Page 30 - 4-10-15 Friday's Edition

Sports
Bucs Give Free Agent George
UConn Holds Off Notre Dame To Claim 10th National Title
Johnson 3-Year Offer Sheet
The Tampa Bay Bucca- neers have given George Johnson, a restricted free- agent defensive end with the Detroit Lions, an offer sheet for a three-year contract.
George Johnson is coming off the best season of his career, having notched six sacks in a backup role.
The Lions have five days to match the offer. They will not receive any compensation if Johnson lands with the Bucs.
Johnson is no stranger to Tampa Bay. He played spar- ingly for the Bucs from 2010 until he was released during the 2012 season. Johnson finished that season with Minnesota and also played for the Vikings in 2013.
Johnson signed with De- troit as a free agent during spring workouts last season
GEORGE JOHNSON
and was initially a long shot to make the club. Johnson ended up making the Lions and having a career year.
He spent 2010, 2011 and part of 2012 with Tampa Bay before going to Minnesota for the rest of 2012 and part of the 2013 season before being released.
When the Vikings cut him, Johnson almost quit football and had he not made the Lions in 2014, was going to give up playing because his family was hurting for money.
TAMPA — Breanna Stewart led UConn's women's basketball team through a gantlet of camera- men to their locker room at Amalie Arena about 90 min- utes before tip-off the na- tional championship game on Tuesday.
Senior forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis took over when it mattered most during the game, leading all scorers with 15 points and UConn's most important two shots of the game.
Stewart, the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player as a freshman and sophomore and AP performer of the
UCONN PLAYERS
year, was truly outstanding again, with eight points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots, but Mosqueda- Lewis provided the decisive blows for the Huskies as UConn prevailed 63-53 in a slog against a Notre Dame team that can only become
more of a heated rival.
For Connecticut, and coach Geno Auriemma, it was a 10th national title. Au- riemma is 10-0 in champi-
onship games.
"These kids right here,"
Auriemma told ESPN in a postgame interview, "I know we've won a lot of these, but I don't know that I've ever been more proud of a group of kids.
"I didn't trust them at the beginning of the season ... es- pecially after that Stanford game. I didn't trust them one bit. Each day, each week, we just kept growing and grow- ing."
Raiders Ink Richardson To Offer Sheet
Blue Devils Return To Campus, Celebrate Title With Cameron Rally
The Oakland Raiders -- the busiest team in free agency -- became the first team this offseason to execute an offer sheet in restricted free agency.
The Raiders signed Green Bay Packers backup safety Sean Richardson to a re- stricted free-agent offer sheet on Tuesday. The Packers have until Monday to match the offer. Because Richardson was undrafted and received the low restricted free-agent tender of $1.542 million, the Raiders would not have to give Green Bay compensation if it declines to match.
It's a one-year, $2.55 mil- lion offer, a source with the
SEAN RICHARDSON
Packers told ESPN.com. Both the Raiders and the Packers are flush in salary- cap room at this point in free agency. Oakland, which has signed a total of 12 players this offseason, has $23 mil- lion in cap room, the fifth- most in the NFL. The Packers have $18 million, the sev-
enth-highest in the league.
DURHAM, NC -- Quinn Cook turned around and pointed to the Cameron In- door Stadium rafters, toward those four national champi- onship banners that cast long shadows at Duke.
Then the Blue Devils cap- tain said: "I think they've got to make some room up there" for another one.
Duke brought its latest national championship tro- phy back to campus Tuesday, with about 8,000 fans flock- ing to Cameron for this title celebration.
The Blue Devils earned banner No. 5 by beating Wis- consin 68-63 on Monday night in Indianapolis.
During Tuesday's 35- minute rally on campus,
The Blue Devils earned banner No. 5 by beating Wis- consin 68-63 on Monday night in Indianapolis.
coach Mike Krzyzewski called this "my favorite year" -- a strong statement for a Hall of Famer who just wrapped up his 35th season here.
"My guys have been an absolute joy to coach," Coach K said.
Cook led the team onto the stage, and big man Mar- shall Plumlee brought out the championship trophy. Krzyzewski said Presi- dent Barack Obama called him to offer an invitation to the White House.
For Cook, this was the perfect way to go out.
"They've made this the greatest year we ever could have imagined," Cook said. "These guys have made my senior year magical."
Duke ended the season with eight scholarship play- ers -- and half of them were freshmen, although some of them (Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow) could wind up in the NBA next season.
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