Ohio State

1 No. 1 - for now: Pittsburgh just moved into the No. 1 position in the polls, which means the Panthers are in trouble when they play Providence (7 p.m., MASN). 2 Tee it up: If this were a football night, it would be quite a schedule: Penn State at Ohio State (7 p.m., ESPN) and Florida at LSU (9 p.m., ESPN). 3 The Big O: Alex Ovechkin, you celebrate (left) any way you want (Flyers at Capitals, 7, Comcast Sports-Net). Who cares what Sidney Crosby thinks? 4 Man up: Manchester United faces Internazionale in the Champions League (2:30 p.m., ESPN2)

Ohio State's Wells undecided about draft col. football Ohio State star Chris "Beanie" Wells isn't ready to say whether the Fiesta Bowl will be his last game for the Buckeyes. "I personally feel like I haven't done enough at Ohio State, the things I wanted to accomplish here, to move on to the next level," the junior running back said yesterday. Asked whether that meant he was leaning toward staying at Ohio State for another season, Wells said: "I don't want to say I'm leaning toward staying or I'm leaning toward going."

SAN ANTONIO -- So, Ohio State can win without digging a double-digit hole and climbing out. And Greg Oden really is a game-changing difference maker. Consecutive lackluster performances by the Buckeyes and their 7-foot center in the NCAA tournament had raised questions about both, but they made believers out of the doubters yesterday in a 92-76 victory over Memphis in the South Regional final at the Alamodome. Ohio State grabbed control early and Oden carried the team late as the Buckeyes (34-3)

The game What -- NCAA men's tournament championship game Site -- Georgia Dome, Atlanta Time -- 9:21 TV/Radio -- Chs. 13, 9/1090 AM Line -- Florida by 4 1/2 The teams No. 1 seed Florida -- 34-5; Southeastern Conference regular-season (13-3) and tournament champion; 15th NCAA tournament appearance. No. 1 seed Ohio State --35-3; Big Ten Conference regular-season (15-1) and tournament champion; 20th NCAA tournament appearance. The frontcourts Florida's Al Horford and Joakim Noah are combining for 24.8 points, 22.2 rebounds and four blocks in the NCAA tournament.

ATLANTA -- With 3.7 seconds remaining in last night's national semifinal game and his team trailing Ohio State by five points, Georgetown center Roy Hibbert returned to the bench and buried his face in his No. 55 jersey. This time, his spot on the sideline was permanent. Of the two imposing 7-foot players pitted against each other in the Final Four, only Ohio State freshman Greg Oden was left on the court when time expired. Oden and Hibbert finished with four fouls each, but Oden's supporting cast was able to compensate, while Georgetown's leading scorer was stifled and the Hoyas' reserves couldn't add any points in a 67-60 loss.

ATLANTA -- Georgetown, its coach, John Thompson III, told reporters yesterday, is "the son-of team." He quickly added, "And look, Florida might be the son-of team also." Ohio State might also fit that description, except only one of its players is a "son of." Poor UCLA, then. The Bruins are the only participants in the Final Four without a player whose father's name is instantly recognizable - as an athlete, and most likely as a basketball player. How'd they crash the family picnic? The better question is: How did the other three teams manage this, to get so much from the sons of highly accomplished fathers?

Moments before guard Ben Grubbs walked into his introductory news conference yesterday, the first-round pick's entrance was trumped by the Ravens' boldest move of the draft. The Ravens announced that they had selected Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, the runaway Heisman Trophy winner, with the last pick of the fifth round. "Can you believe this guy lasted to the bottom of the fifth round?" a high-ranking Ravens official said shortly after the pick. "If he was two inches taller, he would have been a first-round pick."

ATLANTA -- After Florida won the 2006 men's national championship, coach Billy Donovan told his players the best team did not win. Last night, it clearly did. In a matchup of the two winningest teams in college basketball this season, Florida proved it was the best with an 84-75 win over Ohio State, becoming the first team to repeat as national college basketball champions since Duke in 1992. There was a sense of deja vu as confetti rained on the Gators' celebration, just as it had last year, but at the same time, the crowd of 51,458 at the Georgia Dome witnessed a feat so rare and difficult that it had not been accomplished in this decade.

The coaching rivalry between Jim Calhoun and Jim O'Brien dates back to when they came into the Big East together in 1986. The first official function was at a league get-together on a Florida beach. "It seems like 100 years ago," Calhoun said last week.There were 25 games played between Calhoun's Huskies teams and O'Brien's teams at Boston College over 11 seasons. Connecticut won 22 of them, including the last 18 before O'Brien left for Ohio State last season."We should be the big underdog, it's 9,000-to-1 that you keep doing that," Calhoun said.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- St. John's and Ohio State enter tonight's South Regional final with the same goal: to reach next week's Final Four in St. Petersburg, Fla.To get there, the third-seeded Red Storm and the fourth-seeded Buckeyes will have a similar game plan at Thompson-Boling Arena: to get the other to come out of its zone defense.St. John's (28-8) has used a variety of zones in its last two tournament victories, most recently in its 76-62 demolition of Maryland Thursday night. It helped account for the Terrapins' going 10 minutes without scoring.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - -The afternoon began with a gesture of friendship and respect from Ohio State to Navy, the first service academy team to visit the Buckeyes' home in 78 years. Players from the two teams lined up and shook hands in the end zone, and then they ran onto the field together, as 105,092 scarlet-clad fans inside Ohio Stadium stood and cheered. It was a warm welcome that the Midshipmen, who were three-touchdown underdogs to the sixth-ranked Buckeyes, appreciated. But at the same time, "we're not looking for a warm welcome," said Navy junior nose guard Chase Burge, who grew up about an hour outside Columbus.

