HOUSTON — The Final Four has come back around, seven years later, but there’s no marker on the floor in Houston to mark the spot where Kris Jenkins launched the shot that broke a million Tar Heel hearts, not that the NCAA has a habit of indulging in that kind of sentimentality.

It’s impossible to be here, though, without thinking about ...Read more

STORRS, Conn. — With all of its uniqueness on both ends of the floor and all of the pieces that can come into the game and provide different looks, the UConn men’s basketball team has proven to make for an extremely difficult scout and especially benefited in nonconference play because of it.

But scouting their opponent?

Countless hours of...Read more

Kevin Durant still “wants the best for” the Nets.

In an interview with The Athletic, Durant — who forced a trade from Brooklyn to the Phoenix Suns at the trade deadline following Kyrie Irving’s unexpected trade from the Nets to the Dallas Mavericks — suggested there is no bad blood between himself and the Nets front office, even ...Read more

The Sacramento Kings are back in the playoffs after 17 long, bitter, dismally interminable years of futility. It should have never taken this long.

The Kings set a new NBA record for missing the playoffs between 2006 and now, but that sorry story is finally over. The Kings clinched Wednesday by winning on the road against the Portland ...Read more

The Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team is enjoying a breakthrough year. The Owls were ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time, they had a nation’s best 20-game winning streak, and now, they’re remarkably playing in the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four, which puts the Owls at an elite level.

Not bad for a university not ...Read more

STORRS, Conn. — The UConn men’s basketball program’s third national title, in 2011, came after what many remember as one of the worst national championship games in the history of the tournament. Three-seeded UConn beat No. 8 seed Butler, 53-41, after the Bulldogs put together a record-low scoring performance.

Butler shot just 18.8% from ...Read more

NEW YORK — Immanuel Quickley was scrolling his social media, as the Generation Z’ers tend to do, and he randomly pulled up a clip of Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett.

“Damn, I love Quickley too dawg,” Garnett said on his SHOWTIME show, ‘Anything is Possible.’ “Quickley and Bones [Hyland] are two of my favorite young guys in the league....Read more

Steph Curry has signed a deal that will keep him tied to Under Armour longer than he’ll be tied to the Warriors — as a player, at least.

The Golden State superstar has a new contract with the apparel company that extends into his retirement and could become a lifetime deal through performance clauses triggering extensions, Under Armour ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — If not playing in Monday’s anticipated matchup against Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets is what prevents Joel Embiid from winning the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, the 76ers superstar said, “I don’t care.”

Embiid reiterated late Wednesday — after returning from a one-game absence with calf tightness in the ...Read more

The sweet-spot combination of confidence and skill in Division I basketball is tricky to find and trickier to maintain. A player can be brimming with one, but betrayed by the other. One day can be draped in a sense of sky-high invincibility. The next feels like an unraveling golf swing depositing balls into creeks.

Navigating the in between, ...Read more

PHOENIX — Two nights after spoiling a party in Sacramento by delaying the Kings from clinching a playoff berth, the Timberwolves tried to crash the return of Kevin Durant to the Suns after an ankle injury.

But the Wolves' offense lacked some of its recent crispness and couldn't execute enough down the stretch of a 107-100 loss to Phoenix.

...Read more

NEW YORK — The good and the bad.

On a night the Knicks essentially clinched a playoff berth, All-Star Julius Randle left the court in pain with a sprained ankle.

He never re-emerged from the locker room after halftime, missing his teammates — most notably Immanuel Quickley — surge past the Heat in the fourth quarter of a 101-92 victory ...Read more

NEW YORK — Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 101-92 loss to the New York Knicks on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden to close a quick two-game trip winless at 0-2. The Heat now returns to Miami to face the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday:

The Heat knows the importance of these games as the regular season winds down, but it’s just ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — There are 363 Division I men’s college basketball teams, and San Diego State is one of the four still dancing through the NCAA Tournament.

For the first time in program history, the Aztecs have reached the Final Four.

The team will play Florida Atlantic University in the tournament’s first semifinal game in Houston on ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — In the annals of crazy Temple basketball days, this one was pretty good.

In the end, what will be remembered, Adam Fisher was offered the job, and Adam Fisher accepted the job.

Your new Owls head basketball coach, Adam Fisher.

Penn State’s associate head coach was the popular choice of Nittany Lions players themselves to ...Read more

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Here’s how Jim Larrañaga prepares for the biggest game of his big life: He opens his office door as he’s in mid-discussion with his coaching staff and gives a come-on-in wave to the visitor standing outside.

Me?

“You’ll like this,” he says.

He points me to a place on the sofa beside him.

“We’re talking ...Read more