CS&T/AllsportsAmerica Friday Sports News Update and What's your take? 02/28/2014.

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Sports Quote of the Day:

"Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else." ~ Les Brown, Motivational Speaker 

How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Rangers 2, Blackhawks 1.

By Everett Merrill, The Sports Xchange.

The New York Rangers shut down the NHL's most explosive team, turning back the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

New York (33-24-3) received goals from center Derick Brassard and left wing Rick Nash in claiming its sixth win in the last seven games.

Chicago center Peter Regin scored his third goal of the season with just 12 seconds left in the game.

Rangers goalie Cam Talbot made 31 saves in only his second start in the past nine games. Chicago goalie Corey Crawford stopped 22 shots.

Chicago (35-12-14) leads the league with 207 goals and was tied with Anaheim for the most points (41) on the road. The Blackhawks are the only team in the league with three 20-goal scorers and their 104 goals away from home are by far the most in the NHL this season.

Chicago finished 3-2-2 on its seven-game road trip that began in late January before the Olympic break.

Thursday's contest was the first game back for both teams since the three-week break for the Olympics. The Rangers and Blackhawks had a combined 17 players appearing in Sochi. The Blackhawks seemed to be the more tired of the clubs, committing six giveaways, including one that led to Brassard's goal.

Defenseman Duncan Keith led Chicago with five shots on goal.

Nash's team-leading 19th goal at 15:53 of the third period gave the Rangers the two-goal cushion it needed.

The Rangers were able to kill off their third penalty of the game in the second period. Chicago managed only five shots in their three man-advantage opportunities.

Brassard's 12th goal of the season provided the Rangers with a 1-0 lead at 10:14 of the first period. Left wing Benoit Pouliot started the play by intercepting Blackhawks' center Jonathan Toews' outlet pass near the right boards. Pouliot found Brassard in front the net, who scored on his own rebound.

New York successfully killed off two penalties in the first period against the league's third-best power-play unit.

NOTES: The outdoor game against Pittsburgh at Soldier Field on Saturday is the Blackhawks' first home game since Jan. 26. ... Rangers F Mats Zuccarello, the lone NHL player on Norway's Olympic team, fractured his left hand in the tournament, forcing him to miss 3-4 weeks. ... Rangers C J.T. Miller was recalled from the AHL and skated on the third line with C Derick Brassard and LW Benoit Pouliot. ... Blackhawks D Duncan Keith led Team Canada with a plus-6 and was second in ice time during the Sochi Olympics. ... Chicago has six players with at least 10 goals this season.

 

Bear Down Chicago Bears!!! Bears sign Roberto Garza to one-year contract.

By Michael David Smith

Chicago Bears Center Roberto Garza (63). Photo/Getty Images



The Bears no longer have to worry about losing starting center Roberto Garza to free agency.

Garza has signed a one-year contract to remain in Chicago for the 2014 season, according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune.

The 34-year-old Garza has started every game but two in the last eight seasons, including all 16 games last season. He’s been with the Bears since arriving as a free agent in 2005.

Bears coach Marc Trestman said early this offseason that he believes Garza should finish his career in Chicago. A one-year deal doesn’t necessarily mean that’s going to happen, but it does know the Bears know the identity of their starting center this season.

What happens next?

By Jerry Angelo

Now that the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine has concluded, teams will begin to analyze the results of all the physical testing that they should receive by the end of the week. These reports—broken down by position—will show the top players at each activity, as well as the average performance at each drill.

It will take a few weeks for the physiological and Wonderlic tests to arrive, but the teams will have them in plenty of time before the draft to digest the information. 

Once teams get a good look at all the workout numbers, they will begin to align their draft boards. Most teams currently have grades on players based on the work their scouts did during the college season. Area scouts have been studying and evaluating these players for six months. But until they have an official workout on a player, they can’t solidify their grade.
 

Regardless of how well a player performed during the year, his Combine numbers must correlate with the game tape. If a scout indicated that the prospect played fast and graded him accordingly, but the player ran slow at the Combine, in all likelihood his grade will be lowered and vice versa.
 

The scout’s grade is subjective in terms of speed and athleticism. If you’re going to select a player in the first three rounds, you want him to have very good workout numbers. If teams make a mistake, they want to make what’s called a “fast mistake” or an “athletic mistake.” So there will be some jockeying going on next week when teams start constructing their draft boards.
 

The next step is for teams to formulate their post-Combine game plan. They will determine what players they want their position coaches to work out and what players they want to bring into their facility for one of their official 30 visits.
 

The league allows each organization to bring in 30 players of their choice, primarily for medical reasons, but teams bring in whoever they feel they need more information on and/or to just get to the know the player a little better. The teams must inform the league of who these players will be and, again, no more than 30 can visit a team’s facility before the draft.

All of this will take place during a four or five-week period before the draft. These workouts and visits are very important because they will clear up any discrepancies the teams may have on these players.

April is a busy time as well. By this point, teams have acquired all the information they need to go into their final meetings with coaches and scouts. Here they will determine which players they want and in what order.

