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2B – Daily News – Tuesday, March 15, 2011 NCAA (Continued from page 1B) ‘‘I think if it’s a four- horse race, there are some dark horses,’’ Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. ‘‘I don’t think there is a clear-cut favorite. Last year they (UConn) were a clear- cut favorite.’’ ‘‘We’re not a clear-cut favorite. Tennessee’s not a clear-cut favorite; Baylor’s not; and UConn’s not.’’ The most emotional matchup of the tourney, however, likely will be in the Dallas region between No. 6 Georgia and No. 11 Middle Tennessee State, which is still dealing with the stab- bing death of teammate Tina Stewart on March 2. ‘‘The tragedy was most unspeakable and our full committee and shared our thoughts and condolences,’’ selection committee chair- woman Marilyn McNeil said. ‘‘However, what we want to assure everyone is they were considered like everyone in the field. We looked at their body of work and what they had done on the floor over the entire sea- son. They were selected as one of the 33 best at-large teams in the country.’’ The Blue Raiders watched the selection show at coach Rick Insell’s house. The coach was glad to see the committee reward this team after all it has gone through over the past two weeks. ‘‘These kids deserve it. UFC, Strikeforce still plan to compete LAS VEGAS (AP) — UFC president Dana White insists his company’s acqui- sition of Strikeforce won’t end the competition between North America’s top two mixed martial arts promotions. Yet White also acknowledges his top fight- ers could meet Strikeforce’s best in the near future. Suffice to say the UFC hasn’t quite figured out what to do with its biggest pur- chase yet in its quest for global MMA domination. ‘‘I wouldn’t count any- thing out,’’ White said dur- ing a conference call Mon- day. ‘‘I wouldn’t say no to anything. Listen, at the end of the day, what we want to do is put on the best fights that the fans want to see. That’s our job.’’ White said the UFC did- n’t buy its top rival just to eliminate it. Under veteran CEO Scott Coker, Strike- force will continue signing its own fighters and appear- ing on Showtime, which has a deal to telecast Strikeforce cards through 2014. NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL OT Pts GF GA SHARKS 39 23 8 86 197 183 Kings 39 25 5 83 192 168 Phoenix 36 23 11 83 202 200 Dallas 37 24 8 82 193 193 Ducks 37 27 5 79 195 202 Central Division WL OT Pts GF GA Detroit 41 20 8 90 227 199 Chicago 38 24 8 84 232 196 Nashville 35 24 10 80 177 161 Columbus 32 27 9 73 188 206 St. Louis 31 29 9 71 193 207 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA Vancouver 45 16 9 99 229 165 Calgary 36 26 9 81 214 203 Minnesota 35 27 7 77 176 184 Colorado 26 34 8 60 191 239 Edmonton 23 38 9 55 172 231 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA Philadelphia 42 19 7 91 219 182 Pittsburgh 40 22 8 88 201 171 N.Y.Rangers 36 30 4 76 198 171 New Jersey 32 32 4 68 146 174 N.Y.Islanders 27 32 11 65 194 221 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Boston 38 21 9 85 205 164 Montreal 38 24 7 83 184 172 Buffalo 34 27 8 76 203 201 Toronto 30 30 10 70 184 218 Ottawa 25 35 9 59 157 215 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Washington 40 20 10 90 189 171 Tampa Bay 39 22 9 87 210 211 Carolina 31 28 10 72 196 209 Atlanta 29 28 12 70 194 223 Florida 28 32 9 65 173 191 ————————————————— Monday’s results Chicago 6, San Jose 3 Tampa Bay 6, Toronto 2 Minnesota at Vancouver, late Today’s games San Jose at Dallas, 5:30 p.m., CSNC Atlanta at New Jersey, 4 p.m. Boston at Columbus, 4 p.m. N.Y. Islanders at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. Washington at Montreal, 4 p.m. Carolina at Buffalo, 4:30 p.m., VS Philadelphia at Florida, 4:30 p.m. Pittsburgh at Ottawa, 4:30 p.m. Los Angeles at Nashville, 5 p.m. Phoenix