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The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly targeting University of Connecticut coach Dan Hurley for their vacant head coaching job, according to ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski.
According to Woj, the back-to-back NCAA coach for the UConn Huskies has been the Lakers&rsquo; top-secret target after previous reports suggested that the franchise has been in contact with several other names in the NBA space. Former player and now-ESPN analyst JJ Redick and Charlotte Hornets&rsquo; top assistant James Borrego were among those mentioned in reports.
The Lakers have already been reported to have met with Hurley for initial meetings and their discussions are expected to ramp up in a few days, with the franchise preparing a massive, long-term contract offer to pry Hurley to the NBA.
ANALYSIS: With Hurley&rsquo;s name thrown to the Lakers&rsquo; head coaching job candidates, this could mean that Redick&rsquo;s opportunity with the Lakers could either turn out to be a smokescreen for the grander scheme of things of plans by the Lakers to hire the NCAA champion coach. Numerous reports have already been out there with Redick&rsquo;s name as the top candidate for the franchise&rsquo;s head coaching job and with this development, this shakes things up for a lot of reasons.
More notably, signing Hurley would mean the Lakers are going all-in with their pitch to make superstar LeBron James stay with the team, pending his decision in free agency. LeBron has expressly shown on social media platforms like X and Instagram his admiration for Hurley and his creative and innovative offensive schemes.
Furthermore, Hurley seems like the type of coach who LeBron might listen to and/or is good enough/brave enough to coach LeBron considering the type of player that he is on and off the floor.
Lastly, Hurley&rsquo;s possible hiring would likely affect the Lakers&rsquo; drafting process in which LeBron&rsquo;s son Bronny James could likely be drafted to the team using its 55th pick in the upcoming draft. Hurley has been known as a master in player development and could potentially help the younger James&rsquo; growth moving forward.

The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly targeting University of Connecticut coach Dan Hurley for their vacant head coaching job.

Lakers targeting UConn’s Dan Hurley for head coaching job

The UConn Huskies made history Monday night by becoming the first team since 2007 to win back-to-back NCAA Men&rsquo;s Basketball championships after defeating Purdue 75-60 at the State Farm Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona.
The last team to do the same feat was the Florida Gators, who won back-to-back in 2006 and 2007. They were led by then-head coach Billy Donovan and eventual NBA stars Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and Corey Brewer.&nbsp;
UConn capped off one of the most dominant runs ever in college basketball history with the best point differential in a single NCAA tournament all-time with a +140 spread. They beat the previous records set by Kentucky in 1996 (+129), Villanova in 2016 (+124), and Duke in 1999 (+123). This is their sixth championship in program history.
The Huskies were only up 36-30 after a tight first half but then poured it on after the break, showing why they were the defending champions from a year ago.
UConn used every offensive set they ran to perfection and executed their defensive game plan: let Zach Edey score and stay home on shooters. This limited Purdue to only one three-pointer made on just seven attempts overall.
The two-time National Player of the Year feasted with 37 points and 10 rebounds, but the rest of the team only managed to score 23 points. 
"We didn't want to give up 3's," UConn head coach Dan Hurley shared. "We didn't care if Edey took 25, 28 shots to get 35 points. The gameplan was no Smith, no Loyer, no Gillis, no Jones. Keep that collective to under 20 points as a group and they had no chance to win no matter what Edey did."
Tristen Newton, who was named the tournament's most outstanding player after the game, led UConn with 20 points on an efficient 6-of-13 shooting from the field along with 7 assists and 5 rebounds, while projected 2024 NBA draft first-rounders Stephon Castle and Donovan Clingan added 15 and 11 points respectively for the Huskies.

UConn finished their dominant tournament run by beating Purdue 75-60, becoming the first back-to-back champ since Florida in 2007.

UConn overpowers Purdue to win back-to-back NCAA Men’s Basketball titles

On Friday night in Cleveland, Caitlin Clark and Iowa defeated Paige Bueckers 71-69 to advance to the national title game against undefeated South Carolina &ndash; but not without some late-game drama.
With Iowa just leading by one 70-69 with 9 seconds left, UConn had possession for the final shot in the game. Out of the timeout, the Huskies tried to run a split action for Bueckers with Aaliyah Edwards screening and Nika Muhl passing the ball. As the screen was set with Bueckers veering back towards Muhl to receive the pass and get ready to shoot, Hawkeyes guard Gabbie Marshall fought over the screen by Edwards which ended up with the play getting called for an offensive foul for setting an illegal screen with just around 3 seconds left in the game.
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OFFENSIVE FOUL OR NOT? 🤔<a href="https://t.co/rxB7d3Lydk">pic.twitter.com/rxB7d3Lydk</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1776457695568216295?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
It was a questionable foul call, to say the least &ndash; sparking a debate each with contrasting sides to tell.
It set the internet ablaze and everyone was talking about it. Notable NBA and WNBA stars each chimed in on X with their thoughts on the questionable call, citing how the players should decide the outcome of the game with their plays whether it be good or bad rather than laying it up for the referees to decide.
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NAAAAAHHHHHH!!! I ain&rsquo;t rolling with that call.
&mdash; LeBron James (@KingJames) <a href="https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1776451983047856248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>

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To call that on a game deciding play is so wrong WOW
&mdash; Kelsey Plum (@Kelseyplum10) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kelseyplum10/status/1776452745492414682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>

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SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt and ESPN Women&rsquo;s Basketball analyst Andraya Carter didn&rsquo;t agree with the call either.
&ldquo;I hated the call. You&rsquo;ve got to give Gabbie Marshall credit for trying to fight over the screen. That&rsquo;s what drew the refs&rsquo; attention in,&rdquo; Carter said on SportsCenter after the game. &ldquo;But to me, now that final play it&rsquo;s not about Iowa&rsquo;s defense. It&rsquo;s about the call the referee made. There was a slight lean, maybe Aaliyah Edwards&rsquo; elbow was slightly out. But to be honest the calls were even for both sides. There were missed calls for Iowa. There were missed contacts for UConn. To make that call at the very end of the game &ndash; to me, it took away the opportunity for players to make plays. &hellip; To be honest, that call sucked.&rdquo;
WNBA legends Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird, who had their ESPN segment &lsquo;The Bird and Taurasi Show&rsquo; grace the Final Four, also shared their thoughts in real-time with UConn legend Breanna Stewart while commentating and watching the game live.
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3 uconn huskies react to the 'offensive foul' <a href="https://t.co/wFWCbVYTMG">pic.twitter.com/wFWCbVYTMG</a>
&mdash; jaiden (@steph_turkey) <a href="https://twitter.com/steph_turkey/status/1776454140962697606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;Oh my god,&rdquo; expressed a visibly disappointed Taurasi. &ldquo;Wow, what an unfortunate time to call an offensive foul. Just know how to ruin the game &ndash; oh my god that&rsquo;s terrible. It didn&rsquo;t even get her open &ndash; that&rsquo;s a tough play. We always talk about letting the players decide the game, especially in a benign call like that. It&rsquo;s just tough to end the game like that.&rdquo;
Legendary coach Geno Auriemma could not hide his disappointment as well in the post-game conference, saying UConn maybe should just get better at not setting illegal screens. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s probably an illegal screen call you could make on every single possession, and I just know there were three or four called on us &ndash; and I don&rsquo;t think any were called on them.&rdquo;
Clark and Final Four hero Hannah Stuelke &ndash; who played perhaps the best game of her life by scoring 23 points &ndash; thought their teammate Marshall did a good job of fighting over the screen, praising how she has been one of the nation&rsquo;s best defenders.
&ldquo;Gabbie is great in those situations. She always comes up with big plays, a block, or whatever,&rdquo; Stuelke said. &ldquo;You always see it time and time again, [Marshall] does not get enough credit for what she does,&rdquo; Clark added. &ldquo;She guards one of the best players in the country and it challenges her quite a bit. Paige had a great game but I thought Gabbie just played great defense on her. Even when Paige made some tough baskets, Gabbie just responded and kept going up there and guarded her.&rdquo;
Despite the tough loss, Bueckers took the high road and remained a positive attitude after what transpired late in the game.
"Players play and players decide the game. Everybody can make a big deal out of one single play but one single play doesn&rsquo;t win or lose a basketball game," Bueckers admitted. "... You can look at one play and say oh that killed us or that hurt us. We should have done a better job, I should have done a better job making sure didn&rsquo;t leave the game up to that."

Iowa defeated UConn 71-69 to advance to the national title game against undefeated South Carolina, but not without late-game drama.

Women's Final Four: Late phantom call mars Iowa-UConn ending

It&rsquo;s going to be the best player in the country vs. the best team in the country in the national championship game after all.
Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes survived a thrilling game against Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies 71-69 in their NCAA Women&rsquo;s March Madness Final Four matchup Friday night at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
The National Player of the Year recipient put up 21 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists to lead the Hawkeyes to their second straight national title game appearance and a meeting against the 36-0 South Carolina Gamecocks.
Clark, who scored 17 points in the second half after just 4 at halftime, was clutch in the 4th quarter. She tallied 8 points and dished 3 assists, making big plays after big plays.
But perhaps none bigger than the play with 1.1 seconds to go with Iowa inbounding from the baseline. In a display of high basketball IQ, Clark threw the ball off the back of an unsuspecting Bueckers with her back turned towards her and the baseline to waste time off the clock. With just 0.3 seconds on the timer, Iowa inbounded the ball again to essentially win the game.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I watch a lot of basketball and I understand basketball and she had her back turned to me. So the biggest point was &ndash; you know the biggest thing at that point in the game is like you just want the clock to go down,&rdquo; Clark said when asked about the play. &ldquo;I mean you don&rsquo;t want to give them the ball but she had her back completely turned so I just tried to waste some clock, and you know &ndash; it just came into my brain &ndash; so I just went for it and it worked.&rdquo;
However, Clark and Iowa&rsquo;s brilliance in the 4th quarter and the clutch were overshadowed by a crucial call late in the game. With Iowa just leading by one 70-69 with 9 seconds left and UConn having possession for the final shot, Aaliyah Edwards was called for a questionable moving screen call to give the ball back to the Hawkeyes &ndash; setting up for Clark&rsquo;s end-game brilliance.
Bueckers, who played all 40 minutes of the game, scored 17 points in UConn&rsquo;s losing effort while fellow All-American teammate Edwards and rookie KK Arnold had 17 and 14 respectively in a heartbreaking game for the Huskies.
Helping Clark survive the battle against Bueckers was Hannah Stuelke who played perhaps the best game of her life by contributing 23 points on 9/12 shooting. Kate Martin chipped in 11 points and 8 rebounds for the no.1 seeded Hawkeyes, who will now move on to face the formidable Gamecocks who have yet to lose a game for the season.
South Carolina took care of business earlier in the night against Cinderella team NC State 78-59 to keep their dream perfect season alive entering Sunday&rsquo;s title game.
As for Bueckers, she and UConn will end their season a game short of the title game &ndash; a feat she has accomplished twice now in her career. A symbol of resilience and togetherness all season long, Bueckers and UConn led by legendary coach Geno Auriemma lost 6 players during the season to injuries and came into the final four with just 7 available players.
Nevertheless, Bueckers will have one final shot at a national championship next year with hopefully a fully healthy and complete UConn squad with her best friend and 2021 HS no.1 recruit Azzi Fudd in the fold.

It’s going to be the best player in the country vs. the best team in the country in the national championship game after all.

Clark's Hawkeyes outlast Bueckers' Huskies, advance to national title game

The Final Four will have to wait until next year for JuJu Watkins.
Considering how good she is already as a rookie, Watkins will have three more years to do so with a bright future ahead of her.
But today, experience triumphs over raw talent as Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies overcame Watkins and the gritty USC Trojans to head back to the Final Four after crashing out in the Sweet Sixteen the year before.
The star-studded matchup did not disappoint with each star showing out for their teams. Watkins, the sensational freshman who became the all-time freshman leading scorer in NCAA WCBB history, scored 29 points with 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks.
However, it was not enough to deny Bueckers and the Huskies from advancing to their record 23rd Final Four appearance &ndash; the most all-time.
Bueckers recorded a spectacular performance of her own with an all-around game of 28 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks to lead a depleted UConn squad plagued by injuries.
UConn only had 7 active players in the game after losing six different players during the season. Along with Bueckers, Nika Muhl and Aaliyah Edwards were big all game long with all three players playing in all 40 minutes. Edwards backed up Bueckers in scoring with 24 points of her own while Muhl, the Huskies&rsquo; all-time leader in assists, dealt a game-high 8 assists.
Bueckers, who also led UConn to Final Four appearances in her freshman and sophomore seasons, hit two big buckets late in the 4th to put the Huskies up for good.
This was a redemption season for the 5-foot-11 Bueckers, who notably won the National Player of the Year award as a freshman and made the title game that season but was sidelined all last year after tearing the ACL in her left knee.
&ldquo;I want to give glory to God because I was praying last year to get back to this stage,&rdquo; Bueckers said after the game. &ldquo;He [God] gave me so many trials and tribulations but I just kept on believing &ndash; it was to build my character and test my faith. I&rsquo;m just so proud, I can&rsquo;t even take it into words.&rdquo;
Now, Bueckers and UConn will face a familiar foe in the Final Four at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio next week in Caitlin Clark and Iowa. Clark and Bueckers have some history together as batchmates in the HS class of 2018, Team USA U19 gold medal teammates, and are regarded to be the best prospects of women&rsquo;s basketball in this generation, as well as being projected as the top overall picks in the WNBA draft in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies defeated JuJu Watkins and the gritty USC Trojans to head back to the Final Four.

Paige Bueckers leads UConn back to the Final Four

Four of the top superstars in women&rsquo;s college basketball are set to face off on the biggest stage.
Angel Reese and the defending-champion LSU Tigers will go up against leading National Player of the Year candidate Caitlin Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes at the MVP Arena in Albany, New York. 
Then, Paige Bueckers and the Connecticut Huskies will face off against top-ranked freshman JuJu Watkins and the USC Trojans at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.
Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark set for rematch in the Elite Eight
Reese and LSU are trying to defend the title that they won last year against Clark and Iowa. LSU has had a fairly dominant tournament this year, winning their previous three games by double-digits. Reese was named the Most Outstanding Player of last year's NCAA Tournament.
Clark, who became the NCAA&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer this season, will try to lead Iowa to the Final Four and avenge last year's loss against LSU. Like the Tigers, the Hawkeyes have dominated their opponents in this year&rsquo;s tournament run, beating each team by 10 or more points.
This star-studded matchup will surely be fiery considering the stakes and a little bit of history between these teams. Reese and Clark had some words for each other last year and have developed a rivalry.
JuJu Watkins, Paige Bueckers vie for Final Four spot&nbsp;
Reese vs. Clark isn't the only star-studded matchup on tonight's game. Watkins vs. Bueckers will also be must-see TV. Watkins is making waves in March Madness as a freshman, while Bueckers is determined to prove she's still one of the best players in the nation.
Watkins, the sensational first-year player from USC, will try to lead the Trojans further into the Big Dance after just recently surviving a scare against the Baylor Bears in the Sweet Sixteen. Watkins has been the nation&rsquo;s second-leading scorer, averaging over 27 points a game behind only the prolific Clark, but she will have her hands full against a UConn team that's led by legendary coach Geno Auriemma.
On the other hand, Bueckers and UConn aim to reclaim the glory that has evaded them for the past few seasons. Despite winning the NCAA Player of the Year award as a freshman and reaching the championship game that year, Bueckers has been plagued with knee injuries over her last two seasons. Now, she's hoping to show the world what she&rsquo;s capable of again on the biggest stage.
All eyes will be on Watkins and Bueckers as they face each other for the first time and try to lead their respective teams to Cleveland for the Final Four.

Elite 8 Preview: Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers vs. JuJu Watkins

Iowa Hawkeyes superstar guard Caitlin Clark made history on Thursday night as she became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women&rsquo;s basketball history.
Clark broke the scoring record in the first quarter of Iowa's game against Michigan, surpassing former Washington Huskies great Kelsey Plum.&nbsp; In typical Clark fashion, the record-breaking shot was a booming triple from the logo, which the crowd in Iowa loved. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
The moment Caitlin Clark broke the NCAA DI women&rsquo;s basketball all-time scoring record. 👏 <a href="https://twitter.com/IowaWBB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IowaWBB</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/bigten?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bigten</a> <a href="https://t.co/f2t7ISYjyA">pic.twitter.com/f2t7ISYjyA</a>
&mdash; NBC Sports (@NBCSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCSports/status/1758296967178752068?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2024</a></blockquote>

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The 6-foot guard now has 3,528 points and counting. Plum, a WNBA superstar now with the Las Vegas Aces, previously held the record with 3,527 points. She tweeted her support for Clark, saying: "Congratulations on the record, and really your entire season! I appreciate what you do for the game, much respect and love! See you at the next level, hopefully sooner than later 😜🤞🏼"
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://twitter.com/CaitlinClark22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CaitlinClark22</a> Congratulations on the record, and really your entire season! I appreciate what you do for the game, much respect and love! See you at the next level, hopefully sooner than later 😜🤞🏼
&mdash; Kelsey Plum (@Kelseyplum10) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kelseyplum10/status/1756771655664197684?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2024</a></blockquote>

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With the season far from over, Clark now has a chance to break the NCAA's all-time scoring record (men&rsquo;s or women&rsquo;s). LSU legend "Pistol" Pete Maravich <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39542207/who-holds-ncaa-mens-college-basketball-scoring-record" target="_blank" rel="noopener">currently holds the&nbsp; record with 3,667 points</a>.

Caitlin Clark made history on Thursday night as she became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women’s basketball history.

Caitlin Clark breaks NCAA women’s basketball all-time scoring record

High-school basketball phenom Cooper Flagg recently made headlines when he announced that he reclassified from the 2025 class to the 2024 class.
He's now the odds-on favorite to go No. 1 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. But before he sets his sights on the NBA, where will he play next season?
BetOnline has released odds on Flagg's next team, with the Duke Blue Devils emerging as the heavy favorites to land the 6-foot-8 forward. Can the G League Ignite or another college program steal him away from the Duke? Here are the complete odds:
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 53.0017%; height: 147px;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 34.724%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">NEXT TEAM</td>
<td style="width: 14.6196%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">ODDS</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 34.724%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">Duke Blue Devils</td>
<td style="width: 14.6196%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">-300</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 34.724%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">G League Ignite</td>
<td style="width: 14.6196%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">+275</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15px;">
<td style="width: 34.724%; height: 15px; text-align: center;">Michigan State Spartans</td>
<td style="width: 14.6196%; height: 15px; text-align: center;">+900</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 34.724%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">UCLA Bruins</td>
<td style="width: 14.6196%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">+1100</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 34.724%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">Connecticut Huskies</td>
<td style="width: 14.6196%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">+1200</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 34.724%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">Any overseas team in Europe</td>
<td style="width: 14.6196%; height: 22px; text-align: center;">+3300</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Flagg has received offers from many schools, including Albany, Bryant, UConn, Duke, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State, Maine, Michigan, Providence, Texas, UCF, UCLA, Villanova and West Virginia. He received his first offer (from Bryant) when he was still in middle school.
While he has plenty of offers, it's worth noting that he has only visited one school: Duke. The Blue Devils are considered the heavy favorites to land Flagg's services.
If Flagg does commit to Duke, he would have a chance to become the latest Blue Devil to be selected No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft, joining Paolo Banchero, Zion Williamson, Kyrie Irving, Elton Brand and Art Heyman.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
After reclassifying, Cooper Flagg is now the odds-on favorite to go No. 1 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. Where will he play next year? <a href="https://twitter.com/betonline_ag?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@betonline_ag</a> has odds: Duke (-300) G League (+275) Michigan State (+900) UCLA (+1100) UConn (+1200) Overseas (+3300) <a href="https://t.co/iG6IIQxTV1">pic.twitter.com/iG6IIQxTV1</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1691849341206495342?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Flagg is the top-ranked prospect in <a href="https://247sports.com/Season/2024-Basketball/RecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">247Sports' prospect rankings</a> for the class of 2024. The <a href="https://247sports.com/player/cooper-flagg-46129443/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">experts at 247Sports</a> are also predicting that he will choose Duke.
Flagg is from Newport, ME, but he is currently attending Montverde Academy in Florida.
In 2022, he was named USA Basketball's Male Athlete of the Year, becoming the youngest player to ever win the award after thriving on Team USA's Men's U17 National Team. He was also named Maine's Gatorade Boys Basketball Player of the Year for the 2021-22 season.

