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🏀 Five things to know Monday
- The men’s Final Four is set, and two spots remain in the women’s tournament. And then there were four. No. 1 Michigan, No. 1 Arizona, No. 2 UConn and No. 3 Illinois are headed to Indianapolis, where two games stand between them and a national championship in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Wolverines are ever-so-slight betting favorites to win the whole thing, but each team has a case to climb to the mountaintop. Here’s how to catch the action on Saturday. The women’s tournament, meanwhile, has a little more Elite Eight business to settle. The regional finals will wrap up tonight when two teams join top-seeded UConn and UCLA in clinching Final Four berths.
- Tiger Woods was charged with DUI after a rollover car crash. Woods’ fourth known car accident since 2009 occurred Friday when he clipped a trailer and his vehicle rolled onto the driver’s side. There were no injuries. While a Breathalyzer test showed Woods did not have alcohol in his system, authorities said he showed “signs of impairment” and refused a urinalysis test. He was detained for eight hours.
- The Sun will relocate to Houston. The WNBA is coming back to Houston. The Fertitta family reportedly agreed to purchase the Sun for $300 million and move them from Connecticut to Texas, pending league approval. If the deal goes through, the Sun will play in Connecticut this season before moving to the Toyota Center in Houston and reviving the “Comets” team name in 2027. This is the largest sale of a franchise in league history and comes after the WNBA pushed back on then-Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca purchasing and moving the team to Boston.
- Bruce Cassidy is out as Golden Knights coach. With just eight games remaining in the regular season, Vegas announced a coaching change that it hopes will stop its slide. Stanley Cup champion
John Tortorella will take over ahead of the playoffs and is tasked with reinvigorating a squad that is a measly 5-10-2 since the Olympic break and has fallen to third place in the NHL’s Pacific Division. - The United States Men’s National Team faced a reality check in their latest pre-World Cup friendly. The USMNT put on a concerning performance in their 5-2 loss to Belgium, surrendering five consecutive goals. The defeat emphasized a glaring lack of depth and suggested the Americans could be in for another rough showing Tuesday against Portugal. Plus, superstar Christian Pulisic is in the midst of a three-month goal drought. All of this comes just three months ahead of the World Cup and leaves players with just one final opportunity to show they belong on the squad.
⚖️ Do not miss this: NBA proposes anti-tanking measures
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Tanking has been the talk of the NBA since the All-Star break, leaving Adam Silver with no choice but to implement measures to curb what appear to be intentional losses. After more than a month of brainstorming, the league reportedly proposed three potential solutions at its board of governors meeting last week that would change the draft lottery.
- Option A: 18-team lottery including seeds Nos. 7-15; flat odds for 10 worst teams; every pick drawn in lottery
- Option B: 22-team lottery including first-round playoff losers; order determined by cumulative two-year record; 25-win floor; top four picks drawn in lottery
- Option C: 18-team lottery including seeds Nos. 7-15; flat odds for five worst teams; drawing for top five picks; second drawing for next 13 picks
While the selected option should, on paper, curb the tanking crisis, it could also come with unintended consequences. Sam Quinn explained why each of them could backfire. In fact, he argued that tanking is simply an unfixable problem.
- Quinn: “The trouble here is that there is no objective definition of tanking. You know it when you see it. So the NBA would either have to invent strict, measurable criteria for tanking, or it would have to ask its fans to trust it to enforce subjective rules consistently. I just don’t think either is possible.”
In addition to the three options, the league could also implement harsher penalties for offending tankers. Under the proposal, Silver would have the power to take away a team’s first-round pick, move that pick to the end of the lottery or first round and fine the team millions of dollars.
⛹️♂️ Men’s Sweet 16, Elite Eight recap
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Two more rounds of the Men’s NCAA Tournament are in the books. Let’s relive everything from the second batch of Sweet 16 games onward.
- Friday (Sweet 16): Both No. 1 seeds, Duke and Michigan, took care of business to close the Sweet 16. UConn nearly squandered a 19-point lead but held on to defeat No. 3 Michigan State. No. 6 Tennessee cruised past a Joshua Jefferson-less No. 2 Iowa State.
Duke was perhaps the most impressive winner of the day because of its toughness. Caleb Foster somehow returned to action a mere three weeks after undergoing foot surgery.
On the losing side, Kelvin Sampson saw a perfect opportunity to return to the Final Four slip through his fingers. He said he still enjoys coaching, but at 70 years old, his long-term future at Houston gets murkier by the year. Meanwhile, Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino made it clear they intend to keep coaching at 71 and 73, respectively.
Tommy Lloyd is the first coach to take the Wildcats to the Final Four since the great Lute Olson, and he did it his own way. Brad Underwood has a formula of his own, too, and it involves a whole lot of European firepower.
Unfortunately for Matt Painter, a significant rebuild is in store with his veteran core reaching its end in the Elite Eight defeat.
With one heroic shot, UConn freshman Braylon Mullins became a tournament icon and will (possibly) never need to buy another ice cream at Storrs’ Dairy Bar. His game-winning 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds to play in the team’s magical win is the shot of March and a moment that will live on in Huskies lore — especially if they go on to win another title. It also means Jon Scheyer has to stomach another stunning exit from the dance.