The information at hand will mold their draft. This information will consist of several grades from the area scout, the crosscheck scout, the position coach and the director’s report, as well as input from the general manager. Needless to say there are a lot of irons in the fire to deal with, but only one will be used. These meetings will flush out all the information and conclude a consensus grade that everyone agrees with or feels is acceptable.

At this point, two draft boards will be constructed. The first is a ‘best-to-worst’ regardless of position, while the second is a ‘best-to-worst’ at each position. The boards will also highlight the players the team has an express interest in acquiring. Most teams have what I call a ‘short list’ of players they want to select. These players are the ones teams designate and jockey (trade) to acquire during the draft.

As you can see, there are a lot of factors teams have to digest and consider. Backup plans, trades, calls from teams inquiring about their draft pick—all of this takes place in a small window, so the preparation before the draft is extremely critical. Because on draft day, you want to act, not react to situations that may occur.

Every team feels good coming out of a draft, but the winners are the teams that prepared the best by evaluating objectively and with a clear picture of the type of player they needed in order to upgrade their team.

They made sure that the player they took also had the personal fiber and favorable medical result they coveted. Teams may not have gotten the best prospects, but they got the players that they can win with.

That’s good drafting.

Just another Chicago Bulls Session… Bulls 103, Warriors 83.

By The Sports Xchange

Forward Taj Gibson scored 21 points, leading the Chicago Bulls to an easy 103-83 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night at the United Center.

Bulls forward Jimmy Butler returned to the lineup after missing two games with a bruised rib, and he added 16 points. Center Joakim Noah piled up 17 rebounds, eight points and seven assists.

The Bulls improved to 19-8 since Jan. 1 by winning for the seventh time in eight games. Golden State (35-23) had a four-game winning streak snapped.

Chicago (31-26) is now a season-best five games over .500 and has won 11 of the past 12 meetings with the Warriors at the United Center. The strange thing about this one was that Golden State was the rested team. The Bulls won in Atlanta on Tuesday night, while the Warriors had not played since Monday.

Chicago trailed 24-21 after one quarter, then shot 56.5 percent in the second and opened a 56-45 lead at halftime behind 11 second-quarter points from forward Mike Dunleavy.

In the third quarter, Golden State hit just four of 21 shots and scored 14 points, and the Bulls' lead grew to 21. Chicago forward Carlos Boozer scored 11 of his 15 points in the third quarter.

In the first meeting between the teams, in Oakland, Calif., on Feb. 6, guard Stephen Curry poured in 34 points as the Warriors rallied for a 15-point win. This time, Curry hit two of 10 shots and finished with five points, matching his season low.

Guard Jordan Crawford led Golden State with 16 points, while forward David Lee and forward Harrison Barnes scored 11 points each. The Warriors shot 35.7 percent from the field overall and were outrebounded 56-41.

Chicago made 44.6 percent of its shots from the floor.

Longtime Bulls assistant coach Pete Myers, now a Golden State assistant, was assessed a technical foul in the third quarter for arguing a call.

NOTES: Golden State F David Lee returned to the lineup after missing two games with the flu. Lee came off the bench, while F Jermaine O'Neal remained a starter. ... Chicago F Jimmy Butler was back on the floor after missing two games with a bruised rib. ... Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said G Derrick Rose is running on his own and doing some lateral slides now. Rose had surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right knee Nov. 25 and is expected to miss the rest of the season. ... Current Warriors coach Mark Jackson was a player in New York and Houston while Thibodeau was an assistant on Jeff Van Gundy's staff. "I called him 'Deacon,' because he was Jeff Van Gundy's deacon. Jeff was he head pastor," Jackson said. "You knew he was going to be a very good coach. He worked his tail off and was committed to his craft." ... This was the second stop of a six-game road trip for the Warriors.

 

 Bulls -Mavericks Preview.

By JEFF BARTL (STATS Writer)

Solid defense has been a staple for the Chicago Bulls under coach Tom Thibodeau, but a suddenly potent offense has helped carry them a season-high five games over .500.

They weren't as successful on either end of the floor in their first meeting with the Dallas Mavericks, though.

Chicago seeks its eighth victory in nine games Friday night at Dallas, which has won four straight.

The Bulls (31-26) ranked among the NBA's top three in scoring defense in each of Thibodeau's first three seasons, and they're again among the league leaders in 2013-14 by giving up an average of 91.3 points.

Though Chicago is the lowest-scoring team in the league at 92.9 points per contest, it has eclipsed the 100-point mark in three of its last four. In Wednesday's 103-83 victory over Golden State, it held the high-scoring Warriors to their fewest points in nearly three months while leading by as many as 28.

Taj Gibson scored a game-high 21 points, Jimmy Butler added 16 after missing the previous two games with bruised ribs, and Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy scored 15 apiece. Joakim Noah had eight points, 17 rebounds and seven assists.

The Bulls have topped 100 points in five of their last 10 after doing so nine times in their first 47 contests - one needing overtime and two others going to three OTs.

"We're a confident group," Noah said. "(Wednesday) was a big win for us. Played against a team with great offensive firepower, definitely one of the best teams in the West. To come out there and kick their (butts) like that feels great."

