NCAA
MEN'S SWEET 16 INCLUDES ALL TOP SEEDS
The people who set up the seeds for the NCAA tournament got it right again. All four of the top seeds in the Division I men's tourney have won their first two games and have moved on to the Sweet 16.
Here's the lineup for this weekend.
At Charlotte
No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Washington State
No. 3 Louisville vs. No. 4 Tennessee
Nos. 1-4 all made it to this round.
At Detroit
No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 12 Villanova
No. 3 Wisconsin vs. No. 10 Davidson
No. 2 Georgetown fell to Davidson in the second round
No. 4 Vanderbilt lost to Siena in the first round
At Houston
No. 1 Memphis vs. No. 5 Michigan State
No. 2 Texas vs. No. 3 Stanford
No. 4 Pitt lost to Michigan State in the second round
At Phoenix
No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 12 Western Kentucky
No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 7 West Virginia
No. 2 Duke lost to WVA in the second round
No. 4 Connecticut lost to San Diego in the first round.
NHL
BIRON STAYS PERFECT AGAINST ISLES
Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Martin Biron continued his dominance of the New York Islanders on Sunday, leading Philadelphia to a 4-1 win over New York.
Biron stopped 32 shots to push his record to 6-0 against the Islanders this season! (And the former Buffalo Sabres star could face the Isles again when the teams face off on Saturday.)
Offensively, the Flyers made their power play opportunities (3-of-5) count. Vaclav Prospal, Braydon Coburn, and Daniel Briere all tallied goals with the one-man advantage. Scott Hartnell scored the Flyers' final goal.
Miroslav Satan scored the Islanders only goal late in the third period. With the loss, New York was eliminated from the playoffs.
Philadelphia is currently the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.
NBA
PAIR OF 31s HELPS WARRIORS TRIP UP LAKERS
Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis split 62 points evenly between themselves on Sunday as the Golden State Warriors kept their grip on the final playoff slot in the East.
With the win, Golden State improves to 43-26, which keeps them a game and a half in front of the Denver Nuggets, who sport a 42-28 mark and who beat Toronto 109-100 on Sunday. The Lakers, who are second in the West-just percentage points behind New Orleans, dipped to 48-22 with the loss.
Jackson connected on six three-pointers, including two key treys near the end of the game to keep the Warriors on top of the Lakers. Jackson and Ellis were both perfect from the charity stripe. Jackson was 9 for 9, and Ellis was 7 for 7.
The Lakers, still playing without Pau Gasol, who is nursing a sore ankle, were led by Kobe Bryant's 36 points. Lamar Odom swept the boards for 22 rebounds while scoring 19 points.
Golden State led at halftime 72-49.
OTHER NBA SCORES
Washington 95, Detroit 83
San Antonio 88, Dallas 81
Denver 109, Toronto 100
NBA NOTES
* Dirk Nowitzki went down in Dallas' 88-81 loss to the Spurs with a leg injury. The extent of the injury was not known after the game, but Nowitzki was planning to have it examined on Monday.
* The Iverson-Anthony combo piled up 69 points for the Nuggets on Sunday against the Raptors. Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony took 44 shots combined and made 24 of them. AI was 11 for 16 for 36 points while Melo was 14 for 28 for 33.
FACT OF THE DAY
TWO CINDERELLAS AT THE BIG DANCE
No. 12 Villanova
Conference: Big East
Conference record: 9-9
Season record: 21-12
Coach: Jay Wright, seventh season
Key player: Stephen Curry
Location: Villanova, Pennsylvania
Enrollment: 10,450
No. 10 Davidson
Conference: Southern
Conference record: 20-0
Season record: 27-6
Coach: Bob McKillop, 19th season
Key player: Scottie Reynolds
Location: Davidson, North Carolina
Enrollment: 1,680
SPORTS SPECTRUM INSIDER
Getting to the heart of what matters in life
TODAY'S FEATURE: TONY BENNETT, men's hoops coach, Washington State
BIO NOTE: Bennett, who played at Wisconsin-Green Bay in college and with the Charlotte Hornets in the pros, is in just his second season as an NBA head coach.
RECENT NEWS: On Sunday, Bennett's Washington State Cougars beat Notre Dame to advance to the Sweet 16. It's the first trip to that level of the tournament for WSU since 1941.
FAITH QUOTE: "In Philippians chapter 3, Paul says, 'I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.' I just think about that and ask, what do Laurel [Tony's wife] and I want our lives to be about? We want to be about forgetting everything else and knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection."
