Monthly Archives: March 2017

State Police warn of IRS phone cloning scam – WSET

Posted: March 31, 2017 at 7:14 am

CHATHAM, Va. (WSET) -- Virginia State Police are warning Virginians of a recent phone scam going around.

State Police say within the past 24 hours, they have received calls from two Virginians and one New Yorker about IRS-impersonation telephone calls linked to a Virginia State Police Area 43 Office in Chatham.

They say the scammers have cloned the state police offices main number - (434) 432-7287 - as a tactic to help convince a caller that they are legitimate. VSP spokeswoman, Corrine Geller says this is a common ploy utilized by scammers as the annual IRS filing season comes to a close.

State Police want to remind you that the Internal Revenue Service will never:

Call to demand immediate payment using a specific payment method such as a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer. Generally, the IRS will first mail you a bill if you owe any taxes. Threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying. Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe. Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

According to the IRS Website, the aggressive and sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, has been making the rounds throughout the country. Callers claim to be employees of the IRS, using fake names and bogus IRS identification badge numbers. They may know a lot about their targets, and they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling.

Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. Victims may be threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or drivers license. Or, victims may be told they have a refund due to try to trick them into sharing private information. If the phone isn't answered, the scammers often leave an urgent callback request.

In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting.

Some con artists have used video relay services (VRS) to try to scam deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Taxpayers are urged not trust calls just because they are made through VRS, as interpreters dont screen calls for validity.

For more details see the IRS YouTube video: Tax Scams via Video Relay Service.

If a taxpayer receives an unsolicited email that appears to be from either the IRS or an organization closely linked to the IRS, such as the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), report it by sending it to phishing@irs.gov. Learn more by going to the Report Phishing and Online Scams page.

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State Police warn of IRS phone cloning scam - WSET

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The cloning clowns – Prospect

Posted: at 7:14 am

Attention-seeking amateurs have hijacked the cloning debate-and are eroding confidence in genuine research by Robert A Weinberg / March 20, 2003 / Leave a comment Published in March 2003 issue of Prospect Magazine

Biologists have been rather silent on the subject of human cloning. Some people accuse us of insensitivity to the consequences of our research. If not insensitivity, then moral obtuseness, and if not that, arrogance-an accusation that is never disprovable.

The truth is that most of us have remained quiet for quite another reason. Most of us regard reproductive cloning-a procedure used to produce an entire new organism from one cell of an adult-as a technology riddled with problems. Why should we waste time agonising about something that is far removed from practical utility and may forever remain so?

The nature and magnitude of the problems were suggested by Ian Wilmuts initial report, six years ago, on his cloning of Dolly the sheep. Dolly represented one success amongst 277 attempts to produce a viable, healthy newborn. Most attempts at cloning other animal species-to date cloning has succeeded with sheep, mice, cattle, goats, cats and pigs-have not fared much better.

Even the successes come with problems. The placentas of cloned foetuses are often two or three times larger than normal. The offspring are usually larger than normal too. Several months after birth, one group of cloned mice weighed 72 per cent more than mice created by normal reproduction. In many species, cloned foetuses must be delivered by caesarean section because of their size. This abnormality, the reasons for which no one understands, is so common that it now has a name-large offspring syndrome. Dolly (who was normal at birth) was briefly overweight when young and suffers from early-onset arthritis of unknown cause. Two recent reports say that cloned mice suffer obesity and early death.

Arguably the most successful reproductive-cloning experiment was reported in November 2001 by Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), a small biotech company in Massachusetts. Working with cows, ACT produced 496 embryos by injecting nuclei from adult cells into eggs that had been stripped of their own nuclei. Implanting the embryos into the uteruses of cows led to 110 established pregnancies, 30 of which went to term. Five of the newborns died shortly after birth and a sixth died several months later. The 24 surviving calves developed into cows that were healthy by all criteria examined. But most, if not all, had enlarged placentas and, as newborns, some of them suffered from the respiratory distress typical of large offspring syndrome.