Chicago, hot on the heels of Toronto for the Eastern Conference's third seed, has won four of six on the road. It will play three of its next four away from United Center.

"Now's the time to step on the gas pedal and really get ready for the playoffs," Boozer said.

Noah finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the first meeting with Dallas on Dec. 28, but the Mavericks took control early and led by as many as 32 en route to a 105-83 road victory.

Monta Ellis scored a game-high 22 points, while Dirk Nowitzki added 18 in that contest for Dallas (36-23), which moved a season-best 13 games over .500 with Wednesday's 108-89 win over New Orleans.

Nowitzki left 31 seconds into the game with a shoulder injury but returned shortly after and finished with 18 points. He said the shoulder issue has been ongoing for the majority of his career and isn't a concern.

"I've had it ever since Karl Malone hacked me in '99," Nowitzki said. "The shoulder just sometimes comes in and out a little bit. It's happened a good 20 times already over my career and it's going to keep happening again here and there, but I've just got to keep strengthening it on off days and work through it."

Ellis added 23 points for Dallas, which has won 10 of 12 overall and four of five at home.

"The last 12 games we've been playing together as a team," Ellis said. "I think we are coming along at the right time. I think everybody is tuned in and accepting their role of what they need to do to help us win. The biggest thing is that everyone is playing together."

The Mavericks have won 13 of the last 15 home matchups with Chicago.

2014 Preview: Chicago White Sox.

By Aaron Gleeman

The Big Question: Can the White Sox rebuild the league’s worst lineup on the fly?

Chicago went from 85 wins in 2012 to 63 wins last year for the White Sox’s worst season since 1970. Their pitching got worse, but it was nothing compared to the offense falling off a cliff by going from fourth in the league with 748 runs to dead last with 598 runs. It was ugly.

Instead of stocking up on prospects with an eye toward several years down the road general manager Rick Hahn has instead tried to rebuild the lineup in the short and long term, acquiring MLB-ready young talent in Jose Abreu, Adam Eaton, Matt Davidson, and Avisail Garcia. In doing so he traded away a young closer in Addison Reed and a young mid-rotation starter in Hector Santiago, and the White Sox previously parted with Jake Peavy, Alex Rios, Jesse Crain, and Matt Thornton in the middle of last season. Toss in Paul Konerko fading into a part-time role and this is a very different lineup than the .680 OPS crew, but will the results be much different?

Not so long ago Eaton looked like one of the best leadoff prospects in baseball, Abreu has immense upside after putting up monster numbers as a slugger in Cuba, and both Davidson and Garcia have the potential to be solid contributors offensively. But for the White Sox’s lineup to go from horrible to respectable immediately they need just about everything to click and holdover bats Gordon Beckham, Alexei Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo, and Tyler Flowers have disappointed after once showing promise as youngsters themselves.

Chicago’s offense can’t help but be better in 2014, but the White Sox don’t look capable of making the leap into contention and the success or failure of the season depends largely on Abreu living up to the hype and 2-3 other young bats emerging as long-term regulars (plus Chris Sale staying healthy and remaining one of the elite starters in the league, of course). If they can accomplish those things and win 70-something games Hahn and company should be pretty happy with the offseason moves.

What else is going on?

• Thanks to a misleadingly poor win-loss record last season it’s possible that a lot of people don’t realize just how amazing Sale has been as a starter. Among all MLB starting pitchers since 2012–when he moved into the rotation–Sale ranks ninth in ERA and third in ERA+, which adjusts for ballparks and leagues. He’s also fifth in strikeout rate, fourth in K/BB ratio, and ninth in opponents’ OPS. He’s one of the best 5-10 pitchers in baseball and he’s still just 25 years old.

• Much is being made about the decision to trade away a 24-year-old closer coming off a 40-save season, but Reed wasn’t all that great once you get past the save total. He has a 4.17 career ERA, is more fly-ball prone that is ideal in the ninth-inning role, and has mediocre control. And while he’s piled up plenty of saves his actual save conversion rate of 85 percent is nothing special. The wisdom of the trade obviously depends on whether Davidson proves to be a valuable regular, but the idea of cashing in Reed was a smart one. Closers are made, not born, and Nate Jones or Matt Lindstrom likely can handle the job without much dropoff.

• Exactly how good can Abreu be? Projecting foreign players is always tough, but Fan Graphs’ reliable ZiPS system pegs Abreu as a .273 hitter with 26 homers and an .858 OPS as a rookie. To put that in some context, an .858 OPS would have ranked sixth among MLB first basemen last season, one spot behind Freddie Freeman. If the White Sox get that, they should be thrilled with their $68 million investment. (The bad news? Abreu is the only White Sox hitter projected by ZiPS to be above average.)

 

• Overshadowed by the young, MLB-ready bats brought into the mix is that the White Sox also already had a very good infield prospect in Marcus Semien. Last season between Double-A and Triple-A he hit .284 with 19 homers, 24 steals, more walks (98) than strikeouts (90), and an .880 OPS, including a studly .401 on-base percentage at age 22. Semien getting on base and Abreu knocking him in could be a very nice combo for a long time, perhaps as soon as midseason.

