On Wednesday, University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt stepped down from her job, ending a 38-year career. The move came less than a year after she received a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Kellie Harper played on three national championship squads at Tennessee. She now coaches women's basketball at North Carolina State where she says Coach Summitt remains an inspiration for her every day.
Tonight, Kansas and Kentucky face off in New Orleans for the NCAA Championship. Over the weekend, Kentucky beat Louisville in an intra-state match while Kansas rallied against Ohio State to win 64-62. Today two super-fans argue their case for each team. Kim Parks roots for Kentucky, and she's ready to defend the Wildcats against Mark Domitrovich, a Kansas Jayhawks fan. Also with us for NCAA analysis and more on the latest in sports news is Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Takeaway sports contributor.
There's a lot of money to be made off March Madness. At $122 billion, the amount of spending the NCAA's annual basketball tournament generates is equal to Iceland's GDP. That total includes $614 million in TV advertising, $300 million in NCAA merchandise, and $185 million in corporate sponsorship. So why aren't the athletes paid?
Joe Paterno, the most successful coach in major college football history, the face of Penn State University, and at one point, among the most admired figures in the entire sporting world, is dead at the age of 85. News of Paterno’s death from lung cancer came early Sunday morning. At the center of one of the worst scandals to ever hit the sports world, what JoePa's legacy will be, once the dust clears, is up to more people than just Lions fans.
The Huskies, the University of Connecticut's women's basketball team, tied UCLA's men's basketball record of 88 consecutive wins on Sunday when they defeated Ohio State at Madison Square Garden. Helen Wheelock is a huge Huskies fan; she was at Sunday's game and can't wait for them to go for number 89, and sole possession of the record, tonight against Florida State.
It is now mandatory that athletes wanting to particpate in NCAA Division I sports be tested for sickle cell anemia. The new rule has some people worried that it could lead to racial discrimination.
Put in affect in April, it's aimed to prevent the sudden death of young athletes such as 19-year-old Dale Lloyd II, who died suddenly in 2006 after a rigorous practice for Rice University's football team.
Amid scandal and controversy, the University of Southern California announced that they will replace athletic director Mike Garrett with former Trojans quarterback, Pat Haden. The move comes after the university recieved harsh sanctions from the NCAA following an investigation into the numerous benefits granted to Reggie Bush, and former basketball player, O.J. Mayor. USC also announced they are returning their copy of Reggie Bush's 2005 Heisman Trophy.
The NCAA Men's Basketball tournament starts this week. The brackets are due by noon today. Sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin and Celeste Headlee got theirs in... (click on the image to enlarge)
While college is the land of higher education and a college degree a prerequisite for career success, a new study finds schools are increasingly focusing on athletic, not educational, success. We speak to William "Brit" Kirwan, chancellor of the University of Maryland and co-chair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, who claims that the majority of schools want to cut the size of their athletic budgets but can't quite figure out how to do that.
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