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The cloning clowns - Prospect

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Discovery of new predatory dinosaur species gives new insight on their evolution – Science Daily

Posted: at 7:13 am


Christian Science Monitor
Discovery of new predatory dinosaur species gives new insight on their evolution
Science Daily
LSU Health New Orleans' Dr. Jayc Sedlmayr, an evolutionary biologist whose research is in evolutionary anatomy, provided the biological non-boney anatomical perspective and interpretation. The team worked with excellently preserved fossils -- a skull ...
This new dino might change the face of tyrannosaurs, evolutionChristian Science Monitor
This Is Our Best Look Yet at a Tyrannosaur's FaceNational Geographic
A new tyrannosaur with evidence for anagenesis and crocodile-like facial sensory system : Scientific Reports - NatureNature
The Guardian
all 43 news articles »

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Teach evolution but not in a moral vacuum – The Guardian

Posted: at 7:13 am

Anxiety about their position in the mating market stemming from their understanding of evolutionary theory leads many men to extremely misogynistic thinking. Photograph: Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images

Jules Howard writes that teaching evolution from an early age would help combat racism and promote humanist values (Utopian thinking: Forget British Values teach children they are apes, theguardian.com, 27 March), but this is not borne out by experience. Most early evolutionists were racist, Darwin included. Some of the most brilliant evolutionary theorists, such as Francis Galton and Ronald Fisher, were strong proponents of eugenics. That this strand of thinking is mostly abandoned in todays mainstream evolutionary biology is reassuring, but does not stem from any particular scientific finding. Rather, it was the horrors of Nazism (itself strongly influenced by evolutionary ideas) that made further promotion of racism and eugenics untenable.

Another optimistic expectation is that the realisation that we are apes would free us of our bodily embarrassment. Again, this is not supported by evidence. The contrary seems to be the case, where anxiety about their position in the mating market stemming from their understanding of evolutionary theory leads many men to extremely misogynistic thinking. This can be seen in the flourishing of the online red pill trolling culture.

None of this is to say that evolution, which is an elegant and intellectually stimulating scientific theory, should not be taught. It should, however, disabuse us of the notion that how this teaching will be used can be separated from the wider moral values a society holds. Vukain Zrelec Guangzhou, China

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Teach evolution but not in a moral vacuum - The Guardian

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Fruit fuelled evolution of a bigger brain, study says – Philippine Star

Posted: at 7:13 am

PARIS, France Humans likely developed large and powerful brains, researchers said Monday, with the help of what is today the simplest of snacks: fruit.

Eating fruit was a key step up from the most basic of foodstuffs, such as leaves, and provided the energy needed to grow bulkier brains, the scientists argued.

"That's how we got these crazy huge brains," said the study's corresponding author Alex Decasien, a researcher at New York University. "We have blown up the quality of our food that we are eating."

The study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution looked at the staple foods of over 140 species of primates, and assumed their diets haven't changed much over the course of recent evolution.

According to the research, the animals which feast on fruit have brains that are about 25 percent bigger than those filling their bellies primarily with leaves.

The results call into question the theory that has prevailed since the mid-1990s, which says bigger brains developed out of the need to survive and reproduce in complex social groups.

Decasien said the challenges of living in a group could be part of getting smarter, but found no link between the complexity of primates' social lives and the size of their grey matter.

What did correlate strongly with brain size was eating fruit.

Foods such as fruit contain more energy than basic sources like leaves, thus creating the additional fuel needed to evolve a bigger brain.

At the same time, remembering which plants produce fruit, where they are, and how to break them open could also help a primate grow a bigger brain.

A larger brain also needs more fuel to keep it running.

"We've heard that fact saying (our brain) is two percent of our body weight, but it takes up 25 percent of our energy," Decasien said.

"It's a crazy expensive organ."

While the study challenges some of the orthodoxy of how our brains evolved, the research is likely to continue.

"I feel confident that their study will refocus and reinvigorate research seeking to explain cognitive complexity in primates and other mammals," wrote Chris Venditti, a researcher at the University of Reading in Britain in a comment on the study, also published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

"But many questions remain," he added.

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Fruit fuelled evolution of a bigger brain, study says - Philippine Star

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Rotary evolution: Nonprofit looks to E-clubs to recruit millennials – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Posted: at 7:13 am

In 1905, a group of men in Chicago began meeting, socializing and volunteeringto make their community a better place. What started as the Rotary Club of Chicago so-called because meetings rotated among the offices of those initial members became Rotary International, now 1.2 million members strong in 200 countries.

