Los Angeles Lakers

This article was originally published on Jan. 16, 2021.
We&rsquo;ve all been here before.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s a random Wednesday. Full slate of games, hard to keep track of everything. Maybe you&rsquo;re peeping an ESPN matchup. Perhaps you&rsquo;re watching your favorite team on the local channel if you&rsquo;re in the market, or you&rsquo;re streaming it LEGALLY ON NBA LEAGUE PASS BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY WAY YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO IT. WINK.&nbsp;
But anyway, you&rsquo;re watching a game. You&rsquo;re roaming Twitter. And then a tweet catches your eye: PLAYER X HAS DUNKED ON LEBRON JAMES.
Your brow raises. You see a few tweets from your online pals big-upping the play. You&rsquo;re really interested now. You click on the video from a Big Social Media Account. And this is the dunk:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/brr.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
The excitement drops a little bit. That&rsquo;s a nice dunk from Wendell Carter Jr. LeBron James is underneath the basket, and there&rsquo;s a challenge. But something doesn&rsquo;t feel right about it.&nbsp;
Then you see a different angle of the Dunk Heard &lsquo;Round The World.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/wendell-w-lebron-in-the-area.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
You feel betrayed. LeBron didn&rsquo;t get dunked on; LeBron&rsquo;s arm got dunked on as he jumps out of the darn play! This isn&rsquo;t <a href="https://youtu.be/xtOUpybXmzo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scottie Pippen on Patrick Ewing</a> or <a href="https://youtu.be/6kBWO82HUa4?t=28" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vince Carter on Alonzo Mourning</a>! I can yell at these clouds if I want to!
If you&rsquo;re anything like me, you&rsquo;re tired of being misled. If I hear or read that a player got baptized, I want to see some Holy Water coming out of the rim after the aerial duel. And if you are like me, this is the piece for you. This is the guide of all guides, breaking down the different types of dunks. A universal standard of slams, if you will, so we can finally get on the same page about poster dunks.
A brief note before digging in. I am using a tier system so it&rsquo;s easier to separate the types of dunks. Like many things in life, the scale can slide on a case-by-case basis. For example, breakaway dunks are generally uncontested, which makes them the lowest tier of dunk for me. However, a breakaway dunk from 360-enthusiast Zach LaVine is different -- and much cooler -- than the two-handed flushes we see from Jimmy Butler. Each dunk is still its own thing.&nbsp;
Disclaimer: Alley-oops can fall under virtually all of these categories, with the obvious exception of put-backs.
TIER 10: BREAKAWAYS
Break-away dunks are pretty self-explanatory. There&rsquo;s a long rebound after a miss. A player leaks out early, and gets a dunk with no resistance. They&rsquo;re pretty basic with a few exceptions. LaVine, Paul George or Glenn Robinson III may bust out a 360 or windmill on occasion. LeBron has made the one-handed tomahawk a staple of his repertoire.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lebron-tomahawk.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
It&rsquo;s basic, but it&rsquo;s so darn cool. Power, a little bit of flair, the hang time. All that good stuff.
TIER 9: TIP SLAMS
I like the timing, positioning and coordination it takes to pull off a putback slam. The lower-level ones are uncontested, but can be rated higher depending on the work a player puts in before the ball comes off the rim. Take this multiple-effort possession from Larry Nance Jr. as an example:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/larry-nance-jr-putback.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 8: BUSINESS DECISIONS
The OG: Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal
Also popularized by: LeBron James, Blake Griffin, Zion Williamson
This is for the power dunkers. Whether it&rsquo;s in transition, flowing off of a broken play or rumbling down the lane after a high-ball screen, it&rsquo;s hilarious to watch players actively decide, &ldquo;Nope, I don&rsquo;t get paid enough for this.&rdquo; Take this play from the 2016-17 season, featuring Blake Griffin:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/willy-hernangomez-business-decision.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
The key actor here is Willy Hernangomez (No. 14). He is watching this snug pick-and-roll all the way through. His man, noted three-point marksman DeAndre Jordan, is chilling above the break. Not only can Hernangomez make the rotation to cut off Griffin at the rim, he should make that rotation because Jordan is not a threat at all. Instead, he begins to load up, quickly realizes that Griffin will put him in the gulag, and decides against challenging the shot.
Hilarious sequence.
TIER 7: FLY-BYS
This is where having a discerning eye is important. When you think about it, this kind of dunk -- and the praise that these types of dunk typically generate -- is about deception.
A defender jumps across a player to make it look like he&rsquo;s legitimately challenging the dunk. There&rsquo;s no real threat of a block or swipe. The dunk happens because, again, there&rsquo;s no real threat to it otherwise. And somehow both players end up looking good. The dunker gets &ldquo;poster&rdquo; equity they don&rsquo;t deserve; the defender gets a slight pat on the back for giving effort instead of making a business decision.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/hhh.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
It&rsquo;s all a darn farce. A cool-looking farce at times, but a farce nonetheless.&nbsp;
TIER 6: SELF-LOBS
We&rsquo;ve reached the coolest of the non-contact dunks. It doesn&rsquo;t get much better than throwing the ball to yourself for a slam, man. Look at Jamal Murray getting himself out of trouble.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/jamal-murray-self-lob.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 5: &ldquo;IN THE VICINITY&rdquo; SLAMS (Also known as ITVs)
Folks, the rubber is starting to reach the road. The ITVs involve actual attempts at a contest and/or a little contact, a step up from the Fly-bys. This is where I&rsquo;d say the Wendell-on-LeBron dunk falls, though I wouldn&rsquo;t be mad at anyone that would classify it as a Fly-by. A better example would be this slam from Matisse Thybulle last season.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/mfff.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
There&rsquo;s an attempt at a challenge, but Thybulle still gets the better of Mason Plumlee. But Plumlee doesn&rsquo;t get dunked on. There isn&rsquo;t enough contact to call it a poster of the highest order.&nbsp;
This is also where failed chasedown blocks come in. With guys flying in from behind, the dunk-on element just isn&rsquo;t there most of the time. Take the famous Kobe-on-LeBron dunk from the 2011 All-Star game.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/kobe-on-lebron.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 4: PUTBACK POSTERS
I&rsquo;ve always gone back and forth with myself about where to place these types of dunks. On one hand, the blindsided nature of it makes it a bit unfair to defenders. You can&rsquo;t defend against what you can&rsquo;t see. However, there&rsquo;s enough contact at play, and a player Mossin&rsquo; a dude and flushing it down is generally some high level stuff.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/gerald-green-putback-poster.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Yes, that is the #BASED and #RARE Gerald Green in a Celtics uni. And yeah that&rsquo;s Mason Plumlee again. Sorry, man.
TIER 3: DUNK-ONS/CHARGE CRUSHERS
We&rsquo;ve reached the portion of the program where dudes are getting legitimately yammed on, but there are a couple of factors that keep it from ranking higher.
First, the level of contest still matters. A lot of these dunks feature dudes sliding over in an attempt to take a charge (hence the alternative name). The higher level posters feature someone trying to actually block the dunk. Sure, a charge and blocked dunk are functionally the same in terms of the result the defense wants -- taking away two points -- but we&rsquo;re talking about highlights here.&nbsp;
Secondly, and I admit we&rsquo;re splitting hairs a bit, size also matters. The first dunk I thought of was Nuggets-era J.R Smith yamming it over Gary Neal:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/jrs.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Objectively a good dunk, but Gary Neal is ground bound and short. You have to dock some points there. I&rsquo;m sorry. The famous DeAndre Jordan-on-Brandon Knight flush, while iconic, also falls in this category.
The higher end of this would be another classic involving the Spurs: LeBron dunking on Tim Duncan.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lebron-on-tim-duncan.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
That&rsquo;s more like it.
TIER 2: THE THROW-IN
THE OG: Blake Griffin
ALSO POPULARIZED BY: Derrick Jones Jr.
DUNK TRUTHERS DON&rsquo;T READ THIS!
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Dunk Truthers are stupid poopyheads.&nbsp;
Yes, we&rsquo;re well aware that dunks that involve the rim being grabbed -- or at least touched -- are more pure, whatever the heck that means. But you look at Blake Griffin embarrassing the life out of Timofey Mozgov and tell me it isn&rsquo;t one of greatest athletic feats you&rsquo;ve ever seen.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/blake-over-mozgov.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Derrick Jones Jr. has some gnarly ones in his bag as well, highlighted by this lob he converted against the Raptors that still doesn&rsquo;t make much sense to me.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/hyyy.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 1: THE PURE POSTER
Pippen on Ewing. Carter on &lsquo;Zo. <a href="https://youtu.be/tYpwjB0IzoU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baron Davis on Andrei Kirilenko</a>. Michael Jordan on, well, name almost any big man you can think of that played in the '90s.&nbsp;
We can go more modern, like Larry Nance Jr. doing this to pre-DPOY-candidate Brook Lopez:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lrrr.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Another hidden gem: young DeMar DeRozan throwing the hammer down over Rudy Gobert:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/derozan-on-gobert.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
The constant for these dunks: full-on, body-to-body contact with a legitimate attempt for a contest. You&rsquo;ll know it when you see it.
BONUS TIER: THE VINCE CARTER
Yeah, this is still the best dunk I&rsquo;ve ever seen.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/vince-carter-dunk-of-death.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
You clear a seven footer, you get your own dunk tier. Those are the rules.

Nekias Duncan has put together the guide of all guides, breaking down the different types of dunks and rating them on a tier system.

