Members phkrause Posted March 24 Author Members Posted March 24 ๐ Yahoo! It's Friday! You made it. As a reward, we've got a March Madness-only edition for you (minus "Headlines" below) to celebrate the only day of the year with 32 NCAA tournament games. In today's edition: High Point's hero, VCU's epic comeback, Duke's close call, Day 2 preview, women's tip-off, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES To continue the basketball theme, today's headlines will be exclusively about the NBA, which had more than its fair share of action on Thursdayโฆ ๐ย LeBron ties Parish: LeBron James played in his 1,611th regular-season game, tying Hall of Famer and Celtics legend Robert Parish's record for the most in NBA history. Oh yea, and then he went on to put up a triple-double (19-15-10) in the Lakers' win over the Heat. At 41. ๐ย Luka drops 60: LeBron's feat wasn't the only headline in that game, as Luka Donฤiฤ scored 60 points, the most by a Laker since Kobe Bryant scored 60 in the final game of his career back in 2016. Luka's averaging a cool 41 points per game during L.A.'s current eight-game win streak. ๐ย Wemby calls game: Victor Wembanyama nailed a jumper with 1.1 seconds left against the Suns, lifting the Spurs to a 101-100 victory and clinching San Antonio's first playoff berth since 2019. ๐ย Cade out indefinitely: Pistons MVP candidate Cade Cunningham will miss at least the next two weeks with a collapsed lung. He'll then be re-evaluated, but it remains unclear when, or if, he will return for first-place Detroit. โ โ ๐ ROUND OF 64 16 GAMES DOWN, 47 TO GO Chase Johnston celebrates one of his barrage of late threes. (Soobum Im/Getty Images) The High Point Panthers entered Thursday's game against No. 5 Wisconsin 0-57 all-time against power conference programs. 40 minutes later, they walked off the court with the first upset โ and the first "Where did he come from?" star โ of the 2026 NCAA tournament. Panthers 83, Badgers 82: For a while, it looked like this game would come down to whichever star guard got the last touch, as High Point's Rob Martin (23 points, 10 assists) and Wisconsin's Nick Boyd (27 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists) were both electric. Then Chase Johnston, and the most unlikely game-winning layup in NCAA tournament history, happened Johnston, a sixth-year senior who plays just 12 minutes a game, is the epitome of a three-point specialist. Entering Thursday, he was 64-132 (48.5%) from long rangeโฆ and 0-4 from inside the arc. Yes, really. And he didn't do much in the first 35 minutes against Wisconsin, going 1-3 with three points. But he took over in the final five minutes, sparking a comeback with three more 3-pointers โ including one from the logo that I've watched at least 20 times โ and the game-winning layup with 11 seconds left for his first two-pointer of the season. What they're saying: "This is something you dream about," said Johnston, the latest in a long line of out-of-nowhere NCAA tournament heroes. "I remember playing basketball with my brother in the backyard 1-on-1. We had our own little brackets, picking what teams we wanted to be and trying to win March Madness. Now to be on this stage with these guys and to be able to hit a couple shots and finish with a layup, it's something I'll never forget." A welcome return: This kind of performance, reminiscent of what Oakland's Jack Gohlke did in the first round against Kentucky two years ago, is what makes March Madness such a beloved event. And after last year's historically-chalky tournament largely lacked such performances, it felt particularly meaningful to get one in the very first window of games. Terrence Hill Jr., take a bow. (Chris Carlson/AP Photo) Elsewhere: The fireworks didn't end with High Point and Johnston. Later in the day, No. 11 VCU stormed back from 19 down to beat No. 6 North Carolina, 82-78 (OT), for the largest first-round comeback in NCAA tournament history. The hero? Another bench player who had the game of his life. Terrence Hill Jr. is no mere specialist, but he certainly shot like one on Thursday. The sophomore guard, who actually leads the team in scoring from that bench role, put up a career-high 34 points โ including 7-10 from long range โ to key VCU's historic comeback. On the other side, UNC's meltdown makes one thing abundantly clear in Chapel Hill: It's time to cut bait with head coach Hubert Davis. More Day 1 highlights: Close call: Duke was pushed to the brink by Siena in what was supposed to be a "cakewalk," becoming the first No. 1 seed ever to trail a No. 16 by double digits at the half. But the Blue Devils finally re-gained the lead with a little over four minutes left and held on for a 71-65 win. Victory at last: No. 4 Nebraska crushed No. 13 Troy, 76-47, to pick up their first NCAA tournament win in program history after losing in their first eight appearances. One and done? Potential No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa had another stellar game for No. 6 BYU (35 points, 10 rebounds), but the Cougars' lack of depth was exposed in a 79-71 upset loss to No. 11 Texas, which moves on to the second round after emerging from the First Four. The rest: The other 11 games were an assortment of nail-biters, near-comebacks and blowouts. (9) TCU def. (8) Ohio State, 66-64 (6) Louisville def. (11) South Florida, 83-79 (3) Gonzaga def. (14) Kennesaw State, 73-64 (5) Vanderbilt def. (12) McNeese State, 78-68 (10) Texas A&M def. (7) Saint Maryโs, 63-50 (4) Arkansas def. (13) Hawaii, 97-78 (1) Michigan def. (16) Howard, 101-80 (9) Saint Louis def. (8) Georgia, 102-77 (3) Michigan State def. (14) North Dakota State, 92-67 (2) Houston def. (15) Idaho, 78-47 (3) Illinois def. (14) Penn, 105-70 How's your bracket doing? Only 0.1% of brackets remain perfect on Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem. Is yours one of them? โ ๐ ROUND OF 64 THE MADNESS CONTINUES (Josh Heim/Yahoo Sports) After 16 games across 12 glorious hours yesterdayโฆ we get to do it all over again today. Isn't March grand? Early afternoon: Virginia has looked great this year, going 29-5 and just barely losing to Duke in the ACC championship. But their NCAA tournament track record is shaky, to say the least, losing three straight openers โ including two as 4-seeds โ since winning the 2019 title. No. 7 Kentucky (-2.5) vs. No. 10 Santa Clara (12:15pm ET, CBS) No. 5 Texas Tech (-7.5) vs. No. 12 Akron (12:40pm, truTV) No. 1 Arizona (-30.5) vs. No. 16 LIU (1:35pm, TNT) No. 3 Virginia (-18.5) vs. No. 14 Wright State (1:50pm, TBS) Late afternoon: Hofstra is back for the first time since 2001, Jay Wright's last season as their head coach before he left to build a Hall of Fame career at