Infos & Interessantes » e 500, but it is still a big deal to me. My fam

OMAHA, Neb. -- Justin Patton loves to dunk. Hes done it 24 times in Creightons first 10 games and wishes it could have been more, and not just because all those throw-downs propped up his field-goal shooting to 80 percent, second in the nation.Its because Patton aims to please his teammates and fans of the 10th-ranked Bluejays .Getting everybody else hyped, seeing everyones energy once you do it, Patton said, explaining his motivation. Its demoralizing to the defense when they defend 25 seconds and then at the end I send a hammer and the crowd goes wild. Its fun to see the hurt on the defense and the excitement on our end.The homegrown 7-footer, the Big East freshman of the week the last two weeks, has brought plenty of buzz to what already was one of the top offensive teams in college hoops. Its not just the dunks. He possesses a variety of post moves and can shoot the mid-range jumper and occasional 3-pointer. He rebounds, blocks shots, changes shots and makes steals. There might not be a man his size who runs the floor better.And to think, Patton drew no recruiting notice until the summer before his senior year in high school. Now NBA teams are calling Creightons basketball office about him.I had said at one time, I dont think hes going to be here four years, and I think thats more clear than ever, coach Greg McDermott said. But were going to enjoy him while we have him.Patton said hes flattered McDermott expects him to turn pro sooner than later, but hes in no hurry.I know the only way I can be successful is to value my time here and maximize all my potential here at the college level, Patton said, pausing as his ever-present smile grew bigger. If that means getting the Wooden Award my senior year, thats what Ill do.In Patton, Creighton saw potential where others apparently didnt. Pattons high school numbers his junior season wowed no one, and he didnt appear on any list of top recruits.Crickets, said Bob Franzese, Pattons Amateur Athletic Union coach.Creighton had kept tabs on Patton since early in his high school career and saw a player with a high ceiling, assistant coach Darian DeVries said. Patton was just 6-2 when he enrolled at Omaha North High. His growth spurt hit between his freshman and junior years, and he had difficulty playing long stretches while adjusting to his rapidly changing body.By April of his junior year, he usually was the best big man on the floor during his AAU games. Hed draw a wow from DeVries a couple times a game, and the coach knew if he starts to put that together, he has a chance to be something really special just with his size and ability to run.The Bluejays were the only school to offer Patton a scholarship. He accepted on the spot. Shortly after he announced his pledge, Franzese was inundated with calls from recruiters wanting to know if Patton was a soft or solid commit. It was a silly question.Creighton was my dream school, said Patton, whose family lives 10 minutes from campus.Patton grew up attending Bluejays games, slapping hands with players as they ran onto the court from the locker room and then watching from the cheap seats in the upper balcony.Now Im here, he said, one of the players I used to look at.Patton weighed just 204 pounds when he arrived. He was 227 at the start of this week and would like to top out at 245. Hes on a 6,000-calorie-a-day diet, not counting the 1,300-calorie protein shake he drinks on days he lifts weights.Patton also made big gains on the basketball court during his redshirt year. DeVries said Patton was tireless at practice, but Patton said it was hard not to play in games. He said he would go to the campus recreation center after practice and play pickup games with regular students until midnight.McDermott, if he knew, surely wouldnt have approved of Pattons extra basketball activity, especially if he had gotten hurt.Good thing I didnt, he said.Point guard Maurice Watson expects Pattons game to flow seamlessly into Big East play .Hes ready, mentally strong, Watson said. Hes getting stronger every day physically, and hes getting smarter about how to use the strength he has. Thats the best thing, his IQ.But its the simplest thing -- the dunk -- that drives Patton. He knows no Creighton player has had more than 36 dunks in a season since the school began tracking them seven years ago. And he knows Doug McDermott, the national player of the year as a senior for the Bluejays in 2014, had 19 in his entire career.Im going to double that this year, he said. 