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Not long ago, in a galaxy not so far away from wherever Comcast placed truTV in your cable lineup, the era of the dominant men’s college basketball team was over. Last year, no team had more than a 15 percent chance of winning the NCAA men’s tournament, according to FiveThirtyEight’s pre-tournament forecast (Louisville was the best bet). In 2011, the nominal favorite was Duke, with a 22 percent chance. In 2012, it was Kentucky, at 27 percent, and in 2013, Louisville led with a 23 percent chance. While two of those favorites (Kentucky in 2012 and Louisville in 2013) happened...

On Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” on HBO, host John Oliver blasted the NCAA for not compensating its student athletes with anything besides food and a free education.

Basketball is in the headlines, but football is the great corrupter in college sports. Headlines, even in sports, can be deceptive. But it’s hard getting around the contrast in last weekend’s banners regarding two universities that are involved in one of the greatest (though temporarily suspended) rivalries in college basketball. On one side is Syracuse. Having already removed themselves from postseason play due to self-reported academic infractions, the Orange were hit by the NCAA with more severe penalties: five years’ probation, twelve forfeited scholarships over the next four years, and the vacating of 108 wins accumulated with the efforts of...

"“We are aware of the exchange Keith Olbermann had on Twitter last night regarding Penn State. It was completely inappropriate and does not reflect the views of ESPN. We have discussed it with Keith, who recognizes he was wrong. ESPN and Keith have agreed that he will not host his show for the remainder of this week and will return on Monday.”" "I apologize for the PSU tweets. I was stupid and childish and way less mature than the students there who did such a great fundraising job."

K-State stuns KU as fans storm court Have you seen this video? This is going to get worse. I think it is time to put an end to storming the court except for championship games.

George Washington. Famous for being first, but hasn't done anything in centuries. RUTGERS John Adams. Sort of forgotten and small and lost to Thomas Jefferson so...WAKE FOREST Thomas Jefferson. Bought Louisiana, had zero scruples, drank hard, and invented the disgraceful sex scandal. LSU James Madison. Tiny, but punched well above his weight, and lasted way longer in the game than he had any right to via craftiness. BOISE STATE James Monroe. Known for having financial difficulties. MARYLAND John Quincy Adams. Thorny bastard who swam naked in rivers for fun and had big-ass sideburns. WEST VIRGINIA Andrew Jackson. Completely insane. Noted...

Dean Smith, who coached North Carolina to two men's basketball national titles, died Saturday night at the age of 83. North Carolina announced Smith's death Sunday morning. "Coach Dean Smith passed away peacefully the evening of February 7 at his home in Chapel Hill, and surrounded by his wife and five children," Smith's family said in a statement. "We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as arrangements are made available to the public. Thank you."

With a chance to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship on the line, the top-ranked Iowa wrestling team steps onto the big stage today. The Hawkeyes are expected to compete in front of the largest crowd to ever watch a collegiate dual meet in their noon matchup with defending NCAA champ Penn State. A sellout crowd of at least 16,000 is anticipated at the Bryce Jordan Center, where the Nittany Lions established the existing record of 15,996 a year ago for a dual against Pittsburgh. That doesn’t impress the Hawkeyes’ fifth-ranked 125-pounder Thomas Gilman, one...

Yes: Let’s hope the legendary coach hears the good news I hope there’s a wire service in the afterlife. I hope there’s some celestial Internet cafe where the departed (regardless of their ultimate destinations) can access news about those of us they’ve left behind. For instance, I’d love it if the monsters who murdered the journalists at Charlie Hebdo could take a moment from baking in eternal hellfire to see how their acts only strengthened our resolve to speak out against intolerance. Similarly, I hope Martin Luther King Jr. can recognize, from his lofty perch in heaven atop his beloved...