Prediction: Better–and a whole lot more interesting–but still nowhere near good. Fifth place, AL Central.

McIlroy takes charge at Honda with opening 63.

Reuters; Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes

Rory McIlroy produced a barnstorming back nine, charging home with five birdies, to take the first-round lead at the $6 million Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida on Thursday.

A year after quitting the tournament mid-round with his game in a shambles, McIlroy cut a contrasting figure on his way to a flawless seven-under-par 63 in relatively benign afternoon conditions at PGA National.

"I made a great par save on nine which kept that bogey-free round alive," the 24-year-old Northern Irishman told Golf Channel after seizing a one-shot lead over American Russell Henley.

Buoyed by that 10-foot par putt at the ninth, McIlroy birdied the next three holes and added further birdies on his last two holes, much to the delight of his parents Gerry and Rosie, who were in the gallery.

"It's a good ball-striker's course," said McIlroy, who looked ominously close to regaining the form that made him the world's top-ranked player at the time of his meltdown 12 months ago.

"If you can keep your ball in play and give yourself plenty of birdie chances, that's the name of the game here."

McIlroy's sizzling start against the strongest field in the world so far this year overshadowed Australian Adam Scott, one of his playing partners on the day.

Not that Scott, gearing up to defend his Masters title in April, started badly as he opened with a 68 to sit five strokes off the pace.

However the Australian's move up the leaderboard stalled when he drowned his tee shot at the par-three 15th, the first of three dangerous holes in a stretch known as the "Bear Trap", in honour of course designer Jack Nicklaus.

INCONSISTENT WOODS

Five-times major champion Phil Mickelson did not do a lot wrong while carding a 70 in the afternoon while world number one Tiger Woods had an inconsistent 71 in the morning and ended the day tied for 81st in a field of 144.

Second-placed Henley started with four consecutive birdies and was five under through six holes but it was a par on his 12th hole, the par-five third, that most impressed.

He pulled his second shot, an "horrendous" six-iron that ended partly submerged in a water hazard, with a bunker between his ball and the hole.

Henley then removed his right shoe and sock and conjured up an outstanding third shot to inside 10 feet, only to miss the birdie putt.

"I've never had that shot in my life," he said. "I tried to treat it like a bunker shot."

Mickelson, meanwhile, was not at his best in his first competitive round as a professional on the course, but he sounded mildly satisfied.

"I did some things really well and some things poorly," the American left-hander said, citing a need to improve his distance control with his irons.

"I've just got to get that fine-tuning down. It's a very difficult course but when you hit good shots you get rewarded with good birdie opportunities."

Fifty-six players broke par on a day when players were allowed preferred lies due to heavy pre-tournament rain that left the fairways damp.

Driver Reports: Previewing the Phoenix Cup race.

By Brad Norman

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)
Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet 

Standing: Earnhardt Jr. leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with 48 points.

Past race: 1st at Daytona.

Season stats: 1 win, 1 top-five, 1 top-10.

Track history: At Phoenix, Earnhardt Jr.'s average finish is 17.8 and his average running position is 17.0 over the past eight years. In 23 career starts at Phoenix, he has two wins, six top-fives and 10 top-10s.

Quick hit: Earnhardt Jr.'s last win at Phoenix came in 2004. Hey, the whole 10-year-anniversary thing worked wonderfully at Daytona last week, and Junior notched two top-fives at the 1-mile track last year. Don't count him out in going back-to-back to open the season.

2. Denny Hamlin (No. 11)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Hamlin is second in the standings with 43 points.

Past race: 2nd at Daytona.

Season stats: 1 top-five, 1 top-10.

Track history: At Phoenix, Hamlin's average finish is 10.9 and his average running position is 11.7 over the past eight years. In 17 career starts at Phoenix, he has one win, eight top-fives, nine top-10s and one pole.

Quick hit: Hamlin's average finish at Phoenix is second in the Sprint Cup Series to only Jimmie Johnson, and Johnson is other-worldly in the desert. Hamlin should open the season with consecutive top-fives for just the second time in his full-time Cup career.

3. Brad Keselowski (No. 2)

Penske Racing, Ford 

Standing: Keselowski is third in the standings with 42 points.

Past race: 3rd at Daytona.

Season stats: 1 top-five, 1 top-10.

Track history: At Phoenix, Keselowski's average finish is 17.1 and his average running position is 16.2 over the past eight years. In nine career starts at Phoenix, he has two top-fives and three top-10s.

Quick hit: Keselowski's Phoenix success has come recently. With all of his career top-five and top-10 finishes coming over the past four races, there's no reason to think the 2012 series champion won't add on to either of those categories.

4. Jeff Gordon (No. 24)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet 

Standing: Gordon is fourth in the standings with 40 points.

Past race: 4th at Daytona.

Season stats: 1 top-five, 1 top-10.

Track history: At Phoenix, Gordon's average finish is 13.1 and his average running position is 10.5 over the past eight years. In 30 career starts at Phoenix, he has two wins, 10 top-fives, 20 top-10s and three poles.

