Duke

In recent months, while wrapping up a brilliant basketball career at Friends' Central and playing in several showcase events, Amile Jefferson struggled mightily to cement his college destination. Now, finally, all the tossing and turning is over. On Tuesday in his school's gymnasium, Jefferson, a 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward and one of the nation's top recruits, committed to play at Duke. "In the end, I wanted to choose the school that I thought fit me best on and off the court," said Jefferson, flanked by his parents.

Notre Dame will look to unseat defending national champion Virginia at noon Sunday when the Irish and Cavaliers meet in the NCAA men's lacrosse quarterfinals at PPL Park in Chester. Colgate and Duke will follow in the second game of the day, beginning at 2:30. The other two games are set for Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. Johns Hopkins will play Maryland at noon, and Loyola will meet Denver at 2:30 p.m. On Sunday, Jim Marlatt scored three goals and had two assists as fourth-seeded Notre Dame defeated Yale, 13-7, in the first round to advance to Sunday's quarterfinals.

Twelve players from the Philadelphia area punched tickets to the NCAA men's lacrosse Final Four after wins Sunday at PPL Park in Chester. Notre Dame (13-2) outlasted Virginia (12-4) in the fourth quarter to knock out the defending national champion, 12-10, in front of 10,770 fans. In the other quarterfinal at PPL Park, Duke dominated Colgate for a 17-6 victory. Notre Dame will play Loyola-Maryland in the semifinals Saturday in Foxborough, Mass. Duke (15-4) will meet Maryland.

Friends' Central standout Amile Jefferson is, finally, set to announce where he will play his college basketball. The 6-foot-8, 200-pound senior will make a commitment at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Wynnewood school. Wednesday marks the end of the spring signing period. "The process has been long and tough, for sure," Jefferson said. "But it's time for me to make a decision. I have to do it. " While North Carolina State and Duke are believed to be the finalists for his services, the two-time Inquirer Southeastern Pennsylvania player of the year said Kentucky, Ohio State, and Villanova were still in the mix. "I'm still looking at all the schools on my list," he said.

Everybody around Philadelphia basketball has Gerald Henderson stories. Temple coach Fran Dunphy was asked yesterday if he had an early memory of Henderson. "At West Catholic," he said, "there was like a 20-foot pass along the baseline thrown to him. " Dunphy isn't known for tossing around superlatives, but here's more of his commentary: "There's no way humanly possible that anybody could have made the catch. Somehow, he did. He was running almost full speed toward the basket, and he stretched his arm out [past the baseline]

The committee that selects the teams for the NCAA tournament obviously has a sense of history, because they sent Kentucky and Duke, the combatants in the epic East Regional final 20 years ago at the Spectrum, to the same region again, the South. This time it's the Wildcats who are the No. 1 seed and the favorite to win the whole tournament. Kentucky has a player of the year candidate in Anthony Davis and players like Terrence Jones and Darius Miller who were on its Final Four team of a year ago. The No. 2-seeded Blue Devils played the nation's second-toughest schedule during the year and have one of the best freshmen in the nation in Austin Rivers.

John Wayne swaggered like a rodeo bull, thundered like a storm over Monument Valley, and towered over the West like a craggy butte. And he looms as large in death as he did on-screen. Duke, as he was universally known, died the year Heath Ledger - a very different kind of cowboy - was born, in 1979. Ever since, when pollsters ask Americans to name their favorite actor, Wayne, whose centennial is this week, routinely makes the top 10. The iconic figure of westerns and war movies placed third in the 2006 Harris Poll, behind Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks.

When a small suburban district elected former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke to the Louisiana state legislature in February, political analysts and pollsters said that it was a fluke and that he would never be taken seriously. They apparently were wrong. In just over 60 days since he took office, Duke (R., Metairie) has emerged as a popular political leader here, using a recent statewide campaign against an unpopular tax-restructuring plan as his step to legitimacy, political analysts say. Two weeks ago, voters rejected a fiscal plan touted by Gov. Buddy Roemer, a Democrat, that would have increased some taxes to offset the state's $702 million deficit.

The national media is on a death watch, monitoring Duke's heartbeat, waiting for the two-time defending national champions to expire. "We've had our fun, but I wouldn't call it a fun season," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said last night. "You have fun when you accomplish things maybe someone said you couldn't accomplish, when you achieve something together. "Anything these guys have achieved together hasn't been recognized as an achievement. It's been recognized as status quo. Even now, as we enter the tournament, the main article being prepared for us is, 'When will Duke lose?

