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.
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.
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.
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.
APLAWRENCE, Kan. - Seems a behemoth like Wayne Simien can come with a shadow so dark, we forget about all the supporting stars underneath him that churn out victories by the dozens at the University of Kansas.
With Simien on the sidelines, Kansas has turned in two of the biggest wins of the season. How? To start, the rest of the Jayhawks came hungry for respect — and revenge — against No. 9 Georgia Tech, the same squad that knocked KU out of the NCAA Tournament last year.
And, with a national media throng sitting courtside and a national viewing audience watching from their television sets, the Jayhawks brushed off a horrible funk early and rallied for a 70-68 overtime victory at Allen Fieldhouse, an endearing barn that about had its roof blown off by the capacity crowd in attendance.
The second, maybe more impressive win, came Sunday on the road against Kentucky. It was the first time the Jayhawks had ventured out of the Kansas City metro area — one of their first 10 games was in Kansas City, Mo. — into a place where top 10 teams were a miserable 6-25.
And Kansas' 65-59 win wasn't pretty, with neither team shooting better than 40 percent from the field. But it proved that coupled with the Georgia Tech win, Kansas may indeed be tougher than anyone thought.
So what do we make of these Jayhawks now, after witnessing the most exciting game of the college basketball season to this point? Before the instant classic on New Years Day, this Kansas team was unproven, young and missing their big name, Simien, out for two more weeks with ligament damage in his thumb.
Georgia Tech, meanwhile, countered with one of the most talented, experienced teams in college basketball. Led by gutsy point guard Jarrett Jack and 7-foot-1 center Luke Schenscher, who makes a difference by simply being there, Tech rolled to an 18-4 lead, executing its offensive plays to perfection and not allowing the Jayhawks to get any sort of a decent shot off on the other end.
It looked, quite simply, pathetic for Kansas. Was Simien this valuable to a team with national championship aspirations? Where was Keith Langford, Aaron Miles and Michael Lee, the young role players on KU’s talent-laced Final Four teams of 2002 and 2003? Isn’t it there turn to shine in 2005?
“At that point,” senior Keith Langford said of the gigantic early deficit, “you’re trying not to lose by 40.”
Ah, but we quickly learned that those non-Simien guys are good, after all. Miles had one of his best games as a Jayhawk, scoring 14 points and adding eight assists — enough to move him past Jacque Vaughn into first place on KU’s all-time dime-dropping list. Langford found his inside-outside game in time, pouring in 18 points, including two three-pointers, and adding six rebounds.
J.R. Giddens, the super soph that could flirt with the NBA after this season, hit four treys and added 16 points.
They weren’t eye-popping statistics, and none were career-high numbers, but there was something else that shined brighter than Dick Vitale’s dome on this day. And it was nowhere to be found in the postgame box score.
”They’re probably the grittiest team we’ll ever play,” said Jack, who had 26 points himself. “They didn’t put their head down when we jumped on them early. They stayed and fought tough.”
Welcome to the intangible that makes champions, ladies and gentlemen. With the NCAA Tournament the crapshoot that it is, the best team won’t always come away with the national title. Ask UNLV in 1991, Kansas in 1997 and Duke in 1999.
To fight the luck factor, a team needs grit in the face of adversity. And is there anything more adverse than trailing by 16 points to last year’s national runner-up, with the star of the team on the side in a tan suit?
Kansas showed much of the same against Kentucky, getting big games from unsung players like former walk-on Christian Moody, who led the Jayhawks in scoring with 11 points. Freshman C.J. Giles added 10 points, six rebounds and two big blocks before fouling out.
In short, it was the kind of game that didn't impress anyone, but left one thinking Kansas can persevere through anything.
”We don’t always have to play well-enough to win,” KU coach Bill Self said, “if you are tough.”
Now that the whole nation knows, it might be time to consider Kansas serious contenders for its first title since 1988 this spring — with or without Wayne Simien leading the way.
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.
Beyond the Arc: No. 11 Michigan State ends No. 3 Ohio State's 39-game home winning streak with a 58-48 victory.
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 | College hoops power rankings A look at the top teams in college basketball based on performance and potential. NBCSports.com |
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Five up, five down from college hoops’ huge day11 hr 13 min ago Michigan State sure shook up Big Ten by beating Buckeyes11 hr 58 min ago UNLV’s thrilling win vs. SDSU adds spice to MWC race16 hr 26 min ago |
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 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. |
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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.
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.
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.