'Nova Ends UCLA's Final Four Run

Popularity has sucked all the charm out of the tournament

(NEWSER) - In the '60s and '70s, the NCAA tournament was boring because UCLA seemingly always won. These days, "instead of UCLA winning it every year, there are now between five and nine UCLAs that can win it every year," Charles Pierce writes for Slate. "It's just as sterile and dynastic as it used to be." It’s oligarchy rather than monarchy, but it feels just as stale. More»

Notre Dame beats DePaul; Louisville dominates Villanova

(NEWSER) - Kevin Love may be a freshman, but you’d never know it by the way he's played this year, and especially today: UCLA’s center led the Bruins with 24 points and 15 rebounds to defeat the Arizona Wildcats, 68-66. Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless made every effort in the final minute to stop him, but Love prevailed, helping 4th-ranked UCLA remain atop the Pac-10 standings. Elsewhere in college hoops: More»

Rick Pitino nearly loses it in win over protege Billy Donovan

(AP) - Hated to do that to ya, kid. Rick Pitino nearly came unhinged and his point guard watched the end of the game from the bench. When it was over, though, it was Pitino and Louisville making plans for the Final Four and his protege, Billy Donovan, and the Florida Gators wondering what the heck happened. Chane Behanan made the go-ahead basket with 1:04 left today and the fourth-seeded Cardinals finished the game on a 23-8 run for a 72-68 victory over Donovan's stunned Florida team in the West Regional final. More»

Loathing Duke's basketball team is just part of March Madness

(NEWSER) - Think the Yankees are despised? Now that March Madness is here, Duke-hating "is as much a rite ... as marking up your bracket with a red pen," write Josh Levin and Jim Pagels in Slate . They not-so-kindly run down 18 of the Blue Devils' most loathsome moments:

• 1986: Duke fans fall in love with themselves after setting up tents in so-called "Krzyzewskiville"—a makeshift camp named after six-year head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Soon a simple setup "devolved into a Byzantine three-color classification system with wait lists and line monitors."

Lorenzo Charles remembered for stunning 1983 victory

(NEWSER) - Lorenzo Emile Charles, the hero of the 1983 NCAA championship game, died yesterday in a bus crash in North Carolina. Charles, who caught and dunked a last-second shot from his NC State Wolfpack teammate to win the title over heavily favored opponents, was alone and driving a charter bus when he apparently lost control and crashed into trees off an exit ramp. Police were still trying to determine the cause of the crash last night, the News & Observer reports. More»