leitch-old Page 31 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Media Approval Ratings: Dick Vitale
Now that Dickie V is back and at full throat capacity, perhaps it is time to judge him....

It Can Be Told: Spitzer Dribbled Before He Shot
David Hirshey writes regularly for Deadspin about soccer....

Bracket Breakdown: South Region
Later today, we'll begin rolling out our Tidbit previews of each team/first-round matchup, but to kick us off, we're looking at each region. Here's the South region. We're so glad they're calling it "South" again, instead of "Houston," because in the rest of the world, it's not pronounced "HOW-ston....

Bracket Breakdown: East Region
Later today, we'll begin rolling out our Tidbit previews of each team/first-round matchup, but to kick us off, we're gonna look at each region. Here's the East region. We're so glad they're calling it "East" again, instead of "Charlotte," though "Charlotte" is a quite lovely word....

The Brackets Have Been Out For Only 15 Hours, And Everyone's Already An Expert
The best part, to us, about Selection Sunday is how quickly the entirely unpredictable merges into the familiar. When the brackets are announced, every matchup seems deliciously random. Pittsburgh vs. Oral Roberts? Weird. But after about an hour of it sinking in, each matchup becomes fated to have ...

Texas A&M Aggies
1. Battle of the Brazos. Texas A&M's rivalry with Baylor is called "The Battle of the Brazos," as the team's campuses sit 90 miles apart, near the Brazos River. The teams have been playing each other since 1914, but no year has been as eventful as this one. The fun started with a five-overtime thril...

Villanova Wildcats
1. I Got A Name. As if it wasn't rare enough to find one young African-American with the name Corey, Coach Wright went out and found two: freshman guards Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher, both McDonald's All-Americans in high school. Each has shown tremendous promise in their limited time on the court ...

South Alabama Jaguars
1. It's the Jags baby... The University of South Alabama will be coming to a television near you this March. I'm guessing most of you are surprised that such a school exists. USA is a small school located in the Mobile area. That's pretty much as far south as you go in Alabama. Last year, they enrol...

Virginia Tech Hokies
1. Nobody saw this coming. The Hokies came into this season having lost All-ACC guards Zabian Dowdell and Jamon Gordon in addition to their only real capable low post offensive threat, Coleman Collins. Those three were the heart and soul of a Hokies team that went 22-12 overall and 10-6 in the ACC, ...

Duke Blue Devils
1. It's Pronounced "SHY-er fah-SAY." Photos of it are center (and roommate) Brian Zoubek's desktop background. "Weird," says guard Gerald Henderson. "It's just weird." They're referring, of course, to the infamous (Jon) Scheyer Face, found on the mug of Duke's sixth man. Judging only by his expressi...

Memphis Tigers
1. The Plush Club. The Tigers' late-night exploits at 380 Beale St led Coach John Calipari to institute an 11 p.m. curfew and no-nightclub policy. The first incident at the Plush Club happened in the early morning hours of September 2, 2007, when forward Shawn Taggart and shooting guard Jeff Robinso...

Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers
1. Fun facts about your Mount St. Mary's University Mountaineers. Mount St. Mary's University was founded in 1808, making it the oldest independent Catholic college in the United States. It's located in Emmitsburg, a tiny mountain town in Central Maryland just south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The Moun...

Purdue Boilermakers
1. The Baby Boilers Grew Up Before Our Eyes. At the beginning of the season we were positive we were watching an NIT Purdue team .. .or maybe a 12-seed, 19-win Purdue team. As the preconference season began, we looked genius as the Boilers struggled versus the "always tough" Lipscomb. Then the wheel...

Davidson Wildcats
1. The freight. Here is some basic info you might hear over the next few days. Davidson has the nation's longest winning streak at 22 games. The Wildcats won the Southern Conference for the third year in a row, have won their past 36 conference games and 46 of the past 47....

Georgetown Hoyas
1. How It Got Here. Founded in 1789 by John Carroll, Georgetown was part of a larger educational effort by the Pope's "Team America" approach to help educate young Catholics in post-Revolutionary War America. Carroll went out to start out other universities, including his namesake in Cleveland, Ohio...

Arkansas Razorbacks
1. Record Breaker. New coach John Pelphrey set the record for most wins by a first year head coach at Arkansas with 20 when the Hogs beat Auburn at home to finish the regular season. That isn't a minor feat when you realize two of the best coaches in history coached at Arkansas, Eddie Sutton and Nol...

Kent State Golden Flashes
1. The Original Bracket Buster. Before there was George Mason, there was Kent State. Back in 2002 the Golden Flashes, behind three stud senior guards (Trevor Huffman, Andrew Mitchell and current FIBA scoring-record holder Demetric Shaw) and current NFL all-pro tight end Antonio Gates (who was an All...

Washington State Cougars
1. A Dingo Ate your Jumper Allowing only 56 points per game (good for third in the nation) in 07-08, this version of the Cougars are one that stifles on the defensive end. And assembling this team of defensive aficionados was an interesting and far flung task for the Coaches Bennett. Not one player ...
