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PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

Redskins Insider

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Bradford looks like

near-certain top pick

Quarterback Sam Bradford

threw 63 passes before NFL talent evaluators Monday at Oklahoma University in Norman, Okla., and from all appearances did everything needed to solidify his standing as the No. 1 pick in the April 22-24 NFL draft. He was scheduled to a follow a

50-pass script and, according to Yahoo’s Charles Robinson, only one pass hit the ground. Bradford, who said in a post-workout interview that he’d only been throwing for “41

⁄2 - 5

weeks” after undergoing shoulder surgery, threw a variety of passes and looked very sharp. His passes seemed to have zip and were accurate. He showed no visible signs of pain in his shoulder. It would seem unlikely, at this point, that Bradford will be picked anywhere besides No. 1. The question becomes which team will grab him at that spot. Do the St. Louis Rams lock him up and start negotiations right away? Or do they entertain trade offers? (It’s worth noting that one of the first people to greet Bradford after his workout was Rams Coach Steve Spagnuolo.) Most NFL teams were in

attendance Monday. General Manager Bruce Allen was among the contingent for the Redskins,

who have the fourth overall pick. According to Robinson, more than 50 coaches, scouts and executives were on hand, including representatives from the Raiders, Eagles, Colts, Browns, Patriots, Seahawks, Jaguars and 49ers. They weren’t all there for Bradford, though, as the day also provided an opportunity for teams to get a closer look at Oklahoma’s receivers.

“I thought I showed everyone

that my shoulder’s what it was before I got hurt,” Bradford said.

Cerrato backs Clausen

ESPN draft analyst Todd

McShay has publicly raised questions about the leadership skills and maturity of Jimmy Clausen, widely considered to be the No. 2 quarterback prospect in the draft. The Redskins have the fourth overall pick and Coach Mike Shanahan is believed to be interested in selecting a quarterback. Draft analyst Mel Kiper, McShay’s ESPN colleague, has praised Clausen, saying he grew into an outstanding leader at Notre Dame.

And Kiper is not alone in

believing Clausen could become a top NFL quarterback. Vinny Cerrato, formerly

Washington’s executive vice president of football operations, shares Kiper’s assessment of Clausen. Cerrato, who worked at

Notre Dame in the late 1980s under Lou Holtz, said he has spoken with many people at the university about Clausen — and all of them gave him favorable reports.

And as a favor to agent Gary Wichard, one of his longtime friends, Cerrato recently spent four days in California helping several of Wichard’s clients, Clausen among them, prepare for predraft interviews. In a phone interview late last week, Cerrato acknowledged he, too, at one time wondered whether the media buzz about Clausen was accurate. But he said he quickly learned Clausen is nothing like his detractors claim. “I think Todd McShay started

that, you know?” Cerrato said. “I’d like to know who Todd McShay talked to at Notre Dame about Jimmy. That’s what I would like to know, because I was at the school and talked to everybody. And there’s a lot of people there that were there when I was there, so they’ll tell me the truth. And, you know, the truth is he came in as the No. 1 player in the country. And he was [former coach Charlie Weis’s] first recruit. So I think the older players kind of weren’t crazy about that part. He was a little immature when he first arrived. He matured each year. He was only there three, and he matured each year. “Here’s what they told me: As a

TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2010

SUE OGROCKI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sam Bradford throws during a workout for NFL officials. St. Louis owns the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Buchanon signs

sophomore, he didn’t get many votes to be captain. As a junior, [he] received every vote of all the members of the team to be the captain. And everybody told me [he was] a totally different kid from sophomore year to junior year. Really grew up, matured, became the leader of the team [and] took charge of everything. . . . He’s a totally mature guy. I mean, you know what he is? He’s a gym rat. He’s a football junkie. He loves to talk about football. He loves to watch film. He’s very smart about football coverages, all those things. And you know what? He plays with a passion. That’s the thing.”

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

ON BASKETBALL

As close to perfect as it can be

on basketball from D1

three of the four No. 1 seeds — Kansas, Syracuse and Kentucky. Each went out a round apart: Kansas losing to Northern Iowa in the second round, Syracuse in the round of 16 to Butler and Kentucky to West Virginia in the Elite Eight. Anyone who has seen West Virginia play could not have been surprised by the outcome in Syracuse on Saturday night. The Mountaineers play exactly as they are coached to play by Bob Huggins — always intense, always angry, never satisfied. Whether they are playing the 1-3-1 zone that completely baffled Kentucky or man-to-man, they are in the opponent’s face on every defensive possession. They have an absolutely fearless shooter in Da’Sean Butler. They are mature — juniors and seniors are the core of this team — and they aren’t likely to be shaken by a close game or the need for a big basket or a big stop. Kentucky simply wasn’t as

PAUL SANCYA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Michigan State’s Delvon Roe, left, said, “I still have a little bit of that left in the tank.” He likely will start Saturday vs. Butler.