Ricky Dobbs is aware of the pressure he faces this season as he steps in as Navy's full-time starting quarterback. So the junior, who dazzled at times last season off the bench, tries to avoid reading newspaper articles or listening to radio reports about his role with the Midshipmen. But this week, junior wide receiver Mario Washington showed him an article that pegged Navy's success - and potential seventh straight bowl bid - to Dobbs' performance this fall. "It's all on him," said Washington, one of Dobbs' close friends.

Navy (0-0) at No. 6 Ohio State (0-0) When: : Noon TV: : ESPN Radio: : 1090 AM, 1430 AM Line: : Ohio State by 21 1/2 Series record: : Ohio State leads 3-0-0 Last meeting: : 1981 Liberty Bowl, Ohio State, 31-28 Come to pass? : While preparing for Navy's triple-option offense during spring practices, the Buckeyes studied the scheme instead of focusing on the personnel. The Midshipmen lost many of their offensive skill players, including four of their top five rushers and their top wide receiver.

Navy senior Bobby Doyle knows that every time he and his fellow slotbacks take the practice field, their performances are being analyzed and graded. The competition at the position this fall is tight. "If you have a bad day and you don't push through it, potentially you could lose your spot," said Doyle, Navy's most experienced slotback. "That's one thing that [slotbacks coach Joe DuPaix] tells us: We compete day to day, week to week." Unlike the previous three seasons - when the Midshipmen relied heavily on Reggie Campbell and Shun White, a pair of speedsters - Navy does not have one clear-cut standout at slotback.

Alexis Rack was perfect in eight trips to the foul line down the stretch, and 11th seed Mississippi State (23-9) was 21-for-22 as a team in beating No. 6 seed Texas (21-12), 71-63, yesterday in the first round of the NCAA tournament's Berkeley Regional in Columbus, Ohio. "We've been doing this all year," said Rack, who had 20 points for her 13th consecutive game in double figures. "We shoot 100 free throws in practice. I felt like I was at practice. I felt comfortable and just focused."

The American Lacrosse Conference opener for No. 14 Johns Hopkins and host Ohio State was an offensive show, with a combined 34 goals. Seven players scored for the Buckeyes in their 22-12 win over the Blue Jays yesterday afternoon. Hopkins dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference, while Ohio State improved to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference. Freshman Candace Rossi paced the Blue Jays with five goals. Trailing 10-4 after a goal by Alayna Markwordt just 12 seconds into the second half, Hopkins got three unanswered goals in a span of 2:52 to cut the deficit in half at 10-7.

1 No. 1 - for now: Pittsburgh just moved into the No. 1 position in the polls, which means the Panthers are in trouble when they play Providence (7 p.m., MASN). 2 Tee it up: If this were a football night, it would be quite a schedule: Penn State at Ohio State (7 p.m., ESPN) and Florida at LSU (9 p.m., ESPN). 3 The Big O: Alex Ovechkin, you celebrate (left) any way you want (Flyers at Capitals, 7, Comcast Sports-Net). Who cares what Sidney Crosby thinks? 4 Man up: Manchester United faces Internazionale in the Champions League (2:30 p.m., ESPN2)

This was the reason Bruce Nechanicky endured two knee surgeries and countless hours of rehabilitation. The senior attackman scored Navy's last two goals to help lift No. 10 Navy to an 8-6 victory over No. 15 Ohio State before an announced 2,554 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis yesterday. The Midshipmen, who also received two goals and an assist from Tim Paul, two goals from Brendan Connors, and a goal and three assists from Andy Warner, improved to 2-0 and earned a win that could help them to their sixth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

The schedule for the Ohio State men's lacrosse team includes games against six opponents that qualified for last season's NCAA tournament and seven teams ranked in The Baltimore Sun's Top 20 poll. The school's toughest challenge, however, occurred eight months ago. In the span of about two months beginning in May, the Buckeyes bid farewell to a talent-laden senior class, absorbed the departure of the most successful head coach in the program's history and watched an honorable-mention All-America midfielder transfer to another Division I school.

North Carolina lacrosse coach Joe Breschi got the perfect gift last Father's Day. On the bottom of a card from his wife, Julie, were these words: "I'm in." The next day Breschi informed the Tar Heels about his intentions, and shortly afterward, he was announced as the 12th head coach in the team's history. "I had been at Ohio State for 11 years and probably was going to stay there forever," said Breschi, 40, a 1990 Carolina graduate. "But if there was one place I would leave Ohio State for, it had to be a place that I had a passion about, a place where I had an extraordinary experience as a student-athlete."