The Dunk-tionary: The official guide to ranking dunks

Today, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) announced their continued partnership in hosting the fifth&nbsp;annual Top 50 Basketball Camp. The camp will take place July 27&ndash;29 at Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, GA. &nbsp; The best players from each conference will be featured at the camp in a model like the NBPA's Top 100 Camp. Players at the Top 50 Camp will participate in basketball skill training exercises and attend leadership and life development sessions off the court. &nbsp; "NBPA members have a true appreciation for HBCUs, and the Top 50 Camp is a great way for the NBPA to continue strengthening its connection with the HBCU community," said Purvis Short, the NBPA's Chief of Player Programs. "Our partnership with the SIAC and SWAC has given us a unique opportunity to host a productive learning experience for HBCU athletes to better themselves as men on and off the court." The camp also aims to cultivate and create coaching and talent pipelines for current and retired NBA players exploring the transition into careers in intercollegiate athletics. &nbsp; "The Southwestern Athletic Conference is elated to continue our partnership with the NBPA Top 50 Camp," said SWAC Commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland. "This partnership is an amazing opportunity for our student-athletes to participate in athletic and professional development initiatives that will positively impact them both on and off the court. This event has steadily grown and has quickly become a signature event that our student-athletes look forward to participating in on an annual basis." &nbsp; In addition to skill development and on-court drills, the camp will include a series of highly-competitive scrimmages and games, allowing the players to showcase their talent against the best of their neighboring conference. &nbsp; "I commend the NBPA for its commitment to HBCUs as The Top 50 Camp serves as a basketball combine for our student-athletes to showcase their talents while receiving instruction from current and former NBA players," said SIAC Commissioner Anthony Holloman. &nbsp; Camp participants from the SIAC include:
<table border="0" width="432" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">First Name</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Last Name</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">College or University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Aziel</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Blackwell</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Kentucky State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Devin</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Booker</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Tuskegee University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Eleik</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Bowles</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Savannah State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Gregg</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Boyd II</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Tuskegee University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Steven</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Dulley</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Tuskegee University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Ashton</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Hawkins</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Spring Hill College</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Martez</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Jones</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Tuskegee University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Robert</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Kendrick</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Fort Valley State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Kong</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Kong</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Kentucky State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Myson</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Lowe</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Fort Valley State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Steven</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Lyles</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Spring Hill College</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Chris</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Martin</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Clark Atlanta University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Joemel</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">McNair</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Morehouse College</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Jamir</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Moore</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Albany State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Sean</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Paige</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Central State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Ayjay</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Plain</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Savannah State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Antwoin</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Reed Jr</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Central State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Kerry</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Richardson</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Morehouse College</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Jordan</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Simpson</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Albany State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Raevon</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Thomas</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Central State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Terin</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Wofford</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Albany State University</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp; Camp participants from the SWAC include: &nbsp;</div>
<table border="0" width="432" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">First Name</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Last Name</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">College or University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Chase</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Adams</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Jackson State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Jaylen</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Bates</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Florida A&amp;M University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Eric</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Coleman</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Alabama State</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Zeke</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Cook</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Jackson State university</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Dhashon</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Dyson</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Bethune Cookman University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Ken</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Evans Jr.</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Jackson State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Jeremiah</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Gambrell</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Alcorn State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Kolby</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Granger</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Texas Southern University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Zion</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Harmon</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Bethune Cookman University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">P. J.</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Henry</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Texas Southern University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Elijah</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Hulsewe</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Bethune Cookman University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Byron</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Joshua</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Alcorn State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Jeremiah</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Kendall</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Alcorn State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">T. J.</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Madlock</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Alabama State</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Romelle</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Mansel</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Jackson State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Kylen</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Milton</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">University of Arkansas Pine Bluff</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Zytarious</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Mortle</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Texas Southern University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Festus</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Ndumanya</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Southern University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Omari</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Peek</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Alabama A&amp;M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Dailin</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Smith</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Alabama A&amp;M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">D. K.</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Thorn</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Alcorn State University</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Cameron</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Tucker</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Alabama A&amp;M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Ernest (EJ)</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Williams</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Alabama A&amp;M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Rashad</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Williams</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">University of Arkansas Pine Bluff</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Coltie</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Young</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap">Jackson State University</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

The NBPA, SIAC and SWAC will host the fifth annual Top 50 Basketball Camp from July 27-29 in Atlanta.

NBPA, SIAC and SWAC to host 5th annual Top 50 Basketball Camp

PARIS (AP) &mdash; Adieu France, hello America.
They were hugs of goodbye &mdash; not of joy &mdash; for Victor Wembanyama as he bid farewell to his teammates and the French league, before jetting off for what&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-2023-wembanyama-396be2a8eeb0be8e3323bb509405695c">many predict</a>&nbsp;will be a glittering NBA career.
Wembanyama&rsquo;s performance &mdash; 22 points, seven rebounds and four blocks &mdash; couldn&rsquo;t prevent his Boulogne-Levallois team losing 92-85 to Monaco in a must-win Game 3 in the best-of-five French league championship series on Thursday.
To accommodate escalating interest in seeing the 19-year-old&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401">French prodigy</a>, Game 3 &mdash; and 4 if they had won &mdash; were switched from a 4,000-seat venue to Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros, home of the French Open tennis championship which seats&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669390713434275842" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than 14,000</a>.
Fans sang &ldquo;Merci, Wemby&rdquo; as&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-nba-lottery-draft-french-finale-e8d2b9e7cf97ab22df549a03d1124456">the hugely popular Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;waved and clapped at them.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry for the fans who love to see a show,&rdquo; Wembanyama said on beIN Sports television after the game. &ldquo;Of course I&rsquo;m proud of what I&rsquo;ve managed to do along with my coach (Vincent Collet), in bringing the team to the finals. But I&rsquo;m not satisfied.&rdquo;
Next week, the San Antonio Spurs are expected to make the 7-foot-3 Wembanyama&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-lottery-2023-victor-wembanyama-7ac2a47737c20c0df4543e1626407e47">the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft</a>, where he&rsquo;ll follow in the footsteps of France great Tony Parker and Hall of Famers David Robinson and Tim Duncan.
With Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadiv&eacute; among the crowd &mdash; likely with an eye on&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-mock-draft-wembanyama-c9dfd3d19592e1de44f5957ea2aa8b48">Wembanyama teammate Bilal Coulibaly</a>&nbsp;ahead of the draft &mdash; the Mets opened up big leads but with 50 seconds left the score was tied at 85-85. Jordan Loyd, a former NBA player with the Toronto Raptors, sank two 3-pointers to end Wembanyama&rsquo;s hopes of signing off with a French crown.
Ranadiv&eacute; told beIN Sport that Wembanyama is &ldquo;amazing&rdquo; but that &ldquo;I&rsquo;m also excited about Bilal. Young guy, lot of skills, so French basketball is in great shape.&rdquo;
Wembanyama, who opened the scoring with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669413577068019712" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a reverse alley-oop dunk</a>, looked sad as he hugged his teammates while Monaco celebrated.
&ldquo;Wemby had a great game, but this team&rsquo;s unbelievable,&rdquo; said Loyd, who finished with 22 points.
Everything had pointed to a special night for Wembanyama and then a Game 4 on Saturday. Wembanyama clenched his fist when his pass inside for Devante Jones made it 24-10, then drew roars when he used his giant frame to block a shot early in the second quarter.
The &ldquo;Wemby, Wemby&rdquo; chants became louder when&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669432798598381573" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">he hit a 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;to make it 47-37, louder still when&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669431516190101504" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">he dished to Coulibaly</a>&nbsp;for a dunk early in the third quarter.
It was not enough, though, and it was &ldquo;Wemby&rdquo; who put Elie Okobo on the foul line to give Monaco its first lead, 82-81, with just over three minutes left.
Loyd &mdash; not Wembanyama &mdash; ended up with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669449924562305028" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the MVP award</a>&nbsp;and the winners&rsquo; medal on the court where Novak Djokovic made men&rsquo;s Grand Slam history last Sunday with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/novak-djokovic-grand-slam-titles-french-open-6f822dca855478163696538f37ff534b">his 23rd men&rsquo;s major title</a>.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/chicago-bulls-nba-sports-detroit-pistons-paris-ba85137c70a09ac5efcea7f5e8e472a1">Wembanyama&rsquo;s journey to greatness</a>&nbsp;in his sport, however, might only just be starting.

With today's loss to Monaco, Victor Wembanyama will leave his teammates and the French league to prepare for his NBA career.

Wembanyama bids adieu to France with a defeat as NBA Draft nears

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Denver Nuggets rookie Christian Braun is showing that the NBA Finals is not too big of a stage for him.
The 21st pick in the draft last summer, Braun has made the most of his minutes off the bench, sinking 10 of 12 shots, grabbing a half dozen rebounds and collecting four steals against the Miami Heat while giving teammates an extended breather.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a rare rookie right here,&rdquo; Aaron Gordon said. &ldquo;From Day 1 he&rsquo;s been on top of it. This is a real winner right here. I say that because he&rsquo;s always in the right spot. He&rsquo;s in the right place at the right time, and he&rsquo;s been doing that all year.&rdquo;
Braun has a chance to become just the fifth player in NBA history to win an NBA title a year after winning the NCAA championship, joining Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Henry Bibby and Billy Thompson.
Braun gave the Nuggets a much-needed lift in&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-miami-heat-denver-nuggets-6410e66b0dc6f50f2bbed3b6b7a178b4">Denver&rsquo;s Game 3 rout of the Heat</a>. With Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray making history with the first dual triple-double in the NBA Finals, Braun scored 15 points in 19 minutes on a night starters Michael Porter Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope struggled again.
Braun&rsquo;s remarkable resume includes three state championships at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas, and a national title with the Jayhawks last year.
Most rookies who cap their college careers with championships have to bide their time in the pros until it&rsquo;s, well, their time. Braun is two wins away from an incredible fifth championship in seven years.
And one of those years without a title came in 2020, when the pandemic shuttered sports and society at a time the Jayhawks were entering the NCAA tournament as the nation&rsquo;s No. 1 team.
&ldquo;Getting shut down, we feel like we were definitely held back from something,&rdquo; said Braun, who helped Kansas win the national title two years later when he had 12 points and 12 rebounds in the Jayhawks&rsquo; 72-69 win over North Carolina in the national championship.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m definitely blessed,&rdquo; Braun said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not necessarily an individual accomplishment. I&rsquo;ve been a part of some really good teams with really good coaches and really good players.&rdquo;
Like on the court, he&rsquo;s been in the right place at the right time his whole life.
&ldquo;All year long the one thing I&rsquo;ve talked about with Christian is that he&rsquo;s a winner,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;The guy has won at every level, and here he is in the NBA Finals. It&rsquo;s kind of staying true to form for Christian Brawn.&rdquo;
Malone said he knew Braun&rsquo;s addition was going to be big when the 6-7 shooting guard whose last name is pronounced &ldquo;Brown,&rdquo; helped Denver to a 128-123 win at Golden State in the second game of the season with Murray in street clothes as he worked his way back from a torn ACL.
&ldquo;For a young player playing against the defending world champions on the road, he wasn&rsquo;t afraid,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;That really stuck out to me. Most young kids, they get in a situation or environment like that, they&rsquo;re going to be a little bit over their head, and he wasn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
Braun&rsquo;s attitude is that if he&rsquo;s only going to get minutes here and there, then he&rsquo;s going to hustle from the second he checks in to the moment he&rsquo;s summoned back to the bench.
&ldquo;The last two months of the year he was a rotational player for the No. 1 team in the West,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s done his job in the playoffs. He&rsquo;s gone out there and defended, rebounded, ran the floor, moved without it. He&rsquo;s never afraid of the moment, which you have to appreciate for such a young kid.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Obviously, the Final Four kind of helped me with that,&rdquo; Braun said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve kind of been here before.&rdquo;
Several times even.

Denver Nuggets rookie Christian Braun is showing that the NBA Finals is not too big of a stage for him.