Some day college football players will learn not everything needs to be shared to the public. Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones found that out, as you may have heard by now, but things turned out OK for him. Maybe Penn State sophomore safety Bryant Harper will learn a lesson after being publicly scorned by his head coach on Twitter. On Monday, Harper took to Twitter to boast about a B he received on a recent anatomy exam. "B on my first anatomy exam and I didn't study I'll take it" Penn State head coach James Franklin, known to be fluent...

Penn State's football team is getting back 112 wins wiped out during the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal and the late Joe Paterno has been restored as the winningest coach in major college football history. The NCAA announced the new settlement with the school weeks before a scheduled trial on the legality of the 2012 consent decree it will replace.

The NCAA received another serious blow to its credibility today. In court documents filed Thursday in the Paterno lawsuit, Oregon State President and then-NCAA Executive Committee Chairman Ed Ray admitted to not actually reading the Freeh Report — the entire basis for the NCAA sanctions — prior to sanctioning Penn State in 2012. In his testimony in the Paterno Family’s ongoing case, Ray said he was unaware that he needed to prep for anything related to the Freeh Report before the organization’s executive board met to discuss possible sanctions on the University. Instead, Ray spent time in Hawaii where he...

ATT stadium, Arlington Texas, Indoors, Ohio State at Oregon (-6 O/U 73).

Did I just hear that right? Just a minute ago ESPN was running a video introduction of the game with a guy narrating and I could swear he just said 'in a time of inequity in this country' Blah, blah, blah 'one can say it's only a game' but blah, blah,blah ,' that's what it is 'A GAME......and so on. What the heck?

Have you ever encountered a math problem that confused you, or came across an equation or algebraic topic that you didn’t quite understand? Sure, everyone has. Everyone except John Urschel ’12, ’13g, the former Academic All-American offensive lineman and current math genius who, during his career as a Nittany Lion, was honored with the James E. Sullivan Award and the William V. Campbell Award, two prestigious honors. The Sullivan Award goes to the nation’s top amateur athlete—not just in football, but in all sports—while the Campbell Award recognizes a college football player who combines academic and athletic success with outstanding...

The story seems like it’s been told forever at Penn State University. Long-tenured coach builds up a sports program that becomes so successful its players bask in national prominence year after year. The coach gains so much respect he receives status as an honorary alumnus, gets a flavor named for him at Penn State’s famed Berkey Creamery and earns a spot on the “Inspiration” mural just off the State College campus. Naturally, we’re talking about the school’s vaunted football program, right? Not this time. Russ Rose and his women’s volleyball team at Penn State recently took the floor inside Oklahoma...

Florida State Seminoles players returned from the Rose Bowl to find their cars keyed and their tires slashed. The Florida State Seminoles carried a 29-game win streak into the Rose Bowl match up against the No. 2 Oregon Ducks on Thursday. The game serving as a semi-final match up for the first ever College Football Playoff. The defending national champion Seminoles felt disprespected to be seeded despite and undefeated 2014 regular season. That ranking looked fair after Oregon handily defeated the Seminoles in the Rose Bowl, 59-20. It was an embarrassing loss for the Seminoles, but an impressive victory for...

Quarterback Jameis Winston gave perhaps his greatest gift to the Internet in Florida State's blowout loss to Oregon, quite a feat considering all the memes that were born from his bust for shoplifting crab legs from a Tallahassee Publix. The scene this time around was a last-ditch 4th-and-5 play for the Seminoles in the third quarter, and Winston scrambled to to buy time under duress from the Ducks defense. He rolled right, lost his footing (twice) and fumbled the ball backwards, which Oregon's Tony Washington scooped up and returned 58 yards for a touchdown that all but sealed defending champ...

Post your thoughts on today's games and the upcoming games as they happen.

The team TCU played today beat the best in the SEC?? Gained over 400 yards against the best scoring defense in SEC? Allowed only 3 points even after coughing up 4 turnovers? What a joke the SEC is. TCU lost as a visitor in overtime to the #5 ranked team in the country. Looks like politics is taking over in the sporting world as there is no way TCU should not be in the championship hunt.