In its long history, the nonprofit service organization has encountered many changes and challenges. Perhaps known best for working to help eradicate polio and for funding scholarships that send students to study abroad, Rotarians from more than 35,000 clubs contribute to a dizzying array of projects in their communities and around the globe. Members put in an estimated 16 million volunteer hours each year.

But while the organizations mission of Service Above Self hasnt changed over the past 112 years, leaders here say that members have found it necessary to adjust to the challenges of todays 24/7 lifestyle and to work harder to boost membership, which is by invitation.

If we dont keep our numbers up, we are in danger of needing to merge with another district, Stuart Benson of the North Boroughs Rotary Club said. We are really looking for young blood while at the same time recruiting retirees, said the attorney who lives in Hampton.

Indeed, last month Pam Moore of Uniontown, governor of RotaryDistrict 7330, acknowledged that the numbers are slipping in her district, which covers 39 clubs in seven counties, as well as in Mr. Bensons District 7300, which oversees 46 clubs in Allegheny and parts of Westmoreland and Beaver counties.

The decline in active members, Ms. Moore said, is due to an aging Rotarian base some online reports claim the average age is 60-plus and the demands of todays mobile, busy lifestyles.

In a nod to the changing times, Mr. Bensons district early last year chartered an e-club, which, rather than holding the traditional breakfast, lunch or dinner meetings, meets via conference call. The 20-some members gather by phone at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays.

This way members dont need to make weekly in-person meetings but instead participate on their own time and at their own pace through anonline meeting layout on the groups website, Ms. Moore said, adding that her district may at some point look to implement the new tool.

Such e-clubs may be the the next generation of Rotary, she said. The new format gives members all of the benefits of Rotary but in a streamlined process, she said.

The e-club model is directed at attractingmillennialsin this mobile world, she acknowledged. But the work and service of Rotary will not change nor will the traditional face-to-face meeting ever go away.

In the past, Rotarians were mostly professionals, business owners or corporate executives.

That profile has changed, according to Mr. Benson and Stephanie A. Urchick, a member of the Canonsburg-Houston-Southpointe Rotary Club.

Membership is open and every club has a lot of latitude in accepting members, Mr. Benson said.

The requirement is you want to give to the community, Ms. Urchick said. We are looking for people with a desire to make the world a better place.

2017 milestones

Rotary International has two big milestones this year: the 100-year anniversary of the Rotary Foundation, the endowment arm that has raised $3 billion for the organizations work over the past century, and the 30-year anniversary of Rotary admitting women into its ranks.

Where would Rotary be without women? was the topic of a talk Mr. Benson gave at a recent meeting. He joined Rotary in 1978, before women were part of the organization, and now serves as parliamentarian for District 7300.

Ms. Urchick, of Canonsburg, knows all about the impact women have had on Rotary. She joined Rotary in 1991and has become steadily more involved. From 2012-2014, she was a trustee of the Rotary Foundation only the third woman to serve in that capacity.

Her club, the Canonsburg-Houston-Southpointe Rotary Club, has undertaken local projects that include giving a dictionary to every third-grade student in the Chartiers-Houston and Canon-Macmillan school districts and making regular visits to senior citizen facilities for game days and dessert socials.

I have been all over the world for Rotary, Ms. Urchick said, including India, Nigeria, Poland and the Dominican Republic.

Humanitarianism should start in your backyard, but it should not end there, she said.

Her professional resume includes 30 years in administration at Westmoreland County Community College and California University of Pennsylvania. She received a doctorate in leadership from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and is currently executive director of the Southpointe CEO Association and co-founder and partner of Doctors at Work, a consulting and training company in Cranberry.

Ms. Urchick chairs the Rotary Foundation Centennial Celebration Committee and its Strategic Planning Committee, which is looking at ways to maintain and expand membership.

A few years ago, Jennifer Miele came to the White Oak Rotary Club as a guest speaker and, I have never left, she said.

I have never met a group that is so committed to helping community, she said. As a millennial, I felt like a piece of my pie was missing. Other organizations never really harnessed my energy.

Rotary members use their knowledge of their community to find projects and use their life skills to implement them, said William Latta, president of the White Oak club. Members of his club recently put in a paved sidewalk, deck and ramp to make a house accessible for a high school student who uses a wheelchair.

We did not have to hire a contractor and we got it done in a week, Mr. Latta said.