Nuggets’ Braun seeking NBA title a year after winning NCAA championship

The Phoenix Suns fired Monty Williams on Saturday, two years after reaching the NBA Finals and a year after he was the overwhelming choice as the coach of the year.
Williams had great success in his four regular seasons in Phoenix, winning 63% of his games. But three consecutive years of playoff frustration was likely too much for the Suns to overlook &mdash; especially after two straight years of Phoenix trailing by 30 points at halftime of elimination games at home.
ESPN and The Athletic first reported the decision.
&ldquo;Monty has been foundational to our success over the past four seasons,&rdquo; said James Jones, the Suns&rsquo; president of basketball operations and general manager. &ldquo;We are filled with gratitude for everything Monty has contributed to the Suns and to the Valley community.&rdquo;
Jones also said he made the decision to fire Williams.
The Suns had a 2-0 lead in the 2021 NBA Finals, only to lose in six games. They lost in the second round in each of the last two seasons, both times in an embarrassing home finale &mdash; last year to Dallas, this year to Denver.
&ldquo;Neither day feels good,&rdquo; Williams said after the loss earlier this week to Denver, when asked to compare last season&rsquo;s debacle to this year&rsquo;s season-ending loss.
Saturday likely didn&rsquo;t feel good, either.
The Suns now become yet another high-profile coaching opening, after Toronto fired Nick Nurse and Milwaukee fired Mike Budenholzer. Nurse won the 2019 NBA title with the Raptors, while Budenholzer was the coach who overcame Phoenix&rsquo;s 2-0 lead in the 2021 finals.
It&rsquo;s the second major move made by the Suns in the three months or so since new owner Mat Ishbia closed the sale that gave him control of the club. In February, Ishbia green-lighted a blockbuster trade that brought Kevin Durant to Phoenix and gave the Suns a core &mdash; him, Devin Booker, former No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton and Chris Paul &mdash; that the team hoped would be enough to deliver a title.
It just didn&rsquo;t work, at least, not this year. Paul got hurt in the playoffs to continue his run of bad luck on the health front in the postseason, Ayton sat out the finale and Booker and Durant simply looked gassed by the time it was over.
Williams, after the season ended, blamed himself.
&ldquo;I take that personally, not having our team ready to play in the biggest game of the year,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something that I pride myself on and it just didn&rsquo;t happen. ... That&rsquo;s something I have to take a deep look at, everything I&rsquo;m doing.&rdquo;
Williams had been the coach with the fifth-longest tenure with his current team entering Saturday &mdash; just four years. Gregg Popovich has been coach in San Antonio since 1996, Erik Spoelstra in Miami since 2008, Steve Kerr in Golden State since 2014 and Michael Malone in Denver since 2015.
Phoenix becomes the fourth team to currently have an opening, along with the Raptors, Bucks and Detroit Pistons.
Of the last nine coaches to take a team to the NBA Finals, only Kerr and Spoelstra are still with the franchise they got to the title series.
The others &mdash; Boston&rsquo;s Ime Udoka, the Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; Frank Vogel, Cleveland&rsquo;s David Blatt and Tyronn Lue, along with Budenholzer, Nurse and now Williams -- have all been fired by the team that they brought to the finals.
&ldquo;When you look at really good coaches who have lost their jobs shortly after winning a championship, that&rsquo;s something that is just different about our business,&rdquo; Williams said Friday, adding that &ldquo;it&rsquo;s just a part of our NBA economy.&rdquo;
The Suns started 16-7 this season, looking every bit like a contender again. They were only 29-30 the rest of the way.
They used 26 starting lineup combinations, and had Durant for only eight regular-season games after the trade. They had to wait about a month after acquiring him for a January knee injury to heal, and then as he warmed up for what was supposed to be his home opener with the Suns on March 8 he slipped on the court during warm-ups, hurt an ankle and missed three more weeks.
The Suns were 12-1 in Durant&rsquo;s first 13 appearances, five of those in the playoffs. And then they went 2-4 against the Nuggets, all four losses by double figures.
And Williams took the fall.
Williams was second in the official NBA coach of the year balloting in 2021, behind New York&rsquo;s Tom Thibodeau. He was the coach of the year that season as chosen by his peers in the National Basketball Coaches Association.
A year later, Williams was the NBA&rsquo;s winner &mdash; and the NBCA one yet again.
Now, he&rsquo;s out, and the Suns will start anew.
This was Williams&rsquo; ninth season as a head coach, after a five-season run with New Orleans from 2010 through 2015. He was 194-115 with the Suns &mdash; an NBA-best 168-76 since the start of the restart bubble near Orlando to end the 2020 season.
Phoenix became one of the feel-good stories of the bubble, going 8-0 to narrowly miss out on what would have been a most improbable playoff appearance. Williams got elected as coach of the bubble &mdash; &ldquo;coach of the seeding games&rdquo; was the official NBA award &mdash; and was a four-time Coach of the Month in his tenure with the Suns as well.
That started the run of success. Paul got traded to the Suns in November 2020, the franchise&rsquo;s first finals trip since 1993 was how that season ended, and last season&rsquo;s 64-18 mark was the best in Suns history.
In his nine seasons overall, he&rsquo;s 367-336 in the regular season, plus 29-27 in the playoffs.

The Phoenix Suns fired Monty Williams on Saturday, two years after reaching the NBA Finals and a year after he was Coach of the Year.

Suns fire coach Monty Williams after 4 seasons with the club

PHILADELPHIA (AP) &mdash; The Big 5 is no more.
Well, at least not the incarnation most fans of the famed Philly basketball series remember from its heyday, when the Palestra was packed, fans hurled colorful crepe streamers on the court after the first basket and student signs known as rollouts poked fun at the other schools.
And when the Palestra, the basketball cathedral on Penn&rsquo;s campus, was sold out, someone would always say, &ldquo;corners,&rdquo; meaning even the cheap, angled seats in the corners were filled. As college hoops evolved, the Big 5 was dying on the vine in Philly, so after years of traditionalists squawking &mdash; and attendance and interest waned and teams outside of the Main Line saw their programs sink &mdash; the time was ripe for a change.
Oh, it&rsquo;s still the Big 5 by name. The brand still means something in college basketball.
Only Penn, La Salle, Temple, Saint Joseph&rsquo;s and Villanova will be joined by Philly&rsquo;s sixth Division I program, Drexel. Gone is round-robin play. Schools instead will be split into three-team pods with games played at on-campus arenas, with the teams then seeded for a Dec. 2 tripleheader at the Wells Fargo Center that will crown the Big 5 champion.
&ldquo;We all have to promote Philadelphia basketball more than we do,&rdquo; La Salle coach Fran Dunphy said Tuesday at the arena.
The Big 5 &mdash; the name was coined by Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer Herb Good &mdash; was officially formed in 1954, and the schools started round-robin play for &ldquo;City Series&rdquo; bragging rights in 1955. The first game was 68 years ago when Saint Joseph&rsquo;s beat Villanova 83-70 on Dec. 14, 1955, in front of 2,636 fans at the Palestra.
Nationally televised conference games, destination-site November tournaments, March Madness and a brief abolition of round-robin play in the 1990s chipped away at the Big 5&rsquo;s national importance.
On a local level, the schools did little to keep the rivalries alive. Students lost interest and fewer star players on each team were from the Philadelphia area. For all its charm and history, the Palestra isn&rsquo;t equipped with modern amenities such as suites, convenient parking, a variety of concessions and other revenue-generating staples found at a modern arena such as the Wells Fargo Center, home to the 76ers and Flyers.
Villanova&rsquo;s rise as a national power under Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright &mdash; who championed the changes to the Big 5 &mdash; came at the expense of its city rivals. The Wildcats won a series-record 25 straight games from 2012 to 2018, and most of them weren&rsquo;t close.
The other programs slumped and when Villanova did this year, too, under first-year coach Kyle Neptune, Philadelphia failed to place a team in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1977.
The Big 5 tried to reignite interest in November with a doubleheader at the 8,700-seat Palestra and it was a disaster. The games were played with almost no student sections and only about 3,000 fans total. While not necessarily the catalyst for change, schools knew at that point there was little risk in throwing out the staid format and starting fresh.
Without a gamble that the revitalization attempts will work, the Big 5 was at risk of fading away.
&ldquo;We were kind of at an inflection point with Big 5 basketball, with the national landscape of NCAA sports, what can we do to perhaps infuse some energy, some life and protect our brand of basketball,&rdquo; Drexel athletic director Maisha Kelly said.
And no, Kelly said, Drexel didn&rsquo;t want a series name change like some had suggested to the City Six.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the brand. It&rsquo;s Philadelphia. It&rsquo;s the Big 5,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s part of our story and history. So 100 years from now, when people say, why is it Big 5 when there are six institutions, we get to tell the first 68 years of the story of what it was and in 2023 it was Drexel arriving.&rdquo;
In the new format, Temple, La Salle and Drexel are in one pod; Villanova, Saint Joseph&rsquo;s and Penn are the second pod. Those games will be played in November.
There are still some kinks to work out, such as which teams get home games, and how a tiebreaker would be settled. The women will join the field &mdash; though those games will not be played at the Wells Fargo Center &mdash; in 2023-24. TV rights are still to be decided. And the tripleheader is not expected to be included in a team&rsquo;s season-ticket package.

Penn, La Salle, Temple, Saint Joseph’s and Villanova will be joined by Philly’s sixth Division I program, Drexel in the Big 5 city tourney.

Say goodbye to tradition: Philadelphia’s Big 5 gets facelift

Coby White scored 24 points and the short-handed Chicago Bulls rallied past the depleted Mavericks 115-112 on Friday night, eliminating Dallas from play-in contention a year after the club reached the Western Conference finals.
Dallas coach Jason Kidd said before the game an &ldquo;organizational decision&rdquo; was made to limit Luka Doncic to the first quarter while sitting fellow All-Star Kyrie Irving and four other regulars before the club was eliminated from the postseason.
Despite the move, the Mavericks led by double digits when Markieff Morris scored 13 points in the second quarter and rookie Jaden Hardy hit a half-court shot to beat the halftime buzzer for a 67-54 lead.
Neither Morris nor Hardy played in the second half, and a lineup filled mostly with players who spent the season at the end of the Dallas bench lost the lead but kept the game close.
McKinley Wright IV's layup got Dallas within a point with 39 seconds left before Dalen Terry scored on an alley-oop dunk from White with 23 to go.
Theo Pinson missed a potential tying 3-pointer for Dallas, which had three more attempts at a tying 3 in the final seconds.
The loss clinched the 10th seed and final play-in spot in the Western Conference for Oklahoma City.
Irving was out for right foot injury recovery. The others sitting with him were Tim Hardaway Jr. with left ankle soreness, Maxi Kleber for right hamstring injury recovery and Josh Green and Christian Wood for rest.
The Bulls sat their top two scorers in DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine, but they are already locked in to the 10th seed in the East. Patrick Williams scored 23 points, and Nikola Vucevic had 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Doncic, who scored 13 points, ended up playing a few seconds into the second quarter on a night when the Mavericks paid tribute to his home country of Slovenia.
Keeping Doncic in was an apparent attempt to get him an ovation after Kidd suggested before the game it would be the 24-year-old superstar's final action of the season. The move didn't work because fans didn't seem aware and therefore didn't cheer.
Kidd said the decision was made by owner Mark Cuban and general manager Nico Harrison to rest most of the regulars. Dallas entered the game tied with Chicago for the 10th-worst record in the NBA.
If the Mavericks have a top-10 pick in the draft in June, they get to keep it. If the pick is 11th or lower, it goes to the New York Knicks as final payment for Dallas' trade to acquire Kristaps Porzingis in 2019. Next month's draft lottery will determine the final order.
Wright joined Doncic and Morris with 13 points to lead the Mavs.
SCORING RACE
Doncic's limited action in most likely his last game of the season should clinch the scoring title for Philadelphia's Joel Embiid. Doncic is at 32.4 points per game to Embiid's 33.1. The Sixers' MVP candidate is probably finished for the regular season with his team locked in to the third seed in the East.
UP NEXT
Both teams are at home for their regular-season finales Sunday. The Bulls play Detroit. The Mavs face San Antonio.

