The 75th edition of golf’s most famous tournament, The Masters

The 2011 Masters
2011-04-05
The 75th edition of golfs most famous tournament, The Masters, tees off on Thursday morning. Defending champion Phil Mickelson enters the week as the favorite to repeat. Heres a look at Leftys chances, as well as the rest of the favorites in this years field. Speaking of Field, Sportsbook.com has the Fields odds at +1500. The other odds from Sportsbook.com are below....

8 seed BUTLER BULLDOGS (28-9) vs. 3 seed CONNECTICUT HUSKIES (31-9)
2011-04-04
It is a journey that began in November, way back when national championship talk focused on strength of schedule, power conferences, and Cam Newtons eligibility. BCS football was on the brain on November 12, basketball was not. As those heroes played things out on the gridiron, another player of the year candidate got things underway on the hardwood, scoring 18 against Stony Brook, before exploding for 42, 31, 30, 29, and 30 over his next five games, proclaiming to the basketball world there is a beast in the east that you better pay attention to. That is when Kemba Walker and his Connecticut Huskies leased a spot in the national rankings and have been there ever since....

4 seed KENTUCKY WILDCATS (29-8) vs. 3 seed CONNECTICUT HUSKIES (30-9)
2011-04-01
When Connecticut and Kentucky meet in Houston, Texas on Saturday evening in the national semifinals, it would be fair to say that John Calipari and Jim Calhoun have gotten some major questions answered about their respective teams in the 128 days since they last met, thousands of miles away at the Maui Invitational, an 84-67 championship game victory for Connecticut. Calhoun has learned that Kemba Walker really is a dominant all-around player who can carry a team of freshmen on his back. He has learned that he did have a freshman player among his large 10 recruiting class who could step up and provide clutch scoring and leadership in support of Walker. Actually, he had two, Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier. Calhoun also learned that (when prodded) Alex Oriakhi was consistent enough to be a big-time rebounder and defensive stopper in big-time games. John Calipari has learned that his young team, with just one senior, had the fortitude to overcome a miserable 1-6 start on the road in SEC play to achieve bigger things later in the season. He learned that his trio of leading scorers, all freshmen (Brandon Knight 17.3 PPG, Terrence Jones 15.8 PPG, Doron Lamb 12.3 PPG) were mature enough to learn how to finish games, and perform defensively at a level commensurate with the standards of their coach. Calipari also discovered that his junior leadership (DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller) and senior leadership (Josh Harrellson) had enough experience to navigate this team through four tight neutral-court games in the tournament. Both coaches have seen their supremely-talented teams do things at the end of the season that were not possible at the beginning or middle of the season. Now Caliparis Cats will try and exhibit the ultimate barometer of their growth, by doing something in March that they failed to do in November defeat Connecticut....

11 seed VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH RAMS (28-11) vs. 8 seed BUTLER BULLDOGS (27-9)
2011-04-01
Two of the teams traveling to the Space City this week to compete in the Final Four will be arriving via airplane. The other two teams will be arriving by way of pumpkin. Houston, we have a Cinderella. Make that two. One team is the answer to that question that has been asked by college basketball experts all season long. Who is this years Butler The answer LAST years Butler. If you think Brad Stevens team has been getting overlooked as being last seasons one-hit wonder (that is until they went double platinum last Sunday with a remake of RB group Shalamars 70s hit Second Time Around), what can we say about Shaka Smarts Rams from Virginia Commonwealth University A team that many in the CBB world were mocking on the evening of Sunday March 13 for being undeserving of a bid to the big dance. All the Rams have done in this, the first year of the 68-team field, is become the first team ever to go from the First Four to the Final Four by winning five games. Along the way, theyve made the selection committee appear like borderline geniuses. Now the Rams will seek to go from Final Four to last man standing. If there is a mortal lock guarantee you can take to the bank about this game, it would be this one of these teams will definitely be in the road uniforms come Monday night. ...

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER (50-24) at PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (43-32)
2011-04-01
The Thunder have been getting the better of Portland all season, but the Blazers get a chance to avoid the season sweep at home on Friday night.The teams met on Sunday in Oklahoma City, with the Thunder pretty much controlling the game thanks to superior shooting. The Blazers attacked to the point that they drew 26 fouls while committing only 16, but Portland shot only 2-for-12 from three and 18-for-24 from the line, while the Thunder were 9-of-24 from behind the arc and 26-for-29 at the FT line in a 99-90 Oklahoma City win....

SEATTLE MARINERS (0-0) at OAKLAND ATHLETICS (0-0)
2011-04-01
Reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez will face Trevor Cahill when Seattle visits Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Friday night in its season opener....

BOSTON CELTICS (51-22) at SAN ANTONIO SPURS (57-17)
2011-03-31
The injury-riddled Spurs try to avoid their longest losing streak since the 1996-97 season when they host Boston on Thursday. San Antonio has dropped four straight games overall, and has also lost four consecutive home meetings with the Celtics....

4 seed WICHITA STATE SHOCKERS (28-8) vs. 1 seed ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (25-11)
2011-03-31
Its good, and interesting, to be Anthony Grant, wherever hes coaching. On Thursday, the Alabama coach will lead his squad into Madison Square Garden to do battle against Wichita State in the championship game of the National Invitation Tournament Championship. On Saturday, the Alabama coach will be paying close attention to the adventures of his former team, Virginia Commonwealth, who just so happen to be in the NCAA Final Four for the first time ever. Grant has expressed happiness for his former team, and some of the stars of the Rams tournament run, players like Joey Rodriguez and Bradford Burgess, who Grant recruited, and Jamie Skeen, who transferred into the program before Grant left. Still, knowing that Alabama was right on the edge of making the big dance, and seeing that VCU was on the edge when it got an at-large bid that was surprising to many, has left a bittersweet taste in Grant throughout this month of March. The timeliness of Alabamas NIT march has been as convenient a distraction as Grant could have hoped for. Now he will focus on Thursday night not on where he was, or where he could be, but rather, where he is and his institution is. The Crimson Tide has been to the NIT semifinals six times, yet they have never won the NIT championship. All that can be put to an end Thursday with a victory over the Shockers of Wichita State....

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