Four years ago, the club raised $17,000 at a spaghetti dinner and auction for a 5-year-old child with cancer, he said. The club has raised $72,000 in scholarships for students at Serra Catholic and McKeesport Area high schools and that is only a partial list of what the club has accomplished, he said.

Dan Dougherty handles the White Oak clubs Facebook page and other communication efforts. The biggest thing I wanted to do was raise awareness, he said.

The right fit

Every club has a different personality, said Mr. Benson, and hes willing to help prospective Rotarians find the right fit.

For information: email Mr. Benson at stubenson3@gmail.comor go to http://www.rotary.organd click club finder or join at the top right. Members pay dues.

Linda Wilson Fuoco: lfuoco@post-gazette.comor 412-263-1953.

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Evolution Proponents: Try Rewriting This Video Without the Teleological Language – Discovery Institute

Posted: at 7:13 am

Northwestern University promotes the research of one of its scientists with this adorable video about the evolution of fish to man, Our short-sighted inner fish: Vision explains why our fish ancestors came on to land.

400 million years ago, fish made the evolutionary leap from water to land. If they hadnt, you might not be reading this sentence. Why? Because it led to more complex cognition. A new study by Northwestern professor Malcolm MacIver and Claremont Colleges professor Lars Schmitz discovered a near tripling of eye size might be what triggered the invasion of land.

Molecular biologist Douglas Axe watched it and was impressed by the persistent use of language inflected with teleology, attributing intelligent motivation not only to animals, but to their individual organs, and to the process of evolution as a whole. So, how did fish come on to land?

It all seems to have started when the first fish peeked above the waters surface.And behold a smorgasbord of tasty land dwellers! To capitalize on this discovery, the fish would have to evolve. Its eyes soon moved to the top of its head and tripled in size. And its fins began evolving into limbs so that it could stalk its new prey like a crocodile. [Emphasis added.]

Dr. Axe tweets: Evolutionary reasoning is all about storytelling. Hard to tell stories without invoking purpose, as this vid shows.

Yep. On that note, heres an exercise for evolution proponents. Try rewriting the script of this evolutionvideo without using any teleological language. Tough, isnt it?

As a side point, too, look athow the video ends. The fish evolves into man, but man has a problem. Despite his keen vision, he doesnt look ahead to see the consequences of his actions. We see him mowing the law, and he pulls off his shirt and gets a sunburn. To cool off, his neighbor hands him a beer, which he drinks and immediately gets fat. Meanwhile, perhaps from the exhaust of the lawn mower, he causes global warming, resulting in melting glaciers and sad polar bears.

In the final scene, a group of human beings are show donning virtual-reality headsets. The narrator concludes:

Understanding the relationship between vision and planning may help us engineer solutions, like using technology to bring far away things closer. That just might give us the evolutionary advantage we need to survive the next 400 million years.

Right. So well save the planet by cutting ourselves off from other human beings and interacting not with the reality in front of us but with computers and simulated reality. Thats the solution to human problems stick a computer in front of everyones face.

Someday, thoughtful people will look back and see the madness of that pervasively influential way of thinking quite apart from the silliness of trying to deny the obvious workings of purpose in nature. But that time has not yet come.

Image: Fish in the process of evolving into man, via Northwestern University.

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How the Evolution Debate Devolved – Discovery Institute

Posted: at 7:13 am

An old and cherished colleague from National Review, Linda Bridges, passed away at an untimely age over this past weekend and this caused me to look back on things including the evolution debate. Linda edited among much else a volume of collected columns and other writings by the magazines legendary founder, William F. Buckley Jr.

I was looking at it as I remembered Linda. The book is Athwart History, and it includes a column Buckley wrote in 2007 that starts out with a reference to Discovery Institute.

It is So Help Us Darwin described in the table of contents as dealing with Darwinist absolutism and the controversy over intelligent design.'

An intimidatingly learned colleague has written to a few friends to deplore the latest bulletin on Senator John McCain, who is of course running for president. The news is that McCain has agreed to speak at a luncheon hosted by the Discovery Institute in Seattle. What offends my friend is that the think tank in question supports the concept of Intelligent Design. And the question raised believe it or not is whether such a latitudinarian thinker should be thought qualified to be president of the United States.

