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After three years of being a follower, Drake's Adam Emmenecker couldn't look more comfortable being the leader of the Missouri Valley champions, writes Adam Rittenberg.

For the longest time this season, the knock on No. 1 UNC was its defense. But the Tar Heels put the lockdown on Duke in the waning minutes of Saturday's win, and they looked like a favorite for the national championship in doing so, writes Pat Forde.

Mike Krzyzewski purportedly zinged UNC in a postgame interview. Roy Williams shot back. Turns out, Coach K was misquoted. But that hasn't simmered the antagonism on Tobacco Road, writes Dana O'Neil.

Watching Duke beat North Carolina the first time around was no fun for UNC sophomore Ty Lawson. So even though he's nursing hip and ankle injuries now, there's no way he's missing Saturday's game, writes Dana O'Neil.

Duke outshot North Carolina in Game 1 in February as Ty Lawson watched helpless from the bench with an ankle injury. What must the Tar Heels do to turn the tables on Duke in Cameron on Saturday?

Being ranked this season hasn't guaranteed a ticket to the Dance for these teams on the bubble. But they still have a chance to impress the selection committee, writes Andy Katz.

So this is what a flippant comment in a January column gets you: An invite to don a 25-pound makeshift tree and run around and try to entertain a crowd while avoiding insult and injury. Pat Forde lived to tell about it.

Dennis Felton was brought to Georgia to clean up the program. He's cleaned house, but now the Bulldogs aren't winning, and it has put Felton at risk, writes Mark Schlabach.

Tyler Hansbrough will soon take his place among a select group of North Carolina basketball greats.

UCLA freshman center Kevin Love was named the Pac-10 player of the year on Monday, becoming the second freshman to win the honor.

Xavier has some extra motivation to win the Atlantic 10 tournament this weekend, and they have the conference's head coaches to thank.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that 6-foot-10 center Frank Ben-Eze will not attend Harvard. Ben-Eze's summer league coach, Rob Jackson, told the newspaper that the center called him and told him that he had changed his mind.

There's a whole lot more to North Carolina than just its grip on the No. 1 ranking in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll for the second straight week.

John Wooden is much improved and may be able to leave the hospital on Tuesday, said the daughter of the former UCLA coach.

Otto Schnellbacher, a former star defensive back for the New York Giants who also played one season in the NBA in 1949, has died. He was 84.

Missouri State made it official, firing coach Barry Hinson on Sunday.