MathewFinger

Durham, NC (Sports Network) - Duke freshman point guard Kyrie Irving said Wednesday that he will enter the NBA Draft and plans to hire an agent.

Irving played just 11 games this past season after suffering a toe injury on his right foot that kept him out of 26. He received high praise for his first eight games before the injury, however, and returned to action just in time for the NCAA Tournament.

"This was a special year for me," Irving said in a statement. "I love everything about Duke and I'm going to miss it. Duke has a special place in my heart. Even though I'm leaving this year, Duke will always be in my mind and my heart. I'm going to miss putting on that No. 1 jersey."

Irving helped West Region No. 1 Duke make it to the Sweet 16 and averaged 17.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in the tournament.

His coming-out game was a 31-point performance against then-No. 6 Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in December. It was only the fourth time in school history a freshman scored 30 or more points, but Irving was injured in Duke's next game.

"Our whole program is overjoyed with having Kyrie here for one year and that he has the chance now to pursue a dream of being a high draft pick and a great player in the NBA," said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. "We are totally supportive of Kyrie, his family and his decision."

Irving is expected to be one of the top picks of the draft on June 23 in New York City.

The odds of picking a perfect N.C.A.A. tournament bracket, even before the field expanded to 68 this year, were somewhere in the neighborhood of one in nine quintillion. We will forgo showing the math for the 68-team field and assure you that there was a better chance that Connecticut guard Kemba Walker spent Sunday doing hours of voluntary wind sprints than you have of acing your office pool.

So consider this a guide to giving yourself the best possible chance to win your pool, with full disclosure that people who choose their brackets based on team colors and mascots usually do better than I do. Perfection isn’t realistic, but knowledgeable picking of the field, and where to take risks, will help you stay competitive.

Many office pools are weighted differently. But picking the winner is typically the most important factor. And as I have watched enough games this season to get a feel for the 68 teams, my most important advice will be to pick Ohio State to win.

The Buckeyes are 32-2 with two very forgivable road losses to Wisconsin and Purdue. But in the dynamics of office pools, Ohio State isn’t quite the same brand name as its fellow No. 1 seeds Duke and Kansas. So picking the favorite may not lump you in with the majority, especially if you live in A.C.C. or Big 12 country.

On the floor, Ohio State has been peerless this season. The Buckeyes are a perfect blend of veteran savvy (David Lighty), young talent (Jared Sullinger) and role players willing to sacrifice their statistics for the team concept (Jon Diebler and Dallas Lauderdale).

The problem for Ohio State is that it has perhaps the most difficult road to the Final Four; the other top seeds in the East are No. 2 North Carolina, No. 3 Syracuse and No. 4 Kentucky. In contrast, No. 1 Pittsburgh may have the easiest road in the Southeast with No. 2 Florida, No. 3 B.Y.U. (which is without its starting center Brandon Davis) and No. 4 Wisconsin.

With parity having seeped deep into the bracket, be careful not to get too cute with your Final Four picks. I’ve selected three No. 1 seeds ― Ohio State, Duke and Pittsburgh ― based both on matchups and the fact there’s a large talent dropoff outside the top couple of teams. My fourth Final Four pick is Purdue, a rugged and savvy team with a senior core and big-game experience. Parity may produce a flurry of early upsets, but late in your bracket stay with the chalk.

Here are a few other office pool tenets to live by during this N.C.A.A. tournament:

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION One reason Ohio State is so attractive is that the Buckeyes start their tournament with essentially two home games in Cleveland. Don’t pick No. 2 Notre Dame to be upset the first week; the Irish will be playing close to home in Chicago. No. 1 Duke essentially has a pair of home games in Charlotte.

Last year, San Diego State faded late against Tennessee in a No. 6 vs. No. 11 game after traveling to Providence from Southern California for the first round. You get the picture.

STAY AWAY FROM THE BIG EAST The Big East has 11 teams in the tournament, but don’t pick one of them to win the title. The league hasn’t won a national title since Connecticut in 2004, and it isn’t likely to happen this season. Stay away from the lower half of the league, as No. 9 Villanova fell apart at the end of the season and should not be much of a test for No. 8 George Mason.