Temple and Duke are working on a two-year agreement to meet on the basketball court in a home-and-home series starting next season with a contest between the teams in Durham, N.C. "It's one of those things we're hoping for, and right now we have agreed to play home and home, but no contracts have been signed," Owls coach John Chaney said. "We have not finished the agreement. We have not decided where we might play here, and we have not agreed on the dates or the money. " "It's tentative right now," said Temple associated athletic director Joe Giunta, who is in charge of scheduling for the university.

Twelve players from the Philadelphia area punched tickets to the NCAA men's lacrosse Final Four after wins Sunday at PPL Park in Chester. Notre Dame (13-2) outlasted Virginia (12-4) in the fourth quarter to knock out the defending national champion, 12-10, in front of 10,770 fans. In the other quarterfinal at PPL Park, Duke dominated Colgate for a 17-6 victory. Notre Dame will play Loyola-Maryland in the semifinals Saturday in Foxborough, Mass. Duke (15-4) will meet Maryland.

Twelve players from the Philadelphia area punched tickets to the NCAA men's lacrosse Final Four after wins Sunday at PPL Park in Chester. Notre Dame (13-2) outlasted Virginia (12-4) in the fourth quarter to knock out the defending national champion, 12-10, in front of 10,770 fans. In the other quarterfinal at PPL Park, Duke dominated Colgate for a 17-6 victory. Notre Dame will play Loyola-Maryland in the semifinals Saturday in Foxborough, Mass. Duke (15-4) will meet Maryland.

When Jordan Wolf visited Duke in high school, he sat in a room surrounded by lacrosse recruits as former Blue Devil Tony McDevitt spoke. McDevitt, a Penn Charter alumnus, looked around. "Isn't it amazing?" he said, according to Wolf's mother, Barbara. "There are so many kids from Pennsylvania here. There are more Pennsylvania kids than Maryland kids. " Indeed, Philadelphia has become a prominent lacrosse recruiting area in recent years, Blue Devils coach John Danowski said.

IN FEBRUARY 2011, former Lower Merion High lacrosse star Jordan Wolf returned home as a Duke freshman. In only his third game, Wolf had minimal impact as the Blue Devils were upset by Penn, 7-3, at Franklin Field. Wolf will get another chance to shine at home on Sunday, when Duke takes on Colgate in the NCAA men's lacrosse quarterfinals at PPL Park in Chester. "The most important thing is to worry about the game and advancing, but it's definitely special to play in my hometown," Wolf says.

Notre Dame will look to unseat defending national champion Virginia at noon Sunday when the Irish and Cavaliers meet in the NCAA men's lacrosse quarterfinals at PPL Park in Chester. Colgate and Duke will follow in the second game of the day, beginning at 2:30. The other two games are set for Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. Johns Hopkins will play Maryland at noon, and Loyola will meet Denver at 2:30 p.m. On Sunday, Jim Marlatt scored three goals and had two assists as fourth-seeded Notre Dame defeated Yale, 13-7, in the first round to advance to Sunday's quarterfinals.

In recent months, while wrapping up a brilliant basketball career at Friends' Central and playing in several showcase events, Amile Jefferson struggled mightily to cement his college destination. Now, finally, all the tossing and turning is over. On Tuesday in his school's gymnasium, Jefferson, a 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward and one of the nation's top recruits, committed to play at Duke. "In the end, I wanted to choose the school that I thought fit me best on and off the court," said Jefferson, flanked by his parents.

Friends' Central standout Amile Jefferson is, finally, set to announce where he will play his college basketball. The 6-foot-8, 200-pound senior will make a commitment at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Wynnewood school. Wednesday marks the end of the spring signing period. "The process has been long and tough, for sure," Jefferson said. "But it's time for me to make a decision. I have to do it. " While North Carolina State and Duke are believed to be the finalists for his services, the two-time Inquirer Southeastern Pennsylvania player of the year said Kentucky, Ohio State, and Villanova are still in the mix. "I'm still looking at all the schools on my list," he said.

This week's new DVD options include a romance, classic Westerns, and a religion-meets-science offering. The Vow, Grade B: A woman (Rachel McAdams) wakes up from a coma with no memory of her marriage. The romance film is loosely based on a true story. Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum are the film's biggest assets. She has the kind of angelic face and sweet personality that make it easy to fall in love with her. Tatum brings both a rough physicality and surprising vulnerability to the role.

Temple's basketball team prides itself on facing tough nonconference opponents. That's why the Owls will play national powers Kansas, Duke, and Syracuse next season. The Kansas game will be part of a home-and-home series. Temple will face the Jayhawks next season at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan. The teams will meet again during the 2014-15 season in Philadelphia, most likely at the Wells Fargo Center. Temple also is scheduled to play Duke next season at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. It will mark the third consecutive season the teams will square off. The Owls will face Syracuse in next season's Gotham Classic at New York's Madison Square Garden.