the-ncaa-tournament Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Can college basketball’s AFC Richmond bounce back from their season finale?
Lamont Butler’s dagger as the buzzer sounded in Houston was a coup de grâce to Florida Atlantic’s storybook season. From being picked fifth in the preseason conference tournament to blitzing through their schedule, the Owls served wake-up calls to each and every one of their opponents en route to th...
Caitlin Clark stands on her own after stellar Elite Eight performance
There’s a big phenomenon when conversing about sports to find the next big thing, or who a younger athlete could become when she or he reaches their potential. Kobe Bryant or LeBron James having a Michael Jordan-like arch dominated conversations for over a decade. The name of baseball’s next great p...
Florida Atlantic athletic director still speechless after Final Four berth
From the eighth-floor lobby of Manhattan’s New York Marriott Marquis hotel, Florida Atlantic athletic director Brian White couldn’t find the exact words to describe what being in the Sweet 16 meant to the Owls’ program and community as a whole. And that was nearly six hours before tipoff of FAU’s wi...
Tennessee and FAU’s ADs are brothers — and their schools faced off in the Sweet 16
NEW YORK — As the NCAA Tournament bracket was released 11 days ago, both Danny White and Brian White knew only one of their schools could get to the Final Four before they knew who Tennessee or Florida Atlantic would play to open the yearly showcase. Three complete regions had been called without a ...
Florida Atlantic proves just how quickly its tenacity can make opponents unravel
NEW YORK — Don’t let Florida Atlantic hang around. Memphis messed around and found out. Fairleigh Dickinson truly never had the legs to keep up with the Owls, but also felt the result of letting the grittiest team in the nation have time to respond. Surely a Rick Barnes-coached team from a battle-te...
Markquis Nowell authored the quintessential point Guard-en Party to vanquish Michigan State
NEW YORK — The last time an East Regional was held in Madison Square Garden, diminutive UConn point guard, Shabazz Napier led the Huskies to an unexpected Final Four and a national title. Flash forward nine years and Kansas State’s 5-foot-8 floor general, Markquis Nowell, staked his claim as New Yor...
Don’t label Princeton an underdog — it’s PRINCETON!
The days between games during the NCAA Tournament can feel like months. Practices are held. Flights are booked. Press conferences are completed. Stories are written. Narratives are created. And while most love an underdog, there’s one that’s received the label without filling the criteria. Because d...
NCAA Tournament Sweet 16's most vulnerable teams
By the time this week is over, the NCAA Tournament field will again shrink by at least 400 percent. One-fourth of the teams to win a pair of March Madness games last week will do so again. Half of them won’t win one more game. And after riding high over the last week and adding important wins to a p...
The men's NCAA Sweet 16 storylines to watch
The Sweet 16 is when the NCAA Tournament starts to feel less like an ear-splitting house party and more like an interpersonal kickback in the penthouse suite. The setting is more personal, the opponents are scouted more thoroughly and the quality of basketball gets upgraded significantly. The CBS an...
Penn State wrestler insults Muslims; NCAA tweets it out
Penn State wrestler Aaron Brooks could have been another heartwarming story. He’d just won his third consecutive national title in the 184-pound division, he’s a devoted Christian and is brolic enough to take down a small polar bear, or at least a panda. ...
St. John’s makes it clear: Winning is more important than ethical standards with Rick Pitino hire
The last three decades have turned the St. John’s men’s basketball program from one of the most sacred brands in collegiate sports to an indifferent sigh. The Red Storm try to label themselves as New York’s college basketball team — the only non-low-major program inside America’s most populous urban...
The best NBA games on this week’s schedule
This is the time of year in which sports fans should be primarily focused on the Men’s and Women’s college basketball postseason tournaments. The “amateurs” have put on quite a show that deserves attention this week....
Stop bitching about the World Baseball Classic
We tend not to appreciate things that don’t matter as much to us as it does others. If there’s anything more American than “I got mine,” I don’t know what that would be. That seems to be the trouble with the World Baseball Classic, even though with every iteration it seems to pick up more steam. The...
The big man is dead in basketball until further notice
I have a question for both college and NBA basketball fans: When was the last time a team won anything with a low-post big man as their No. 1 option? Purdue’s Zach Edey is going to take home a treasure trove of hardware, and lucky for him, he’ll be at his place of residence to make sure no one poach...
I called Saint Peter’s and Furman, now Auburn is going to take down No. 1 Houston
Now that my undefeated record of picking No. 13 seeds or lower in the NCAA Tournament publicly is still intact after Furman’s victory over Virginia on Thursday, I’m deciding to not rest on my laurels and tell you all about another prediction I made earlier this week. For fans of Deadspin’s Agree to ...
South Carolina women’s basketball team is the best in the NCAA Tournament — regardless of gender
Whether you call it irony or coincidence, the best team playing during college basketball’s biggest moment during a month that’s dedicated to the history of women makes too much sense. Yes, we all think of the men’s game when we think of March Madness. And yes, the men’s game brings in all the money...
Presenting the ‘You Gotta Be Kidding Me’ Team from opening day of March Madness
If you’re like me — an NBA fan who pivots to college basketball for a few weeks in March — the best part of the NCAA tournament is the unknown. What I don’t know about draft stock, a coach, a player, a team, or anything, makes the discovery all the more entertaining....
March Badness: Scandals defined the year in college hoops
In a year devoid of a dominant blue blood or player, college basketball stayed in the headlines for the worst reasons. Preseason No. 1 UNC whiffed on the season and missed the tournament entirely. Gonzaga is relying on a normal supply of veteran talent, but is less interesting to watch for casual fa...
It would be nice if Black coaches got second chances like Chris Beard and Will Wade
March Madness is officially here. And if you’re reading this you more than likely have a game on in the background as you’re working from home — or in the office — or did the smart thing and took the first two “real” days of the NCAA Tournament off. But, outside of the upsets, brackets, and copious ...
From the guy who told you about Saint Peter's: Furman is about to bust your bracket
Last year, I believe I was the only person on the internet who sang the praises of Saint Peter’s before the NCAA Tournament. And then it shocked the nation by beating then-No. 2 seed Kentucky. And the Peacocks won two more games before they ended their season one step short of the Final Four. I’m ba...