Quick hit: Statistics alone suggest Gordon will record a top-10 Sunday. His outright desert dominance, though, is a thing of the past. The veteran once recorded five top-10s and 12 top-10s in a 13-race span. His past 10 races tell a different story -- five top-10s, but three finishes of 25th or worse.

5. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Standing: Johnson is fifth in the standings with 40 points.

Past race: 5th at Daytona.

Season stats: 1 top-five, 1 top-10.

Track history: At Phoenix, Johnson's average finish is 6.1 and his average running position is 6.9 over the past eight years. In 21 career starts at Phoenix, he has four wins, 14 top-fives, 17 top-10s and two poles.

Quick hit: Six-Time is the best in the game at Phoenix. He's the only driver to have a single-digit number in either his average finish or his average running position over the past eight years -- and he has them in both categories. Anything less than a top-five would be surprising.

6. Matt Kenseth (No. 20)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Kenseth is sixth in the standings with 38 points.

Past race: 6th at Daytona.

Season stats: 1 top-10.

Track history: At Phoenix, Kenseth's average finish is 17.3 and his average running position is 16.1 over the past eight years. In 23 career starts at Phoenix, he has one win, five top-fives, nine top-10s and one pole.

Quick hit: This 1-mile oval isn't one of Kenseth's best tracks, and his No. 20 team whiffed on the setup last year in a race that allowed Jimmie Johnson to claim a comfortable points margin heading into the series finale. The bad memories may linger, but at least the No. 20 team can tweak its approach.

7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (No. 17)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford

Standing: Stenhouse Jr. is seventh in the standings with 37 points.

Past race: 7th at Daytona.

Season stats: 1 top-10.

Track history: At Phoenix, Stenhouse Jr.'s average finish is 14.0 and his average running position is 19.0 over the past eight years. In two career starts at Phoenix, his best finish is 12th in 2013.

Quick hit: As a Sprint Cup sophomore, Stenhouse Jr. doesn't have a lot of premier-level experience on most tracks. His showings at Phoenix last year, 12th and 16th, were among his most consistent. A top-10 is in the picture.

8. Greg Biffle (No. 16)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford

Standing: Biffle is eighth in the standings with 37 points.

Past race: 8th at Daytona.

Season stats: 1 top-10.

Track history: At Phoenix, Biffle's average finish is 13.8 and his average running position is 14.7 over the past eight years. In 20 career starts at Phoenix, he has five top-fives and seven top-10s.

Quick hit: Fords don't have a great history at Phoenix, with two wins there in the past 17 races, but every one of the manufacturer's wins at Phoenix since the turn of the century has come in a car owned by Jack Roush. Combine that with the No. 16 team's desire to better its smaller-track program, and you've got a sleeper pick this weekend.

9. Austin Dillon (No. 3)

Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet  

Standing: Dillon is ninth in the standings with 36 points.

Past race: 9th at Daytona.

Season stats: 1 top-10, 1 pole.

Track history: Dillon has not started a Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix.

Quick hit: We know Dillon is good on the big tracks. What we don't know is if his Nationwide Series success on short ovals will carry over in his rookie year. If he handles Phoenix with aplomb, Dillon could develop into a contender to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

10. Casey Mears (No. 10)

Germain Racing, Chevrolet 

Standing: Mears is 10th in the standing with 34 points.

Past race: 10th at Daytona.

Season stats: 1 top-10.

Track history: At Phoenix, Mears' average finish is 24.8 and his average running position is 24.5 over the past eight years. In 19 career starts at Phoenix, his best finish is 11th in 2008.

Quick hit: Phoenix requires more technical precision than Daytona, and Mears hasn't recorded a top-10 in the desert yet. His best finish here since driving for Germain Racing is 14th, with five of his seven starts for the team resulting in finishes of worse than 20th.

11. Joey Logano (No. 22)

Penske Racing, Ford 

Standing: Logano is 11th in the standings with 34 points.

Past race: 11th at Daytona.

Season stats: Best finish of 11th.

Track history: At Phoenix, Logano's average finish is 17.1 and his average running position is 16.3 over the past eight years. In 10 career starts at Phoenix, he has one top-five and four top-10s.

Quick hit: Strangely, Logano has had issues at Phoenix. In 10 starts, he hasn't finished twice, which is unusual at this type of track. When he doesn't wreck or have engine issues, though, he has three top-10s -- and an 11th -- in his past five finishes.

12. Kevin Harvick (No. 4)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Standing: Harvick is 12th in the standings with 31 points.

Past race: 13th at Daytona.

Season stats: Best finish of 13th.

Track history: At Phoenix, Harvick's average finish is 11.1 and his average running position is 10.7 over the past eight years. In 22 career starts at Phoenix, he has four wins, seven top-fives and 11 top-10s.

Quick hit: Harvick has two wins and a runner-up finish in the past four Phoenix races. Moving to a new team shouldn't slow that run, especially given Harvick's confidence in his new No. 4 team and its engines.

13. Jamie McMurray (No. 1)

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Chevrolet  

Standing: McMurray is 13th in the standings with 30 points.