For Roe, the pain is worth it

Forward helps Spartans despite knee that’s at 40 percent until adrenaline kicks in

“His level of pain tolerance is

by Steve Yanda

st. louis — Side to side, Del- von Roe rocked in the moments after Michigan State claimed its second consecutive Final Four berth, never allowing his weight to settle on one leg for too long. The sophomore forward with the bulky black brace wrapped around his right knee looked for other accessories to add to his wardrobe. A team official handed him a commemorative T-shirt and hat, which brought a smile to Roe’s face, and for a brief, glorious pe- riod, the pain subsided. Roe does not lead the Spartans in scoring or rebounding, though coaches and teammates claim he possesses the talent to do both. These days, he rarely draws at- tention with athletic plays or dunks, though the player he once was suggests he could perform those feats more regularly as well.

But as Michigan State prepares

to play once again during the fi- nal weekend of the men’s college basketball season, no Spartan has engendered more respect or admiration for the gallantry he has displayed merely by continu- ing to take the court than Roe, who has played through a me- niscus injury in his right knee since September. Michigan State faces Butler on Saturday in the national semifinals, and Roe like- ly will be in the starting lineup.

unbelievable, to be able to toler- ate that,” said Tom Mackowiak, Michigan State’s team trainer. “He definitely has a higher pain level than most athletes that par- ticipate. I think he’s got a stron- ger mental willpower to want to participate, which speaks highly of his competitiveness, too.” Early in the second half of

Michigan State’s seven-point win over Northern Iowa on Friday in the round of 16, Roe soared over several players for a put-back dunk that caused the crowd to take a collective gasp. But a few minutes later as the

Spartans huddled during a time- out, Roe paced off to the side, oc- casionally bending over to check on his bum knee. When not in the game, Roe walked back and forth behind the bench to keep the knee loose. Roe played 27 min- utes, and although he tallied just six points and five rebounds, he drew rave reviews. “We just told him at the begin- ning of the game, ‘Give us what you can give us,’ ” Spartans for- ward Draymond Green said. “He probably wasn’t feeling great, but he’s a warrior. And I’ll tell any- body any day I will take Delvon to war with me any day because he’s a warrior.”

Roe said he needed the full

length of the court to gather the momentum necessary to leap for that dunk against Northern Iowa. His knee injury prohibits him from making quick jumps or

fast cuts, from performing tasks other players take for granted. Roe said his knee is 40 percent

healthy and that on game days, the adrenaline can push him to 90 percent. The 6-foot-8 forward logged 20 minutes Sunday in Michigan State’s one-point win over Tennessee, recording three points, zero rebounds and a game-high three blocks. At this point, Roe said, one of his pri- mary tasks is to find some way to feel as though he contributed something to the Spartans’ effort. “A lot of people just don’t un- derstand what type of player I was before I got all these injuries, what type of athlete I was,” Roe said. “I still have a little bit of that left in the tank.” Roe underwent microfracture

surgery on his right knee after the first game of his senior sea- son at St. Edward High in Euclid, Ohio. Because of overcompensa- tion, Roe had to have minor sur- gery on his left knee prior to the start of his freshman campaign in East Lansing. Mackowiak said Roe has felt soreness in his right knee since last fall, but it was not until Michigan State’s 18-point loss Feb. 2 at Wisconsin that the pain “really kind of went over the edge.” “It’s a lose-lose situation,” Roe

said. “It gets worse and worse as the game goes on. If I’m playing a lot of minutes, it’s going to get worse and worse and worse. If I’m sitting out for too long, it’s go-

ing to get worse because I’m sit- ting down and it’s getting stiff. But I’ve just got to play through it.”

