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March Madness arrived with visions of chaos. Based on last year's bracket, there was little reason to doubt it. The only surprise so far has been the lack of pandemonium. The top two seeds from each region are headed to the Sweet 16 for just the fifth time. One double-digit seed will join them. Most of the Cinderellas that put the madness in March busted out of the bracket long before midnight. The bluebloods and big boys — many of them, anyway — are going to the regionals and they all want more. "I didn't come back to make the Sweet 16," Pur...
Houston still has a tight grip on No. 1 in the AP Top 25. The Cougars received 52 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel in the poll released Monday to hold the top spot for the second straight week. UConn moved up a spot to No. 2 and had six first-place votes to leapfrog No. 3 Purdue, which had four first-place votes. Tennessee and Arizona rounded out the top five. Houston moved to No. 1 for the first time this season a week ago and won both of its games last week: a 67-59 home win over Cincinnati and, thanks to Jamal Shead's...
No. 7 Oklahoma has passed every test during an undefeated season, winning seven of its first 10 games by 20 points or more. The Sooners will face what may be their biggest test so far this season on Wednesday, when they play an angry North Carolina team in its home state. "I see the gaps of mistakes keep shrinking," Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said. "And here's what's crazy: I feel like we've got a big room to get better, and I think they (the players) would say the same thing." The Sooners missed the NCAA Tournament in Moser's first season,...
The final week of the regular season is here, the calendar rounding toward March Madness. A handful of regular-season titles are already wrapped up. Several are still up in the air. Top-ranked Houston clinched the American Athletic Conference crown, earning at least a share for the fourth time in five years. No. 4 UCLA has its first Pac-12 championship since 2012-13. No. 10 Gonzaga and No. 17 Saint Mary's shared the West Coast Conference title after the Zags' 77-68 win last weekend. They could meet again in the WCC championship game March 7....
PHOENIX (AP) — The Luke Fickell era at Wisconsin will have a soft opening. Fickell will be on the sideline against Oklahoma State on Tuesday night in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. Most of the major decisions, like naming a starting quarterback, will be made by interim coach Jim Leonhard and the other current Badgers coaches. "There's been a lot of things that these guys have gone through this entire season," Fickell said. "The last thing they need in this three-week period of preparing for a bowl game is to have more change. Me being there e...
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Kansas spent the first 20 minutes forcing shots and passes, missing layups and pressing the issue instead of pressing forward. The next 20 turned into a master class in coaching by Bill Self — with a spicy dash of Remy Martin. No more big-game letdowns. Self had his elusive second national title. Grounded by North Carolina in an ugly first half, Kansas tightened up on defense to rev up its transition game and completed the largest comeback in NCAA championship history with a 72-69 win over North Carolina on Monday night. "I...
March Madness is about to get its roar back. A year after attendance was limited, the 2022 NCAA tournaments are a full-go for fans again. Arenas will be packed from San Diego to Buffalo, the road to a title paved with the sounds we've come to expect with all those buzzer beaters and breakout performances. Two years of pent-up energy is about to be released and it's going to be a noisy ride. Here's a few things to watch on the men's side as the NCAA Tournament kicks off with the First Four in Dayton, Ohio: THE FAVORITES Gonzaga. The Zags went...
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Oklahoma State was a step slow in the first half, appearing to be stuck in the desert sand while Notre Dame raced around the field. A quick scoring drive just before halftime gave the No. 9 Cowboys a spark and they rode it one of the biggest victories in school history. Led by Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State pulled off the biggest comeback in Fiesta Bowl history, overcoming a 21-point deficit to beat No. 5 Notre Dame 37-35 on Saturday. Sanders accounted for 496 yards and threw three of his four touchdown passes to Tay M...
The Pac-12 has become the second major conference to shift to a conference-only fall schedule amid growing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement came after a meeting of the Pac-12 CEO Group on Friday, a day after the Big Ten opted to eliminate nonconference games for all fall sports. "The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports continues to be our No. 1 priority," Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. "Our decisions have and will be guided by science and data, and...
Seton Hall's Myles Powell and Marquette's Markus Howard went head to head during the regular season in a pair of games befitting two of college basketball's most dynamic players. The potential for a third meeting washed away with the cancellation of the Big East tournament, then NCAA Tournament. Fear of the coronavirus has taken grip on the nation. The NCAA Tournament, which was slated to start in full on Thursday, has been turned into March Sadness. All those matchups college basketball fans look forward to every year have been replaced by...
