Michigan powers to 2nd national title and first since 1989
INDIANAPOLIS — High-scoring Michigan had to get down and dirty to dig out the national title Monday, making only two 3-pointers all night but still muscling its way to a 69-63 victory over stingy, stubborn UConn. Elliot Cadeau led the Wolverines with 19 points, including the team’s first 3, which...
North Carolina working to finalize deal to hire Michael Malone as basketball coach, AP source says
North Carolina is working toward finalizing a deal with NBA championship-winning coach Michael Malone to lead the Tar Heels’ basketball program, according to multiple reports. Malone would replace Hubert Davis, who was fired March 24 after five seasons as the successor to retired Hall of Famer Roy Williams. ESPN was...
UConn’s Alex Karaban started his career with 2 NCAA titles, now has chance at 3rd
INDIANAPOLIS — The word “legacy” hovers over the final hours of Alex Karaban’s playing career at UConn. The redshirt senior started his career with back-to-back championship seasons so perfect they still feel “like a dream.” He’ll close it with a chance to win a third NCAA title with Monday’s finale...
UConn men must overcome Michigan’s dominance in final to establish dynasty
INDIANAPOLIS — There’s a dynasty brewing in college basketball. And, in a perfectly fitting twist, UConn can cement that status by overcoming a Michigan powerhouse that is racking up historically impressive numbers, hoping to go down as one of the sport’s greatest teams itself. Those are the stakes in Monday...
Kye Robinson, Colin Mitchell help Mary Washington edge Emory for 1st D-III championshipVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Kye Robinson scored 27 points and Colin Mitchell scored on a putback at the buzzer as Mary Washington withstood a furious Emory rally for a 75-73 victory on Sunday to win its first Division III championship. Mitchell grabbed a miss by Robinson and scored the winner for Mary...
UCLA storms past South Carolina to claim its 1st NCAA women’s basketball title
PHOENIX — It’s mission accomplished for UCLA. Gabriela Jaquez, Lauren Betts and the rest of the UCLA seniors secured the first NCAA women’s basketball national championship in school history — a goal that was set after losing in the first Final Four last season. Jaquez scored 21 points, Betts added...
Pace Prosser’s double-double helps Gannon beat Lander 84-61 in Division II championship game
INDIANAPOLIS — Pace Prosser totaled 28 points and 11 rebounds and Gannon beat Lander 84-61 on Sunday to win the Division II Championship. Prosser made 10 of 19 shots with four 3-pointers for the Golden Knights (34-3) in a battle between two teams aiming for a first national championship. Prosser...
Michigan overpowers Arizona and reaches national title game with 91-73 win
INDIANAPOLIS — Michigan overpowered Arizona early and humbled the ‘Cats all night long, turning the Final Four meeting billed as the Game of the Year into a 91-73 Wolverines highlight reel Saturday night. Junior center Aday Mara scored a career-high 26 points and had nine rebounds, a dinged-up Yaxel Lendeborg...
UConn reaches 3rd national title game in 4 seasons, beating Illinois 71-62 behind Mullins and Reed
INDIANAPOLIS — Dan Hurley had UConn ready for another Final Four fight night. Again, his Huskies scored a knockout. Fabulous freshman Braylon Mullins made another last-minute 3-pointer — his only basket of the second half — and the Huskies muscled their way past Illinois, 71-62, on Saturday to reach their...
Dawn Staley eyes another title as South Carolina meets UCLA in the NCAA women’s final
PHOENIX — Dawn Staley has fond memories of her first trip as a coach to the NCAA championship game. It ended with South Carolina’s first national title nine years ago. She hopes that UCLA’s first time playing for an NCAA title won’t end the same way for the Bruins, who...
Auriemma and Staley clash in tense postgame exchange after South Carolina beats UConn in Final Four
PHOENIX — Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma’s coaching rivalry has had something for everyone on and off the court. It reached a dramatic peak Friday night, and the heated exchange between them stirred all the elements that make their matchups must-see TV. Auriemma said it started at the beginning of...
Tim Benz, Mike DeCourcy give 4 key storylines for this week’s Final FourVideo
Throughout the NCAA Tournament, Mike DeCourcy (Sporting News/Fox/Big Ten Network) and I have been breaking down the NCAA men’s basketball brackets region by region. Now we are down to the Final Four this Saturday in Indianapolis. Illinois plays UConn at 6:09 pm Saturday. Arizona and Michigan square off at 8:54...
