Little state not big enough for UConn pair
No one should be surprised Connecticut has another college basketball national champion.
It is stunning, however, that it is the Huskies men's team and not the women's team.
The women seemed a shoe-in to at least reach the NCAA final in their quest for a third straight title. But Notre Dame derailed those hopes by eliminating the Huskies in the semifinals, and Texas A&M went on to win the trophy.
The state of Indiana had two teams playing for a national title -- Notre Dame's women and Butler's men -- and both fell short, especially Butler's shots in Monday's 53-41 loss to UConn.
After about 7,500 showed up to celebrate with Jim Calhoun's Huskies on Wednesday, the only thing left is for a parade that the state is still planning.
It shouldn't be a challenge for Connecticut to coordinate a parade. The bigger challenge is how such a tiny state can house the Texas-sized egos of Calhoun and women's coach Geno Auriemma.
Auriemma leads Calhoun in championships 7-3.
■ BUTLER PILOT ON TARGET -- A pep rally after Butler's second straight NCAA runner-up finish had to be postponed a day until Wednesday because a mechanical problem delayed the team's return flight from Houston for five hours.
The Bulldogs should be happy the plane was able to land at all. After they made fewer than 19 percent of their shots in the championship loss to UConn, there's always the possibility the plane could've missed the runway altogether.
■ PLEA FROM JAPAN -- A Japanese Olympic executive says hosting major sporting events in his country would boost morale and show the world the country is recovering from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear radiation disasters.
Japanese Olympic Association vice president Masato Mizuno said Wednesday that sports events would "help the international community realize that most of Japan is functioning."
Japan is considering a bid to host the 2020 Olympics. Maybe by then food will not be contaminated and radiation will have stopped leaking.
■ SCORRRRRE -- International soccer star Lionel Messi of Barcelona has scored in a big way with social networking.
The two-time world player of the year's global popularity is set to rise even higher after signing up to Facebook on Wednesday. He had collected almost seven million followers by the afternoon.
Were Messi an American soccer star, he still might be trying to find 700 followers.
■ JURY'S IN FOR MARA -- New York Giants owner John Mara on Tuesday attempted to get out of jury duty by citing excuses such as having to prepared for the NFL Draft and his role as a negotiator for team owners in the work stoppage resulting from their labor dispute with players.
Judge Jed S. Rakoff didn't accept his plea, and Mara was called to be an alternate on a jury expected to hear a major international drug case for the next three weeks.
Leftovers suspects Mara would have been excused were the drug case involved steroids, HGH or related performance-enhancing substances. As an NFL owner, he could have been called as an expert witness.
COMPILED BY JEFF WOLF
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