Villanova. Their current head coach? Former NBA vet Speedy Claxton, who led Hofstra to the tourney as a senior in 2000. No. 2 Iowa State (-24.5) vs. No. 15 Tennessee State (2:50pm, CBS) No. 4 Alabama (-11.5) vs. No. 13 Hofstra (3:15pm, truTV) No. 8 Villanova (+2.5) vs. No. 9 Utah State (4:10pm, TNT) No. 6 Tennessee (-11.5) vs. No. 11 Miami-Ohio (4:25pm, TBS) Primetime: Queens (North Carolina) is just the fourth team in the last 50 years to make the tournament in their first year of eligibility. They'll face Purdue All-American Braden Smith, who is two assists shy of passing Bobby Hurley (1,076) for the most in NCAA Division I history. No. 8 Clemson (+2.5) vs. No. 9 Iowa (6:50pm, TNT) No. 5 St. John's (-9.5) vs. No. 12 Northern Iowa (7:10pm, CBS) No. 7 UCLA (-5.5) vs. No. 10 UCF (7:25pm, TBS) No. 2 Purdue (-25.5) vs. No. 15 Queens (7:35pm, truTV) Late night: The defending champs, favored by 35.5 points over Prairie View A&M, are the biggest favorite in an NCAA tournament game since 1999. No. 1 Florida (-35.5) vs. No. 16 Prairie View A&M (9:25pm, TNT) No. 4 Kansas (-13.5) vs. No. 13 California Baptist (9:45pm, CBS) No. 2 UConn (-20.5) vs. No. 15 Furman (10pm, TBS) No. 7 Miami (-2.5) vs. No. 10 Missouri (10:10pm, truTV) โ ๐ MARCH MADNESS WOMEN'S TIP-OFF: CAN ANYONE BEAT THE HUSKIES? (Amy Monks/Yahoo Sports) The NCAA women's tournament tips off today, and though the bracket says there are 64 teams in contention, there's one that stands head and shoulders above the rest. UConn vs. the field: The Huskies are the overwhelming favorite to win the title (-275 at BetMGM), entering the tournament on a 50-game winning streak after capturing their 12th national championship a year ago. They do it on offense, scoring the second-most points per game in the nation (88.7), and on defense, where they allow the fewest (50.4). Yes, their average score this season was 89-50. The Huskies have tremendous depth, of course, but really shine at the top of the lineup thanks to POY frontrunner Sarah Strong and fifth-year senior Azzi Fudd, who just became the 10th pair of teammates to both be named first-team AP All-Americans. The argument against: While UConn is clearly the best team, they also benefitted from playing in a weak Big East, which sent just one other team to the tournament (10-seed Villanova). In their four ranked non-conference games, their average margin of victory was "just" 17.5 points, including a three-point win over Michigan. So, who are the most likely candidates to beat them? Top-seeded UCLA is the 1B to UConn's 1A. The Bruins have won 25 straight, feature two All-Americans of their own in first-teamer Lauren Betts and third-teamer Kiki Rice, and are the only team with a more efficient offense than UConn. Then there's No. 1 South Carolina, No. 1 Texas and No. 2 LSU, SEC powerhouses with stars who can go toe-to-toe with UConn's best. Same goes for No. 2 Vanderbilt, which could meet the Huskies in the Elite Eight and is led by the nation's leading scorer in Mikayla Blakes. What to watch: UConn's opener is tomorrow against No. 16 UTSA (3pm ET, ABC), though as 55.5-point favorites it might not be the most entertaining game. Instead, here are four other first-round games worth watching. No. 7 NC State (-1.5) vs. No. 10 Tennessee (Fri. 8pm, ESPN): The Vols, making their 44th straight tournament appearance even in the midst of a down year, seek revenge for their season-opening three-point loss to the Wolfpack in this clash of perennial contenders. No. 6 Notre Dame (-10.5) vs. No. 11 Fairfield (Sat. 2pm, ESPN): The Irish have the game's best player in three-time All-American Hannah Hidalgo, but beware the Stags, a popular upset pick thanks to their NCAA-leading 11.4 threes made per game. No. 6 Washington (-5.5) vs. No. 11 South Dakota State (Fri. 2:30pm, ESPNews): Speaking of potential upsets, the Jackrabbits have won first-round games in the past decade as a 9-seed, 10-seed and 12-seed. This year's 11 would fit nicely in that set. No. 8 Iowa State (-7.5) vs. No. 9 Syracuse (Sat. 5:30pm, ESPN2): Cyclones junior Audi Crooks is the best volume scorer in the country, putting up four 40-point games this season. No other D1 player has more than one. Pre-tournament reading: Power ranking the top 16 contenders Non-No. 1 seeds that could reach the Final Four Cinderellas that could ruin March Madness for a contender Region-by-region previews: Fort Worth 1 | Sacramento 2 | Fort Worth 3 | Sacramento 4 โ ๐ MARCH MADNESS CHART DU JOUR: APPAREL PARTNERS (Lev Akabas/Sportico) Under Armour is the apparel partner for just nine teams in this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament, the fewest since 2015, per Apex Marketing. Nike, including Jordan Brand, is outfitting 45 of the 68 teams to once again lead the way by a wide margin. โ ๐ SCORING LEADERS MARCH MADNESS TRIVIA (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) Question: Who are the all-time leading scorers in the men's and women's NCAA Division I basketball tournaments? Hint: Duke and Iowa. Answer at the bottom. โ ๐ $25,000 FILL OUT YOUR BRACKET! Beat the buzzer before the women's tournament tips off at 11:30am ET! Make your picks and enter Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem for a chance to win $25K. โ Trivia answer: Christian Laettner (407 points) and Caitlin Clark (492) Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 28 Author Members Posted March 28 ๐ย Good morning! March Madness is in full swing, MLB Opening Day is this week, the Masters is fast approaching, and the NBA and NHL playoffs are just around the corner. What a time to be alive. The new normal: For just the second time in NCAA tournament history, the men's Sweet 16 is made up entirely of teams from major conferences. The only other time that happened? Last year. In today's edition: Bringing us together, Tom Brady returns to the field, KD passes MJ, Pogi conquers another Monument, City beat Arsenal, Baker's Dozen, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ โ ๐ MARCH MADNESS THE LAST CAMPFIRE Iowa knocked off reigning champion Florida on Sunday to advance to the Sweet 16. (Mike Carlson/Getty Images) Once upon a time, we all watched the same shows, read the same magazines, and listened to the same albums. Culture was a shared thing โ not because we chose it, but because there wasn't much of an alternative. Fast forward: The internet blew all of that apart, creating a world with something for everyoneโฆ and nothing for everyone. We're all still watching, reading and listening. In fact, we're consuming more than ever. Just rarely the same stuffโฆ rarely together. Streaming gave us infinite choice but took away the water cooler. Social media brought us together, then algorithmically