Duke Blue Devils

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USA Today Sports/Robert Deutsch

USA Today Sports/Bob Donnan

The Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team defeated Wisconsin Badgers 68-63 Monday in the NCAA National Championship game in Indianapolis, Indiana.

With the win, Duke now has five NCAA basketball titles. All of the titles have been won by Coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Freshman Tyus Jones lead Duke with 23 points and fellow Freshman Grayson Allen came off the bench to score 16 points.

The Duke Blue Devils finished the year 35-4.

National Championship

USA Today Sports

The Duke Blue Devils will play Wisconsin Badgers in the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship tonight in Indianapolis, Indiana.

To reach the National Championship, Duke defeated Michigan State Spartans Saturday 81-61. In the other national semifinal, Wisconsin Badgers handed Kentucky Wildcats their first loss of the year winning 71-64.

The National Championship game starts at 9:18 p.m. ET on CBS.

Final Four

USA Today Sports/Bob Donnan

The Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team are moving on to the Final Four in Indianapolis, Indiana.

USA Today Sports/Kevin Jairaj

The Blue Devils defeated Gonzaga Bulldogs Sunday 66-52 in the Elite Eight in Houston, Texas. With the win, Duke makes its 16th Final Four appearances and 12 Final Fours for Coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Justise Winslow and Matt Jones led the team in points with 16. Tyus Jones added 15 points, Quinn Cook had 10 points and Jahlil Okafor scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Duke will play Michigan State Spartans Saturday in the Final Four. The game will start at 6:09 ET and will be broadcast on TBS.

Duke Blue Devils

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Both Duke Blue Devils women's and men's basketball teams advanced to the Sweet 16 Sunday.

USA Today/Bob Donnan

The Blue Devils women's team defeated Mississippi State Bulldogs 64-56 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at home in Durham, North Carolina. Leading the way for the Blue Devils was freshman Azura Stevens with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Rebeca Greenwell added 17 points. The fouth seed Devils advance to play again on Saturday against the winner of the (1) Maryland vs (8) Princeton game that will be played later tonight.

Duke's men's basketball team beat San Diego State Aztecs 68-49 Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jahil Okafor had a big game with 26 points. Justise Winslow chipped in with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Duke will play again Friday in Houston against fifth seed Utah Utes.

Coach K

USA Today Sports/Anthony Gruppuso

Mike Krzyzewski, Duke Blue Devils men's basketball coach, was the first Division I men's coach to reach 1000 wins Sunday. Coach K's Blue Devils came from behind to defeat St. John's Red Storm 77-68 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Links to a few videos about Coach K: legendary career, win 1,000 and on milestone.

Then there were two: Part 1

USA Today/Matthew Emmons

Associated Press

It all comes down to this. Two teams are left and the winner will be crowned tonight.

After the tournament started weeks ago, two teams are left standing: Connecticut Huskies and Kentucky Wildcats. To reach the men's basketball finals, Connecticut and Kentucky played Final Four games on Saturday. No. 7 seed Connecticut downed overall No. 1 seed Florida 63-53. In the second game of the evening, No. 8. Kentucky beat No. 2 Wisconsin. Kentucky beat Wisconsin with a 3-pointer from Aaron Harrison with 5.7 seconds to play. Harrison was also the one to make the game winning shot against Michigan in the Elite Eight.

Kentucky and Connecticut will meet tonight at 9:10 p.m. ET to decide who the National Champions are. The game will be broadcast on CBS from AT&T Stadium in Arli
ngton, Texas.

NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four

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I was really hoping that three Big Ten teams would make the trip to North Texas. After the weekend, only one Big Ten team will make the trip: Wisconsin. I would like to see a Big Ten team win it all. So good luck to the Badgers.

This past Saturday, Wisconsin defeated No. 1 seed Arizona 64-63. On Sunday, Michigan State lost to Connecticut 60-54 and Michigan lost to Kentucky 75-72. Two close games. Michigan was denied going back to the Final Four when Kentucky's Aaron Harrison made a 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds left in the game.

The NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four will take place at the AT&T Stadium in North Texas Saturday. Overall No. 1 seed Florida will take on Connecticut at 6:09 p.m. EST and Wisconsin will play Kentucky at 8:49 p.m
.

NCAA Basketball Tournament

USA Today/Mike Carter

The NCAA basketball tournament is entering the Sweet Sixteen tonight and Friday.

Only one of my favorite men's basketball teams made it that far. Michigan will play Tennessee Friday in Indianapolis at 7:15 p.m. EST. If Michigan wins, they will play again on March 30 in the Elite Eight. Duke, my other favorite team, was knocked out of the tournament in the first round by (14) Mercer. Another early exit for the Blue Devils.

In the women's tournament, only two of the teams that I like are out of the tournament. Duke lost to DePaul and Nebraska lost to Brigham Young both in the second round. Teams that I like that are still playing are Connecticut, Notre Dame, Baylor and Penn State.

Associate Press/Keith Spakocic

Baylor plays Kentucky Saturday at 12 p.m EST, Notre Dame will meet Oklahoma State Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and Connecticut faces Brigham Young Saturday at 4:30 p.m. On Sunday, Penn State plays Stanford at 4:30 p.m.

The Michigan women's basketball team is still playing in the WNIT. They have also reached the Sweet Sixteen by defeating Duquesne Monday. Their next game is today against Bowling Green at 7 p.m. I wish that the WNIT was also on TV. ESPN has been broadcasting the men's NIT games.

It would be awesome to have all of the teams that I like watching advance to the Elite Eight.

Michigan vs Michigan State

USA TODAY/Dave Weaver

I finished watching a documentary Saturday night around 7:20 p.m. and I turned it to ESPN. The Michigan vs Michigan State men's basketball game had already started. I wasn't sure I wanted to watch it because I thought Michigan would lose. What a fan I am. Thinking that one of my favorite teams will lose. That is why I have a few favorite teams, like Duke. #GoDuke

Michigan was trailing Michigan State at halftime, 36-30. That is when I picked up a few magazines and started reading them. The game was on in the background and I really wasn't paying attention. In the second half, Michigan was able to pull closer to Michigan State and eventually took the lead.

The final minute of the game dragged on for minutes. Michigan would inbound the ball and Michigan State would foul. Michigan would shoot free throws and make some of them. Michigan State would get the ball, drive down court and make a basket. Repeat the process again, several times.

The game finally ended and No. 21 Michigan defeated No. 3 Michigan State 80-75 at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. Michigan has now won nine straight games. The past three games have been over top-10 ranked opponents. Leading the way for Michigan was Derrick Walton, Jr. and Nik Stauskas with 19 points each. Caris LeVert chipped in with 17 points.

Michigan's next game is this Thursday at 9 p.m. EST against Purdue at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. Duke plays tonight against Pitt at 7 p.m. in Pittsburgh. It will be broadcast on ESPN. #GoDuke

NCAA National Championships

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The men's national championship game took place Monday in Atlanta. The Louisville Cardinals played the Michigan Wolverines. The Cardinals defeated the Wolverines 82-76 to win the national championship.

Michigan went into halftime with a one point advantage over Louisville 38-37. In the second half, the Cardinals went a 12-3 run. Michigan was not able to make up the difference. Luke Hancock lead the way for the Cardinals with 22 points and Peyton Siva added 18 points.

National Player of the Year, Michigan's Trey Burke lead the Wolverines with 24 points. Freshman guard Spike Albrecht finished with 17 points. Albrecht was 4-for-5 from beyond the three point arch.

Dave Martin/Associated Press

Michigan finished the season with a 31-8 record and Louisville final record is 35-5.

The women's national championship game took place Tuesday in New Orleans. Connecticut Huskies defeated the Louisville Cardinals 93-60.With the win, UConn and Geno Auriemma won their eighth national championship.

UConn was lead by freshman Breanna Stewart with 23 points and 9 rebounds. Stewart was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. She is only the third freshman and the first in 25 years to be named MOP. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis chipped in with 18 points and 9 rebounds. Kelly Faris added 16 points.

The margin of victory was the largest in NCAA Division I women's basketball history. Connecticut finished the season with a 35-4 record. Louisville's record was 29-9.