Roe said he uses pain pills, ice and other means of rehabilita- tion, but the only thing that will erase the pain is season-ending surgery. The thought of taking that route has crossed his mind constantly over the past few months, and he said his parents have not always been in agree- ment with his decision to keep playing. Following the win over North-

ern Iowa, Roe spoke with his fa- ther, Delvon Sr., who expressed the immense pride he felt toward his son. It’s rewarding, Roe said, to learn he has earned the respect of those who know what he’s go- ing through. Count Michigan State Coach

Tom Izzo among that group. When asked how much more he could expect Roe to give this sea- son, Izzo said he had no idea. “I think we all know how much

he’s giving, and if he isn’t a guy that everybody can learn from, he’s such a talented kid and no- body’s even seen half his talent yet,” Izzo said. “He could have gotten operated on. He could have done this. He could have done that. . . . That kid gave us — when you tell a kid, you hear it in any book, you hear it and it’s cli- che-ic. Lay it all on the line. He laid it all on the line, I promise you that.”

yandas@washpost.com

mature or as tough. Talented? There are at least four sure-fire NBA players on John Calipari’s team. West Virginia might have one. But the Wildcats were done in by their inability to work the ball inside against the West Virginia zone and by what has so often been the Achilles’ heel of Calipari teams: free throw shooting. The funny thing about

Kentucky’s loss is that with all the hype surrounding John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe, the Wildcats end their season in the same sentence with Tennessee, Kansas State and Baylor: teams that were good enough to come one step short of the Final Four. No doubt Calipari will recruit another wave of future NBA stars and continue to put up huge numbers but, at least as far as the NCAA is concerned, he still hasn’t coached in a Final Four. Neither have Bruce Pearl,

Frank Martin or Scott Drew but — like Calipari — each has a lot to feel good about in spite of their losses last weekend. Pearl took Tennessee to a region final for the first time in school history. The Volunteers, in spite of their midseason turmoil, got their act together when it mattered and won a terrific game on Friday night against Ohio State, a team a lot of people had ticketed for Indianapolis. Then they rallied from eight down in the second half to lead before losing, 70-69, to Michigan State. Martin can take solace in the

fact that his Kansas State team won the best game of the tournament in the round of 16, beating Xavier, 101-96, in double overtime. It may also have taken just enough out of

the Wildcats’ legs to make a difference in the game against Butler.

And Drew should be happy

that he has taken a Baylor team that was in disarray seven years ago after the death of Patrick Dennehy and the myriad NCAA rules violations committed by then-coach Dave Bliss and his staff and rebuilt it into a team that was a couple of plays away from reaching the Final Four. As for the survivors, four

years after George Mason went to Indianapolis as the most shocking Final Four team since Penn’s run in 1979, Butler has done something not as remarkable but certainly in the ballpark. The Bulldogs were a No. 5 seed going in and this was the third year in the last seven that they reached the Sweet 16. If you throw in the fact that Butler’s campus is six miles from the dome and that almost everyone making the trip to Indy will have to make a pilgrimage to Hinkle Field House to make sure the baskets are 10 feet high and the free throw line is 15 feet away, you have a fabulous story. Throw this in too: The Bulldogs can win. There is no clear favorite in this Final Four. The two teams truly capable of dominant performances — Kansas and Kentucky — have been sent home. Michigan State and Coach Tom Izzo have done amazing work to get this far without point guard Kalin Lucas, who ruptured his Achilles’ tendon in the second-round game against Maryland. To count the Spartans out against anyone at this point would be insane. West Virginia and Duke are

very similar: experienced, used to playing close games, excellent rebounding teams that play outstanding half-court defense. West Virginia played in a better, deeper league during the season and beat the team picked by most to win the tournament (after Kansas lost) in its region final. Duke had to play what was almost a road game against Baylor in its region final in Houston. When someone asked Mike Krzyzewski — who tied Dean Smith by reaching his 11th Final Four, one behind John Wooden’s all-time record of 12 — if he was concerned that Duke would have a target on its back as the last No. 1 seed standing, he laughed. “We’ve had a target on our back for about 25 years now,” the Blue Devils coach said. “We expect that wherever we play.” He’s got that right.

Cinderella; prodigal son; team and coach that find a way; villain. It should be a great Final Four.

For more from the author, visit his blog at www.feinsteinonthebrink. com.

The Redskins have signed cornerback Phillip Buchanon, an eight-year veteran who will give the team much-needed experience in the secondary. Buchanon played last season

with Detroit and though he’s expected to be slotted behind DeAngelo Hall and Carlos Rogers on the depth chart, his arrival could mean the team doesn’t have to rely on young cornerbacks Kevin Barnes and Justin Tryon if an injury arises. He could also find himself on the field in nickel packages. Buchanon was set to earn

$3.5 million from the Lions before Detroit released him earlier this month. ESPN.com reported the Redskins signed him to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million, plus another $750,000 in incentive money. The Redskins will be Buchanon’s fifth team in seven seasons.He’s still looking to match the level of success he enjoyed when he first entered the league. A 2002 first-round pick out of Miami, Buchanon had 11 interceptions in his first three seasons with Oakland but has had only seven in the five seasons since then.

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