Kansas

Don Markus, reporter Kansas 71, Kentucky 69: There are some coaches who are destined not to win a national championship. Not saying that John Calipari is the Guy V. Lewis of his generation, but Bill Self coached a less talented Jayhawks  team over Calipari and Derrick Rose-led Memphis to win it all in 2008. It's going to happen again.  Chris Korman, content editor Kentucky 67, Kansas 55: This Wildcats team is no different than most of the teams John Calipari has led to the Final Four.

N.C. State could surprise David Teel Newport News Daily Press The lowest seed I see reaching New Orleans is Marquette. But the Golden Eagles are the West's No. 3 and the Big East regular-season runner-up, hardly what you'd consider a interloper. So the true low seed with the best chance? North Carolina State, the Midwest's No. 11. Wolfpack point guard Lorenzo Brown is better than most realize, and if they stay out of foul trouble, C.J. Leslie and Richard Howell are a load inside.

Mark Turgeon had to pause and collect himself while proudly recounting how his bench players rallied in Maryland's double-overtime loss to Miami - a game in which the coach was ejected and spent the extra periods in the locker room receiving texts and trying vainly to follow what was unfolding on the court. Turgeon - who faces a mentor in North Carolina coach Roy Williamsat Comcast Center on Saturday  - spent Friday's media session looking back to the bizarre Miami game and looking ahead to going against Williams for the first time.

The general rap against the Occupy Wall Street movement is that it has no clear leadership or goals. And a complaint of some Democrats against President Obama is that he hasn't found a way to get in front of it and harness its energy to work for his re-election. In his speech this week in Osawatomie, Kan., where almost exactly a century ago Theodore Roosevelt launched his pitch for a "New Nationalism," the president reached back into history in an effort to achieve both objectives. Grasping TR's recognition of economic inequality between the wielders of corporate power and the workers who made their engines go, Mr. Obama latched onto the essential theme of the current street protesters.

Know this about Mark Turgeon: He has no reservations, absolutely none, about replacing Gary Williams, the man who resurrected Maryland basketball. If Turgeon was the type to be cowed by a challenge, he would never have tried to play point guard for mighty Kansas as a short, scrawny teenager with braces on his teeth. He would never have left his comfortable job as an NBA assistant to become head coach at Jacksonville State in rural Alabama, which had just finished 308th out of 309 Division I men's teams.

Long before he began recruiting future NBA No. 2 draft pick Michael Beasley for Kansas State, Dalonte Hill said he grasped something important about the player's personality. Beasley, Hill noticed, wasn't responding well to college coaches' incessant pitches — to all the phone calls and letters certain to find their way to young basketball prodigies such as Beasley. "People didn't know this about his recruitment, but if you pressure him, he goes into a shell," said Hill, a former coach in the D.C. Assault summer-league program in which Beasley starred.

If it weren't meaningless in terms of wins and losses, Friday night's preseason affair with the Chiefs would have an interesting storyline as three former Ravens return to Baltimore. The final score doesn't matter, though, so Le'Ron McClain, Jared Gaither and Kelly Gregg can't get revenge against their former employers this time around. All three players were deemed expendable by the Ravens in the offseason, but you can expect a lot of smiles, hugs and handshakes at M&T Bank Stadium.

The Ravens didn't have too much to feel good about after last week's preseason loss to the Eagles, but they bounced back with an improved effort tonight against the Chiefs. The third-stringers pulled off the comeback win, but there were signs of progress from the important guys. Here is what is on my mind after the 31-13 win. 1. I was surprised that Joe Flacco played into the third quarter, but it was clear the Ravens wanted to get some things ironed out on offense before taking him out. Flacco was erratic by his standards, completing just 12 of his 24 passes, and he was out of sync with Anquan Boldin, in particular.

The Ravens were interested in keeping nose tackle Kelly Gregg , but they couldn't match an offer from the Kansas City Chiefs. Gregg reportedly will earn twice as much with the Chiefs than he would have with the Ravens, who were offering him $1.5 million. The Ravens officially released Gregg on Thursday, creating $3.5 million in salary-cap room. "Kansas City just gave him an offer that he couldn't refuse," coach John Harbaugh said. "We just wish him the best. Obviously, it's the best thing for his family financially, and we're happy for him. " Playing in Kansas City was a factor for Gregg, whose family lives in Oklahoma.

To Josh Selby, the Memphis Grizzlies represent a clean slate, and a team that doesn't care about his past, only his potential. To the Memphis Grizzlies — who snagged the Lake Clifton graduate with the 49th pick in Thursday's NBA Draft — Selby represents an investment of minimal risk, but one that still has the potential for a big return. It wasn't a marriage many people saw coming. The Grizzlies never even had Selby in for a workout. "I was very surprised," Selby said.