It seems an ancient controversy, and of course it is.

In fact, McCain did not end up speaking on that occasion, which is neither here nor there.

Read the rest. Buckley writes that the intelligent liberal community should not impose on anyone a requirement of believing that there is only the single, materialist word on the subject (of evolution). He also refers to a Firing Line debate, conducted for television before an audience at Seton Hall University in 1997. You can see it here on YouTube courtesy of the Hoover Institution. That is twenty years ago, and Im struck by something.

The debate is presided over by Michael Kinsley, with Buckley, David Berlinski, Michael Behe, and Philip Johnson arguing for the Darwin-skeptical position. Kenneth Miller, Michael Ruse, Eugenie Scott, and Barry Lynn argue on behalf of the Darwin faithful. There is much wit, some sharp words and banging of Kinsleys gavel, and a great deal of intelligence on both sides.

Im struck by how difficult it is to imagine such an event today. The anti-evolution debaters are all excellent, and many of their points (as well their names and faces) will be familiar to readers of Evolution News. They are of course, except for Buckley, affiliated with Discovery Institutes Center for Science & Culture.

This debate took place just a few months after the launch of the CSC, and arguments for intelligent design against Darwinian evolution have deepened considerably since then. In 1997, major books by Stephen Meyer, Douglas Axe, Jonathan Wells, William Dembski, Jay Richards, and others had yet to be written. For a history of Dr. Behes argument for ID, see our recent documentary Revolutionary: Michael Behe & The Mystery of Molecular Machines.

Has the Darwinist counterblast strengthened, meanwhile? No, and that is the point. I would say it is either static, or it has devolved, at least in relationship to the argument for ID. At least, twenty years ago they answered us. As ID has extended its inference from the scientific evidence, however, Darwinists today are largely content with ad hominem attacks and dishonest attempts to conflate ID with Young Earth Creationism.

Its a pleasure to see David Berlinski and Ken Miller going at it in a one and one. Darwinists today would tend to shrink from such encounter. Why? The question, I think, is self-answering. Darwinism is more absolutist and closed to discussion than ever.

A lot changes in two decades. For my own reminiscence of Linda Bridges, by the way, see here at National Review Online. And for wonderful and moving portraits contributed by other colleagues (Jack Fowler, Lacey Washington), I encourage you to see here and here.

Photo: William F. Buckley, Firing Line, via YouTube.

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Mahon’s evolution has Kenny fearing Drogs revolution – RTE.ie

Posted: at 7:13 am

Updated / Thursday, 30 Mar 2017 19:02

Stephen Kenny believes Pete Mahon's evolution is triggering a Drogheda United revolution that the Lilywhites must be prepared for ahead of Friday night's Louth derby (Live, RTE 2, 7.30pm).

It's 18 months since the Drogs received a 6-0 Oriel Park thrashing in the Airtricity League Premier Division.

They went down that year, watching their rivals kick on to lift the double, but Mahon has steered them back to the top flight and, according to Kenny, instilled in his team all the right qualities to stick around.

Pete Mahons longevity in the game is very impressive," he told Dundalk's club website.

"I think a lot of younger managers and coaches could learn from some of the values that Pete has instilled in his Drogheda United team and his various teams over the years.

He is nearly 70 years of age but he has evolved. He hasnt sat still because you cant. You cant keep sending out the same message from 25-30 years ago. You have to evolve and move with the game. He has been willing to do that.

A lot of the young managers could learn from the values that he has instilled in his teams and his squads. His longevity in the game has been superb. His motivation and desire to keep going and improving is very impressive.

The Lilywhites are licking their wounds from last weekend's 2-1 defeat to Cork City, a setback that left them six points off the top.

They're missing some key men, but Kenny is demanding an instant reaction.

For ourselves we have Robbie Benson, Shane Grimes and Stephen ODonnell ruled out along with Stephen Kinsella. Ciaran Kilduff is suspended," he said.

We are waiting on a couple of others who have knocks. They should be okay but Paddy Barrett and Patrick McEleney have knocks from last weekend so we will see how they are.

From our point of view we have to regroup this week and our performances at home since the start of the season have been very, very good. We have picked up three wins at Oriel Park.

We have a passionate home support here at Dundalk. It is important to bounce back and get a victory after the defeat last week. Our objective is to bounce back and win the game.