The short-handed Bulls rallied past the depleted Mavericks 115-112 on Friday night, eliminating Dallas from play-in contention.

Mavericks fall to Bulls, eliminated from play-in race

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) &mdash; Rodney Terry stopped on the way to the Texas locker room after his team knocked out Xavier for a spot in the Elite Eight, the interim coach fulfilling a fan&rsquo;s wish for a photograph by flashing that all-too-familiar &ldquo;Hook &rsquo;em Horns&rdquo; sign.
&ldquo;Go get that job, coach!&rdquo; the grateful fan hollered after him.
A couple more wins and the folks at Texas might not have a choice.
The longtime assistant made his boldest statement yet for the full-time gig, guiding the Longhorns without ailing big man Dylan Disu to an 83-71 win over the Musketeers on Friday night. Tyrese Hunter scored 19 points, and Marcus Carr and Christian Bishop added 18 apiece, to move second-seeded Texas within a game of the Final Four for the first time in 15 years.
&ldquo;I thought we played one of our better defensive games tonight that we played all year,&rdquo; said Terry, who stepped into the top job in December, when Chris Beard was suspended and ultimately fired following allegations of domestic violence.
&ldquo;Proud of my guys and the way they put their will on this game from the start to finish.&rdquo;
Disu, who had been dominant through the first two games of the tournament, hurt his foot in a second-round win over Penn State. He got treatment on it all week, and the Longhorns successfully kept it secret until tipoff, when the big man played just a couple of minutes and then limped off the floor and straight to the locker room.
When he returned to the bench, he was wearing a big walking boot, a black hoodie and a grim expression.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be day-to-day right now at the moment,&rdquo; Terry said. &ldquo;We got the best in the business working with us.&rdquo;
Still, the Longhorns already had a tough task ahead in No. 5 seed Miami on Sunday night, especially given the way the Hurricanes roared to an 89-75 win over Houston. The possibility of playing without Disu, who led the Longhorns to a Big 12 Tournament title and earned MVP honors on the same floor just two weeks ago, only makes it harder.
&ldquo;We knew before the game that we wouldn&rsquo;t have Dylan for the whole game,&rdquo; Carr said. &ldquo;We just wanted to really play for him. We knew how much this would mean to him. We got emotional in there knowing he wouldn&rsquo;t be out there.&rdquo;
Relegated to a 6-foot-9 cheerleader Friday night, Disu at least had plenty to celebrate.
Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice scored 16 points and Timmy Allen added 11 for the Longhorns (29-8). The best-seeded team left in the tournament kept Souley Boum and Xavier&rsquo;s perimeter threats in check while making life miserable for Jack Nunge down low.
Adam Kunkel hit five 3-pointers and led the third-seeded Musketeers (27-10) with 21 points. Nunge scored 15 but needed 19 shots to get there, while Colby Jones also had 15 points. Boum didn&rsquo;t hit a field goal until early in the second half and finished with 12.
&ldquo;They were better than us,&rdquo; Xavier coach Sean Miller said. &ldquo;We had a very difficult time running our offense and that&rsquo;s a testament to their defense, because we&rsquo;ve been able to score virtually every game we&rsquo;ve played this year.&rdquo;
It was Texas that scored at will, though, and Carr that got them going. He spun through the lane like a Tilt-A-Whirl for tough buckets at the rim, and even knocked down a spinning, desperation 3 as the shot clock expired. And when Miller traded out a man-to-man defense for a zone, the Longhorns began to pound the ball to Bishop in the paint.
With dozens of family and friends on hand, the Creighton transfer from the Kansas City suburb of Lee&rsquo;s Summit, Missouri, went to work. Bishop threw down one dunk on Carr&rsquo;s alley-oop lob, then slammed down another a few minutes later.
By the time Allen banked in a half-court heave, the Longhorns had established a 42-25 halftime advantage &mdash; and had to be redirected from the Xavier tunnel, where they were busy celebrating, toward their own locker room.
&ldquo;Their pressure is something you can&rsquo;t really simulate until you&rsquo;re in the game against them. Their toughness, their experience,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;And then offensively they have great guard play, and you feel that as well.&rdquo;
Xavier tried to creep back a couple of times, but the Longhorns never let their lead sniff single digits. And that gave Terry, who returned to Texas after head jobs at Fresno State and UTEP, a chance to breathe deeply and enjoy the moment.
The 54-year-old from the small Texas town of Angleton was on Rick Barnes&rsquo; staff the last time the Longhorns reached the Elite Eight, back in 2008. He was on the 2003 staff that guided them all the way to the Final Four, too.
Now, he&rsquo;s one step away from taking Texas on a most improbable trip to college basketball&rsquo;s biggest stage.
&ldquo;Continue to want more. I mean, each round &mdash; don&rsquo;t be satisfied,&rdquo; Terry said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to enjoy this victory for one night, like we have all year long, and we&rsquo;ll be on to the next challenge and very quickly against a really good Miami team.&rdquo;

Tyrese Hunter scored 19, and Marcus Carr and Christian Bishop added 18 apiece, to move Texas within a game of the Final Four.

Texas blows out Xavier 83-71 for spot in NCAA Elite Eight

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Markquis Nowell broke the NCAA Tournament record for assists in a game with 19, his last two on spectacular passes in the final minute of overtime, and Kansas State beat Michigan State 98-93 on Thursday night in a Sweet 16 thriller at Madison Square Garden.
Playing in his hometown and fighting through a second-half ankle injury, Nowell found Keyontae Johnson for a reverse alley-oop with 58 seconds left in OT to give the Wildcats (26-9) the lead for good in this back-and-forth East Region semifinal. He then threw an inbound pass to Ismael Massoud, who knocked down a jumper with 15 seconds left for a 96-93 lead.
With Michigan State needing a 3 to tie, Nowell stole the ball from the Spartans&rsquo; Tyson Walker and drove for a clinching layup at the buzzer. The 5-foot-8, Harlem-raised Nowell finished with 20 points and five steals in a signature performance at basketball&rsquo;s most famous arena that drew tweets of praise from Patrick Mahomes and Kevin Durant.
&ldquo;That was a legendary display of controlling a basketball game Markquis,&rdquo; Durant tweeted.
Johnson scored 22 points for the No. 3 seed Wildcats, who will face either fourth-seeded Tennessee or ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic on Saturday as they seek the program&rsquo;s first Final Four berth since 1964.&nbsp;
A.J. Hoggard scored a career-high 25 points for seventh-seeded Michigan State (21-13). Joey Hauser added 18 points and Walker had 16, including a layup with 5 seconds left in regulation that forced the first overtime of this year&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament.
UNLV&rsquo;s Mark Wade had the previous NCAA tourney assists record with 18 during the Runnin&rsquo; Rebels 1987 Final Four win over Indiana.
Nowell turned his ankle early in the second half, was helped off the court and had it taped. Michigan State took the lead with him sidelined, and when he returned, he pushed off the ankle to bank in a 3-pointer that beat the shot clock and tied the game at 55-all.
Turns out he was just getting started.

Nowell broke the men's NCAA Tournament record for assists in a game with 19 in a thriller between the Wildcats and Spartans.

Markquis Nowell breaks NCAA assist record, KSU beats MSU 98-93 in OT

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) &mdash; Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is not a big fan of the transfer portal, lamenting that it gives young athletes an easy out instead of an opportunity to overcome challenges.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll say until the day I die, I do not see anything good for the players in it,&rdquo; Izzo said Tuesday.
The seventh-seeded Spartans, however, would not be in the Sweet 16 for the 15th time under their Hall of Fame coach without former Northeastern guard Tyson Walker and ex-Marquette forward Joey Hauser.
The Spartans, of course, are not alone in relying on transfers. Not anymore. They are all over March Madness.
Third-seeded Kansas State, which will face the Spartans on Thursday night in New York, has relied heavily on transfers with 12 on its roster under first-year coach Jerome Tang. Former Florida forward Keyontae Johnson and ex-Arkansas-Little Rock guard Markquis Nowell, both of whom earned third-team All-America recognition, are starring for the Wildcats.
UCLA and Princeton are bucking the trend because they&rsquo;re still in the Tournament without a transfer player.
Izzo could have dipped back into the portal to bolster this season&rsquo;s team after losing his top three scorers and a solid post player from last year&rsquo;s team. Instead, he chose to stick with the players he had after they chose to stay.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s something they believed in here,&rdquo; Izzo said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the beauty of sticking together. And if it carries us through the weekend, it&rsquo;ll be one of the great life lessons learned.&rdquo;
EAST REGION
No. 4 seed Tennessee vs. No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic
Like many transfers, Tyreke Key left a smaller program (Indiana State) for a bigger one and the Volunteers are glad he did. After sophomore point guard Zakai Zeigler tore a knee ligament in the final week of the regular season, Key became even more valuable for the postseason.
Vladislav Goldin, meanwhile, went against the grain by leaving a larger school for a mid-major program. The 7-foot-1, shot-blocking Russian bolted from Texas A&amp;M to play for the Owls in search of more playing time. He found what he was looking at FAU, starting in 33 games.
SOUTH REGION
No. 1 seed Alabama vs. No. 5 seed San Diego State
All-America freshman forward Brandon Miller leads the Crimson Tide on the court, but key roles have been filled by a few transfers, including Mark Sears. The former Ohio University guard trails only Miller in scoring and has provided much-needed, 3-point shooting.
Four of San Diego State&rsquo;s top five scorers are transfers, including former California standout Matt Bradley, who is averaging a team-high 13 points per game.
No. 6 seed Creighton vs. No. 15 seed Princeton
The Bluejays have two transfers, two more than the Tigers. Baylor Scheierman starts and Francisco Farabello comes off the bench for Creighton. Scheierman was the Summit League player of the year last year at South Dakota State and Farabello played at TCU for three seasons.
MIDWEST REGION
No. 1 seed Houston vs. No. 5 seed Miami
The Courgars have recruited and developed most of their best players, but former Arkansas forward Reggie Chaney is in the rotation. The Hurricanes second-, third- and fourth-leading scorers are transfers: Jordan Miller (George Mason), Norchad Omier (Arkansas State) and Nijel Pack (Kansas State).
No. 2 seed Texas vs. No. 3 seed Xavier
The Longhorns often have four transfers in their starting lineup and leading scorer, Marcus Carr, has left two schools. The former Pittsburgh and Minnesota guard along with ex-New Mexico State guard Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, the team&rsquo;s second-leading scorer, are in their sixth season of college. Carr and Rice took advantage of an extra year of eligibility that the NCAA gave athletes if they were in school when the pandemic started.
Souley Boum, who started his career at San Francisco and went on to become a star at New Mexico State, leads the Musketeers with 16.5 points a game and is also in his sixth year of college. Former Iowa forward Jack Nunge, ex-Belmont guard Adam Kunkel and former Indiana forward Adam Kunkel are also among Xavier&rsquo;s top players.
WEST REGION
No. 2 seed UCLA vs. No. 3 seed Gonzaga
While the Bruins have no transfers, the Zags have Rasir Bolton, who ranks fourth on the team in scoring, played at Penn State and for Iowa State before landing at Gonzaga. Malachi Smith went from Wright State to Chattanooga before choosing a lesser role at Gonzaga.
No. 4 seed UConn vs. No. 8 seed Arkansas
The Huskies&rsquo; backcourt is full of transfers. Former East Carolina star Tristen Newton runs the point, averaging 10-plus points and nearly five assists per game. Grad student Joey Calcaterra spent four years at San Diego and Nahiem Alleyne was a three-year starter at Virginia Tech.
The Razorbacks are in the Sweet 16 for a third straight year in part because coach Eric Musselman has made good use of the portal. Former Wichita State guard Ricky Council leads Arkansas in scoring and Makhi Mitchell, who played at Maryland and Rhode Island, is one of team&rsquo;s top rebounders and scores seven points a game.
___
AP Sports Writer John Zenor, Bernie Wilson, Eric Olson, Tom Canavan, Teresa M. Walker, Dave Skretta, Tim Reynolds, Jim Vertuno and Beth Harris contributed.