A string of losses to unranked opponents led to upheaval in the AP Top 25 this week. Kansas kept winning, strengthening its grip on No. 1. The Jayhawks were the unanimous choice for the top spot in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll released Monday, receiving all 64 votes from the media panel. Gonzaga was No. 2, with Dayton, Baylor and San Diego State rounding out the top five. The Aztecs, No. 9 Maryland and No. 18 Iowa were the only other teams to hold their place after a week in which nine Top 25 teams lost to unranked opponen...
Baylor, Kansas, Gonzaga and San Diego State are the top seeds in the NCAA's preliminary rankings. The Bears were the No. 1 overall seed in rankings released Saturday by the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. The preliminary rankings, based on games through Friday, are designed to be a sneak peek at the selection process before the official seeds are revealed on Selection Sunday, which is March 15. The Final Four is March 27-29 in Atlanta. Baylor, which is No. 1 in the AP Top 25, was slotted in the South Region in Houston with...
Oklahoma's Trae Young took college basketball by storm, leading the nation in scoring and assists. Deandre Ayton played his one season at Arizona with power and athleticism few could match. Versatile big man Marvin Bagley III made his lone year a Duke a memorable one. The talented trio made history Tuesday by being named to the AP All-America team, the first time three freshmen were named to the first team in its 70-year history. They were joined by Villanova's Jalen Brunson and Kansas guard Devonte' Graham on the team selected by the same...
The first blow to college basketball came in September, when a federal investigation revealed hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks being funneled to influence recruits. The games went on under the dark cloud hanging over the sport, the season playing out while everyone wondered when the other sneaker would drop. It did on Friday, when a Yahoo Sports report revealed documents from the federal inquiry showing more than two dozen players and their relatives received a wide range of impermissible benefits, from meals to five-fig...
Oklahoma took college basketball by Sooner storm over the season's first two months, winning with a freewheeling style and Trae Young's nightly one-man show. Once the calendar flipped to 2018, the Sooners hit a Big 12 roadblock. College basketball's toughest conference has taken a toll on Oklahoma and its fabulous freshman, pushing the Sooners onto the NCAA Tournament bubble. "It's been tough for a while," Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. "We've got to keep battling. It's not going to get easier." Picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 preseason...
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Oklahoma State coach Brad Underwood motioned his team over for an early timeout, slammed his clipboard to the hardwood and began screaming. The Cowboys were lethargic, seemingly uninterested in playing defense. Once Underwood lit into them and replaced four starters, the Cowboys couldn't be stopped. Jeffrey Carroll had 20 points and Oklahoma State racked up 19 steals in a 97-70 win over Georgetown on Wednesday in the third-place game of the Maui Invitational. "We didn't guard anybody. We didn't do anything we talked a...
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — North Carolina has won the Maui Invitational three times, championships that were a springboard to two national titles and a trip to the Final Four. Keep playing like this and the Tar Heels could be looking at a repeat performance. Joel Berry III scored 24 points, Justin Jackson added 22 and No. 4 North Carolina steamrolled its way into the Maui Invitational championship game Tuesday night with a 107-75 victory over Oklahoma State. "We played a level much higher than at any other time this year," Tar Heels coach Roy W...
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Oklahoma State's relentless pressure caused havoc against lesser opponents through the first three games. It worked just as well in the Cowboys' first true test this season. Jawun Evans had 35 points and five of Oklahoma State's 18 steals, lifting the Cowboys to a 98-90 win over Connecticut Monday night in the opening round of the Maui Invitational. "I love the fact we had 18 steals. That's a great number," Oklahoma State coach Brad Underwood said. "That means we're being active and bothersome now." Oklahoma State (...
PHOENIX (AP, posted Sept. 5, 2016) — Despite all the rehabilitation, the headaches would not go away. The imbalance, while better, was still there. His speech improved, but vision and hearing issues persisted. Months after the blow that caused his concussion, Rudy Ayala still had significant symptoms. Though he loved playing football, the lingering problems, along with watching a friend suffer a similar injury, led Ayala to make a difficult decision: He walked away from football. "I just realized the damage that can happen to your brain with a...