McAuley pens new West Brom deal

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Mahon's evolution has Kenny fearing Drogs revolution - RTE.ie

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Lineup evolution helped Oregon Ducks overcome Chris Boucher injury en route to Final Four – AZCentral.com

Posted: at 7:13 am

WATCH THE LATEST FINAL FOUR ARIZONA VIDEOS FROM AZCENTRAL SPORTSNorth Carolina on being back to the NCAA Final Four | 0:37

North Carolinas Justin Jackson and Joel Berry II discuss being back to the NCAA Final Four and trying to win it all, in the locker room at University of Phoenix Stadium on March 30, 2017. (David Wallace/azcentral sports)

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Oregons Dillon Brooks, Dylan Ennis and Casey Benson, discuss counting their blessings, meeting Kobe Bryant and playing a Final Four in their home state, respectively, in the locker room on March 30, 2017. (David Wallace/azcentral sports)

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Gonzagas Przemek Karnowski, Jordan Mathews and Nigel Williams-Goss talk about rising to the moment of the NCAA Final Four in the locker room at University of Phoenix Stadium on March 30, 2017. (David Wallace/azcentral sports)

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South Carolinas PJ Dozier and Duane Notice talk about their confidence and under dog status for the NCAA Final Four in the locker room at University of Phoenix Stadium on March 30, 2017. (David Wallace/azcentral sports)

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Downtown Phoenix gets ready to host the NCAA Final Four Fan Fest and house the teams as they play in nearby Glendale for the NCAA Final Four games. David Wallace/azcentral.com

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Luke Maye connected on a last-second jump shot to defeat the Kentucky Wildcats and send North Carolina to the Final Four. Time_Sports

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USA TODAY Sports' Nicole Auerbach goes behind the scenes of South Carolina's win over Florida, which sends the Gamecocks to their first Final Four. USA TODAY Sports

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The Oregon Ducks have reached the Final Four for the first time since 1939 after a 74-60 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in the Elite Eight. Time_Sports

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USA TODAY Sports' Dan Wolken breaks down Gonzaga's Elite Eight victory over Xavier. USA TODAY Sports

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The court for the NCAA Final Four tournament is put together at the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Thomas Hawthorne/azcentral

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azcentral's Paola Boivin breaks down Arizona's loss to Xavier in the Sweet 16. Video: Michael Chow/azcentral.com

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The Arizona Wildcats, who many had in the Final Four, are bounced from the NCAA Tournament. Plus, the Oakland Raiders may soon be the Las Vegas Raiders. Will that actually happen? Video: azcentral sports

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USA TODAY Sports' George Schroeder looks at how the Jayhawks and Ducks prevailed to set up their upcoming matchup in the Midwest region of the NCAA tournament. USA TODAY Sports

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ULCA head coach Steve Alford acknowledges the game against the two 'bluebloods' of NCAA basketball with the most championships between them.

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Considered all but done after losing their star point guard and dropping six straight games in February, Xavier has improbably made a run to the Elite Eight after defeating No. 2 Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen. Time_Sports

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Arizona Wildcats head coach Sean Miller is the third highest-paid head coach in the NCAA Tournament and can earn close to $1 million in bonuses for winning the national title. Wochit

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Take a look at some at the faces of celebration and dejection from the tourney. USA TODAY Sports

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The massive scoreboard known as Colussus TV is installed at University of Phoenix Stadium for the upcoming NCAA Final Four games. David Wallace/azentral.com

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Being on network TV means this years NCAA tourney should easily overtake last year's viewership. Richard Deitsch explains how to watch the Madness. Time

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North Carolina on being back to the NCAA Final Four

Oregon on counting their blessings

Gonzaga on rising to the moment

South Carolina on their confidence and underdog status

Downtown Phoenix gets ready for NCAA Final Four

North Carolina headed to Final Four with win over Kentucky

South Carolina makes history with Final Four berth

Oregon advances to first Final Four since 1939 with win over Kansas

Gonzaga advances to program's first Final Four

Piece by piece, the court for the NCAA Final Four tournament is put together in Glendale

Paola Boivin recaps Arizona's loss to Xavier

Shot Clock: Arizona knocked out; Raiders moving to Vegas?