Nearly every team of the men's Sweet 16 field has been significantly impacted by the NCAA transfer portal.

Transfer portal provided boost for most March Madness teams

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Jack Nunge scored 18 points, Adam Kunkel added 15 on five first-half 3-pointers, and No. 3 seed Xavier beat 11th-seeded Pittsburgh 84-73 on Sunday to reach its first Sweet 16 since 2017.
Colby Jones had 10 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, and Souley Boum and Jerome Hunter each chipped in with 14 points as all five Xavier starters scored in double digits.
Xavier distributed the ball well, particularly early on with 17 assists on 19 baskets in the first half to build a 48-34 lead at the break. The Musketeers finished with 22 assists.
Xavier (27-9) moves on to play No. 2 seed Texas on Friday in the Midwest Region semifinals in Kansas City, Missouri.
Blake Hinson scored 18 points and Jamarius Burton had 16 for Pitt (24-12).
Nunge set the tone early, dominating the paint with eight points in the first 10 minutes while Jones knocked down two 3s as the Musketeers built a 28-18 lead.
The Musketeers then blew the game open with a 12-2 run behind Kunkel, who made two 3s and threw an alley-oop dunk to Nunge. Kunkel followed with his fifth 3 of the first half to give Xavier a 19-point lead with 1:26 left.
Nunge picked up his fourth foul with 9:35 remaining in the game and Xavier up by 18, a play that ended with Pitt coach Jeff Capel getting slapped with technical foul that left him barking at officials. Pitt guard Greg Elliott stepped in front of his coach and tried to box him out at the scorer&rsquo;s table to keep him from getting a second tech.
The Musketeers managed just fine without Nunge, pushing the lead to 20 with 7:22 remaining on a jumper by Boum.
Nunge returned but fouled out with 3:18 left and Xavier up by 14.
Burton cut the lead to 10 with an and-one off a drive through an unprotected lane. Elliott&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 1:45 remaining trimmed Xavier&rsquo;s lead to eight, but the Panthers did not get closer.
BIG PICTURE
Pitt: The Panthers won their first two NCAA Tournament games since 2014, beating Mississippi State in the First Four and throttling No. 6 Iowa State in the first round. After holding the Cyclones to 41 points on Friday, Pitt allowed Xavier to score 42 in the first 15 minutes. It didn&rsquo;t help that big man Federiko Federiko played less than a minute because of a knee problem.
Xavier: Sean Miller has the Musketeers headed in the right direction in the first season of his second stint as their coach. After needing to come back from 13 down in the second half to beat 14 seed Kennesaw State, the Musketeers left no doubt about this one, coming out focused and ready to play.
UP NEXT
Xavier will face a Longhorns team that has won six straight games.

Jack Nunge scored 18 points, Adam Kunkel added 15 on five first-half threes, and No. 3 seed Xavier beat 11th-seeded Pittsburgh.

Xavier beats Pitt 84-73, reaches first Sweet 16 since 2017

The women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament field is set and now the fun begins with 68 teams vying for the national championship and cutting down the nets in Dallas.
There&rsquo;s a new format to March Madness, with two regionals in Seattle and Greenville, South Carolina, instead of the usual four. Here&rsquo;s a look at what could happen over the next few weeks. This guidance will be 100% accurate &mdash; until the first round tips off on Friday.
CHALK RULES
A No. 1 seed has won the national championship the past 10 tournaments and 14 of 15. The only time that didn&rsquo;t happen was in 2011 when coach Gary Blair led Texas A&amp;M to the title as a No. 2 seed. Since 2005, at least two of the No. 1s have made the Final Four every year except for 2016. This year&rsquo;s overwhelming betting favorite is top-ranked and defending national champion South Carolina, the only undefeated team in the tourney.
LACK OF MAJOR UPSETS
There is a feeling that parity continues to find its way into women&rsquo;s basketball with 19 losses by top 10 teams in the AP Top 25 poll to unranked schools. Still, it&rsquo;s hard to pick against the top teams in the tournament as no 14 or 15 seed has ever won a game (the women&rsquo;s tournament was the first to see a 16 seed upset a top seed when Harvard beat Stanford 71-67 in 1998). Two came close last season with Jackson State falling late to LSU and UT Arlington hanging tough with Iowa State.&nbsp;
BEWARE THE 12
No. 12 seeds have had success, just like in the men&rsquo;s bracket the last few seasons, beating some of the 5s. At least one 12 has made it out of the first round in four of the last five tournaments, including two last season.
And now the picks:
GREENVILLE REGION 1
Analysis: South Carolina won&rsquo;t have to leave the state to reach the Final Four if it wins, playing its first two games at home and then traveling 90 minutes to Greenville for the regional. The Gamecocks (32-0) have been tested this season and still found a way to win every game. Dawn Staley&rsquo;s squad is looking to be the 10th team to finish a season unbeaten by winning a national championship. Second-seeded Maryland and No. 4 UCLA both played South Carolina during the season, giving them familiarity if there&rsquo;s a rematch.
Players to watch: Aliyah Boston, South Carolina; Cherita Daugherty, Southern Utah; Diamond Miller, Maryland; Charisma Osborne, UCLA.
Bracket Buster: Sixth-seed Creighton is the team most likely to spoil brackets. Last season as a 10-seed the team made the regional final before falling to South Carolina. Host Notre Dame is missing star Olivia Miles and the third-seeded Irish could fall to the Bluejays.
First-round picks: South Carolina, South Florida, Oklahoma, UCLA, Creighton, Notre Dame, Arizona, Maryland.
Second-round picks: South Carolina, UCLA, Creighton, Maryland.
Regional semifinal picks: South Carolina, Maryland.
Regional champion pick: South Carolina.
GREENVILLE REGION 2
Analysis: Indiana has been the second-best team most of the season behind South Carolina and earned the first No. 1 seed in school history. Led by Mackenzie Holmes in the middle and a dominant defense, the Hoosiers will be looking to reach their first Final Four. There&rsquo;s a lot of star power in the region including Villanova&rsquo;s Maddy Siegrist, LSU&rsquo;s Angel Reese and Utah&rsquo;s Alissa Pili.
Other players to watch: Leigha Brown, Michigan; Kaitlyn Chen, Princeton; Charlisse Leger-Walker, Washington State.
Bracket Buster: UNLV is one of three 30-win teams in the country, yet the Lady Rebels haven&rsquo;t faced many teams as good as Michigan this year. Florida Gulf Coast knocked off Virginia Tech as a 12 seed last season and could do it again this time if they beat Washington State.
First-round picks: Indiana, Oklahoma State, Florida Gulf Coast, Villanova, Michigan, LSU, Princeton, Utah.
Second-round picks: Indiana, Villanova, Michigan, Utah.
Regional semifinal picks: Indiana, Utah.
Regional champion pick: Indiana.
SEATTLE REGION 3
Analysis: No one had a worse string of injuries than UConn this season and yet Geno Auriemma has the Huskies playing their best basketball heading into the tournament. They&rsquo;ve made every Final Four since 2008 and there&rsquo;s no reason to think that streak can&rsquo;t continue if star guard Azzi Fudd keeps getting healthier. Virginia Tech is the one seed and has had a stellar year behind Elizabeth Kitley.
Other players to watch: Ashley Joens, Iowa State; Myah Selland, South Dakota State; Jacy Sheldon, Ohio State.
Bracket Buster: No. 9 seed South Dakota State ran through the Summit League and also beat Louisville and Kansas State this season. The Jackrabbits have enough talent to put a scare into the Hokies in the second round. No. 12 seed Toledo beat Michigan earlier this season and has won its last 16 games. Iowa State could be victim No. 17.
First-round picks: Virginia Tech, South Dakota State, Iowa State, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio State, Baylor, UConn.
Second-round picks: Virginia Tech, Iowa State, North Carolina, UConn.
Regional semifinal picks: Virginia Tech, UConn..
Regional champion pick: UConn.
SEATTLE REGION 4
Analysis: Stanford is in its usual spot as a No. 1 seed but has looked vulnerable this season, struggling on offense at times. The second-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes have had no problem scoring and are one of the hottest teams after winning the Big Ten Tournament behind star Caitlin Clark. No. 4 Texas was picked in the preseason top five before struggling with injuries and fitting transfers in. Vic Schaefer has had a lot of success in March and this could be another one of his great coaching jobs.
Other players to watch: Cameron Brink, Stanford; Rori Harmon, Texas; Ta&rsquo;Niya Latson, Florida State; Hailey Van Lith, Louisville.
Bracket Buster: No. 11 seed Middle Tennessee has won 10 straight games and had an early season victory over Louisville so Colorado should beware. Drake has been playing well lately, sweeping its way to a Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title. Louisville has been playing better lately, but needs to be sharp against the 12th-seeded Bulldogs.
First-round picks: Stanford, Gonzaga, Louisville, Texas, Middle Tennessee, Duke, Florida State, Iowa.
Second-round picks: Stanford, Texas, Duke, Iowa.
Regional final picks: Stanford, Iowa.
Regional champion pick: Stanford.
THE FINAL FOUR
Analysis: There should be some familiarity in the Final Four, which will likely see three teams from last season&rsquo;s national semifinals returning. South Carolina will likely face Stanford in a rematch of a November game that the Gamecocks won in overtime while UConn will likely face Indiana.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Pick: South Carolina and UConn will meet again and the Gamecocks will win back-to-back titles.
Analysis: The teams played in February and the Huskies gave the Gamecocks one of their stiffest tests of the season. UConn didn&rsquo;t have Fudd for that game (knee injury). Fudd is back, but she won&rsquo;t be enough for the Huskies to stop the Gamecocks from becoming only the fourth different school to win consecutive titles (USC, UConn and Tennessee).