at Calgary, 6:30 p.m. White said the UFC made the deal to get more fighters working for Zuffa, the company that now con- trols both promotions. White and Zuffa chairman Lorenzo Fertitta want to expand their MMA business worldwide, and they’ll need more shows to establish a bigger presence in Europe, Asia and South America. ‘‘We certainly don’t have it figured out,’’ Fertitta said. ‘‘But one of the things that we believe strongly is that there is a lot more demand in Europe and in Asia, places like Australia, where we go once a year, twice a year. We’re not fulfilling what the demand is, and the U.K. is a perfect example. Going to London one time a year, we’re kind of short- changing that market. ‘‘To be able to have Strikeforce — more fight- ers, more options — we’re working on the ability to have a stronger presence in a meaningful way, up to eight, nine, 10 times a year.’’ UFC outbid an undis- NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL Pct GB Lakers 47 20 .701 — Phoenix 33 32 .508 13 WARRIORS 30 36 .455 16.5 Clippers 26 42 .382 21.5 KINGS 15 49 .234 30.5 Southwest Division WL Pct GB x-S. Antonio54 13 .806 — Dallas 47 19 .712 6.5 N. Orleans 39 30 .565 16 Memphis 37 31 .544 17.5 Houston 34 34 .500 20.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB Okla. City 43 23 .652 — Denver 40 27 .597 3.5 Portland 37 29 .561 6 Utah 35 33 .515 9 Minnesota 17 51 .250 27 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL Pct GB x-Boston 47 18 .723 — New York 34 31 .523 13 Philadelphia 34 33 .507 14 New Jersey 22 43 .338 25 Toronto 18 48 .273 29.5 Southeast Division WL Pct GB x-Miami 46 21 .687 — Orlando 42 25 .627 4 Atlanta 38 28 .576 7.5 Charlotte 28 38 .424 17.5 Washington 16 49 .246 29 Central Division WL Pct GB y-Chicago 47 18 .723 — Indiana 28 38 .424 19.5 Milwaukee 26 39 .400 21 Detroit 23 44 .343 25 Cleveland 12 53 .185 35 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division ————————————————— Monday’s results Golden State at Sacramento, late Denver 114, New Orleans 103 Houston 95, Phoenix 93 Memphis 105, L.A. Clippers 82 Miami 110, San Antonio 80 New Jersey 88, Boston 79 Oklahoma City 116, Washington 89 Utah 112, Philadelphia 107, OT Orlando at L.A. Lakers, late Today’s games Milwaukee at Atlanta, 4 p.m. New York at Indiana, 4 p.m. Washington at Chicago, 5 p.m. Dallas at Portland, 7 p.m. closed number of suitors for Strikeforce when Silicon Valley Sports and Entertain- ment decided to sell the scrappy Bay Area-based promotional company that started out in kickboxing and only began putting on MMA fights five years ago. Carefully managed by Coker, Strikeforce made headlines in recent years by agreeing to a co-promotion- al deal with Fedor Emelia- nenko, the Russian heavy- weight considered MMA’s most fearsome fighter until back-to-back losses tar- nished him. Several prominent Strikeforce fighters have endured messy breakups with the UFC, including Paul Daley, Josh Barnett and Dan Henderson. White clashed with Strikeforce MLS Today’s game Los Angeles at Seattle FC, ESPN during his failed attempts to sign Emelianenko in recent years, criticizing Coker and referring to the promotion as ‘‘Strikefarce,’’ but he claims Strikeforce’s stars shouldn’t worry about his potentially divisive presence. ‘‘There’s a lot of people on that side of the fence that aren’t big fans of mine,’’ White said. ‘‘But you know we can still do business. Scott Coker is the guy who’s going to be running the day- to-day and doing every- NCAA First Round At UD Arena Dayton, Ohio Today For Southeast No. 16 seed UNCAsheville (19-13) vs. Ark-Little Rock (19-16), 3:30 p.m., TRUTV For East No. 12 seed UAB (22-9) vs. Clemson (21-11), 6 p.m., TRUTV Wednesday For East No. 16 seed Texas-San Antonio (19-13) vs. Alabama State (17-17) For Southwest No. 11 Seed Southern Cal (19-14) vs. Virginia Commonwealth (23-11), 