Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • C1

Austin Aiiimrai-Staitegmifi Monday, April 7, 2014 HOT Lewis' next start likely to be in a Rangers uniform, C2 Spurs lose Parker, but cruise past Grizzlies, C2 News: sportsstatesman.com or (512) 445-3677 Subscribe: statesman.comsubscribe NCAA TOURNAMENT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME UCONN VS. KENTUCKY 8:23 p.m. Monday, CBS Stadium, Arlington BOHLS, GOLDEN ON THE ROAD Follow Kirk Bohls, who's covering his seventh Final Four, and Cedric Golden, at his first men's Final Four, as they update their blogs at statesman.com. MORE NCAA ONLINE Get the latest at statesman, commarchmadness. UConn lost in the shuffle Kirk Bohls Hoops-heavy school was cast aside during realignment process.

ARLINGTON If you look for it on MapQuest, you'll find UConn isn't an island. But it might as well be. What it is is a very long way away from everything. In mileage at its New England and Louisville shuffle off to the attractive Atlantic Coast Conference to join bluebloods like Duke and North Carolina and lowly Rutgers RSVP'd yes to the Big Ten, UConn found itself left behind. No one was dialing the Huskies' number for a variety of reasons, timing among them.

Bohls continued on C3 setting in sleepy Storrs as well as in muscle. When it comes to the scope of the vastly reconfigured college landscape, the school's athletic program couldn't have found itself in a more remote place, its illustrious basketball tradition notwithstanding. UConn didn't have clout or a destination. While Syracuse, Pittsburgh INSIDE Notre Dame, UConn reach women's final, C8 No longer in a power conference, DeAndre Daniels and the Huskies could use winning the program's fourth national title for survival, harry e. walker mct NASCAR MEN'S RACE Cedric Golden WOMEN'S RACE Mother of six takes crown Showers fail to dampen spirits Despite rain delay, the day is just ducky for dedicated NASCAR fans.

Austin's Kimbrough too strong, wards off any serious threats. By Steve Habel American-Statesman Correspondent Any strategy reserved for the women's race at the Statesman Capitol 10,000 likely disappeared when Chris Kimbrough appeared out of the predawn rain showers Sunday to toe the starting line. Kimbrough has one gear all out and no real game plan other than catch-me-if-you-can. Once she jumped to the lead, the other women runners had to hope that Kimbrough, a 44-year-old mother of six, would wear herself out. She didn't.

The cool weather and her dedication to training, despite the fact that she gave birth just 10 months ago, allowed Austin's Kimbrough to carry her lead through to the finish. Her time of 35 minutes, 56 seconds put her 23 seconds ahead of runner-up Amy Shackelford of Port Neches. Austinite Nora Colli-gan was third in 36:23. Kimbrough continued on C4 FORT WORTH Rain is a four-letter word that can lead to much worse four-letter words when it shows up on race day. NASCAR fans are a stubborn bunch, however, and it takes a little more than steady showers to keep them from staying home.

Especially the ones who still arrived in great numbers for Sunday's Duck Commander 500, even as showers pelted the Texas Motor Speedway surface well past the scheduled 2:30 p.m. start. Truth is, most of them showed up on Friday, two days before the main event. NASCAR is a weekend event and it just so happened that the weather didn't cooperate. The race, sponsored by the stars of the popular "Duck Dynasty" TV series, will have to wait a day because the steady drizzle earned its reputation, causing the event to be rescheduled for 11 a.m.

Monday. It's only the third time in the track's 18-year history that a Sprint Cup race will run on a Monday. "I think NASCAR will put these races up for bid and let local agricultural people determine which cities need the most rain," TMS President Eddie Gossage told me. He almost sounded serious, and who could blame him since this is the fifth in seven Sprint Cup weekends this year hampered by rain? Mother Nature put a real damper on my Golden continued on C3 Scott MacPherson celebrates as he crosses first at the finish line Sunday during the Statesman Capitol 10,000 with a time of 29 minutes, 36 seconds, ricardob. brazziell American- statesman MacPherson paces field for third title Winning time just 12 seconds behind men's race record.

10K training run Saturday arose out of a discussion with his coach at Team Rogue Elite, Steve Sisson. "I take a while to warm up," MacPherson said, "so we figured that running 20 the day before the Cap 10 would help me get into the rhythm. After this weekend, it's basically just relaxing and tapering. This was my last hard run before Boston." And MacPherson did indeed run hard Sunday, breaking the tape in 29 minutes, 36 seconds 12 seconds off the race record to become the first three-time Cap 10K men's champ. MacPherson continued on C4 By Brom Hoban American-Statesman Correspondent Crossing the finish line first Sunday at the Statesman Capitol 10,000, Scott MacPherson felt as if he had just completed a marathon.

And in a sense, he had. Defying conventional running wisdom, MacPherson ran 20 miles Saturday as part of his training for the coming Boston Marathon. Then on Sunday, he covered the 6.2-mile Cap 10K course in near-record pace, giving him a weekend total of 26.2 miles. MacPherson said his extended pre-Cap Austin's Chris Kimbrough won the women's division of the Cap 10 by 23 seconds, ricardo b. BRAZZIELL AMERICAN-STATESMAN i Watch a highlight video, see photos, and get race results onlineatstatesman.com.

COLLEGE BASEBALLTEXAS 4, BAYLOR 0 --1 Thornhill sharp as Longhorns top Bears WesEvans.jackmanfor Brian Vickers' car, squeegees water from the pit at Texas Motor Speedway, ian mcvea fort worth STAR-TELEGRAM TUESDAY'S GAME Rice at Texas, 7 p.m., LHN, 1300, Disch-Falk Field Pitcher ups his season record to 5-0 as Texas makes most of its 7 hits. By Steve Habel American-Statesman Correspondent If baseball is, as Texas coach Augie Garrido often reminds, a continuing battle cord to 5-0. Even more impressive is Thornhill's 0.73 ERA, which covers six starts and five appearances as the closer. The Texas hitting attack made the most out of seven hits, six of them singles. The Longhorns' only extra-base hit, a two-run, opposite-field, UT baseball continued on C4 against failure that can't be won, the eighth-ranked Long-horns are at least standing toe-to-toe and battling that notion.

The latest evidence of such is a 4-0 victory over Baylor on Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 5,597 at cold and breezy UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Texas starting pitcher Na- MONDAY'S RACE Duck Commander 500, 1 1 a.m., FOX, Texas Motor Speedway than Thornhill allowed just two hits and faced only two batters over the minimum in eight innings, to run his re.