The Duke Blue Devils have emerged as the heavy favorites to land Cooper Flagg, who's projected to go No. 1 in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Duke has best odds to land potential 2025 No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg

<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-wembanyama-big-men-716d46b407e0e0b6be18370cc7e643b2">Victor Wembanyama&rsquo;s</a>&nbsp;NBA draft experience will be quite unlike last year&rsquo;s No. 1 pick.
Paolo Banchero could never be certain he would be taken first. There was too much speculation that Orlando was also considering Jabari Smith Jr. and Chet Holmgren, with some mock drafts listing Banchero below both. The eventual Rookie of the Year said he didn&rsquo;t find out&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-nba-draft-live-updates-1a7d5a8f93ddab31614e29c337e8d862">he was the Magic&rsquo;s choice</a>&nbsp;until less than a minute before Commissioner Adam Silver went on stage in Brooklyn.
Wembanyama has no need to wait.
The 19-year-old from France has owned permanent residence atop mock draft boards, including all four versions of the AP&rsquo;s, and could begin walking to the stage Thursday night before Silver finishes announcing the San Antonio Spurs&rsquo; selection.
Shortly after, two twin brothers could make the same walk.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-amen-ausar-thompson-a34e7912942e90a202005ea35fcd0944">Amen and Ausar Thompson</a>&nbsp;of Overtime Elite are both expected to land inside the top 10.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">1. SAN ANTONIO SPURS: VICTOR WEMBANYAMA, FORWARD, FRANCE</h2>
His combination of a center&rsquo;s size and a guard&rsquo;s shooting and dribbling make the 19-year-old a prospect perhaps unlike any other the NBA has seen, and should end the 13-year streak of the No. 1 pick being a college freshman. The Spurs won five NBA titles after taking Tim Duncan in 1997, the last time they had the No. 1 pick and dream of a similar impact from Wembanyama, who is listed at 7-foot-4.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">2. CHARLOTTE HORNETS: BRANDON MILLER, FORWARD, ALABAMA</h2>
At 6-9, the SEC player of the year and tournament MVP as a freshman has the size, versatility and 3-point stroke to make him an ideal player for the modern NBA game. But the Hornets, who played without Miles Bridges last season after an arrest for a domestic violence incident against the mother of his children, may have to weigh a negative reaction if they add Miller, who&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-sports-tuscaloosa-alabama-crimson-tide-top-25-college-basketball-today-39eab4a038324d58910da79372722ad1">delivered the gun used in a fatal shooting.</a>
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">3. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS: SCOOT HENDERSON, GUARD, G LEAGUE IGNITE</h2>
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers/status/1665146603525795840?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Worked out for the Trail Blazers</a>&nbsp;and showed the athleticism and ability to do it all from the guard spot that may have made Henderson the No. 1 pick in many years. This time, he could be part of a trade if the Blazers decide they&rsquo;d prefer to acquire more veteran help around Damian Lillard &mdash; or perhaps Lillard&rsquo;s replacement if they instead decide to build around youth.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">4. HOUSTON ROCKETS: AMEN THOMPSON, GUARD, OVERTIME ELITE</h2>
At 6-7, Thompson has great size for a guard and the 20-year old showed the ability to step up when it matters most, averaging 17.2 points, 9.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds in the playoffs to lead the City Reapers to the championship last season. The Rockets, after adding Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. in the last two drafts, are positioned to get another good one.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">5. DETROIT PISTONS: CAM WHITMORE, FORWARD, VILLANOVA</h2>
The Pistons fell to the lowest spot possible in the lottery after finishing with the NBA&rsquo;s worst record and sharing the best odds of landing the No. 1 pick. But getting Whitmore, a versatile wing with a strong build, to add to young pieces such as Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey under new coach Monty Williams would help ease the sting.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">6. ORLANDO MAGIC: AUSAR THOMPSON, FORWARD, OVERTIME ELITE</h2>
Amen Thompson&rsquo;s twin brother has been the Overtime Elite regular season and finals MVP the last two seasons and the 6-7 swingman plays big on defense, twice blocking seven shots in a game. The Magic were a team on the rise in the second half of last season and Thompson could help ensure that continues.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">7. INDIANA PACERS: JARACE WALKER, FORWARD, HOUSTON</h2>
Coming from Houston&rsquo;s rugged program means Walker already plays NBA-ready defense, and the offensive end could come along quickly under Rick Carlisle. At 6-8, 240 pounds, he already has the size and strength to deal with anyone he could face in the frontcourt.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">8. WASHINGTON WIZARDS: ANTHONY BLACK, GUARD, ARKANSAS</h2>
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wizards-suns-trade-bradley-beal-55adab5fa31d5dfbc35b83223743d9c6">With Bradley Beal going</a>&nbsp;and no certainty that Chris Paul will stay, there&rsquo;s an opportunity for an immediate impact in the Washington backcourt. The 6-7 guard seems to have endless energy, playing nearly 35 minutes a game to lead the Southeastern Conference and all 20 minutes in a half 19 times. That included 37 minutes on an injured left ankle in the Razorbacks&rsquo; NCAA Tournament upset of top-seeded Kansas, when he helped hold expected lottery pick Gradey Dick to seven points.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">9. UTAH JAZZ: TAYLOR HENDRICKS, CENTRAL FLORIDA</h2>
The 6-9 freshman makes an impact inside and outside on both ends of the floor. He led the American Athletic Conference in blocked shots and shot 39% from 3-point range, becoming the only Division I player last season with at least 60 3-pointers, 55 blocked shots and 35 dunks.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">10. DALLAS MAVERICKS: GRADEY DICK, GUARD, KANSAS</h2>
Dick made 83 3-pointers, most in Kansas history by a freshman, and the 6-8 forward could get plenty of open looks when Mavericks opponents focus their attention on Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving &mdash; if Irving remains in Dallas. The Mavs went to great lengths to protect their chances of keeping this pick, tanking their final couple games to boost their lottery odds while still in play-in contention.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">11. ORLANDO MAGIC (from Chicago Bulls): BILAL COULIBALY, FORWARD, FRANCE</h2>
Wembanyama&rsquo;s teammate with Metropolitans 92 is a 6-6 swingman whose stock rose as their team reached their French League finals. He hasn&rsquo;t reached his potential yet as a scorer, but his 7-3 wingspan allows him to impact the game on both ends even without doing so and could make him a good fit with 2022 No. 1 pick and Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">12. OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: DERECK LIVELY II, CENTER, DUKE</h2>
Is still limited offensively, but the 7-1 Lively shows promise as a rebounder and shot blocker, highlighted by 14 boards and eight blocks in a game against rival North Carolina.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">13. TORONTO RAPTORS: JALEN HOOD-SCHIFINO, GUARD, INDIANA</h2>
The Big Ten freshman of the year has great size in the backcourt at 6-6 and could help the Raptors guard against a potential loss of Fred VanVleet in free agency, but needs to become a better shooter after hitting only 40% from the field in his lone season.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">14. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: CASON WALLACE, KENTUCKY</h2>
A point guard who takes care of the ball and takes it away from opponents, he was fourth in the SEC in both steals per game and assist-to-turnover ratio. At 6-4, has the size and strength to defend some of the marquee guards in the Western Conference.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">15. ATLANTA HAWKS: KOBE BUFKIN, GUARD, MICHIGAN</h2>
Massive leap from first to second year of college, averaging 14 points as a sophomore after not starting a game while averaging 3.0 points as a freshman. Next leap is to the NBA, where the 6-4 lefty could quickly be a change-of-pace guard off the bench.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">16. UTAH JAZZ (from Minnesota): KEYONTE GEORGE, GUARD, BAYLOR</h2>
The highest-ranked recruit in program history lived up to the billing in his lone college season, scoring 20 or more points 12 times and averaging 15.3 en route to Big 12 freshman of the year honors. The 6-4 guard could provide scoring punch on a team that stayed in the postseason hunt longer than expected.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">17. LOS ANGELES LAKERS: NICK SMITH JR., GUARD, ARKANSAS</h2>
After mixed results with Russell Westbrook and D&rsquo;Angelo Russell last season, the Lakers&rsquo; search for guard help could lead to Arkansas, where the 6-5 Smith played in just 17 games in his lone college season after recovering from a right knee injury but showed the ability to play either guard spot.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">18. MIAMI HEAT: JORDAN HAWKINS, GUARD, UCONN</h2>
Ballhandling still needs improvement, but Hawkins&rsquo; catch-and-shoot ability was one of the biggest reasons the Huskies stormed through the NCAA Tournament to their fifth national title, and something the Heat were missing in their NBA Finals loss.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">19. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: NOAH CLOWNEY, FORWARD, ALABAMA</h2>
Clowney put up nearly eight rebounds and a block per game in his lone college season. With just 210 pounds on his 6-10 frame, he will need to add strength for the battles inside against NBA big men.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">20. HOUSTON ROCKETS (from LA Clippers): KRIS MURRAY, FORWARD, IOWA</h2>
After averaging 20.2 points &mdash; with a 30-point, 20-rebound game in one outing &mdash; Murray will try to make a similar first-year NBA impact as twin brother Keegan, who after leaving the Hawkeyes became an immediate starter for Sacramento last season and was an All-Rookie first-team selection.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">21. BROOKLYN NETS (from Phoenix): JETT HOWARD, GUARD, MICHIGAN</h2>
His willingness to fire from behind the arc makes the freshman a perfect fit for the 3-point happy NBA. The 6-8 freshman made multiple 3-pointers in 24 of his 29 games for Juwan Howard, his father, and hit three or more in almost half of them. Howard made 36.8% of them while averaging 14.2 points
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">22. BROOKLYN NETS: LEONARD MILLER, FORWARD, G LEAGUE IGNITE</h2>
The Nets have needed more scoring punch since trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and Miller looks capable of providing it after averaging 18 points last season. The 6-10 Canadian also averaged nearly 11 rebounds, another area Nets leadership has identified as a priority.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">23. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (from New York): BRICE SENSABAUGH, FORWARD, OHIO STATE</h2>
Averaged 16.3 points and shot better than 40% from 3-point range in his strong one season for the Buckeyes, where he was the first freshman to lead the team in scoring since D&rsquo;Angelo Russell in 2015.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">24. SACRAMENTO KINGS: MAXWELL LEWIS, FORWARD, PEPPERDINE</h2>
The 6-7 Lewis made nearly 80% of his free throws and 36% of his 3-point attempts in his two seasons with the Waves, and improved his ability to score off the dribble while averaging 17.1 points last season.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">25. MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES: G.G. JACKSON, FORWARD, SOUTH CAROLINA</h2>
Would have been heading to college now &mdash; perhaps as the No. 1 prospect &mdash; before reclassifying last summer to enter a year earlier. Instead, the 6-9 Jackson is on his way to the NBA after scoring in double figures in 25 of his 32 games, averaging 15.4 points.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">26. INDIANA PACERS (from Cleveland): JAIME JAQUEZ JR., GUARD, UCLA</h2>
The do-everything swingman led the Bruins with 17.8 points and 8.2 rebounds, becoming their first Pac-12 player of the year since Kevin Love in 2008. At 6-7, Jaquez does everything well &mdash; he&rsquo;s No. 8 in UCLA history in both points and steals &mdash; but maybe not any of them at the top NBA level.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">27. CHARLOTTE HORNETS (from Denver via New York and Oklahoma City): AMARI BAILEY, GUARD, UCLA</h2>
Bailey had a strong finish to his lone college season, averaging 16.7 points on 56% shooting in the Bruins&rsquo; run to the Sweet 16. The Hornets struggle when LaMelo Ball is out, so the 6-5 guard could be appealing to a team that was fourth-worst in the NBA in scoring.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">28. UTAH JAZZ (from Philadelphia via Brooklyn): COLBY JONES, GUARD, XAVIER</h2>
With three picks in the first round, the Jazz are positioned to bolster a team that hung around the playoff race much longer than expected. The 6-6 Jones, who made 18 of 21 shots in one torrid stretch last season and shot 9 of 10 on 3-pointers in another, could be a nice late addition.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">29. INDIANA PACERS (from Boston): BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI, GUARD, SANTA CLARA</h2>
Made 43.8% of his 3-pointers in his lone season after transferring from Illinois, accuracy from behind the arc that NBA teams covet. The 6-5 guard shared WCC player of the year honors after averaging 19.9 points and 8.8 rebounds, finishing in the top three in the conference in both categories.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">30. LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (from Milwaukee via Houston): DARIQ WHITEHEAD, FORWARD, DUKE</h2>
Arrived at Duke as the high school player of the year, but a foot injury led to a delayed start to his college career followed by shooting struggles after it finally began. But the 6-7 forward showed enough defensive and 3-point abilities in his limited time to make himself worthy of a first-round spot.

How will the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft shake out on Thursday night? Check out the AP's latest mock draft.

NBA mock draft: Wembanyama easy No. 1, Miller at 2, Henderson 3rd

There&rsquo;s no doubt who the San Antonio Spurs are going to select with the first pick in this year&rsquo;s NBA draft.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-draft-lottery-nba-b0692a8ee59c2235f2d4f4387266eab7">Victor Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;could have started packing for Texas once the Spurs learned they had won the NBA draft lottery.
But once the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-wemby-nba-draft-lottery-50308e65f44b8df7a2368c4de17bacff">7-foot-3 French phenom</a>&nbsp;is off the board minutes after the draft begins on June 22, that&rsquo;s when the intrigue will begin.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-combine-scoot-henderson-brandon-miller-a55811da32a6f58cafde246b0e602152">Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller</a>&nbsp;to the Charlotte Hornets at No. 2?
The first edition of the AP&rsquo;s 2023 mock draft says it&rsquo;ll be Miller.
1. SAN ANTONIO SPURS: VICTOR WEMBANYAMA, FORWARD, FRANCE
His combination of a center&rsquo;s size and a guard&rsquo;s shooting and dribbling make the 19-year-old a prospect perhaps unlike any other the NBA has seen. The Spurs won five NBA titles after taking Tim Duncan in 1997 the last time they had the No. 1 pick and dream of a similar impact from Wembanyama.
2. CHARLOTTE HORNETS: BRANDON MILLER, FORWARD, ALABAMA
At 6-9, Miller has the size, versatility and 3-point stroke to make him an ideal player for the modern NBA game. The SEC player of the year and tournament MVP as a freshman, Miller would appear to be a good fit playing with LaMelo Ball, though the Hornets, who played without Miles Bridges last season after an arrest for a domestic violence incident against the mother of his children, may have to weigh a negative reaction if they add Miller, who&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-sports-tuscaloosa-alabama-crimson-tide-top-25-college-basketball-today-39eab4a038324d58910da79372722ad1">delivered the gun used in a fatal shooting.</a>
3. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS: SCOOT HENDERSON, GUARD, G LEAGUE IGNITE
His athleticism and ability to do it all from the guard spot may have made Henderson the No. 1 pick in many years. This time, he could be part of a trade if the Blazers decide they&rsquo;d prefer to acquire more veteran help around Damian Lillard &mdash; or perhaps Lillard&rsquo;s replacement if they instead decide to build around youth.
4. HOUSTON ROCKETS: AMEN THOMPSON, GUARD, OVERTIME ELITE
At 6-7, Thompson has great size for a guard and the 20-year old showed the ability to step up when it matters most, averaging 17.2 points, 9.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds in the playoffs to lead the City Reapers to the championship last season. The Rockets, after adding Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. in the last two drafts, are positioned to get another good one.
5. DETROIT PISTONS: CAM WHITMORE, FORWARD, VILLANOVA
The Pistons fell to the lowest spot possible in the lottery after finishing with the NBA&rsquo;s worst record and sharing the best odds of landing the No. 1 pick. But getting Whitmore, a versatile wing with a strong build, to add to young pieces such as Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey would help ease the sting.
6. ORLANDO MAGIC: AUSAR THOMPSON, FORWARD, OVERTIME ELITE
Amen Thompson&rsquo;s twin brother has been the Overtime Elite regular season and finals MVP the last two seasons and the 6-7 swingman plays big on defense, twice blocking seven shots in a game. The Magic were a team on the rise in the second half of last season and Thompson could help ensure that continues.
7. INDIANA PACERS: JARACE WALKER, FORWARD, HOUSTON
Coming from Houston&rsquo;s rugged program means Walker already plays NBA-ready defense, and the offensive end could come along quickly under Rick Carlisle. At 6-8, 240 pounds, he already has the size and strength to deal with anyone he could face in the frontcourt.
8. WASHINGTON WIZARDS: TAYLOR HENDRICKS, CENTRAL FLORIDA
The 6-9 freshman makes an impact inside and outside on both ends of the floor. He led the American Athletic Conference in blocked shots and shot 39% from 3-point range, becoming the only Division I player last season with at least 60 3-pointers, 55 blocked shots and 35 dunks.
9. UTAH JAZZ: ANTHONY BLACK, GUARD, ARKANSAS
The 6-7 guard seems to have endless energy, playing nearly 35 minutes a game to lead the Southeastern Conference and all 20 minutes in a half 19 times. That included 37 minutes on an injured left ankle in the Razorbacks&rsquo; NCAA Tournament upset of top-seeded Kansas, when he helped hold expected lottery pick Gradey Dick to seven points.
10. DALLAS MAVERICKS: GRADEY DICK, GUARD, KANSAS
Dick made 83 3-pointers, most in Kansas history by a freshman, and the 6-8 forward could get plenty of open looks when Mavericks opponents focus their attention on Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving &mdash; if Irving remains in Dallas. The Mavs went to great lengths to protect their chances of keeping this pick, tanking their final couple games to boost their lottery odds while still in play-in contention,.
11. ORLANDO MAGIC (from Chicago Bulls): KEYONTE GEORGE, GUARD, BAYLOR
The highest-ranked recruit in program history lived up to the billing in his lone college season, scoring 20 or more points 12 times and averaging 15.3 en route to Big 12 freshman of the year honors. The 6-4 guard could provide scoring punch on a team that was 26th in the NBA in points per game.
12. OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: CASON WALLACE, KENTUCKY
A point guard who takes care of the ball and takes it away from opponents, he was fourth in the SEC in both steals per game and assist-to-turnover ratio. The Thunder already have a Kentucky guard thriving in their backcourt in All-NBA player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
13. TORONTO RAPTORS: NICK SMITH JR., GUARD, ARKANSAS
Played in just 17 games in his lone college season after recovering from a right knee injury, but that was enough to play himself into lottery consideration. At 6-5, Smith can play either guard spot and would improve the backcourt on a Toronto team whose strength was its wings.
14. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: JORDAN HAWKINS, GUARD, UCONN
Ballhandling still needs improvement, but Hawkins&rsquo; catch-and-shoot ability was one of the biggest reasons the Huskies stormed through the NCAA Tournament to their fifth national title. Now it could help create more driving lanes for Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson.
15. ATLANTA HAWKS: KOBE BUFKIN, GUARD, MICHIGAN
Massive leap from first to second year of college, averaging 14 points as a sophomore after not starting a game while averaging 3.0 points as a freshman. Next leap is to the NBA, where the 6-4 lefty could quickly be a change-of-pace guard off the bench.
16. UTAH JAZZ (from Minnesota): G.G. JACKSON, FORWARD, SOUTH CAROLINA
Would have been heading to college now &mdash; perhaps as the No. 1 prospect &mdash; before reclassifying last summer to enter a year earlier. Instead, the 6-9 Jackson is on his way to the NBA after scoring in double figures in 25 of his 32 games, averaging 15.4 points.
17. LOS ANGELES LAKERS: JALEN HOOD-SCHIFINO, GUARD, INDIANA
After mixed results with Russell Westbrook and D&rsquo;Angelo Russell last season, the Lakers&rsquo; search for point guard help could lead to Indiana, where Hood-Schifino was the Big Ten freshman of the year. Great size in the backcourt at 6-6 but needs to become a better shooter after hitting only 40% from the field in his lone season.
18. MIAMI HEAT: MAXWELL LEWIS, FORWARD, PEPPERDINE
The Heat&rsquo;s success developing undrafted players &mdash; they have seven on the roster that has made a surprising run to the NBA Finals &mdash; allows them to recover if they miss in the draft. But they might not by looking at the 6-7 Lewis, who made nearly 80% of his free throws and 36% of his 3-point attempts in his two seasons with the Waves.
19. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: KRIS MURRAY, FORWARD, IOWA
After averaging 20.2 points &mdash; with a 30-point, 20-rebound game in one outing &mdash; Murray will try to make a similar first-year NBA impact as twin brother Keegan, who after leaving the Hawkeyes became an immediate starter for Sacramento last season and was an All-Rookie first-team selection.
20. HOUSTON ROCKETS (from LA Clippers): BILAL COULIBALY, FORWARD, FRANCE
The Rockets hoped to land Wembanyama after sharing the best odds to win the lottery. They could look here at his teammate with Metropolitans 92, a 6-6 swingman who doesn&rsquo;t score much yet but whose 7-3 wingspan allows him to impact the game on both ends even without doing so.
21. BROOKLYN NETS (from Phoenix): JETT HOWARD, GUARD, MICHIGAN
His willingness to fire from behind the arc makes the freshman a perfect fit for the 3-point happy NBA. The 6-8 freshman made multiple 3-pointers in 24 of his 29 games for Juwan Howard, his father, and hit three or more in almost half of them. Howard made 36.8% of them while averaging 14.2 points
22. BROOKLYN NETS: LEONARD MILLER, FORWARD, G LEAGUE IGNITE
The Nets have needed more scoring punch since trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and Miller looks capable of providing it after averaging 18 points last season. The 6-10 Canadian also averaged nearly 11 rebounds, another area Nets leadership has identified as a priority.
23. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (from New York): RAYAN RUPERT, FORWARD, NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS
The native of France would bring coveted defensive abilities, though not much in the way of scoring. Still, it would be hard to pass up a 19-year-old whose 6-7 size allows him to defend any forward or guard position.
24. SACRAMENTO KINGS: DERECK LIVELY II, CENTER, DUKE
Is still limited offensively, but the NBA&rsquo;s highest-scoring team doesn&rsquo;t need points. The Kings need someone to help prevent them, and the 7-1 Lively shows promise as a rebounder and shot blocker, highlighted by 14 boards and eight blocks in a game against rival North Carolina.
25. MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES: TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS, FORWARD, INDIANA
Had more than 2,200 points and 1,100 rebounds in one of the most decorated careers in Hoosiers history. But in the one-and-done era, the 23-year-old All-American&rsquo;s age may work against the son of former Indiana Pacers forward Dale Davis.
26. INDIANA PACERS (from Cleveland): JAIME JAQUEZ JR., GUARD, UCLA
The do-everything swingman led the Bruins with 17.8 points and 8.2 rebounds, becoming their first Pac-12 player of the year since Kevin Love in 2008. At 6-7, Jacquez does everything well &mdash; he&rsquo;s No. 8 in UCLA history in both points and steals &mdash; but maybe not any of them at the top NBA level.
27. CHARLOTTE HORNETS (from Denver via New York and Oklahoma City): AMARI BAILEY, GUARD, UCLA
Bailey had a strong finish to his lone college season, averaging 16.7 points on 56% shooting in the Bruins&rsquo; run to the Sweet 16. The Hornets struggle when LaMelo Ball is out, so the 6-5 guard could be appealing to a team that was fourth-worst in the NBA in scoring.
28. UTAH JAZZ (from Philadelphia via Brooklyn): COLBY JONES, GUARD, XAVIER
With three picks in the first round, the Jazz are positioned to bolster a team that hung around the playoff race much longer than expected. The 6-6 Jones, who made 18-of-21 shots in one torrid stretch last season and 9-of-10 3-pointers in another, could be a nice late addition.
29. INDIANA PACERS (from Boston): NOAH CLOWNEY, FORWARD, ALABAMA
Clowney put up nearly eight rebounds and a block per game in his lone college season. At just 210 pounds on his 6-10 frame, he will need to add strength for the battles inside against NBA big men.
30. LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (from Milwaukee via Houston): DARIQ WHITEHEAD, FORWARD, DUKE
Arrived at Duke as the high school player of the year but a foot injury led to a delayed start to his college career followed by shooting struggles after it finally began. But the 6-7 forward showed enough defensive and 3-point abilities in his limited time to make himself worthy of a first-round spot.

Check out the first 2023 NBA mock draft the Associated Press, which features a bit of a surprise at No. 2 overall.

