As the steroid controversy hovers over Major League Baseball with ominous intent, few pre-season stories seemed to focus on the game itself.
Simply put, it was the greatest collection of Elite Eight games in the history of the NCAA Tournament. On Saturday, Louisville overcame a 20-point first half deficit to defeat West Virginia in overtime, in a game where the teams launched an astounding 55 three-pointers, making an even more astounding 55 percent of their field goals all while combining for a mere 25 turnovers. Hours later, top-seeded Illinois rallied from 15 points down in the last four minutes to defeat a poised Arizona team, also in overtime.
With the season on the brink of collapse, the National Hockey League faces a bleak future. Despite a core of exciting young players, viable rivalries and a devoted fan base, the NHL has precipitously fallen from the national spotlight.
The baseball world fixated on the New York Yankees' pursuit of Randy Johnson leading up to Saturday's trade deadline.
When he wins his 300th career game, Greg Maddux will solidify himself as one of his generation's greatest pitchers in the past 20 years.
With the trade of Shaquille O'Neal, the Lakers are officially Kobe's team. However, although Kobe and the Lakers' organization suggest the restructuring will greatly benefit the franchise, the loss of Shaq coupled with improvements by other Western Conference teams will cause the Lakers to miss the playoffs. In return for Shaq, the Lakers acquired a future first-round pick and forwards Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant.
Kudos to Carroll Dawson. One month ago following a first-round playoff exit and possessing only one draft pick, the future appeared bleak for the Houston Rockets and their General Manager. Rising complaints and dissatisfaction from leading scorer Steve Francis compounded the problems facing the team.
With the NBA Draft rapidly approaching, teams across the league will scramble over the next 24 hours to trade picks and current players or position themselves to draft an impact rookie in the hopes of upgrading their teams for the next season.
The Western Conference finals features the top two teams from the regular season, as the top-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves, having recently completed a seven-game series over the Sacramento Kings, face the second-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, who responded from a 0-2 series deficit against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs to win the series in six games.
With the deadline over for underclassmen to declare NBA draft eligibility, scouts from across the leagues will convene in the pre-draft camps and at individual workouts in the ensuing weeks to gauge the talent available. As underclassmen and high school players dominate the top of recent drafts -- two of the last three top choices, Lebron James and Kwame Brown, never played in college -- teams are relying less and less on experience and game-proven talent and more on potential, making the next month of scouting imperative for draft success. Here's a brief look at some of the top underclassmen available. Josh Childress, Stanford University, SF.