Past race: 14th at Daytona.

Season stats: Best finish of 14th.

Track history: At Phoenix, McMurray's average finish is 21.1 and his average running position is 19.8 over the past eight years. In 21 career starts at Phoenix, he has one top-five and two top-10s.

Quick hit: This may be McMurray's worst track on the circuit, with nine of his past 10 races here ending with one top-10 and five finishes outside the top 20.

14. Bobby Labonte (No. 52)

HScott Motorsports, Toyota 

Standing: Labonte is 14th in the standings with 29 points.

Past race: 15th at Daytona.

Season stats: Best finish of 15th.

Track history: At Phoenix, Labonte's average finish is 18.7 and his average running position is 21.9 over the past eight years. In 30 career starts at Phoenix, he has three top-fives and nine top-10s.

Quick hit: Labonte remains one of the sport's most popular drivers, so fans should soak in his appearance here this week. The veteran is not racing at Phoenix, so he'll certainly be out of the top 16 in the standings entering Las Vegas

15. Reed Sorenson (No. 36)

Tommy Baldwin Racing, Chevrolet

Standing: Sorenson is 15th in the standings with 28 points.

Past race: 16th at Daytona.

Season stats: Best finish of 16th.

Track history: At Phoenix, Sorenson's average finish is 27.9 and his average running position is 27.9 over the past eight years. In nine career starts at Phoenix, his best finish is 12th in 2009.

Quick hit: Sorenson has nine starts at PIR, but only once since 2010 -- that came last year, and was a 37th-place result. It's not likely he can compete with the veterans who consistently tour the track twice a year.

16. Carl Edwards (No. 99)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford 

Standing: Edwards is 16th in the standings with 28 points.

Past race: 17th at Daytona.

Season stats: Best finish of 17th.

Track history: At Phoenix, Edwards' average finish is 10.9 and his average running position is 12.7 over the past eight years. In 19 career starts at Phoenix, he has two wins, seven top-fives, 11 top-10s and three poles.

Quick hit: When Edwards does well at Phoenix, he really does well. He won this event last year (and won the fall race in 2010), and 10 of his 19 career starts have resulted in finishes of seventh or better. He's a good fantasy play, and a good bet to shoot up in the standings next week, too.

Klinsmann calls 24 players for Ukraine friendly.

By Jon Arnold

True to his word, USA national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann called in a roster composed mostly of players who play in Europe for a March 5 friendly against Ukraine.

Clint Dempsey, of the Seattle Sounders, new Toronto FC midfielder Michael Bradley and Club Tijuana's Edgar Castillo are the only players based outside Europe to be named to the roster.

“Having Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey in for Ukraine is very important to us," Klinsmann told the federation's official site. "Clint has played these two months at Fulham and Michael is coming off preseason camp with Toronto, so for us it’s very important to see both back in the team and putting their stamp on the game.”

The team will begin gathering in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday and head to Larnaca, Cyprus, where the match was moved after political uprisings in Ukraine caused the U.S. federation to request a change of location.

“Finding a solution and moving the game outside the country and playing in Cyprus is helpful for both of us,” Klinsmann said in a news release. “It’s definitely a very good ‘Plan B,’ and we very much appreciate it and say thank you to the Ukraine Federation and the Cyprus Federation."

Reading midfielder Danny Williams is in camp for the first time in more than a year while Brek Shea, currently on loan from Stoke City at Barnsley, is making his first apperance since the 2013 Gold Cup, as is Oguchi Onyewu. Birmingham City's Will Packwood is joining the senior setup for the first time.Julian Green, a German-American who plays in Bayern Munich's youth team, will join the U.S. for the training in Frankfurt.

"We are thrilled Julian accepted our invitation and comes into these two days in Frankfurt. We want to show him how things work with the United States team and with our environment," Klinsmann said. We want him to meet the players, to meet the staff, obviously to meet us coaches, and we want him to feel comfortable in our environment.

"With a lot of players who come through the ranks with dual citizenship, it’s going to be very difficult for those kids to choose which country they want to play for if they have this enormous talent to play at the highest level possible."

Two of those dual nationals, John Anthony Brooks and Fabian Johnson, have recently recovered from injury and are seeing time again with their Bundesliga clubs. Another, Norwegian-American Mix Diskerud, saw Klinsmann and staff recently. Diskerud was the only player on the roster to particpate in the 2-0 friendly win against Korea that capped the USA's January camp.

The full roster is below: 

Goalkeepers: Cody Cropper (Southampton), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton)

Defenders: John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), Oguchi Onyewu (Sheffield Wednesday), Will Packwood (Birmingham City), Tim Ream (Bolton Wanderers)

Midfielders: Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Brek Shea (Barnsley), Danny Williams (Reading)

Forwards: Juan Agudelo (Utrecht), Jozy Altidore (Sunderland), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Julian Green (Bayern Munich), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar) 

How Gregg Marshall and Rick Pitino are keeping their teams engaged late this season.

By Pat Forde

Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall has become something of a numerologist, and not because he’s a math savant.

Louisville’s Rick Pitino has grown a beard, and not because it looks good.

