Will Cricket ever be replaced in India?

WARNING: Cricket lovers may or may not be offended while reading this article. Sachin lovers may hurt their necks while nodding their heads excessively. And basketball lovers in India are going to shoot themselves in their feet out of exasperation.

Right now, it is hard to escape the Cricket hysteria in India. From the time of writing this, the first ball of the Cricket World Cup Final, held between India and Sri Lanka in Mumbai, is only about 22 hours away. But the country is already in fever pitch. In the last few weeks, the media has had a field day with India's and its testing games, against three-times champions and Bond-villains Australia and our neighbours/enemies/rivals/little brothers Pakistan, a game that had 1.4 billion people watching it worldwide.

Now we're in the Final, and I feel that about 90% of the newspaper stories, TV tickers, SMS messages, water-cooler discussions, Facebook Status-updates, and Twitter hashtags from India are cricket-related. The craziness has from Numerologically enlightened astrologers giving advice to our players to attention-seeking pin-up Models offering our 'Boys in Blue' a red-blooded strip-tease; with each win, more and more Indians have gotten involved. The Pakistan game on Wednesday was a half working day to most, including the government. Few work on Saturday, but there will be even fewer outdoors during the cricketing hours. Every relevant leader, celebrity, and sporting hero has had their say.

It might not be a stretch to call this the most hyped sporting event in India, at least in my lifetime. And it was funny, because when the World Cup began a month and a half ago, the lack of interest was startling. There were too many meaningless games, India's contests were stretched out too far from each other, and even the promotion on the billboards/TV channels seemed hollow.

Back then (it seems a lifetime ago), it was surprisingly shocking to me that India is hosting the biggest tournament of its favourite game, and India was playing as favourites, and yet, the hype was missing. I compared it to the FIFA World Cup, a football competition held in another country, and a sport that is, at best, second in India, and India were far from even getting a sniff at the top 32 nations that participated - and yet, the reception to the Football World Cup here seemed crazier.

I take all that back now. I have been alive for about 26 and a half years, and India has been feeding on a cricket frenzy for about 28, ever since Kapil Dev hoisted our last (and only) World Cup Trophy at Lords, England, in 1983. India's greatest ever, and perhaps the world's greatest ever, Sachin Tendulkar made his debut in 1989 - I was five, and it was around the same time I made my own cricket-watching debut. Tendulkar, and through him, the game of cricket, became my first love.

But as time has passed, that love has diminished substantially. Tendulkar is still my first love, but I'm committed to my soulmate now, the game of basketball. Which is perhaps why, even though I spend night and day in pursuit of hoops-enlightenment, I still get a soft spot every time Sachin heads out to play. I only watch cricket if India is playing, and I doubt very much if I will be able to have any interest once Sachin retires. It would make it a fitting full circle of my affair with cricket, started and finished by the same man.

Because Cricket itself - and I'm sorry to say this my bat-and-ball fanatic friends - is a fairly lame sport. The games go on for five days (Test) or nine hours (ODIs). Even the 'shortest' form is three hours long, and it is considered to be the game's most meaningless form. Cricket has become disgustingly embroiled with big money bets and fixing, making fans suspicious of almost anything aberrational that occurs in the game. Athletically, cricket players are a joke when compared to the top class individuals in other sports that require some form of running. And its a game played competitively amongst about 10 teams in the world, with five or six others flirting with the big boys and (mostly) getting a whooping. Yes, India is the best in the world, but we need to curb our enthusiasm in being the best at something that, frankly, most countries don't really give a shit about.

Plus, the game has been so disgustingly commercialised that I cringe at myself for even sitting through it, and then, out of patriotism and childhood habits, I sit through it anyways. Of course, it doesn't make any sense to completely rid cricket of sponsorships or endorsements, but things get out of hand when fans spend a higher proportion of the day watching Hyundai advertisements than good cricketing shots.

Worst of all, Cricket's bonanza rise has meant a sharp dip in fan popularity and financial support for other sports in India. Cricket isn't the only sport where we are successful - India is rising in Tennis, Badminton, Chess, and of course our 'National Sport', Field Hockey. We are an improving nation in Football and of course, there is a rising wave of interest for basketball in the country.

But nothing, unfortunately, absolutely nothing, will ever catch the entire country's emotions like cricket does. If the Yao Ming affect was to happen in India - i.e. - an Indian was good enough to make the NBA, it would still not change our culture like the culture in China. China has passionately embraced hoops over the last 10 years. In India, any other sport can only aim at becoming number two at best.

And why is that, you ask? Because with the rise of other sports like Football, Basketball, or Tennis, the share of fan interest, at best is going to be divided. No single hoops event anywhere in the world is going to halt the Indian government on a Wednesday afternoon like the India-Pakistan Semi-Final did. Nothing that the Indian Football Team achieves will be considered a bigger achievement than India potentially lifting a Cricket World Cup. In India, even the individual 'stars' of other sports, like Viswanathan Anand, Somdev Devvarman, Sushil Kumar, Saina Nehwal, Abhinav Bindra, or others, are only known because the Media has chosen to occasionally focus on them as individuals - very rarely has that interest spilled to the sport itself being hyped - The names above are arguably bigger in India than Chess, Tennis, Weightlifting, Badminton, or Shooting.

At best - and I'm obviously speaking from a hoops-point-of-view here - we Hoopistanis can hope for a number two spot in India. Who knows if the best players in India will ever receive the love and adulation usually reserved for cricketers... Who knows if the most-discussed sporting event in India, even for a day, will ever be a basketball game. What we can be fairly sure of is, barring a disaster of catalslymic events (every cricket game is fixed, and thus the game is like WWE, or the 2012 apocalpyse), Cricket will never be replaced in India.

Games and Events to Watch

Games to Watch in the MLB Today
Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander) at New York Yankees (CC Sabathia)
San Diego Padres (Tim Stauffer) at St. Louis Cardinals (Chris Carpenter)
San Francisco Giants (Tim Lincecum) at Los Angeles Dodgers (Clayton Kershaw)

Games to Watch in the NBA Today
Boston Celtics (51-22, 2nd in the eastern conference) at San Antonio Spurs (57-17, 1st in western conference)
Dallas Mavericks (53-21, 3rd in the western conference) at Los Angeles Lakers (53-20, 2nd in the western conference)

Games to Watch in the NHL Today
Toronto Maple Leafs (35-32-10, 80 points, 10th in the eastern conference) at Boston Bruins (43-23-10, 96 points, 3rd in the eastern conference)
Pittsburgh Penguins (45-24-8, 98 points, 4th in the eastern conference) at Tampa Bay Lightning (41-24-11, 93 points, 4th in the eastern conference)
Los Angeles Kings (44-26-6, 94 points, 5th in the western conference) at Vancouver Canucks (51-17-9, 111 points, 1st in the western conference)
Dallas Stars (38-26-11, 87 points, 9th in the western conference) at San Jose Sharks (44-23-9, 97 points, 3rd in the western conference)

Matches to Watch on the ATP Today
(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)
Miami Quarterfinals:
3. Roger Federer vs 25. Gilles Simon
1. Rafael Nadal vs 7. Thomas Berdych