split us apart. You're out of the loop on the shows your neighbors are watching, let alone your own family. That new podcast your friend was raving about? It's a Spotify exclusive, and you're on Apple Music. Movie theaters and public spaces? In decline. Loneliness? On the rise. The monoculture is dead. Long live the monoculture. One major exception? Sports still has the power to bring us all together. I was reminded of that this past week during the height of March Madness when I filled out brackets with family, entered contests with friends, watched games with colleagues, shot baskets with neighbors and exchanged takes with strangers (Texas is not a "Cinderella," stop it!). Halina Bennett, Slow Boring ($): Americans are increasingly sorting themselves โ whether by geography, by education, or by media consumption โ into communities of the like-minded. Into this landscape arrives, every March, a 68-team single-elimination basketball tournament. Roughly a quarter of all American adults participate by filling out a bracket. March Madness is one of the last mass cultural moments that genuinely cuts across the fragmentation. You cannot watch the tournament on your own schedule. Games happen live, simultaneously, and the results land in the world in real time. A buzzer-beater on a Thursday afternoon cascades across group chats, offices, every social media feed at once. Either you saw it or you didn't. Either way, you are talking about it. These moments are increasingly rare. The Super Bowl is another example โ one game, one night, watched by roughly 125.6 million people at the same time. But March Madness sustains it for three weeks across dozens of games, and it does it with a form of engagement โ the bracket โ that pulls in people like me who would never watch a game otherwise. The last campfire: The beauty of sports played out this weekend on the hardwood. Underdog stories. Buzzer-beaters. The thrill of victory. The agony of defeat. But the best part was this: for four straight days, a significant portion of America showed up for the same thing (hoops), at the same time (12pm ET and on), in the same place (CBS, TBS, etc), and felt it all together. March Madness: Winners and losers Re-ranking the men's Sweet 16 โ ๐บ๐ธ SNAPSHOTS PHOTOS ACROSS AMERICA (Michael Owens/Getty Images for OBB Media/Fanatics Studios) Los Angeles, California โ Saturday's Fanatics Flag Football Classic posed an intriguing question: Could a team of current and former NFL players defeat a USA flag football squad that has won the past five world championships and figures to make up most of the 2028 Olympic roster? The answer: A resounding no. Despite facing Tom Brady, Luke Kuechly, Joe Burrow, Saquon Barkley and other big names, Team USA showed how valuable experience with the rules and strategy of flag football is en route to winning the round-robin tournament. (Rich Storry/Getty Images) Miami Gardens, Florida โ 29 years after his dad, Petr, defeated world No. 1 Pete Sampras, Sebastian Korda defeated world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz at the Miami Openโฆ and celebrated the same way his father did. Dรฉjร vu: At No. 36, Korda is the lowest-ranked man to beat Alcaraz since No. 55 David Goffin did so last yearโฆ in the same round of the same tournament. (Justin Berl/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) State College, Pennsylvania โ Wisconsin beat Ohio State, 3-2, on Sunday to win their second straight women's hockey national championship, and fifth since 2019. Four players on the team also won Olympic gold last month. Not a bad few weeks! One tourney ends, another begins: The men's hockey bracket was revealed on Sunday. No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 North Dakota, No. 3 Michigan State and No. 4 Western Michigan (defending champs) earned the top seeds in the 16-team field. (Isaiah Vazquez/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) Columbus, Ohio โ Penn State captured its fifth straight NCAA men's wrestling national championship on Sunday. Four individual Nittany Lions won national titles during the three-day event, resulting in a championship-record 181.5 points. Speaking of streaks: Virginia did one better, winning its sixth consecutive NCAA championship in women's swimming and diving. That broke a tie with Stanford and Texas for the sport's longest such streak. โ ๐ด MILAN-SAN REMO CAN POGI COMPLETE CYCLING? (Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images) Tadej Pogaฤar, the best active cyclist and arguably the greatest of all time, added yet another signature victory to his growing tally this weekend in Italy. Conquering La Primavera: The Slovenian overcame a late crash on Saturday to win his first Milan-San Remo in a photo finish over Tom Pidcock, out-sprinting the Brit to capture the title by half-a-wheel. Such a win in any race would be remarkable; fighting through the peloton after ending up on the pavement, bloodied and bruised. But Milan-San Remo isn't just any race. The Spring Classic, or La Classicissima di Primavera, is the longest of the five Monuments, the most prestigious one-day races in men's cycling. And Pogaฤar's crash came after nearly six straight hours on the bike, 18 miles from the end of a 185-mile race. What he's saying: "It's quite a relief to finally win it," said Pogaฤar, who'd raced the Milan-San Remo five times before, never finishing better than third. "If I come back to San Remo it will only be to eat focaccia," he jokingly added, satisfied that it's finally been checked off his bucket list. This is what a photo finish looks likeโฆ (TNT Sports) Can he complete cycling? Only one male cyclist (Belgium's Eddy Merckx) has won all five Monuments, all three Grand Tours and a World Championship. Pogaฤar, still just 27 years old, is now one step closer to becoming the second. What he's won: Pogi's list of accomplishments since joining UAE Team Emirates in 2019 is comically long, getting him most of the way to matching Merckx's unprecedented feat. World Championship: He's the two-time reigning champion, and also won bronze in 2023. Grand Tours: He's won the Tour de France four times (2020, 2021, 2024, 2025), while finishing second twice (2022, 2023). He also won the Giro d'Italia in 2024, the first and only time he's competed in La Corsa Rosa. Monuments: Milan San-Remo gave him four of the five Monuments, along with the Giro di Lombardia (5x), the Liรจge-Bastogne-Liรจgeย (3x) and the Tour of Flanders (2x). What he still needs: Pogaฤar is just two races shy of completing the set. The biggest (only?) thing stopping him may be cycling's packed calendar, which often makes him pick and choose which events to enter each year. Grand Tours: