U.S./World Sports category, Page 61
Breaking down No. 6 Texas Tech vs. No. 11 N.C. State
No. 6 Texas Tech vs. No. 11 N.C. State 9:40 p.m. Thursday, PPG Paints Arena TV: CBS Winner plays: Winner of 3-Kentucky (23-9)/14-Oakland (23-11) Saturday in second round Series history: N.C. State leads 2-1 Texas Tech (23-10) Coach: Grant McCasland (1st season) How they got here: Texas Tech earned an...
Breaking down No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 14 Oakland
No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 14 Oakland 7:10 p.m. Thursday, PPG Paints Arena TV: CBS Winner plays: Winner of 6-Texas Tech (23-10)/11-N.C. State (22-14) on Saturday in second round Series history: First meeting Kentucky (23-9) Coach: John Calipari (15th season) How they got here: Kentucky earned an at-large bid from...
Big-time shot-makers return to big stage in NCAA Tournament
Nearly a year has passed since Lamont Butler hit a buzzer-beater that sent San Diego State to the NCAA championship game. He’s seen it so often on social media and TV that he never had search it out himself. “It’s kind of hard to miss it,” he said. Especially in...
NCAA Tournament Midwest Region preview: Purdue looks to bounce back after early exit
Purdue coach Matt Painter, reigning AP Player of the Year Zach Edey and the rest of the Boilermakers have had to carry with them all season the stink of becoming the second No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They can truly put...
NCAA Tournament South Region preview: Blue bloods to challenge top-seeded Houston
Houston has a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year but will have to navigate the likes of Duke, Kentucky and Marquette in the South Region if the Cougars are able to reach the Final Four. The Cougars (30-4) were rewarded after winning the Big...
Top seed South Carolina hopes its young talent will fuel March Madness run
COLUMBIA, S.C. — It has been a different run of perfection for South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, fueled by a lot of precocious, talented young players who make it difficult at times to know exactly what comes next. “It feels a little bit different because they’re so young,” said Staley,...
Breaking down No. 3 Creighton vs. No. 14 Akron
No. 3 Creighton vs. No. 14 Akron 1:30 p.m. Thursday, PPG Paints Arena TV: TNT Winner plays: Winner of No. 6 South Carolina (26-7)/No. 11 Oregon (23-11) on Saturday in second round Series history: Creighton leads 3-1 Creighton (23-9) Coach: Greg McDermott (14th season) How they got here: Creighton earned...
NCAA Tournament West Region preview: North Carolina back in spotlight as No. 1 seedVideo
North Carolina is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament West Region a year after being left out of the bracket. The fifth-ranked Tar Heels will open March Madness on Thursday just down the road in Charlotte against the First Four winner between Howard and Wagner. “To be given...
Purdue faces the ghost of a shocking March Madness loss. Virginia has some advice on how to move on
Purdue had just fallen unexpectedly in the Big Ten Tournament last week and Braden Smith sat down alongside star Zach Edey and coach Matt Painter to meet reporters. It took three questions to conjure a March Madness specter: the Boilermakers’ improbable loss as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded Fairleigh...
Micah Handlogten will rejoin Florida for NCAA tourney after breaking his leg in the SEC title game
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida center Micah Handlogten, who gruesomely broke his left leg two minutes into the Southeastern Conference championship game on Sunday, will be on hand to watch the Gators in the NCAA Tournament. Already using crutches while recovering from surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Handlogten will make...
NCAA Tournament East Region preview: UConn possesses ingredients for repeat
Connecticut opened the season with uncertainty about how well the Huskies would replace major pieces from last year’s run to the national championship. Any questions had been answered well before Selection Sunday. The top-ranked Huskies (31-3) will enter the NCAA Tournament as the overall No. 1 seed, headlining the East...
March Madness as we know it could be on way out amid seismic changes in college sports
Tracking the changes upending college sports can be as frenetic as flipping between all the games going down over the first week of March Madness. Ultimately, those changes could impact what America’s favorite basketball tournament looks like in the future — or whether it exists at all. News about “pay...
The 4 Grand Slams, the 2 tours and Saudi Arabia are all hoping to revamp tennis
The tennis leaders can agree that there is more money to be made. They also agree that the sport’s current structure could stand to change. The how’s and why’s and when’s of it all? Well, that’s open to discussion — and there is plenty of that happening now behind closed...
