Duke

DUKE (1-6) at NAVY (5-2) Time: 3:30 p.m. TV: CBS College Sports Radio: 1090 AM, 1370 AM Last meeting: Duke def. Navy, 41-31, on Sept. 13, 2008. Run to glory: Navy, which has the ninth-best rushing offense in the country at 274.4 yards per game, rushed for 367 yards in Saturday's 35-17 win over Notre Dame. Duke is ranked 107th of 120 FBS teams in rushing defense, yielding 204 yards per game. Touchdown machine: After having difficulty scoring from the red zone earlier this season, the Midshipmen are 12-for-12 from inside opponents' 20-yard line, all TDs, in the past three games.

Privately, a lot of fans are picking unseeded Cornell to win the NCAA Division I lacrosse championship here this weekend - but publicly, they urge caution because the 2013 regular season has been so unpredictable. But there is no need for concern. Going into the semifinals Saturday, the Big Red will win the title because of its work ethic and the way Cornell has blown out opponents in the first two rounds. The Big Red also has the top player in college lacrosse - attackman Rob Pannell - and another scoring machine - attackman Steve Mock.

The No. 6 Duke (9-3) men won their seventh straight game and fourth in nine days with a 16-7 rout of visiting Jacksonville (4-6). Blue Devils senior Mike Catalino led all goal scorers with a season-high three; seniors Max Quinzani and Ned Crotty each added two goals and two assists. More men: Brian Douglass scored six goals to carry host Yale (6-2) to a 12-8 victory over Detroit Mercy (2-8). Women: No. 3 North Carolina (10-1) rolled to a 16-2 victory at Old Dominion (2-6)

Between 1983 and 2004, Syracuse advanced to the NCAA tournament semifinals every year, a remarkable accomplishment that may never be matched again. What makes Duke's seven consecutive appearances in the Final Four nearly as impressive is that the Blue Devils have achieved that in a four-round tournament, which was expanded from 12 to 16 teams for the 2003 season. But seventh-seeded Duke (14-5), which will tangle with Cornell (14-3) in the first of two national semifinals this Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, is just 2-4 in the Final Four, advancing to the title game in 2007 (losing to Johns Hopkins)

The Bulldogs edge Michigan State, 52-50, and will try to complete their improbable run to the championship on Monday night in their Indianapolis backyard when they play the Blue Devils, who routed West Virginia, 78-57 PG 8

Duke won its first NCAA men's lacrosse championship in dramatic fashion, defeating Notre Dame 6-5 Monday on a goal by C.J. Costabile with five seconds gone in sudden-death overtime in Baltimore. Costabile won the faceoff from Trever Sipperly and sprinted downfield before beating goaltender Scott Rodgers with a shot from directly in front of the net. Duke (16-4) twice before advanced to the title game — and lost by one goal both times. This time, however, the Blue Devils walked away with the championship trophy by defeating the unseeded Irish (10-7)

D uke wins its fourth national championship and first since 2001, forcing Butler's Gordon Hayward to miss an off-balance fadeaway with 4 seconds left and a desperation heave at the buzzer to hold off the Bulldogs, 61-59. n Brian Zoubek rebounded Hayward's first miss and hit a free throw with 3.6 seconds remaining to put Duke up by two. n Hayward rebounded Zoubek's intentional miss and took a shot from halfcourt that hit glass and bounced off the rim, ending the unheralded school's run at the title one game short of a Hollywood ending reminiscent of "Hoosiers."

Through much of Sunday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium, a pocket of red-wearing Maryland women's basketball fans cheered and waved foam fingers. But they sat quietly in the waning moments of the Terrapins' 71-59 loss to No. 8 Duke. "The first 36 minutes we were there," Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. "The last four minutes, you saw veterans for Duke step up and provide great leadership." Despite a gutsy effort, the Terrapins (18-9, 5-7) faded down the stretch as the Blue Devils (23-4, 11-1)

There isn't one way to establish a legacy. You have win-and-run nomads like Larry Brown, who can't sit still in a chair for 10 minutes. Yet, Brown has won titles in the NCAA and the NBA. You have guys like Don Nelson, who have never won it all but have made enough horrible teams competitive to compile more coach-of-the-year trophies than Phil Jackson. Or you can be Jackson, align yourself with four or five of the all-time greatest players and Zen your way to 10 championships.

Before the season, choices look so clear. Predictions for MVP, Final Four and NCAA champion appear logical and sound. A few weeks into the season, the only question is this: What were people thinking? As the nonconference slates come to an end and we head into the meat of the season, let's reflect on who has proved us right, who has proved us wrong and who has confused the heck out of us. Told ya so: Duke was a unanimous — and deserving — preseason No. 1 in the Associated Press poll.