NBA mock draft: Wembanyama to Spurs at 1, then Miller to Hornets at 2

Purdue&rsquo;s Zach Edey decided it was the right call to go back to school instead of staying in the NBA draft. His predecessor as national player of the year, Kentucky&rsquo;s Oscar Tshiebwe, is sticking with his pro pursuit.
And Connecticut&rsquo;s reign as NCAA champion will begin with multiple starters having left for the NBA draft and one returning after flirting with doing the same.
The 7-foot-4 Edey and UConn guard Tristen Newton were among the notable names to announce that they were withdrawing from the draft Wednesday, the NCAA&rsquo;s deadline for players who declared as early entrants to pull out and retain their college eligibility.
Edey&rsquo;s decision came Wednesday night, in social media posts from both&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/zach_edey/status/1664075497490227202?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the center</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/boilerball/status/1664076605637947392?s=12&amp;t=srroTo7kpdGXnm7-atvQSA" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Boilermakers program</a>&nbsp;that earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-player-of-year-edey-97210ca64c44cd64ca0120406dcc969a">behind Edey, The Associated Press men&rsquo;s national player of the year</a>.
But Tshiebwe&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs7A_lVv4CC/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced late in the afternoon that he would remain in the draft</a>&nbsp;after a college career that included&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-st-peters-peacocks-mens-basketball-sports-oscar-tshiebwe-johnny-davis-7174341881f37ac8750f8f9119a6fce8">being named the AP national player of the year in 2022</a>.
For the current champions, Newton (10.1 points, 4.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds)&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/D1Tristen/status/1663887976647237632?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">is returning</a>&nbsp;after being one of four Huskies to declare for the draft after a run&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/final-four-uconn-san-diego-state-1de224560610defcbc4eb9c40cbb588a">to UConn&rsquo;s fifth national championship in early April</a>. He scored a game-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds in the victory over San Diego State in the title game.
The others were&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ncaa-championship-uconn-san-diego-state-782bd15323bda90f2b664653cae99e6e">Final Four Most Outstanding Player Adama Sanogo</a>, wing Jordan Hawkins and versatile guard Andre Jackson Jr. Sanogo (17.8 points) and Hawkins (16.3) have made it clear they have closed the door on their college careers, while team spokesman Phil Chardis said Wednesday night that Jackson (6.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists) would remain in the draft.
The Huskies have 247sports&rsquo; No. 3-ranked recruiting class for next year to restock the roster, led by McDonald&rsquo;s All-American point guard Stephon Castle.
The NBA&rsquo;s withdrawal deadline is June 12, but is moot when it comes to college players returning to school due to the NCAA&rsquo;s earlier timeline to retain playing eligibility.
STAYING IN SCHOOL
TREY ALEXANDER:&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/TrickyTrey23/status/1664070367982280707?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Creighton gets back</a> a 6-4 guard who averaged 13.6 points and shot 41% from 3-point range in his first full season as a starter.
ADEM BONA: The 6-foot-10 forward and Pac-12 freshman of the year&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/UCLAMBB/status/1663947898332286976?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">is returning to UCLA</a>&nbsp;after starting 32 games as a rookie and averaging 7.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks &mdash; with coach Mick Cronin praising his toughness for &ldquo;competing through multiple injuries for as long as he could&rdquo; in a statement Wednesday.
EDEY: He averaged 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 1.5 assists while shooting 60.7% from the field. His presence alone helps Purdue be a factor in the Big Ten race.
JOSIAH-JORDAN JAMES: The 6-6 guard went through the NBA G League Combine and had workouts with multiple teams&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://utsports.com/news/2023/5/31/mens-basketball-james-set-to-rejoin-vols-for-fifth-year.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">before opting to return</a>&nbsp;to Tennessee for a fifth season alongside teammate Santiago Vescovi.
JUDAH MINTZ: The 6-3 freshman averaged 16.3 points and 4.6 assists&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://cuse.com/news/2023/5/31/mens-basketball-hes-back" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">for Syracuse</a>, ranking third among Division I freshmen in scoring behind only Alabama&rsquo;s Brandon Miller and Lamar&rsquo;s Nate Calmese.
OWLS&rsquo; RETURNEES: Florida Atlantic got good news after its surprise Final Four run with the return leading scorers Johnell Davis (13.8) and Alijah Martin (13.4).&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/37768605/johnell-davis-alijah-martin-withdraw-nba-draft-return-florida-atlantic" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ESPN first reported</a>&nbsp;their decisions, while Martin later&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/martin_alijah/status/1664007891882328066" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">posted a social media statement</a>.
TERRENCE SHANNON JR.: Illinois got a big boost with Shannon&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/Sn1per_T/status/1664063397468438530?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announcing his return Wednesday night in a social media post</a>. The 6-6 guard is returning for a fifth college season after averaging 17.2 points.
SPARTANS&rsquo; RETURNEES:&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MSU_Basketball/status/1663931468761169926" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Michigan State announced</a>&nbsp;that guards Jaden Akins and A.J. Hoggard have withdrawn from the NBA draft. Standout guard Tyson Walker had previously withdrawn in April, setting up Tom Izzo to have five of his top scorers back.
GOING PRO
KOBE BROWN: Missouri&rsquo;s 6-8 swingman&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/TheKobe24Brown/status/1664041800917729281" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">opted against returning for a fifth college season</a>&nbsp;after being an&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/all-sec-team-brandon-miller-tshiebwe-taylor-aa366b637e7352bacaab5e7cd4e5dd9e">AP first-team all-Southeastern Conference pick</a>&nbsp;averaging 15.8 points last season.
JAYLEN CLARK: The third-year UCLA guard averaged 13.0 points and 6.0 rebounds while leading the Pac-12 with 2.6 steals en route to being named Naismith national defensive player of the year. Cronin called him a winner with strong intangibles who made UCLA &ldquo;a better program because he chose to be a Bruin.&rdquo;
BRICE SENSABAUGH: The Ohio State freshman averaged 16.3 points and 5.4 rebounds in 31 games before missing his final two in the Big Ten Tournament due to a knee injury. He&rsquo;s a potential first-round prospect.
TSHIEBWE: The 6-9, 260-pound forward is a tough interior presence who led the country in rebounds for two straight seasons (15.1 in 2022, 13.7 in 2023) while racking up 48 double-doubles. But he faces an uncertain next stop and is projected at best as a second-round prospect.

Purdue’s Zach Edey decided it was the right call to go back to school instead of staying in the NBA draft.

Purdue’s Edey returning to school; Kentucky’s Tshiebwe stays in NBA draft

STORRS, Conn. (AP) &mdash; UConn guard Jordan Hawkins announced Friday that he will leave college and enter the NBA draft.
The 6-foot-5 sophomore from Gaithersburg, Maryland averaged 16.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists this past season, helping lead the Huskies to the program's fifth NCAA Tournament title.
Hawkins also averaged 16.3 points in the Huskies' six games in the NCAA Tournament and shot 50% from 3-point range (21 of 42). He scored 16 points in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/uconn-beats-san-diego-state-7659-to-win-national-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Huskies win over San Diego State in the title game on Monday night.</a>
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Hawkins made the announcement Friday while appearing with coach Dan Hurley on ESPN&rsquo;s NBA Today show.
Hawkins is known for his ability to come off a screen and quickly release a 3-point attempt. He shot 38.8% from beyond the arc this season.
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His 109 3-pointers this year are second behind Ray Allen&rsquo;s 115 on UConn&rsquo;s single-season list.
Hawkins could be the first UConn player taken in the first-round of the draft since James Bouknight was selected at No. 11 by Charlotte in 2021.

UConn guard Jordan Hawkins announced Friday that he will leave college and enter the NBA draft.

UConn guard Jordan Hawkins declares for 2023 NBA Draft

The past two national champions will meet when Connecticut visits Kansas as part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle next season.
The announcement Thursday of the fifth year in the scheduling alliance comes four days after the Huskies beat San Diego State for the NCAA Tournament title. Kansas, the 2022 champ, lost in the second round in a record 33rd consecutive tournament appearance.
The Huskies-Jayhawks meeting highlights the Dec. 1 slate of games. Houston visits Xavier in a meeting of Sweet 16 qualifiers while St. John&rsquo;s will be at West Virginia and Iowa State at DePaul.
The first two games are Nov. 30, with Texas Tech visiting Butler and Elite Eight participant Creighton going to Oklahoma State.
Texas, coming off its first Elite Eight trip since 2008, and Oklahoma are part of the schedule in their final Big 12 season before joining the Southeastern Conference.
The Red River rivals both play Dec. 5, with the Longhorns at Marquette and former coach Shaka Smart while the Sooners are home against Providence.
The other Dec. 5 games are Seton Hall at Baylor and Villanova at Elite Eight qualifier Kansas State. TCU is at Georgetown on Dec. 2.

The past two men's national champions will meet when Connecticut visits Kansas as part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle next season.

UConn-Kansas highlights Big East-Big 12 slate next season

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Connecticut&rsquo;s victory over San Diego State in the men&rsquo;s national championship game ended up being the lowest-viewed final on record.
The Huskies&rsquo; 76-59 win averaged 14.69 million viewers on CBS. The previous low was 15.99 in 2018, when Villanova beat Michigan on TBS.
UConn&rsquo;s 2004 victory over Georgia Tech, which averaged 17.09 million, was the lowest on CBS until Monday night. CBS and TBS began alternating Final Fours in 2016.
Still, Monday&rsquo;s game was the most-watched program on television that evening and the most-watched basketball game &mdash; college or pro &mdash; since Kansas&rsquo; victory over North Carolina in last year&rsquo;s national championship game.
The women&rsquo;s NCAA championship game set a record Sunday when LSU beat Iowa 102-85, with 9.9 million viewers on ABC and ESPN2.
This year&rsquo;s men&rsquo;s tournament averaged 9.55 million, down 7% from last year but up 4% from 2021. The first round on March 16-17 averaged 9.2 million, a record for the most-watched round of 64.
The lack of national name-brand teams after upsets the first weekend and in the regional semifinals took their toll on viewing numbers.

Huskies’ win averaged 14.69 million viewers on CBS. The previous low was 15.99 in 2018, when Villanova beat Michigan on TBS.

UConn’s victory over SDSU lowest-viewed NCAA men's final on record

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; UConn&rsquo;s Jordan Hawkins made this year&rsquo;s NCAA championships a family affair Monday night when he picked up a title a day after his cousin Angel Reese led LSU to the women&rsquo;s crown.
And he had a message for those who&rsquo;ve criticized Reese for waving her hand in front of her face while staring down Iowa star Caitlin Clark before pointing toward her finger where a championship ring might be while walking toward the Iowa star.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re national champions. They&rsquo;re not,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So, at the end of the day, they can say whatever they want.&rdquo;
Reese, who was named Most Outstanding Player, was unapologetic over her actions after social media went wild with opinions on her trash talk in the closing minutes of LSU&rsquo;s 102-85 victory Sunday.
&ldquo;All year, I was critiqued about who I was,&rdquo; Reese said Sunday. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t fit in a box that y&rsquo;all want me to be in. I&rsquo;m too hood. I&rsquo;m too ghetto. But when other people do it, y&rsquo;all say nothing. So this was for the girls that look like me, that&rsquo;s going to speak up on what they believe in. It&rsquo;s unapologetically you.&rdquo;
Hawkins raved about his cousin after scoring 16 points to help UConn claim its fifth title with a 76-59 win over San Diego State.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m so proud of her,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;She works so hard.&rdquo;
Then he was asked who would win a friendly family game of one-on-one between the two national champions.
&ldquo;Probably me, now. I would probably win,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But there was a time I would probably lose to her.&rdquo;

“We’re national champions. They’re not,” Hawkins said to Reese. “So, at the end of the day, they can say whatever they want.”

Cousins Jordan Hawkins, Angel Reese claim titles on consecutive days

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) &mdash; Newly crowned NCAA champion UConn will headline the 2024 Maui Invitational.
The field, announced on Tuesday, will be stacked once again, with North Carolina, Michigan State and Auburn joining the Huskies at the tiny Lahaina Civic Center from Nov. 25-27.
The field also will include Colorado, Dayton, Iowa State and Memphis.
UConn completed one of the NCAA Tournament&rsquo;s most dominating runs on Monday night, rolling over San Diego State 76-59 for its sixth straight double-digit win in the bracket. The title was the Huskies&rsquo; fifth, all since 1999. UConn also has won two Maui Invitational titles in that span.
Arizona won the 2022 Maui Invitational in the tournament&rsquo;s return to the islands after being played in Las Vegas and Asheville, North Carolina, the past two years.

The field, announced on Tuesday, will be stacked once again, with North Carolina, Michigan State and Auburn joining the Huskies.

New champion UConn to headline 2024 Maui Invitational field

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; There was a short list of believers in the potential of a rebuilt UConn roster before the season started.
It was made up mostly of the UConn players and coaches themselves.
The team that was among &ldquo;others receiving votes&rdquo; in the first AP poll of the season ended up cutting down nets after the last game &mdash; as sure a sign as any that in the new college landscape reconstituted by the transfer portal and name, image and likeness deals, anything is possible.
For anyone.
The Huskies not only won the title but won it in one of history&rsquo;s most dominating runs through the NCAA Tournament. They won their six games by an average of 20 points, closing it out Monday night with a 76-59 pasting of San Diego State.
&ldquo;We came into the season unranked,&rdquo; coach Dan Hurley said. &ldquo;So we had an edge to us to start the year to prove people wrong.&rdquo;
Nobody could really blame fans and pundits for overlooking UConn, just as it might have been hard to blame them for pumping up North Carolina, a national runner-up the year before that was bringing back the core of its roster.
UConn won the title. UNC didn&rsquo;t even make the tournament.
It&rsquo;s a testament to how quickly things can change in an era that looks more like NFL free agency than anything college sports has ever seen.&nbsp;
Hurley said he went back to work the day after the Huskies lost to New Mexico State in the first round last season and started looking at retooling his roster. The goal was to add more options from the perimeter. So, he got four new players, including Joey Calcaterra (two 3s for 6 points in the final), who had spent four years at University of San Diego, and Tristen Newton (19 points, 10 rebounds), who had spent three years at East Carolina.
Big East coaches still picked UConn to finish fourth in the conference. Even if the talent is there, it&rsquo;s hard to gauge how it might all come together.
The UConn story played out in different ways at different places all across the sport this season, and had a lot to do with a Final Four that included three underdog programs, seeded fifth (SDSU), fifth (Miami) and ninth (Florida Atlantic), that had never made it to the final weekend.
The Aztecs had two new players this year joining two others who came to San Diego State the year before.
Elsewhere, Kansas State was picked last in the Big 12 and ended up three points shy of making the Final Four, with the help of Keyontae Johnson, a transfer from Florida who was named a third-team AP All-American.
Creighton made its own run to the Elite Eight with big help from a transfer from South Dakota State, Baylor Scheierman, who was also getting looks from Duke and other bluebloods.
Texas withstood the midseason firing of its coach and made the Elite Eight with two transfer-portal players: Tyrese Hunter from Iowa State and Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice from New Mexico State.
Arkansas made its third straight Sweet 16 with a semi-rebuilt roster.
&ldquo;I promise I wouldn&rsquo;t be sitting here if it wasn&rsquo;t for the transfer portal,&rdquo; Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman said earlier in the tournament. &ldquo;Really interesting, because eight years ago, when somebody was transferring, the process was a lot different.&rdquo;
Instead of having to sit out a year, players can now go freely from one school to another. Some coaches find it too destabilizing, too transactional.
No longer, however, is it a matter of faith that veteran teams that stick together &mdash; say, as recently as Villanova&rsquo;s 2018 team that crushed everyone on the way to the title &mdash; have a better chance of winning.
And even though FanDuel Sportsbook is listing UConn (11-1) and Duke (13-1) as the early favorites to win it all next season, there&rsquo;s little reason to put much stock in any &ldquo;way too early&rdquo; looks at next year&rsquo;s top teams.
&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t really know rosters, or how different players are going to fit in,&rdquo; said ESPN analyst Jay Bilas. &ldquo;Will they blossom, will they not? And preseason polls are done for fan interest and nothing else. You can&rsquo;t really predict anything based on those.&rdquo;
Certainly, nobody was picking Florida Atlantic, Miami or San Diego State to make the Final Four back in October.
And UConn with all those new players to win it all? Nobody saw that coming either.
Well, almost nobody.
&ldquo;We knew we were the best team in the tournament going in,&rdquo; Hurley said. &ldquo;We just had to play to our level.&rdquo;

Things can change quickly in an era that looks more like NFL free agency than anything college sports has ever seen.

UConn March Madness steamroller could be start of a new era

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; A magical journey put San Diego State in its first Final Four.
A thrilling buzzer-beater by Lamont Butler landed the Aztecs one win away from a national title.
Hot early shooting Monday night helped them race to an early lead against the mighty UConn Huskies.
Then things fell apart.
For more than 11 tortured minutes in the title game, no matter what they tried, the Aztecs could not make a field goal in their 76-59 loss.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to play like that,&rdquo; Butler said.
Fighting against a stifling defense, they missed hook shots, had layups blocked, badly missed wide-open 3s and saw easy jump shots fall short.
The Aztecs (32-7) took shot after shot after shot &mdash; 14 in all as the clock ticked, ticked and ticked &mdash; but no matter what they tried nothing would fall.
&ldquo;We were talking about it for sure,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;And we were trying to figure out what we can do to stop the scoring drought and create advantages for ourselves. We tried but things weren&rsquo;t working.&rdquo;
By the time Darrion Trammell mercifully made a jump shot with about 5 &frac12; minutes left in the first half, the Aztecs had seen a four-point lead turn into a 26-17 hole.
A team that got here on the strength of its vaunted defense was in the end done in by an offense that went cold at the worst possible moment.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the national championship game, a lot of things had to go right on our end in order to win,&rdquo; guard Matt Bradley said. &ldquo;And when you&rsquo;re missing shots and turning the ball over and even when you&rsquo;re playing hard on defense, it&rsquo;s not going to be enough. So we learned that tonight for sure.&rdquo;
The Aztecs rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat Florida Atlantic in the national semifinal, with Butler&rsquo;s game-winner at the buzzer marking the first time in Final Four history that a buzzer-beater took a team from trailing to a victory.
This time there would be no such heroics. They did go on a second half run to make it interesting, though.
San Diego State used a 14-4 spurt, with the first four points from Jaedon LeDee, to get within 60-55 with about five minutes to go.
But Jordan Hawkins made a 3-pointer seconds after that to start a 9-0 run that shut the door on any designs the Aztecs had on another remarkable comeback.
Though their defense had been the star of this Cinderella&rsquo;s tournament run entering Monday night, their offense had done plenty to complement it.
Through their first five games in the tournament, the Aztecs shot an average of 42.48%. In the biggest game in school history Monday night, they shot a tournament-low 32% &mdash; a number significantly lowered by a 28.6% first half.
It was their second-lowest shooting percentage of the season, behind the 31.7% they shot in a 62-57 win over Utah State in the Mountain West Conference Tournament title game. Their 24 first-half points was the second-fewest they&rsquo;d managed all season.
There were no tears in San Diego State&rsquo;s locker room after the loss that snapped a nine-game winning streak, but rather a bunch of guys who were proud of how far they got, even if they came up short.
&ldquo;We were the only ones who believed we could get here,&rdquo; Trammell said. &ldquo;We surpassed our expectations honestly.&rdquo;
Added Keshad Johnson, who led the team with 14 points Monday night.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure we put our school&rsquo;s name on the map and I&rsquo;m proud of that,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;

Hot early shooting Monday night helped the Aztecs race to an early lead against the mighty Huskies. Then, things fell apart.

Long drought seals SDSU’s fate in title game against UConn

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Adama Sanogo stood on the sideline watching his UConn teammates dribble out the final seconds to secure the program&rsquo;s fifth NCAA championship. He looked eager, ready to sprint in at the first chance.
When the horn sounded, reserve Andrew Hurley used both hands to spike the basketball near midcourt and start the celebration &mdash; only to see Sanogo run straight in and secure it like a fair catch.
&ldquo;I need that ball. That&rsquo;s a ball I want to save for my kids, my grandkids,&rdquo; Sanogo told The Associated Press. &ldquo;I need that ball.&rdquo;
It was fitting for the first souvenir to go to the big man who had been the rugged interior presence all season for the Huskies.
Sanogo finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds in Monday night&rsquo;s 76-59 win against San Diego State in the national title game. The 6-foot-9, 245-pound big man from Mali was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four after tallying his fourth double-double in six tournament games, making him the centerpiece of the Huskies&rsquo; dominant run to title No. 5 &mdash; just as he had been all season, really.
While teammates cut down the nets, Sanogo confessed that he had been planning all day to keep track of the ball at the horn if UConn completed its dominant tournament run.
&ldquo;He was sitting on that one, I guess, before the game,&rdquo; Hurley said with a chuckle.
And with Sanogo&rsquo;s play, was there really any question who deserved that ball?
&ldquo;Oh, he has every right to keep it,&rdquo; guard Nahiem Alleyne said when told Sanogo snagged the ball. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the most outstanding player of this tournament. He&rsquo;s been a dominant force this whole tournament. I mean, without this guy, we wouldn&rsquo;t be here, simple as that.&rdquo;
After coming into the game averaging team-highs of 17.2 points and 7.6 rebounds, he was efficient, going 5 for 9 from the field and 7 for 8 from the foul line. He was active, with five of his rebounds coming on the offensive glass. And it all came from a player who has spent recent weeks managing a strict fast from dawn until sunset to observe Ramadan as a Muslim.
&ldquo;He wanted to step up,&rdquo; forward Alex Karaban said. &ldquo;He wanted this moment so badly.&rdquo;
For Sanogo, it was the end of a yearlong push after a first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament in a loss to New Mexico State. That included getting to visit with former UConn great Emeka Okafor &mdash; the top big man on the program&rsquo;s 2004 title winner &mdash; last fall and picking his brain about what it would take to win a championship.
Roughly seven months later, Okafor was standing on the court, watching the Huskies players cut down the nets and pose for trophy photos.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just done an excellent job being just a foundation,&rdquo; Okafor said.
&ldquo;He did it defensively, he did it offensively. He made big plays when you needed it. And this past weekend he did it while fasting. I think that&rsquo;s just a testament to his mindset, his will and his dedication to achieving the goal set to achieve at the beginning of the year.&rdquo;
His biggest offensive rebound came after UConn&rsquo;s once-comfortable lead had shrunk, the pressure rising. Tristen Newton drove into the paint and launched a floater that bounced off the back of the rim, only for Sanogo to jostle a San Diego State rebounder for position and bat the ball with his right hand off the backboard and straight through the net for a 58-50 lead with 7:12 left.
It was part of a night when the Huskies squandered most of a 16-point first-half lead, but kept coming up with key plays &mdash; a stop here, a basket there &mdash; after the Aztecs kept repeatedly pushing back and got as close as five with 5 1/2 minutes left.
Ultimately, UConn reestablished its comfortable margin down the stretch, allowing coach Dan Hurley to sub out his top-of-lineup guys to enjoy the finish from the bench. That included Sanogo checking out with 30.2 seconds left and walking straight to Hurley, who was already locked in a hug with Karaban.
It didn&rsquo;t matter. The big man wrapped his arms around both Hurley and Karaban to turn it into a brief group hug to share the moment.
Well, except for making sure to snatch that ball once the horn sounded.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m definitely keeping it,&rdquo; he said with a big smile. &ldquo;Yeah, definitely, definitely.&rdquo;

“I need that ball. That’s a ball I want to save for my kids, my grandkids,” Sanogo told The Associated Press.

