News & Observer | newsobserver.com | 2008 NCAA Men's Bracket

Gene DeFilippo, whose stewardship of Boston College athletics has been astute, is playing a very dangerous game with the football program.

Until college football comes up with some sort of a playoff, whether it’s a “plus-one” game after the bowls or an eight-team playoff, we’re stuck with the lyrically named BCS National Championship Game, which this year will be contested Thursday between Oklahoma and Florida.

This is the third time an additional bowl game has been played to determine the national champion (allegedly, anyway), preceded by eight BCS-determined title matchups in existing bowls.

We’re stuck with this system for at least another six years, but these are the best of the bunch so far — Tuesday’s Top Five:

Sidney Lowe's decision to call a timeout in the backcourt with the Pack down a point to Florida and 11 seconds left Saturday is one of those coaching moves that instantly invites criticism.

From the view from the couch, the obvious call was to get the ball into the frontcourt, then call timeout to set up a final play, rather than giving the Gators a chance to set up a press against State's subpar guards. Predictably, Farnold Degand labored to get the ball up the court, then turned over the ball.

Without the opportunity to ask Lowe directly after the game, and without any clear logic, what could he have been thinking?

Thursday’s now-annual NHL Winter Classic pits two Original Six teams against each other, the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, at Wrigley Field.

The NHL’s relentless overpromotion of this one-day outdoor event at the expense of any decent promotion of its daily indoor product aside, the league got this one right: The defending champions against a long-dormant legacy franchise in resurgence at one of the most historic venues in sports.

But after showcasing
Sidney Crosby last year and the Red Wings this year, who should be up
next? And where? That’s Tuesday’s Top Five.

We're back after a few days off for the holidays, including witnessing history in Green Bay on Sunday as the Lions set a new low in impressive fashion.

Anyway, back on duty high above Legion Field in sunny Birmingham, where the city slogan is "More magic than ever." Hard to dispute that, although the neighbohoods around the stadium could certainly use a sprinkling of magic. Inside, it's nice enough given the grim appearance on the outside.

While DeAngelo Williams and Philip Rivers were out capturing fantasy-football titles on Sunday — with those guys on your roster, you probably weren’t waiting to see what happened Monday night — a few other players were doing the opposite.

Woe to you if you had any of these five highly rated fantasy players who biffed it in Week 16, the championship round in most fantasy leagues — Tuesday’s Top Five.

I'm at the N.C. State-Marquette game tonight, which would ordinarily be a pretty typical night in my professional life, but I can't help but feel a twinge of sentimentality as I sit here on press row at the RBC Center.

With Sam Bradford becoming the second straight sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy, there’s going to be a lot of competition for the award next season whether he decides to jump to the NFL or not.

Tim Tebow is likely to stick around for his senior year; Colt McCoy says he will as well. As for the rest, it’s impossible to say at this point who’s staying and who’s going when it comes to the NFL Draft.

Here are five players who should be around — and could challenge this year’s finalists for the honor next season, Tuesday’s Top Five:

On the heels of Wednesday's Old-school Caniac primer 101, we asked for readers to submit their own treasured "insider" memories of the old days — such as they are, being of recent vintage — of the franchise's time in North Carolina.

From the goal Martin Gelinas didn't score to the debut goalscorers of 2003, we have more.

There’s something about the bowl system that seems guaranteed to leave a sour taste in plenty of mouths. If the BCS isn’t stepping on toes, the NCAA or some bowl committee with a grudge is. And there are some angry fans in Lafayette, La., and San Jose, just to start.

After 6-6 BCS teams like N.C. State and Notre Dame snapped up bowl berths, the six non-BCS 6-6 teams without conference bids were left scrambling for two spots: one in the Motor City Bowl and one in the Independence Bowl.

Northern Illinois, out of the MAC, got the call from the Independence Bowl, which passed on local heroes Lousiana-Lafayette to take the Huskies, who will face Louisiana Tech. The Motor City Bowl picked Florida Atlantic out of the Sun Belt to face Central Michigan.

As hard as it may be to feel sorry for a 6-6 team that doesn’t go to a bowl, the four teams left home make up four-fifths of Tuesday’s Top Five — with the fifth spot going to another team that has a different, but equally valid, grudge against the bowl system.