The Vuelta a Espaรฑa is the missing link. He's raced it just once โ finishing third in 2019 โ because it's sandwiched in between July's Tour de France and September's worlds. Monuments: The only one left is the Paris-Roubaix, a punishing race nicknamed the "Hell of the North." He finished second last year in his debut, and will give the cobbled classic another go three weeks from now on April 12. The last word: "We have seen Pogaฤar at his best at so many different races, but today it was a different level," said former British champion Adam Blythe following Saturday's triumph. "We throw the term around, but he is the greatest of all time without a shadow of a doubt. There is no rider we can compare to him. He is just untouchable." โ ๐ฏ STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS (Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images) ๐ย 32,294 points ย Kevin Durant reached 32,294 career points on Saturday, passing Michael Jordan (32,292) for fifth on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Only LeBron James (43,241), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928) and Kobe Bryant (33,643) have scored more. ย More hoops records: James played his 1,612th regular-season game, breaking a tie with Robert Parish for the most in NBA history; Purdue's Braden Smith passed Duke's Bobby Hurley to become the NCAA's all-time assists leader (1,091 and counting). ย ๐ฅย 17 years old ย American track sensation Cooper Lutkenhaus, 17, won the 800m at the World Indoor Track and Field Championships in Poland on Sunday to become the youngest world champion ever in an individual event (indoors or outdoors). ย Rapid rise: The Texas teen has become a certified star over the last nine months, starting when he broke the national high school 800m record set three decades earlier (1:46.26). Later in the summer he broke the U-18 world record (1:42.27) en route to becoming, at 16, the youngest American ever to compete in the outdoor world championships. (Charlotte Wilson/Offside via Getty Images) โฝ๏ธ 19th trophy ย Manchester City won the League Cup on Sunday with a 2-0 victory over Arsenal, marking Pep Guardiola's 19th trophy in 10 years since becoming City's manager (6x Premier League, 5x League Cup, 3x Community Shield, 2x FA Cup, Champions League, Super Cup, Club World Cup). ย Still alive for the title? The Gunners still lead the Premier League by nine points, but second-place City have a game in hand and the two face off next month at the Etihad. A comeback isn't out of the question for the 10-time champs. ย โพ๏ธ $540 million ย Phillies lefty Christopher Sรกnchez, coming off a runner-up Cy Young finish, signed a six-year, $107 million extension on Sunday, meaning Philly's top four starters (Sรกnchez, Zack Wheeler, Jesรบs Luzardo, Aaron Nola) are now signed through at least 2027 for a total of $540 million. ย $100M club: The Dodgers are the only other team with four pitchers signed for at least $100 million each (Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow). The Yankees and Blue Jays are just behind them, with three each. โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: MONDAY, MARCH 23 (Yahoo Sports) ๐ย Round of 32 ย The Women's Sweet 16 will be set following today's eight-game slate, which features three of the tournament's No. 1 seeds. ย Cruise control: 37 of 40 games so far have been won by the higher seed, and the vast majority have been blowouts. Where is the chaos this tournament needs? ย โณ๏ธ TGL Finals ย The best-of-three series tees off tonight at the SoFi Center (9pm ET, ESPN2), where Jupiter Links and Los Angeles will compete for a $9 million grand prize. ย Lineups: Max Homa, Tom Kim and Kevin Kisner (Jupiter) vs. Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Sahith Theegala (LA). ย More to watch: ๐ย NBA: Spurs at Heat (7pm, Peacock); Warriors at Mavericks (9:30pm, Peacock) โฆ San Antonio has won five straight games and 21 of their last 23. ๐พย Tennis: Miami Open (11am, Tennis) โฆ Jannik Sinner headlines the men's Round of 32; Aryna Sabalenka headlines the women's Round of 16. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ ๐ TROPHY CASE SWEET 16 TRIVIA (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) Six of the men's Sweet 16 teams have won a national championship. Question: Can you name all six? East: No. 1 Duke, No. 2 UConn, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 5 St. John's South: No. 2 Houston, No. 3 Illinois, No. 4 Nebraska, No. 9 Iowa West: No. 1 Arizona, No. 2 Purdue, No. 4 Arkansas, No. 11 Texas Midwest: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Iowa State, No. 4 Alabama, No. 6 Tennessee Hint: Three are in the same region. Answer at the bottom. โ ๐ฟ BAKER'S DOZEN TOP PLAYS OF THE WEEKEND Dylan Darling's buzzer-beater lifted St. John's past Kansas and into the Sweet 16. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) ๐ย St. John's at the buzzer! ๐ย Kentucky at the buzzer! ๐ย He's in high school?! โพ๏ธ Hawkeye goes all out ๐ฅย Behind-the-back ๐ย Pelle Larsson! ๐ย Zvonimir Ivisic! โฝ๏ธ Satisfying set piece ๐ย Yaxel Lendeborg! ๐ย Nifty moves by Tage โพ๏ธ Jax State web gem โฝ๏ธ Pickford stands tall ๐พย Alcaraz being Alcaraz Watch all 13. โ Trivia answer: Arizona (1997), Arkansas (1994), Duke (5x), Michigan (1989), Michigan State (2x), UConn (6x) Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 29 Author Members Posted March 29 ๐ย Good morning! The men's and women's Sweet 16s are both now set. We'll be diving deeper in the coming days. Men's Sweet 16: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Duke, Houston, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Purdue, St. John's, Tennessee, Texas Women's Sweet 16: Connecticut, Duke, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, South Carolina, TCU, Texas, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Virginia In today's edition: Wednesday Night Football, the best division in hockey, ranking MLB's young talent, the world in photos, FGCU flashback, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES ๐ย Virginia makes history: No. 10 Virginia upset No. 2 Iowa, 83-75, in Monday's double-overtime thriller at Carver-Hawkeye Arena to become the first women's team ever to go from the First Four to the Sweet 16. ๐บย Big Madness ratings: Thursday's opening-round coverage of the NCAA men's basketball tournament was the most watched ever, per CBS and TNT. The 16-game slate drew an average of 9.8 million viewers, while the primetime games specifically averaged 12.5 million. ๐ย NFL stars ink deals: Jaxon Smith-Njigba signed a four-year, $168.6 million extension with the Seahawks that makes him the highest-paid WR in NFL history; Travis Kelce re-upped with