Sporting News Today - March 18, 2010

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9 GUEST BRACKETS

Brandon Jennings
Josh Smith
Baron Davis 20 PAGES OF COVERAGE TOURNAMENT TIPS OFF

NFL DRAFT

Stephen Curry
Jonny Flynn
Greg Oden
Chris Kaman
Pierre Thomas
John Smoltz

DeCourcy in New Orleans: Kentucky faces small but real threat, Page 16

Fagan in San Jose: UTEP will have big advantage, Page 18

Today’s TV schedule, Page 2

MATCHUPS

New Orleans, Page 17

San Jose, Page 19

Oklahoma City, Page 21

Providence, Page 23

Kentucky’s John Wall AP

THURSDAY

MARCH 18, 2010 SEE A DIFFERENT GAME VOLUME 2 ISSUE 239

PHIL SANDLIN / AP

Tim Tebow unveiled his new motion.

NHL

Atlantic antics

Devils beat Penguins 5-2 to sweep six-game season series, tie Pittsburgh atop Atlantic Division with 87 points. Page 47

NCAA TOURNAMENT

Navigating hoops heaven

NBA

Cavs clinch Central, Page 52

Scoreboard

Baseball
Spring Training
Wednesday’s results, Pages 39-44

BY MIKE DECOURCY

decourcy@sportingnews.comWhat to watch during a dozen hours of basketball

NEW ORLEANS—Direc TV and CBSSports.com provide access to every game as the NCAA Tournament begins today. But they won’t point you toward your best entertainment option throughout the hoops-packed day.

Pleased to be of service:

MID-AFTERNOON

South No. 7 Richmond vs. No. 10 Saint Mary’s, 3 p.m. ET. Richmond’s Kevin Anderson is the best guard almost no one’s heard of—except the folks who voted him Atlantic 10 player of the year. His partnership with senior David Gonzalvez gives the Spiders one of the best backcourts in the tournament.

Whichever team wins has a solid shot at upsetting No. 2 seed Villanova in the second round.

NIT debacles, the Big East could suffer a big blow to its rep if the Golden Eagles and Fighting Irish can’t take care of a couple 11 seeds.

NHL New Jersey 5, Pittsburgh 2 Calgary 3, Colorado 2 Anaheim 4, Chicago 2

NBA
Philadelphia 108, New Jersey 97
Charlotte 100, Oklahoma City 92
Cleveland 99, Indiana 94
Toronto 106, Atlanta 105
Boston 109, New York 97
Orlando 110, San Antonio 84
Dallas 113, Chicago 106
Houston 107, Memphis 94
Utah 122, Minnesota 100
Golden State 131, New Orleans 121
L. A. Clippers 101, Milwaukee 93

EARLY AFTERNOON

South No. 6 Notre Dame vs. No. 11 Old Dominion, 12: 25 p.m. ET.

The bad news for Irish fans is Old Dominion won’t be blind-sided by their new pass-heavy “Burn” offense, adopted to mitigate the absence of All-American center Luke Harangody (he’s back now). And ODU forces opponents to defend longer than most care to pay attention.

EARLY EVENING

East No. 6 Marquette vs. No. 11 Washington, 7: 20 p.m. ET. Was the Pac- 10 as bad as it seemed during the 2009-10 season? Is the Big East really all that? This result might say a lot about both.

Already smarting from two

LATE EVENING

East No. 8 Texas vs. No. 9 Wake Forest, 9: 45 p.m. ET. These two teams have been crumbling like burnt biscuits. Wake once looked like a legitimate ACC contender. Texas once was ranked No. 1 in the nation.

It’s always been obvious the Longhorns were deficient at point guard, but even that can’t entirely explain why they have this degree of difficulty.

“If I could put my finger on that, I would. And we would change it,” coach Rick Barnes said. “It’s just consistency … and I wish I had the answer to that.”

GAINESVILLE, FLA.—Just another day for Tim Tebow. Just a few more converts.

The most scrutinized draft prospect in decades unveiled his new throwing motion at Florida’s pro day Wednesday in front of representatives from the 32 NFL teams. The loop is gone—so, too, might be some of the criticism.

“From the Senior Bowl to now,
the improvement is ridiculous,” NFL
Network analyst Mike Mayock said.
“I was blown away.”
In less than seven weeks, Tebow
has used individual instruction
from former NFL coaches to make
subtle changes in his mechanics.

Throwing motion. He has transformed the looping windmill that began at his hip. Now, he holds the ball by his ear during his drops, and there is no loop in the motion.

Under center. On Wednesday, his footwork and dropbacks from direct snaps were crisp and nearly error-free.

The stride. He has received a lot of criticism for his long throwing stride, which has led to some accuracy issues. At his pro day, he displayed a shortened stride without a loss in velocity.