Final Four - Men's Basketball

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The Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team took care of business Sunday when they defeated the Florida Gators 79-59. Michigan dominated from the opening tip and Florida could never get back into the game.

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Unlike the Wolverines advancing to the Final Four, the Duke Blue Devils also played Sunday for a spot in the Final Four. Duke unfortunately didn't have an ending like Michigan. Duke lost to Louisville Cardinals 85-63. Duke was within a few points at halftime, but Louisville took over the game in the second half and shut Duke down.

The grossest thing I've ever seen on TV happened during the Duke/Louisville game. Louisville player, Kevin Ware, went down with a nasty broke leg. When I saw him laying on the ground, I knew something was wrong with him. I saw something white on his leg. When Duke's Tyler Thorton put his hands over his eyes and turn away, I knew that Ware indeed broke his leg. That is when I put my Kindle over my face. There was no way I was watching that replay again. CBS did show the replay twice just after his leg was broken. I was thankful that they decided not to show that again after the first two replays. Hope Ware's recovery goes well.

Now that Louisville defeated Duke, I hope Michigan can win it all now. The Final Four will take place on Saturday evening. Louisville will play Wichita State first at 6:09 p.m. and Michigan takes on Syracuse at 8:49 p.m. in Atlanta. The winners of the games will meet April 8 in the National Championship.

Sweet Sixteen

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Two of the men's teams that I like are still in the NCAA basketball tournament. Michigan and Duke will play in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday.

Michigan Wolverines will play Kansas Jayhawks first at 7:37 p.m. EST at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Duke Blue Devils will face Michigan State Spartans at 9:45 p.m. EST at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. If Michigan or Duke wins their games, they will play again in the Elite Eight on March 31. Which I just realized is Easter.

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

The women's NCAA tournament is just a few days behind the men's. Most of the women will play their Sweet Sixteen games on March 30 and 31. A bunch of teams that I like are still playing in the tournament: Baylor, Duke, Notre Dame and UConn. The only Big Ten team left is Nebraska. Penn State, Michigan, Purdue and Iowa all lost on Tuesday.

UConn will play their Sweet Sixteen game on Saturday at 2 p.m. EST against Maryland at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Notre Dame faces Kansas on Sunday at 12 p.m. EST at the Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Virginia. Following that game will be Duke against the only Big Ten team left in the tournament, Nebraska at 2:30 p.m. EST.

Baylor plays Louisville Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  

All of the winners will advance to the Elite Eight that will be held on April 1 and 2.

Michigan

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Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team played their South Region second round game Thursday. I forgot that Duke plays today. I was looking all over for them on TV yesterday.

Michigan faced the South Dakota State Jackrabbits at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Michigan defeated the Jackrabbits 71-56.

Michigan's Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 21 points and was 5 of 7 from the 3-point line. Glenn Robinson III also had 21 points.

With the win, the Wolverines move on to the third round to take on Virginia Commonwealth Rams Saturday at 12:15 p.m. EST at the Palace of Auburn Hills. 

I have never seen a Jackrabbit as a mascot. I think South Dakota State's logo of the Jackrabbit is very cute.

Selection Sunday & Monday

The two The Selection Sunday and Monday took place this week for the NCAA Men's and Women's basketball tournaments.

The men's first round games will take place on March 19 and 20. The NCAA men's final will take place on Monday, April 8 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

The women's first round games will begin March 23 and 24. The NCAA women's final will be on Tuesday, April 9 at New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The two men's teams that I care about are Michigan and Duke. Michigan received a #4 seed in the South bracket. They will play South Dakota State Thursday at 7:15 p.m. EST at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Duke was given a #2 seed in the Midwest bracket. They will play Albany in the first round Friday at 12:15 p.m. EST at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I would love to see both Michigan and Duke go deep into the tournament. Hopefully there won't be early round exits.

Unlike the men's basketball tournament, I will probably watch all of the games I can. I do like watching the women's tournament more then the men's. The women's teams I care about are Baylor, Notre Dame, Duke Michigan, UConn, Penn State and Iowa.

Connecticut will start the first round on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. EST at the Gample Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut. UConn will play Idaho.

