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Rick Pitino reflects on highs and lows of first season at St. John's: 'Very difficult' but 'extremely rewarding' place to coach

Sports / Basketball /

In many ways, Rick Pitino’s first season at St. John’s was unlike any other in his five-decade coaching career.

A notorious program-builder, Pitino this time put together a roster almost entirely through the transfer portal, which, since 2021, has allowed players to switch schools without sitting out a year. The Hall of Fame coach bemoaned ...Read more

Derrick White posts first career triple-double as Celtics take care of Pistons

Sports / Basketball /

BOSTON — At times last season, the Celtics did not show up against inferior opponents. They came into games assuming they would roll over the competition, sometimes when they were without their stars. That lack of focus showed at points in the playoffs.

But the Celtics arrived to training camp with a changed mindset. They have proven this ...Read more

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Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot to retire after NCAA tournament

Sports / Basketball /

Keith Dambrot announced Monday he'll be retiring at the completion of the 2023-24 season. This news comes just one day after the Dukes won the Atlantic 10 Tournament and earned a bid in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1977.

Dambrot, 65, caps off an impressive 22-year career with the best finish in recent history. After starting the...Read more

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Dom Amore: As UConn men capture Big East tournament, Jaylin Stewart offers reason to look forward with confidence

Sports / Basketball /

NEW YORK — The now familiar scene of UConn’s standout men’s basketball players ascending the ladder to snip down the nets unfolded again Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

Another title, another piece of unfinished business, this time the coveted Big East tournament, was completed. Tristen Newton, the Most Outstanding Player, took ...Read more

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Mark Story: Ten bracket tips that might give you an edge in your 2024 NCAA Tournament pool

Sports / Basketball /

As you prepare to chase pool riches by filling out your 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket, there is at least one question you will have to confront:

Do you trust Purdue?

On paper, coach Matt Painter’s Boilermakers should enter the 2024 edition of March Madness as one of the favorites to cut down the nets.

Alas, Purdue’s recent NCAA Tournament ...Read more

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Clippers were simply bad in blowout loss to Atlanta Hawks

Sports / Basketball /

Bad.

Bad.

Bad.

There really was no other way to describe the unsightly basketball the Clippers played Sunday night during a disheartening 110-93 loss to an underwhelming Atlanta Hawks team at Crypto.com Arena.

That the Clippers got down by 29 points in the fourth quarter was bad because of the lack of effort they displayed.

They were bad on...Read more

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Hawks defeat Clippers in convincing fashion

Sports / Basketball /

LOS ANGELES -- The Hawks downed the Clippers 110-93 on their first night of back-to-back games.

Here are five observations.

1. The Hawks never gave the Clippers much of a chance to get comfortable in the game. While Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard had an explosive opening quarter, putting up 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, it did not do much for ...Read more

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St. John's misses NCAA Tournament in first season under Rick Pitino; will skip NIT

Sports / Basketball /

A furious late-season surge wasn’t enough to get St. John’s back in the NCAA Tournament.

The Red Storm fell short of a March Madness bid for the fifth year in a row — and weren’t even among the Selection Committee’s first four teams out.

“I’m hurting for my players, but I’m also hurting for what we tried to accomplish this year...Read more

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South Carolina locks up top seed in NCAA Women's Tournament

Sports / Basketball /

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s quest for a third national title begins this week.

The Gamecocks were selected Sunday the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed for the third year in a row after completing another undefeated season and SEC Tournament championship run.

USC will play its first game at at Colonial Life ...Read more

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UConn named NCAA Tournament's top seed as March Madness bracket is revealed

Sports / Basketball /

UConn’s national title defense begins Friday in Brooklyn.

The powerhouse Huskies, who rolled to a national championship last year and a 31-3 record this season, are the top overall seed in the 2024 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, which revealed its bracket Sunday evening.

UConn is joined by Houston (30-4), Purdue (29-4) and North ...Read more

Jim Souhan: Familiar faces set for nostalgia course in March Madness bracket

Sports / Basketball /

What's Tubby Smith doing these days? Might he be available to step in as an analyst for a certain Sweet 16 game?

