College Sports Capsules: Baylor beats Kansas, Big 12 title game next

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Landis Ware drove in four runs from the ninth spot in the batting order Saturday night, leading Baylor past Kansas 6-3 in the Big 12 Conference baseball tournament.

Ware reached base three times, on a two-run homer, a two-run single and a walk. He helped the Bears finish 3-0 in the round-robin part of the tournament. Baylor will play Texas A&M for the tournament championship Sunday.

Chris Slater doubled and tripled and scored twice for Baylor. The Bears had gone 1-2 against Kansas in the regular season.

Tony Thompson and Chris Manship had two hits apiece for Kansas.

Baylor led 6-0 before Kansas scored three runs in the sixth inning. Logan Vick tripled and scored Baylor's first run. Chris Slater tripled and Abel Baker walked, and both scored in the second. The Bears added three runs in the sixth, two coming on Ware's homer.

For Kansas, Chris Manship, Brandon Macias and Robby Price singled and scored in the sixth.

Aggies beat Texas 9-3, sweep into Big 12 final

Basketball

Certainly better than the one that two of his former assistants are having. They were dumped from the University of Connecticut basketball program under the cloud of an NCAA investigation and will likely now never have meaningful careers in their chosen field.

Better, perhaps, than many of his former players, who tend to leave UConn without degrees and with no appreciable job skills other than dribbling a basketball.

Calhoun? Well, his reputation was damaged and he did have to spend part of Friday at a press conference he surely found painful. But he had a long Memorial Day weekend to get over it, and the apologists above him were busy protecting their coach at all costs.

If he needed any more solace, he didn't have to look far. The extra $13 million UConn so generously gave him earlier this month should heal a lot of wounds, both real and imagined.

Calhoun was already the highest paid state employee in Connecticut even before the new contract fell into his lap. But having to pass out basketballs and deal with the hassles of the NCAA investigation apparently prompted his bosses to give him a new pact that pays him $2.6 million a year.

That something is seriously amiss in college basketball should come as no big surprise. The number of millionaire coaches rises every year, while the graduation rates of the athletes who toil for nothing but books and meal money barely budge.

This time it's about a coach in Connecticut whose talents helped win two NCAA championships. Next time it may be about a coach in Kentucky with a knack of getting out of town at just the right time.

The sport, at its upper reaches, is a cesspool, filled with coaches so desperate for talent that they begin recruiting kids barely out of grade school. The coach who proves most successful in the art of teenage persuasion is usually rewarded with the biggest contract, so they're continually on the prowl.

There's so little oversight that someone has to practically hand deliver evidence to the NCAA to get them to look into violations. Even then, NCAA investigators are fixated on the minutiae of phone calls and texts and meals while paying no attention to a bigger picture that grows uglier by the day.

They came down on UConn on Friday, if only because a Yahoo! Sports report last year about the recruiting of Nate Miles was too detailed to ignore. The NCAA alleged eight violations, including a slap on the wrist to Calhoun for failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance.

That was enough to send two assistants packing, and it may be enough to cost the Huskies a scholarship or two. It wasn't, however, enough to cost the man at the helm of the program anything more than a few awkward moments at a press conference.

If anything, it seems like Calhoun is being rewarded. Why else, with the school fully aware of the coming NCAA charges, would it tear up the coach's existing contract just a few weeks ago and give him an extension that will pay him $13 million?

"The NCAA review never played into these conversations," UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway said when announcing the new contract.

If Calhoun is responsible for two national titles on his watch, though, he's responsible for everything else. While the two assistants are convenient scapegoats, it's hard to imagine that the control freak of a coach had no idea what was going on when he ordered his people to go after one of the nation's top recruits.

But there's a bigger issue here. While the NCAA is pursuing sanctions at UConn, it has done nothing while a coaching oligarchy intent on extracting as many millions as possible for its members has basically taken over the sport.

They move around from school to school, hiring themselves out to the highest bidder. Often, as in the case of Kentucky's John Calipari, they leave behind a mess that their former employer has to clean up.

Only in rare instances are any of them held accountable, whether for recruiting violations or the shameful graduation rate of many of their unpaid workers.

Calhoun has gotten rich while staying put, but he's yet another example of a broken system propped up by billions of dollars in television money. He's celebrated in the state for his program's success on the court, but the graduation rate of his players is so abysmal that UConn was forced to insert a clause in his new contract for a $100,000 penalty if the school loses a scholarship because of poor academics.

Chump change for this millionaire. Hardly enough to stay up nights worrying about it.

Same goes for the NCAA allegations.

It's just his program, not his problem.

Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org

UK says former star Bledsoe cleared by NCAA

Quinzani scored the tie-breaking goal with 12 seconds left, and the Blue Devils defeated the top-seeded Cavaliers 14-13 Saturday night to advance to the NCAA men's lacrosse national championship game.

Fifth-seeded Duke (15-4) will play unseeded Notre Dame (10-6) on Monday for the title. Notre Dame earned a berth in the finals for the first time with a 12-7 victory over Cornell.

This was an incomparable season for the Cavaliers, for reasons that have little to do with lacrosse. Everything changed on May 3, when UVA women's player Yeardley Love was found beaten to death in her campus apartment.

George Huguely, a senior on the men's team, has been charged with first-degree murder.

Virginia carried on, but it wasn't easy. Not only were the Cavaliers striving for their fifth national championship, but they were also playing for Love and the women's team, which was eliminated from the NCAA tournament last week.

