STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" was wrapping up on the television inside the blue-collar, downtown bar here, which actually is a description of just about every bar in this old, sagging steel town on the Ohio River.

Steubenville football is among the winningest programs in the country. (Yahoo! Sports)

Conversation centered on mill layoffs, the cost of COBRA health insurance and the relative attractiveness of Alicia Keys – she performed on "Ellen" – until the local 5 o'clock news came on with the latest updates in the trial set to begin Wednesday of two Steubenville High football players, each charged with the August 2012 rape of a passed-out West Virginia girl.

It wasn't long before almost everyone in the place was arguing with each other. Loudly.

The case of Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, both 16, continues to polarize this town of almost 20,000 in eastern Ohio. From the crassness of the charges to the videotape of the alleged incident, to the influence of the legendary local football program ("Roll, Red, Roll") on the investigation,

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Jordan Morgan's potential game-winning tip bounced and bounced and bounced and bounced and bounced and finally rolled off the rim, the final gasp of this gloriously intense test of wills with the improbable final score: Indiana 72, Michigan 71. Tom Crean directs his team from the bench during the second half. (AP)

The Hoosiers had a stunning, final-minute, come-from-behind victory for their first outright Big Ten title in two decades. Michigan, meanwhile, was left with a crushing loss – a five-point lead gone across the last 38 seconds – and a stadium full of shrieks of disbelief after Morgan's miss.

Right in the middle of it all was Tom Crean. He's the one who rebuilt the Indiana program. The coach who connects and teaches his guys as well as anyone in college hoops. The sideline force of nature who, there is no denying, tends to rub a lot of people not wearing Crimson and Cream the wrong way.

That would soon include Michigan assistant Jeff Meyer, once a part of Kelvin Sampson's IU staff – a group Crean has routinely

Read More »from Under Tom Crean's frenetic guidance, Hoosiers keep cool heads to win Big Ten title outright

The split of the Big East Conference should soon become official. Seven Catholic schools will get the name, history and contract to stage the conference's basketball tournament in Madison Square Garden. The schools that also play football, of which only Connecticut is a founding member, will get some $100 million and a new league, perhaps named the America 12.

Couple that with this year's departure of mainstays Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame (to the ACC) and next year of geographic fit Rutgers (to the Big Ten), and there are plenty of deep sighs and sure to come sepia-toned essays about how next week is the last of the true Big East basketball tournaments, lots of Louie (Carnesecca) and Big John (Thompson) kind of stuff.

Everyone will say how it'll never be the same.

And it won't, of course.

Except, in a different way, it could be just as good.

The Big East might no longer be the top basketball conference in the country – it'll lack some powerhouse programs

Read More »from Death of Big East tournament? Not so fast

In the recent annals of college sports it is virtually unheard of for a coach to be hired by the same school twice. You come, you leave (regardless of the reason) and you never return.

Tim Floyd has coached at UTEP the past three seasons. (AP)While there's an occasional second run for an aging legend – Kansas State rehiring football legend Bill Snyder – it's extremely rare.

This would seem even more rare for a coach who resigned in the middle of a wild NCAA investigation citing a lack of support from his administration.

Yet two weeks ago in Phoenix there was Tim Floyd, who coached the University of Southern California basketball team from 2005-09, meeting with the school's current athletic director, Pat Haden, and athletic department CFO Steve Lopes about a potential return engagement in Los Angeles.

They talked for three hours and, according to an industry source, left open the possibility of meeting again when the season is over.

It was an interview that, from the outside, was as unexpected as it was telling about Floyd's

Read More »from USC's talks with Tim Floyd about possible return speaks to coach's role (or lack of) in NCAA probe

In something out of central casting for a network sit com – NASCAR's version of Beauty and the Beast – Danica Patrick's crew chief, Tony Gibson, is a decidedly blue collar Southerner who prefers hog-hunting, gun-shooting and admiring camouflage when he's not trying to help a refined, fashion-conscious, occasional swimsuit model win stock car races.

"It's an odd marriage," acknowledged Gibson, the accomplished 48-year-old veteran of NASCAR garages. "My wife said, 'You're an old-school, red-neck, been-around kind-of racer. And now you get this fancy girl.' But in the end, Danica wants to win. And so do I."

"What we do for fun is different," Patrick, 30 and in her first full-time season on NASCAR's elite Sprint Cup circuit, added. "But our personalities are very similar. We both are very serious [about racing] but we like to have a lot of fun."

Other than a shared love of fast cars and a desire for the winner's circle, each admits there isn't much in common.

Patrick hails

Read More »from The odd couple: Danica Patrick and Tony Gibson

The Kansas City Chiefs' seemingly endless search for a quarterback has settled on Alex Smith, and the deal – which includes multiple draft picks – will work or wilt based on a simple question.

Is the Alex Smith the Chiefs are getting the same one who played well for the San Francisco 49ers the past couple of years, or is that guy mostly the product of Jim Harbaugh's coaching?

Smith's performance prior to Harbaugh's 2011 arrival to coach the Niners compared to his performance under Harbaugh's leadership is striking.

If Smith can maintain what he learned and sustain, or even escalate, his recent development, then the Chiefs' nearly two-decade hunt for a quality QB – it's been 19 years since Joe Montana's final act ended – is over.

If Smith can't play well without Harbaugh, a former longtime NFL QB himself, then this could be the latest pratfall for a franchise that is always scrambling for a franchise QB – and a waste of a 2013 early second-round pick (33rd overall) and

Read More »from Chiefs' success dependent on whether Alex Smith thrives without Jim Harbaugh

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Danica Patrick seized the lead in the middle of Sunday's Daytona 500, nothing but daylight ahead on Lap 90 of 200. She was the first female ever to run in front under a green flag at NASCAR's Sprint Cup level, just needing to cruise through Turn 4 and hit the start/finish line to make it official.

In the "500 Club" located high above Daytona International Speedway, Patrick's mother and father, Bev and T.J., and her younger sister Brooke, all looked down as she whipped past them through this famed frontstretch with an emotional mix of pride, relief and I-told-you-so satisfaction.

"I knew she'd lead a lap," Brooke said after the race. "I just knew she could do it. I never had a doubt."

"I just kind of thought, 'Oh, there's history again,' " Bev said. "Then it was, 'Keep going, keep going.' "

Danica Patrick greets fans before the start of the Daytona 500. (REUTERS)Danica kept going all right, running all day near the front of the pack, leading again from laps 127-129 and barreling along in third place halfway through the

Read More »from Danica Patrick leaves her family beaming with pride after history-making Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A number of top contenders were caught up in a violent, major wreck during the 33rd lap of the Daytona 500, dramatically changing the competitive flavor of the race.

Top drivers including the past two Sprint Cup champions Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart, as well as past Daytona 500 champions Jamie McMurray and Kevin Harvick were roughed up in the nine-car collision. Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Khane and Austin Dillon were also among those involved. Kahne, McMurray, Montoya, Harvick and Stewart all headed to the garage.

Danica Patrick and race leaders including Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were able to escape the carnage behind them.

[Related: Jimmie Johnson wins Daytona 500 with powerful late-race stand]

"The hell with the season, I wanted to win the Daytona 500," said Stewart, who's never won the Daytona 500 in 15 tries.

Khane, running fifth on the outside, spun out heading into Turn 1 causing a chain reaction behind him that took a

Read More »from Wreck takes Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick out of Daytona 500 contention