NEW YORK -- Villanova has a new name this season: defending national champion Villanova.Six months ago, the Wildcats won the NCAA championship in a thrilling finish, beating North Carolina 77-74. Its been a whirlwind since.This was all firsts for us, Villanova coach Jay Wright said Tuesday. It was our first time to the White House and to be honored at Philadelphia City. We came back from our trip to Spain -- where nobody knew us -- we didnt even get our bags before people were asking for pictures.Once we start playing everything will be back to usual. Still, we dont know what it will be like to walk into visiting arenas as the national champions.The Wildcats were the overwhelming choice of the Big East coaches as the preseason No. 1. Xavier, which finished in last seasons final Top Ten , was second followed by Creighton, Georgetown, defending Big East Tournament champion Seton Hall, Butler, Marquette, St. Johns, Providence and DePaul.Villanova lost starters Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu and it wont be their points, rebounds or assists that will be hard to replace.Arch and Daniel were natural leaders. They were seniors. They played a lot of basketball and knew how to lead, Wright said. It will be tough to replace them, but well enjoy the journey.Wright has Big East preseason player of the year Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, who hit the 3 at the buzzer for the national title, among the returnees.Roles change every year, so Josh and I will try to take over the leadership role, Jenkins said. Well put last year behind us. At least well try to.Jenkins was asked how often he watches the tape of his title-winning jumper.I havent watched it in a while, he said. Ill save something like that for when Im done playing.Xavier has three starters back and the Musketeers are a trendy national pick for a Final Four berth.We have a good experienced group. I think Im excited to coach them, coach Chris Mack said. Last year, there was a lot of teaching, a lot of learning. Youre always learning, but the experience level they bring back gives you great comfort as a coach because theyve been there before. Theyve been in those big games. Theyre not afraid of the big moment.Preseason first-teamers Trevon Bluiett and Edmond Sumner return for the Musketeers.To me Edmond was one of the top point guards in a tremendous point-guard league a year ago, Mack said. Edmond has that maturity about him. Hes going to have another really good year for us.Georgetown forward Isaac Copeland was honest in the reason why he thinks the Hoyas will have a better season than last year, when they finished 15-18 overall and eighth in the 10-team league.Mainly conditioning, Copeland said when asked what the Hoyas did this offseason. There were times last year when we were out of shape, just straight up out of shape. I think this year we run a lot more so we can push the ball more and play at a much faster pace.Seton Hall beat Villanova in last seasons Big East Tournament championship game and then had to watch the Wildcats win it all.I watched it. It was killing me to watch it, Pirates junior Khadeen Carrington said. Im happy that they won. It shows how deep the league is, how good the league is.I think we gave them that fuel to go win that. I think Jay Wright said something like that, we gave them that fuel to go out and win six games.The preseason all-conference team is Jenkins, Bluiett, Sumner, Kelan Marton, Butler and Maurice Watson Jr. of Creighton.Dexter Manley Womens Jersey . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. Doug Williams Jersey .ca NBA Power Rankings, ahead of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. http://www.redskinsrookiestore.com/Redskins-Wes-Martin-Jersey/ . 24 Baylor in a Big 12 clash between teams trending in opposite directions. Andrew Wiggins made 10-of-12 from the foul line and scored 17 for Kansas (14-4, 5-0 Big 12), which capped a stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents unscathed. Terry McLaurin Womens Jersey . They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. Landon Collins Womens Jersey . The 28-year-old from Calgary matched his career best after missing just one shot in his two rounds of shooting in the mens 10-kilometre sprint competition. Smith finished in 23 minutes 15.MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota coach Tracy Claeys will return next year, with an 8-4 season earning him the full support of the schools new athletic director.The Golden Gophers went 5-4 in the Big Ten in Claeys first full season running the program. He took over midway through last year after Jerry Kill was forced to retire due to health concerns.Claeys is 10-8 in 1? seasons with Minnesota. He was given a three-year deal last year by interim athletic director Beth Goetz during a tenuous time in the athletic department. The school was looking for a permanent athletic director to replace the disgraced Norwood Teague, so Goetz authored a contract that would give Claeys a little bit of stability to trumpet while recruiting but was also designed to give the new athletic director as much flexibility as possible in evaluating the football program.Mark Coyle took that post in May, and said Monday that he and Claeys have started to discuss this past season and the plan for our program moving forward.He is our head football coach, Coyle said in a statement issued by the school. As is the case with every one of our head coaches, he has my full support. I will do whatever I can to help him and our students achieve at the highest levels.Claeys made $1.4 million in total compensation during the first year of his new contract that runs through 2018. But the buyout for the univversity would have been only $500,000 had Coyle decided to replace him now.dddddddddddd.A soft schedule had the Gophers hoping to make a run at the Big Ten West title, but narrow losses to Penn State, Iowa and Nebraska hurt them, and they finished the season with a 31-17 loss at rival Wisconsin on Saturday.Athletic directors often like to make their own coaching hires rather than stay with people they inherited, especially at a high-profile program like football. But Coyle, who came to Minnesota from Syracuse and was also the athletic director at football stronghold Boise State, has decided to stick with Claeys in hopes that continuity will help.Our football program has now won eight games in the regular season three times in four seasons, Coyle said. We expect that our program will continue to grow and I am committed to putting us in a position to do so. This includes working with coach Claeys to evaluate where we need to improve and what each of us can do to ensure we meet our expectations.Coaches at power conference programs typically operate with more than two years remaining on their deals to help assure recruits of stability so it remains likely that Claeys will receive some sort of contract extension in the coming weeks. ' ' '