Matches to Watch on the WTA Today

(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)

Miami Semifinals:

16. Maria Sharapova vs 21. Andrea Petkovic

3. Vera Zvonareva vs 8. Victoria Azarenka

Tournaments to Watch on the PGA Tour Today

Shell Houston Open First Round:

Notable players to watch include: Matt Kuchar (7:50 AM tee time), Hunter Mahan (7:50 AM tee time), Lee Westwood (12:40 PM tee time), and Phil Mickelson (12:40 PM tee time)

Games and Events to Watch

Games to Watch in the NBA Today
Orlando Magic (47-27, 4th in the eastern conference) at Atlanta Hawks (42-32, 5th in the eastern conference)
Houston Rockets (39-35, 9th in the western conference) at Philadelphia 76ers (38-36, (43-31, 6th in eastern conference)
Portland Trail Blazers (43-31, 6th in the western conference) at New Orleans Hornets (42-32, 7th in the western conference)


Games to Watch in the NHL Today
New York Rangers (41-30-5, 87 points, 7th in the eastern conference) at Buffalo Sabres (38-29-9, 85 points, 8th in the eastern conference)
Montreal Canadiens (41-29-7, 89 points, 6th in the eastern conference) at Carolina Hurricanes (36-30-10, 82 points, 9th in the eastern conference)
Anaheim Ducks (43-28-5, 91 points, 7th in the western conference) at Calgary Flames (38-28-11, 87 points, 10th in the western conference)


Matches to Watch on the ATP Tour Today
(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)
Miami Quaterfinals:
6. David Ferrer vs 14. Mardy Fish
2. Novak Djokovic vs Kevin Anderson

Matches to Watch on the WTA Tour Today

(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)

Miami Quaterfinals:

3. Vera Zvonareva vs 9. Agnieszka Radwanska

2. Kim Clijsters vs 8. Victoria Azarenka

Games to Watch in High School Basketball Today

McDonald's All-American High School Basketball Game:

Notable players to watch on the East team inculdes: Bradley Beal going to Florida, Michael Gilchrist going to Kentucky, and James McAdoo going to North Carolina.

Notable players to watch on the West team includes: Anthony Davis going to Kentucky, Myck Kabongo going to Texas, LeBryan Nash oing to Oklahoma St., Austin Rivers going to Duke, Marquis Teague going to Kentucky.

Akanksha Singh: Small Wonder

11 years ago, the Varanasi District girls basketball team that was headed for the Under-17 School Nationals in Gorakhpur had a little problem. They only had 11 players on the squad, and needed a 12th from somewhere to complete the roster. They placed their faith on an unproven, small wonder, an 11-year-old who made enough of an impression to bolster her hoops career forever.

‘Bacchi’, the nickname-given to 22-year-old Indian national point guard Akanksha Singh, literally means ‘young girl’. With exceptional performances in over the past year for state, club, or country, Akanksha may have grown into a burgeoning young superstar, but she was only a actually just a little ‘bacchi’ when her life changed.

See, Akanksha comes from a heralded family of Women basketball stars from Varanasi , the ‘Singh Sisters’ – her three older sisters, Priyanka, Divya, and Prashanti had already made a name for themselves on the court. Divya and Prashanti, in particular, had scaled great heights – both had been stars of the Indian Sr. National Women’s team, and both of them had captained the National side at different points.

Growing up in a family of basketball achievers, Akanksha didn’t really have any other choice except to follow their path on to the famed UP College Basketball Court in Varanasi. “Before I started playing, I used to just go bicycling to the court and saw my older sisters playing,” said Akanksha, “The competition and the close games used to excite me a lot. When the next batch of sub-juniors began to play, I joined them, and that’s how I was first introduced to the game.”

But her big break came at the most unexpected of times: Sitting in her Grade VI classroom, the 11-year-old was called out of her class and told that the U17 Varanasi Girl’s team needs a 12th player. Since her older sister Prashanti was in the team, the little Akanksha – at 11, by far the youngest in the team – was taken along.

“That tournament changed my life,” she remembers, “I didn’t get to play too much really, but in a game against Lucknow, the coach surprised me by sending me on the court.”

The tiniest girl on the floor then proceeded to hit a couple of big shots, surprising herself. “I scored just five points,” she said, “But because I was so small everyone loved me for it, and I got excited too! That moment made me really confident that basketball was going to be my game.”

And then the ball got rolling faster: Akanksha practiced harder, and in the next few years, she moved up from Sub-Junior level to Youth level, until she received the next surprise, when she was taken with her older sisters Divya and Prashanti to the Junior (U18) team. Once again, she was an afterthought initially – small in age, experience, and size – but it didn’t stop her from getting her few moments of shine.

She quickly moved up the ranks, surprising herself with her own improvement and growing confident on court. And then the moment arrived that Akanksha remembers as one of the highlights of her young life. “I still remember the first time I was picked to play for India – it was the Indian U18 side,” said Akanksha, “It was the U18 Asian Basketball Championship (ABC) for Women in China. The first time I held my India jersey made me very sentimental!”

That wasn’t the only time that Akanksha felt her emotions nearly getting the best of her. Because guess what? Being in a family full of basketball stars isn’t always peaches and cream. Expectations for success are high, and patience for failure is far too low. With Divya and Prashanti making a name for themselves in the National and International circuit, there was a lot of pressure on Akanksha to follow in their footsteps, prove to the world that she can be in the same class that we have come to expect from the ‘Singh Sisters’. At 5 foot 6, she is also shorter than her older sisters, and like every shorter basketball player, she had to always go a step extra to prove that she belonged. Akanksha admits that, at first, it was a little too much to take. Luckily for her, she transformed that pressure into motivation, practicing further to live up to the billing.

“After my first Junior Nationals, I began to feel the pressure,” she says. “Divya and Prashanti had begun to make a name for themselves. I used to work extra hard because I felt that if I make any mistakes, it would hamper my chances of making the India team.”

But it was the older sisters who came to the aid of Akanksha, helping her regain her confidence. “They had a lot of encouraging things to say to me as I developed,” Akanksha remembers.

Another thing that helped her confidence was her fast-developing skill with the basketball. A common sight during basketball games is the bored look on the faces of some of the bench players, those who have little influence on the outcome of the game. But Akanksha made the most of her time as benchwarmer waiting for her number to be called.

“I used to just sit or stand around the bench while the game was going on with a basketball, and I never stopped dribbling,” she said, “I kept dribbling and dribbling until my handle became a lot better. The coaches used to notice this and then, they began to use me in the end of games, when the opposition played full-court defense on us. I was a good ball-handler in the pressure situations – and that’s how, although my older sisters played the forward positions, I became a point guard.”

The lesson here: even bench-warming can be a learning process!

In 2003, Akanksha Singh made her debut in the Senior Nationals and played for the Uttar Pradesh team when she was just an 11th Grader. “Many of the older girls didn’t take my seriously because I was small, but I always found a way to surprise them!”

In 2004, Akanksha followed her sister’s footsteps into the Delhi team. She had been playing with them a lot as a youngster, and this gave her another chance to play with them and develop a better understanding. As anyone who has ever played regular basketball with a sibling knows, there is a unique experience of understanding and expectations between the two: Siblings tend to understand each other’s movements mentally when the others on court may be a step or two behind, but siblings also judge each other’s mistakes harsher than everyone else on the team.