Duke, a #2 seed, will meet Hampton at home Sunday at 12 p.m. EST at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.

Notre Dame, #1 seed, meets Tennessee-Martin in the first round at 5 p.m. EST at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa Sunday.

Penn State, #3 seed, will play their first round game Sunday against Cal Poly at 5 p.m. EST at the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Baylor is the #1 overall seed. They will play Prairie View A&M Sunday at 7:30 p.m. EST at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.

Michigan, a #8 seed, will meet Villanova in the first round at the Maples Pavilion in Stanford, California on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. EST.

Iowa seeded #9 will play Miami at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa Sunday at 7:30 p.m. EST.

Ryan Kelly

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Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team fans have been waiting for this day since January 8.

Duke hosted Miami Saturday night in an Atlantic Coast Conference game. The first time the two teams met this season back on January 23, Ryan Kelly was out and Miami crushed then No. 1 Duke 90-63.

This meeting was different. Ryan Kelly was back from injury and in the lineup. Kelly missed 13 games with a right foot injury. On his return Saturday, Kelly lead the team with a career high 36 points. He made 7 of 9 three pointers. No. 3 Duke defeated No. 5 Miami at Cameron Indoor Stadium 79-76.

Before Kelly's injury, Duke was undefeated and the number 1 team in the country. When Kelly injured his foot in early January, Duke went 9-4. The Blue Devils lost to North Carolina Sate, Miami, Maryland and Virginia.

With Kelly back in the lineup, Duke is a better team. Duke has two more regular season games against Virginia Tech and North Carolina before the ACC tournament starts on March 15 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Mason Plumlee

 I watched the Ohio State vs Duke men's basketball game Thursday morning. Before watching the game, I saw the highlight of the Mason Plumlee alley-opp dunk. Quinn Cook's lob was right on the money.

I usually don't get too excited over dunks. But this one was pretty cool.

ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Associated Press/Carlos Osorio

The ACC/Big Ten Challenge continued last night. Three teams that I like were playing. Unfortunately, two of my favorite basketball teams played each other: Duke vs Michigan women's basketball and Duke men's basketball team played Ohio State.

The Duke vs Michigan game was first. No. 4 Duke defeated Michigan 71-54 at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor. The score was really close at halftime. Duke had a slight lead 35-32. In the second half, Duke went on a 11-2 run. Later in the half, Duke built up a 21 point lead. Michigan cut down the lead to 15 points, but couldn't pull any closer.

Leading Duke was Elizabeth Williams and Chelsea Gray with 19 points. Jenny Ryan was Michigan's leading scorer with 18 points. Michigan falls to 5-2 overall and Duke is still perfect at 5-0.

Associated Press/Gerry Broome

Ohio State traveled down to North Carolina to play Duke. No. 2 Duke defeated No. 4 Ohio State 73-68. Duke trailed at halftime 31-23. Duke erased it's deficit by going on a 11-4 run early in the second half.

Duke has now defeated three ranked opponents in the early 2012-2013 season. They have beat Kentucky, Louisville and now Ohio State.

Duke's Mason Plumlee lead with 21 points and a tied his career high 17 rebounds. Deshaun Thomas lead Ohio State with 16 points. Ohio State drops to 4-1 and Duke is 7-0.

Duke and Michigan

Duke and Michigan men's and women's basketball teams both played this weekend. Only one of those teams won: Duke women.

Michigan men's basketball team played Friday in the NCAA Tournament Second Round against Ohio University Bobcats. Michigan lost 65-60. The Wolverines comeback in the second half fell short.

I thought Duke men's team would make it to the Sweet 16 without any problems. I was wrong. Duke was upset by 15 seeded Lehigh 75-70 Friday night. Mason Plumlee and Austin Rivers led the Blue Devils with 19 points each. Duke finished the season with a 27-7 record.

Michigan women's basketball team played Sunday and was defeated in the First Round by Oklahoma Sooners 88-67. The Wolverines were never really in the game. The score was tied early in the first half at 6, then Oklahoma went on a 11-1 run.

