Pittsburgh has a national champion basketball team -- and its players are only in the second grade. Team C.R.O.N.S. -- an acronym for Come Ready Or Never Start -- won the 8-and-under boys' title at the AAU national championships June 27-July 4 in Memphis, Tenn. The seven-player team is coached by former Pitt basketball players Gil Johnson and Darelle Porter and sponsored by another former Panthers player, Pat Cavanaugh. Team C.R.O.N.S. won Pool C, beating the Southeast Tennessee Stallions (32-10); the Arkansas Hawks (33-12) and the Potomac Valley Metro Sixers (39-36) to advance in the 29-team national tournament. After receiving a first-round bye, Team C.R.O.N.S. beat the Florida Raptors (28-21), the Memphis Magic (41-9) and the Central Kentucky Warriors (31-22) to reach the finals. Team C.R.O.N.S. beat the Indiana 100 percent Hoosiers, 46-27, in the title game. "We had to go through Allen Iverson's godson and Doc Rivers' son to win the championship," Johnson said. "These kids have been playing fourth- and fifth-graders the last two years because there are no other teams to play against. They've excelled against kids that age, so I knew we'd do well."

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