-Sports Spectrum magazine
MINI MEMOS
Putting the SS spin on today's sports news
DETROIT OPENS THE VAULT FOR MIGGY
Two things are certain, it seems: Gas prices and baseball salaries will continue to skyrocket. While fans try to figure out if they can afford to let their cars take them out to the ballgames, the Detroit Tigers will have to figure out how to pay Miguel Cabrera $150 million dollars or so to replace Brandon Inge. Detroit's resurgence in baseball has already paid big dividends at the box office. They are pretty much assured of another season of more than 3 million fans walking through the turnstiles at Comerica Park, so they must feel confident that Cabrera will help them be that popular for the next eight seasons of his contract.
ELAM MOVES EAST.
Jason Elam spends a lot of his offseason time in Alaska, serving as a missionary pilot for people in the bush areas of the northernmost state. Now, though, his day job will take him farther from Alaska than before. In 2008, Elam, who has kicked for the Denver Broncos since 1993, has signed up to boot pigskins for the Atlanta Falcons. Elam grew up in Snellville, Georgia, so this is a return home for the 38-year-old kicker.
TRADITION FLIES; BASEBALL STARTS
Old school: The Cincinnati Reds, the oldest team in professional baseball starts the major league season in early April to much fanfare and a feeling of freshness and anticipation. A nation observes this spring rite, and then everyone else follows as "Play Ball" is announced in ballparks across the fruited plains.
New school: In relative obscurity, the Boston Red Sox face the Oakland A's in Tokyo, Japan, as the baseball season mysteriously opens in March while much of America is still digging out from the latest snowstorm, the NCAA tournament has everyone's attention, and all the other teams are still playing spring training games.
This is an improvement? It's hard to imagine that Major League Baseball thinks this is a good idea.
KEEP AN EYE ON R.A.
One of the great stories of the 2008 season could be R. A. Dickey. The former hard-throwing pitcher, who found out after his college career that he was missing an important ligament in his pitching arm, is back in the majors after a two-year absence-armed with a new pitch. Dickey is a knuckle-ball pitcher, and he has been working to develop that pitch during a couple of minor league seasons. Move over, Tim Wakefield, you've got company.
SPRINT CUP STANDINGS
With five races in the books, here's a look at the leaders in the Sprint Cup standings. Next up for the NASCAR guys: Martinsville's half-mile track in Martinsville, Virginia and the Goody's Cool Orange 500. The NASCAR circuit, as is tradition, takes Easter weekend off. Good for NASCAR.
Driver | Points | 2007 finish
1. Kyle Busch 782 5
2. Greg Biffle 752 14
3. Kevin Harvick 749 10
4. Jeff Burton 745 8
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 686 16
6. Kasey Kahne 674 19
7. Tony Stewart 656 6
8. Ryan Newman 635 13
9. Clint Bowyer 606 3
10. Kurt Busch 605 7
Other notables:
Matt Kenseth 11th
Jeff Gordon 14th
Carl Edwards 16th
Sam Hornish Jr. 35th
INSIDE SPORTS SPECTRUM
Do you read Sports Spectrum magazine? If you do, you'll be able to identify the following athlete featured in the March-April edition of the magazine, which is arriving in mailboxes across the country this week.
MONDAY'S SPORTS SPECTRUM FEATURE
WHO IS THIS PERSON?
* He played last year for the Colorado Rockies
* He's an infielder who now plays for Cleveland.
* He began his career with the Montreal Expos.
WHO IS THIS PERSON?
THURSDAY'S SPORTS SPECTRUM FEATURE
* He has won the French Open in tennis.
* He has won the US Open in tennis.
* He has won the Australian Open in tennis.
* He has won those playing doubles with Dan Nestor.
WHO IS THIS PERSON? BRIAN KNOWLES
SPORTS SPECTRUM RADIO
SS DAILY INTERVIEW
To hear today's interview, go to the Sports Spectrum radio home page. It can be found at www.sport.org.
THE MONDAY GUEST
JIMMY MARTIN, former NCAA wrestling champ
For Jimmy Martin, March Madness took place on a mat, not a basketball floor. Martin, who is now an orthopedic surgeon, captured the NCAA championship in the 126-pound weight class when he was at Penn State in the late 1980s. While at Penn State, Martin got a bonus. Someone explained the gospel to him, and he became a Christian. On this SS interview, the talks about how his newfound faith affected his life.
