NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Kentucky coach John Calipari knows he has no time to rest despite winning his first national title with one of the most dominant seasons ever in college basketball.

The 53-year-old coach has to hit the road to bring in more talent because he is certain a good portion of his current team will jump to the National Basketball Association (NBA).

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Kentucky overcame an uncharacteristically tepid performance by red-hot freshman Anthony Davis to defeat Kansas 67-59 on Monday to win the national basketball championship for the eighth time.

The Wildcats (38-2) raced to a 41-27 lead at halftime and never looked back, weathering a late Kansas rally but never allowing the Jayhawks to climb closer than five points.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Sharpshooting guard Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers and longtime National Basketball Association (NBA) coach Don Nelson were elected on Monday to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Miller, known for his clutch shooting, played his entire 17-year career with the Pacers and ranks second in the NBA all-time for three-point field goals made.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – The master of the so-called one-and-done, Kentucky coach John Calipari has a solution for keeping the nation’s best basketball players in college for more than a single season before jumping to the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Calipari believes schools should take care of disability insurance, which currently the players have to pay, and that the NBA should give some credit to students who stay in school.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Despite the bitterness surrounding the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry, Rick Pitino had to confess he was impressed with the Wildcats’ super freshman Anthony Davis after his Cardinals crashed out of the NCAA Final Four on Saturday.

“I will say this, that Anthony Davis is as fine a basketball player as there is,” the Louisville coach said after his team lost 69-61 to Kentucky in the semi-finals at the Superdome.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Kentucky took a bold step toward winning its first national basketball championship since 1998 by defeating bitter intrastate rival Louisville 69-61 in the semi-finals of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at the Superdome.

The Wildcats (37-2) will play the winner of Saturday’s second game, Kansas against Ohio State, for the collegiate title on Monday night.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Louisville can go a long way to elevating its status in the basketball-crazed Bluegrass State if it can defeat rival Kentucky in the opening game of the Final Four on Saturday at the Superdome.

Top seeded Kentucky is more talented than its intrastate rival and sports a richer tradition, but has a young team with three freshman and two sophomores in the starting line-up.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – They used to be friends but now Kentucky coach John Calipari and his Louisville counterpart Rick Pitino are just chilly acquaintances.

Calipari and Pitino each insist they want to win Saturday’s NCAA Tournament semi-final as a means to reach the championship game but clearly it is more than that.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – One of college basketball’s most passionate rivalries enters the stratosphere Saturday when top-seeded Kentucky hosts Louisville in the semi-finals of the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky (36-2) is the most talented squad in the 68-team tournament but Louisville (30-9) has won eight straight and when intensity runs this deep, anything can happen.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Danica Patrick is convinced that if “the stars are aligned” she can win the Daytona 500 in her first attempt on Sunday.

The 5-foot-2, 105-pound Patrick said she was emboldened by last year’s victory by 20-year-old Trevor Bayne, a rookie who took the checkered flag in just his second Sprint Cup start.