All that pressure finally caught up with Virginia (16-2) in the second half against Duke.

"It's been a fairly extraordinary spring in so many different ways," said Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia, who had a patch that read Y.L. 1 on his shirt, a tribute to Love and her jersey number.

"The final score may be the least important part of what has transpired here throughout the spring, really and truly," Starsia said.

Virginia's Chris Bocklet wiped away tears as Starsia spoke. Later, the sophomore said, "It's been a very emotional season for us. This has probably been the hardest season to play in for any of us."

Senior Steele Stanwick said, "It's definitely been difficult the last month. Playing seems to take our minds off of everything that happened. I'm not going to lie and say it's been easy."

After Chris Bocklet scored for the Cavaliers early in the third quarter to put Virginia up 8-5, Duke took over. Quinzani scored three times during a seven-goal blitz that made it 12-8 with 12:11 left.

Rhamel Bratton ended the Cavaliers' scoring drought at just over 18 minutes, and two more goals made it 12-11 with 6:55 to go.

A goal by Duke's Zach Howell blunted the comeback bid, but Stanwick answered for Virginia with 1:50 remaining, and Brian Carroll tied it at 13 with 1:21 to play.

"We had a chance to roll over and didn't. I probably wouldn't have expected any less," Starsia said.

Quinzani then ended the Cavaliers' hopes with his fourth goal of the game off an assist by Ned Crotty.

"We loved the way the University of Virginia competed for 60 minutes," Blue Devils coach John Danowski said. "We thought there was a time at the end of the third quarter or early fourth quarter they were going to get a little tired. But their kids fought valiantly and fought hard and played tremendously."

Both of Virginia's losses this season came against Duke. This one, obviously, hurt most.

"I don't want this diminish for them what they've done this season," Starsia said.

In the first game, Notre Dame become the first unseeded team since Massachusetts in 2006 to earn a spot in the title game.

The Irish ended the regular season by dropping three of five to fall to 7-6. But the Irish received a berth in the postseason tournament anyway, and they haven't lost since.

"We had the talent all year. We were just a little inconsistent," goaltender Scott Rodgers said. "I believed in the team, and I knew we could do this."

Neal Hicks scored four goals, Zach Brenneman had three and Rodgers stopped 16 shots for the Irish — including eight in the first quarter.

Seeking its first win over Cornell (12-6) in six tries, Notre Dame used a four-goal run to take an early 4-1 lead. It was 6-3 at halftime, and after the Big Red scored twice in succession to make it 7-5 midway through the third quarter, Hicks restored the three-goal cushion by scoring on a rebound.

Rodgers and the Irish defense made sure there would be no fourth-quarter comeback for the Big Red.

"There's no loss that's easy to swallow throughout the course of the regular season, but there's nothing more difficult than a season-ending loss," Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni said.

Cornell became the third straight seeded team victimized by Notre Dame. The Irish opened with a win over sixth-seeded Princeton, then beat No. 3 Maryland to advance to the semifinals for only the second time.

-- David Ginsburg

Northwestern puts dynasty to test against Maryland

And that's just one of several interesting story lines surrounding Sunday's NCAA title game.

In spite of their impressive run of championships, Northwestern (20-1) entered the 2010 tournament as the second seed behind Maryland (21-1). Each team played exceptionally well in Friday night's semifinal round — Northwestern avenged its only loss by defeating North Carolina and Maryland dominated Syracuse — to set up a matchup the lacrosse community has been waiting to see for years.

The Wildcats have won 23 straight tournament games, but not one of those was against Maryland. Now it's time to see how Northwestern fares against the Terrapins, who own a record nine national championships in women's lacrosse.

"It's a very exciting because we haven't played them before," said Northwestern's Danielle Spencer. "I don't know a lot about their team. It's a new challenge and another test for our team."

No school in the history of the sport has won more consecutive titles than Maryland, which put together a seven-year run of dominance from 1995-2001. Two of the players who helped launch that record streak will be on the sidelines Sunday — as opposing head coaches.

Maryland coach Cathy Reese and Northwestern's Kelly Amonte Hiller didn't lose a game as teammates at Maryland in 1995 and 1996.

"I have a lot of respect for Cathy. She was a tremendous player — always stepped up under pressure — and she's done a great job there," Amonte Hiller said. "She's really gotten the program to the highest level. It's always exciting to play another top program."

Still, in a game that will determine the 2010 champion, performance on the field is more important than an intriguing duel between former teammates.

"It's a good feeling, but really, it's about the players," Amonte Hiller said. "They're excited to just play an opponent that is new and has done extremely well. It's a great matchup, so hopefully it will be a big crowd and an exciting day."

Attendance at Friday's semifinal round was 8,762, the largest crowd to watch a women's lacrosse game in U.S. history.

A new record could be set Sunday, when the locals attempt to dethrone the champs. Maryland is playing in the title game for the 15th time, and beating Northwestern would be the perfect way to cap a remarkable season.

"Obviously, we're super thrilled to be here," Reese said. "This is what these guys have worked for all year, and this senior class was my first class when I took the job at Maryland. So there's nothing I want more than for them to have this opportunity Sunday. They've earned it, and we're going to go for it."

Maryland's priority will be stopping Spencer. The 6-foot-2 senior scored three goals in Northwestern's 15-10 win over North Carolina and helped the Wildcats to a 17-9 advantage in draw controls.

"Both of our teams are athletic, both have good draw people, some real exciting players offensively," Amonte Hiller said. "I think it's going to be a great matchup."

-- David Ginsburg