Akanksha’s experience of playing with her sisters has been no different – whether it has been in pick-up games in Varanasi, National tournament games for Delhi, or international games for India. “I can understand them better, I know their expressions, and get them the ball. I know exactly what they’re going to do.”

And just like her older sister’s mentored her, Akanksha took on the mentor’s role for the youngest, fifth Singh sister, Pratima. “The two of us love to play together,” she said of the 21-year-old, who is now also in the Delhi side, “But I like her to practice playing opposite me so she can get better!”

Suddenly, 2010 became the breakout year for Akanksha Singh, the ‘Small Wonder’. During the month of May, which is considered to be the off-season in Indian basketball, the Mastan League, a first ever professional-style club competition, was organised in Mumbai. “I wanted to play well so people know my name,” Akanksha said, “Even though it was the off-season I didn’t stop practicing. Once the tournament began, the game started to come very easily for me.”

Easy enough that Akanksha walked away with the award for the tournament’s MVP. But she wasn’t done announcing her coming-out party to the Indian basketball world. When India took part in the Asian Games basketball tournament in Guangzhou (China), Akanksha was just one of the smaller stars in the 12-women roster. It was American coach Tamika Raymond, brought to lead India into this competition, who injected another boost of confidence into the youngster, giving her the starting point guard role for the team.

“I wasn’t expecting to start, but Coach Raymond made me work hard to earn it. She began to play me a lot more during the practice sessions – every time there were mistakes with the offense, I was substituted in. I quickly learned that I was being sent in to fix those mistakes, and so I went ahead and did it.”

And suddenly, there was no doubt of her sublime ball-handling and scoring skills anymore – Akanksha responded well and saw her own game elevate to the highest level. She has been on a tear ever since her return from China, becoming a formidable force for Delhi and running the offense like a perfect point guard is supposed to.

And now, for the first time perhaps, Akanksha Singh may be finally established. She is small, but her skills surprise no one anymore. She is one of the 24-women heading for the Indian All Star game in Mumbai in a couple of weeks, and opponents can no longer afford to overlook her talents.

But the youngster is far from done climbing the ladder. She has bigger dreams, for herself and for her country. “I want to be part of a team that finally wins a medal for India. We may not look formidable right now but I don’t think such a feat is impossible. With the right kind of coaching, I think we can reach that summit.”

Coming from someone who has looked up at every summit and then confidently mastered it, experience has now taught us to know better than doubt the ‘Bacchi’s’ ambitions.

Games and Events to Watch

Games to Watch in the NBA Today
Miami Heat (51-22) at Cleveland Cavaliers (14-58) (LeBron James returns to Cleveland for the second time since leaving the Cavaliers during free agency)

Games to Watch in the NHL Today
Philadelphia Flyers (45-20-10, 100 Points) at Pittsburgh Penguins (45-23-8, 98 Points)
Chicago Blackhawks (41-26-8, 90 Points) at Boston Bruins (42-23-10, 94 Points)
Vancouver Canucks (50-17-9, 109 Points) at Nashville Predators (41-25-10, 92 Points)
Dallas Stars (38-26-10, 86 Points) at Phoenix Coyotes (41-25-11, 93 Points)

Games to Watch in Women's College Basketball Today
Philadelphia Regional Final:
1. UConn vs 2. Duke
Dallas Regional Final:
1. Baylor vs 2. Texas A and M

Matches to Watch in Soccer Today
Euro 2012 Qualifying:
Serbia (3rd in Group C) at Estonia (4th in Group C)
Slovenia (2nd in Group C) at Northern Ireland (5th in Group C)
Hungary (3rd in Group E) at Netherlands (1st in Group E)
Spain (1st in Group I) at Lithuania (4th in Group I)
Liechtenstein (5th in Group I) at Czech Republic (2nd in Group I)
International Friendlies:
Australia at Germany
Uruguay at Ireland
Italy at Ukraine
Croatia at France
Paraguay at United States
Argentina at Costa Rica
Ghana at England

Matches to Watch on the ATP Tour Today
(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)
Miami Fourth Round:
14. Mardy Fish vs Juan Martin Del Potro
2. Novak Djokovic vs 16. Viktor Troicki
1. Roger Federer vs 21. Alexandr Dolgopolov

Matches to Watch on the WTA Tour Today

(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)

Miami Quarterfinals:

6. Jelena Jankovic vs 21. Andrea Petkovic

16. Maria Sharapova vs 26. Alexandra Dulgheru

Matches to Watch in Cricket Today

Cricket World Cup 2011 Semifinals:

India vs Pakistan

The NBA's Social Network

It's no secret anymore how much social networks have changed our lives. There are about 500 million people on Facebook - in India, we started a little late, but we quickly caught up and take over, becoming one of the biggest Facebook users in the world.

But we are still a little slower to catch on Twitter, which is kind of a pity, because nothing bridges the gap between news-maker, news-sharer, and news-reader than Twitter does. There are about 140 million tweets sent per day between millions more.

And one of the fascinating developments of the ever-twittering world is the bridging gap between the Big Guys and the Little Ones. Now, within an instant, the average Ramu on his PC in Faridabad can tell 50 Cent how awful his last album was, and have 50 Cent give a derogatory response, too.

So of course, for NBA fans, Twitter has helped to create a new kind of relationship and understanding with otherwise unapproachable superstars that live the grind of 82-game-plus-more NBA seasons half-way across the world. Not all the information has been useful or interesting (it rarely is), but through Twitter, I've learnt what certain NBA players think of their opponents, how certain players would like to address any controversy or speculation regarding themselves, their favourite foods, and mostly, a whole bunch of other incoherent garble.

The first person I followed on Twitter when I created my own account was Shaquille O'Neal (@THE_REAL_SHAQ), and it has been a very wise decision. Shaq has described himself as being 'VERY QUOTATIOUS, I PERFORM RANDOM ACTS OF SHAQNESS', and really, if you don't know what means, then you are probably at the right place, because I'm not sure Shaq knows either. Like you would expect him to be, Shaq is funny and memorable, posting pictures of himself dressed up in drag for Halloween, inviting fans in Boston to come and hang out with him, or praising Justin Bieber.

Basketball's biggest superstars are surprisingly non-existent on social networking. Kobe Bryant doesn't have an account yet. LeBron does, humbly calling himself @KingJames, but he, too, is mostly politically correct about things. I say mostly, because every once in a while, LeBron does pull a Homer - like the time he told followers to shower their hate - and they did - and then he went ahead and retweeted their comments to everyone else. His finest/worst moment so far came when he published the famous 'karma' tweet. The Cavs had lost by a franchise-worst 55 points to the Lakers, embarrasingly, when LeBron wrote "Crazy. Karma is a b****.. Gets you every time. Its not good to wish bad on anybody. God sees everything!" Karma, indeed was a bitch, since LeBron was injured a game later and Miami went on to lose four straight.