Sanogo snags ball, MOP honors for UConn in NCAA title win

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; UConn topped off one of the most impressive March Madness runs in history Monday night, clamping down early and breaking it open late to bring home its fifth national title with a 76-59 victory over San Diego State.
Adama Sanogo had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Tristen Newton also had a double-double with 19 points and 10 boards for the Huskies (31-8), who became the fifth team&nbsp;since the bracket expanded&nbsp;in 1985 to win all six NCAA Tournament games by double-digits on the way to a championship.
They won the six games by an average of an even 20 points, only a fraction less than what North Carolina did in sweeping to the title in 2009.
UConn built a 16-point lead late in the first half, only to see the Aztecs (32-7) trim the lead to five with 5:19 left. But Jordan Hawkins (16 points) answered with a 3 to trigger a 9-0 run and the only drama left was whether UConn would cover the 7.5-point spread and go six-for-six with double-digit wins.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
UCONN HAS WON THE MEN&rsquo;S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 🏆 What a dominant tournament from the Huskies 😤 <a href="https://t.co/S5J5ROU1NJ">pic.twitter.com/S5J5ROU1NJ</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1643096089275367424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Keshad Johnson had 14 points for San Diego State, which came up one win shy in its first trip to the Final Four.
UConn set the stage for this one over an 11:07 stretch in the first half during which the Aztecs didn&rsquo;t make a single basket. Unable to shoot over or go around this tall, long UConn team, they missed 14 straight shots from the floor.
They went from leading by four to trailing by 11, and when they weren&rsquo;t getting shots blocked (Alex Karaban had three and Sanogo had one) or altered on the inside, they were coming up short &mdash; a telltale sign of a team that was out of hops after that draining 72-71 buzzer-beater win over Florida Atlantic two nights earlier.
UConn fan Bill Murray was one of the few celebrities on hand to watch the Huskies make it five for five in title games in one of the most unexpected Final Fours in history. This one marked the last that Jim Nantz would call after 37 years behind the mic.
He&rsquo;s had a lot of UConn stories to tell, though this certainly wasn&rsquo;t the most dramatic.
Even with that brief bout of uncertainty midway through the second half, UConn never truly let the Aztecs, who overcame a 14-point deficit in the semifinal, start thinking about any more last-second dramatics.
This was a team built strictly for 2023 &mdash; replenished by coach Dan Hurley, who went to the transfer portal to find more outside shooting after back-to-back first-round exits in the tournament.
And yet, there was something decidedly old-school about the way the Huskies took care of business in the early going.
They didn&rsquo;t even think much about 3-point shooting at the start, instead skip passing into Sanogo on the post and wearing down SDSU while building the early lead.
The Aztecs were too good a team to cave and an over-pursuing defense is what triggered the late run to within five. A team built on defense only shot 32% from the floor.
And after its late run, they started getting burned and Hurley and Co. were hugging it out on the bench before the buzzer.
UConn&rsquo;s latest coronation makes Hurley the third coach to bring a trophy home to Storrs, Connecticut. He joins Jim Calhoun (1999, 2004, 2001) and Kevin Ollie (2014).

The Connecticut Huskies have won their fifth national championship, defeating San Diego State 76-59 on Monday night.

UConn beats San Diego State 76-59 to win 5th national championship

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Lamont Butler hit the biggest shot in San Diego State history, putting the Aztecs in the national championship game for the first time.
The next step, in Monday&rsquo;s title game, will be a difficult one.
UConn has been the dominant team all through the bracket, delivering one beatdown after another while showing no weaknesses &mdash; even on a short turnaround.
The Huskies snatched the euphoria right out of Gonzaga last week in the Elite Eight, ruining the Zags&rsquo; vibes after their last-second win over UCLA two days earlier. Baylor did the same thing to Gonzaga in the 2021 national title game, bullying the Zags two days after Jalen Suggs&rsquo; miracle shot.
&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t stop,&rdquo; UConn guard Jordan Hawkins said after scoring 13 points against Miami on Saturday night. &ldquo;We keep putting our foot on their neck. We have a really tough team.&rdquo;
The Huskies got to the title game by breaking their opponents&rsquo; will.
UConn won its first four NCAA Tournament games by at least 15 points and wrecked Miami&rsquo;s first Final Four appearance by dominating the Hurricanes at both ends in a 72-59 win.
The Aztecs have done it with defense.
San Diego State shut down four straight NCAA Tournament opponents and leaned on its D in the second half to overcome a 14-point deficit to ruin Florida Atlantic&rsquo;s first Final Four. Butler provided the heroics, hitting a buzzer-beater in the 72-71 win that had all of San Diego celebrating.
The first buzzer-beating game-winner by a trailing team in Final Four history now puts the Aztecs within a win of the Mountain West Conference&rsquo;s first national title.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t consider ourselves a mid-major,&rdquo; San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re a high-major program.&rdquo;
UConn (30-8) will be vying for its fifth national title since 1999, but first since Dan Hurley was hired to bring back the program after its fall from grace.
UConn won its fourth title under Kevin Ollie in 2014, but spiraled downward in the wake of recruiting violations and Ollie&rsquo;s ugly departure.
When Hurley took over in 2018, UConn was 170th on the KenPom analytics rankings and low on the national relevance scale.
The knock on Hurley&rsquo;s Huskies then turned to UConn&rsquo;s meager Marches; two first-round NCAA Tournament burnouts, including to No. 12 seed New Mexico State last year.
UConn had an uneven 2022-23 season, climbing to No. 2 in the AP Top 25, tumbling back toward irrelevance with six losses in eight games.
The Huskies turned into the best team in the maddest of Marches that culminated in the most unexpected Final Four, putting them in position to tie Duke and Indiana for fourth on the all-time championships list.
&ldquo;The group has shown their quality so many times in terms of the level that we could play at,&rdquo; Hurley said. &ldquo;And I think we experienced everything in that month of January, it&rsquo;s a battle-tested team.&rdquo;
For San Diego State (32-6), Monday&rsquo;s title game will be the culmination of the program building Steve Fisher started and Dutcher pushed forward.
Fisher had built San Diego State into a mid-major power, leading them to six straight NCAA Tournaments. When he retired in 2017, the reins were handed to Dutcher, his assistant back to Michigan&rsquo;s national championship with the Fab Five in 1989.
Dutcher kept many of the same principles Fisher had, adding an extra dash of defensive devilry.
San Diego State appeared ready to break through in 2020, on its way to a likely No. 1 seed before the pandemic wiped out the NCAA Tournament.
The Aztecs suffered first-round NCAA Tournament flameouts the next two seasons before becoming defensive dominators this year.
San Diego State was fourth in the KenPom.com defensive efficiency ratings while winning 27 games during the regular season. The Aztecs took it to new lows in the NCAA Tournament, holding their first four opponents to 57 points per game and 17% shooting from the 3-point arc.
Upstart FAU appeared to have solved San Diego State&rsquo;s defense in the first half of Saturday night&rsquo;s first semifinal, stretching its lead to 14 midway through the second half.
The Aztecs got back to being dirty (in a good way) to get back in it and Butler finished if off with one of the most memorable shots in NCAA Tournament history.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to the national championship,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not things many people do.&rdquo;

The fifth-seeded Aztecs will meet the red-hot, fifth-seeded Huskies in the national championship game Monday.

March Madness: San Diego State to meet UConn in title game

DALLAS (AP) &mdash; This year&rsquo;s record-breaking women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament featured breakout stars, upsets and capped off with the flamboyant Kim Mulkey leading LSU to its first basketball championship.
Mulkey&rsquo;s unforgettable outfits were just one of several memorable moments. There was Caitlin Clark&rsquo;s 40-point triple-double in the Elite Eight game, the drama of South Carolina&rsquo;s quest to complete the latest undefeated season and two No. 1 seeds being knock off before the Sweet 16.
It led to the highest attendance ever in the tournament&rsquo;s history to go along with stellar TV ratings in every round. The timing couldn&rsquo;t be better for the sport. It all could lead to women&rsquo;s basketball getting a separate TV deal when the contract expires next summer.
Here&rsquo;s a look at some of the top moments from the tournament:
FIERY FASHIONISTA
Mulkey is never hard to miss on the sideline with her feisty approach and reactions to referees and her players. The coach&rsquo;s flamboyant attire takes her presence to a different level, and her Final Four outfits certainly stood out.
For the national semifinal game, Mulkey arrived in a carnation pink top with a flower-like puffs along the entire sleeves, a designer-made top similar to what her 2-year-old granddaughter wore. Even the LSU mascot was spotted in pink attire.
The coach wore a sparkly, golden, tiger-striped outfit during the championship game. Her team were the golden girls, winning the first basketball championship in school history.
DAZZLING CLARK
Clark set an NCAA Tournament record by scoring 191 points over Iowa&rsquo;s six games, surpassing Sheryl Swoopes&rsquo; 177 points for Texas Tech in 1993 &mdash; and Glen Rice&rsquo;s 184 for Michigan in the 1989 men&rsquo;s tournament.
Before 30 points in the championship game, the 6-foot Iowa-born Clark was the first player in the women&rsquo;s tournament with back-to-back 40-point games. That included her 11th career triple-double in the regional final against Louisville, before another 41 points against previously undefeated South Carolina in the national semifinal game.
HISTORY DENIED
South Carolina was trying to become the 10th women&rsquo;s team to run through a season undefeated and the first school to win consecutive titles since UConn won four straight from 2013-16. The Gamecocks were denied that chance, losing to Iowa in the Final Four behind a stellar effort from Clark.
END OF AN ERA
UConn&rsquo;s run of 14 consecutive Final Four appearance came to an end in the Elite Eight when Ohio State forced the Huskies into 18 first-half turnovers with full-court pressure defense. The Huskies hadn&rsquo;t missed playing in the national semifinals since 2007.
NEW FORMAT
The NCAA changed its regional format this year going to two sites instead of the traditional four. It got strong reviews from players and coaches and fans alike. There ended up being a record attendance for that round with more fans showing up in Seattle &mdash; which had no team within 1,300 miles of the venue &mdash; than Greenville, South Carolina.
&rsquo;CANES WERE COOKING
Miami did more than just be part of history by knocking out No. 1 seed Indiana before the Sweet 16. The Hurricanes under coach Katie Meier ousted Villanova and ended national scoring leader Maddy Siegrist&rsquo;s career to reach the Elite Eight for the first time. The champs from LSU ended Miami&rsquo;s run with a muddy 54-42 win in the regional finals.
THIRST FOR FIRSTS
Virginia Tech was a first-time participant in the Final Four, which had a pair of first-time finalists after LSU beat the top-seeded Hokies and Clark&rsquo;s Hawkeyes ousted undefeated defending national champion South Carolina. It was already guaranteed before the final that the champion would be something other than a No. 1 seed for the first time since 2011.
UPSETTING PERFORMANCES
Stanford and Indiana both fell in the second round becoming the second pair of No. 1 seeds to not make the Sweet 16 since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994. It also happened in 1998. The Cardinal were stymied on their home court by Mississippi&rsquo;s defense. They never led the second-round game and had their streak of 14 consecutive Sweet 16 appearances ended. The Hoosiers lost at Assembly Hall the next night, when Miami&rsquo;s Destiny Harden made the game-winning shot with 3.5 seconds left.
___
AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins and AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg contributed to this story.

A look at some of the top moments from the 2023 NCAA Women's Tournament.

Women’s NCAA Tournament features plethora of March Madness

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Nobody was guarding UConn&rsquo;s best player. So Adama Sanogo spun the ball to get his fingers just right, set his feet behind the 3-point line and splashed in the shot. Then, less than a minute later, he did it again.
It was as much basketball clinic as highlight video &mdash; and all of it perfectly fitting for the Huskies, who are methodically steamrolling through a March Madness bracket that has been a free-for-all everywhere else.
UConn doled out another drama-free beatdown Saturday, getting 21 points and 10 rebounds from Sanogo to dispatch Miami 72-59 and move one win from the school&rsquo;s fifth national title.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of teams that want to play Monday,&rdquo; Sanogo said. &ldquo;It means a lot to us.&rdquo;
Jordan Hawkins overcame his stomach bug and scored 13 for the Huskies, who came into this&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most unexpected Final Four</a>&nbsp;as the only team with any experience on college basketball&rsquo;s final weekend and with the best seeding of the four teams in Houston &mdash; at No. 4.
Against fifth-seeded Miami, they were the best team on the court from beginning to end. Starting with three straight 3s &mdash; one jumper from Hawkins and two of those set shots from Sanogo &mdash; UConn took a quick 9-0 lead and never trailed.
&ldquo;This is something that I worked on all summer, especially shooting,&rdquo; Sanogo said.
On Monday in the title game, the Huskies will face San Diego State, which became the first team to hit a buzzer-beater while trailing in a Final Four game&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/san-diego-state-beats-fau-at-the-buzzer-advancing-to-title-game" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for a 72-71 victory</a>&nbsp;over Florida Atlantic.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UConn was an early 7 1/2-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.</a>
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re one of the best teams in the country,&rdquo; UConn coach Dan Hurley said of the Aztecs. &ldquo;And I think it&rsquo;s fitting that both of us kind of earned our way into this title game.&rdquo;
But while the early game was an all-timer, the nightcap was simply more of the same from the Huskies (30-8).
The 13-point win was UConn&rsquo;s closest since the brackets came out. The Huskies are the sixth team since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 to reach the title game with five straight double-digit victories. It&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/DavidWorlock/status/1642366358917660683" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an impressive list</a>&nbsp;of behemoths with a knack for closing: Four of the first five went on to win the championship.
Some thought Miami (29-8), with the nation&rsquo;s fifth-ranked offense and four players who have scored 20 points at least three times this season, might be the team to slow this Huskies juggernaut. Not to be.
Isaiah Wong led the &rsquo;Canes with 15 points on 4-for-10 shooting. Harassed constantly by Sanogo, 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan and the rest of Connecticut&rsquo;s long-armed, rangy perimeter players, Miami, which came in with the nation&rsquo;s fifth-best offense, shot 25% in the first half and 33.3% for the game.
&ldquo;Obviously what we tried to do not only didn&rsquo;t work, I couldn&rsquo;t even recognize it,&rdquo; Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. &ldquo;Offensively we were out of sync, but defensively we were too.&rdquo;
Not that UConn was all boring. The Huskies enjoyed their own sort of buzzer-beater in the form of a 3 from Alex Karaban that sent the Huskies jogging into the locker room with a 13-point lead at halftime.
They built it to 20 before the first TV timeout of the second half. By then, Jim Nantz, calling his last Final Four, could start saving his voice for Monday.
Miami did get it under double digits a few times, but this never got interesting.
Not helping: Hurricanes guard&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/final-four-miami-uconn-shoes-14ac37b4d89825ecdea1b1374ad74b0c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nijel Pack</a>&nbsp;missed about five minutes after managers had trouble locating a substitute for a busted shoe. Pack finished with eight points, and Jordan Miller, who hit all 20 shots he took from the floor and the line in Miami&rsquo;s Elite Eight win, went 4 for 10 for 11 points. Only one Miami player made more than half his shots.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a defensive guy first and foremost,&rdquo; Hurley said. &ldquo;I just love the way we guarded them. They&rsquo;re one of the best offenses in the country, and we really disrupted them.&rdquo;
UConn had five blocks, including two from Sanogo, and 19 assists, led by eight from Tristen Newton &mdash; both signs of the sort of all-around effort the Huskies have been putting in since the start of February, when they began the bounce back from a six-loss-in-eight-games stretch that halted their momentum.
That cold stretch is a big reason they were seeded only fourth for March. Now, it&rsquo;s April and the number UConn is thinking about is &ldquo;5&rdquo; &mdash; as in, a fifth title that will come if it can keep this up for one more game.
&ldquo;Maybe it was a little bit delusional,&rdquo; Huskies guard Andre Jackson Jr. said, &ldquo;but we always knew we were the best team in our mind.&rdquo;

Adama Sanogo had 21 points and 10 rebounds as UConn defeated Miami 72-59 and moved one win from the school’s fifth national title.

UConn puts Final Four beatdown on Miami 72-59

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Everything seemed set for a college basketball season marked by the familiar &mdash; right up until the season, anyway.
There was North Carolina returning four starters from a wild ride to last year&rsquo;s NCAA championship game&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-unc-went-from-preseason-no-1-to-missing-ncaa-tournament" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to open at No. 1</a> in the preseason Associated Press poll. Fellow bluebloods Kentucky, reigning champion Kansas and Duke were near the top. Instead, they crashed away to bring us here: the season&rsquo;s final weekend with a decidedly unexpected Final Four.
So what happened? A bad bout of flawed projection? A shift in the sport itself? March Madness arriving early?
&ldquo;I think obviously between the transfer portal, the extra COVID year and NIL, that created a lot of opportunities, I think, for parity,&rdquo; Connecticut coach Dan Hurley said this week, &ldquo;where brand isn&rsquo;t quite as important when there&rsquo;s so much inventory in terms of players, and they can move freely. And they&rsquo;re old and good."
The Huskies are headliners in Houston, both as a four-time national champion and as the team hurtling into the weekend&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/uconn-routs-gonzaga-8254-for-first-final-four-in-9-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">after dispatching tournament foes with ruthless efficiency</a>. They&rsquo;re also a team that was unranked in preseason, lost six of eight at midseason and was a 4-seed for the NCAA Tournament ahead of San Diego State (5), Miami (5) and Florida Atlantic (9).
Of this quartet, only San Diego State (19th) was ranked in the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll?week=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">preseason AP Top 25</a>. That marks only the second time since the tournament&rsquo;s expansion to 64 teams in 1985 that three teams went from unranked in the preseason to reaching the Final Four, the other coming in 2006 with eventual champion Florida, LSU and the George Mason team led by current Hurricanes coach Jim Larra&ntilde;aga.
&ldquo;I always say with the NCAA Tournament, if you were to start it off with the exact same brackets and start it today, we&rsquo;d have four different teams in the Final Four,&rdquo; Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said. &ldquo;I mean, this is a hard event to win in, and it&rsquo;s almost a perfect-storm scenario.&rdquo;
Maybe so, but this season&rsquo;s journey is about the headlining teams that didn&rsquo;t make it here too.
Take UNC. Its riveting run last year included&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-north-carolina-tar-heels-mens-basketball-duke-blue-devils-mens-basketball-sports-mike-krzyzewski-76be1099a009ac7c2993c36a2eba00a8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an epic Final Four win against Duke</a>&nbsp;in the first NCAA meeting between the fierce rivals that also marked the farewell for retiring Blue Devils Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski. But this year&rsquo;s team&nbsp;looked weighed down by expectations&nbsp;and became&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-unc-went-from-preseason-no-1-to-missing-ncaa-tournament" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the first team to go from preseason No. 1 to missing the tournament since its 1985 expansion</a>.
Yet it goes further.
Three other preseason top-10 teams (Kentucky, Creighton and Arkansas) finished unranked. Two others (Baylor and Duke) spent at least one week wandering among the &ldquo;Others Receiving Votes.&rdquo; Three teams ended up going from unranked to the top 10 <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in the final poll</a>, including Purdue &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-fairleigh-dickinson-purdue-16-seed-715e3e361344928ea10880dd9a9d8a58" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which became the second No. 1 seed ever to lose to a 16-seed</a>&nbsp;&mdash; and Marquette joining UConn.
By comparison, only two teams slid from preseason top 10 to unranked at any point last year during the first full season with the transfer portal, while one (Arizona) finished in the top 10 after opening the year unranked.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/1000-3.jpeg" alt="" width="700" height="472" />
In all, four teams held the No. 1 ranking this year, including Houston, Alabama and Purdue. None gave the whiff of a potential juggernaut like 2021 champ Baylor and Gonzaga combining for three losses that season.
&ldquo;Through the season, No. 1s were losing, rankings were always changing,&rdquo; San Diego State senior guard Jared Barnett said Thursday. &ldquo;So we always felt like we had a chance.&rdquo;
Joel Berry II, the Final Four&rsquo;s Most Outstanding Player in 2017 during UNC&rsquo;s title run, is struck by those swings.
He&rsquo;ll never forget the last Final Four in Houston: He was on the court in 2016 for the Tar Heels&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/march-madness-ranking-the-top11-ncaa-tournament-buzzerbeaters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when Villanova&rsquo;s Kris Jenkins hit a last-second 3-pointer for the title</a>. That crushing moment was the driving force when the Tar Heels returned a year later to claim the title that had eluded them.
Now, he figures those redemption arcs are harder to complete with the transfer portal offering the equivalent of college free agency as a landscape-altering variable.
&ldquo;Schools like North Carolina, Kansas, Villanova, Duke, these teams can&rsquo;t get by anymore just bringing in (high school) All-Americans,&rdquo; said Berry, now an ACC Network analyst. &ldquo;These other teams have All-Americans that went to schools and maybe it didn&rsquo;t work out. Now they&rsquo;re transferring to other places where they have better opportunities.&rdquo;
That was a popular take among players in the locker rooms at Houston&rsquo;s NRG Stadium, too, with several mentioning the portal when asked about whether the season felt more wide open.
&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have to sit out now, so people are changing schools whenever,&rdquo; said Florida Atlantic guard Jalen Gaffney, who transferred from UConn. &ldquo;So I guess a lot of players, a lot of teams are just evening out at this point.&rdquo;
And to listen to them, it&rsquo;s both welcome and a sign of what&rsquo;s ahead.
&ldquo;High-major dudes could bounce back and go to some of these low- and mid-majors and really turn a program around,&rdquo; said UConn guard Joey Calcaterra, a graduate transfer from San Diego.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just cool to see the different types of teams who could step up in big moments. It&rsquo;s not always what you expect like in past years.&rdquo;

This is the second time since the tournament’s expansion in 1985 that 3 teams went from unranked in the preseason to the Final Four

March Madness came early in topsy-turvy college hoops season

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; A bettor in December placed $500 on Florida Atlantic at 400-1 odds to make the Final Four, costing Westgate Las Vegas $200,000.
That was a clear win for one bettor, but who actually has come out on top between the sportsbooks and those on the other side of the counter during this most unusual NCAA Tournament is much more murky.
While Westgate absorbed a tough loss, Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas came out in decent shape even as upsets ruled the first two weeks of March Madness and set up a Final Four that begins Saturday with UConn at No. 4 as the highest seed.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still in really good shape on, especially, San Diego State and Florida Atlantic,&rdquo; said Chuck Esposito, Red Rock race and sportsbook director. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard that there there are some places that have some liability with Florida Atlantic, but we don&rsquo;t. We do still do well on UConn and Miami. Both those schools seem to be the the kind of two schools that are getting some future play. But, overall, we&rsquo;re pretty good shape with all four teams.&rdquo;
A UConn victory likely would be the best outcome for sportsbooks, and the Huskies have rolled through the NCAA Tournament, winning by an average of 22.5 points.
Their odds before the tournament at Westgate were 20-1 to win the championship. As for the rest of the field, Miami was at 50-1, San Diego State at 60-1 and FAU at 100-1.
&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t look like a Final Four,&rdquo; said Jay Kornegay, Westgate vice president of race and sports operations. &ldquo;It looks like an NIT final.&rdquo;
Kornegay said he could see the FAU run to the Final Four coming, but there was little Westgate could to do mitigate the damage.
As for future NCAA Tournaments, Kornegay said discussions already are under way about lowering the odds for the long shots and increasing them for the favorites. It will be among many tweaks as more parity hits college basketball, in part because of the transfer portal.
&ldquo;Believe me, we&rsquo;re keeping an eye on it,&rdquo; Kornegay said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to make a knee-jerk, dramatic change. ... I do believe there are going to be more Cinderella stories than we&rsquo;ve seen in the past.&rdquo;
Esposito said even more work will go into breaking down rosters in the future, making special note of schools with veteran players.
&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re going to continue to see the trend of numbers a lot tighter, a lot smaller,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;I do think David has more of a chance against Goliath than he ever has before.&rdquo;
Esposito and Kornegay said the women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament and Final Four, which begins Friday, have drawn more betting interest than in past years, though still nowhere close to the level for the men. But both sportsbooks are offering more betting options for the women&rsquo;s Final Four to reflect the increased interest.
While the men&rsquo;s Final Four is a major surprise, the women&rsquo;s side includes undefeated South Carolina and Iowa star and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/iowas-caitlin-clark-wins-ap-player-of-the-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AP Player of the Year Caitlin Clark</a>.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not leaps and bounds more,&rdquo; Kornegay said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen increases that are noticeable on the women&rsquo;s side.&rdquo;
The men have a near monopoly on betting during the regular season, though more women&rsquo;s games have been made available. Louisville coach Jeff Walz said he would like to see all women&rsquo;s games on the betting boards.
&ldquo;I just think for women&rsquo;s basketball there&rsquo;s more interest now for the casual fan,&rdquo; Walz said. &ldquo;Obviously, we can&rsquo;t bet on it or anything like that ... but if you&rsquo;re asking what can enhance our game, that little thing right there I think has already.&rdquo;

A UConn victory likely would be the best outcome for sportsbooks, who have had mixed results given all of the March Madness upsets.