the Chiefs for three years and $54.7 million (though the contract language essentially makes it a one-year deal). ๐คย WNBPA approves CBA: The WNBA players' union has voted unanimously to approve the new collective bargaining agreement. The attention now turns to a two-team expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo. ๐ย Coaching moves: Creighton head coach Doug McDermott is retiring after 16 years with the Bluejays; Cincinnati is hiring Jerrod Calhoun from Utah State to replace Wes Miller; Arizona State is hiring Randy Bennett from Saint Mary's to replace Bobby Hurley. โ ๐ SCHEDULE CREEP THE NFL'S EVER-EXPANDING SLATE (Patrick Smith/Getty Images) How many days of the week are you willing to give the NFL? It started with Sundays. Then Mondays. Then Thursdays. Then some Fridays and Saturdays. Ready to devote your Wednesdays to the league, too? You'd better be. It's coming. What we're hearing: The NFL will kick off the 2026 season on a Wednesday night, as WSJ reported last week. Meanwhile, there are rumblings that the league is exploring playing a game on Thanksgiving Eve โ which is, of course, also a Wednesday. Did you expect anything less? The NFL already muscled the NBA off its traditional Christmas perch, encroached on college football's postseason and created a "Black Friday Game" tradition. Now, it's breaking the seal on Hump Day. From Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee: Once you get people accustomed to tuning in on Wednesdays during the season, why not go for the biggest Wednesday of them all, the one right before Thanksgiving? It's just sitting there untouched, right? Sure, Thanksgiving night reunions might have to get wrapped up before kickoff, or wait until halftime. But so what? There's football to be watched! Think further down the line. The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 prevents the NFL from playing during early-season Fridays and Saturdays, but it's as quaint as leather helmets. When the NFL and its media partners eventually decide to lobby on "updating" that act, expect it to evaporate like breath at a December Lambeau Field night game. 10 years from now, it's not just possible, it's likely we'll have NFL regular season games on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday nights, with Saturdays added in as soon as college football wraps up. Is that too much football for you? Is there such a thing as too much football for you? At least there's Tuesday. For now. My take: The world's richest sports league can commandeer every compelling date on the calendar โ but that doesn't mean it should. The NFL works because it's contained. It has a rhythm. A cadence. Scarcity is the magic. Add more nights and you're not just expanding the schedule โ you're eroding the ritual. Careful, Roger! โ ๐ STANDINGS THE BEST DIVISION IN HOCKEY (BY FAR) (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports) With just three weeks left in the regular season, the 2025-26 Atlantic Division has a chance to go down as one of the best divisions in NHL history. By the numbers: The red-hot Sabres* sit atop the red-hot Atlantic, which has a cumulative points percentage of .597. That's on pace to be the highest of any division since the league moved to four divisions in 2013, besting the 2016-17 Metropolitan (.592). All eight teams in the Atlantic have a points percentage of .500 or better, which means they've all earned points (either two for a win or one for an OT loss) from at least half their games. Five teams โ Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Boston and Detroit โ have a points percentage of .600 or better. No other division has more than three such teams. Consider this: The sixth-place Senators (37-24-9) would be in first place if they were in the Pacific Division. First place! Playoff picture: As you can see below, it's not just the Atlantic Division teams racking up points; the Eastern Conference as a whole has been significantly better than the West this season. East: Hurricanes (96 points), Sabres (95), Lightning (91), Canadiens (86), Bruins (86), Penguins (86), Blue Jackets (85), Islanders (85) โฆ Red Wings (84), Senators (83), Flyers (80), Capitals (79) in the hunt. West: Avalanche (102), Stars (97), Wild (92), Ducks (82), Mammoth (80), Golden Knights (78), Oilers (77), Predators (75) โฆ Kings (73), Kraken (71), Sharks (70), Jets (70), Blues (67) in the hunt. *Ending the drought: The first-place Sabres are on a ridiculous heater (33-6-3 in their last 42 games!), putting them in position to snap the longest postseason drought in NHL history. Buffalo last made the playoffs in 2011, when current leading scorer Tage Thompson was 13 years old. โ โพ๏ธ 26-AND-UNDER MLB POWER RANKINGS: YOUNG TALENT (Taylar Sievert/Yahoo Sports) The MLB season begins this week, and our experts haveย evaluated all 30 organizations based on their 26-and-under talent, a useful exercise to determine how well each team is set up for both present and future success. Top 10: Brewers: There's an embarrassment of riches in Milwaukee, where OF Jackson Chourio is already a star, IF Brice Turang is a 5-win player, fireballer Jacob Misiorowski became an All-Star after five starts and 18-year-old Jesรบs Made is the No. 3 prospect in all of baseball. Mariners: CF Julio Rodrรญguez has been a superstar since winning ROY in 2022, RHP Bryan Woo will look to follow up on last year's Cy Young-worthy breakout campaign and top-10 prospect Colt Emerson should make his debut at shortstop sometime this summer. Athletics: 1B Nick Kurtz and SS Jacob Wilson finished first and second in last year's ROY voting. Is that good? That's alongside defensive wizard Denzel Clarke, sweet swinging Lawrence Butler and 19-year-old SS Leo De Vries, the No. 4 prospect in in baseball. Pirates: Reigning Cy Young Paul Skenes is the best pitcher in the majors, 19-year-old SS Konnor Griffin โ who's already flashed prodigious pop โ is the No. 1 overall prospect, RHP Bubba Chandler is the 11th, and they've got three more in the top 100 behind them. Reds: SS Elly De La Cruz and RHP Hunter Greene are, deservedly, the biggest names. But you'd be wise not to overlook slugging infielder Sal Stewart and right-handed pitchers Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder, a trio representing Cincy's "next wave" of young talent. Mets: RHP Nolan McLean, who wowed in last year's eight-start debut, is the best 26-and-under pitcher not named Skenes. And thanks to an ascendant pitching development system, guys like Jonah Tong and Jack Wenninger could soon become impact starters, too Orioles: Even with Jackson Holliday getting off to a slower start than expected, Baltimore's collection of young hitters is excellent, led by perennial MVP candidate Gunnar Henderson and the sweet-swinging Samuel Basallo, who might be Rafael Devers in catcher's gear. Diamondbacks: It's hard to top what Arizona's dynamic duo of OF Corbin Carroll and SS Geraldo Perdomo did last year, as both finished in the top six for NL MVP. Their pitchers don't show as much upside, but maybe 2025 first-rounder Patrick Forbes will change that. Royals: Bobby Witt Jr. has put up three straight top-seven MVP seasons, but he's just the tip of the iceberg in Kansas City, where LHP Noah Cameron put up a 2.99 ERA last year as a rookie and 3B Maikel Garcia was named both an All-Star and Gold Glover. Tigers: Perhaps no team boasts a duo of position-player prospects as good as SS Kevin McGonigle and OF Max Clark, the second- and 10th-ranked prospects in baseball, who should both make their big league debuts at some point this summer. 