My favourite NBA-twitterer - by FAR - is Ron Artest (@ronartest). On a daily basis, Ron Ron pretty much confirms what everyone already thinks - that he is in serious, serious need of his psychiatrist! It is an unpredictable ride daily as Artest boasts about Laker winning streaks ("do u like to win? then u must be a lakers fan"), promotes his music ("Go Loco"), writes nonsensical stuff that he probably thinks of on a daily basis ("i love my pet penguin", "I can't believe I jumped in the air like a silly pirate on drugs") or talking about his favourite eating joint ("It's. 1:30 In n out is open Wozeers").

But behind all the crazy, Ron Ron does some good, too. He is known to randomely hand out tickets to his fans in LA, those who responded fastest to him on Twitter. He even follows some of his fans.

Late last night, Artest made his India connect, asking Abhishek Bachan (@juniorbachan) if he is a Laker fan after Abhishek had a Twitter conversation with Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson).

Speaking of Magic, the Laker great is pretty active on Twitter, too, giving his commentary on NBA/NCAA games, and awkwardly, adding his Dove Men Care sponsorship with each Tweet.

Another fairly regular tweeter is Steve Nash (@SteveNash) - the legendary Suns point guard proves that he is pretty much as cool in real life as you would expect him to be. Nash talks about random day-to-day issues or makes references to his favourite football team, the Tottenham Hotspurs.

As a Knick fan, I follow a bunch of New York players, including Amare Stoudemire (@Amareisreal) and new Knick Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony). The most interesting Knick, though, is rookie Landry Fields (@landryfields). Fields has posted refreshingly honest thoughts and funny videos to quickly become a Twitter Superstar for the Knicks.

One of the NBA's rising young stars is Kevin Durant (@KDthunderup), who used his Twitter status to make the biggest statement in the smallest way in the last off-season, when he wrote "Exstension for 5 more years wit the thunder....God Is Great, me and my family came a long way...I love yall man forreal, this a blessing!"

Amongst the other big NBA stars, the likes of Dwyane Wade (@dwadeofficial), Chris Bosh (@chrisbosh), Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward), Pau Gasol (@paugasol), Chris Paul (@oneandonelycp3), Rajon Rondo (@RajonRondo), Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34), Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin), Kevin Love (@kevinlove), and Russel Westbrook (@russwest44)) are also on Twitter. Besides of promoting non-NBA events that may be involved in, or talking about their family and friends, the players mostly just check in and out with their fans, conversing with a few every now and then and helping to build a unique player-fan relationship.

And of course, there are the NBA's cast-aways, but via Twitter, you can be sure they are never too far. Allen Iverson (@alleniverson) makes sure to check in from Turkey occasionally, and regularly proving to the universe that, like his shooting outbursts, he has a hard time keeping the 140-character limit in check, too. From China, I here from Stephon Marbury (@StephonMarbury) sometimes, who makes sure to drop his words of positivity and optimism every now and then.

The one person that I really wish was back on social networking is Gilbert Arenas. Before anyone else did it, Arenas was the first NBA superstar to really establish the one-on-one connect with the fans through his blog. Twitter was to become the perfect platform form the Former Agent 0's hilarious musings, before his account was deleted last year, around the same time he was suspended by the NBA for the whole guns-in-the-locker incident. His tweets during the ordeal only added fuel to the fire, and suddenly, like Arenas, the account was suspended indefinitely too. Arenas has returned since, but his Twitter presence hasn't.

Of course, if you prefer to follow your favourite teams, they all have twitter accounts too: From the Lakers (@Lakers), to the Celtics (@celtics) to the Heat (@MiamiHEAT) and the Knicks (@thenyknicks) - and of course, the NBA (@NBA) is on Twitter, too!

This is just a start. You can literally go crazy looking for your favourite teams, players, news feeds, reporters, or fake-player pages. For Indian basketball fans, I'm going to leave you with some important few feeds to follow:
- Basketball Federation of India: @BFIbasketball
- Troy Justice, Director of Basketball Operations, NBA India: @troyjustice
- JD Basketball / JD Walsh, American basketball coach in India: @jdbasketball


And of course, yours truly, for getting the finest information about basketball, India, NBA, philosophy, and a bunch of other things, you need to follow the Hoopistani (@Hoopistani) twitter feed. It will make your life better, I swear it. Or at least more interesting.

Games and Events to Watch

Games to Watch in the NBA Today
Boston Celtics at Indiana Pacers
Orlando Magic at New York Knicks
Philadelphia 76ers at Chicago Bulls
Portland Trail Blazers vs San Antonio Spurs

Games to Watch in the NHL Today
Chicago Blackhawks at Detroit Red Wings

Games to Watch in the Women's NCAA Tournament Today
Dayton Regional Final:
1. Tennessee vs 2. Notre Dame
Spokane Regional Final:
1. Stanford vs 11. Gonzaga

Matches to Watch on the ATP Tour Today
(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)
Miami Third Round:
3. Roger Federer vs 32. Juan Monaco
1. Rafael Nadal vs Feliciano Lopez
15. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs 21. Alexandr Dolgopolov

Matches to Watch on the WTA Tour Today

(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)

Miami Fourth Round:

5. Francesca Schiavone vs 9. Agnieska Radwanksa

4. Samantha Stosur vs 16. Maria Sharapova

1. Caroline Wozniacki vs 21. Andrea Petkovic

2. Kim Clijsters vs 19. Ana Ivanovic

Games and Events to Watch

Games to Watch in College Basketball Today

(All numbers are the seed of the team in their region)

Southwest Regional Final:

1. Kansas vs 11. VCU

East Regional Final:

2. North Carolina vs 4. Kentucky

Games to Watch in the NBA Today

San Antonio Spurs at Memphis Grizzles

Portland Trail Blazers at Oklahoma City Thunder

New Orleans Hornets at Los Angeles Lakers

Games to Watch in the NHL Today
Vancouver Canucks at Columbus Blue Jackets
Boston Bruins at Philadelphia Flyers

Matches to Watch in Soccer Today
International Friendlies:
Brazil at Scotland

Games to Watch in Women's College Basketball Today
(All numbers are the seed of the team in their region)
Philadelphia Regional Semifinals:
1. UConn vs 5. Georgetown
2. Duke vs 3. DePaul
Dallas Regional Semifinals:
1. Baylor vs 5. Green Bay
2. Texas A and M vs 6. Georgia

Matches to Watch on the ATP Tour Today
(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)
Miami Third Round:
14. Mardy Fish vs 17. Richard Gasquet
16. Viktor Troicki vs 19. Sam Querrey
4. Robin Soderling vs Juan Martin Del Potro
2. Novak Djokovic vs James Blake

Matches to Watch on the WTA Tour Today

(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)

Miami Third Round:

2. Kim Clijsters vs 27. Maria Jose Martinez

3. Vera Zvonareva vs 28. Jarmila Groth

12. Petra Kvitova vs 17. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

8. Victoria Azarenka vs 25. Dominika Cibulkova

Tournamnets to Watch in Golf Today
Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by MasterCard Fourth Round:
Notable players to watch include: Tiger Woods at -1 (10:35 AM tee time), Phil Mickelson at -2 (12:05 PM tee time), Bubba Watson at -7 (1:25 PM tee time), and Martin Laird at -11(1:35 PM tee time)

Races to Watch in NASCAR Today
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at California:
Notable drivers to watch include: Juan Pablo Montoya (pole winner and number 8 in sprint cup standings), Kurt Busch (number 1 in sprint cup standings), Kyle Busch (number 6 in sprint cup standings), Jimmie Johnson (number 7 in sprint cup standings)

Butler advances to its second straight final four by knocking off Florida in overtime

Butler guard Shelvin Mack said, “It’s a lot better than last year. This year, everyone just expected us just to fall off, a lot of people didn’t have faith in us. We went from being on the bubble to winning our conference to being picked to lose every game in the tournament. I would say we shocked the world again.” The Bulldogs are now the second team to reach back to back final fours from a "non-major conference" since UNLV achieved the same feat in 1990 and 1991. The Bulldogs run to the national championship game last season, certainly looked to help them down the stretch against the Gators. Chandler Parsons said, "It's not like it's their first time here. They were in this situation last year, so I think their experience helped them and I think they just came up with big plays when the team needed it."