Upset-rich March Madness causing mixed results at sportsbooks

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; Gonzaga was down 10 points early in the second half Saturday night in the West Region final against UConn, but Julian Strawther had just secured a defensive rebound, and perhaps the Bulldogs had a run in them.
But then came a whistle. Zags forward Drew Timme had picked up his fourth foul. Shortly thereafter, it became clear that Gonzaga&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament run would end.
Without him, the third-seeded Bulldogs weren&rsquo;t a match for No. 4 seed UConn, which pulled away to win 82-54 and end Timme&rsquo;s college career.
Timme, who gained fame for his masterful inside moves and world-class mustache, put together perhaps the finest college career in recent memory. He was a throwback for his crafty low-post game and for spending four years at the same school.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just so thankful that the program and the place took me for who I was,&rdquo; Timme said. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t ask me to be anybody but myself. I&rsquo;m forever in debt for Gonzaga, just the love I have for just everyone that helped me and made this journey so special and so fun. I just don&rsquo;t think I could ever repay that.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;d do anything for Gonzaga. I always will. This isn&rsquo;t a goodbye; it&rsquo;s a see-you-later.&rdquo;
The emotions were clear on Timme&rsquo;s red face, which he covered with a towel a handful of times. He sniffled as the postgame news conference was about to begin.
But Timme held it together when the questions came, including about the fourth foul less than three minutes into the second half. That came after he was whistled for a charge just 26 seconds into the half.
&ldquo;The bottom line is they were the better team tonight,&rdquo; Timme said of UConn. &ldquo;They made more shots. They got the 50-50 balls. Regardless of whether we want to say what-ifs, the refs didn&rsquo;t control that game.&rdquo;
Timme, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds against the Huskies, departs knowing he left a mark not only at Gonzaga but on college hoops.
He owns the Gonzaga record with 2,307 points and led the Zags to the Sweet 16 in each of the past three seasons and the national title game in 2021.
&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s one of the greatest college players in this modern era,&rdquo; coach Mark Few said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s won at the highest level. We leaned on him as hard as we&rsquo;ve ever leaned on a player, and he delivered time and time and time again.
&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s just a small piece of it. He&rsquo;s a bigger-than-life character. It was a blast to coach him.&rdquo;
Gonzaga will have a new man in the middle next season, and the Bulldogs got a taste of that experience will be like when Timme sat for about three minutes and UConn rolled to a 58-37 lead.
By the time Timme re-entered the game, the Huskies were well on their way to their fourth double-digit victory in as many games.
Had Timme never picked up that fourth foul, the Huskies likely still would have pulled away, but the call altered the tone of the game and sped up the rout.
&ldquo;You try to stay positive,&rdquo; Bulldogs forward Anton Watson said. &ldquo;We brought the team together and tried to keep positive thoughts and try to keep chipping away at that lead, but it&rsquo;s hard when Drew goes out.&rdquo;
It was another disappointing end to the season for Gonzaga, which is still searching for its first national championship. Expectations were low it would happen this year, so making the Elite Eight was a win in itself.
The Zags can thank Timme, who entered the game leading the team with averages of 21.5 points and 7.5 rebounds, for helping get them there.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody thought we would make it this far this year,&rdquo; Timme said. &ldquo;Just the stuff we overcame as a group and how we stayed together, I think, speaks volumes to who we are as people, more than players.&rdquo;

“I’d do anything for Gonzaga. I always will. This isn’t a goodbye; it’s a see-you-later," Timme said.

Drew Timme's storied career at Gonzaga comes to an end

Everyone&rsquo;s heard of UConn. All these other guys? They&rsquo;ll need name tags at the Final Four.
When they travel to Houston next week to play for the national title, Florida Atlantic, San Diego State and Miami will be making their first appearances at college basketball&rsquo;s grand finale, the first time since 1970 that three first-timers all showed up in the same year.
If the unfamiliar names &mdash; to say nothing of the seedings &mdash; are any indication, fans might look back on 2022-23 as the season when true parity finally sunk down deep into the bones of America&rsquo;s favorite basketball tournament and turned March Madness into a total free-for-all, all the way to the last weekend.
There will be no No. 1 seed at the Final Four for the first time since 2011. Instead, there will be a 9 seed in Florida Atlantic, a pair of 5 seeds in SDSU and Miami, and a 4 seed in UConn. The combined seed total of the four teams is 23, the second-highest total since the seeding began in 1979. This marks the first time that not a single top-3 seed made it.
The matchups for Saturday: San Diego State against FAU, in a not-so-classic 5-vs-9 matchup. (San Diego State, a 57-56 winner over Creighton on Sunday, is a 1.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.) Who saw that coming?&nbsp;
In the later game, it&rsquo;s the Hurricanes as 5 1/2-point underdogs against UConn, which is the prohibitive favorite, at minus-135, to bring a fifth national title home.
If UConn does win, it will join Kentucky, North Carolina and Kansas as the fourth school to win the championship under three or more coaches. Dan Hurley would join Jim Calhoun and Kevin Ollie in the winner&rsquo;s circle for the Huskies.
In the past, some of the upheaval in the brackets could have been pinned on the single-elimination format and the tournament selection committee, which sometimes overvalues its top seeds &mdash; this year, that included first-round loser Purdue and seven-loss defending-champion Kansas &mdash; while clearly underrating others.
No team got undervalued more than UConn (29-8), which had 25 wins coming in, a No. 8 standing in the NET rankings &mdash; which looks at quality wins among other factors &mdash; and the still-developing potential of junior Adama Sanogo, who has averaged 20 points and just a touch under 10 rebounds in four tournament games.
But all the other factors upending college sports &mdash; namely, NIL deals and the transfer portal &mdash; played a role here, too.
Heading into the Elite Eight, Miami coach Jim Larra&ntilde;aga &mdash; who brought George Mason to the Final Four as an 11 seed 17 years ago &mdash; said the portal was the basketball equivalent of speed dating. Worked for him. The third- and fourth-leading scorers for the Hurricanes (29-7), Nijel Pack and Norchad Omier, both came to The U from the portal.
Also down in South Florida, FAU got three key players, including 7-foot-1 Russian center Vladislav Goldin, from elsewhere. All moved to the campus in Boca Raton after less-than-successful stays at big-conference schools. No one was quite sure how coach Dusty May would blend all these new faces from different places. Turns out, he did pretty well. At 35-3, nobody has more wins this season than the Owls.
&ldquo;We already had a good chemistry last year, and the pieces that we added just complemented everything we had going on,&rdquo; said Bryan Greenlee, in his second year at FAU after coming over from Minnesota.
A longtime power in the Mountain West Conference, San Diego State was 30-2 and projected for a No. 1 seed in 2020 when the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three years later, the Aztecs (31-6) are two wins away from the title. Their top two scorers, Matt Bradley and Darrion Trammell, are &mdash; you guessed it &mdash; products of the transfer portal, though coach Brian Dutcher brought them in as much for defense as scoring. SDSU made it this far behind a defense that held top-seeded Alabama to 32% shooting in the Sweet 16 and held Creighton to 11% from 3-point range in Sunday&rsquo;s win.
Asked what to expect from the Aztecs in Houston next week, Dutcher said, &ldquo;I would think pretty good defense, to start with.&rdquo;

This year in the men's NCAA Tournament, it's the first time since 1970 that three first-timers all showed up in the Final Four.

Final Four newcomers: Grab your name tag at the door

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; The critique of UConn under coach Dan Hurley had been the program&rsquo;s inability to win in March.
Consecutive first-round NCAA Tournament exits meant the Huskies were good, not great &mdash; certainly not anywhere in league with the UConn women&rsquo;s program.
In perhaps the maddest March of all, Huskies proved they are elite again, putting in another dominating performance a few hours after the UConn women had a rare misstep.
Jordan Hawkins scored 20 points and UConn overwhelmed its fourth straight NCAA Tournament opponent, earning its first trip to the Final Four in nine years with an 82-54 blowout of Gonzaga on Saturday night.
&ldquo;I think it becomes a little bit of a mental hurdle, especially like early rounds of the NCAA Tournament where you feel like maybe the burden of the history and tradition and first-round games, maybe even second-round games,&rdquo; Hurley said. &ldquo;The climb to get to this point has been real and it&rsquo;s been more challenging than I thought.&rdquo;
The Huskies (29-8) have felt right at home in their first extended March Madness run since winning the 2014 national championship, playing their best basketball of what had been an up-and-down season.
UConn controlled the usually efficient Bulldogs at both ends in the West Region final, building a 23-point lead early in the second half to waltz right into the final section of the bracket.
Those first-round exits are now well in the rearview mirror. So is that midseason funk.
These elite Huskies did what the UConn women couldn&rsquo;t for once and are headed to Houston, where they will play Texas or Miami.
UConn has a pretty good track record once it gets this far, too: The Huskies are 8-1 all-time in Final Four games.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot to prove,&rdquo; said Andre Jackson Jr., who had eight points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. &ldquo;We still have a chip on our shoulder.&rdquo;
The Bulldogs (31-6) didn&rsquo;t have the same second-half magic they had in a last-second win over UCLA in the Elite Eight.
Gonzaga allowed UConn to go on a late run to lead by seven at halftime and fell completely apart after All-American Drew Timme went to the bench with his fourth foul early in the second half.
The Zags shot 33% from the field &mdash; 7 of 29 in the second half &mdash; and went 2 for 20 from 3 to stumble in their bid for a third Final Four since 2017.
&ldquo;UConn was just terrific tonight and we didn&rsquo;t have any answers, especially when kind of everything really didn&rsquo;t bounce our way,&rdquo; Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. &ldquo;And we can&rsquo;t absorb a game like that when our offense is as bad as it was tonight.&rdquo;
Alex Karaban scored 12 points and Adama Sanogo had 10 points and 10 rebounds for UConn.
Timme had 12 points and 10 rebounds, receiving a warm ovation after being taken out of his final collegiate game with 1:50 left.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just so thankful that the program and the place took me for who I was,&rdquo; said Timme, who shared a long embrace with Few when he exited. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t ask me to be anybody but myself.&rdquo;
The Zags started off like they had a Vegas hangover, firing off two air-balled 3-pointers and a wild runner by Timme. Once Gonzaga shook out the cobwebs, the Bulldogs kept the Huskies bridled with defense, with hard hedges on screens and Timme sagging off Jackson to protect the lane.
UConn countered by getting the ball into the strong hands of Sanogo, the facilitator. The UConn big man picked apart Gonzaga&rsquo;s double-teams for five first-half assists, including two for layups.
&ldquo;We figured that out,&rdquo; Hurley said. &ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t work anymore.&rdquo;
Karaban hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the Huskies up 39-32 at halftime, and it got worse for Gonzaga to start the second half.
UConn pushed the lead to 12 and Timme picked up his third and fourth fouls in the opening 2 1/2 minutes &mdash; one on a charge, another on a box-out under the rim.
&ldquo;We brought the team together and tried to keep positive thoughts and try to keep chipping away at that lead,&rdquo; Gonzaga forward Anton Watson said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s hard when Drew goes out.&rdquo;
The Huskies really got rolling when Timme took a seat, using their defense to get out in transition and set up 3-pointers. A 14-3 run put UConn up 60-37 and Few took the calculated gamble of bringing Timme back in.
It made little difference.
UConn kept up the pressure and kept making shots, looking an awful lot like the favorite to win it all.&nbsp;

Jordan Hawkins scored 20 points and UConn overwhelmed its fourth straight NCAA Tournament opponent.

UConn routs Gonzaga 82-54 for first Final Four in 9 years

SEATTLE (AP) &mdash; Throughout this historic season for Virginia Tech, coach Kenny Brooks has repeated the belief that Elizabeth Kitley is the best player for the Hokies, but Georgia Amoore is the most important.
It was proven again Saturday with Amoore carrying Virginia Tech to a level it&rsquo;s never reached before in program history.
Amoore scored a career-high 29 points and the top-seeded Hokies advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history with a 73-64 win over No. 4 seed Tennessee.
&ldquo;I just want to win. All we have to do is keep winning to get people to talk about us, so we&rsquo;ll keep trying to win,&rdquo; Amoore said.
The Hokies (30-4) won their 14th straight game overall and advanced to a matchup with No. 3 seed Ohio State in the Seattle 3 Regional final on Monday night. Ohio State topped UConn in the first semifinal, ending the Huskies&rsquo; streak of 14 straight Final Four appearances.
Amoore and the Hokies used a dominant stretch spanning the end of the second quarter and beginning of the third that built enough of a cushion to hold off Tennessee&rsquo;s valiant rally over the final 12 minutes.
Amoore attempted 19 3-pointers in the Hokies&rsquo; second-round win, but shot only 14 this time around.
&ldquo;She&rsquo;s only doing now what we see all the time. When the kids have to go out and guard her, they really tighten up their shoestrings because they know that there&rsquo;s something that can happen,&rdquo; Brooks said. &ldquo;But she&rsquo;s phenomenal. She&rsquo;s as good as anybody in the country, in my opinion. She&rsquo;s playing with the utmost confidence and she&rsquo;s been playing like this ever since we really started this stretch.&rdquo;
Kayana Traylor added 14 points and Kitley scored 12 points despite sitting a big chunk of the first half with foul trouble. The ACC Tournament champions had reached the Sweet 16 only once previously in school history and are now one win away from the Final Four.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just so happy that I landed at such an amazing spot where we did exactly what we wanted to,&rdquo; Kitley said. &ldquo;And it hasn&rsquo;t been easy and it&rsquo;s taken coach Brooks a few years, but what he&rsquo;s done with the program and the amount of time is incredible.&rdquo;
Jordan Horston led Tennessee (25-12) with 17 points. Rickea Jackson scored 15 and Jordan Walker added 12.
The Lady Vols reached the regional semifinals for the second straight season, but haven&rsquo;t been to the Elite Eight since 2016. And it was their offense that was so impressive in the first two rounds that disappeared against the Hokies.
&ldquo;I felt like we were locked in and focused before the game. We had good energy in warmup, so nothing with that. But we just were a little stagnant on the offensive end,&rdquo; Walker said.
The Lady Vols scored 95 points in their first-round win over Saint Louis and followed up with 94 in an impressive blowout of Toledo. But Tennessee relied too much on perimeter shots early on, to the point coach Kellie Harper yelled at her team &ldquo;who are we?&rdquo; after attempting their 12th 3-pointer of the first half.
Tennessee made just 3 of 17 attempts from beyond the arc against the Hokies after making 11 of 22 in the win over Toledo.
&ldquo;They did a good job with our first attack and we got really impatient,&rdquo; Harper said. &ldquo;I thought we were really stagnant offensively, and therefore we were settling. We took way too many threes for us in the first half.&rdquo;
The Hokies closed the first half with a flourish, scoring the final eight points to take a 35-22 lead at the break. Amoore started the second half with her fourth 3-pointer of the game and Kitley scored on the interior and quickly a five-point game ballooned to a 40-22 Virginia Tech lead.
Tennessee trimmed the deficit to nine by the end of the third quarter and its surge continued into the fourth quarter. The Lady Vols capped the 19-4 run with Jasmine Powell&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 6:05 left and pulled with 53-52.
But turnovers and fouls started to mount and for the Lady Vols and Virginia Tech pushed its lead back to 11 on Amoore&rsquo;s jumper with 2:10 remaining.
&ldquo;It was a challenge. I&rsquo;m glad we pulled away from it,&rdquo; Amoore said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re going to see with Ohio State with their press. Glad we got a little taste of it today. Now we know.&rdquo;

The Hokies (30-4) won their 14th straight game overall and advanced to a matchup with No. 3 seed Ohio State.

Virginia Tech keeps rolling in March Madness, tops Tennessee

SEATTLE (AP) &mdash; UConn&rsquo;s record Final Four run is over, thanks to a monumental performance by Ohio State.
The Buckeyes ended UConn&rsquo;s unprecedented streak of reaching 14 consecutive Final Fours, beating the Huskies 73-61 on Saturday in the Sweet 16 of the women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament.
&ldquo;The problem with streaks is the longer they go, you&rsquo;re closer to it ending than you are to the beginning of it,&rdquo; UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of time. I mean, it&rsquo;s not if it&rsquo;s going to happen. It&rsquo;s just a matter of time when it&rsquo;s going to happen. And it was going to happen sooner rather than later.&rdquo;
Cotie McMahon scored 23 points for the Buckeyes, who snapped their three-decade Elite Eight drought. The Buckeyes hadn&rsquo;t made a regional final since 1993, when they eventually lost in the title game to Texas Tech.
&ldquo;When I had the opportunity to come to Ohio State, this was certainly the goal and the vision to go farther than they have been going,&rdquo; said coach Kevin McGuff, who had never beaten UConn. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not easy to get here, obviously. But I&rsquo;m really proud of our team and our program of how we&rsquo;ve evolved to be able to get to this point.
&ldquo;Like I said, I mean, I have so much respect for Geno and his staff and all that they have accomplished. So for us to be able to win this game in the Sweet 16 is obviously extremely significant. They&rsquo;re just hard to beat. They&rsquo;re so well-coached. So this is a great win for us.&rdquo;
The third-seeded Buckeyes (28-7) forced No. 2 seed UConn (31-6) into 25 turnovers, ending the Huskies&rsquo; season before the national semifinals for the first time in 14 seasons. UConn hadn&rsquo;t been eliminated this early since 2006.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an impossibility to do what we have done already,&rdquo; Auriemma said. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the next highest streak? ... And you take that in stride and you say, yeah, it was great while it lasted and it&rsquo;s a credit to all the players that we had and all the times that you have to perform really, really well at this level.&rdquo;
Ohio State will play Virginia Tech on Monday night in the Seattle 3 Region final with a trip to Dallas at stake. The Hokies beat Tennessee 73-64.
Ohio State, which had to rally from a double-digit deficit in the first round against James Madison, used full-court pressure to disrupt the Huskies&rsquo; offense.
&ldquo;Our press is what we rely on, and sticking together and talking through it,&rdquo; said Ohio State&rsquo;s Jacy Sheldon, who had 17 points and went 10-for-10 from the foul line. &ldquo;We knew UConn was going to be ready for us, so we knew we were going to have to stay consistent throughout the game.&rdquo;
This has been the most trying year of Auriemma&rsquo;s Hall of Fame career. UConn was beset by injuries and illnesses to both players and coaches, including a torn ACL that sidelined star Paige Bueckers all season. It got so bad the Huskies had to postpone a game when they didn&rsquo;t have enough scholarship players. They also saw their unbelievable run of 30 years without consecutive losses come to an end.
&ldquo;We picked the worst day to actually be doing the things that we&rsquo;ve been struggling with all year long,&rdquo; Auriemma said in a sideline interview during the game.
Lou Lopez Senechal scored 25 points for the Huskies, Azzi Fudd had 14, and Ohio State transfer Dorka Juhasz finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The Huskies led 17-9 before Ohio State started scoring and turning UConn over with its full-court press. The Buckeyes scored the next 17 points, forcing 11 turnovers during that stretch, which spanned the first and second quarters. UConn had eight turnovers to start the second quarter, leaving Auriemma exasperated on the sideline.
McMahon was converting those turnovers into points for the Buckeyes as the freshman finished the half with 18 points &mdash; equaling the number of turnovers the Huskies had in the opening 20 minutes. Ohio State led 36-26 at the break.
This was only the sixth time UConn had trailed by double digits at the half in an NCAA Tournament game, according to ESPN. The Huskies lost all of those.
UConn did a better job of taking care of the ball in the second half and cut the deficit to 44-39 on Senechal&rsquo;s layup with 3:53 left in the third quarter. Ohio State responded and still led by 10 after three quarters.
The Buckeyes didn&rsquo;t let the Huskies make any sort of run in the fourth quarter. UConn got within nine with 4:30 left, but McMahon had a three-point play to restore the double-digit lead. The Huskies never threatened after that.
Now the Huskies will start their offseason sooner than anytime in the past 17 years.
TIP-INS
This was the first win for Ohio State over UConn in seven tries. The teams&rsquo; last meeting was in the 2019-20 regular season. ... UConn was a paltry 7-for-15 from the foul line while Ohio State went 22-for-30. ... UConn&rsquo;s season high for turnovers was 27 against Princeton.
THE HOUSE THAT SUE BUILT
The Seattle Regionals are being playing in Climate Pledge Arena &mdash; home of the Seattle Storm. UConn and Storm great Sue Bird was in the stands, sitting a few rows behind the scorers&rsquo; table. She received a loud ovation from the crowd when she was shown midway through the first quarter on the videoboards.
FAMILIAR FOE
Juhasz graduated from Ohio State two years ago and flourished there, earning all-Big Ten honors twice. She came to UConn last year looking for a new challenge and wanting to play for a team that could compete for national championships. She&rsquo;ll leave without one.
There is a mutual respect between Juhasz and the Buckeyes&rsquo; coaching staff.

The Buckeyes ended UConn’s unprecedented streak of reaching 14 consecutive Final Fours, beating the Huskies 73-61.

Ohio State ends UConn women’s run of 14 straight Final Fours

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; Jordan Hawkins scored 24 points for UConn and the Huskies are one step away from the Final Four after an 88-65 rout of Arkansas 88-65 in a West Region Sweet 16 matchup Thursday.
The fourth-seeded Huskies (28-8) will play the winner of UCLA or Gonzaga in an Elite Eight game Saturday in Las Vegas. Arkansas&rsquo; season ended at 22-14.
UConn played like a team capable of winning its fifth NCAA Tournament title and first since 2014. The Huskies have outscored their three March Madness opponents by 62 points.
They won their first two games by outscoring Iona and Saint Mary&rsquo;s by a combined 86-49 in the second half. UConn surged early against Arkansas with a 14-point run and took a 46-29 lead into halftime.
The Huskies never trailed and led by as many as 29 points when they went up 62-33. Arkansas answered with a 10-point run in just 27 seconds, but the outcome was never in doubt.
UConn, which has won nine of its past 10 games, shot 57.4% compared to 31.7% for Arkansas. The Huskies dominated inside by outrebounding the Razorbacks 43-31 and outscoring them 42-24 in the lane.
Adama Sanogo scored 18 points, Alex Karaban had 11 and Nahiem Alleyene 10 for UConn. Sanogo, who also had eight rebounds, has scored 71 points in 75 minutes this tournament.
Anthony Black led Arkansas with 20 points, Ricky Council IV had 17 and Nick Smith Jr. 11.
Arkansas, which was seeded eighth, was in the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row. The Razorbacks also reached the Elite Eight the past two years, and a third consecutive appearance would have been a first in program history.