When the NCAA tournament bracket was revealed on Sunday afternoon, Richard Pitino and Dan Monson were placed on a collision course.

If that sentence confuses you, you are forgiven.

Monson replaced Clem Haskins as the Gophers ...Read more

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Luke DeCock: ACC getting five teams into tournament should be motivation, not relief

Sports / Basketball /

You could hear the sigh of relief all the way from Greensb…Charlotte. It’s crazy how much the goalposts have shifted that getting five teams into the NCAA Tournament is an accomplishment for the ACC, and it took N.C. State making an unlikely title run to do even that.

But five is better than four, and the angst that would have been ...Read more

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Magic earn win No. 40 by sweeping Raptors in regular season

Sports / Basketball /

ORLANDO, Fla. — On a night where the Magic seemed to go through the motions in the first half, Orlando put its foot to the pedal in the third quarter to help clinch a regular-season series sweep over the Raptors on Sunday.

In the third frame, Paolo Banchero scored 14 of his team-high 29 points and guided Jamahl Mosley’s squad to a 111-96 ...Read more

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Sam Hauser makes 10 3-pointers before unfortunate exit in Celtics' rout of Wizards

Sports / Basketball /

Sam Hauser couldn’t be stopped. He couldn’t miss. The sharpshooter was well on his way to potentially breaking some records in the Celtics’ rout of the Wizards when he ran into some misfortune on Sunday night in the nation’s capital.

Hauser had 10 3-pointers under his belt early in the third quarter – one away from matching the ...Read more

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UConn men's basketball earns No. 1 overall seed in NCAA Tournament, will play Stetson in first round

Sports / Basketball /

STORRS, Conn. — The UConn men’s basketball program earned its first-ever No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament after its 31-3 regular season and dual Big East championships.

The path to back-to-back national titles is set to begin at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, as head coach Dan Hurley manifested before the season, where the ...Read more

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Joel Embiid returns to Sixers practice for first time since injuring left knee in January

Sports / Basketball /

PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers had Joel Embiid back on the court for practice Sunday, and at least one new teammate was impressed by his presence.

“We had some more plays today,” point guard Cam Payne said. “We had Joel back. So we had some different plays and I had to learn a little bit more, again.”

The Sixers (37-30) acquired Payne in a...Read more

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Luke DeCock: After waiting a lifetime for an ACC title, NC State can finally stop living in the past

Sports / Basketball /

WASHINGTON — Even by the time they were starting to sweep the red-and-white confetti off the floor, as the ladders were folded up under the now-naked rims, it was still too soon to absorb what had just happened. Something so long in coming will take longer to understand.

There were fans in the stands who had seen this before, 37 years ago, ...Read more

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Bam Adebayo hits game-winning three to lift Heat past Pistons

Sports / Basketball /

DETROIT — With the Miami Heat’s schedule about to get tougher, Sunday was about taking care of business against one of the NBA’s worst teams.

The Heat accomplished that with a dramatic 104-101 victory over the Detroit Pistons (12-55) on Sunday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena behind a game-winning three-pointer from center Bam Adebayo at...Read more

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Florida's Micah Handlogten suffers gruesome leg injury in SEC Tournament final

Sports / Basketball /

A scary scene unfolded during Sunday’s SEC Tournament championship game, where Florida’s Micah Handlogten suffered a gruesome leg injury that required him to be stretchered off the court.

Handlogten, a sophomore center, crumpled to the ground after his left leg landed awkwardly and rolled badly on a rebound attempt a little over two minutes...Read more

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Bill Plaschke: No Anthony Davis? Struggling Lakers have no chance if he's out

Sports / Basketball /

It was a forearm to the eye.

It was a punch to the gut.

It was routine contact on a routine drive.

It was an extraordinary symbol of a season skidding.

In the final minutes of the first quarter of the Lakers' nationally televised showdown with the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, Anthony Davis was smacked in the face by the Warriors'...Read more