Rob Pannell is smart enough - getting accepted to Cornell would seem to be plenty of proof of that - to realize that he is not invincible. Even as he has registered six goals and nine assists in two NCAA tournament games and is preparing the Big Red (14-3) for Saturday's Final Four clash with seventh-seeded Duke (14-5), the fifth-year senior attackman knows that there is a defenseman, a coach, perhaps even a scheme that can slow him as he continues his assault on a couple Division I records.

Brendan Fowler won more than 55 percent of his faceoffs and scooped up at least 34 ground balls in each of his first two seasons at Duke, but still was not making much of a dent in terms of playing time. Then again, considering that C.J. Costabile - who won 53 percent of his draws and collected 376 ground balls en route to being named Division I's top midfielder - was atop the depth chart, Fowler was not fretting about his opportunities. “C.J. just brought a different dynamic as a faceoff guy,” Fowler recalled Wednesday afternoon.

Enjoy a truly unique musical role-playing experience with General Grant and President Lincoln. Will and Bernadine Boyce have spent years perfecting their impersonations of General and Mrs. Grant (along with other Civil War personalities) and Dr. Duke Thompson, director of the Maryland Conservatory of Music, has recently conceived a concert performance unlike any other he has ever done. Together these presenters will bring an entertaining program entitled "Dr. Duke and Mr. President" to Harford County on June 1. Guests will first enjoy tasting foods from the antebellum North and South and conversing with the Grants at a reception at the Havre de Grace library beginning at 6:30 p.m. The Grants will then escort guests at 7 p.m. next door to St. John's, home of the Maryland Conservatory of Music, where they will be treated to a rare glimpse of Lincoln's musical side.

Salisbury transfer Eric Law picked up a rebound on the edge of the crease and scored with 13.4 seconds left to cap a historic comeback and give No. 4 seed Denver a 12-11 win over fifth-seeded North Carolina in the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament quarterfinals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon. The game, played before an announced 7,749, was the first men's lacrosse quarterfinal held at a venue not on the East Coast. Denver, the first team in men's quarterfinal history to win after trailing by five goals or more, will face No. 1 seed Syracuse in the semifinals Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

In February, Duke coach Kerstin Kimel said she wasn't sure any women's lacrosse team was better than Maryland. After Saturday's NCAA quarterfinal, she seemed pretty well convinced. The No. 1 Terps (21-0) had their lethal offense rolling and also forced 15 turnovers en route to a 14-9 victory and a berth in their fifth straight NCAA final four. Looking for their 12th national title and their first since 2010, the Terps are in the final four for a record 21st time. Taking their second win this season over their Atlantic Coast Conference rival at Maryland's Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex, the Terps continue to make it difficult for defenses to contain an attack that always has seven players ready to score.

Each week, The Baltimore Sun publishes a Q&A with a college lacrosse player or coach to get you more acquainted with the player and his/her team. Today's guest is Notre Dame junior midfielder Jim Marlatt , a Clarksville native and River Hill graduate who leads the team's midfielders in goals with 18 and assists with 10. The Fighting Irish (11-4), who are the second seed in the NCAA tournament, will meet seventh-seeded Duke (13-5) in a quarterfinal Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The road to redemption came to an abrupt and unfulfilling end for the Virginia men's lacrosse team. The top-seeded Cavaliers could not protect a three-goal lead in the third quarter, and senior attackman Max Quinzani's goal with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter lifted No. 5 seed Duke to a 14-13 victory in a NCAA Tournament semifinal at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore Saturday night. The Blue Devils (15-4) earned a berth in the championship final against unseeded Notre Dame (10-6)

Most college basketball coaches never like their teams to play an opponent that has just been blown out. As much as Maryland fans enjoyed seeing Duke get embarrassed at Miami on Wednesday night, I'm sure Mark Turgeon did not. It equaled the worst beating a Blue Devil team has taken under Mike Krzyzewski since a 27-point loss at Clemson four years ago and was among the worst the Blue Devils have ever suffered in the more than three decades the...

The opera world has been giving a little extra attention to a couple of giants born in 1813, Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner. Locally, that bicentennial salute has included memorable concerts by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra featuring excerpts from Wagner's mountainous operas. And this week, Lyric Opera Baltimore offers a production of one of Verdi's earliest masterworks for the stage, "Rigoletto. " The "Rigoletto" staging brings tenor Bryan Hymel back to town after his Lyric debut last season, when he made a formidable impression in Gounod's "Faust.

With eyes that were beginning to water in the corners, Loyola coach Charley Toomey explained his decision to call the timeout that wiped out what would have been the go-ahead goal with less than a minute left in regulation. It was a decision made before Blake Burkhart won the faceoff clean and deposited the ball in the goal. The score didn't count, though, because Toomey had called that timeout. And so the Greyhounds' game with Duke went into overtime, and the Blue Devils scored the winning goal with 1:40 left in the second overtime to win 12-11, sending the defending national champions home.