Jordan Hawkins scored 24 points for UConn, and the Huskies have outscored their three March Madness opponents by 62 points.

UConn a step from Final Four after 88-65 blowout of Arkansas

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; Every day he wasn&rsquo;t out recruiting or away at a game, Bill Musselman wrote a message on his son&rsquo;s school lunch bag.
Effort, energy, enthusiasm.
The message and the relentless pursuit of perfection it implored served as the substratum of Eric Musselman&rsquo;s life.
&ldquo;Everything that happened with my dad and I, whenever I was around him, being a competitor was kind of beyond belief,&rdquo; the Arkansas coach said Wednesday.
UConn coach Dan Hurley knows the feeling.
Like Musselman, he spent his childhood being told just good enough might as well be failure.
The two coaches&rsquo; sons have come together in the desert, preparing for a Sweet 16 game Thursday night that will push one a step closer to college basketball&rsquo;s ultimate goal.
&ldquo;I think being coaches&rsquo; kids just gives you such a unique perspective and it makes basketball such a huge part of your life,&rdquo; Hurley said. &ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s why we both coach with so much passion and we live and die with every possession.&rdquo;
Hurley&rsquo;s father, Bob, is one of the few high school coaches to be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame, a hoops firebrand who led St. Anthony High School to 26 New Jersey state titles.
Dan and his brother Bobby played for their father and watched as he demanded excellence from his players on and off the court.
Bobby won two national championships as a player at Duke and is currently Arizona State&rsquo;s head coach.
Dan played at Seton Hall and, after stints at Wagner and Rhode Island, was tasked with rebuilding UConn back into national prominence when he was hired five years ago. The Huskies have gone to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons and are one win from the program&rsquo;s first Elite Eight since winning the 2014 national title.
&ldquo;I want to be the college version of my dad,&rdquo; Hurley said. &ldquo;I want to coach with integrity, be a man of my word and have the holistic type of approach that my dad had, be a coach&rsquo;s coach like my dad, not a phony or a fraud or a liar or a cheater.&rdquo;
How important has his dad been? Hurley had to compose himself for several seconds after being asked about him Wednesday in Las Vegas.
&ldquo;That was a brutal last question, buddy,&rdquo; he said before pausing. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just glad my dad&rsquo;s at the games.&rdquo;
Musselman&rsquo;s dad, who died at 59 in 2000 after suffering a stroke, zigzagged his way across the country coaching in the NBA, American Basketball Association, Western Basketball Association and college over four decades.
His father&rsquo;s travels gave the younger Musselman a unique view into the world of basketball and beyond.
Musselman went on road trips with his father, served as a ball boy for opposing teams and got to know people most kids at the time only dreamed of meeting. He absorbed his father&rsquo;s intensity and attention to detail, and served as an assistant under him with the NBA&rsquo;s Minnesota Timberwolves.
&ldquo;To be able to work with him with the Timberwolves and watch his preparation, watch how he conducted practice, his attention to detail,&rdquo; Musselman said. &ldquo;And I was lucky to watch him meet with so many other coaches in different sports. I was just exposed to a whole different lifestyle than everybody else that I grew up with.&rdquo;
Musselman followed his father&rsquo;s coaching footsteps after playing at the University of San Diego. He became head coach of the Continental Basketball Association&rsquo;s Rapid City Thrillers at age 24 and later coached the NBA&rsquo;s Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors.
Intrigued by the prospect of coaching in college, Musselman wanted to learn from the ground level, so he took jobs as an assistant at Arizona State and LSU. He was clearly ready once he become a head coach, leading Nevada to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a run to the 2018 Sweet 16.
Musselman has had even sweeter success in Fayetteville. He led the Razorbacks to the Elite Eight in his second season and returned there last year. He is seeking a third straight appearance in a regional final.
That run seemed to be headed toward an end this season when Trevon Brazile tore his ACL and five-star freshman Nick Smith Jr. was limited by knee injuries. The Razorbacks rallied like their tenacious coach, pulling off a win over No. 1 seed Kansas that Musselman&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-kansas-arkansas-upset-dfbf9716af7de6e346e47c6edeb87277" target="_blank" rel="noopener">celebrating with his shirt off.</a>
&ldquo;We just kept kind of grinding and looking at the next game on our schedule and trying to have belief,&rdquo; Musselman said. &ldquo;And here we are again. It&rsquo;s a resilient team that&rsquo;s overcome a lot for sure.&rdquo;
Just like its coach &mdash; and UConn&rsquo;s.

UConn coach Dan Hurley and Arkansas coach Eric Musselman are the sons of successful coaches. Now, they'll face off in the Sweet 16.

Coaches’ sons Dan Hurley and Eric Musselman to meet in Sweet 16

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

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) &mdash; South Carolina is keenly aware that everyone remaining in the women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament field is coming after the undefeated Gamecocks &mdash; and hard.
That conviction has been boosted after two of the top four seeds in Indiana and Stanford were ousted &mdash; something that hasn&rsquo;t happened since 1998. If they didn&rsquo;t before, each of the Sweet 16 teams believe they can knock out the defending national champions, no matter how dominant the Gamecocks have been.
It makes for good theater &mdash; which is good for the sport.
Rebecca Lobo, the former UConn star turned ESPN analyst, calls South Carolina&rsquo;s dominance combined with Sweet 16 parity &ldquo;an interesting dichotomy.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like parallel paths, you have this overwhelming favorite to win it all, yet you have UConn losing to Marquette or Stanford losing in the second round,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an interesting time for women&rsquo;s basketball.&rdquo;
South Carolina with its 40 straight victories isn&rsquo;t concerned about history, ratings or if the Gamecocks&rsquo; drive for a second straight championship is good for the game.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just about basketball,&rdquo; coach Dawn Staley says with admiration. &ldquo;We really are.&rdquo;
Women&rsquo;s basketball is thriving even with the Gamecocks&rsquo; dominance in the midst of rarely seen tournament chaos. South Carolina&rsquo;s four-team pod in Greenville, South Carolina, is all chalk. The top-seeded Gamecocks (34-0) play No. 4 seeded UCLA on Saturday with No. 2 seed Maryland taking on third-seeded Notre Dame.
South Carolina has three-time All-American Aliyah Boston, high-scoring Zia Cooke and a bench full of players who could start for most NCAA Tournament teams. That&rsquo;s helped the Gamecocks show a relentless push toward a third straight Final Four.
If they run the table, South Carolina would be the 10th undefeated Division I women&rsquo;s champion. The men have had just one in D-I: Indiana in 1976.
Analyst Debbie Antonelli believes women&rsquo;s basketball fans love the new faces and schools still alive in this tournament. She isn&rsquo;t sure how fans would react if the Gamecocks&rsquo; seemingly inevitable championship run gets derailed short of the national title game.
&ldquo;As someone who cares about ratings, I&rsquo;d be curious,&rdquo; Antonelli said.
South Carolina is trying to join an exclusive club. The nine undefeated champions hail from just four schools: Texas, UConn, Tennessee and Baylor:
&mdash; UConn, which has gone undefeated an unprecedented six times. In 1995, the Huskies went 35-0 with Lobo leading the way. UConn went 39-0 in 2002, 2009 and 2010 with a slew of All-Americans, including Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Swin Cash. UConn followed those title runs by going 40-0 in 2014 and 38-0 in 2016.
&mdash; Texas was the first perfect champion, going 34-0 in 1986.
&mdash; Tennessee finished 39-0 in 1998 with the three &ldquo;Meeks&rdquo; in Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings and Semeka Randall.
&mdash; Baylor and Brittney Griner went 40-0 in 2012.
Coaches and players say there are no shortcuts for going undefeated.
Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti and Kara Wolters anchored the 1995 UConn team. There had only been one team prior to the Huskies as undefeated champions, so Lobo and her teammates never discussed that possibility.
&ldquo;It was fun winning, it was fun not losing, but I can honestly tell you the undefeated portion was not something we thought about,&rdquo; she said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
Kellie Harper agrees. She was part of Pat Summitt&rsquo;s Tennessee team that was the first to go 39-0.
Harper said coaches don&rsquo;t enter seasons telling their players, &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s be perfect this year.&rdquo; However, as the point guard on that 1997-98 team, having star players can be a difference-maker.
&ldquo;Going down the stretch with three All-Americans, that made my job a lot easier,&rdquo; Harper, now coaching her alma mater, said before adding, &ldquo;but it gave me a lot of confidence that we can do anything.&rdquo;
Staley&rsquo;s not sure all undefeated seasons are created equal. She recalls other perfect runs celebrated more than her team&rsquo;s current streak.
&ldquo;My player, Aliyah Boston is not the one that&rsquo;s being talked about on men&rsquo;s games, OK? She&rsquo;s not,&rdquo; Staley said.
Iowa&rsquo;s Caitlin Clark has taken some of the national attention away from the perfect Gamecocks with her barrage of long-range jumpers and triple-doubles.
The Gamecocks have overcome several challenges this season.
They trailed by 10 through three quarters at Stanford last November before pulling out a 76-71 win in overtime. UConn held an 11-point first-half lead in February before South Carolina rallied for an 81-77 victory.
The Gamecocks advanced to their 10th Sweet 16 in 11 tournaments with a 76-45 win over feisty South Florida, which trailed by just 33-29 at the half. There was also an 64-57 overtime win at Ole Miss, which knocked off Stanford.
Yes, there is pressure to stay perfect.
&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s also a lot of fun,&rdquo; sophomore reserve Bree Hall said.
South Carolina&rsquo;s experienced roster &mdash; including Boston, Cooke and fellow senior Brea Beal &mdash; knows what it takes to win. They&rsquo;ve started since their freshman year in 2020, when their first title run was canceled by COVID-19. South Carolina was No. 1 in the rankings at 31-1 and on a 26-game win streak.
The Gamecocks will need that experience as the pressure ratchets up.
In 1995, UConn&rsquo;s two closest contests was a 67-63 win over Virginia in the Elite Eight and in the championship win, 70-64, over Tennessee.
Both UConn and Tennessee, that pesky Ole Miss squad and the rest of the Sweet 16 field would welcome a shot at South Carolina &mdash; which is nothing new for the Gamecocks.
___
AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker in Knoxville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.

South Carolina is keenly aware that everyone remaining in the women’s NCAA Tournament field is coming after them.

March Madness Mix: Dominant Gamecocks amid Sweet 16 parity

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Destiny Harden made a shot in the lane with 3.5 seconds left to send ninth-seeded Miami past top-seeded Indiana 70-68 on Monday night, lifting the Hurricanes to their first Sweet 16 since 1992.
The Hoosiers (28-4) became the second No. 1 seed to be eliminated in two nights. Stanford was upset Sunday on its home court. It&rsquo;s the second time since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1994 that two No. 1 seeds didn&rsquo;t make the Sweet 16. It also happened in 1998.
Harden finished with 18 points and Lola Pendade had 19 points for the Hurricanes (21-12), who never trailed.
Indiana tied the score at 68 on Yarden Garzon&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds left but couldn&rsquo;t get the defensive stop it needed and turned the ball over on the final possession to seal their only home loss of the season.
No. 4 VILLANOVA 76, No. 12 FLORIDA GULF COAST 57
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) &mdash; Maddy Siegrist scored 31 points and sent the winningest team in Villanova history into the Sweet 16 for the second time in program history with a win over Florida Gulf Coast.
The fourth-seeded Wildcats (30-6) won their record 30th game and celebrated the March Madness milestone in front of another packed house at the Pavilion. Siegrist, the first-team AP All-American, made 13 of 24 shots in what was likely her final home game. The four-year star has left some wiggle room that she could return for a fifth season, but all signs point toward her playing in the WNBA this summer.
One thing is sure, Siegrist is headed to the Sweet 16.
The Wildcats are going for the first time since 2003 -- the coach of that team, Harry Perretta, watched this one from behind the basket -- and they will the play winner of Monday&rsquo;s game in Indianapolis between top-seeded Indiana and No. 9 seed Miami.
SEATTLE 3 REGION
No. 4 TENNESSEE 94, NO. 12 TOLEDO 47
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Reserves Sara Puckett and Jillian Hollingshead led five Lady Vols in double figures with 13 points apiece as Tennessee routed Toledo.
This is the first time since 2015 and 2016 that Tennessee (25-11) has reached consecutive Sweet 16s and the first in coach Kellie Harper&rsquo;s fourth season. The Lady Vols now have reached the Sweet 16 for the 36th time as the only program to play in all 41 NCAA Tournaments.
Toledo (29-5) snapped a program record 17-game winning streak and missed out on its first Sweet 16. The Rockets lost for the first time since Jan. 18 at Bowling Green, which was avenged in the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship for their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2017.
Quinesha Lockett led Toledo with 19 points.
No. 3 OHIO STATE 71, No. 6 NORTH CAROLINA 69
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Jacy Sheldon made a tiebreaking jumper in the lane with 1.8 seconds left to lift Ohio State to a win over North Carolina and help the Buckeyes advance to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season.
With the game tied, Sheldon took the pass from Eboni Walker and floated in the game-winning score. North Carolina had one final chance, but turned it over with a second remaining.
Ohio State (27-7) saw its 12-point lead with 7:02 to go erased as the Tar Heels went on a 13-2 run midway through the fourth quarter. The Tar Heels did most of that run without star Deja Kelly, who exited midway through the final quarter with a leg injury. She went to the locker room, but returned to the court a short time later.
Trailing 66-63, Kelly made two free throws before Paulina Paris made a layup in transition to give the Tar Heels (22-11) its first lead of the game with 2:09 left.
No. 2 UCONN 77, No. 7 BAYLOR 58
STORRS, Conn. (AP) &mdash; Azzi Fudd scored 16 of her 22 points in a decisive third quarter, leading UConn to a win over Baylor and into a 29th straight Sweet 16.
Aaliyah Edwards added 19 points and Nika Muhl had 10 assists for the Huskies (31-5). Dorka Juhasz chipped in with 11 points and Caroline Ducharme added 10.
Ja&rsquo;mee Asberry scored 15 points and Jaden Owens had 14 for Baylor, which finishes its season 20-13. Bella Fontleroy scored 12 points for the Bears, who made 12 3-pointers after hitting 14 in their first-round win over Alabama.
But the Huskies dominated inside, outscoring the Bears 36-12 in the paint and outrebounding Baylor 42-31.
SEATTLE 4 REGION
No. 5 LOUISVILLE 73, No. 4 TEXAS 51
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Hailey Van Lith scored 21 points and Louisville rolled over Texas on the Longhorns&rsquo; home court to send the the Cardinals to the Sweet 16 for the sixth NCAA Tournament in row.
In a matchup of two teams that began the season in the Top 10 only to all out of the rankings before regrouping late, the Cardinals smothered the Longhorns and standout point guard Rori Harmon all night, stretching a 14-point halftime lead to 21 by end of the third quarter.
Louisville (25-11) led by as much as 27 early in the fourth. The win sends the Cardinals to the Seattle 4 Region to play No. 8-seed Mississippi, which upset No. 1 Stanford on Sunday.
DeYona Gaston scored 12 points to lead Texas (26-10).
No. 6 COLORADO 61, No. 3 DUKE 53
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Quay Miller had 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Aaronette Vonleh converted two overtime baskets in the lane after picking up her fourth foul, helping Colorado beat Duke.
Jaylyn Sherrod had 14 points and Vonleh finished with 12 as the Buffaloes (25-8) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 20 years.
Elizabeth Balogun scored 14 points and Reigan Richardson had 10, but the Blue Devils didn&rsquo;t hit a field goal in overtime. Duke overcame a 13-point deficit in regulation.
Next up for Colorado is Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Seattle 4 Region semifinals.
Duke lost for the third time in its last four second-round home games in the NCAA tourney.
GREENVILLE 1 REGION
No. 4 UCLA 82, No. 5 OKLAHOMA 73
LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Charisma Osborne scored a career-high 36 points in her final game at Pauley Pavilion and UCLA rallied in the fourth quarter after blowing an 18-point lead to defeat Oklahoma.
The Bruins, who had an 18-point lead in the second quarter, found themselves trailing 54-50 late in the third quarter before Osborne started the comeback. She drove the lane and hit a layup while being fouled by Beatrice Culliton. Osborne made the ensuing free throw to bring them within one.
She had 13 points in the final 10 minutes as the Bruins (26-7) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019. UCLA regained control by going on a 6-1 run at the beginning of the fourth.
Kiki Rice added 14 points for the Bruins, who will face top-ranked South Carolina on Saturday in a Greenville 1 Regional semifinal. UCLA hung tough with the Gamecocks earlier in the season before losing 73-64.
Madi Williams scored 24 points and Ana Llanusa 15 for the Sooners, who end their season 26-7.

A recap of Monday's action of the 2023 Women's NCAA Tournament includes yet another eight seed upending a top seed.

Miami women shock top-seed Indiana in March Madness

March Madness is racing toward the Sweet 16! Here is what to know about the women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament as teams battle for slots in the regionals:
TOP SEEDS
The top four seeds in the tournament were given to South Carolina, Indiana, Virginia Tech and Stanford &mdash; and the Cardinal was the first to bow out.
SOUTH CAROLINA: The undefeated defending national champions are the No. 1 overall seed and they look every bit a juggernaut, advancing to the Greenville I regional without a serious challenge. The region includes two teams in No. 2 seed Maryland and No. 4 seed UCLA that lost to the Gamecocks earlier this season. South Carolina is loaded, with two-time Southeastern Conference player of the year Aliyah Boston and leading scorer Zia Cooke.
INDIANA: The Hoosiers landed the top seed in the Greenville II Region and won its opener by 30 points. Mackenzie Holmes, who leads Indiana with 22.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, didn&rsquo;t even play but she was expected to return for the second round. Top challengers include No. 2 seed Utah, No. 3 seed LSU and No. 4 seed Villanova, which is led by scoring sensation Maddy Siegrist. She had 35 points in &rsquo;Nova&rsquo;s first-round win.
VIRGINIA TECH: The ACC tourney-champion Hokies top the Seattle 3 Region and they will take a 13-game winning streak to the Sweet 16 behind star center Elizabeth Kitley. Virginia Tech could have to navigate No. 4 seed Tennessee and No. 2 seed UConn or No. 3 seed Ohio State after that.
STANFORD: The committee looked to Stanford&rsquo;s steadiness for much of the season in giving it the top seed in the Seattle 4 Region. But the Cardinal instead became the first No. 1 to fall short of the Sweet 16 since 2009, ousted 54-49 by Ole Miss and its stingy defense. That throws the region wide open for the likes of No. 2 seed Iowa, No. 3 seed Duke, No. 4 seed Texas and No. 5 seed Louisville.
GAMES TO WATCH
No. 4 seed UCLA (26-9) vs. No. 5 seed Oklahoma (26-6), Monday, 10 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Perhaps the top freshman class in the women&rsquo;s game will face a far more experienced group. The Bruins have the youth, and the Sooners have three players with at least 1,500 career points. UCLA has the benefit of playing at home and rolled to a 67-45 victory against Sacramento State in the opening round. The Sooners, the No. 2 scoring team in the country, beat Portland 85-63.
No. 2 seed Connecticut (30-5) vs. No. 7 seed Baylor (20-12), Monday, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Two longtime rivals meet again. Two years ago, the Huskies won 69-67 in a regional final after a possible foul was not called on the final possession. Four players who were on the court for the 2021 game are expected to play: UConn&rsquo;s Aaliyah Edwards and Aubrey Griffin and Baylor&rsquo;s Caitlin Bickle and Sarah Andrews. The Bears are seeking their 13th trip to the Sweet 16 in 14 years. UConn has made the regional final in 28 consecutive seasons and is seeking its 15th straight Final Four berth and 12th national championship appearance.
No. 4 seed Texas (26-9) vs. No. 5 seed Louisville (24-11), Monday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
It will be a rematch from a fall matchup in the Bahamas, but this time a Sweet 16 bid is on the line and it will be on Texas&rsquo; home court. Louisville won the early matchup 71-63. Texas has reached the Elite Eight two years in a row. The Cardinals have advanced to the Elite Eight or Final Four in each of the last four seasons.
No. 4 seed Tennessee (24-11) vs. No. 12 seed Toledo (29-4), Monday, 6 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
The Rockets of the Mid-American Conference might be wise to not look up as they try for their first trip to the Sweet 16 on Tennessee&rsquo;s home floor. Playing under its eight national championship banners, Tennessee is trying to advance to the tourney&rsquo;s second weekend in back-to-back years for the first time since 2015-16, but for the 36th time overall.&nbsp;
PLAYERS TO WATCH
The women&rsquo;s tournament field is filled with stars, including South Carolina&rsquo;s Aliyah Boston, last season&rsquo;s AP player of the year who is back in hopes of winning a second straight national title and has more than 80 double-doubles in her incredible career. She will have plenty of competition for the honor this year, including sharp-shooting Iowa star Caitlin Clark.
There is also center Mackenzie Holmes of top-seeded Indiana and the AP All-America team is also a good place to check out some of the top players in the game. The Cavinder twins, gym rats who are wildly popular on social media, made their first tournament &mdash; and helped their team win its opener &mdash; after transferring from Fresno State to Miami.
The field is also remarkable for the high number of international players, a growing trend in women&rsquo;s basketball.
SHINING MOMENTS
Standout performances abound.
Grace Stone nailed her fifth 3-pointer of the game with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift 10th-seeded Princeton to a 64-63 win over North Carolina State. Alissa Pili had a career-high 33 points, eight rebounds and a career-high eight assists to lead No. 2 seed Utah over Gardner-Webb.
Power forward Angel Reese had 34 points and 15 rebounds as 3-seed LSU beat Hawaii while fellow All-American Caitlin Clark scored 48 points and added 24 assists over two wins to help Iowa reach the Sweet 16.
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.
On a lighter note, the Big Ten is loaded and eager to climb back into the title game. And if you think you know the women&rsquo;s tournament, try this 25-question quiz from AP.
Want to hear from the athletes themselves? UCLA freshman Kiki Rice and injured UConn star Paige Bueckers have each written diaries for AP about their &ldquo;tourney journeys.&rdquo;
HOW TO WATCH
The title game will be on a national network &mdash; ABC &mdash; for the first time since 1996 in a stroke of good news for the game. ABC plans to air at least a half-dozen other games, too.
Beside that, 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 last week to reach the Final Four are (in order): South Carolina, Indiana, UConn, Stanford, 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 and first- and second-round games through Monday at campuses 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 2023 Women’s NCAA Tournament as teams battle for slots in the regionals.