11-30โฆ (Taylar Sievert/Yahoo Sports) Full rankings:ย Team-by-team analysis โ ๐ SNAPSHOTS THE WORLD IN PHOTOS Tyler and his son, Beau, celebrate the win. (David Jensen/Getty Images) ๐บ๐ธย Darlington, South Carolina โ This is just getting out of hand now. Tyler Reddick, who didn't win a single race last year, has now won four of the first six this season after cruising to a decisive victory on Sunday at the Goodyear 400. Elite company: Reddick joins Dale Earnhardt (1987) and Bill Elliott (1992) as the only Cup Series drivers to win at least four of the first six races to start a season. (Dan Mullan/Getty Images) ๐ต๐ฑย Toruล, Poland โ Mondo Duplantis won his fourth consecutive world indoor title in the pole vault on Saturday, clearing the bar at 6.25 meters but stopping short of attempting yet another world record. Mondo's strategy: The American-born Swede has broken the world record 15 times, topping his previous mark by a single centimeter each time to maximize his earnings (he's paid upwards of $100K per record). His most recent record (6.31 meters) came earlier this month in Sweden. Keep your chin up, lad. We've all been there. (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟย London, England โ Tottenham simply cannot buy a win, falling 3-0 at home to fellow cellar-dweller Nottingham Forest on Sunday to extend the club's winless streak in league play to an astonishing 13 matches. How dire is it? Tottenham, which hasn't been relegated since 1977, is currently just one point clear of the drop zone (bottom three) with seven matches left. The bottom six teams: Wolves (17 points), Burnley (20), West Ham (29), Tottenham (30), Forest (32) and Leeds (33). (Gold & Goose Photography/Getty Images) ๐ง๐ทย Goiania, Brazil โ MotoGP's long-awaited return to Brazil descended into farce over the weekend after heavy rainfall and extreme heat caused the track surface to fall apart and the race to be shortened. What went wrong? The chaos began when a large sinkhole was discovered during Saturday's qualifying, and things got worse on Sunday when the asphalt began to degrade. In the end, the Grand Prix was shortened from 31 to 23 laps, and Italy's Marco Bezzecchi emerged victorious. โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, MARCH 24 Tiger celebrates on the ninth hole during Monday's match. Tonight, he'll do so as a playing member of the team. (James Gilbert/TGL Golf via Getty Images) โณ๏ธ TGL Finals ย Jupiter Links lost Monday night's best-of-three series opener to Los Angeles, but they've got reinforcements coming tonight (7pm ET, ESPN) as they try to force a decisive third match in the championship. ย Tiger's back: Tiger Woods will return to his Jupiter Links squadย with the season on the line for his first competitive golf in over a year after tearing his Achilles last March. ย ๐ย NBA on NBC ย The fourth-place Cavaliers host the eighth-place Magic in the first leg of tonight's doubleheader (8pm), followed by the fourth-place Nuggets visiting the seventh-place Suns in the nightcap (11pm). ย Playoff race: Both games showcase teams trying to fight their way into an automatic playoff berth. In the East, Orlando (38-33) is 1.5 games out of sixth; in the West, Phoenix (40-32) is 3.5 games out of sixth. ย More to watch: ๐ย NHL: Wild at Lightning (7:30pm, TNT) โฆ Two legit Stanley Cup contenders take the ice in Tampa. ๐พย Tennis: Miami Open (11am, Tennis) โฆ Taylor Fritz headlines the men's Round of 16; Coco Gauff headlines the women's quarterfinals. โพ๏ธ Spring Training: Red Sox at Twins (1pm, MLB); Angels at Dodgers (8pm, MLB) โฆ Final day of Spring Training. โฝ๏ธ Women's Champions League: Wolfsburg vs. Lyon (1:45pm, CBSSN); Arsenal vs. Chelsea (4pm, CBSSN) โฆ Quarterfinals, first-leg. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ โพ SLUGGERS MLB TRIVIA Hint: The answer isn't A-Rod. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) There are nine members of MLB's 600 Home Run club: Barry Bonds (762) Hank Aaron (755) Babe Ruth (714) Albert Pujols (703) Alex Rodriguez (696) Willie Mays (660) Ken Griffey Jr. (630) Jim Thome (612) Sammy Sosa (609) Question: Who is the only member to never win an MVP award? Answer at the bottom. โ ๐ ON THIS DAY FLASHBACK: DUNK CITY FGCU's Sherwood Brown celebrates with teammates. (Elsa/Getty Images) 13 years ago today, Florida Gulf Coast (aka. "Dunk City") upset San Diego State, 81-71, to become the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA men's basketball tournament and cement their status as one of March's most memorable Cinderellas. Who has joined them? Oral Roberts (2021), Saint Peter's (2022) and Princeton (2023) are the only other No. 15 seeds that made the second weekend. And Saint Peter's is the only one that advanced to the Elite Eight. โ Trivia answer: Jim Thome Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 29 Author Members Posted March 29 Baseball's Opening Day The 2026 Major League Baseball season begins tonight with a special matchup between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants (8:05 pm ET, Netflix). Play continues with 11 games tomorrow and eight Friday. After years of testing in the minor leagues and during spring training, MLB is introducing automated ball-strike challenges, or โrobot umps,โ to the major leagues. Batters, catchers, and pitchers can now contest ball and strike calls by plate umpires. Reviews will be conducted using a network of cameras positioned around the field perimeter (see how it works). When robot umps were used in the 2025 minor league season, just over 1% of pitches were challenged, with roughly half of those calls overturned. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who face the Arizona Diamondbacks tomorrow, enter the season with a chance to become the first team to win three straight World Series titles since the Yankees (1998-2000). Explore every teamโs 2026 playoff odds here. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 29 Author Members Posted March 29 ๐ย Good morning! Happy Hump Day. In today's edition: MLB roster turnover, UNC fires Davis, Syracuse hires McNamara, Los Angeles wins TGL title, Shiffrin dominates, the rise of two World Cup hopefuls, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES ๐ย Coaching moves: UNC fired Hubert Davis after five seasons and two consecutive first-round tournament exits; Syracuse is bringing back program legend Gerry McNamara as its head coach. โฝ๏ธ Griezmann to Orlando: French superstar Antoine Griezmann, a two-time Ballon d'Or finalist, will leave Atlรฉtico Madrid this summer for Orlando City, joining the MLS club in July on a two-year deal. ๐ย Reebok signs Acuff: Arkansas freshman Darius Acuff Jr. has landed a shoe deal with Reebok, making him the first NCAA men's athlete to receive a signature shoe from a major U.S. brand while still in college. โพ๏ธ Cubs extend PCA: The Cubs are finalizing a long-term contract extension with star CF Pete Crow-Armstrong, who's getting a six-year, $115 million deal after breaking out last season with 31 homers, 35 steals, a Gold Glove and a top-10 MVP finish. ๐ย NBPA voices complaints: The NBA players' union ripped the Bucks over their reported desire to sit Giannis Antetokounmpo for the rest of the year. The union also called for the 65-game rule to be abolished following an injury to Cade Cunningham that could make him ineligible for end-of-season awards. โ โ โพ๏ธ ROSTER TURNOVER HOW MUCH DID EACH MLB TEAM CHANGE? (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports) How different are MLB teams compared to last season? To close the book on the offseason and set the stage for the marathon ahead, we're evaluating all 30 rosters based on how much they changed. From Yahoo Sports' Jordan Shusterman: This is not about determining whether a squad is better or worse, simply whether they are different. The methodology is simple: tally every plate appearance taken and inning pitched for each team last season. If the players behind those plate appearances and innings are still in the organization, they qualify as "returning." In other words, this is a straightforward avenue to assess roster turnover, a vehicle for answering a popular offseason question: Which teams ran it back, and which teams shook things up? This exercise also helps capture which fan bases will be adjusting to a larger portion of fresh faces on their teams in 2026 and which will be watching rosters that are largely unchanged. โ ๐ COACHING CAROUSEL NOW HIRING: UNC BASKETBALL (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) At the end of the day, the decision for North Carolina was simple: Was Hubert Davis a good enough coach to take the Tar Heels' basketball program where it needed to go? The answer was no. For all the talk about family, loyalty and the complexities of handling things the insular Carolina Way, the end was straightforward. After five seasons, enough data was in. It was over. From Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken: As North Carolina enters its first real basketball coaching search of the modern era โย every hire since Dean Smith took over in 1961 had a direct connection to his program โ it is not doing so capriciously or without strategy. In fact, sources told Yahoo Sports, North Carolina representatives have been quietly checking in around potential candidates for nearly a month to gauge what the market would look like and who might be on a realistic list. In other words, North Carolina's leadership is not making an emotional decision and hoping for the best. Its administration believes, as it should, that it can and will land an A-list candidate for arguably the best job in the sport. Is that Billy Donovan, whose tenure with the Chicago Bulls seems to be at a crossroads? Is it Arizona's Tommy Lloyd or Iowa State's T.J. Otzelberger, who have established monster programs that are rolling into the Sweet 16 this week? Is North Carolina ready to depart from its wine-and-cheese reputation and welcome someone like Nate Oats or Todd Golden, who have won big at Alabama and Florida but carry reputational scuff marks? This is still one of the top jobs in the country. Maybe the top job. And North Carolina isn't bumbling its way into a decision it will come to regret when it has to settle for a B-lister. North Carolina is doing exactly what it should do: Pulling the plug on a coach who wasn't good enough for the standard it expects and going into the marketplace to see who's interested. The answer Carolina is likely to find? Almost everyone. โ ๐บ๐ธ SNAPSHOTS PHOTOS ACROSS AMERICA (Rich Storry/Getty Images) Miami โ Jannik Sinner cruised past Alex Michelsen on Tuesday to reach the Miami Open quarterfinals. He's now won 28 consecutive sets (!!) in Masters 1000 events, surpassing Novak Djokovic (24 straight in 2016) for the longest streak ever. More from Miami: It was an up-and-down day for the top Americans. Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul both reached the quarterfinals and Coco Gauff reached the semifinals, but Taylor Fritz was upset by Jiri Lehecka and Sebastian Korda followed his win over Carlos Alcaraz with a defeat. (Adam Glanzman/TGL Golf via Getty Images) Palm Beach Gardens, Florida โ Los Angeles Golf Club completed its sweep of Jupiter Links on Tuesday to clinch the TGL championship. The four-man squad of Tommy Fleetwood, Sahith Theegala, Justin Rose and Collin Morikawa will split the $9 million grand prize. Tiger's mixed results: Tiger Woods (Jupiter Links) was a bit rusty in his first match of any kind in over a year, but he did provide a few highlights. Now, the biggest question on everybody's mind: Will he play the Masters? (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) Los Angeles โ Shohei Ohtani is still building up to a full starter's workload, but it's safe to say his "stuff" is ready for the season. The two-way star struck out 11 of the first 14 batters he faced in Tuesday's spring training finale. Three in a row? Since joining the Dodgers, Ohtani has won two MVPs and L.A. has won two World Series. With the season starting today, he's a big favorite to win a third straight MVP (-145 at BetMGM; Juan Soto is second at +800), and the Dodgers are equally favored to win a third straight title (+220; Yankees are second at +1000). โ ๐ฏ STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS (Cornelius Poppe/NTB/AFP via Getty Images) ๐ฟย 9 of 10 ย Mikaela Shiffrin completed her historic World Cup slalom campaign on Tuesday with a ninth win in 10 races, breaking her own single-season record to