Kansas and Oregon set up intriguing Elite 8 matchup

UCLA's Steve Alford talks about playing Kentucky

No. 11 Xavier upsets No. 2 Arizona to head to Elite Eight

A closer look at Sean Miller's salary and bonuses

March Madness: Craziest faces of the NCAA tournament

Scoreboard installed at University of Phoenix Stadium for Final Four

Media circus: A guide to March Madness

Oregon forward Jordan Bell (left) has stepped up in the absence of Chris Boucher, especially in the Ducks' Elite Eight win over Dwight Coleby (right) and Kansas.(Photo: Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports)

Oregon's ability to reach the NCAA Tournament'sFinal Four without Chris Boucher is born out of a two-year evolution of Boucher'srelationship with Jordan Bell more than any postseason revelation.

When the 6-foot-10 Boucher, among the nation's topshot blockers, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals March 10, the immediate assumption was that the Ducks' chances of a deep NCAA Tournament run were irreparably torn. It was, after all, Boucher on the cover of Sports Illustrated in November as a central reason why the Ducks were a preseason pick for the Final Four by SI and No. 5 in the Associated Press preseason top 25.

Boucher had a school-record 110 blocks in 2015-16, his first year at Oregon after transferring from Northwest College (Wyo.). He started all but three games with 6-9 Jordan Bell, who had a then-school-record 94 blocks as a freshman in 2014-15, coming off the bench. Their co-existence was uneasy at times particularly with Boucher's emergence in fall 2015 while Bell was still recovering from a broken foot.

"At first, people wanted it to be a competition between us, and I fell into that," Bell told The Oregonian. "That didn't work for me."

RELATED:Gonzaga center takes long, arduous route to Final Four

Bell finished strong last season, when Oregon lost in the Elite Eight, and after a summer in the pro-am Drew League, he came into his junior yearprimed for a breakout season regardless of his role.

Oregon coach Dana Altman started Boucher and Bell together for 10 of the first 11 games. Then, Boucher missed two games in December with a foot injury, and Altman decided to stick with 6-7 Dillon Brooks in the starting lineup and bring Boucher off the bench. Brooks went on to win Pac-12 Player of the Year, Bell raised his game tocareer high averages(10.9 points and 8.6 rebounds) and Boucher continued to be the big swatter with a Pac-12-leading 2.5 blocks per game plus 11.8 points and 6.1 boards.

"They get along really good," Altman said of Bell and Boucher. "Last year, I noticed more of a competition. Chris came in and started blocking more shots and Jordan was hurt and didn't play the first 10 games (in 2015-16). That bothered him. When they played together, they were both unselfish, and we had two guys out there that could change shots, which really made our defense more effective. Our defensive numbers are good because of those two guys. It was good to see them compete against each other for blocked shots. In practice, they went after reach other and made each other better."

With Boucher already coming off the bench, Oregon's starting lineup was not disrupted by the Boucher injury. Kavell Bibgy-Williams, a 6-11 junior from England, became the backup post with others asked to fill in part of the hole created by Boucher's injury.

MORE:Complete Final Four Arizona coverage

"It's everybody just stepping up and doing one extra thing," Bell said. "It put pressure on Kavell to be Chris, but Dillon (Brooks) and Casey (Benson)and everybody has to score two more points, get more rebounds, box out one more guy, do one more little thing."

Bell has done more than his share in four tournamentwins with the highlight being a school-record eight blocks in an Elite Eight win over No. 1-seed Kansas. He is averaging 13.2 points and 12.0 rebounds in the past five games, starting with an 83-80 loss to Arizona in the Pac-12 Tournament final that actually laid the groundwork for a run to the Ducks' first Final Four since 1939.

"We realized what we needed to do without Chris (against UA),the void we had to fill with him being out," Bell said. "Rebounding, scoring, defending. Guards knew they couldnt get beat as much. Everybody is just stepping up, keeping guys in front of them, not putting me in a difficult situation (for getting into foul trouble).

"When I got in the tournament, I really started focusing on rebounding. That makes the game so much easier for me because two things I can always control is me rebounding and me defending. Offense, all that stuff just comes better when Im doing those things better. Maybe I've been playing harder knowing that I have to do more on this stage that we're on."

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Lineup evolution helped Oregon Ducks overcome Chris Boucher injury en route to Final Four - AZCentral.com

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