The Bulldogs are very fortunate to have beaten the Gators because they had a poor shooting night. The team went 27.3 percent from behind the arc, only making 9 of the 33 three pointers they attempted. Butler looked confused at times on the offensive end of the court because of the Gators disguising and constantly changing their defense between man and zone. Shelvin Mack started out the game hot, making two three pointers and a jumper from the elbow. From that point on, Mack struggled going 5 for 17 from the field including 2 for 11 from three but he hit some clutch shots and finished with 27 points. Butler forward Matt Howard said about Mack, "I feel incredibly good for Shelvin. He... carried us. You can't fault him and say you lost us the game because he essentially won us the game. The kid's incredible. He really carries us at times. This is the type of player Shelvin is." The Bulldogs got solid contributions from Howard, who added 14 points, and Florida native Khyle Marshall, who had 10 points and 7 rebounds, all on the offense end of the court, off the bench. 


It is still hard to believe how Butler pulled off the victory over Florida because the Gators dominated down low. Butler had no answer for Alex Tyus and especially Vernon Macklin. Florida made an emphasis to continue to feed the post, and they only shot 9 threes during regulation. On every possession, Macklin got a touch down low and constantly went to his righty jump hook for buckets. Macklin went 11 for 14 from the field and had a season high 25 points. Alex Tyus also played well down low adding 14 points and 10 rebounds. Erving Walker struggled from deep only making 1 of 7 threes and Chandler Parsons looked uncomfortable all game, as the SEC player of the year had only 5 points. Parsons said, "They're tough. They're physical. They have all the characteristics of a good team.”

The game was back and fourth and close throughout. With 1:34 remaining in the second half, Shelvin Mack made two clutch free throws to bring the Bulldogs to within one. A Matt Howard free throw tied the game at 60 with 31 seconds left. Florida didn't look down low, where they had so much success during the game, but put the ball in the hands of their 5-8 point guard Erving Walker. He missed a fade away three point jumper with 2 seconds left and the game went into overtime. In the extra session, Florida totally forgot about looking into the post and settled for 5 three pointers. With 11 seconds remaining in the overtime and Butler up by one point 72 to 71, Shelvin Mack hit two more clutch free throws to extend the lead to 3 points. Erving Walker missed a potential game tying three point jumper with 8 seconds left, which sealed the victory and a final four appearance for the Bulldogs. Donovan said, "Walker was 1 of 10, and he's been such a clutch shooter for us. When you get into those situations where the game is coming down to the wire like that and it's one-possession games, anything can happen."

The Butler Bulldogs make winning plays in tight games. Butler coach Brad Stevens said, "We just kind of stayed together, stayed the course, figured it out, and just played resiliently... I'm incredibly proud of these guys. They carried their coach today in a big way... Our players did a great job, and [they are] just a special group. We're really just lucky they're Butler Bulldogs. I know this, somebody is going to have to beat us because of our will."Florida Coach Billy Donovan acknowledged that by saying, "Their will and their refusal to be denied really stood out." After the game, Ronald Nored, who had 4 points and 4 rebounds screamed, "We're back, baby!"

The Comeback Of Michael Vick

Every football fan is wondering weather or not there will be an NFL season next year. The lockout has had a huge affect on fans and players, some of whom are resorting to boxing like Ravens safety Tom Zbikowski or soccer like Bengels wide receiver Chad Johnson. Everybody wants a football season and I thnk this piece on Michael Vick will remind people of the great stories of the NFL.

After just one season at Virginia Tech in 1999, Michael Vick was already beginning to be called the most electrifying player in college football. He was so impressive on the football field that in the 2000 MLB draft, the Colorado Rockies took a chance and chose Vick in the 30th round despite him not having played baseball in college. Vick led the Hokies to an 11-1 record, with their only loss coming against Florida State in the BCS National Championship game at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy, the highest finish for a freshman since 1980 when Herschel Walker of Georgia achieved the same feat. He returned to Virginia Tech for one more season and led his team to another 11-1 record. He finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting that year.

In 2001, the Atlanta Falcons, who owned the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft, became the first team in NFL history to trade up for the first pick. They dealt the fifth overall pick, a third round pick in the 2001 draft, and wide receiver Tim Dwight to acquire Vick. Some people wondered if Vick could succeed in the NFL with his mobile, athletic, and unique style of throwing as well as running. In 2001, Vick made his NFL debut against the San Francisco 49ers and he completed his first touchdown pass against the Carolina Panthers on September 23.

The next year, Vick came onto the NFL scene as a major superstar. The Falcons had 6 wins and a tie from week 6 to week 13 of the NFL season. In week 13, Vick set an NFL record for most rushing yard in a single game with 173. The previous mark was 127 yards, set by the Chiacgo Bears' quarterback Bobby Douglass in 1972. After the game, Vick’s coach Dan Reeves said, "I've never seen anyone turn on the jets like that.'' Vick didn’t throw an interception for 25 straight quarters and 177 straight passes that season. The Falcons made the playoffs with a 9-6-1 record. In Vick’s first NFL playoff game, they immediately scored a major upset on January 4, 2003. The Falcons became the first road team in NFL history to defeat the Green Bay Packers in a playoff game at Lambeau Field. After the game, the Packers coach Mike Sherman said, "Michael Vick's a great player, he made some great plays, we couldn't tackle him.'' Their season ended the next week in Philadelphia as the Eagles won 20–6. Vick had a career high in completions, attempts, and passing yards that season.

In 2003, Vick suffered a fractured right fibula and the Falcons missed the playoffs as Vick only played in 5 games. In 2004, the Falcons were the second seed in the NFC playoffs finishing at 11-5. He became the first quarterback to throw for more than 250 yards and rush for over 100 yards in the same game against the Denver Broncos. Vick’s 902 rushing yards ranked third all-time by an NFL quarterback in one season. Hs 7.5 rushing yards per carry ranked first among all NFL players. Vick took the Falcons to the NFC championship game, but they fell to the Eagles. After the season, Vick signed a 10-year contract worth $130 million with a $37 million signing bonus. This made him the highest paid player in the NFL at the time. Although the 2005 and 2006 seasons were very difficult for the Falcons as they went 8-8 and 7-9 respectively, Vick still put up big numbers. He threw for the most touchdowns in his career with 20 in 2006. Vick also set the record for the most rushing yards in a season with 1,039 and the highest average yards per carry in NFL history with 8.4.

