This is what I remember from the three minutes I spent around P.J. Hairston on the final night of North Carolina's season.The Tar Heels had just lost to Kansas and Hairston stood about five feet in front of his locker with his cell phone in his hand. Reporters, myself included, waited for Hairston to finish whatever it was he was doing so we could ask our questions.Eventually, Hairston tossed his phone to the side and ...

UCLA and Mississippi State have advanced to the Championship Series in Omaha on the backs of their stars, but it will be the role players who step up starting Monday night.These are the players who have a huge impact on the result of the game, but aren’t necessarily in the limelight. If they have a good game, their team tends to come out with a victory. If they perform poorly, they might be the guy ...

Either UCLA or Mississippi State is going to take a 1-0 College World Series lead after Monday night, and it’s going to be because they accomplished a vital task.While the Bruins and Bulldogs have each been great throughout the postseason, they haven’t been perfect in terms of their on-field performance. There are still several ways to improve and make each a more complete and dominant program, which will be essential over the next few days. ...

Five things usually come to mind when thinking about the tradition of Indiana basketball. All five hang from the rafters at Assembly Hall.The iconic image of the Hoosiers’ five national championship banners captures the program’s eminence unlike any other one shot could.Success may be measured by winning records, conference titles or qualifying for the NCAA tournament for 99 percent of college basketball, but at Indiana, it’s measured by one thing: Banners. So expect any list ...

Morley, Mo. — It’s 2:30 p.m. on a sunny Wednesday in the small hometown of Otto Porter Jr., and the legendary coach who tutored both Porter and his father is asleep in his office. Ronnie Cookson owns a seed shop about three miles down the street from Scott County Central High School in Morley, Mo., population 696, and he wakes up to tell stories of the Porters. Every story seems more unbelievable than the next ...

UCLA sits two wins away from a national championship and all of the credit goes to the pitching staff.The only thing standing in the way of the Bruins and the trophy are the Bulldogs of Mississippi State, which the staff will attempt to take down twice in three games. The offense has been poor all season and has been even worse throughout the College World Series. Through 64 games, the offense is only hitting .248, ...

The UCLA Bruins and Mississippi State Bulldogs will meet in the 2013 College World Series finals beginning on Monday evening, with both programs vying for their first national title in school history.Neither club ranked amongst the top eight national seeds entering this tournament, yet each somehow found their way in going up against formidable foes. Both advanced on Friday to the championship showdown in Omaha, Nebraska, with 4-1 semifinal victories.The Bruins knocked off the top-seeded ...

Anything can happen in the College World Series. Some of the best teams during the regular season suddenly lose their momentum in double-elimination play, while big underdogs get hot at just the right time to make an improbable run at the championship. Such was the case in the 2013 College World Series.Mississippi State and UCLA got hot when it counted, and the two teams will face off in a best-of-three series starting on Monday, June 24, ...

The Mississippi State Bulldogs and UCLA Bruins are the last two college baseball teams standing, and will face each other in a best-of-three series for the College World Series title.Things rarely go according to plan in Omaha, but this year's proceedings have been particularly strange. UCLA and Mississippi State were both among those counted as underdogs to start out, but while favorites like North Carolina and Oregon State have bowed out—at UCLA and Mississippi State's ...

The College World Series has produced a ton of surprises as the field worked its way down to just two remaining teams; Mississippi State and UCLA. As the Bulldogs and Bruins prepare to do battle on Monday night lets take a minute to look back and reflect on some of the most shocking outcomes from the 2013 College World Series.  UCLA Beats North Carolina 4-1The Bruins have rode the golden arms of their pitching staff all the ...