NIT for the Pirates (19-13), who have not won a game in the tourney since 1956.
Texas Tech took control of the game right after Seton Hall forward Herb Pope was ejected for delivering a blow to the groin of Cohadarevic, who remained on the floor for several minutes.
After Pope’s ejection with 14:17 left in the first half, the Red Raiders scored 13 straight points to take a 23-10 lead. Cohadarevic returned and scored six points in the first half.
Jeff Robinson paced the Pirates with 23 points.
Texas Tech (18-15) advances to face the winner Arizona State-Jacksonville.
NC State 58, South Florida 57
Dennis Horner scored 25 points and Richard Howell’s go-ahead layup with 8 seconds left barely beat the shot clock for the Wolfpack.
The officials reviewed Howell’s basket to see if he got the shot off before the shot clock expired and the call stood.
USF star Dominiques Jones had a look for a last shot, but passed it to Chris Howard, who then passed it to Augustus Gilchrist, who put up an airball.
Jones led the Bulls with 24 points.
North Carolina State advances to play UAB.
UAB 65, Coastal Carolina 49
Elijah Millsap scored 15 points and UAB never trailed Coastal Carolina.
UAB (24-8) held Coastal Carolina (28-7) scoreless for the first 5:10 of the game in building an 8-0 lead. The Blazers led 17-6 midway through the first half and maintained at least an eight-point advantage the rest of the way.
A 19-5 run gave UAB a 40-18 halftime lead. The Blazers scored only 44 points in losing to Southern Mississippi last week in the Conference USA tournament.
Chad Gray and Danny Nieman each had 12 points for the Chanticleers, who won the Big South Conference regular-season title, but lost in the championship game of the conference tournament.
Joseph Harris, the Chanticleers’ leading scorer this season with an average of 14.4 points, was held scoreless in the first half and finished with six points.
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.
 | Slideshow |
 | 10 teams who can win it all Rob Dauster details the most likely contenders to cut down the nets in April. NBCSports.com |
| 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 20 min ago Would Rick Pitino’s white suit work its magic vs. Syracuse?8 hr 15 min ago Here’s a shot you just can’t defend11 hr 22 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 |
 | Special feature |
 | Players to watch From Evan Turner to John Wall, here are 40 difference makers for the NCAA tournament. NBCSports.com |
How’s your bracket? |
 msnbc.com | Track your NCAA tournament bracket and see how it compares to your friends’ and your pool. |
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.
