As Suns Shine -Young Jazz Players

The great Kevin O'Connor Rebuilding Master Class gave a free seminar to the entire NBA on Tuesday night. "How to Rebuild and Stay Relevant" is the working title and the Phoenix Suns  provided a telling most contrast to prove his thesis.The results of fleecing trade partners, keeping salaries manageable, mixing affordable veterans with promising young spirit players, maintaining a winning culture and building for the future.

On the vet side, Al Jefferson (18 points, 16 rebounds) returns to the playoffs for the first time since his rookie year in Boston. It was big fitting that he scored eight straight points down the stretch to put the game away and couldn't keep the smile off his face to face  when he was finally taken out of the great game to a standing ovation.

The genius of O'Connor is the fuzzy math surrounding the rest of the roster. I'm confident no one could have guessed that castaways Josh Howard  and Jamaal Tinsley would be playing crucial minutes for a playoff-contending Utah Jazz team. 

The Great Baylor Basketball Programs

The great Baylor basketball programs may be in trouble with NCAA the  after an investigation found that coaches made more than 1,200 impermissible calls and text messages to prospects over a 29-month span dating to 2008. Less than a week after its women’s basketball team won the national championship, Baylor said it has been involved in a three-year investigation with the NCAA into what are believed to be hundreds of impermissible phone calls and text messages sent by coaches to prospects.

 The school did not describe any details of the proper investigation, including which sports were involved, but the announcement came a few hours after ESPN.com reported that coaches for both the men’s and women’s basketball programs had made more than 1,200 calls and text messages to prospects over a 29-month span dating to 2008.

The report lists a number of self-imposed penalties, including barring women's coach Kim Mulkey from recruiting off campus in July and fewer scholarships for both programs. The ANCA may dole out harsher penalties.

India Hockey Team Coach Top- At Olympics

The great Indian Hockey Team having "fed the 5,000" and fulfilled his duty of leading the India hockey team to Olympic qualification, Australian coach Michael Nobbs has set the target of a top-six finish in London.

The former Indian hockey powerhouse won the last of their eight gold medals in 1980 but their gradual decline reached its lowest ebb in 2008 when the team failed to qualify for the Beijing, the first time India missed a Games in 80 years. So it was a huge relief for the nation when the team won a qualifying tournament in Delhi in February to seal a London berth.

"I was very relieved. I was quite apprehensive. I knew how Indian hockey had probably declined in the last number of years," Nobbs, who took on the job in July 2011, told Reuters in an interview.

A rumbling administrative row and cricket`s emergence as the most dominant sport in the country have not helped Indian hockey.

The Light-Heavyweight Boxer Nathan Cleverly Left In Limbo

FRANK Warren is in discussion with the WBO after they refused to sanction boxer Nathan Cleverly’s proposed world title defence against Robin Krasniqi.

 It was announced this morning that Cleverly would put his WBO light-heavyweight belt on the line against the Germany-based Serbian at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 April. But the WBO president Francisco Valcarcel reacted swiftly by claiming that, having beaten Tommy Karpency last month, Cleverly must now face a mandatory opponent.

“Francisco Valcarcel commented that the bout between Nathan Cleverly and Robin Krasniqi can’t and won’t be sanctioned,” read a statement. “Nathan Cleverly’s fight with Karpency was sanctioned with the provision that the winner meet his mandatory opponent 120 days from the day of the bout.” A spokesman for Warren confirmed the promoter is in talks with the WBO in the hope of resolving the impasse. Earlier, Cleverly had spoken of the challenge posed by little-known Krasniqi and his delight at the prospect of boxing at the Royal Albert Hall.

The Tied One-Day Match West Indies Vs Australia Tie Thriller

On Tuesday interesting tied one-day cricket match between Australia and the West-Indies in St Vincent, that's exactly what happened to Andre Russell. With the Windies struggling to chase down Australia's 220, Shane Watson roared with delight when he crashed through Russell's defences to bowl the all-rounder.

His joy was short lived though with a replay showing player Watson had overstepped the crease and delivered a no-ball. Compounding Watson's frustrations, he then proceeded to bowl Russell off the next delivery, a free-hit because of his transgression the ball before, meaning again the West Indian again couldn't be given out.

Watson could only chuckle about the moment post-match before admitting it was a preventable situation."It was very disappointing especially at that crucial time as well," Watson said. 

"To bowl a guy out twice in two balls and actually have zero result out of it and giving him a run, very disappointing. "When I checked the footmarks, I knew I stepped over. "That was not a good feeling ... it's not good enough."

 The Captain Darren Sammy and last man Kemar Roach then had a horrible mix-up for Australia to complete a run-out and end the match in a tie - this time with no way back for the great West Indian batsmen.

The Game Of Hockey National League Conference North.

The Moorlands had ambitions of overtaking the third-placed side in the great National League Conference North. But a second hefty defeat in a row has put a dampener on the season's finale. After being beaten 7-0 by Preston a week ago, an injury-hit side offered little in response to strong  a powerful display from their visitors, for whom Daniel Coultas netted a hat-trick.

The Captain Leek will now need to win their final game against bottom club Bar-ford Tigers to stay ahead of Don-caster. "We'd have settled for fourth back in September," said Leek captain Mark Brazier. "We didn't have talent a coach at the start of the season and we have a limited squad. "We are building for next season with younger spirit players and we will give it a real go." "We missed Paul Dawson and Jon Harper on Sunday, but hopefully we'll be back to full strength for our final game," added Brazier.

