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Top seeds navigate Final Four paths that are trickier than ever

It seemed a perfect and even relatively safe setup for Arizona. The Wildcats held a No. 2 seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament and headed to Los Angeles within their long-running Pac-12 regional footprint with a chance to reach the Final Four. Instead, a sixth-seeded Clemson team that had traveled across the country and hadn’t reached a regional final in more than four decades sent the Wildcats home. “It’s all about matchups at the end of the day,” said Tigers forward Ian Schieffelin, who had 14 points in that upset and is part of Clemson’s fifth-seeded team this year. ...

March Madness by the numbers

The first two days of the NCAA Tournament are for the little guys. Teams from under-the-radar conferences that have rarely, if ever, experienced March Madness get to test themselves against the nation’s elite. We’re looking at you, Alabama State. You too, Lipscomb, SIU Edwardsville and Mount St. Mary’s. The 16 vs. 1 matchups usually devolve into blowouts. Occasionally, the No. 16 seed hangs in there for a while and fades away. The No. 16 almost never wins — the key word being “almost.” One of the great moments in tournament lore happened in 2018 when ...

End of the tush push?

The Green Bay Packers have formally proposed a rule change to ban the tush push and the Detroit Lions proposed that playoff seeding be done based on teams’ records instead of automatically placing division winners in the top four spots. Teams made several other proposals released Wednesday that will be added to additional ones made by the competition committee to be considered at the league meetings later this month, including a change to the overtime rule and the so-called legal tampering period in free agency. Any rule change must be approved by 24 out of 32 team ...

Pirates’ Jared Jones to miss his next start because of elbow issues

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Jared Jones is missing his next spring training start because of elbow discomfort. Jones went 6-8 with a 4.14 ERA last season, combining with Paul Skenes to form an impressive rookie tandem on the mound in Pittsburgh, but now his status is uncertain just over a week before the season opener for the Pirates. “He’s not going to make his next start in spring training,” manager Derek Shelton told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Wednesday. “That’s for sure. I think with that being said, we’re going to have to look at what ...

Broome and Flagg are unanimous picks to lead AP All-America team

NEW YORK (AP) — One is a fifth-year senior who began his career at a mid-major, the other a first-year wunderkind recruited by everyone. The first is a now leading a program on the rise, while the other is the unmistakable star for a traditional power. Johni Broome of Auburn and Cooper Flagg of Duke do have something in common, though: The forwards were unanimous first-team picks for The Associated Press men’s college basketball All-America teams released Tuesday. They were joined on the first team by Alabama star Mark Sears, Purdue’s Braden Smith and Walter Clayton Jr. of ...

Notre Dame looks to dynamic backcourt to regain momentum for March Madness

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Early in the season, Notre Dame built a sparkling resume with victories against two eventual No. 1 seeds — USC and Texas — and a pair of No. 2 seeds in UConn and Duke. The end of the season was a different story. After losing three of their last five games, the Fighting Irish enter the NCAA Tournament with a No. 3 seed. Notre Dame (26-5) takes on No. 14 seed Stephen F. Austin (29-5) in the first round in South Bend on Friday. If Notre Dame is to regain its magic and make a run to the Final Four, it will start with a dynamic backcourt regarded as one of ...