NFL draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. was on ESPN 980 in Washington, DC, last week and discussed some of the teams that might be in position to take Andrew Luck should he declare for the 2011 draft. Carolina, which at 2-12 owns the NFL's worst record, took Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen in the second round of last year's draft, but Kiper said the Panthers shouldn't pass up the opportunity to grab Luck.

The difference between Clausen and Luck is Luck is going to have a 9.8 grade, Clausen had a 9.3 grade. That's a big difference. Elway had a 9.9. A lot of quarterbacks have 9.1s, 9.2s, and 9.3s. [Matthew] Stafford was in that 9.4 range. So I'm talking about 9.8 being super elite.

At least one Charlotte columnist agreed, while fellow draft expert Todd McShay says he's been told "seven times in the past month" that Luck is leaning heavily toward returning to Stanford.

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"We made some big mistakes down the stretch," said Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer of the Cardinal's 82-72 overtime loss at Tennessee. | Mercury News

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