Here’s a look at what could happen over the next few weeks in the 2023 Women's NCAA Tournament.

Chalk rules in women’s March Madness bracket picks

SAN ANTONIO (AP) &mdash; Christian Wood had 27 points and 13 rebounds and the Dallas Mavericks overcame a series of blunders at the end regulation to beat the San Antonio Spurs 137-128 in overtime Wednesday night without injured All-Stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
Dallas&rsquo; Maxi Kleber threw an inbounds pass out of bounds on a full-length heave with 1.8 seconds remaining in regulation. Keldon Johnson, who missed a pair of free throws with 1.8 seconds, tied it 121 on an alley-oop dunk off an inbounds pass from Malaki Branham.
Wood had five points in overtime as Dallas fights to remain in the top 10 in the Western Conference. The Mavericks entered the game in ninth place with the same record as the 10th-place Los Angeles Lakers and a game ahead of the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans.
Dwight Powell and Jaden Hardy had 22 points each and Josh Green added 21 points for Dallas, which snapped a three-game skid.
Johnson had 27 points to lead the short-handed Spurs.
Playing the second game of a back-to-back, the Spurs were without starters Devin Vassell Jeremy Sochan and Zach Collins along with Keita Bates-Diop and Charles Bassey. But as they did in setting a franchise record with 22 3-pointers in a rousing victory over Orlando on Tuesday night, San Antonio responded with a balanced scoring effort.
Branham had 20 points, Romeo Langford had 17 points and four others scored in double figures.
TIP-INS
Mavericks: Dallas has won six straight against San Antonio. The Mavericks&rsquo; previous loss to the Spurs was April 11, 2021, in San Antonio. &hellip; Doncic and Irving were both in attendance, sitting at the end of the Mavericks bench. &hellip; Jaden Hardy has scored 20 points in all three of his career starts for the Mavericks. In a back-to-back set against Memphis, Hardy had 22 points on March 11 and 28 points on March 13.
Spurs: San Antonio confirmed that C Charles Bassey suffered a non-displace fracture in his left patella. The injury occurred at the close of the first quarter of Tuesday&rsquo;s victory over Orlando. Bassey will miss the remainder of the season. &hellip;. San Antonio is 2-1 during its six-game homestand. &hellip; Of the 13 games the Spurs have remaining, 10 are against a team in the playoffs or play-in tournament if the season ended today. &hellip; Johnson made his 200th career start in 219 career games with the Spurs. Only Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Tony Parker, Willie Anderson and Sean Elliott have 200 starts in fewer games for the Spurs.
UP NEXT
Mavericks: At Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.
Spurs: Host Memphis on Friday night.

Christian Wood had 27 points and 13 rebounds as the Mavericks beat the Spurs 137-128 in overtime on Wednesday night.

Christian Wood has 27 points, 13 rebounds in Mavs’ OT win over Spurs

March Madness is here! Here is what to know about the women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament, including the favorites and underdogs as well as key games and how to watch:
TOP SEEDS
The top four seeds in the tournament are South Carolina, Indiana, Virginia Tech and Stanford. Each is in a region, some tougher than others (on paper). We break them down for you:
SOUTH CAROLINA (32-0): The defending national champions are the No. 1 overall seed and the Greenville I Region breaks down favorably. It includes two teams in No. 2 seed Maryland (25-6) and No. 4 seed UCLA (23-9) who the Gamecocks beat earlier this season. South Carolina is loaded, with two-time Southeastern Conference player of the year Aliyah Boston and leading scorer Zia Cooke.
INDIANA (27-3): After a loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament semis, some wondered if the Hoosiers might miss out on a top seed. They landed it in the Greenville II Region and start against either Tennessee Tech or Monmouth. Mackenzie Holmes leads Indiana with 22.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Top challengers include No. 2 seed Utah, No. 3 seed LSU and No. 4 seed Villanova, which is led by scoring sensation Maddy Siegrist.
VIRGINIA TECH (27-5): The Hokies won their first ACC Tournament championship and will lead the Seattle 3 Region. Elizabeth Kitley has stepped things up down the stretch as Virginia Tech won its final eight games. Virginia Tech could have to navigate No. 4 seed Tennessee in the Sweet 16 and No. 2 seed UConn or No. 3 seed Ohio State after that.
STANFORD (28-5): The committee looked to Stanford&rsquo;s steadiness for much of the season in giving it the top seed in the Seattle 4 Region. The Cardinal are led by Cameron Brink and Haley Jones, who have combined to score more than 28 points per game this season. Look for a potential high-wattage battle for the Final Four against No. 2 seed Iowa, led by national player of the year candidate Caitlin Clark.
GAMES TO WATCH
No. 3 seed Notre Dame (25-5) vs. No. 14 seed Southern Utah (23-6), Friday. The Fighting Irish&rsquo;s chances for a deep run will certainly be affected by how seriously do-everything leader Olivia Miles is hurt. She left the ACC Tournament quarterfinals two weeks ago with a knee injury.
Monmouth (18-13) vs. Tennessee Tech (22-9), Thursday, ESPNU. Monmouth, surprise winners of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, have not played in the NCAA tourney since 1983 and get the chance to extend its stay in a First Four contest Wednesday. Either the Hawks or the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament champions in Tennessee Tech, both 16 seeds, will have to take on top-seed Indiana on Friday.
No. 5 seed Louisville (23-11) vs. No. 12 seed Drake (22-9), Saturday. The Cardinals were a Final Four team a season ago and start their journey back as a No. 5 seed. They&rsquo;ll open things against Drake (22-9), which was seeded fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament yet defeated Belmont to take the league&rsquo;s automatic bid. Louisville is led by Hailey Van Lith, who&rsquo;s averaged 19.2 points a game this season.
No. 4 seed Villanova (28-6) vs. No. 13 seed Cleveland State (30-4), Saturday. Villanova features one of the country&rsquo;s best players in Maddy Siegrist, a two-time Big East player of year. The Wildcats are in a stacked region with top seed Indiana, No. 2 seed Utah and No. 3 seed LSU in front of them. Cleveland State won the Horizon League and made the NCAAs for the first time since 2010.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
The women&rsquo;s tournament field is filled with stars, including South Carolina&rsquo;s Aliyah Boston, l ast season&rsquo;s AP player of the year who is back in hopes of winning a second straight national title. She will have plenty of competition for the honor this year, including sharp-shooting Iowa star Caitlin Clark.
The field is also remarkable for the high number of international players, a growing trend in women&rsquo;s basketball. Alas, some of the top programs are also dealing with injuries to key players.
GO DEEPER
Gun violence has cost lives and disrupted college sports all season, touching some of the top programs in college basketball. Coaches have been thrust into uncertain and unwelcome roles in trying to navigate the topic &mdash; as well as the fallout from the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
HOW TO WATCH
Every game of the women&rsquo;s tournament will be available on ESPN&rsquo;s networks or streaming, with fans encouraged to navigate to the &ldquo;Watch&rdquo; tab on ESPN&rsquo;s sites. The NCAA will have a women&rsquo;s basketball specific March Madness app by AT&amp;T.
There are multiple sites listing game times and other details, including the NCAA site.
BETTING GUIDE 
Who&rsquo;s going to win the national championship? The betting favorites as of this week to reach the Final Four are (in order): South Carolina, Indiana, Stanford, UConn, LSU and Iowa, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The Gamecocks are a heavy favorite to become the first repeat champion in the women&rsquo;s tournament since UConn won the last of four straight in 2016.
MARCH MADNESS CALENDAR 
Selection Sunday set the brackets for First Four games (March 15-16) and first- and second-round games (March 17-20) at multiple sites across the country.
Sweet 16 weekend brings a twist this year for the women&rsquo;s teams: There will be two regional sites instead of four, with Greenville, South Carolina, and Seattle each hosting eight teams.
Where is the women&rsquo;s Final Four? In Dallas, where the semifinals are March 31 and the championship game is April 2. As it happens, the men&rsquo;s Final Four is a four-hour drive down the road in Houston that same weekend.

Here is what to know about the women’s 2023 NCAA Tournament, including the favorites and underdogs as well as key games.