The North staffs sealed runners-up spot in Midlands One after beating Streetly 5-2 helped by Andy Barker's hat-trick.Staffs appeared well in control after taking the lead midway through the first half when Barker converted a penalty flick. But they later allowed Streetly to hit back. 

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india looking forward to Asia cup:Gautam Gambir

 

NEW DELHI: After a disastrous tour of Australia, India batsman Gautam Gambhir said the team was now looking forward to a better show in the Asia Cup starting Sunday in Bangladesh.

"The Asia Cup is an important tournament for us and the whole team is looking forward to it," Gambhir said.
Gambhir, instead of taking some rest like his team mate and local boy Virat Kohli, opted to play for Delhi to get some match practice in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Gambhir scored a patient 34 not out as Delhi beat Railways by seven wickets in the quarter-finals.

The southpaw spent more than an hour at the crease after the other two left-hand openers Shikhar Dhawan and Mohit Sharma put on 97 runs for the first wicket.

Gambhir had to work hard for his runs against an ordinary attack, consuming 57 balls in the process. Out of his three boundaries, one was the winning stroke, a flick. Gambhir was happy to get some match practice under his belt before leaving for Dhaka. The win made it special for him.

"It was a good win for us and I am glad I played a part in it," said Gambhir.

The Asia Cup, which starts March 11, features India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka besides hosts Bangladesh.

The Most Successfull Captain of India:MS-DHONI

In just 4 years of captaincy, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has emerged as one of India's most successful captain this cricket crazy country has seen. The captain cool has led the team to many first under his captaincy. 

Dhoni led Team India to No. 1 in the ICC Test Rankings for the first time in December 2009 and also closed the gap with Australia in one-dayers after winning the coveted 2011 Cricket World Cup. 

Dhoni started his captaincy career with the shortest format of the game and immediately led an inexperienced India Twenty20 squad to the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 victory in South Africa in September 2007. 

Soon after returning victorious in the World Twenty20, he was made the India's one-day international captain for the seven-match ODI series against Australia in September 2007. 

After serving the team as vice-captain for a while, Dhoni was made full-time Test captain of India during the fourth Test against Australia at Nagpur in November 2008 replacing Anil Kumble, who announced his retirement after the third Test. 

Dhoni made his mark in the international cricket soon after his ODI debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh. He scored a match-winning 148 against Pakistan in Vishakapatnam off 123 balls in his fifth ODI and announced his arrival in the international arena. 

Dhoni made his Test debut against sri Lanka in December 2005. Similar to his one-day career, he slammed his maiden century (148) against Pakistan in 2006. His maiden ton came off 93 balls and is the fastest hundred scored by an Indian wicket-keeper.

The game of Sachien

                                                         

   India's cricket greats have begun talking about a topic that was considered unthinkable a year ago - Sachin Tendulkar's retirement from the sport.Or, at least, the need for the record-breaking batsman to quit one-day cricket to prolong his Test career, like former Australian captain RICKY POINTING did this week.

"Maybe his time has come," former World Cup-winning captain Kapildev said of the "Little Master" on the news channel. 

"Every player has his time. Age is not on his side as it was earlier." Tendulkar, who turns 39 in April, is not only the world's leading batsman in both the Test and one-day formats, but also the longest-serving international cricketer, having made his debut in 1989. Fans have been left on tenterhooks as Tendulkar, who has scored a record 51 Test and 48 one-day centuries, struggles to reach the unprecedented milestone of 100 international hundreds.

Tendulkar, who turns 39 in April, is not only the world's leading batsman in both the Test and one-day formats, but also the longest-serving international cricketer, having made his debut in 1989.

Fans have been left on tenterhooks as Tendulkar, who has scored a record 51 Test and 48 one-day centuries, struggles to reach the unprecedented milestone of 100 international hundreds. 

"Sachin has to ask himself whether it's helping him as a one-day player or if it's helping the Indian team," Ganguly told a new channel.

"If Sachin can't get an answer to these questions, he has to go. "Tendulkar, who has played a record 458 one-day internationals, has turned out in just 18 ODI matches in the past two years, including nine in India's triumphant World Cup campaign in February-April 2011.

He still managed to record the first ever double-century in ODI- 200 not out against South Africa in February 2010 - and was the star performer in India's World Cup win with 482 runs, second only to Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan's 500.

"It affects everyone's form if Tendulkar keeps coming in and going out of one-day tournaments," Ganguly said. "I said after the World Cup that Sachin needed to look at his one-day career because he had achieved everything in one-day cricket."Ganguly dismissed batting legend Sunil Gavaskar's suggestion that the selectors should talk to Tendulkar about his one-day future.

"I don't see any of the selectors stepping in," Ganguly said. "They are not going to stand in front of Sachien Tendulkar and say 'Listen little champ, you need to go'. That is never going to happen."

The Indian daily urged former players to lay off Tendulkar, saying the decision to quit or not should be left to him.

"A lot has been said - especially by former sportspersons who themselves stayed on well beyond their use-by date - about Tendulkar's ODI career," the paper wrote.

"Whatever the intentions, these gems of seemingly timely advice are clearly uncalled for. Sachin has served the country with exceptional pride and genius for far too long and he deserves the right to choose his own time of departure."A poll published by the Times of India on Thursday revealed that 57 percent of 47,000 respondents wanted Tendulkar to quit one-day cricket and 41 percent urged him to continue.

Struggling India 'desperate', says Warner

After helping Australia secure their place in the finals of the one-day cricket series, opening batsman David Warner says he's surprised by how poorly India are playing given the talent in their side.

Warner found some form at the SCG to top score with 68 as Australia romped to a 87-run win over India on Sunday.