6 p.m. MLB Spring Training AMERICAN LEAGUE WL Pct Seattle 10 4 .714 Detroit 13 7 .650 Kansas City10 6 .625 Texas 9 7 .563 Boston 10 8 .556 Baltimore 8 7 .533 Minnesota 9 8 .529 Toronto 8 8 .500 Angels 8 10 .444 A’s 710 .412 Cleveland 6 9 .400 Tampa Bay 6 9 .400 Chicago 6 10 .375 New York 6 11 .353 NATIONAL LEAGUE WL Pct GIANTS 14 5 .737 Atlanta 11 5 .688 Colorado 12 6 .667 Milwaukee 11 6 .647 Philadelphia12 7 .632 Washington 10 6 .625 Cincinnati 10 7 .588 St. Louis 8 7 .533 Padres 8 8 .500 New York 8 9 .471 Chicago 8 11 .421 Pittsburgh 8 11 .421 Florida 5 11 .313 Houston 6 14 .300 Arizona 5 15 .250 Dodgers 5 15 .250 NOTE: Split-squad games count in the standings; games against non-major league teams do not. ————————————————— Monday’s results Cleveland 9, Oakland 8 Milwaukee 12, San Francisco 8 Baltimore 8, Pittsburgh 2 Boston 2, N.Y.Yankees 1 Colorado 3, Cincinnati 2 Detroit 4, Washington 2 Minnesota 9, Florida 0 Philadelphia 7, Houston 6 San Diego 7, Chicago White Sox 6 Seattle 5, Chicago Cubs 3 St. Louis 1, Atlanta 1, tie, 10 innings Texas 5, L.A. Dodgers 4 Today’s games Chi.Cubs (ss) vs.Oakland (ss),1:05 p.m. Oakland (ss) vs. Kansas City, 1:05 p.m. San Francisco vs. Arizona, 6:40 p.m. Atlanta vs. St. Louis, 10:05 a.m. Boston vs. Detroit, 10:05 a.m. Florida vs. Tampa Bay, 10:05 a.m. Houston vs. Baltimore, 10:05 a.m., MLBN Philadelphia vs. Toronto, 10:05 a.m. Colorado vs.Chicago Cubs (ss), 1:05 p.m. Milwaukee vs. Cleveland, 1:05 p.m. L.A. Angels vs. San Diego, 1:05 p.m. Texas vs. L.A. Dodgers, 1:05 p.m., MLBN Washington vs. N.Y. Mets, 4:10 p.m. thing. They’re never going to have to deal with me, so it’s not a big deal.’’ White said the UFC will stop counter-programming against Strikeforce’s big shows. The UFC has drained audiences away in recent years by running compelling fights on Spike TV at the same time. NIT First Round Today Coastal Carolina (28-5) at Alabama (21-11), 4 p.m. Dayton (22-13) at Co.of Charleston (24-10), 4 p.m., ESPN2 Vermont (23-8) at Cleveland State (26-8), 4 p.m. Harvard (23-6) at Oklahoma State (19-13), 4:30 p.m., ESPN Murray State (23-8) at Missouri State (25-8), 5 p.m. UTEP (25-9) at New Mexico (21-12), 6 p.m., ESPN2 Boston College (20-12) at McNeese State (21-11), 6 p.m. Fairfield (24-7) at Colorado State (19-12), 6 p.m. Kent State (23-11) at St. Mary’s, Calif. (25-8), 8 p.m., ESPN2 Wednesday Texas Southern (19-12) at Colorado (21-13), 4 p.m. Nebraska (19-12) at Wichita State (24-8), 4 p.m. TENNIS ATP Money Leaders 1. Novak Djokovic 2. Andy Murray 3. Roger Federer 4. David Ferrer 5. Robin Soderling 6. Nicolas Almagro 7. Andy Roddick 8. Tomas Berdych $2,588,395 $1,122,597 $778,374 $768,508 $674,090 $419,550 $400,562 $389,489 9. Alexandr Dolgopolov $355,899 10. Stanislas Wawrinka $330,937 1. Kim Clijsters 2. Li Na WTA Money Leaders $2,181,058 3. Caroline Wozniacki $838,250 4.Vera Zvonareva 5. Flavia Pennetta 6. Petra Kvitova 7. Svetlana Kuznetsova $304,087 8. Gisela Dulko 9. Agnieszka Radwanska $274,374 10. Andrea Petkovic $1,158,629 $574,276 $437,801 $358,301 $289,705 $259,753 Florida Atlantic (21-10) at Miami (19-14), 4:30 p.m. Wisconsin-Milwaukee (19-13) at Northwestern (18-13), 5 p.m. Bethune-Cookman (21-12) at Virginia Tech (21-11), 5 p.m. Mississippi (20-13) at California (17-14), 6 p.m. Long Beach State (22-12) at Washington State (19-12), 7 p.m. What they’ve been through these last 10, 12 days, I don’t know. It’s been the toughest thing I’ve ever had to endure since I’ve been in coaching, and I’m sure it’s the toughest thing they’ll ever have to endure. I’m proud of them. I’m just proud of them,’’ Insell said. First up for UConn is Hartford, which won the America East title, and is coached by former Huskies star Jen Rizzotti. The two teams have played each other over the last six years but didn’t meet this season. The Hawks are winless in 11 meetings against UConn. The Huskies will be try- ing for their third consecu- tive title, matching their run from 2002-04 and Ten- nessee’s from 1996-98. UConn is one of a record nine Big East teams in the field. The Big East got 11 men’s teams in their field announced Sunday. Auriem- ma said he’s happy they got nine bids but was surprised Syracuse didn’t get in. ‘‘I was hoping that we’d get 10,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know what the rationale was for not taking Syracuse.’’ Unlike the men’s bracket that expanded to 68 teams this year, the women decid- ed to stick with 64. Indi- anapolis will host the Final Four on April 3 and 5. The last time the Final CIT First Round Monday’s result Buffalo 75, Quinnipiac 68 Today Ohio (18-15) at Marshall (22-11), 4 p.m. Furman (22-10) at East Tennessee State (22-11), 4 p.m. Jacksonville (19-11) at East Carolina (18-15), 5 p.m. Rider (23-10) at Northern Iowa (19-13), 5 p.m. North Dakota (19-14) at Air Force (15-15), 6 p.m. Northern Arizona (19-12) at Santa Clara (19-14), 7 p.m. Portland (20-11) at Hawaii (18-12), 9 p.m. PGA FedExCup Leaders Rank Points YTD Money 1. Mark Wilson 1,075 $2,256,615 2. Nick Watney 902 $2,168,000 3. Jhonattan Vegas 791 $1,479,510 4. Rory Sabbatini 766 $1,412,194 5.D.A.Points 737 $1,538,207 6.Bubba Watson 724 $1,633,134 7. Luke Donald 718 $1,807,800 8. Aaron Baddeley 700 $1,508,716 9. Matt Kuchar 682 $1,622,473 10. Jonathan Byrd 658 $1,348,666 11. Hunter Mahan 639 $1,303,394 12. Dustin Johnson 628 $1,444,772 13.Vijay Singh 612 $1,262,492 14. Bill Haas 15.Y.E.Yang 16. Phil Mickelson 504 17. Spencer Levin 487 18. Gary Woodland 445 19. Jason Dufner 407 20.Jimmy Walker 405 558 $1,037,100 531 $1,130,396 $996,531 $996,432 $860,064 $751,041 $762,857 Upcoming Schedule March 17-20 — Transitions Champi- onship, Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Course), Palm Harbor, Fla. March 24-27— Arnold Palmer Invitational, Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Fla. March 31-April 3 — Shell Houston Open, Redstone GC (Tournament Course), Houston April 7-10 — Masters Tournament, Augus- ta National GC, Augusta, Ga. Wednesday Tennessee Tech (20-12) at Western Michigan (20-12), 4 p.m. Iona (22-11) at Valparaiso (23-11), 5 p.m. Oral Roberts (19-15) at SMU (17-14), 5 p.m. Idaho (18-13) at San Francisco (17-14), 7 p.m. Four was in Indianapolis, Baylor won the champi- onship as a No. 2 seed. The Lady Bears, led by sopho- more center Brittney Griner, will face No. 16 Prairie View in their opener on Sun- day in the Dallas region. If the seeds hold, Baylor could face No. 2 Texas A&M for the fourth time this season. Baylor beat Texas A&M by a total of 15 points in their three meetings — including a three-point win in the Big 12 title game. ‘‘I can’t ever used the word shocked with the NCAA anymore,’’ Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. ‘‘You want to see new faces, you want to see new teams. I don’t think anybody wants to see the same teams that you see from your confer- ence.’’ CBI First Round Today James Madison (21-11) at Davidson (17-14), 4 p.m. San Jose State (17-15) at Creighton (19-14), 5:05 p.m. Hofstra (21-11) at Evansville (15-15), 5:05 p.m. Austin Peay (20-13) at Boise State (20-12), 6 p.m. Wednesday Miami (Ohio) (16-16) at Rhode Island (19-13), 4 p.m. St. Bonaventure (16-14) at UCF (19-11), 5 p.m. Duquesne (18-12) at Montana (21-10), 6:05 p.m. Weber St. (18-13) at Oregon (16-17), 7 p.m. Mulkey was excited for the fans, however, if the two Big 12 rivals meet. ‘‘It should be a great crowd; it should be a sell- out,’’ she said. Stanford, which opens against UC Davis, could also face a team for the fourth time this season — UCLA. The Cardinal swept the No. 3 seed in Spokane three times, but the Bruins had a late lead in the Pac-10 title game on Saturday. UC Davis is one of six teams making its first appearance.