March Madness 2023: South Carolina women chasing third title

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi guard Trevian Tennyson got a taste of the pomp and star treatment at last year&rsquo;s First Four and wanted more.
The Islanders lost their 2022 play-in game to Texas Southern, which notched its second First Four victory in a row.
&ldquo;We had meetings at the beginning of the year, and the only thing I told them was, my goal this year was to get back to March Madness,&rdquo; said Tennyson, who led the Islanders with 15.7 points per game and hit 41% of his 3-pointers. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re here, so that&rsquo;s really it.
&ldquo;Anything can happen really because it&rsquo;s March Madness,&rdquo; Tennyson said Monday. &ldquo;Last year we started off on a really good trail. We (were) up, I think, almost 15, and we didn&rsquo;t end up coming up with the win. Really, just anything can happen.&rdquo;
Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi (23-10) has won 12 of its last 13, including the Southland Conference tournament. This time in the First Four, they face the Redhawks of Southeast Missouri State, a team that had a losing record before winning the Ohio Valley Conference tournament for the first time in 23 years.
For the Redhawks, it was the first winning season in nine years.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s basketball Christmas. It really is,&rdquo; Southeast Missouri State coach Brad Korn said. &ldquo;Every time you turn the corner, you smile at something else. We had a guy playing bagpipes at the hotel today, so what else could you ask for?&rdquo;
The winner moves on as the 16th seed to face top-seeded Alabama in the first round at Birmingham on Thursday.
THESE GUYS AGAIN
Texas Southern is as close to a First Four regular as the annual play-in event can claim.
The Tigers return to the event for the third straight year and fifth time overall, facing off Wednesday night against Fairleigh Dickinson (17-15), the New Jersey school that won a First Four game in 2019 and is just a year removed from a 4-22 finish.
Texas Southern&rsquo;s fifth-year coach, Johnny Jones, is 3-0 in the First Four since taking over in 2018. The Tigers come to Dayton this time with a losing record (14-20) but earned the postseason berth by sweeping through the Southwest Conference tournament, beating second-seeded Grambling State in the final.
The winner of the Texas Southern-Fairleigh Dickinson game will jump on Interstate 70 for the hour&rsquo;s drive to Columbus, where it will slot in as the 16th seed in the East and play top-seeded Purdue on Friday.
DIFFERENT STYLES
Mississippi State and Pitt should be an intriguing matchup because their strengths are so different.
Mississippi State (21-12) is the worst 3-point shooting team in college basketball. Expect the Bulldogs, just 8-10 in the SEC, to try to get to the rim and try to clamp down on Pitt with excellent perimeter defense.
The Panthers (22-11) can make the mid-range and long jumpers but don&rsquo;t play as well inside, and they aren&rsquo;t as good defensively.
&ldquo;One of the things that&rsquo;s difficult is that we can&rsquo;t simulate their size and their strength and athleticism in what we&rsquo;re doing in practice,&rdquo; Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. &ldquo;So we really have to be totally dialed in to the little things that add up to big things.&rdquo;
The winner of the late Tuesday night game advances to Midwest Regional as the 11th seed, facing sixth-seeded Iowa State on Friday.
FAMILIAR FACES
Arizona State (22-12) beat Oregon State and USC in the Pac-12 tournament before being routed in the semifinal by No. 8 Arizona, a team the Sun Devils had bested Feb. 25.
They did so in no small part because of forward Warren Washington and Desmond Cambridge Jr., a fifth-year guard who led the team with 13.7 points per game.
Both players transferred from Nevada &mdash; the team Arizona State will face in Wednesday&rsquo;s late game.
Nevada lost four of its last six games to finish 22-10 but still got picked off the bubble for the play-in game. Guard Jared Lucas leads the way, averaging 17.3 points and hitting 38% of his 3-point shots.
The winner moves on as the 11th seed in the West and a Friday matchup with TCU.
MOVING ON
For bracketeers looking for a Cinderella to come out of Dayton, it could happen.
In fact, at least one First Four team has gone on to win another game in the tournament every year except 2019. The event has been played in Dayton every year since 2011, except for 2020, when it was canceled because of the pandemic, and 2021 when it was moved under the COVID-19 bubble in Indianapolis.
In 2011, No. 11 seed VCU got on a roll and went all the way to the Final Four, beating No. 1 Kansas in the regional final.

For bracketeers looking for a Cinderella to come out of Dayton, it could happen.

Returning Texas teams, first-timers make up First Four field

ATLANTA (AP) &mdash; Georgia Tech moved quickly to put a new leader in charge of its struggling men&rsquo;s basketball program, hiring longtime NBA guard Damon Stoudamire as the new Yellow Jackets coach on Monday.
The 49-year-old Stoudamire comes to the Atlantic Coast Conference school from the Boston Celtics, where he had been an assistant coach since 2021. The Celtics were in Atlanta this past weekend to play the Hawks.
Stoudamire&rsquo;s only previous head coaching experience was at Pacific, where he compiled a 71-77 record over five seasons. He was the West Coast Conference coach of the year in 2020.
Georgia Tech didn&rsquo;t take long to replace Josh Pastner, who was fired on Friday after the Yellow Jackets capped a 15-18 season with a second-round loss to Pittsburgh in the ACC Tournament.
Stoudamire now heads a program that has made only one NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 13 years.
&ldquo;Coach Stoudamire&rsquo;s success and credibility as a player and coach at both the collegiate and professional levels make him a great fit to lead our program,&rdquo; athletic director J Batt said in a statement. &ldquo;He will serve as an outstanding mentor on and off the court and will attract talented student-athletes to the Flats.&rdquo;
Stoudamire was a collegiate star at Arizona, helping lead the Wildcats to the 1994 Final Four. He was selected No. 7 overall in the 1995 NBA draft by the Toronto Raptors and earned rookie of the year honors.
He went on to average 13.4 points and 6.1 assists per game over a 13-year pro career that included stints with the Portland Trail Blazers (1998-05), Memphis Grizzlies (2005-08) and San Antonio Spurs (2008).
Stoudamire said he was &ldquo;humbled and honored&rdquo; to land a job with the Yellow Jackets, who won the ACC title two years ago but have largely been a non-factor on the national stage for more than a decade.
That&rsquo;s a far cry from the powerhouse program that Bobby Cremins built in the 1980s and &rsquo;90s, featuring stars such as Mark Price, Kenny Anderson, John Salley, Stephon Marbury and Dennis Scott.
The Yellow Jackets reached the Final Four for the first time in 1990, and made it all the way to the national championship game in 2004 under Cremins&rsquo; successor, Paul Hewitt.
&ldquo;It is an incredible honor to be entrusted with leading such a tradition-rich program,&rdquo; Stoudamire said. &ldquo;I am excited to get to work with the goal of consistently having our team compete at the championship level that we all know we can and should compete at.&rdquo;
The Yellow Jackets managed only two winning seasons and one NCAA Tournament win over Hewitt&rsquo;s final six seasons. After he was fired in 2011, Brian Gregory failed to make the NCAAs during a largely forgettable five-year tenure that resulted in his dismissal.
Pastner left Memphis to take over the Yellow Jackets in 2016, bringing the reputation as a top-level recruiter. But Georgia Tech was barely noticed by the nation&rsquo;s five-star prospects, and the lack of talent showed up in the record.
Other than that surprising run to the ACC Tournament title and a one-and-done appearance in the NCAAs in 2021, Pastner&rsquo;s program showed little signs of progress over his seven-year stint.
The Yellow Jackets plummeted to 12-20 last season, finishing next-to-last in the ACC with a 5-15 mark. This season, they started 1-12 in conference play &mdash; including a nine-game losing streak &mdash; before a late run left them with a 6-14 mark and 13th-place finish.
Pastner finished with a record of 109-114 at Georgia Tech, including a 53-78 mark in the ACC.
The Yellow Jackets have fired their two most prominent coaches as well as its athletic director in the past six months. Football coach Geoff Collins and AD Todd Stansbury were dumped after a dismal start on the gridiron last season.
Batt replaced Stansbury and presided over searches that led to interim coach Brent Key remaining on as Collins&rsquo; full-time successor and the hiring of Stoudamire.
Collins was owed a buyout of more than $11 million, while Pastner will get some $2.5 million over the final three years of his contract, putting an additional strain on an athletic department that has struggled financially in recent years.
But Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera expressed hope that Stoudamire can turn things around on the court.
&ldquo;His impressive track record as a coach in college and the NBA, and his own experience as a student-athlete and professional player, will be invaluable assets for the institute&rsquo;s men&rsquo;s basketball program and our student-athletes,&rdquo; Cabrera said.
In an interesting twist, Stoudamire was an assistant at Memphis from 2009-11 after Pastner took over as head coach for John Calipari, and returned to the Tigers for Pastner&rsquo;s final season at the school in 2015-16.
Stoudamire also has been an assistant with the NBA&rsquo;s Memphis Grizzlies as well as a two-year stint at his alma mater.
In his only head coaching job, he took over at Pacific in 2016 with the program coming off an 8-20 campaign. His best season was a 23-10 mark in 2019-20, when the Tigers won a school-record 11 WCC games and he was named conference coach of the year.
But he finished with a losing record overall and never guided the Tigers to a postseason berth.
Now, Stoudamire will get a chance to improve on his resume in the ACC.

Stoudamire now heads a program that has made only one NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 13 years.

Damon Stoudamire hired as Georgia Tech’s head coach

With five conference tournament finals capping a wild week of men's college hoops, Sunday afternoon officially marked the end of the 2022-23 men's college basketball regular season, which means only one thing: March Madness is upon us.
Princeton (Ivy), Virginia Commonwealth (A-10), Alabama (SEC), Purdue (Big Ten) and Memphis (AAC) punched their official ticket to the men's 2023 NCAA Tournament to round out the group of 32 receiving an automatic bid.
Those teams joined: Vermont (America East), Duke (ACC), Kennesaw State (ASUN), Texas (Big 12), Marquette (Big East), Montana State (Big Sky), UNC Asheville (Big South), UC Santa Barbara (Big West), College of Charleston (CAA), Florida Atlantic (C-USA), Northern Kentucky (Horizon), Iona (MAAC), Kent State (MAC), Howard (MEAC), Drake (Missouri Valley), San Diego State (Mountain West), Fairleigh Dickinson (Northeast), Southeast Missouri State (Ohio Valley), Arizona (Pac-12), Colgate (Patriot), Furman (Southern), Texas A&amp;M Corpus Christi (Southland), Texas Southern (SWAC), Oral Roberts (Summit), Louisiana (Sun Belt), Gonzaga (WCC), Grand Canyon (WAC).
The selection committee revealed at 6 p.m. that the No. 1 overall seed is Alabama. The other three top seeds are Houston, Kansas and Purdue.
The First Four in Dayton will consist of a 16-seed matchup between Texas A&amp;M Corpus Christi and Southeast Missouri State plus an 11-seed matchup between Mississippi State and Pittsburgh. In the other two games, there will be a 16-seed matchup between Texas Southern and Fairleigh Dickinson and an 11-seed matchup between Arizona State and Nevada.
Who else was invited to join The Big Dance on the road to the Final Four in Houston?
Following Selection Sunday, here is the official field of 68 in the men's 2023 NCAA Tournament:
South Region
(1) Alabama Crimson Tide vs. (16) Texas A&amp;M Corpus Christi Islanders/Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
(8) Maryland Terrapins vs. (9) West Virginia Mountaineers
(5) San Diego State Aztecs vs. (12) College of Charleston Cougars
(4) Virginia Cavaliers vs. (13) Furman Palladins
(6) Creighton Blue Jays vs. (11) NC State Wolfpack
(3) Baylor Bears vs. (14) UC Santa Barbara Gauchos
(7) Missouri Tigers vs. (10) Utah State Aggies
(2) Arizona Wildcats vs. (15) Princeton Tigers
Midwest Region
(1) Houston Cougars vs. (16) Northern Kentucky Norse
(8) Iowa Hawkeyes vs. (9) Auburn Tigers
(5) Miami Hurricanes vs. (12) Drake Bulldogs
(4) Indiana Hoosiers vs. (13) Kent State Golden Flashes
(6) Iowa State Cyclones vs. (11) Mississippi State Bulldogs/Pittsburgh Panthers
(3) Xavier Musketeers vs. (14) Kennesaw State Owls
(7) Texas A&amp;M Aggies vs. (10) Penn State Nittany Lions
(2) Texas Longhorns vs. (15) Colgate Raiders
West Region
(1) Kansas Jayhawks vs. (16) Howard Bison
(8) Arkansas Razorbacks vs. (9) Illinois Fighting Illini
(5) Saint Mary's Gaels vs. (12) VCU Rams
(4) UConn Huskies vs. (13) Iona Gaels
(6) TCU Horned Frogs vs. (11) Arizona State Sun Devils/Nevada Wolfpack
(3) Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. (14) Grand Canyon Antelopes
(7) Northwestern Wildcats vs. (10) Boise State Broncos
(2) UCLA Bruins vs. (15) UNC Asheville Bulldogs
East Region
(1) Purdue Boilermakers vs. (16) Texas Southern Tigers/Fairleigh Dickinson Knights
(8) Memphis Tigers vs. (9) Florida Atlantic Owls
(5) Duke Blue Devils vs. (12) Oral Roberts Golden Eagles
(4) Tennessee Volunteers vs. (13) Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
(6) Kentucky Wildcats vs. (11) Providence Friars
(3) Kansas State Wildcats vs. (14) Montana State Bobcats
(7) Michigan State Spartans vs. (10) USC Trojans
(2) Marquette Golden Eagles vs. (15) Vermont Catamounts
THE BRACKET
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THE BRACKET 🙌<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> <a href="https://t.co/HZYnwD3s3x">pic.twitter.com/HZYnwD3s3x</a>
&mdash; NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1635049575483580416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2023</a>
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An overview of the official men's 2023 NCAA Tournament schedule and March Madness matchups on the road to Houston.