March Madness: Top seed falls as women’s Sweet 16 gets set

We know you&rsquo;re upset. Underdogs have blown up every bracket in the country.
An upside of the upsets: perhaps the maddest March ever.
Defending national champion Kansas and fellow No. 1 seed Purdue are gone &mdash; the Boilermakers with a slice of unwanted history. The Sweet 16 won&rsquo;t have blue bloods Kentucky, Duke or North Carolina for only the second time since 1979.
In are upstarts like Princeton, Florida Atlantic and a team picked to finish last in the Big 12 Conference.
And, this being March, of course there&rsquo;s Tom Izzo.
SOUTH REGION
Alabama has looked every bit the No. 1 overall seed, blowing out Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi and Maryland despite turmoil swirling around the program.
Waiting for Alabama in Louisville, Kentucky, will be San Diego State. The fifth-seeded Aztecs are old and love to knock around opponents &mdash; just ask College of Charleston and Furman.
The second game marks Princeton&rsquo;s first Sweet 16 in 56 years. The No. 15 seed Tigers had the first major March upset by knocking off No. 2 Arizona and proved it was no fluke by taking down Missouri.
They face Creighton, one of three Big East teams to get this far. Inconsistent early, the bombing Bluejays and big man Ryan Kalkbrenner are in the Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons after bouncing No. 3 seed Baylor.
EAST REGION
Florida Atlantic won the battle of bracket darlings by knocking off Fairleigh Dickinson, the second No. 16 seed ever to beat a No. 1, taking down Purdue.
The Owls better be ready for some bruises against Tennessee at Madison Square Garden in their first Sweet 16. The third-seeded Vols bullied their way through the first two rounds, pushing around Duke after grinding out a win over Louisiana.
Sharing the Garden marquee will be Michigan State and Kansas State.
The Spartans are at their best in March under coach Izzo, who won his record 16th NCAA Tournament game as a lower seed by bouncing No. 2 seed Marquette.
Jerome Tang is taking underdog Kansas State from one Manhattan to another in his first season in the Little Apple.
Picked last in the Big 12, the Wildcats and undersized but undeterred guard Markquis Nowell shoved aside Montana State and wore down Kentucky for their first Sweet 16 since 2018.
MIDWEST REGION
Tang said the Wildcats won because they&rsquo;ve &ldquo;got dudes.&rdquo; Houston has a few of its own.
The Midwest&rsquo;s No. 1 seed, the Cougars have played the lockdown defense that made them a Final Four favorite at the start of the season, holding Northern Kentucky to 52 points and Auburn to 64.
The Cougars&rsquo; bid to play the Final Four at home now heads to Kansas City, Missouri, where they will face Miami.
The speedy, fifth-seeded Hurricanes hit Indiana with a gale force of offensive rebounds, scoring 29 second-chance points to reach the Sweet 16 for the second straight season under Jim Larra&ntilde;aga.
Another Texas team is still in the mix to reach the Final Four in its home state &mdash; the one from Austin.
No. 2 seed Texas overcame the midseason firing of coach Chris Beard to play some outstanding basketball under interim coach Rodney Terry. The Longhorns shut down sweet-shooting Colgate in the first round and earned their first Sweet 16 appearance in 15 years with a 71-66 win over Penn State.
Up next is another coach making the most of an opportunity.
Fired by Arizona two years ago, Sean Miller landed back where he started at Xavier. The Musketeers earned their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2017 with a 84-73 win over Pittsburgh.
WEST REGION
Losing guard Jaylen Clark has done little to slow down No. 2 UCLA. Now the Bruins hope their lineup isn&rsquo;t depleted further after key guard David Singleton injured his ankle late in a 69-63 victory over Northwestern.
UCLA still has Jaime Jaquez and Tyger Campbell, which will give them at least a shot at beating Gonzaga in Las Vegas.
There were midseason whispers the Zags were in a down year. An eighth straight trip to the Sweet 16 under Mark Few put those to rest.
Two coaches with familiar last names face off in the other Sin City game.
Eric Musselman, son of longtime NBA and college coach Bill Musselman, has shown off his coaching chops by leading Arkansas to the Sweet 16 for the third straight season. The Razorbacks got there with a takedown of top-seeded Kansas that had Musselman taking off his shirt &mdash; again.
Danny Hurley&rsquo;s father is a Hall of Fame high school coach, his brother the NCAA&rsquo;s all-time assist leader. Bob&rsquo;s son and Bobby&rsquo;s brother has revitalized UConn, taking the Huskies to the Sweet 16 for the first time in nine years.

The Sweet 16 won’t have blue-blood programs in Kentucky, Duke or North Carolina for only the second time since 1979.

March Madness rounds the corner to the Sweet 16

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) &mdash; Adama Sanogo scored 24 points and Jordan Hawkins delivered from the 3-point line in the second half as UConn pulled away from Saint Mary&rsquo;s for a 70-55 win on Sunday that put the Huskies in the Sweet 16 for the first time in nine years.
No. 4 seed UConn (27-8) advanced to the West Regional in Las Vegas on Thursday. Next up is eighth-seeded Arkansas, which knocked off No. 1 seed Kansas.
Sanogo followed up his 28-point game in the Huskies&rsquo; NCAA tourney opener against Iona with another powerful and efficient performance in the paint. The 245-pound junior was 11 for 16 from the floor and grabbed eight rebounds, dominating a big-man matchup with Mitchell Saxen (six points, three rebounds and four fouls).
Saint Mary&rsquo;s (27-8) of the West Coast Conference failed to get out of the first weekend of the tournament for the second straight season as a No. 5 seed.
Aidan Mahaney and Logan Johnson each scored nine for the Gaels, who played the final 25 minutes without third-leading scorer Alex Ducas. The senior left with an apparent back injury.
UConn used a 14-2 spurt, highlighted by a 3 from Hawkins with 11:28 left in the second half, to go up 51-40.
Hawkins had been scoreless to that point, but he added another 3 coming off a screen moments later to make it 56-45, and the &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s Go Huskies!&rdquo; chants started to reverberate throughout MVP Arena.
Hawkins wasn&rsquo;t done, making back-to-back 3s to make it 62-47 with 6:38 left. He finished with 12 points.
Meanwhile, the Huskies defense was clamping down on the Gaels, who were held under 60 points for just the fourth time this season.
The Gaels and Huskies played a practically even first half, with both shooting 44.4% from the field, and closing strong. Mahaney made a 3 with 21 second left to put Saint Mary&rsquo;s up 30-28 and Newton responded with a 3-pointer 18 seconds later that put the Huskies up 31-30 at half and brought the pro-UConn crowd to its feet.
BIG PICTURE
Saint Mary&rsquo;s: The Gaels have reached the Sweet 16 just once in program history in 2010.
Coach Randy Bennett, in his 22nd season at SMC, and the Gaels have been Gonzaga&rsquo;s closest rival in the WCC. They snagged No. 5 seeds each of the last two seasons, the best seeding for any team outside the six power conferences not named Gonzaga since 2014.
UConn: The Huskies last played in the second weekend of the tournament in 2014, when they won the last &mdash; and most surprising &mdash; of four national titles in a 15-year span.
The Huskies&rsquo; last title run came out of the American Athletic Conference, the league birthed from the Big East&rsquo;s football-basketball breakup in 2013.
UConn went with the football schools and played seven years in the AAC, where its football program floundered while its vaunted men&rsquo;s basketball slipped into irrelevance.
The Huskies returned to their Big East roots, hiring former Seton Hall point guard Dan Hurley as coach five years ago and rejoining the conference three seasons ago, and they have been on the rise ever since.
BIG LOSS
Ducas was helped off the court with 4:52 left in the first half.
The team&rsquo;s most accurate 3-point shooter and third-leading scorer went down to his knees and started reaching for his lower back after no apparent contact. He was attended to by the team&rsquo;s athletic trainers and then assisted off the court after trying to take a step on his own. He went right to the locker room and did not play the rest of the game.
Ducas scored 17 points in the Gaels&rsquo; first-round victory against VCU and had eight more when he went out.
UP NEXT
UConn: The Huskies are 3-1 all-time against Arkansas.

Adama Sanogo scored 24 points and Jordan Hawkins delivered from the three-point line in the second half as UConn pulled away.

Sanogo, UConn pull away from Saint Mary’s, into Sweet 16

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

The overall No. 1 seed for March Madness is No. 1 in the final AP Top 25, too.
Alabama, fresh off an SEC Tournament title to go with its regular-season crown, ascended to the top spot Monday, earning 48 of 61 first-place votes to jump Houston, which lost in the American Athletic Conference final without star guard Marcus Sasser. Alabama also spent a week at No. 1 last month.
&ldquo;We set goals over the summer: regular season, (league) tournament, obviously a national championship,&rdquo; Crimson Tide guard Jahvon Quinerly said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to make sure our guys are ready to go no matter who we match up with.&rdquo;
That will be Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi or Southeast Missouri State, who meet in a First Four game Tuesday night. The winner will play the Crimson Tide on Thursday in Birmingham, an hour down the road from their Tuscaloosa campus.
The top seed in the South Region, Alabama would face West Virginia or Maryland for a spot in the Sweet 16 with a win.
And how sweet that would be for a team that&rsquo;s gone through the ringer: former teammate Darius Miles and another man have been indicted on capital murder charges for a January shooting, an investigator has testified star freshman Brandon Miller was asked by Miles to bring the gun that night and police have also said Jaden Bradley was at the scene.
&ldquo;To beat the teams we had to beat to get here was not easy,&rdquo; Alabama coach Nate Oats said last week. &ldquo;So proud of the guys, proud of their effort, proud they were able to get really focused. Got a lot of mental toughness.&rdquo;
Houston still received nine first-place votes and was No. 2 after losing to Memphis in the final of the AAC tourney, where Sasser hurt his groin in the semifinal round. He did not play in the championship and his status will be watched closely leading up to the Cougars&rsquo; NCAA opener against Northern Kentucky.
Purdue, seeded first in the East Region, earned three first-place votes and was third in the AP poll after the regular-season Big Ten champion won its conference tournament, too. Kansas, which expects to have Bill Self back for the NCAA tourney after a medical scare, was fourth after receiving the No. 1 seed in the West.
Texas routed the Jayhawks in the finals of the Big 12 Tournament and rounded out the top five.
Marquette remained at No. 6 after its Big East tourney title. UCLA earned one first-place vote and was seventh after losing in the Pac-12 Tournament final to Arizona, which was No. 8. Gonzaga and UConn rounded out the top 10.
&ldquo;We have a special team. We&rsquo;re not going to do what our past teams have done, which was to maybe get caught up in the wallow of losing,&rdquo; said Huskies coach Dan Hurley, whose team fell to the Golden Eagles in the Big East tourney semifinals. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to get our minds right very quickly and get ready to make a run next week.&rdquo;
RISING AND FALLING
Duke made the biggest jump in the final poll after beating Virginia for the ACC Tournament title, climbing nine spots to No. 12 &mdash; the highest the Blue Devils have been since the third week of the season. First-year coach Jon Scheyer has them seeded fifth in the East in the NCAA Tournament.
UCLA, seeded second in the West, fell five spots to No. 7 in the final poll.
IN AND OUT
Memphis was hardly receiving votes last week, but rolling to the AAC tourney title put Penny Hardaway&rsquo;s crew into the poll for the first time this season at No. 24. Florida Atlantic, the Conference USA regular-season and tourney champ, returned at No. 25 after spending the first four weeks in the poll in school history in January and February.
The Tigers and Owls made the AP poll at the expense of Creighton, which was routed by Xavier in the Big East semifinals, and Kentucky, which fell to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal round.
CONFERENCE WATCH
Widely considered the toughest league in the nation, the Big 12 had two teams in the top five and five in the Top 25. The league has seven schools heading to the NCAA Tournament after Oklahoma State was left on the bubble.
The SEC, which tied the Big Ten for the most NCAA bids with eight, had four teams in the final Top 25. The Big East and ACC had three apiece, though the Big East had two in the top 10 and the leading ACC team was Duke at No. 12.

The Crimson Tide, fresh off an SEC Tournament title to go with their regular-season crown, ascended to the top spot Monday.

Alabama, Houston top men's final AP Top 25 ahead of March Madness

The madness of March: It&rsquo;s as exhilarating as it is exhausting, as mesmerizing as it is memorable. The abrupt ending of an entire career, a legacy defined in two to three seconds. It almost seems unfair, but that&rsquo;s the beauty of the win-or-go-home tournament.&nbsp;
Every game is a Game 7. The unpredictability, the passion, the tears, the celebration. The NCAA Tournament is one of the few sporting events that&rsquo;s more defined by the incomparable upsets than the eventual champion.
Even non-basketball fans get in on the fun each year, with office pools and bracket challenges. While college sports and amateurism are under a drastic transformation, &ldquo;The Tournament&rdquo; still has a nostalgic feel to it. The incredible buzzer-beaters are one of the many reasons why.
Narrowing this list down was a tall task, so before we get started, it&rsquo;s important that we establish the criteria:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">It has to be a game-winning or game-tying shot in the final seconds.&nbsp;</li>
<li aria-level="1">It has to be in the &ldquo;modern era&rdquo; (i.e. since the three-point line and shot clock).&nbsp;</li>
<li aria-level="1">The later in the tournament, the higher the stakes, the more the shot means.</li>
</ul>
With that being said, here are the 11 most memorable buzzer-beaters in modern men's NCAA Tournament history.
11. Michigan State vs. Maryland, Korie Lucious (2010 Second Round)
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In one of the rare times Tom Izzo didn&rsquo;t call timeout in the waning seconds of a game, it paid off for him big time. You might recognize that big fella bringing the ball up the court; that&rsquo;s a slightly heavier Draymond Green, doing what he&rsquo;s been doing for the last decade in the Bay, pushing the tempo, drawing attention and then getting the ball to a knockdown shooter.&nbsp;
Maryland never properly matched up, and Korie Lucious only needed one rhythm dribble to send the Spartans to the Sweet Sixteen.
10. Wisconsin vs. Xavier, Bronson Koenig (2016 Second Round)
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The Musketeers had the ball in a tie game but turned it over, which led to one of the smoothest walk-off game-winners you will ever see.&nbsp;
Looking like he was in the gym shooting all by himself, All-Big-Ten guard Bronson Koenig caught the ball on the sideline, smartly took an escape dribble and hit the corner three that sent the Badgers to the Sweet Sixteen.
9. Connecticut vs. Washington, Richard Hamilton (1998 Sweet Sixteen)
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This entire sequence was amazing. I love how the refs swallowed their whistle on the first two attempts. Those may have been foul calls earlier in the game, but not with the championship on the line. Washington had a huge frontline that year, but ultimately ended up one rebound short.&nbsp;
Also, this is good coaching by Hall-of-Famer Jim Calhoun. In college, you have to go early because the opposing team cannot advance the ball to halfcourt with a timeout, so there&rsquo;s no point in waiting too long and eliminating the chance of getting an offensive rebound.&nbsp;
Rip Hamilton would go on to win both an NCAA championship and NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons.&nbsp;
&nbsp;8.Valparaiso vs. Ole Miss, Bryce Drew (1998 First Round)
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This is definitely the most schematic of any buzzer-beaters on this list. The son of the coach coming through in the clutch seems perfectly scripted for a Disney movie.
As with most of these incredible shots, it involves missed free throws and an underrated pass. The defense on this play was phenomenal (which can&rsquo;t be said for another historic shot that we&rsquo;ll get to in a bit).
7. Michigan vs. Houston, Jordan Poole (2018 Second Round)
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Long before he was a spark plug off the bench for the world-champion Golden State Warriors, Jordan Poole was hitting big shots in Ann Arbor. He drove Coach John Beilein crazy with his shot selection, but one of the reasons he earned such a long leash was his uncanny ability to hit shots from anywhere and at any angle.&nbsp;
6. UCLA vs. Mizzou, Tyus Edney (1995 Second Round)
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Every national champion has one of &ldquo;those&rdquo; games where despite having the superior roster, they probably should have lost. The Bruins were loaded! This roster featured eight guys who eventually played in the NBA. But the longer the game stays close, the more the pressure shifts to the No. 1 seed.&nbsp;&nbsp;
5. Michigan vs. Kansas, Trey Burke (2013 Sweet Sixteen)
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In 2013, Trey Burke was named the National Player of the Year and he carried the Wolverines all season long. The debate of whether to foul when up three points is for another column, but this was a Damian-Lillard-range three, and no one wants to risk a foul that far from the basket.&nbsp;
4. Kansas vs. Memphis, Mario Chalmers (2008 NCAA Championship Game)
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Mario Chalmers is a legend in Lawrence for as long as he lives. The Memphis Tigers were led by soon-to-be-first-overall-pick Derrick Rose and the silky smooth Chris Douglas-Roberts, and they had the game won until &ndash; and stop me if you have read this before &ndash; crucial free-throw misses opened the door for Kansas. This allowed Chalmers to force overtime, and the rest is history.&nbsp;
Coach Cal has gone on to win a national championship at Kentucky, but I bet if you caught him in a hotel bar on a recruiting trip, he would admit that he should have fouled Kansas before Chalmers even had the opportunity to hoist up this miracle three-point attempt.&nbsp;
3. Gonzaga vs. UCLA, Jalen Suggs (2021 Final Four)
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Gonzaga truly seemed like a team of destiny after Jalen Suggs hit the running bank shot against UCLA to remain undefeated and advance to the national championship game. While they would ultimately fall to Baylor two days later, the shot was ridiculous.&nbsp;
And unlike many of the plays on this list, UCLA didn&rsquo;t really do anything wrong. They didn&rsquo;t miss a free throw or look confused on defense. They lost on a straight-in bank from half-court, which even seemed to cause Gonzaga head coach Mark Few to feel a bit guilty.
2. Duke vs. Kentucky, Christian Laettner (1992 Elite Eight)
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Kentucky fans, look away. Hate him or really hate him, Christian Laettner was one of the greatest college players of all-time.&nbsp;
This game was one for the ages. Duke was the defending national champion. They were led by the aforementioned Laettner, All-American pest/point guard Bobby Hurley and budding superstar/future Hall-of-Famer Grant HIll.&nbsp;
Somewhat lost in the dramatic ending is the fact that Laettner was literally perfect on the night. He shot 10-of-10 from the field and 10-of-10 from the free-throw line, and he finished with a state line of 31 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
1. Villanova vs. UNC, Kris Jenkins (2016 NCAA Championship Game)
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The dream of all dreams. This is the scenario that every boy or girl who has ever played basketball at any level has imagined hundreds of times. A few seconds left. The ball in your hands. A title on the line. Three, two, one&hellip; You drill the game-winner and become a champion.&nbsp;
On April 4, 2016, Kris Jenkins turned this dream into reality. The timing is an underrated aspect of this play. The pass was right on time, and right on target &ndash; soft and chest-high. This let Jenkins shoot in rhythm &ndash; a shot that he had made thousands of times before. You gotta love how Jay Wright showed the emotion of John Wick as he walked to shake Roy Williams&rsquo; hand.&nbsp;
HONORABLE MENTION
Connecticut vs. Clemson, Tate George (1990 Sweet Sixteen)
Duke vs. Connecticut, Christian Laettner (1990 Elite Eight)

With March Madness upon us, Basketball News revisits 11 of the most memorable buzzer-beaters in NCAA Tournament history.

March Madness: Ranking the top-11 men's NCAA Tournament buzzer-beaters

South Carolina joined an exclusive group Monday, going wire-to-wire as No. 1 in consecutive years in The Associated Press Top 25 women&rsquo;s basketball poll.
The defending national champion Gamecocks (32-0) became the third school to be the top team in the poll for the entire season in back-to-back years, equaling UConn and Louisiana Tech.
The Gamecocks, who are the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, have been atop the poll for 38 straight weeks, which is the second longest run behind UConn&rsquo;s record 51-week streak (2008-10). Led by Aliyah Boston, the Gamecocks were once again a unanimous choice by the 28-member media panel.
&ldquo;We have the best player in college basketball that puts our program in a position to be number one in consecutive seasons,&rdquo; South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said.
Indiana switched places with Iowa in the final poll, moving back up to second after landing its first No. 1 seed in an NCAA tourney. Virginia Tech and Stanford, the other two top seeds, were fourth and fifth in the final Top 25.
UConn, which won the Big East Tournament last week, switched places with Maryland to follow the Cardinal. It&rsquo;s the first time since 2006 that the Huskies didn&rsquo;t finish the season in the top five in the poll. They have been in the top 10 in the final poll every year since 1994.
Utah, LSU and Villanova rounded out the top 10 teams.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Louisiana Tech had its 36-week run at No. 1 from 1980-82 while UConn&rsquo;s was from 2008-10. The Huskies have gone wire-to-wire five other times. Texas (1985-86), Tennessee (1997-98) and Baylor (2011-12) are the only other teams to go one full season at No. 1.
JUMPING BACK IN
Iowa State ran through the Big 12 Tournament, winning three games in three days to re-enter the poll at No. 17.
&ldquo;These are moments they&rsquo;re going to remember,&rdquo; Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just winning. They&rsquo;ll remember what this environment was like their whole life. We beat a great team, and it was a great three days for us.&rdquo;
Middle Tennessee fell out of the rankings.
CONFERENCE SUPREMACY
The Pac-12 finished the season with six teams in the Top 25, the most of any conference. The Big Ten was next with five while the ACC had four. The Big 12 and SEC each had three and the Big East two. The Mountain West and the West Coast Conference each had one.

The Gamecocks (32-0) became the third school to be the top team in the poll for the entire season in back-to-back years.