Duke women's team had an easy time with their First Round game. Duke beat Samford Bulldogs 82-47 Sunday evening. Elizabeth Williams, Dukes's top scorer and rebounder, played with a stress fracture in her lower right leg. Williams has 11 points. Tricia Liston led Duke with 22 points. Duke will play Vanderbuilt tonight in the NCAA Second Round.

Photo Credit: Duke center Elizabeth Williams (1) passes the ball under pressure from Samford forward Taylor Reece (10) in the second half of an NCAA women's basketball tournament first round game Sunday. (Associated Press/John Russell)

Sports Weekend

The IAAF World Track and Field Championships took place over the weekend in Istanbul, Turkey. The United States won a total of 18 medals: 10 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze.

On the first day, Ryan Whiting won the shot put with a mark of 72-2.25 feet. On Day 2, Brad Walker finished third in the pole vault with a height of 19-0.25 feet. Chaunte Lowe was the winner of the high jump with a leap of 6-4.75 feet. In the women's shot put, Michelle Carter won bronze with her throw of 63-9.5 feet. Winning the men's heptathlon and setting a world record was Ashton Eaton with 6645 points. In the women's 400m, the US won two medals. Sanya Richards-Ross won gold with a run of 50.79 seconds and Natasha Hastings was third with a time of 51.82. In the last event of Day 2, Justin Gatlin won the 60m dash in 6.46.

On the final day of competition, the US won two medals in the women's long jump. Brittney Reese and Janay DeLoach went 1-2 with their jumps of 23-8.75 and 22-10.75 feet. Reese set a championship record with her jump. Bernard Lagat won the 3000m with a season best of 7:41:44. Erica Moore was the bronze medal winner in the women's 800m with a time of 1:59:97. Another two medals were won in the men's triple jump. Will Claye won gold with a leap of 58-1 feet and Christian Taylor was the silver medal winner with a leap of 57-10.25 feet. The US 4x400m relay team finished second to Great Britain with a time of 3:28:79. Tianna Madison finished third in the women's 60m with a time of 7.09 seconds. Aries Merritt beat China's Xiang Liu in the men's 60m hurdles to win gold. Merritt's winning time was 7.44 seconds. To close the championships, the men's 4x400m relay won gold with a time of 3:03.94

Besides the IAAF World Championships, the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships were held this weekend. Oregon Ducks women's team won it's third consecutive Indoor Track and Field title with a total of 49 points over Kansas. The Ducks had wins in the pentathlon, 60 meters, mile, 400m and the 3000m. On the men's side, Florida Gators also won their third consecutive Indoor Track and Field Championship with 52 points. They beat SEC rival Arkansas by five points. The Gators had wins in the 60m, 400m and triple jump.

The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships were being streamed online live this past weekend from Idaho. I decided not to watch them live on the computer. I wanted to wait to watch them on Sunday night when they will air on ESPNU. I would rather watch track on my big screen TV and not sitting in an office chair watching a 22 inch computer monitor.

I did watch some women's basketball over the weekend. I watched the Big 12 tournament. Baylor played Kansas State in the Big 12 semifinal Friday. Baylor had a pretty easy time with Kansas State and won 86-65. In that game, Brittney Griner set a tournament record with points scored. Griner scored 45 points, had 10 rebounds and 7 blocks. Baylor defeated Texas A&M 73-50 Saturday to win the Big 12 Conference Tournament championship.

Switching over to men's basketball, Duke and Michigan both played in their conference quarterfinal games on Saturday. Both teams lost. Duke lost to Florida State 62-59. FSU went on to win the ACC Tournament defeating North Carolina and Michigan lost to Ohio State 77-55. OSU then went on to lose to Michigan State in the Big 10 Tournament final.

The bracket was announced Sunday and Duke is the second seed in the South region. They will play Lehigh Friday in Greensboro, NC. Michigan is the fourth seed in the Midwest region. They will play Ohio Friday in Nashville.

Such a busy sports weekend. I love this time of the year.

Photo Credit: Sanya Richards-Ross celebrates winning the gold in the women's 400m final during the World Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday in Istanbul, Turkey. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)

Favorite photos from January 30 - February 3, 2012