Breaking Down the Sweet Sixteen

48 games in the books after four wild days of college hoops, and we're down to the Sweet Sixteen. Here's a look at the 16 schools that are still standing:

#1 EAST - SYRACUSE ORANGE (33-2)

Photo Credit: bostonglobe.com

How They Got Here:

Defeated #16 UNC-Asheville 72-65
Defeated #8 Kansas State 75-59

Top Performers:

Points - Kris Joseph 13.7 ppg
Rebounds - Fab Melo 5.8 rpg
Assists - Scoop Jardine 4.9 apg

History:

Syracuse won its last title in 2003 when Hakim Warrick, Gerry McNamara and Carmelo Anthony led them to victory over Kansas in the finals.

Worth Noting:

Playing without starting center and leading rebounder Fab Melo, Syracuse has gotten huge contributions from its bench in the first two rounds of the tournament. Led by junior James Southerland and sophomore Dion Waters the Orange bench outscored UNC-Asheville 31-18 and Kansas State 33-0.

MLS Week 2 Recap

Nine games this weekend in MLS as now all 19 clubs have played at least one match. Here's a rundown of the weekend's action:

Montreal 1 Chicago 1 - Team Captain Davy Arnaud scored the first goal in Impact history when he headed home a cross from Sanna Nyassi early in the second half, but Dominic Oduro equalized for the Fire 15 minutes later and the Impact were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw. A record crowd of 58,912 packed Olympic Stadium for the match, and they nearly got a magical finish when left back Josh Gardner drilled a shot in the 95th minute from around 35 yards out only to have it denied by the post.

Hunter Jumper - Destined for Greatness

Photo Credit: vasoccernews.com

Chicago Fire defender Hunter Jumper made his MLS debut for the Chicago Fire today coming on as a second half substitute in their draw with Montreal. The 23 year old University of Virginia grad was selected 28th overall by the Fire in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft after finishing his collegiate career as a 2011 NSCAA second team All-American. But that's not really the story here. His name is Hunter... Jumper... Hunter Jumper! True story! What an AWESOME name for an athlete. How was this guy not going to be successful? He hunts. He jumps. He wins. Destiny.

I mean if we're being completely honest, he probably should've been a basketball player rather than a soccer player. Then we could've been privy to the Jumper jumper. Instead we just get the Jumper header. Or this exchange:

Hey, Hunter, where'd you get your leaping ability? 

Well, I come from a long line of Jumpers.

Maybe even nickname him Shooter. Shooter Jumper? Basketball Superstar. Missed opportunity.


Anyhow, Jumper and the Fire are back in action next Saturday when they host the Philadelphia Union.

Simply Vonntastic

Photo Credit: torontosun.com

With just one race remaining in the 2012 Alpine Skiing World Cup, Lindsey Vonn finds herself just a 13th place finish away from becoming the first women to ever eclipse the 2000 point mark in a single season. Vonn broke the women's record of 1970 points set by Croatian Janica Kostelic back in 2006 when she finished 8th in today's slalom event in Schladming, Austria. She now has 1980 points on the season, and if she can finish 12th or better, in addition to hitting the 2000 point plateau, she will set a new mark for skiers male or female for points in a single season. Austrian great Hermann Maier finished with 2000 season with exactly 2000 points. Tomorrow's race is the giant slalom which she's historically fared well in winning her most recent one in Sweden a little over a week ago. She ranks second on the season through eight giant slalom races with 455 points trailing only Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg.

Scary Stuff at White Hart Lane

Photo Credit: dailymail.co.ul

Just an absolutely horrific moment in today's FA Cup Quarterfinal Matchup between Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers. 23 year old Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the field a little over 40 minutes into the match and doctors spent ten minutes trying to resuscitate him using a defibrillator on the pitch before taking him away on a stretcher. Thankfully, and somewhat miraculously, reports coming out of London are that Muamba is now breathing and in stable condition at the hospital.

Photo Credit: ibtimes.com

The whole incident hits pretty close to home for American soccer fans as Muamba is teammates with a pair of U.S. National Teamers, Tim Ream and Stuart Holden. The match obviously was abandoned and will be rescheduled for a later date. Thoughts and prayers to Fabrice, his family and his teammates as hopefully he makes a speedy recovery.

CRICKET!!!

Who care about March Madness when you've got Asian Cup Cricket!!! Especially when your bracket looks like mine does after yesterday. But that's a story for another time. In the 11th edition of the Asian Cup, cricket powers India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are squaring off in a round robin tournament with the top two teams meeting once more in the final next week. It's already been an exciting tournament as Pakistan has clinched a spot in the final and Sri Lanka is on the verge of missing the finals for the first time in the tournament's history (dating back to 1984). But the big story so far has been Sachin Tendulkar. If you were one of three people who actually followed our extensive 2011 Cricket World Cup coverage, he's a name you're probably familiar with.

Photo Credit: espncricinfo.com

The 38 year old Indian batsman, who stands all of 5'5" became the first player to score one hundred centuries (100 or more runs in match) in Test and ODI matches organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC) when he went for 114 runs against Bangladesh on Friday. The century snapped a 33 match streak in which he'd failed to move on from number 99, the second longest drought of his extensive career. Still, it should not diminish what he's accomplished. Only one other player has even broken 70 and that's Ricky Ponting of Australia with 71.


Featuring on India's National Team since 1989, Tendulkar is the cricket equivalent of Pete Rose (minus the gambling controversy). He is the all-time leading scorer in both test (15480 runs) and ODI (18374 runs) matches and he was India's leading batter in the World Cup as they defeated Sri Lanka for his first Championship in six tries. There's not much left to accomplish for the Little Master, and some speculate he's probably close to hanging them up. Once he's gone, we'll likely never see another player quite like him and most of his records will probably never be broken.


Tendulkar and India take on Pakistan tomorrow in their final game of the round robin portion of the tournament likely needing a win to advance to the tournament finals. India is the tournament's reigning champion having defeated Sri Lanka in the championship game back in 2010.

We're Number One!

Photo Credit: chicagolandsoccernews.com

Despite a 1-0 loss to Japan at the Algarve Cup, the U.S. Women's Soccer Team hung on to the top spot in the latest FIFA rankings released today. Germany, the Algarve Cup Winners, stayed at number two but closed the gap between them and the U.S. to just three points. Japan meanwhile held steady at number three with Brazil, Sweden, France, Canada, North Korea, England and Australia rounding out the Top 10. Scotland (21), Costa Rica (40) Wales (45), Papua New Guinea (49) and Cameroon (52) all moved into their highest-ever positions in the FIFA rankings this month. Here's a look at the Top 20.

The next set of FIFA rankings comes out June 1st. The U.S. currently has two matches scheduled between now and then as they are set to travel to Japan at the end of the month where they will face the 3rd ranked Japanese (4/1) and number 4 Brazil (4/3).