South Carolina women cap wire-to-wire No. 1 run in AP Top 25

STORRS, Conn. (AP) &mdash; When star guard Paige Bueckers went down with a season-ending knee injury last August, UConn went searching far and wide for a late addition to its roster.
The Huskies found one overseas in In&ecirc;s Bettencourt, a point guard from the Azores, off the coast of Portugal. An assistant coach had noticed her playing at the Division B U18 European Championships.
A couple of months later, the Huskies announced the signing of a player they hope will be their next dominant forward: Jana El Alfy, who is 6-foot-4 and from Egypt. She enrolled in January and joined the team, but will not play until next season.
The Big East champions are headed to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed with six international players on the roster after having just 10 others since Geno Auriemma began coaching the team in 1985.
&ldquo;There was very little video of them back then,&rdquo; Auriemma said. &ldquo;Today, we have video and those kids have video of everything; they see everything. They watch every one of our games and we have a chance to see them during the summer more because there&rsquo;s more international competitions.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the answer to everything,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;But in certain situations it is, for us, the exact right way to go.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s also a trend across women&rsquo;s college basketball.
The NCAA, citing numbers provided by FIBA, said there were 731 international women playing Division I college basketball in 2022, up nearly 350% from 212 in 2012.
Pac-12 Tournament champion Washington State, a No. 5 seed, has nine international players on its roster, including all five starters.
Johanna Teder, a senior guard from Estonia, said she thinks there is something in the makeup of players willing to go halfway around the world to pursue their dreams that has contributed to her team&rsquo;s success.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big decision,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Us internationals, we&rsquo;re more experienced and like independent, if that makes sense. So, maturity plays a big role.&rdquo;
South Florida won the American Athletic Conference regular season title and is a No. 8 seed in the NCAA tourney, with eight international players.
USF coach Jose Fernandez has been recruiting heavily overseas for the last two decades. He said he started looking to Europe and elsewhere because his program was having a hard time competing with bigger names in college basketball for top players in the U.S.
What he found, he said, is a bunch of very talented kids who were often more emotionally and intellectually prepared for college basketball than their American counterparts.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve had an international player ever graduate with less than a 3.5 GPA, which is amazing with English being their second language,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s also there&rsquo;s no entitlement, right? A lot of these international recruits they&rsquo;re not getting two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight pairs of shoes, and four or five different jerseys and, and, and getting treated like American high school prospects are treated as eighth, ninth and 10th graders.&rdquo;
He said he used to see three or four other U.S. college coaches and international competitions, but now sees about 40 or 50. El Alfy began getting noticed by U.S. college coaches as a member of her national team, which is coached by her father, while attending camps sponsored by the NBA.
&ldquo;They really helped me a lot with everything, especially with their camps all around the world, not just in Africa,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I was able to like go to Australia and also be on a different environment and different culture. I got to improve on myself and just getting the experience to be there is just something that I&rsquo;m grateful for.&rdquo;
The NBA, which has been running its residential NBA Academy for male international players for years, began sponsoring camps for elite international girls in 2018 and has held camps in India, Mexico, Senegal and the U.S.
Chris Ebersole, associate vice president of the NBA and head of the league&rsquo;s Elite Basketball programs, said the idea is to gather the top talent from around the world and expose them to great coaching and opportunities while educating them about their options.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen that there&rsquo;s actually a ton of untapped potential in terms of international women&rsquo;s basketball, through those Basketball Without Borders camps in Africa, in Europe and Latin America and in Asia,&rdquo; he said.
About 40 players in Division I have come through those camps, he said, including UConn&rsquo;s El Alfy, Nika M&uuml;hl (Croatia) and Aaliyah Edwards (Canada).
M&uuml;hl said the camps helped her make the decision to attend college rather than go straight to professional basketball in Europe.
&ldquo;It gave me a little glimpse of like, what life in America would be, you know, different people from different cultures playing together, which is what we have here,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But ultimately, the thing that made me come here is UConn itself and coach Geno Auriemma. There&rsquo;s nothing else like the history and the culture of this place.&rdquo;
Lou Lopez S&eacute;n&eacute;chal, a Mexican national who grew up in France, spent four years at Fairfield before transferring to UConn for a graduate season.
She said for her and other international players, the draw of playing in the United States had a lot to do with being able to stay in school and play with people her own age, rather than going pro and competing against older women.
&ldquo;It comes also from being curious, wanting to travel, wanting to discover a new country, and not just wanting to stay in your own world and kind of like getting out of your comfort zone,&rdquo; she said.
Fernandez said there are many things that make the U.S. more attractive for international players than playing for a club or professional team closer to home. He noted &ldquo;with ESPN+ and everything else&rdquo; parents can watch their kids from afar.
Dorka Juh&aacute;sz (Hungary), who transferred from Ohio State before the 2021-22 season, said the international students have formed a bond a UConn. The older ones, she said, help the younger ones deal with issues that arise, such as homesickness, doing taxes, visas and how to get celebrity endorsement deals without jeopardizing their status.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s good to have somebody to rely on and you&rsquo;re not the only one,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s also good to see that UConn loves international players. Just seeing so many other faces that are here from different countries, and how they&rsquo;re loving it here. I think that&rsquo;s just showing how much they care about us here.&rdquo;

The NCAA, citing numbers provided by FIBA, said there were 731 international women playing Division I college basketball in 2022.

March Madness has international flair for many women’s teams

SEATTLE (AP) &mdash; Washington men&rsquo;s basketball coach Mike Hopkins will return for his seventh season in charge of the Huskies despite four straight years without an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Washington athletic director Jen Cohen said in a statement Sunday that though the recently concluded season did not meet expectations, the school was sticking with Hopkins.
&ldquo;After completing a postseason review of the program and after several in-depth discussions with coach Hopkins, I am hopeful that next season will once again see the Huskies competing for a Pac-12 championship and back in the NCAA Tournament,&rdquo; Cohen said. &ldquo;Coach Hopkins understands our expectations and is committed to make any and all necessary changes to get us there.&rdquo;
Hopkins is 101-91 in his six seasons at Washington. The Huskies were 16-16 this season, finished eighth in the Pac-12 Conference and lost in the opening round of the conference tournament.
After a promising opening act with 20-plus wins in each of his first two seasons, the program has been stuck on a downward trajectory that&rsquo;s led to calls from fans for a change in leadership.
Hopkins signed a six-year contract extension in 2019 and has two years remaining on the deal that pays him more than $3 million per season.&nbsp;
The 53-year-old had his most success in his first two seasons, going 21-13 in 2017-18. The following year, he went 27-9, winning the Pac-12 regular season title and taking the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight years.
But those two seasons always came with an asterisk attached as Hopkins&rsquo; success came mostly with older players that came to Washington under former coach Lorenzo Romar. Once Hopkins&rsquo; recruiting became responsible for the bulk of the roster, the Huskies have struggled even with a handful of players that went on to be high NBA draft picks.
Washington went 15-17 in 2019-20 and a miserable 5-21 in the pandemic year of 2020-21. The Huskies were a .500 team the past two seasons, but struggled badly in showcase opportunities with convincing losses to the likes of Auburn, Gonzaga, UCLA and Arizona.
Before taking the head job at Washington, Hopkins was the top assistant and the coach-in-waiting at Syracuse. Instead of waiting for Jim Boeheim to retire, Hopkins jumped at the chance to take over a Pac-12 program when the Huskies moved on from Romar after the 2016-17 season.&nbsp;

Hopkins is 101-91 in his six seasons at Washington. The Huskies were 16-16 this season and finished eighth in the Pac-12.

Washington to bring back coach Mike Hopkins for 7th season

South Carolina is six wins away from becoming the 10th women&rsquo;s basketball team to go undefeated for an entire season, and the Gamecocks will enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed.
Dawn Staley&rsquo;s squad has been challenged a few times this year but has always pulled through. The defending national champions will play Norfolk State in the first round of the tournament, the NCAA selection committee revealed Sunday.
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While the Gamecocks, led by star Aliyah Boston, have been a lock to be the top seed for most of the season, several schools were vying for the other No. 1s, including Iowa, Indiana, Virginia Tech, Stanford and Utah. The Hawkeyes, led by electrifying guard Caitlin Clark, have been a top seed twice before, in 1988 and 1992.
The Hoosiers, Hokies and Utes have never been No. 1s. Stanford has been a top seed 12 times, including the previous two years.
The tournament begins Wednesday with two First Four games. The full madness starts with 16 games Friday and 16 more the next day.
South Carolina may have the easiest path to the Final Four in Dallas as they won&rsquo;t have to go far from home. The Gamecocks, who are the 18th team to reach the NCAA tourney unbeaten, will play their first two games on campus before potentially heading 90 minutes away to Greenville, South Carolina, for one of the two regionals. The Gamecocks just won the Southeastern Conference Tournament at that site.
The NCAA changed its format this season and is having two regional sites for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds. Greenville hosts one and Seattle the other.
UConn, which was the last team to go unbeaten and win the title in 2015-16, is looking to extend its own history and reach the Final Four for the 15th consecutive year. The Huskies had a difficult year with injuries. They finally started to get healthy heading into March. Star guard Azzi Fudd, who missed 22 games with a knee injury, returned for the Big East Tournament and helped the Huskies win it.
Four teams will be making their first appearance in the tournament: Southern Utah, Southeastern Louisiana, Sacramento State and Saint Louis.

An overview of the women's 2023 NCAA Tournament schedule and March Madness matchups on the road to Dallas.

South Carolina No. 1 overall seed in women’s 2023 NCAA Tournament

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

More March Madness chaos in the women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament could be looming on the horizon if the past few months of upsets are any indication.
Upsets haven&rsquo;t been a hallmark of the women&rsquo;s tournament. Since 2007, 11 women&rsquo;s teams seeded 10th or lower have reached the Sweet 16. That&rsquo;s less than half the number of lower-seeded men&rsquo;s team that have made that run.
But signs are this year&rsquo;s tournament is ripe for more surprises.
&ldquo;The talent is spread out a little bit more now,&rdquo; UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. &ldquo;I think this might be one of the more exciting tournaments in recent years.&rdquo;
This season has been full of eye-popping upsets, including 19 losses by top 10 teams to unranked schools. That was the seventh most in a season since 2000, according to Stats Perform. That continued a trend from the 2021-22 season when there were 24 &mdash; the second most over that span.
For the Huskies, it&rsquo;s already been a historic year &mdash; not one they would want to bookmark. Connecticut, beset by injuries for most of the season, lost consecutive games&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-georgetown-hoyas-jordan-king-minnesota-ohio-0db8796463662b3a9a83e842c59ca89d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for the first time in 30 years</a>, ending one of the most impressive streaks in sports history. One of those defeats came to unranked Marquette a few days after losing to No. 1 South Carolina &mdash; the only unbeaten team heading into the NCAA Tournament.
The Gamecocks were the only team immune to the upset bug this season. Dawn Staley&rsquo;s squad did face challenges, trailing at the half in three contests and by double-digits in a few others.
&ldquo;Well, until somebody beats South Carolina, they are still undefeated,&rdquo; Auriemma said of the defending champions. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re still the favorite as they should be.&rdquo;
The Gamecocks are most likely be in the best position to get to the Final Four in Dallas when the NCAA Tournament bracket is revealed on Sunday night. South Carolina will play its opening two games at home and are a lock to be playing the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games 90 minutes away in Greenville, South Carolina.
The NCAA did its second reveal of the top 16 seeds for the tournament on Feb. 23 and since then only four teams &mdash; South Carolina, UConn, Virginia Tech and Iowa &mdash; didn&rsquo;t lose games. It took a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-indiana-hoosiers-iowa-hawkeyes-maryland-terrapins-912495a44a2a938899d6599c92a5314d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">last-second shot by Caitlin Clark</a>&nbsp;against Indiana for the Hawkeyes to stay in that group.
It wasn&rsquo;t just the top-ranked teams that were being beaten. Ten regular season conference champions lost in their postseason tournaments, including several that didn&rsquo;t even make it to the final. With so many favorites falling, the NCAA Tournament selection committee faces some difficult decisions.
&ldquo;As challenging as it makes it for us, it&rsquo;s good for the game,&rdquo; selection committee chair Lisa Peterson said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. &ldquo;The only thing we can agree on right away is the number one overall seed. The upsets have inspired a lot more in-depth conversations. There&rsquo;s so many things that have happened in the last few weeks that are exciting for the game.&rdquo;
Last season the Creighton women&rsquo;s team made a run to the regional final as a 10-seed. That was only the fifth time a double-digit seed had made it that far. Auriemma thinks that could happen more often with the right draw.
&ldquo;Where you&rsquo;re seeded may be important, but who&rsquo;s bracket you&rsquo;re in and if you catch the wrong team at the wrong time could change it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Years ago that didn&rsquo;t matter as much as the favorites just rolled through.&rdquo;

Upsets haven’t been a hallmark of the women’s tournament, but there could be some surprises this year.

Women’s March Madness could have more upsets due to parity

March Madness is coming up fast. Here is what to know along with some key games to watch and who&rsquo;s on the bubble ahead of Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament:
KEY DATES
All eyes will be on the conference tournaments this week:
&mdash; The ACC Tournament is rolling March 7-11 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
&mdash; The Big 12 Tournament will be March 8-11 in Kansas City, Missouri.
&mdash; The Big Ten Tournament will be March 8-12 in Chicago.
&mdash; The Big East Tournament will be March 8-11 in New York.
&mdash; The Pac-12 Tournament will be March 8-11 in Las Vegas.
&mdash; The SEC Tournament will be March 8-12 in Nashville, Tennessee.
MARCH MADNESS
Selection Sunday is March 12, when bracket matchups will be set for the First Four and first- and second-round games that stretch from Florida to California.
Sweet 16 weekend will see games in New York City (East Region), Las Vegas (West), Kansas City, Missouri (Midwest), and Louisville, Kentucky (South).
FINAL FOUR 
In Houston, on April 1, with the championship game on April 3.
Basketball aficionados, take note: The women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament will hold its Final Four in Dallas, a four-hour drive up the road from Houston.
BETTING GUIDE
Who&rsquo;s going to win the national championship? With the regular season over, the betting favorites as of this week to reach the Final Four are Houston, Alabama, Kansas and UCLA, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. That differs from the top teams in the NCAA&rsquo;s initial seed watch, which had Purdue in the top four, not UCLA. All of this matches many of the teams in the AP Top 25, too.
WHO&rsquo;S IN
These teams are already going dancing after landing their league&rsquo;s automatic bid: Kennesaw State (26-8, Atlantic Sun), UNC Asheville (27-7, Big South), Fairleigh Dickinson (19-14, Northeast), Drake (27-7, Missouri Valley), Furman (27-7, Southern), Louisiana-Lafayette (26-7, Sun Belt), Southeast Missouri State (19-16, Ohio Valley), Gonzaga (28-5, West Coast), College of Charleston (31-3, Colonial Athletic Association), Oral Roberts (30-4, Summit League), Colgate (28-5, Patriot) and Texas A&amp;M Corpus Christi (23-10, Southland).
BUBBLE WATCH
Mississippi State (20-11). The Bulldogs closed the regular season by losing half of their final six games, including games at NCAA Tournament-bound Missouri and red-hot Vanderbilt that would have bolstered their resume. Now, sitting 46th in the NET rankings, they surely need to beat Florida in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Thursday to at least avoid several restless nights before the Selection Show.
Utah State (24-7). The Aggies won five straight in lopsided fashion to close out the regular season and put themselves in position to land an at-large bid in the NCAA field. They rank 21st in the NET but have just one Quad 1 victory, so they probably can&rsquo;t afford an early exit in the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.
Rutgers (18-13). The Scarlet Knights have dropped five of seven heading into the Big Ten Tournament, a shaky stretch that has them squarely on the bubble and in need of a win against even more desperate Michigan on Thursday.
GAME(S) TO WATCH
Providence (21-10) vs. No. 11 UConn (24-7), Big East Tournament quarterfinals, Thursday, 2:30 p.m. Eastern (FS1). The Friars had been in solid NCAA Tournament shape before closing the regular season with home losses to No. 15 Xavier and Seton Hall. Beating the Huskies would give Providence a huge boost. The teams split their matchups this season, each winning at home by 12.
Auburn (20-11) vs. Arkansas (19-12), SEC Tournament quarterfinals, Thursday, 7 p.m. Eastern (SECN). As statement wins go, the Tigers&rsquo; 79-70 takedown of No. 17 Tennessee in the regular-season finale was massive. Auburn faces another tough challenge in its SEC Tournament opener against Arkansas. The Razorbacks closed the regular season with three straight losses, so winning at least one game in Nashville would make them feel a whole lot better on Selection Sunday.

What to know along with some key games to watch and who’s on the bubble ahead of Selection Sunday for the men's NCAA Tournament.

March Madness 2023: Rutgers, Utah State need resume-boosting Ws

March Madness is coming up fast. Here is what to know along with some key games to watch and who&rsquo;s on the bubble ahead of Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament:
KEY DATES
All eyes will be on the conference tournaments this week:
&mdash; The ACC Tournament starts things off March 7-11 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
&mdash; The Big 12 Tournament will be March 8-11 in Kansas City, Missouri.
&mdash; The Big Ten Tournament will be March 8-12 in Chicago.
&mdash; The Big East Tournament will be March 8-11 in New York.
&mdash; The Pac-12 Tournament will be March 8-11 in Las Vegas.
&mdash; The SEC Tournament will be March 8-12 in Nashville, Tennessee.
MARCH MADNESS
Selection Sunday is March 12, when bracket matchups will be set for the First Four and first- and second-round games that stretch from Florida to California.
Sweet 16 weekend will see games in New York City (East Region), Las Vegas (West), Kansas City, Missouri (Midwest), and Louisville, Kentucky (South).
Where is the Final Four? In Houston, on April 1, with the championship game on April 3.
Basketball aficionados, take note: The women&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament will hold its Final Four in Dallas, a four-hour drive up the road from Houston.
BETTING GUIDE
Who&rsquo;s going to win the national championship? With the regular season over, the betting favorites as of this week to reach the Final Four are Houston, Alabama, Kansas and UCLA, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. That differs from the top teams in the NCAA&rsquo;s initial seed watch, which had Purdue in the top four, not UCLA. All of this matches many of the teams in the AP Top 25, too.
WHO&rsquo;S IN
These teams are already going dancing after landing their league&rsquo;s automatic bid: Gonzaga (West Coast, 28-5), Kennesaw State (26-8, Atlantic Sun), UNC Asheville (27-7, Big South), Fairleigh Dickinson (19-14, Northeast), Drake (27-7, Missouri Valley), Furman (27-7, Southern), Louisiana-Lafayette (26-7, Sun Belt), Southeast Missouri State (19-16, Ohio Valley), College of Charleston (31-3, Colonial Athletic) and Oral Roberts (30-4, Summit).
BUBBLE WATCH
North Carolina (19-12). The Tar Heels had a chance to strengthen their NCAA Tournament chances against Duke last weekend and failed with a 62-57 loss. Now the preseason No. 1 needs to avoid an early exit in this week&rsquo;s ACC Tournament or Selection Sunday could be a very nervous day.
Arizona State (20-11). The Sun Devils picked up a huge resume-boosting win at No. 8 Arizona on Desmond Cambridge Jr.&rsquo;s 60-foot buzzer beater. Getting swept on the road by the Pac-12&prime;s Southern California teams puts them in the position of possibly needing a couple of wins in the conference tournament to get into the field of 68.
Wisconsin (17-13). The Badgers missed an opportunity with a two-point loss to No. 5 Purdue in their penultimate regular-season game. Wisconsin could use a good run in the Big Ten Tournament, starting Wednesday against Ohio State.
WAC: Utah Valley won the Western Athletic Conference&rsquo;s regular-season title, but is not the No. 1 seed in this week&rsquo;s conference tournament in Las Vegas. Sam Houston, which finished a half-game behind the Wolverines, got the No. 1 seed based on the conference&rsquo;s new, analytics-based seeding model. It could be a wacky week in the WAC.
GAME(S) TO WATCH
Providence (21-10) vs. No. 11 UConn, Big East Tournament quarterfinals, Thursday, 2:30 p.m. Eastern (FS1). The Friars had been in solid NCAA Tournament shape before closing the regular season with home losses to No. 15 Xavier and Seton Hall. Beating the Huskies could give Providence a huge boost. The teams split their matchups this season, each winning at home by 12.
Auburn (20-11) vs. Arkansas (19-12), SEC Tournament quarterfinals, Thursday, 7 p.m. Eastern (SECN). As statement wins go, the Tigers&rsquo; 79-70 takedown of No. 17 Tennessee in the regular-season finale was massive. Auburn faces another tough challenge in its SEC Tournament opener against Arkansas. The Razorbacks closed the regular season with three straight losses, so winning at least one game in Nashville would make them feel a whole lo better on Selection Sunday.

March Madness 2023: Tar Heels’ NCAA tourney hopes precarious

Selection Sunday looms as AP Top 25 teams in major conferences get their final chances to impact where and why they play in the NCAA Tournament.
In the nation&rsquo;s top leagues, there could be significant swings based on early exits or title runs. Here&rsquo;s a look at what&rsquo;s ahead leading up to the biggest day on the sport&rsquo;s calendar on Sunday:
AAC
The American Athletic Conference Tournament begins Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas, and it gives top-ranked Houston the chance to make a final case potentially for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAAs.
The Cougars (29-2) are the only team in the country to rank in the top 10 of KenPom&rsquo;s adjusted efficiency metrics in both offense and defense.
Houston opens against the East Carolina-South Florida winner on Friday, and the tournament is one of five to end on Sunday shortly before the NCAA field is revealed.
ACC
The Atlantic Coast Conference opens its five-day tournament Tuesday in Greensboro, North Carolina. It&rsquo;s an event lacking a true favorite or team poised to claim a top-tier postseason seed.
Virginia and No. 14 Miami shared the regular-season title, though the Hurricanes are the top seed for the first time since winning the tournament in 2013. But 21st-ranked Duke is the league&rsquo;s hottest team with six straight wins.
All three open play in Thursday&rsquo;s quarterfinals, with the Cavaliers on course for a 4-seed, Miami for a 5 and Duke for a 7, according to BracketMatrix.com&rsquo;s average of 100 mock fields on Monday evening.
BIG 12
Third-ranked Kansas won a national title, overhauled its roster and still finds itself in the chase for the No. 1 overall NCAA seed entering the Big 12 Tournament.
That tournament opens Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri, with the Jayhawks and other top seeds starting play on Day 2.
Kansas (25-6) has a national-best 15 wins in Quadrant 1 games that top the postseason resume, which had them as the top overall seed in ESPN&rsquo;s Bracketology projection on Monday evening.
Winning a title this week won&rsquo;t come easy in a league regarded as the nation&rsquo;s deepest all year. The field includes No. 7 Texas, No. 10 Baylor, No. 12 Kansas State and No. 22 TCU.
BIG EAST
The Big East opens play Wednesday in New York&rsquo;s Madison Square Garden with four ranked teams: No. 6 Marquette, No. 11 Connecticut, No. 15 Xavier and No. 24 Creighton.
The top-seeded Golden Eagles, who open play Thursday, have the highest projected NCAA Tournament seed at No. 3 on both ESPN and BracketMatrix, while BracketMatrix has the Huskies and Musketeers as potential 4-seeds.
The Bluejays, who re-entered the poll for a third time this season on Monday, are projected as a No. 6 seed in the NCAAs.
The tournament wraps up Saturday night.
BIG TEN
The Big Ten opens it tournament Wednesday in Chicago with No. 5 Purdue and No. 19 Indiana as the only ranked teams, though the Boilermakers are in the mix for a No. 1 regional seed in the NCAAs.
The Boilermakers are the top seed for Chicago and BracketMatrix listed them as the fourth of the top seeds.
The Boilermakers and Hoosiers both begin play in Friday&rsquo;s quarterfinals with the title game coming Sunday.
PAC-12
The Pac-12 has two ranked teams in contention for lofty NCAA seeds as the league tournament opens Wednesday in Las Vegas.
Second-ranked UCLA is surging down the stretch and has its highest ranking of the season, putting it in position to contend for a No. 1 regional seed as the top No. 2 seed in BracketMatrix&rsquo;s projections. Eighth-ranked Arizona is also looking likely for a 2-seed.
The Bruins and Wildcats split their regular-season meetings, with UCLA winning Saturday&rsquo;s regular-season finale while holding the top seed for Las Vegas. Both teams open play Thursday.
SEC
Fourth-ranked Alabama is the top seed for the Southeastern Conference Tournament beginning Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee. And the Crimson Tide could be in contention for the top overall NCAA seed with a title run.
Alabama (26-5) owns the top seed in the SEC and opens play in Friday&rsquo;s quarterfinals, finishing a game ahead of No. 18 Texas A&amp;M in the regular-season race.
The tournament also features No. 17 Tennessee, No. 23 Kentucky and No. 25 Missouri, with the title game set for Sunday.

A look at what’s ahead of the top teams in the country leading up to the biggest day on the college basketball calendar on Sunday.

Northeastern Huskies