They are college basketball coaches, and they are looking for any mental edge they can find. Any bonding agent, any focus enhancer, any pressure alleviator.

It’s what the smart and creative ones do at this time of year, in the dog days of late February, when a basketball season can seem like an eternity.

This one began earlier than the season ever has, with rule changes allowing practice to start in late September. Now, the fun trips to exotic holiday tournament locales are long gone.

There was no Christmas break to speak of, maybe a couple days with the family and then back for several lonely weeks on a deserted campus while the regular students were home. The winter has been brutal, the conference travel full of complications. By now, team camaraderie may be giving way to contempt. Plenty of guys are playing hurt.

Five months after practice began, the grind continues without relent. The Promised Land of postseason basketball is up ahead, plainly visible yet still unreachable.

So how does a coach handle this time of year? How does he avoid player burnout? How does he keep a team fresh, happy and motivated? And for teams feeling the weight of great expectations or NCAA tournament bubble pressure, how does a coach keep his team from stressing out?

The approaches are as varied as the personalities of the men in charge.

For Marshall and his 30-0 Shockers, the challenge is to simultaneously accept and enjoy unparalleled national attention while keeping it at arm’s length. Meeting with team "character coach" Steve Dickey before the season, his players distilled their goals to a single trigger word that would help them get the most out of themselves. Marshall joined in the exercise, and decided on "appreciate" as his trigger.

"My goal is to appreciate the here and now," he said. "… We wanted to appreciate every day, because I’m blessed to be able to coach wonderful young men and have a healthy and happy family. … And to be 30-0 is unbelievable."

Thirty-and-oh could carry with it an unbelievable burden, if the Shockers allowed it. But Marshall’s late-season brainstorm to shrink the pressure of going undefeated was to have a numerical theme for every contest. It became less about the totality of the record and more about the specificity of that particular night’s challenge.

When Wichita State was going for 23-0 against Evansville, it became the Michael Jordan Game. That was the jersey number of the greatest player of all-time – a natural choice.

Game No. 24 was at Indiana State. It became the Marshawn Lynch Beastmode Game.

Lynch was fresh off a Super Bowl in which the media-shy running back let his play do the talking.

Game No. 25, at Northern Iowa, was the Richard Sherman Game. Because if anyone lived up to the Shockers’ "Play Angry" credo, it was Sherman.

Game No. 26, against Southern Illinois, was the Marathon Game. Twenty-six miles in a marathon, and that was certainly easy to identify with in mid-February.

Game No. 27, at Evansville, was the Fist Game. Marshall’s research told him there are 27 bones in a hand, and as he explained on SportsCenter, "My son (Kellen) used to hold his 5 fingers apart, then clench his first together to show that it is strong. That's what we want our players to do. Five apart is weak. Five together is strong.”

Game No. 28, at Loyola Chicago, was the Adrian Peterson Game. The Minnesota Vikings running back’s nickname is “All Day,” for his ability to bring it all game, every game.

For Game No. 29, at home against Drake, Marshall localized his approach. That was the B-29 Super Fortress Game, in honor of the war planes that were made – on tight deadline and in harsh conditions – in Wichita to help the United States win World War II.

Tuesday was Game No. 30, at Bradley, the final road test. That one was simple, and not number-dependent: make history. No team in college basketball history had ever gone 30-0 in the regular season.

And now, thanks to the Marshall Plan, the Shockers have done it. With a single game remaining – Senior Day at home against Missouri State – they are free at last to look at the big picture.

"Everyone’s talking about an undefeated season in January and I’m going, ‘I don’t even want to think about that,’ “ Marshall said. "Since Tuesday night, we have talked about 31. We said, ‘OK, now, we can talk about 31-0, undefeated regular season.’ "

The theme game has taken on a life of its own, but Marshall isn’t saying what it will be Saturday. That’s been a postgame revelation, not a pregame one.

Pitino’s team has dealt with a weight of its own, trying to repeat as national champions and going for a Final Four threepeat. Neither objective appeared realistic as the calendar flipped to February. Louisville had losses to North Carolina, Kentucky, Memphis and Cincinnati, with not much in the way of quality victories; and the dismissal of power forward Chane Behanan seemingly left the Cardinals with irreparable limitations on the interior.

But when an eight-day February layoff unexpectedly turned into nine days with a snow postponement of Louisville’s game at Temple, the team took a pledge: no shaving until they lose. And that included everyone affiliated with the basketball program – managers, trainers, media-relations director Kenny Klein, radio play-by-play voice Paul Rogers … and Rick Pitino himself.

Two weeks later, with a February-long winning streak still intact, this is a grizzled bunch. Pitino joked Wednesday that assistant coach Wyking Jones was being hazed by team captain Luke Hancock for trimming his beard down to something less than full.

“We’re going to be all-in or all-out,” Pitino quoted Hancock as saying. “Check your ego at the door.”

Pitino’s gray beard was not exactly a thing of beauty, so in a concession to vanity he had it colored this week. But the coach who was a bit imperious in his 30s and 40s is finding uncharacteristic ways to relate to his players in his 60s.

