Everyone knows about the freshman guard who does everything. It’s Derrick Rose of Memphis, and the biggest question about his NBA future isn’t whether he’ll go, but whether he’ll have an NCAA championship in tow when he does.But there’s another good one in this South Regional. His name is Kalin Lucas, the penetrating point guard [...]
Scottie Reynolds might not be here today if a woman he has never met had made a different decision years ago.Villanova’s star guard reflected Thursday – a day before the 12th-seeded Wildcats played top-seeded Kansas in the Midwest Regional semifinals – on the pivotal choice his birth mother made 20 1/2 years ago in Alabama. [...]
At some point Friday night, perhaps as early as pregame layups, the chants will start.”Texas!” the burnt-orange throng on one side of the stadium will holler. “Fight!” the other side will answer. Brook Lopez and his Stanford teammates will notice, of course – 25,000 people tend to make a lot of noise. And with their [...]
Stephen Curry went off for 70 points – 70 points! – in the first two games of the NCAA tournament. Against two of the stingiest defensive teams in the country, no less. Big deal. That was sooo last weekend. Instead of kicking back and savoring his accomplishment, Curry is prepping for the toughest test of [...]
UCLA can make a double-digit victory look difficult.With Kevin Love scoring a career-high 29 points, the Bruins nearly frittered away a 21-point halftime lead and hung on to defeat Western Kentucky 88-78 in the NCAA West Regional on Thursday night. Top-seeded UCLA (34-3) will play No. 3 seed Xavier on Saturday for a trip to its [...]
Tennessee’s Wayne Chism tried to pick up the loose ball, only to be quickly outnumbered. Louisville’s Earl Clark and Preston Knowles both dove to the floor, and the ball deflected off Chism out of bounds. It was what Rick Pitino loves: down and dirty defense, floor burns and hustle, and it’s left the Cardinals’ coach a [...]
Roy Williams has never stopped pushing his North Carolina team to play better defense, not even as it piled up lopsided wins and crowd-pleasing offensive displays that few teams can match. The Tar Heels gave their Hall of Fame coach what he’s been asking for in the East Region semifinal against Washington State — and it [...]
In a span of 48 critical seconds late in overtime, B.J. Raymond made more 3-pointers than the entire West Virginia team did all night.He went from “non-factor” to nonplussed, calmly knocking down two long-range jumpers that lifted Xavier past coach Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers 79-75 Thursday night in the West Region semifinals. Third-seeded Xavier (30-6) rallied from a [...]
Terrence Williams saw Louisville’s season slipping away, and it was only November.Williams and the Cardinals were in Las Vegas for a tournament when he found out senior center David Padgett had a broken kneecap and might not return this season. Williams left Padgett’s hotel room and started crying. “There is new technology, you can drive [...]
Two players can’t win an NCAA title by themselves, even if they’re Darren Collison and Kevin Love.The slick junior point guard and gifted freshman center accounted for 40 of UCLA’s 51 points in the Bruins’ 51-49 second-round squeaker over Texas A&M. But it was an aberration, the two players say, and the wealth will be [...]