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Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Brad Keselowskis first Sprint Cup victory came in 2009 at Talladega. And it came in dramatic fashion when he rammed into Carl Edwards as Edwards tried to block him.It was a huge upset in winning a race for car owner James Finch. But that win certainly had controversy, whether Keselowski could have or should have avoided the contact.At the time, Keselowski ranked as a top prospect, but few could predict he would have 20 wins in 250 starts. Some of those wins have come with drama, others more with the focus on Keselowski.Win No. 20 on Saturday night came at a track where Keselowski had never won, the most famous one on the circuit. He led 115 of the 161 laps to capture the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.Keselowski had won four restrictor-plate races in his career but none at the place that even non-race fans know about.Its been a kick in the you-know-what, Keselowski said about not winning at Daytona. I got down on myself here. We came down here for the 500 and quite honestly we ran like dog crap, but my team worked on it. I didnt give up on them.I believe in my team and my team believes in me and we went to work and we put together a better car.Prior to Saturday night, Keselowski hadnt even been close to winning at Daytona. He had just two top-5s in 14 starts at Daytona. His average finish was 22nd, and he had only one top-15 finish in his past six starts at the track. He had led only one lap in the past four Daytona races and had led 38 laps at the track in his entire Sprint Cup career.Adding his Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series starts at the track, Keselowski was 0-for-30.Ive had very, very little success here, Keselowski said. Its been one of our worst tracks next to Sonoma. Thinking about that, I dont think we had the highest of expectations.But Daytona is always a big race to have success at. I know maybe it doesnt feel the same way that it isnt the 500, but it is still a big deal to me. My family has been coming here for a long time, and Ive had zero success here.This victory, more than the one at Talladega earlier this year, when the focus was on cars going airborne, centered more on Keselowski. The Team Penske driver, though, couldnt avoid a win without some drama as his teammate, Joey Logano, turned Kurt Busch, who was running third at the time and had one of the best cars to challenge Keselowski.It was appropriate, though, that it did have drama. The way Keselowski and Logano have operated, they remain almost on an island when it comes to friends. Thats OK. They have combined for 22 wins in the past 89 races.I wouldnt trade these two drivers for anyone, said team owner Roger Penske, who celebrated his 100th Sprint Cup wiin as an owner.dddddddddddd Theyre young, theyre aggressive, they win races. They work well with the sponsors, and theyre high-integrity guys, so move on from there.Of the two, Keselowski delivered Penske his first Cup championship in 2012. But it was Logano who gave Penske his most recent Daytona 500 win by capturing the sports biggest race last year.Keselowski looked fairly invincible Saturday. He led 46 of the final 57 laps, with Kyle Busch winning the other 11. The final two laps came on a green-white-checkered finish with Kurt Busch maybe the best challenger before he got turned by Logano.I dont know where Logano wanted to go, Busch said. He was going to go from fifth to first? Theres not a chance that he had to win it. We positioned ourselves to be the car to get a run off the bottom. And it just didnt work out with him trying to drive straight through us.Logano indicated it wasnt on purpose.I hate that I got into Kurt there at the end racing to the line, Logano said. I had a run to turn up underneath him, and when you do that, the cars get free and then I was there and he tried to catch it and I was there again. It is a product of this racing, but I hate that it happened.The product of restrictor-plate racing is big wrecks, where the key is to run up front or in the rear to avoid them. The big one happened on lap 90 with 22 cars involved but no injuries.Keselowski was way out in front, and few had cars capable of challenging him after the big wreck.It seemed if we could have got the [No.] 2 car [of Keselowski] out of there, it probably would have been a decent race, but that thing was just so strong that there wasnt much passing him, said Kyle Busch, who finished second with Trevor Bayne, Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounding out the top five.Really it took a lot of guys ganging up and getting together in order to make a move on him, Busch added. He was pretty smart about where he positioned his car on the racetrack, and I could see that, and I tried to do some of those same things, but man, it just never really worked for me as good as he could handle it.Buschs comments about Keselowski would not be a surprising analysis of a Keselowski race at Talladega. But Daytona? He hasnt been as good at the sister track to Talladega.Until now.Weve been really strong at Talladega, and weve used a lot of that approach coming here -- and its been awful, Keselowski said. This is quite honestly the first time as a team that weve come to Daytona with a completely different approach than what weve had at Talladega, and it paid off with immediate results. ' ' '