Ucla

SEATTLE -- They are a study in contrasts: not only athletically and philosophically, but geographically and historically. Yet there one obvious similarity between UCLA and Oklahoma State.They are at the Final Four, in contention for a national championship. That will change tonight, as their differences are played out in the first NCAA tournament semifinal game at the Kingdome.It's the fast-breaking Bruins from trendy Westwood and the ground-you-into-the-floor Cowboys from backwater Stillwater.

Moves Basketball GRIZZLIES: Placed F Ryan Humphrey on injured list. Activated F Brian Cardinal from injured list. KNICKS: Placed G Jamison Brewer on injured list. Activated G-F Penny Hardaway from injured list. MAGIC: Placed F Michael Bradley on injured list. Activated C Kelvin Cato from injured list. Colleges NAVY: Football coach Paul Johnson was named Bobby Dodd Foundation's Coach of the Year. WEST VIRGINIA: WR Chris Henry announced that he plans to forgo his senior year to enter next spring's NFL draft Football LIONS: Agreed with DT Shaun Rogers on six-year contract.

PHILADELPHIA -- The athletic image of the University of Southern California used to be one of football Saturdays at the Los Angeles Coliseum, of tailbacks in the hunt for the Heisman Trophy and teams in contention for the national championship. Even when the school's basketball team had some success in the early 1970s, the Trojans were barely noticed in Los Angeles. Take the 1970-71 season, when USC went 24-2 and finished fifth in the national polls, but didn't even go to the NCAA tournament because both of its defeats were to crosstown rival UCLA, the most dominant team in the land.

Attention to detail David Wharton Los Angeles Times Socks and shoelaces — that's what John Wooden should be remembered for. At the start of each season, Wooden put his UCLA players through a refresher course on smoothing their socks and carefully lacing their shoes to avoid blisters. He was all about the basics, notions that lasted beyond a game or two. These precepts, dating back through his Midwestern childhood and his time as a high school English teacher, became the building blocks for his "Pyramid of Success."

MEN'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS Nicholls St.@Michigan St. BIGTENNoon St. Francis (Pa.)@American CSNNoon Miss. State@Providence ESPNUNoon Baylor@Kentucky 13, 912:30 Brown@New Hampshire FCS1 Illinois State@Louisville MASN1 Miami@Massachusetts CBSSN2 Delaware@Duke CSN2 Rutgers@Mississippi ESPNU2 Xavier@Purdue BIGTEN2:15 Alabama@Cincinnati ...

Gary Williams spent this college basketball season out of coaching for the first time in more than four decades. A fundraiser for the university and an analyst for the Big Ten Network and ESPN 980 in Rockville, Williams was honored Wednesday night at the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards ahead of the 10th anniversary of Maryland's national championship. The 67-year old sat down with The Baltimore Sun prior to the "An Evening With Gary Williams" celebration to discuss the anniversary.

  "Things happen for a reason. " Potomac's Nana Meriwether, the reigning Miss USA, says that a lot. Especially when she talks about the road she followed to her title: two runner-up finishes at the Miss California pageant before being crowned Miss Maryland last year; another second-place finish, this time in June's Miss USA competition; then - finally - the Miss USA crown, but only after the woman who beat her, 20-year-old Olivia Culpo...

The gay couples who've booked Rouge Fine Catering in Hunt Valley for their weddings have appreciated not only good food and stylish events, but something less tangible. "They don't want to be with a caterer that is going to be judgmental," said Jonathan Soudry, Rouge chef and owner. "There is a lot of intimacy in the relationship between the caterer and the couple. " Soudry, whose business handles about 300 weddings a year, catered more than two dozen receptions for same-sex couples last year.

Miss Maryland, you did us proud. Sunday night in Las Vegas, 27-year-old Nana Meriwether, from Potomac, finished as the runner-up in the 2012 Miss USA pageant. The title went to Miss Rhode Island, 20-year-old Olivia Culpo. Clearly, Meriwether didn't lose because her resume was lacking. It's impressive enough that she graduated from Washington's prestigious Sidwell Friends School (where the alumni list includes the children of presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Nixon and Clinton, and where the Obama girls are currently enrolled)

A federal appeals court has upheld Maryland's handgun permitting law, reversing a lower court decision by concluding that the state can constitutionally require an applicant to show “good and substantial reason” that he or she needs a concealed-carry license. Fourth Circuit Judge Robert King, writing for the three-judge panel, said the state had shown that the requirement “is reasonably adapted” to its “significant interests in protecting public safety and preventing crime.” Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler cheered the ruling Thursday, saying the state is “a safer place today because of its handgun conceal-and-carry permit laws.” “The idea is to make sure guns are in the hands of responsible people, and not just anybody who wants to tote a gun in public,” Gansler said.