2023 NCAA Tournament: Men's field of 68 teams announced

NEW ORLEANS (AP) &mdash; CJ McCollum scored 13 of his 32 points in the final four minutes and the New Orleans Pelicans held off the Dallas Mavericks 113-106 on Wednesday night.
McCollum&rsquo;s compelling finish came after each team lost a top player. The Pelicans&rsquo; Brandon Ingram left late in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle after scoring 12 points. Dallas star guard Luka Doncic left in the third with a strained left thigh after scoring 15 points.
The Mavericks were down by as many as 19 in the third quarter and by double digits well into the fourth. But the Mavs suddenly surged within striking distance with a 12-0 run that began with Davis Bertans 3, Kyrie Irving&rsquo;s 4-point play on a 3 as he was fouled, and Christian Wood&rsquo;s 3-point play on a layup as he was fouled.
Irving capped the spurt with driving layup along the baseline that made it 97-94 with 4:12 left.
That&rsquo;s when McCollum snapped the run with two clutch baskets &mdash; a 14-foot pull-up and a 3. He added two more 3s and a floating bank shot to make it 110-103 in the final minute, and New Orleans held on from there.
Trey Murphy III scored 16 for New Orleans. Herb Jones and Jaxson Hayes each added 14 points for the Pelicans.
Irving scored 27 points and Tim Hardaway Jr added 17 points for Dallas.
Coming off a four-point victory over Utah on Tuesday night, Dallas faded quickly after a promising first few minutes. After hitting two of their first four 3s and going up 14-6 on Powell&rsquo;s alley-oop dunk of Doncic&rsquo;s lob, the Mavs missed 13 of their next 14 shots from deep.
By the end of the first quarter, the Pelicans had tied it at 24 on rookie Dyson Daniels&rsquo; 3-pointer.
New Orleans then opened the second quarter with eight straight points on McCollum&rsquo;s 3, Hayes&rsquo; alley-oop dunk and Naji Marshall&rsquo;s banked 3, and went on to lead by as many as 18 before taking a 59-43 lead into halftime.
Despite Ingram&rsquo;s inability to return after the second quarter, New Orleans maintained a comfortable lead for most of the second half.
Jones scored eight of his points in the third quarter, when Murphy hit two 3s, and New Orleans led 90-74 after Murphy&rsquo;s third 3 of the half early in the fourth.
TIP-INS
Mavericks: Wood finished with 15 points and Jaden Hardy 11. ... Finished 16 of 46 (34.8%) from 3-point range. Doncic was assessed a technical foul in the first quarter while staring down official Natalie Sago after making a driving shot on which he apparently thought he&rsquo;d also been fouled. ... Reggie Bullock missed the game with a bruised right quadriceps, Maxi Kleber was out with a right hamstring injury and center JaVale McGee was sidelined by a sprained right ankle.
Pelicans: The club announced before tip-off that All-Star forward Zion Williamson will be out at least two more weeks while he recovers from a Jan. 2 right hamstring injury. ... Shot 50.6% (42 of 83) overall and 48.1% (13 of 27) from deep. ... Outrebounded Dallas 49-34.
UP NEXT
Mavericks: At Memphis on Saturday.
Pelicans: Host Oklahoma City on Saturday.

CJ McCollum scored 13 of his 32 points in the final four minutes and the Pelicans held off the Mavericks 113-106 on Wednesday.

CJ McCollum scores 32, Pelicans hold off Mavericks 113-106

NEW ORLEANS (AP) &mdash; Paolo Banchero capped a 29-point performance with three clutch mid-range jumpers in the closing minutes, and the Orlando Magic defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 101-93 on Monday night.
The first two of Banchero&rsquo;s big shots broke ties before he hit another to make it 97-93. Franz Wagner, who had 11 points, added a 10-foot floater from the baseline with 25 seconds left and Orlando held on from there. New Orleans lost its fourth straight.
Markelle Fultz and Moritz Wagner each scored 14 points for Orlando, which also got 11 points and 11 rebounds from Wendell Carter Jr.
Brandon Ingram scored 25 points for New Orleans (30-32), which is clinging to the 10th and final Western Conference play-in spot by percentage points over Portland (29-31), with those clubs set to play one another later this week.
CJ McCollum added 18 points for the Pelicans, who&rsquo;ve struggled ever since star power forward Zion Williamson went out with a right hamstring injury in early January.
Orlando led by as many as 11 points when Jalen Suggs&rsquo; 3 made it 36-25 at the end of the first quarter.
Trey Murphy III&rsquo;s 27-foot 3 and alley-oop dunk of Naji Marshall&rsquo;s lob in transition helped the Pelicans slowly chip away during the second quarter, when New Orleans held Orlando to just 14 points.
Josh Richardson&rsquo;s pull-up jumper from the top of the key pulled the Pelicans within 50-49 as time expired in the first half.
Orlando led for most of the second half, but never by more than eight, allowing the Pelicans to claw back into an 89-all tie on Herb Jones&rsquo; free throw with 4:51 left.
TIP-INS
Magic: Improved to 11-20 on the road after going 10-31 in away games last season. ... Outshot the Pelicans 45.6% (36 of 79) to 44.7% (34 of 76) and outrebounded New Orleans 43-38.
Pelicans: Williamson missed his 25th straight game with a right hamstring injury. The Pelicans are 7-18 during that stretch. ... Jones scored 10 points. ... New Orleans shot 22.2% (6 of 27) from 3-point range.
UP NEXT
Magic: Visit Milwaukee on Wednesday in the second of three straight road games.
Pelicans: Visit Portland on Wednesday to open a three-game trip.

Paolo Banchero's 29-point performance led the Orlando Magic to victory over the New Orleans Pelicans 101-93 on Monday night.

Paolo Banchero scores 29, Magic top Pelicans 101-93

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Gordon Hayward scored 21 points, rookie center Mark Williams had a huge game with 18 points and 20 rebounds &mdash; both career highs &mdash; and the surging Charlotte Hornets defeated the Miami Heat 108-103 on Saturday night for their season-best fourth straight win.
LaMelo Ball had 16 of his 19 points in the second half and finished with 13 assists for his sixth straight double-double. Kelly Oubre Jr. and Dennis Smith Jr. each had 15 points off the bench for the Hornets.
Tyler Herro had 33 points on six 3-pointers and Jimmy Butler added 28 points as Miami lost its fourth straight. Kevin Love had 13 points and 13 rebounds in his second game since joining the Heat.
Herro called losing games on back-to-back nights coming out of the All-Star break &ldquo;disappointing.&rdquo;
&ldquo;This is a point in the year where we can either come together or we can go away and split,&rdquo; Herro said.
The Hornets earned a season series split with the Heat, with each team winning twice at home.
Williams was a dominant force inside all night for the Hornets and scored the game&rsquo;s final four points on an alley-oop from Ball and a thunderous dunk of an offensive rebound to help bury the Heat. He finished 9 of 12 from the field.
&ldquo;I think everybody viewed him as a talented defensive rim protector, but he has a chance to be a very good offensive player, too,&rdquo; Hornets coach Steve Clifford said of Williams, the 15th overall pick in last year&rsquo;s draft.
Williams stepped into a starting role when the team sent veteran Mason Plumlee to the Los Angeles Clippers at the trade deadline.
&ldquo;The more and more I play, the more and more comfortable I get,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;Offensively, getting ready to catch passes from whoever, lobs, drop offs, on the offensive glass.&rdquo;
Charlotte led by 22 in the first half before Miami clawed back to cut the lead to three at the break.
But Ball, who was 1 of 11 from the field in the first half, erupted with three 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the third quarter to set the tone for the second half. He added two more crucial 3s in the fourth quarter after Miami had cut the lead to one.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s super confident and he puts so much time in, so that gives you confidence,&rdquo; Clifford said. &ldquo;He works at it and his game is in rhythm, so I think he feels like he&rsquo;s always going to be able to make them.&rdquo;
Miami&rsquo;s offensive struggles &mdash; it has failed to reach 110 points in six straight games &mdash; carried over to the first half.
The Heat shot 20.8% from the floor in the first quarter to fall behind 29-16. Charlotte extended the lead to 22 in the second quarter before Miami closed the first half on a 24-6 run sparked by 10 points by Love and a pair of 3s from Herro.
&ldquo;We put ourselves in a hole and it&rsquo;s just tough to get out of in this league with a bunch of good teams and good players,&rdquo; Herro said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s on us as players to bring out best effort every night.&rdquo;
Miami would cut the lead to one with under two minutes to play in the game on Bam Adebayo&rsquo;s driving dunk and had a chance to take the lead on its next possession. But Adebayo turned the ball over on a fast-break opportunity with 1:30 left.
Williams made the Heat pay with back-to-back baskets.
Miami failed to score on its final four possessions, turning it over twice.
TIP-INS
Heat: Kyle Lowry (left knee soreness), Nikola Jovic (lower back stress reaction) and Omer Yurtseven (ankle surgery) did not play. ... Butler was 16 of 20 from the foul line.
Hornets: P.J. Washington (right foot soreness) and Cody Martin (left knee soreness) sat out. ... Dennis Smith Jr. had a monster one-handed dunk over Max Strus in the second quarter that brought the crowd to its feet, but was assessed a technical foul for talking trash after the play.
UP NEXT
Heat: At Philadelphia on Monday night.
Hornets: Host Detroit on Monday night.

Mark Williams had 18 points and 20 rebounds — both career-highs — and the surging Hornets defeated the Heat 108-103 on Saturday.