Last year it was the promise of a tattoo if Louisville won the national title – that was a hugely entertaining premise to the Cardinals. Pitino followed through on that. Now, bearded for the first time in his life, he’s once again one of the guys.

"The beard thing is for fun," Pitino said. "… We’re having a great time. But I think winning does that. Your team is close when you win, and when you lose they’re far apart. I haven’t seen too many close teams with seven wins."

Winning is indeed the ultimate bonding agent. But it also helps to have a coach who can find creative ways to reach his players in the dog days of an endless season.

Report: Only 25 of 128 FBS coaches favor defensive substitution rule proposal.

By Sam Cooper

The NCAA Rules Committee’s proposed rule that would penalize teams for snapping the ball prior to the 29-second mark of the play clock has been a source of contention among coaches and fans since the proposal was announced two weeks ago.

On Wednesday, ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy released the results of a survey conducted by ESPN that revealed that only 25 of the nation’s 128 FBS head coaches, who were asked how they'd vote based on the vote being confidential, are in favor of the new rule proposal.

Notably, of the 25 in favor, McMurphy reports that only 11 of the coaches in favor are from a “Power 5 Conference” school in either the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 or SEC, plus Notre Dame. In total, of the 128 coaches surveyed, 93 coaches (73 percent) are against the rule, 25 coaches (19.5 percent) are in favor and nine coaches (seven percent) are undecided. One coach refused to participate and said that he “did not wish to be part of the conversation on this topic.”

The rule was said to have been proposed with player safety in mind but would, in turn, impact the tempo of no-huddle, fast-paced offenses. Several coaches, including Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin, Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez, and Auburn’s Guz Malzahn, have all publicly spoken out against the rule in recent weeks.

74 percent (48 coaches) of coaches from the 65 “Power 5 Conference” schools were against the rule, 17 percent (11 coaches) were for the proposed rule and nine percent (six coaches) were undecided or didn’t vote. Results were similar for “non-power” schools. 71 percent (45 coaches) would vote no, 22 percent (14 coaches) would vote yes and six percent (four coaches) were undecided.

According to McMurphy, not one conference had “more than one-third of its teams” favor the rule, but none of the 10 conferences unanimously opposed it.

Alabama coach Nick Saban and Arkansas coach Bret Bielema have been the most notable coaches to publicly back the proposed rule. Bielema went so far as to say that the inability for defenses to make substitutions could lead to injury or even death while controversially referencing the death of Cal player Ted Agu, who collapsed and died during a conditioning workout earlier this month.

The 11-person NCAA playing rules oversight panel, which contains no coaches, will vote on the proposal on March 6 and only a majority vote is needed for the rule to be put into place for the 2014 season.

Jeff Van Gundy: No NBA coach does better with his team than Tom Thibodeau with Bulls. What's your take?

By Dan Feldman

Say whatever else you want about him, but Tom Thibodeau’s Bulls have never underachieved during the regular season.

Thibodeau took over a .500 team and turned it into a 62-win squad his first year. The next season, the lockout-shortened 2011-12, Chicago was even better, going 50-16. With Derrick Rose out all of last year, the Bulls went 45-37. This season, with Rose out again and Luol Deng traded, Chicago is 25-25.

The Bulls play hard and defend physically, winning with a style that clearly stems from their head coach.

Jeff Van Gundy, as transcribed by ESPN Chicago:

“There’s nobody that does a better job with his team in the whole league,” Van Gundy said Monday on The Carmen & Jurko Show on ESPN Chicago 1000. “I would suspect that he would be back for a long time. I know he loves the city, he loves his team, you can tell. Everything I’ve ever heard about Jerry Reinsdorf as an owner is that he’s a man’s man. I’m pretty good friends with [former Bulls coach] Tim Floyd, and Tim Floyd raves about him as does Tom. 

“I would suspect if [general manager] Gar Forman or [executive vice president] John Paxson have an issue with Tom, what it could be I don’t know, but if they do, they should try to get it resolved in a positive manner because Tom’s an exceptional talent, and one of the reasons the Bulls have been so good and so overachieving since he’s been there is because of his great work. I hope it works out because it’s a great place and it’s a great basketball city.”

Coaches loves coaches, and coaches praise coaches, because coaches and want to see coaches get better job security, because coaches believe coaches are very valuable.

Not even a couple months ago, Van Gundy said it’d be ‘ludicrous’ for the Knicks to fire Mike Woodson. A couple weeks ago, Doc Rivers said it would be ‘nuts’ for the Bulls to let Thibodeau leave.

Van Gundy and Rivers both worked with Thibodeau, so they’re even more biased than usual.

No matter how great a coach Thibodeau is – and I believe, if he’s not the NBA’s best, he makes the short list – he doesn’t always get along with Chicago’s front office. That could make a continued partnership between both sides unhelpful for either.

Bulls management should take steps to resolve any rift with Thibodeau, and maybe it has. As Van Gundy and Rivers will tell you, Thibodeau is worth the trouble.

What's your opinion of the Bulls Head Coach, Tom Thibodeau? What kind of job do you think he has done? We'd love to know what you think, what's your take?

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