South Carolina snaps UConn’s 54-game win streak in NCAA semis
PHOENIX — Ta’Niya Latson scored 16 and Agot Makeer added 14 points and South Carolina played stifling defense to beat UConn, 62-48, on Friday night, ending the Huskies’ 54-game winning streak and advancing to the women’s NCAA Tournament championship game. The Gamecocks will face the winner of Texas and UCLA...
Powerhouses Arizona, Michigan meet in Final Four in matchup with championship feel
INDIANAPOLIS — More than 24 hours before the first shot flew at a Final Four that really feels like a five-team affair, Arizona already had a win. The Wildcats kept their coach from bolting to that fifth team — North Carolina. Tommy Lloyd dropped the news of the contract extension...
Illinois tries to erase memories of previous matchups with UConn heading into Final Four
INDIANAPOLIS — Illinois coach Brad Underwood doesn’t need any reminders about what happened the last two times his team faced UConn. He can just plug in the game tapes, rewind them and watch them again. Back in November, the Huskies led wire-to-wire in a 74-61 victory. Two years ago in...
President Trump signs executive order that aims to stabilize college sports
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday aimed at restoring “order, fairness and stability” to college athletics. The order directs federal agencies to bolster the effectiveness of key rules on transferring, eligibility and pay-for-play by evaluating whether violations of such rules render a university unfit for federal grants and...
Height, size got Illinois, UConn, Arizona, Michigan to the Final Four
INDIANAPOLIS — Tarris Reed Jr. sat at his locker Thursday, fielding questions about his run as the interior-scoring, rebound-snagging force in UConn’s latest Final Four push. Yet he wasn’t the main attraction. That’s because across the room, an even bigger gaggle of reporters waited for freshman guard Braylon Mullins —...
Keaton Wagler leads deep group of talented freshmen still putting their imprint on March Madness
INDIANAPOLIS — Keaton Wagler’s high school basketball transcript contained everything a college coach would want in a recruit. The 6-foot-6 sharp-shooting Illinois guard helped Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in Kansas win its first two state titles, one coming with a perfect season. He won a school record 80 games...
Michigan starter Elliot Cadeau joins teammates at Final Four after accidental exposure to nuts
INDIANAPOLIS — Michigan starting point guard Elliot Cadeau rejoined his teammates for the Final Four and said Thursday his allergic reaction that required hospitalization a day earlier was the result of an accidental exposure to nuts. “I just ate something I was allergic to,” the junior said as he sat...
Kansas coach Bill Self is returning for a 24th season with the Jayhawks
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas basketball coach Bill Self is returning for a 24th season with the Jayhawks. The program released a statement from Self on Wednesday confirming his return for another year with the program he has led to 21 regular-season conference championships, four Final Fours and a pair of...
Geno Auriemma takes undefeated UConn team to Final Four for 9th time
Geno Auriemma is taking an undefeated UConn team into the women’s Final Four for the ninth time. This group, while extremely talented like the rest, is a bit different than the previous ones. Auriemma recalls those earlier teams with AP Player of the Year winners Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina...
Reed, Demary hoping to help UConn win title with transfers again
STORRS, Conn. — In the days and weeks after Silas Demary Jr. arrived on the next stage of his basketball career, he sought out the one UConn men’s player who was navigating a similar path coming from another power conference school. The year before Demary left Georgia to try to...
Texas’ Schaefer chasing an elusive title in 4th women’s Final Four
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas coach Vic Schaefer has come agonizingly close to winning a national championship. Close as in three previous trips to the Final Four. And two title game appearances, including one lost on a last-second 3-pointer. The 65-year-old Schaefer is close again. Only he’s over being close in...
Underwood waited 26 years for D-I job, now has Illinois in Final Four
Illinois’ Brad Underwood coached for 26 years before landing his first Division I head coaching job. Now in Year 39, the well-traveled 62-year-old finally is heading to the Final Four, where the Fighting Illini meet UConn on Saturday. He’s doing it in what he’s long referred to as his dream...
Nebraska-Missouri and Penn State-Kentucky volleyball matches are set for Wrigley Field in September
CHICAGO — Wrigley Field will host a women’s college volleyball doubleheader to highlight the Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge Week in September. The conferences announced Monday that Nebraska will play Missouri, and Penn State will meet Kentucky at the home of the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 6. Matchups between Big Ten...