Georgetown’s Chris Wright, who had a broken hand, has been cleared to play, but don’t expect the Hoyas to win their opener. No. 6 St. John’s lost its leading rebounder and glue guy, D. J. Kennedy, to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the Big East tournament. The Red Storm should fall to No. 11 Gonzaga. Also, Cincinnati played an embarrassing nonconference schedule and put forth the worst effort of any team in the Big East tournament. No. 11 Missouri beating No. 6 Cincinnati is the lock upset of the second round.

DON’T TRUST TEXAS The No. 4 Longhorns have Final Four talent but have been extremely inconsistent. The Longhorns have future first-round picks in Jordan Hamilton and Tristan Thompson, but losses to Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas State down the stretch exposed their inexperience. Rick Barnes also has a rocky history as an N.C.A.A. tournament coach, including an 0-5 record in No.-8-vs.-No.-9 games. Picking No. 13 Oakland, which has an N.B.A.-caliber center in 6-foot-11 Keith Benson, to upset Texas is a good value play.

DON’T GET TOO CUTE The one key piece of advice is to pick all the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds to win their openers. No 16th seed has beaten a No. 1. Few have come close. Only four No. 15 seeds have beaten No. 2 seeds: Richmond (1991), Santa Clara (1993), Coppin State (1997) and Hampton (2001). Those are eight gimmes.

THE MAGIC HAS TO END Yes, Princeton’s buzzer-beater to topple Harvard in the Ivy League playoff was mesmerizing. But do not pick Princeton to beat No. 4 Kentucky. As the former Wildcat DeMarcus Cousins said before Kentucky played Cornell last year, “It’s not a spelling bee.”

We all remember George Mason from the Final Four in 2006, but don’t choose the Patriots to beat Ohio State in the third round. That type of magic goes only so far.

CHALK ME UP Think long and hard if in your Round of 8 you have three or more teams not ranked No. 1 or No. 2. College basketball does have parity, but it’s also top-heavy. Get less adventurous the deeper along, which will help you stay competitive in this top-heavy field.

WASHINGTON -- The NFL and the NFL Players Association held their longest talks Tuesday, their 13th day at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service building, going 9½ hours before departing around 6:30 p.m. ET.

During the mediation session, the union held a conference call with NFL Network and The Associated Press to announce it has retained an international investment bank to help players interpret any financial numbers they receive from the league.

The union has long demanded full financial statements from the league, which has declined, while the sides decide how to divide $9.3 billion in total revenue. Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday said on his way from the FMCS building Tuesday that having the bank involved now "was to help judge how helpful the material they were offering to give us -- how worthwhile it was in helping us make a decision."

George Atallah, NFLPA assistant executive director for external affairs, said on the conference call that the union has had the bank on retainer for "a couple months." On Tuesday, an auditor whom the NFLPA has used "for years," according to a union source, arrived at the mediation.

According to league and union sources, significant financial differences remained entering this round of negotiations.

"We feel like we've given a lot of financial information," NFL general counsel Jeff Pash said. "And we understand they may have a different view. I'm not going to get into what we discussed with them this week, because of the agreements we have with (mediator George Cohen)."

Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, an NFLPA executive committee member, said on the conference call that the financial information "shared over the last couple years has not been sufficient." Fujita also said he was hopeful of reaching a new deal, although he said 'hope' -- I don't know if that means anything."

The CBA expires Friday at 11:59 p.m. ET. It originally was scheduled to expire this past Thursday, but that deadline was extended 24 hours. The deadline was pushed back another week after Friday's meeting.

The league and the union met for seven consecutive days starting Feb. 18, then for four days in a row last week. The plan now is to meet every day this week.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was joined at Tuesday's meeting by Pash, league outside counsel Bob Batterman, Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay and Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, who arrived in the afternoon.

Seven members of the NFLPA’s 11-man executive committee walked through the FMCS doors Tuesday: President Kevin Mawae, Charlie Batch, Domonique Foxworth, Sean Morey, Tony Richardson, Jeff Saturday and Mike Vrabel. Also part of the group were Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely, and retired players Pete Kendall and Cornelius Bennett.

