November 17, 2008 | Volume 109, Issue 19

The Spartans' Floor Leader Is Speaking Up—and There's Talk of The Final Four

A Forward With Big Shoes To Fill Is Ready To Step Up and Make the Zags Contenders

A Top-Rated Recruit and An Unfettered Forward Will Keep Up Big Man U's Tradition

The Golden Eagles Lack Size, but They'll Make Up for It In Speed and Experience

The Stars—And One in Particular—Are Aligned For the Sun Devils

A Fun-Loving Star Makes the Sooners the Coaches' Pick To Win the Big 12. No Joke

Putting Curry In the Middle Of the Mix Could Give The Wildcats A Real Lift

Thanks to a Star Guard, The Hurricanes Have Moved Up a Category In Intensity

The Wildcats Are Putting Their Faith in A Pious Point Guard to Deliver Again

SI predicts the 45 automatic bids and at-large picks that will round out the tournament field

Utah's comeback win against TCU puts the Mountain West school in position for a BCS berth • The coach Tennessee should target now that Phillip Fulmer is on his way out

Edging TCU in the final minute to stay unbeaten, Utah moved closer to earning a BCS berth for the Mountain West

Tennessee (3--7) hit rocky bottom last weekend, losing at home to Wyoming (4--6) five days after ousting 17-year coach Phillip Fulmer. The school should go after Texas Tech's Mike Leach; the...

In a bold trade for Allen Iverson, the Pistons picked up a player who could provide the Answer to what ails them

A masterly win in Phoenix all but assured Jimmie Johnson of his third Cup title heading into the season finale

Things may get a little slow during Jimmie Johnson's 267-lap victory parade this Sunday, but there's plenty at stake for the drivers behind him.

The story just keeps getting stranger in Oakland, but don't expect the commissioner to step in and fix it

Any NFL club that has reached 9--0 usually has a half dozen Pro Bowl spots wrapped up by now and a couple of book contracts in the works. Tennessee has a 35-year-old quarterback and a bunch of...

Bye weeks are done. Brush away backups for players with greater upside

EVEN NOW, AT 50, Mike Singletary gives the impression that at any moment he might submit to the urge to make one more tackle, that he might put on a helmet and drive his face mask into your chest...

Henry R. Luce 1898--1967

Ravaged by the mortgage crisis, a team and a town try to lift each other's spirits

Which NFL player would you least like to mess with?

A unanimous decision over Roy Jones Jr. at Madison Square Garden, undisputed super middleweight champion . With the victory the 36-year-old Welshman raised his record to 46--0; afterward he...

White Sox G.M., on Barack Obama (below) being a fan of his team:

A community college baseball coach in Sumiton, Ala., allegedly punished a player for lying by making him kneel in front of a pitching machine that pelted him with 80-mph fastballs.

A benched Marbury ponders a return to high school

Consecutive points-assists double doubles by the Hornets' Chris Paul through Sunday, breaking the NBA record set by Oscar Robertson of the Cincinnati Royals in 1968.

Strange days in the beautiful game

What to watch and watch for

Loncarica, a freshman midfielder at Syracuse, had four goals and two assists in wins over Georgetown and American; she was named Big East offensive player of the week for the third time this...

former Phoenix Suns guard Kevin Johnson will be sworn in as mayor of Sacramento, a city of 475,000 in which unemployment is up (7.4%), the deficit is way up ($58 million) and morale is way, way...

The Interview

Once famed for his oddball alter egos—Coach Janky Spanky? Sheriff Gonna Getcha?—the Redskins running back found new purpose following the murder of his friend and teammate Sean Taylor. Now Portis...

BREAKING NEWS, REAL-TIME SCORES AND DAILY ANALYSIS.

After a disconcerting first year in Miami, the linebacker benefits from a coaching change

Finishing off their blocks as precisely as they complete each other's sentences, inseparable twins and clear the way for Florida's revived rushing attack

BREAKING NEWS, REAL-TIME SCORES AND DAILY ANALYSIS.

A dramatic finish won Alabama a spot in the SEC title game, but the Tide will have to play better against Florida

With two titans atop the organization and a Hall of Fame coach on the bench, the five-year-old should be a franchise on the rise. Instead, they remain ensnared in mediocrity

BREAKING NEWS, REAL-TIME SCORES AND DAILY ANALYSIS.

At 16 he was the U.S.'s Sidney Crosby. At 19 he found out he had cancer. At 20 he was benched in the playoffs. Now, at 21, the Boston Bruins' has finally arrived

BREAKING NEWS, REAL-TIME SCORES AND DAILY ANALYSIS.

Tougher shots from behind a new men's and more stay-in-school stars to cheer mark a 2008--09 season that has several schools with men's women's teams in national contention

With the addition of a new men's arc, woe are the college teams that have to play in NBA arenas.

Some of the brightest stars from college hoops' dual powerhouses dish on who's got game

The odyssey of began in one of the most remote hoops hinterlands. Soon, perhaps, it will take the UConn 7-footer to an unimaginably big stage—bigger even than the first round of the NBA draft.

Last season Connecticut forward put together the most magnificent freshman campaign in women's hoops history. Now the hypercompetitive Husky has set her sights on a national title

Connecticut may be the pick to win it all, but the Huskies will have to fight off a deeper field of contenders than usual in the

When members of the Top 10 falter, these are the teams poised to move up and take their places. They want to dance deep into March too

Listings of the most honorable, the up-and-comers, the new hires and the next tournament upstarts

The Over-Under

There'll Be No Stopping the Heels This Year, But the Coach Wants More Stops on D

A Beleaguered Guard, Back From Another Injury, Hopes His Fifth Try Is the Charm

The Bruins' Chances for Another Final Four Are Fab, Thanks to Five Top Recruits

Watch the Cards Carefully. They're Playing With a Loaded Deck

A Single-Digit Scorer Who Controls Games on D Stokes the Boilermakers

The Irish Have A Fighting Shot at a Title Thanks to a Trigger-happy Guard

The Blair Weight Project Has a Panthers Big Man Slimmer and Ready to Run

More Muscular In the Middle, The Blue Devils Are at Last Built for The Long Haul

A Versatile Star Is Thinking Big Now That He's Getting to Play Small Again

The Vols' Backcourt Will Find Its Way By Going Through a Maze

A Rose-y Scenario Must Develop for The Tigers to Return to the Title Game

Still high from the Ryder Cup, U.S. captain is waiting for the big win to have an impact on his career

More Tour cards to Nationwide pros

Any wonder Sergio passed Phil for No. 2 in the world last week?

the time of year when agents scour the corporate landscape for sponsorship deals. Over the years I've negotiated contracts on behalf of sponsors with and others. There's actually a kind of...

Davis Love III

"Growing purses outside the U.S. will hurt the PGA Tour. As pros go abroad, fields will be weaker, so fan interest and TV ratings will dive."

How do you feel about the state of golf in 2009?

A Bhutanese teen takes a big swing and overcomes the odds

Donald Trump finally wins approval for $1 billion golf development in Scotland

Fighting for his card in the season-ending Tour event, a humble rookie known more for his gloves than his game pushed veteran all the way to the finish line

Two-time transplant recipient and PGA Tour wannabe Erik Compton is making a bid to be newsmaker of the year

How the Giants—and the NFL—took Manhattan

widely reported antiblog rant on HBO's in April, Pulitzer Prize--winning author Buzz Bissinger reserved his most caustic words for a Deadspin commenter calling himself Balls Deep. The...

caught only one pass in a Nov. 2 game at Seattle, but that will still go down as the weekend of his big play. The day before the game he took his girlfriend and costar to the top of the Seattle...