High Schools Set for Their Own Madness

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»

Lorenzo Brown sinks three free throws in final seconds

(AP) - It's been a long time since North Carolina State was mentioned in the same breath with the elite programs in the nation—let alone its own state. Now, a new coach and a new attitude have the Wolfpack faithful harkening back to the glory days of David Thompson and Jim Valvano. Lorenzo Brown hit three free throws in the final 10.6 seconds and North Carolina State returned to the round of 16 with a 66-63 upset of third-seeded Georgetown in the NCAA tournament today. 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."

Congratulations on time well-spent

(AP) - The Nielsen Co. estimates that 9.95 million people watched LeBron James announce on ESPN that he's leaving Cleveland to play for the Miami Heat, making it the third-most-watched program on cable television this year. The Decision that aired Thursday night ranks behind the 12.3 million who watched the NFL Pro Bowl and 11.2 million who watched an episode of ICarly on Nickelodeon in January. More»

Hour-long ego trip lays bare pointless pastime

(NEWSER) - As the news broke that LeBron James will join the Miami Heat , fans whose teams lost out were disappointed, "but mostly they were flabbergasted by the tone deafness of the whole enterprise," Will Leitch writes for New York . Worse, the hour-long display of cluelessness surrounding the announcement exposed a raw nerve: "We've truly seen the ugly, dark heart of sports, and we won't be able to come back." More»