In April of 2007, the sports world was stunned when Vick was reported to have involvement in a dog-fighting scandal. He participated in an illegal interstate dog-fighting ring that had operated for more than five years. One of the members of the group said about Vick, "He's a pit bull fighter. He's one of the people that they call 'the big boys': that's someone who bets a large dollar. I'm talking about large money -- $30,000 to $40,000 -- even higher. He's one of the heavyweights." Aside from dog-fighting, Vick and three others killed the dogs that didn't show enough fighting spirit or that lost matches by shooting, drowning, or hanging them. Prosecutors alleged that on one occasion early 2007, Vick participated in killing eight dogs. In August of 2007, Vick pleaded guilty to a felony charge for his role in the dog-fighting ring. The NFL suspended him indefinitely. At a news conference he made a statement and said, “I offer my deepest apologies to everybody out there in the world who was affected by this whole situation. And if I'm more disappointed with myself than anything it's because of all the young people, young kids that I've let down, who look at Michael Vick as a role model. And to have to go through this and put myself in this situation, you know, I hope that every young kid out there in the world watching this interview right now who's been following the case will use me as an example to using better judgment and making better decisions. So I got a lot of down time, a lot of time to think about my actions and what I've done and how to make Michael Vick a better person.” While in prison, Vick filled for federal bankruptcy protection in July of 2008. He served 21 months in prison and spent two months under home confinement in Hampton, Virginia.

Vick was released by the Falcons and was suspended for two weeks by Roger Goodell. Former Indianapolis Colts head coach, Tony Dungy, began to mentor Vick to get him on the right path. He provided Vick with advice, direction, and support during his rehabilitation process after his release from jail.

On August 14, 2009, Vick signed a two-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. The first year of the deal was worth $1.6 million with the second-year option worth $5.2 million. Andy Reid said, “I'm a believer that as long as people go through the right process, they deserve a second chance.” In week 13 against his former team, the Falcons, Vick threw a touchdown and ran for a touchdown. These were his first scores since December 2006. However, Vick only played sparingly as a backup to Donovan McNabb. He had by far his worst NFL season completing only 46.2 percent of his passes and running for more yards than throwing. On April 5, 2010, Donovan McNabb was traded within the NFC East to the Washington Redskins. Although things were beginning to look up for Vick, the Eagles named Kevin Kolb the starter for the beginning of the season. When Kolb suffered a concussion in the first week of the season, Vick came in and threw for 175 yards and one touchdown, and ran for 103 yards in only one half. It became Vick’s seventh 100-yard rushing game, the most ever by a quarterback. Although Kolb was ready to play by week 3, Andy Reid had no chose but to start Vick because he was playing at such a high level. Vick didn’t disappoint his coach one bit during that week, leading the Eagles to a 28-3 win over the Jaguars. He threw for 291 yards and 3 touchdowns, and ran for 30 yards and another touchdown. Andy Reid said, "He played his heart out today, so it's more about him than me or anybody else. It's a tribute to what he's done and how he's handled things."

Vick was back on top of the NFL and was named the NFC offensive player of the month for September. The highlight of the season, and his return as a star in the NFL, came on Monday Night Football on November 15 against the Redskins and McNabb. Vick passed for 333 yards and four touchdowns, while rushing for 80 yards and another two touchdowns. The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio asked Vick for his game jersey to display after Vick became the first player to pass for three touchdowns and rush for two touchdowns in the first half of a game. Last Thursday, Vick and the Eagles beat the Texans 34-24 and Vick once again threw for 300 yards with 2 touchdowns, and ran for 48 yards and a touchdown. After the game, Texans coach Gary Kubiak said of Vick, "This young man is playing as good as anybody I've seen play in the NFL and I've been doing it for a while. He's special and we just tried to contain him, but obviously he still had a big night.” While Vick has always been a fantastic runner, he has been showing some incredible accuracy passing this season. His quarterback rating of 100.2 was fourth in the NFL. He completed 233 of 372 passes for a 62.6 completion percentage, above his carrer average of 55.3. Vick threw for 3,018 yards and 21 touchdowns with only 6 interceptions. He ran for 676 yards and 9 touchdowns. Vick accumulated all of these incredible numbers after missing 4 games due to a rib injury. After leading the Eagles to the NFC East divison crown at a 10-6 record, Vick was named the Comeback player of the year.  Vick's college coach at Virgina Tech Frank Beamer said about Vick's comeback, "... to me he's always been the same, a good person, a good heart, made some bad decisions and now he's trying like heck to work his way back and you've got to appreciate that. He'd be the first to tell you that his judgment wasn't good. I think he's trying like heck to help a lot of young people make good decisions."

Games and Events to Watch

Games to Watch in College Basketball Today
(All numbers are the seed of the team in their region)
West Regional Final:
3. UConn vs 5. Arizona
Southeast Regional Final:
2. Florida vs 8. Butler

Games to Watch in the NBA Today
Dallas Mavericks at Utah Jazz

Games to Watch in the NHL Today
New York Rangers at Boston Bruins
Tampa Bay Lightning at Carolina Hurricanes
Dallas Stars at Nashville Predators
Anaheim Ducks at Chicago Blackhawks

Matches to Watch in Soccer Today
Euro 2012 Qualifying:
Russia at Armenia
Slovakia at Andorra
Macedonia at Ireland
England at Wales
International Friendlies:
Chile at Portugal
Paraguay at Mexico
Argentina at United States of America

Games to Watch in Women's College Basketball Today

(All numbers are the seed of the team in their region)

Dayton Regional Semifinals: 

1. Tennessee vs 4. Ohio St.

2. Notre Dame vs 6. Oklahoma

Spokane Regional Semifinals: 

1. Stanford vs 5. North Carolina

7. Louisville vs 11. Gonzaga

Matches to Watch on the ATP Tour Today

(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)

Miami Second Round:

18. Marin Cilic vs Janko Tipsarevic

10. Jurgen Melzer vs Phillipp Petzschner

3. Roger Federer vs Radek Stepanek

Matches to Watch on the WTA Tour Today

(All numbers are the seed of the player in the tournament)

Miami Third Round:

6. Jelena Jankovic vs 32. Klara Zakopalova

4. Samantha Stosur vs 30. Lucie Safarova

1. Caroline Wozniacki vs 29. Daniela Hantuchova

Tournaments to Watch on the PGA Tour Today

Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard Third Round:

Notable Players to watch include Phil Mickelson at +1 (9:50 AM tee time), Tiger Woods at -3 (1:00 PM tee time), Hunter Mahan at -6 (1:20 PM tee time), and Martin Laird at -9 (1:40 PM tee time)

Butler advances to the elite eight by topping Wisconsin

Butler just knows how to get it down. They are one game away from reaching the final four for the second year in a row after knocking off the 4th seeded Wisconsin Badgers 61 to 54. Butler center Andrew Smith said, "A lot of people just ignored us and said, Aw, they'll probably lose in the first or second round. Here we are again, trying to prove everybody wrong. We'll try to win three more."