Melvin Council Jr. scores 21, Wagner beats Howard in First Four
DAYTON, Ohio — Wagner kicked off March Madness with the first NCAA Tournament win in program history, getting 21 points from Melvin Council Jr. and holding off a late rally by Howard to win 71-68 in the First Four on Tuesday night. The Northeast Conference champion Seahawks (17-15) advanced as...
From MVP to DNP: Florida believes guard Riley Kugel ‘will respond the right way’ after benching
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s Riley Kugel went from MVP to DNP in less than a year. The 6-foot-5 guard was so sensational down the stretch last season that he considered turning pro. Now, he’s the Gators’ biggest X-factor heading into the NCAA Tournament — assuming he even plays. Kugel was...
Purdue’s Edey, Tennessee’s Knecht, UNC’s Davis headline the AP men’s college All-America teamsVideo
For the second straight year, Purdue’s Zach Edey is the unanimous headliner for The Associated Press men’s college basketball All-America team. The 7-foot-4, 300-pound senior topped all 62 ballots from AP Top 25 poll voters in results released Tuesday. The reigning AP national player of the year claimed all 58...
NCAA Tournament practice sessions for all 8 teams open to public at PPG Paints Arena
Practice sessions at PPG Paints Arena for all eight teams competing in the NCAA Tournament first-round games will be open to the public Wednesday. Akron gets the day started at 11 a.m. followed by Creighton at 11:45 a.m., Oregon at 12:30 p.m., South Carolina at 1:15 p.m. and Oakland at...
Clemson joins Florida State, becomes 2nd school to sue ACC as it seeks to exit conference
Clemson sued the ACC in a South Carolina court Tuesday, joining Florida State in challenging the league’s right to charge schools hundreds of millions of dollars to leave. The complaint filed in Pickens County says the ACC’s “exorbitant $140 million” exit penalty and the grant of rights used to bind...
Triumph, heartbreak, shock: Unforgettable storylines within Pittsburgh’s history as March Madness host
Pittsburgh doesn’t have the lengthiest history of association with the NCAA Tournament, but plenty of memorable individual and team performances can be found spread across the six prior times the Big Dance featured first-weekend matchups in the city. The NCAA Tournament first came to Pittsburgh in 1997 and again in...
March Madness kicks off with First Four games and teams looking to do some bracket bustingVideo
DAYTON, Ohio — A year ago, Fairleigh Dickinson landed in the First Four and by the following weekend became one of the most improbable bracket-busters in NCAA Tournament history. After routing Texas Southern in Dayton, the 16th-seeded Knights — one of the shortest teams in the tournament facing the tallest...
Scottie Scheffler is reaching a dominance not seen since Tiger WoodsVideo
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Scottie Scheffler is next in line for comparisons with Tiger Woods because golf, like other sports, is always looking for the heir to the throne. Scheffler is playing great golf, measured as much by his elite ball-striking and alarming consistency as the results. He now...
South Carolina, Iowa, USC and Texas top women’s AP Top 25; they are also 1 seeds in NCAA TournamentVideo
South Carolina, Iowa, USC and Texas are the top four teams in the Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll, a day after all four were chosen as the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament that begins later this week. The undefeated Gamecocks remained the unanimous No. 1 choice...
UConn back at No. 1 in AP Top 25 ahead of repeat bid in March Madness
Reigning national champion Connecticut is back at No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll a day after being named the top overall seed for the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies moved up from No. 2 in Monday’s poll, trading spots with Houston after the Cougars’ lopsided...
NCAA Tournament presents Pittsburgh homecoming for Kentucky’s John Calipari, 2 playersVideo
Results for the past three years have been substandard for John Calipari and the Kentucky basketball team. The NCAA’s winningest men’s basketball program of all-time, Kentucky has been in a funk since going 9-16 during the covid-impacted 2020-21 campaign. But the Wildcats will look to get back to the elite...
South Carolina, Iowa, USC, Texas top seeds for women’s NCAA Tournament
Undefeated South Carolina is the top overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks are looking to become the 10th women’s basketball team to go undefeated for an entire season. They had a chance last season before falling just short against Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Final Four....