Mawae made his first appearance at the mediation last Wednesday, but he wasn't at the FMCS building Monday. He took a 6:15 a.m. flight from his Nashville home to participate in Tuesday's talks.

Notable by his absence, again, was Jeffrey Kessler, NFLPA outside counsel. Kessler wasn't at Monday's meetings, and while he was in Washington on Tuesday morning, he didn't participate in early meetings.

As he entered the building, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith delivered a short tribute to NFL Films president Steve Sabol, who suffered a seizure Saturday night. NFLPA general counsel Richard Berthelsen also was in the group.

Republicans in the U.S. Congress told President Barack Obama and Democrats they won’t agree to raise the government’s debt limit unless specific limits are set on spending.

Any increase must be “accompanied by meaningful action by the president and Congress to cut spending and end the job- killing spending binge,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement today after the Obama administration asked Congress to boost the debt ceiling by March 31.

Boehner, of Ohio, and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, said that a default on government debts isn’t an option. Still, Ryan suggested Republicans may use the debt-ceiling issue as leverage to attach conditions that would force Obama to sign them into law or force a default.

“Republicans are not interested in just a naked debt- ceiling increase,” Ryan said at a Washington forum on economic policy. “Nobody likes brinksmanship, but what we really don’t want is runaway spending.”

Republicans “want to do something that gets us pointed in the right direction,” he said.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the $14.29 trillion debt limit may be reached as soon as March 31, and “most likely” by May 16. The debt was incurred “during periods when both Republicans and Democrats were in control of different branches of government,” he said.

‘Catastrophic Consequences’

A default on government obligations by a failure to extend the borrowing authority would have “catastrophic consequences” possibly worse than the 2008 financial crisis, said Geithner. He said Obama is committed to working with both parties to put the U.S. on a “fiscally responsible path.”

Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters, “Rather than sending out scary letters, what we ought to look at is an opportunity here, on a bipartisan basis, to address spending and debt.”

Honeywell International Inc. Chairman David M. Cote expressed support for Geithner’s letter in a statement that said, “The U.S. is the world’s reserve currency and it is extremely important that the people who loan us money can trust us.”

As part of the Republican focus on spending cuts, the House today voted to reduce its operating budget by 5 percent. The 410-13 vote imposed the reduction on all House committees and the offices of leaders and members. The resolution will save an estimated $35 million from a federal budget that exceeds $3.5 trillion.

‘His Choice’

Ryan said Republicans’ new House majority may seek to use the debt-ceiling matter to force Obama to sign legislation with spending conditions he might otherwise veto. An increase in the government’s borrowing authority “is not an unrelated item,” he said.

Asked whether Republican demands for spending cuts would threaten a government default, Ryan said, “It would be irresponsible if the president brings about a default of the country if he refuses to sign a bill that raises the debt- ceiling limits. That’s his choice.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told reporters that Republicans are “threatening to shut down the government” over the debt limit, which would cause “an economic crisis.”

Playing ‘Chicken’

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said in a statement that “this is no time to play chicken with American jobs and the future of our economy. It is time to tackle the deficit in a serious, bipartisan fashion and to do so in a manner that doesn’t risk the full faith and credit of our economy and our country.”

Ryan said Republicans are discussing their strategy for boosting the government’s borrowing authority, adding they might opt for either a one or two-year extension.

“There are different ways of doing a debt-ceiling increase that could speak to our strategy,” Ryan said.

Appearing at a forum sponsored by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and Economic Policies for the 21st Century, Ryan acknowledged that many Republican initiatives, such as a repeal of the health-care overhaul, won’t be achieved because of a likely veto by Obama and opposition by the Democratic- controlled Senate.

Still, Republicans will use the next two years before the 2012 elections to give voters “a choice, an alternative future for the country,” he said.

Ryan said he holds out “some hope that there’s a shot at some actual, maybe not wholesale, fundamental” changes in the tax code.

Reid said, “the country is ripe for tax reform” because “our tax system is broken and needs to be fixed.”