e through at the 2015 US Open, defeating 32-year-old Roberta Vinci in the final.Stan Wawrinka won this years US Open, his third major title in thre

North Carolina coach Roy Williams knows how fast Kentucky can put up a shot, and hes quick to point out he wants the Tar Heels to operate the same way.The seventh-ranked Tar Heels (10-1) will try to keep up with the sixth-ranked Wildcats (9-1) when they play each other at 5:45 p.m. Saturday in the second game of the CBS Sports Classic at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The opening game pits No. 2 UCLA against Ohio State.Kentucky and North Carolina, two of the bluebloods of college basketball, combine for 13 national championships and 219 players drafted to the NBA.I did get something reading (Kentuckys) stats, Williams said. They take a shot every 13.5 or 13.6 seconds. ... I know we dont take it that fast, but Id like to. Id like to take it faster than that.John Caliparis team leads the nation with 71.3 field goal attempts per game. North Carolina ranks 15th at 64.7 shots per game or 1.6 shots per minute. Kentuckys average possession length of 13.5 seconds ranks fourth nationally, according to Kenpom.com. North Carolinas possessions average 14.4 seconds, ranking 12th nationally.Dont expect Williams to try to slow the pace to take Kentucky out of its game because if that happened, North Carolina could become ineffective as well. Both teams will look to score in transition as much as possible. Neither will work the shot clock.I think Id really screw up everybody if I say were going to start the four corners and slow it down, he said. I think theyd all drop dead if I started in the delay game.An important factor that might decide the outcome is which team adjusts faster on defense against the others transition attack. Grabbing offensive rebounds and limiting turnovers is key to that, lessening the possibility of the other team pushing the ball up quicker than having to inbound the ball.Youll hear him (Williams say), Get back! And youll hear me, Get back! Calipari said. Well both be yelling that probably 100 times a half. Theyre fast. Were fast.While North Carolina has not faced a team that likes to push the pace like Kentucky, the Wildcats have the experience of going against UCLA, which handed them only their fifth home loss in the Calipari era, scoring 97 points in the process.Were gonna have to figure out how to be efficient, Calipari said. The game we lost it was one-on-one basketball. The synergy you need -- alright, they stopped us; now we gotta play. Now we gotta create for each other. We werent ready for that. Hopefully were a little more ready this time.Of particular concern to Calipari is that North Carolina has the best rebounding margin in the country at plus-14.8, and ranks first in the country in offensive-rebounding percentage.North Carolinas 70 freshman center Tony Bradley, with a team-high 41 offensive rebounds, leads the nation in offensive-rebounding percentage. Sophomore forward Kennedy Meeks, 610, leads the Tar Heels with 9.3 rebounds per game and is 15th nationally in offensive-rebounding percentage.Theyre big and they fight for position, Calipari said of North Carolinas frontcourt. They try to have two feet in the lane or they seal you over the top. ... When they shoot it -- are you ready for this -- half of their misses they rebound for the season.You shoot it because half of those youre going to get back when you miss. Youre either making them or you miss and half of those you get. Thats why they shoot it quickly is because they rebound it.The biggest question mark of the game is the availability of North Carolina guard Joel Berry, who missed the last two games with an ankle sprain. Berry averages 14.8 points and shoots 41.9 percent from 3-point range.Hes definitely a good player ... hes a good floor general and everything, said Kentucky freshman wing player Sacha Killeya-Jones, a native of Chapel Hill, N.C., who played pick-up games with the some of the Tar Heels prior to committing to Caliparis program.Kentucky has four players who average at least 12.1 points, led by shooting guard Malik Monks 19.4 points. He is at the heart of the Wildcats potent offense. His 151 field goal attempts are 33 more than the next player (point guard DeAaron Fox) and his 78 3-point tries are double the amount of the next Wildcat (reserve guard Mychal Mulder). Cheap Anaheim Ducks Jerseys China . Miikka Kiprusoff had just announced his retirement after a decade-long run in Calgary and it would be up to Berra and Ramo to fill the void. Cheap NHL Jerseys Fast Shipping . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. http://www.cheaphockeychina.com/ . The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. Clearance Hockey Jerseys Store . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . Wholesale Hockey Jerseys . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. In todays real world, 60 is said to be the new 50.In the slightly surreal world of elite tennis, there is a parallel paradigm: hope for those approaching 30 (and already beyond).Weeks before her 30th birthday, Francesca Schiavone won her first and only major, the 2010 French Open. Li Na, who took the crown a year later at Roland Garros at the age of 29, earned her second Grand Slam singles title, the 2014 Australian Open, one month shy of 32. Flavia Pennetta was 33 when she broke through at the 2015 US Open, defeating 32-year-old Roberta Vinci in the final.Stan Wawrinka won this years US Open, his third major title in three years, at 31, and 29-year-old Andy Murray became the oldest first-time No. 1-ranked player since John Newcombe in 1974.Add Angelique Kerber to the growing list of athletes who have blossomed spectacularly in their maturing years. After going 0-for-32 in nine previous seasons of Grand Slams, the 28-year-old German won this years Australian Open and US Open and supplanted Serena Williams as the No. 1-ranked player.What was she, No. 10 a year ago? asked ESPN analyst Brad Gilbert. Ten to one is pretty good.Coincidentally, thats the best such leap since Gilbert coached Andy Roddick from a No. 10 year-end ranking to No. 1 at the end of 2003.For Kerber to win two majors, almost out of nowhere, Gilbert continued, I did not see that coming.Who did? Perhaps only Kerber herself and longtime coach Torben Beltz.Her 2015 season was typical of the recent success that came with three consecutive year-end finishes in the top 10. The lefty won $1.9 million and four titles -- in the relatively modest venues of Charleston, Stuttgart, Birmingham and Stanford -- more than doubling her previous career victory total. Her match record was 53-22. A thoroughly professional effort, but her record in majors was only 6-4 and she failed to advance past the third round.This caused Kerber to rethink her career.A year ago, for whatever reason, Kerber realized she needed to be more consistently emotionally stable and engaged in all her matches, said Pam Shriver, who will join Gilbert next month as part of ESPNs Australian Open coverage. She also realized, although she was already pretty fit, she could take fitness to the next level. Upon those two things happening, things fell into place at Melbourne.Indeed, fitness was always a Kerber calling card. It allowed her to play long rallies and defend as well as any of her competitors. But that skill set came with a downside; there was usually a reluctance, particularly under duress, to go for the decisive shot.Kerber explained her dramatically changed 2016 mindset after beating Karolina Pliskova in the US Open final.Being more aggressive and go for it when I have the chance, she said. Not just hitting balls over the net. I know that when I [was] practicing I can be aggressive. Just make the transfer on the match court -- that was the challenge.And also, mentally being more positive, a little bit more stronger, and just focusing on the moment I am on court.In the past, adversity sometimes brought on bad body language that reflected her doubt. After losing the second set to Pliskova in New York, Kerbers manner remained upbeat.I just told myself, OK, stay positive. Believe in your game, Kerber told repoorters after the match.ddddddddddddI was thinking a little bit on the final in Australia, where I was also in the third set. I believed then in my game, and I did it today as well. So that was in my mind to stop the negative emotions and change it again in a positive way.For athletes, there is a powerful correlation between all things physical and mental. When world No. 1s Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic were nursing injuries this year, they sometimes became visibly and uncharacteristically frustrated on the court. Mind under matter, as it were.For Kerber, it was the other way around. After building a best-ever fitness base by bringing new intensity to her work in the gym and on the practice courts, she employed her more aggressive philosophy and, finally, in the moments that mattered most, prevailed.Before Kerber, the last WTA player to win two majors outside Serena was Belgiums Justine Henin, who took the French Open and US Open titles in 2007. She was 25 years old and subsequently would retire twice, never to win another major. The trajectory of Amelie Mauresmo is more similar to Kerbers. The Frenchwoman was 26 when she won her only two majors, the 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon, and was ranked No. 1 for 34 weeks. She made the semifinals of the US Open that year, too, but in the 11 majors that followed never advanced past the fourth round.Kerber looked weary following the clay-court season, losing her first matches in Madrid, Rome and Paris. The opening-round loss to Kiki Bertens at Roland Garros was a bracing wake-up call for Kerber, who rallied to reach the finals at Wimbledon (losing to Serena) and the Rio Olympics (Monica Puig) before winning the US Open.There, she acknowledged the uncomfortable weight of being a Grand Slam champion.Im ready to have this pressure on my shoulder, she said, responding to a question about entering 2017 as the No. 1-ranked player. Because I think I get used to all of this, especially after my first Grand Slam in Australia. I had so much pressure after the title.The swiftly changing landscape at the top of the womens game should make for a fascinating 2017. What does Serena Williams have left? Can Maria Sharapova return to Grand Slam form when she comes back from a drug ban in the spring? When will Victoria Azarenka, soon due to give birth to her first child, get back on the court? Is Garbine Muguruza ready to build on her French Open win? Which of the young top-10 players -- Madison Keys, Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Johanna Konta -- will step up and win her first Slam??And what to expect from Kerber?It used to be, back in the day, that it was a damn good year if you won one, Gilbert said. Two is outrageous.The hardest thing to do after being great for the first time is to back it up. If she can be in the finals of two Slams and win one, that would be a great year.That doesnt sound like Kerbers goal for 2017.Being No. 1, of course now everybody will try to beat me and have nothing to lose, she said. I will try to take this challenge because it will be a little bit new situation for me. Now I can take the next step and try to [stay] as long as I can there. ' ' '