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Mac Engel: NCAA's basketball tournament may be 'perfect' now, but prepare for inevitable expansion

Sports / Basketball /

Just as college football players now treat the second- and third-tier bowl games as a trip to the proctologist, so, too, are today’s era of college basketball players who view the NIT as the Avocados From Mexico Cure Bowl.

Until the current pay-for-play model is tweaked, and includes language or incentives to play in these level of games and ...Read more

Charles Fox/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Dragon underwear and bulletproof coffee: Dan Hurley's madness fuels UConn men in March

Sports / Basketball /

Put the wolves in the hamper. Dan Hurley is bringing back the dragons.

UConn’s head coach, in his words, is the “king of superstitions.” His lucky pair of boxers, red with cartoon dragons on them, washed by hand between games, brought the Huskies good juju – and a $50,000 donation to the Husky Ticket Project – throughout last year’s...Read more

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UNC vs. Caleb Love, always a tantalizing prospect, is within reach in NCAA Tournament

Sports / Basketball /

The NCAA Tournament is arguably the most storyline-rich event in American sports, a spectacle that captures the country’s attention for a few weeks every March and early April; an unscripted drama that has no equal and needs no enhancement.

In the coming days and weeks, someone you’ve never heard of will experience a flash of greatness that...Read more

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Anthony Davis plays and Lakers overcome shaky start in blowout win over Hawks

Sports / Basketball /

Anthony Davis didn’t need 20/20 vision to see the Hawks were trying to grab the Lakers’ attention.

After the Lakers turned it over on the first play of the game, Hawks forward Jaylen Johnson turned the ensuing fast break into a highlight, jumping almost completely over Austin Reaves— the rare occasion where the story begins with an ...Read more

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Warriors beat down at home by short-handed Knicks

Sports / Basketball /

SAN FRANCISCO — Late in the third quarter, after Josh Hart went coast-to-coast for a layup, Draymond Green’s inbounds pass hit an unsuspecting Trayce Jackson-Davis in the back of the head for a turnover.

If it wasn’t already clear it wasn’t the Warriors night, that moment made it certain.

The Warriors started slow and never led the ...Read more

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Timberwolves hold off Jazz behind Anthony Edwards for two-game sweep in Utah

Sports / Basketball /

SALT LAKE CITY – Anthony Edwards has had a few highlight dunks in his career. He's had more attempts that didn't convert and he's even hurt himself a few times going for the highlight reel play.

With the Wolves lacking size Monday night with injuries sidelining their top three centers, Edwards took it upon himself to play above the rim, ...Read more

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Tyrese Maxey's double-double propels Sixers past Heat in battle of undermanned squads

Sports / Basketball /

PHILADELPHIA — No one knows how the 76ers and Miami Heat match up when both teams are healthy.

That’s because reigning MVP Joel Embiid and the Heat’s five-time All-Star Jimmy Butler have yet to play in any of this season’s meetings. On Monday, the Sixers were also without Tobias Harris, while Miami were missing Tyler Herro. Heat guard ...Read more

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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

Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel/TNS

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