The Bulldogs were led by their first team all conference center Matt Howard. Howard was able to stay out of foul trouble and was on the court for 37 minutes, which allowed him to have a great game with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Shelvin Mack added 13 points although he struggled from the field only making 4 of the 13 shots he attempted.

Butler was very fortunate, as Wisconsin had their worst shooting game of the season. They only went 17 for 56 from the field, which is 30.4 percent and is well below their average of 44.5 percent from the field. The Badgers also went 7 for 29 from behind the arc, which is only 24.1 percent. That includes Jordan Taylor and Jon Leuer, who combined went 4 for 16 from three. Jon Leuer, the Badgers leading scorer at more than 18 points a game, went 1 for 12 from the field and only scored 3 points. Leuer said after the game, "We made plays that were uncharacteristic of us. We tried to force some things, and Butler did some good things defensively... They're just tough kids who are all-around good players, and they play to their strengths." Even though Jordan Taylor had 22 points, he struggled as well, going 6 for 19 from the field. Jordan Taylor said, "It was just kinda one of those nights. The ball just wasn't going through the hoop. It's frustrating. They're scrappy and relentless. I don't know, they're just tough kids. They never quit, and that's what makes them winners."

After an Andrew Smith layup with 11:34 remaining in the second half, Butler took a 20 point lead at 47 to 27 and the Badgers looked to be all but done. With 37 seconds remaining, Jordan Taylor hit a three pointer to bring the Badgers all the way back to a four point deficit. However, four clutch free throws from Matt Howard and two more missed threes from Wisconsin sealed the victory for the Bulldogs. Brad Stevens said about his team nearly losing their lead at the game of the game, "That's human nature, a little bit. I really, in the moment, was disappointed in the way we played, and now I don't care. Let's move on. That's the way I feel about it now... I'm not worried about it."

Butler coach Brad Stevens said, "Obviously, we're thrilled to still be playing. I don't think that this group goes into games not believing, and I don't think that this group came here not believing. And so we're going to see if we can't try to get one on Saturday and move on." The Bulldogs will take on the Florida Gators in the regional finals for the right to go to Houston.

No repeat for Duke as Derrick Williams leads Arizona to the elite eight

With the Duke-Arizona first half coming to an end, Derrick Williams hit a fade away three point jumper to cut the Duke lead to 6 at 44 to 38. The Pac 10 Player of the year Williams kept Arizona in the game in the first half. Williams scored 25 of the Wildcats 38 first half points including hitting 5 of the 6 threes he attempted. Arizona coach Sean Miller said about his star, "I really felt like it was two different games. The first half, Derrick's individual play allowed us to have a chance. I mean he scored 25 points in one half. Made five 3s in one half. We were down 6. We could have had a huge deficit at halftime, but he gave us a chance." Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was also impressed by Williams first half play. He said, "Williams, he's just a superb player. He's as good as anybody we've played, or I should say better than anybody we've played. He kept his team in there in the first half.  I thought we played a little better than the score in the first half, but Williams getting 25 just kept them in." Williams definitely kept the Wildcats in the game, as no other Arizona player had more than four points in the first half.

In the second half, Arizona outscored Duke 55 to 33 and it was the other Wildcat players who stepped up big. The Wildcats came right out of the gate on fire, as they cut the Duke lead to only one point in just 3 minutes of play. After two Lamont Jones free throws with 15:18 remaining in the second half gave Arizona a 55 to 53 lead, they never relinquished it. Duke point guard Kyrie Irving said, "After we lost the lead, I think everyone got a little rattled. We tried to settle down, but by then it was too late." Krzyzewski said, "They just got on a real roll. When you get on a roll, you have more energy than the other guy,"said. "We had no stop for them, and you kind of get overwhelmed there for a little bit. They knocked us back and got that double-digit lead." Lamont Jones scored 14 points in the second half and Solomon Hill added 10 second half points. Jones said, As a team, we came together and willed ourselves to win. Derrick is a great player, but we all contribute." Williams finished the game with 32, a career high, after scoring 7 points in the second half.

For Duke, the loss to the Wildcats is a very disappointing end to a great season. Krzyzewski said, "The tournament is cruel. It's an abrupt end for everybody when you don't win." After missing 26 straight games with a toe injury, Kyrie Irving played significant minutes for the first time. He played 31 minutes for the Blue Devils and had a great game scoring 28 points on 9 of 15 shooting from the field. However, his return looked like it ruined the chemistry of the top seeded Blue Devils. They had played almost the entire season without Irving and had developed a groove and felt comfortable with their roles. With Irving's return, the other guys on the floor looked out of sync. Seth Curry and Mason Plumlee, who had stepped up and played very well in Irving's absence, only combined for 10 points. Nolan Smith, the ACC player of the year, had his worst game of the season. Smith only scored 8 points, about 12 below his average, and was 3 for 14 from the field. The ball was in Kyrie's hands at the end of the game and Irving, not Smith, was directing the offense. The Blue Devils didn't look like the same team who had earned a one seed.

Arizona advances to their first elite eight since 2005 and is looking to head to the schools fifth final four and first since 2001. Derrick Williams said, "Makes me feel great that if we win this game on Saturday we're going to be known as one of the best Arizona teams to play, and, you know, just to have our name up there, this is the fourth Arizona team to have 30 wins and that's a great accomplishment right there... The Elite Eight is great, but we're not looking to stop right there. We're trying to win a national championship one step at a time, and one more game we're in the Final Four. That's what we want to do. That's one of our team goals this season was not only to get in the tournament, but to make a run in the tournament and so far we're doing that."

Jimmer Fredette struggles as Florida advances to the elite eight

BYU and Florida needed two overtimes to decide a winner last year in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Cougars and the Gators met again in the sweet sixteen this year and once again needed an extra period to decide the winner.

Although Jimmer Fredette scored 32 points, he really struggled and was harassed by the Florida defense for the entire game. Fredette went 11 for 29 from the field and shot a career high 15 threes but only made 3 of them. The SEC player of the year Chandler Parsons said about his team making it difficult for Fredette to score, "That's just a credit to our guys on defense especially Kenny Boynton. He stayed with him and made it difficult for him out there." Fredette didn't get a lot of help from his teammates, as no other Cougar was in double figures. BYU shot 37 threes and only hit 10 of them. The Florida head coach Billy Donovan said, "I know there's a lot made of Jimmer Fredette, and he's a great player, but we really felt coming into the game the key was to shut down the other four players on the floor... I think the biggest thing was we were able to hold all their guys under double figure points other than Fredette." Jackson Emery began the game very hot, as he hit his first 3 three pointers and had 9 points. However, Emery had to go to the bench after he picked up his 2nd fouls with 11:41 remaining in the first half. Emery didn't score another point for the rest of the game and missed four three pointers in the second half and overtime. 

