2009 NCAA Tournament

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

Sports, Edgier Fare Dominate the White House TiVo

Sports channels are expected; edgier fare may surprise you

(Newser) - If you judge a man by the channels he turns to, then President Obama is sporty, but with a hip edge. There’s no chance he passed up a replay of Monday's NCAA men’s basketball championship on his flight home from Iraq, sources tell Politico, but Obama is equally...

Tar Heels Trample Spartans to Take Title
 Tar Heels Trample 
 Spartans to Take Title 
ncaa tournament

Tar Heels Trample Spartans to Take Title

(Newser) - Now Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, and Danny Green can head to the NBA feeling good about their decision to return to school. The upperclassmen led North Carolina to its fifth national championship with an 89-72 blowout of Michigan State tonight in Detroit, reports the AP. "We've been...

Don't Dismiss Spartans in UNC Rematch
 Don't Dismiss Spartans 
 in UNC Rematch 
Analysis

Don't Dismiss Spartans in UNC Rematch

(Newser) - Rationally, Michigan State shouldn’t have prayer in tonight’s NCAA basketball title game, writes Chris Dufresne in the Los Angeles Times. Earlier this season, North Carolina didn’t just beat the Spartans, it demolished them 98-63—and the Tar Heels have only gotten better since. “Cold hard facts...

UNC Cruises to Title Game
 UNC Cruises to Title Game 
ncaa tournament

UNC Cruises to Title Game

(Newser) - In a classic case of men vs. boys, North Carolina never gave Villanova much chance to breathe, let alone whip up a fresh dose of Final Four magic. Ty Lawson scored 22 points, Wayne Ellington had 20 more, and the Tar Heels eased to an 83-69 win tonight over the...

Michigan St. Upsets UConn, Heads to Final
 Michigan St. 
 Upsets UConn, 
 Heads to Final 
ncaa tournament

Michigan St. Upsets UConn, Heads to Final

(Newser) - The Spartans promised their downtrodden state something good, and boy, did they deliver tonight. Raymar Morgan broke out of his late-season slump with 18 points, Kalin Lucas added 21 and the smaller Spartans ran roughshod over Hasheem Thabeet and Connecticut in an 82-73 upset in the Final Four. The Spartans...

NCAA Tourney as Boring as Ever
 NCAA Tourney 
 as Boring 
 as Ever 
OPINION

NCAA Tourney as Boring as Ever

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...

Detroit Hopes for NCAA Boost
 Detroit Hopes for NCAA Boost 

Detroit Hopes for NCAA Boost

(Newser) - Downtown Detroit will be hopping this weekend, as hoops fans overrun the city for the Final Four. But outside the carousing along the city’s spruced-up main drag, things look as dire as ever, the Washington Post reports. One in five residents are unemployed, and abandoned homes and factories line...

Obama, DC Elite Are NCAA Washouts

(Newser) - Barack Obama may be a gifted politician, but a gifted bracketologist he is not. NCAA brackets across the nation’s capital were shredded this weekend, the Hill reports, as a slew of upsets took down all but one of the tournament’s top seeds. Just one member of the president’...

Tar Heels Top Sooners to Make Final Four
 Tar Heels 
 Top Sooners 
 to Make 
 Final Four 
ncaa tournament

Tar Heels Top Sooners to Make Final Four

(Newser) - Blake Griffin might be the nation's best player. North Carolina brushed him aside with a total team effort. Ty Lawson scored 19 points and Danny Green added 18 to lead the top-seeded Tar Heels to a 72-60 win over Griffin and Oklahoma today in the South Regional final. North Carolina...

'Nova Wins Thriller, Joins UConn in Final 4
 'Nova Wins Thriller, 
 Joins UConn in Final 4 
ncaa tournament

'Nova Wins Thriller, Joins UConn in Final 4

(Newser) - Villanova beat Pitt, 78-76, in dramatic fashion to reach the Final Four for the first time since its surprise run to the championship in 1985. The Wildcats join UConn, which held off Missouri, 82-75. 'Nova's Scottie Reynolds made a driving layup with 0.5 seconds left for the win. Dwayne...

