NCAA Tournament Page 14 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Midwest Region: Top seed Houston looks primed for Final Four run
The top-seeded Houston Cougars have been knocking on the door in recent seasons and now appear primed to make a championship run.,Houston has reached the Sweet 16 the past five times the NCAA Tournament has been played. That includes a Final Four appearance in 2021 and the Elite Eight in 2022.,Last ...

West Region: Intriguing coaching matchups loom in early rounds
When the NCAA Selection Committee members filled out the West Region bracket, they must have been looking ahead to potential coaching matchups in the second round.,How else to explain this:,Todd Golden, the coach of top-seeded Florida, has never won an NCAA Tournament game. If he gets the first one,...

10 players primed to become household names in NCAA Tournament
The last time a freshman was the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament was 2015, when point guard Tyus Jones piloted Duke to its fifth national championship. ,Jones -- and Jahlil Okafor, another freshman -- came up big for the Blue Devils, and Duke beat Wisconsin for the national title with...

South Region: Despite recent struggles, Auburn is No. 1 overall for a reason
The top overall seed, Auburn, lives here. Even though the Tigers wobbled a bit at the end of the regular season and Southeastern Conference tournament with three losses in four games, they still amassed a whopping 16 Quad 1 wins from a 28-5 worksheet.,They might have the nation's best player in John...

East Region: No. 1 Duke's chance for title run goes through Cooper Flagg
A decade has passed since Duke won its most recent of five national championships, the longest title drought for the program since claiming its first in 1991. All five of those titles came under the direction of legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski.,Duke has the firepower in 2025 to end an excruciating w...

UCLA grabs No. 1 overall seed in Women's NCAA Tournament
For nearly a monthlong span, UCLA wasn't the best team in its own city, losing twice to Southern California in conference play.,But after defeating USC in the Big Ten championship, the Bruins (30-2) regained Los Angeles bragging rights -- and on Sunday, they earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA...

Is Duke the team to beat at the NCAA Tournament?
There are enough factors to make Duke, the No. 1-ranked team in the East, an appealing choice to win the college basketball national championship.,The pieces will be in place if freshman Cooper Flagg is back in action for the NCAA Tournament.,It's no mystery that Duke has been eyeing its status as a...

Madness begins: Auburn lands No. 1 overall seed over Duke
The 2025 NCAA Tournament drama started the moment CBS revealed the first team on Selection Sunday., ,Despite losing three of its last four games, Auburn was rewarded with the No. 1 overall seed - ahead of a Duke squad that ranked No. 1 in the country according to the Associated Press, the USA Today ...

Akron, Drake, Grand Canyon top NCAA Tournament Cinderella candidates
Favorites are easier to follow in the NCAA Tournament, factoring familiarity and knowledge of known commodities with single-digit seeding in the bracket.,Spoiler alert: An underrated Cinderella team or three will pull an upset most don't see coming this week and fracture many bracket predictions alo...
Duke, Auburn, Houston, Florida: Meet the Final Four of Your Nightmares
Four 2025 NCAA Tournament teams look scarier than last year’s UConn. Your bracket doesn’t stand a chance....
Duke Might Have Proved More in Three Days Than in the Four Months Prior
The Duke Blue Devils proved that they can win without freshman sensation Cooper Flagg, proving more in their conference tournament than they have all year long....

Duke's Cooper Flagg (ankle) expected back for NCAA Tournament
Duke star freshman Cooper Flagg is expected to return from a sprained left ankle when the top-ranked Blue Devils begin their NCAA Tournament run next week.,NCAA senior vice president of men's basketball Dan Gavitt relayed the information during conference tournament coverage on CBS. ,"What we unders...
Cooper Flagg Injury: Duke Star Spotted in Wheelchair After Scary Ankle Injury
Duke Blue Devils star Cooper Flagg was seen in a wheelchair after a scary injury to his ankle during their quarterfinals game against Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament....
From Final Four to Fired: Why Kevin Keatts Didn’t Last at NC State
Kevin Keatts and NC State went on a Cinderella run last season, but Kevin Keatts didn't last much longer than that....

NC State fires coach Kevin Keatts year after Final Four run
Kevin Keatts was dismissed Sunday as head coach at North Carolina State, a year after leading his team on a magical run to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.,In a statement, athletic director Boo Corrigan said a national search for Keatts' successor would begin immediately.,"I want to thank Coac...
2025 NCAA Tournament: 3 Key Questions Still Unanswered
Get ready for March Madness with these three key NCAA Tournament questions still up in the air, from No. 1 seed battles to bubble team drama....
UC San Diego’s Dominance: A Mid-Major Cinderella in the Making
UC San Diego continues to dominate, making a rise from NCAA Division II to March Madness, this mid-major is truly a Cinderella story in the making....

NCAA Tournament expansion unlikely through 2026
Plans to expand the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournament fields appear to be in a timeout.,There had been talk of increasing from 68 teams to 72 or 76 teams in 2026 but there likely is not enough time left to finalize the details, NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt told CBS ...

Utah fires basketball coach Craig Smith
Utah fired basketball coach Craig Smith on Monday, effective immediately.,Assistant coach Josh Eilert will serve as interim head coach for the rest of the 2024-25 season.,Smith had a 65-62 record with the Utes, with the team at 15-12 (7-9 Big 12) following a 76-72 loss at UCF on Sunday. That defeat ...

UCLA named No. 1 seed in women's early bracket
The NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee tabbed UCLA, South Carolina, Texas and Notre Dame as the No. 1 seeds in its early projection of the top 16 seeds in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.,The committee revealed its early bracket Sunday and kept UCLA at the top, despite the Bruins' 71-60 loss ...