Alex Tyus was the difference maker down in the post for the Gators, as the Cougars couldn't guard the big 6-8 forward. He only missed one shot the entire game, going 8 for 9 from the field. Tyus had 19 points and 17 rebounds. When BYU came to double team him down low, Tyus kicked the ball out to Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker, and Chandler Parsons for open threes, which finally began to fall in overtime. Florida coach Billy Donovan said, "The thing about Alex is he never really gets fazed with the moment or with what's going on. One of the things I've tried to pull out of him and get him to see is that when he has a lot of activity and he's flying around the court, because of his athleticism, he's got a great ability to impact a game." BYU really missed their 6-9 forward Brandon Davies, who was suspended because he broke the schools honor code by having sex with his girlfriend. The cougars were forced to constantly double team the post because they had nobody who could guard Tyus down low. 

The game was very close throughout with the score tied at halftime and at the end of regulation. With 48 seconds remaining in the second half, Kyle Collinsworth made one of two free throws to tie the game at 68. Although Kenny Boynton missed a three pointer with 25 seconds left in the game, Erving Walker ran down the ball to give Florida the final shot. Walker said about the play, “It was so big because they could have easily gone the other way. Fredette is so good at drawing fouls and taking a last shot. It would have been game over for us. That was a big rebound.” Fredette also realized the importance of that rebound by saying, “We had a chance, we got a stop, but we had a chance to get a rebound and they got the offensive rebound and put it out. And you never know what could have happened if we got that rebound. But they definitely had fresh legs and they were ready to go in that overtime. Chandler Parsons missed a difficult shot at the buzzer and the game went into overtime. The extra period was all Florida as they outscored the Cougars 15 to 6. Fredette struggled in the overtime missing two three pointers and committing two costly turnovers. Kenny Boynton and Chandler Parsons both hit three to secure the victory and a regional finals appearance.

The win sends Florida into the elite eight and one win away from returning to the final four since they won the second of their back to back championships in 2007. They will play Butler in the regional finals on Saturday, as the Bulldogs beat Wisconsin 61 to 54. Donovan has been very appreciate of his teams performance this season by saying, "It’s been so rewarding for me to see them make the journey they’ve made to this point right now. It’s been very rewarding and fulfilling for me, and I hope in some way I’ve been able to give them as much as they’ve given me."

Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb lead UConn into the elite eight over San Diego St.

Over the past 17 days, the Connecticut Huskies played five games in the Big East tournament and three games in the NCAA tournament. Many people questioned weather UConn could continue to play at such a high level because of the fatigue of playing so many games in such a short time span. Kemba Walker answered that question by saying, "The one thing I don't want to beat us is fatigue. Do I get tired? Yeah, after the game. Not during it. I tell myself, I'm not tired … If it's 40 minutes, I might as well play 40 minutes." Walker has backed up what he said by playing 304 of the teams 324 minutes in his last eight games including missing only one minute in the teams last two games. The Huskies needed all 40 of Walker's minutes to beat the San Diego State Aztecs 74 to 67 and advance to the regional finals. 

Walker had another great game by scoring 36 points. He made shots from all different angles and areas on the court going 12 for 25 from the floor. San Deigo St. coach Steve Fisher said after the game, "We were going to vary who guarded him, go with Chase [Tapley] to start with and either fatigue or success by Walker, we had it planned all along that Billy was going to guard him for a good portion of the game. And it didn't matter who was guarding him, he was pretty effective today." Walker was helped by freshman Jeremy Lamb who combined with Walker to score 60 of the teams 74 points. Lamb only missed two shots the entire game and added 24 points. UConn needed all they could from Walker and Lamb because all the other Huskies went 6 for 27 from the field and the bench scored only 2 points. 

The game changing play may have been with more than 9 minutes remaining. After a D.J. Gay layup gave the Aztecs a two point lead, James Franklin stole a sloppy inbound pass from Alex Oriakhi and dished to Billy Whte for a layup. The frustrated Jim Calhoun called a timeout and as the teams were going back to their benches James Franklin picked up a technical foul for bumping Kemba Walker. Walker defended the call by saying, "The contact was definitely enough to go down. That's why I was able to get the free throws. I was on my way to the huddle, and he ran into me." After the technical foul, UConn went on a 16 to 4 run the next 5 minutes and change. During the run, Kemba Walker scored 14 of his 22 second half points. Although San Diego St. cut the UConn lead to one with 2:57 remaining in the game, Jeremy Lamb and Kemba Walker scored UConn's final 9 points to secure the victory. 

The loss is a tough one for the Aztec, who finished the season 34-3. Steve Fisher said, "When your season comes to a screeching halt, like it will for every team with one exception, it hurts. It should hurt, regardless of when, where and how. For our team this year, for what they've accomplished, it hurts exponentially more. I could not be more proud of how we competed, how hard we played, and unfortunately we came up a bit short." San Diego State's leading scorer and rebounder and second team All-American Kawhi Leonard could only play 29 minutes because of foul trouble and finished with 12 points. Leonard shot more threes in the NCAA tournament than free throws, which isn't a stat that Steve Fisher would like to see. He settled for jump shots instead of attacking the lane and using his great athleticism to score. The Aztecs struggled from three only shooting 31.8 percent including Chase Tapley, who went 1 for 7 from behind the arc.

Kemba Walker said, "I'm just trying to do the best I can do. Whether it's scoring, talking, getting their confidence up or giving an assist, I'm just trying to do whatever is possible to enhance this team." If the Huskies continue to play well on defense and ride Kemba on offense, they have a great chance of knocking off the Arizona Wildcats and heading to the final floor. Jim Calhoun said about his team, "I couldn't have asked for a better gift than this team, and then we get this. I don't remember anything quite like this. This is different. This team genuinely believes in themselves and each other."

A Key to San Diego St. vs Uconn

How San Diego St. will defend Kemba Walker: Steve Fisher, the head coach of San Diego St., said about his team having to guard Kemba Walker in the sweet sixteen, "We have some experience guarding top notch players like Kemba. We are going to use the athleticism of Billy White mostly but all our guys sometime will take a shot at him. The one thing you have to do to a player like Kemba is switch off on him and not show him the same defense every time down the court. We had a lot of success doing this against Jimmer Fredette so we hope we can do it against Kemba Walker." In San Diego State's two losses to BYU, Jimmer Fredette scored a combined 68 points and had 9 assists one game. When the Aztecs got their third crack at Fredette, he was stifled and frustrated on the offensive end, going 10 for 25 from the field including 2 for 7 from three. The Aztecs hope that Billy White's size at 6-8 and length complemented by his athleticism will force Kemba Walker into difficult shots much like how Jimmer had to settle for tough jumpers. San Diego St. will try to keep Kemba off the free throw line, where he went 14 for 14 in Uconn's third round win over Cincinnati. It is key that White will not slow down and begin to show fatigue as the game goes along, as he doesn't normally guard players on the perimeter. This is key as Kemba plays nearly every minute of every game, as long as he isn't in foul trouble. White usually only plays about 27 minutes per game but may have to be on the floor for the entire game to make sure that Walker doesn't get hot from the field. San Diego St. may also try to guard Kemba with a quicker guard like Chase Tapley. The Aztecs will have to double Kemba off screens, put some full court pressure on him, and also play some zone to switch up the defenses on Walker. This formula helped contain Fredette and will hopefully for Aztec fans, contain Walker.