Louisville, UNC Roll Into Elite 8
 Louisville, UNC Roll Into Elite 8 
NCAA Tournament

Louisville, UNC Roll Into Elite 8

(Newser) - Louisville, UNC, Oklahoma, and Michigan are all headed to the Elite Eight after an occasionally ugly night of basketball. Here’s how it went down:  
  • In a night of lopsided victories, no one dominated more than Louisville. The Cardinals demolished Arizona 103-64, one of the most crushing blowouts the
...

Kentucky Bounces Hoops Coach Gillispie

(Newser) - Two seasons, including one without an NCAA tournament appearance, were enough for Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie, ESPN reports. The school will announce his departure this afternoon. Gillispie notched 40 wins in Lexington, but also racked up 27 losses, including 14 this season as the Wildcats, whose seven men’s...

Missouri, 'Nova Make Elite 8
 Missouri, 'Nova Make Elite 8
NCAA TOURNAMENT

Missouri, 'Nova Make Elite 8

Wildcats crush Blue Devils; Missouri comes out top in Tigers showdown

(Newser) - Villanova and Missouri have powered through to the Elite Eight, reports the Los Angeles Times. Villanova rolled over Duke 77-54 to set up a Big East showdown with Pittsburgh. Wildcats guard Scottie Reynolds scored a game-high 16 points, while the No. 2 seeded Blue Devils were held to their worst...

Pitt, UConn Advance
 Pitt, UConn Advance 
NCAA tournament

Pitt, UConn Advance

(Newser) - For Pitt and UConn, it's on to the Elite Eight. Pitt had the tougher fight, edging Xavier 60-55 to reach the regional finals for the first time in 35 years. Levance Fields gave Pitt the lead with a 3-pointer with 50.9 seconds left, then scored off his own steal....

This March, Not Madness But Predictability

(Newser) - After the “four-day basketball binge that each year makes up one of the best stretches in American sports,” the results are a little, well, boring, Pete Thamel writes in the New York Times. “The tournament has been as predictable as a 401(k)’s decline or Jim Nantz’...

Arizona Topples No. 5 Utah
 Arizona Topples 
 No. 5 Utah 
ncaa tournament

Arizona Topples No. 5 Utah

(Newser) - So much for the notion Arizona might not have belonged in the NCAA tournament. Nic Wise scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half, Chase Budinger added 20 and the 12th-seeded Wildcats—one of the last teams into the field of 65—knocked off fifth-seeded Utah 84-71 tonight...

In Online Traffic, It's Truly Madness
 In Online Traffic, 
 It's Truly Madness 
ncaa tournament

In Online Traffic, It's Truly Madness

(Newser) - Despite a lack of surprises on the court, the first day of March Madness saw a huge jump in visits to the CBS website as well as a bump in TV ratings, the Business Insider reports. The 2.7 million viewers of streaming video online represented a 56% increase over...

High Profile Helps Drive Obama Agenda
High Profile Helps Drive Obama Agenda
analysis

High Profile Helps Drive Obama Agenda

Omnipresent president risks diluting his brand, experts warn

(Newser) - Don’t look now, but President Obama’s on TV again. And gracing magazine covers, delivering a radio address, even on the Web making NCAA tournament picks. The "Everywhere President” strategy is a gamble, as evidenced by the fact that Republicans haven't retired the "celebrity" put-down. One...

No Shockers on Day One
 No Shockers on Day One 
NCAA Tournament

No Shockers on Day One

(Newser) - It was a disappointingly sane opening to March Madness yesterday, writes ESPN’s Mark Schlabach. Only four out of the 16 games were won by the lower seeds, and only one of those—12-seed Western Kentucky over 5-seed Illinois—approached headline status. Top seeds UNC and UConn rolled, with UConn...

YouTube Streaming NCAA Games

Site launches broadcasts with little fanfare

(Newser) - YouTube started streaming NCAA tournament games yesterday from CBS, joining several other sites, including ESPN, AOL, and Yahoo, CNET reports. But it seems strange, writes Greg Sandoval, that neither CBS nor YouTube has done much to promote the broadcasts there, given an audience recently estimated at more than 100 million....

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>