⛹️♀️ Women’s Sweet 16, Elite Eight recap
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Two spots in the Final Four are secured in the Women’s NCAA Tournament, and the other two will be claimed tonight. This is how we got here.
- Friday (Sweet 16): UConn and UCLA continued their dominance while No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 3 Duke both pulled off upset wins over No. 2 seeds Vanderbilt and LSU, respectively.
Ashlon Jackson sent the Tigers packing and became a March Madness hero with a 3-pointer that put Duke on top at the buzzer. And in the other upset, Hannah Hidalgo stole the show with a 31-point triple-double that included 10 steals. Mikayla Blakes, meanwhile, came up on the losing end of the tremendous guard battle in Vanderbilt’s loss.
A couple of coaches made headlines, too. Kim Mulkey dismissed retirement chatter following LSU’s heartbreaking defeat, and Geno Auriemma put the NCAA on blast for how it operates the tournament.
- Saturday (Sweet 16): It was a chalky day for the bracket as all four favorites (No. 1 Texas, No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 Michigan and No. 3 TCU) won by double digits.
No. 10 Virginia saw its Cinderella run come to an end, but not before Kymora Johnson made a name for herself as a tournament star with quite the backstory.
- Sunday (Elite Eight): UConn and UCLA secured their spots in the Final Four and did so by double digits. It took a comeback from the Bruins, though, who trailed Duke by as many as 10 points.
The Huskies are inevitable. The reigning national champions fulfilled their destiny with a return to the Final Four, and all that’s left is to hoist another trophy. After their defense stymied Hidalgo and the Fighting Irish, it looks capable of carrying them to another championship.
👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest
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- It was a historic weekend in the NWSL. The San Diego Wave signed Catarina Macario on a five-year, $8 million contract that makes her the highest-paid player in the league. A day later, Denver Summit FC obliterated the previous NWSL attendance record when 63,004 fans showed up to their inaugural home game.
- In this weekend’s ABS news, oft-criticized umpire C.B. Bucknor had six calls overturned in one game. And Twins manager Derek Shelton became the league’s first ABS-related ejection in another game for arguing a challenge.
- Tottenham are on to their third manager of the Premier League season after sacking Igor Tudor 44 days into his reign.
- Five-time Gold Glove winner and two-time World Series champion Jason Heyward announced his retirement.
- Michael Jordan explained on CBS Sunday Morning why he doesn’t consider himself the greatest basketball player of all time.
- Tony Vitello shouldered the blame for the Giants‘ dreadful start.
- Less than a week after the NBA rescinded his 16th technical foul, Luka Dončić picked up another T, which comes with an automatic one-game suspension.
- Just three weeks after opening up about his PTSD battle, Gary Woodland pulled away for a comfortable Houston Open victory.
- Trinidad Chambliss remains on track to play for Ole Miss in 2026 after the Mississippi Supreme Court denied the NCAA’s appeal.
- Demetrious Johnson, a.k.a. “Mighty Mouse,” will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
- The Commanders are leaving the door open for Bobby Wagner to return, but the free-agent linebacker could have numerous options elsewhere.
- Joe Pyfer defeated Israel Adesanya via second-round TKO at UFC Fight Night. And there were some frightening moments earlier in the card when Maycee Barber remained unconscious for at least a minute in a stoppage loss.
- Anthony Colandrea looked like Nebraska‘s clear No. 1 quarterback in the Cornhuskers’ spring game.
- The 49ers launched an investigation into whether a nearby electrical substation was to blame for their rash of soft-tissue injuries.
- Randy Orton defeated Matt Cardona and RKOed Jelly Roll on WWE SmackDown.
- Mets fans are already booing Bo Bichette, and he’s perfectly fine with that.
- Injuries continue to plague Arsenal with 10 players withdrawing from international competition.
- Sebastian Fundora delivered a TKO stoppage of Keith Thurman to retain his WBC junior middleweight title.
- The Warriors reportedly made a run at Kawhi Leonard at the trade deadline.
- Mark Cuban is in favor of the NBA shortening its games to 40 minutes, but that could be a logistical nightmare.
- Bengals 315-pound offensive lineman Dalton Risner went viral for running a mile at a 7:41 pace.
- Odell Beckham Jr. seeks a return to the NFL after a year away from football. Here are five possible landing spots.
📺 What we’re watching Monday
⚽ Men’s friendly: Cyprus vs. Moldova, Noon on FS2
⚽ Men’s friendly: Germany vs. Ghana, 2:45 p.m. on FS1
⚾ Pirates at Reds, 6:40 p.m. on FS1
🏀 Women’s Elite Eight: No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 1 Texas, 7 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 76ers at Heat, 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Network
🏒 Penguins at Islanders, 7 p.m. on NHL Network
🏀 Bulls at Spurs, 8 p.m. on Peacock
🏀 Women’s Elite Eight: No. 3 TCU vs. No. 1 South Carolina, 9 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 Pistons at Thunder, 9:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Network
⚾ Giants at Padres, 9:40 p.m. on FS1