clinch a resounding title in the discipline. Add in her Olympic gold and she's won 10 of the 11 major slalom events dating back to last fall. And in the only race she didn't win, she finished second. Not bad. ย What's next: The season ends today with the giant slalom, and Shiffrin has all but clinched her record-tying sixth overall title, which accounts for results across all disciplines (slalom, giant slalom, super G, downhill). Only one other skier, Germany's Emma Aicher, has enough points to contend for the title, but she must win today's race to have any chance of catching Shiffrin. ย ๐ย 0.01 ย The top three teams in the men's Sweet 16 are separated by just 0.01 points in KenPom's Net Rating, which measures the number of points a team would outscore an average D-I opponent by per 100 possessions. Michigan leads the way (37.83), followed by Arizona (37.83) and Duke (37.82). ย The rest of the field: Houston (34.44) is the next-highest rated team left, followed by Illinois (33.27), Iowa State (32.98), Purdue (31.82), Michigan State (28.97), UConn (28.35), Alabama (27.34), Nebraska (27.15), Tennessee (26.90), St. Johnโs (26.79), Arkansas (25.85), Iowa (23.40) and Texas (20.24). The jersey number of each of Italy's home run hitters adorns the side of the machine. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images) โพ๏ธ $16,510 ย The espresso machine that gained notoriety during Italy's run to the World Baseball Classic semifinals was sold at auction for $16,510. The cheap plastic machine โ similar to what you'd find in an office break room โ was used to serve up celebratory espresso shots to Italy's home run hitters once they returned to the dugout. ย Memorable quote: No player got more use out of the machine than Vinnie Pasquantino, who provided quite the soundbite after hitting three long balls in Italy's group stage finale. "I'm caffeinated. I'm beaned up right now," said the Royals first baseman. ย ๐ย $165 million ย The NBA is projecting next season's salary cap at $165 million, ESPN reports. That number is roughly $10 million more than the cap this season ($154.6M), but is slightly less than initially expected due to reduced local media revenue, per the report. ย Exponential growth: While next year's cap isn't quite what was projected, it's still more than double what it was just a decade ago ($70M) and 51% higher than it was at the start of the pandemic ($109.1M). โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25 (Hayden Hodge/Yahoo Sports) โพ๏ธ Opening Night ย We are so back. The 2026 MLB season begins tonight in San Francisco, where the Giants host the Yankees in the first MLB game ever streamed live on Netflix (8:05pm ET). The streaming giant will also broadcast the Home Run Derby and Field of Dreams Game later this season. ย Legends on the call: Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols and Anthony Rizzo will join host Elle Duncan on the analyst desk, while CC Sabathia and Hunter Pence will join play-by-play lead Matt Vasgersian in the booth. ย ๐พย Miami Open ย The men's quarterfinals begin and the women's quarterfinals conclude, with coverage airing on Tennis Channel. ย Men: No. 21 Jiri Lehecka vs. qualifier Martin Landaluce (3pm); No. 22 Tommy Paul vs. No. 28 Arthur Fils (8:30pm) ย Women: No. 3 Elena Rybakina vs. No. 5 Jessica Pegula (1pm); No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. Hailey Baptiste (7pm) ย More to watch: ๐ย NBA: Hawks at Pistons (7pm, ESPN); Rockets at Timberwolves (9:30pm, ESPN) โฆ Atlanta (40-32) has won 13 of 14 to climb into position for an automatic playoff spot. ๐ย NHL: Bruins at Sabres (7:30pm, TNT) โฆ Buffalo's Tage Thompson (36G, 36A) and Boston's David Pastrลรกk (28G, 58A) are the points leaders for their respective squads. โฝ๏ธ NWSL: San Diego Wave vs. Portland Thorns (10pm, CBSSN) โฆ Portland (2-0-0) travels south to take on San Diego (1-0-1) in a West Coast clash. โฝ๏ธ Women's Champions League: Real Madrid vs. Barcelona (1:45pm, CBSSN); Manchester United vs. Bayern Munich (4pm, CBSSN) โฆ Quarterfinals, first leg. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ ๐ ALMA MATER MARCH MADNESS TRIVIA McNamara and Jim Boeheim in 2006. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) Syracuse is hiring Gerry McNamara as head coach, 23 years after he helped the Orange win their only national championship. Question: Who did Syracuse beat in the 2003 title game? Hint: Red and blue. Answer at the bottom. โ โฝ๏ธ TRAINING CAMP THE STUNNING RISE OF TWO WORLD CUP HOPEFULS Alex Freeman during warm ups ahead of a Villarreal match this month. (Alex Caparros/Getty Images) Yahoo Sports' Steven Goff, reporting from Marietta, Georgia: Alex Freeman and Patrick Agyemang were among the two dozen or so U.S. players on the team bus rumbling into this Atlanta suburb on Tuesday morning for the second day of the final training camp before Mauricio Pochettino selects his World Cup roster in two months. Distance from the team hotel: 12 miles. Lengths swiftly traversed in their career arc: incalculable. A year ago, Freeman was in his first full MLS season with Orlando City, best known to some as the son of a Super Bowl-winning wide receiver, Antonio Freeman. Alex had played for youth national teams but never for the senior squad. A year ago, Agyemang was still harnessing his 6-foot-4 frame after a breakout season with Charlotte FC in 2024. He had auditioned for Pochettino early in 2025, but, as with Freeman, the World Cup seemed a million miles away. A year later, both have matriculated overseas, with Freeman at Villarreal in Spain and Agyemang at Derby County in England. Both have received regular U.S. call-ups. And with the sport's quadrennial carnival kicking off across North America in less than three months, both are in serious contention for Pochettino's 26-man squad. โ Trivia answer: Kansas Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 31 Author Members Posted March 31 ๐ย Good morning! At long last, Opening Day has arrived. Video game numbers: Jamal Murray erupted for 53 points and Nikola Jokiฤ had 23 points, 21 rebounds and 19 assists in Denver's win over the Nuggets. In today's edition: Yankees blank Giants, Opening Day divisional previews, Duke's seamless succession, NFL Draft Big Board, NBA expansion update, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES โพ๏ธ Yankees 7, Giants 0: New York hammered San Francisco on Opening Night in a game that featured the first ABS challenge in MLB history, a dominant start from Max Fried (6.1 IP, 4 K, 2 H) and a golden sombrero (4 strikeouts) for Aaron Judge, who was the only Yankee not to record a hit (0-for-5). ๐ย A comeback for the ages: The Timberwolves completed an unprecedented comeback on Wednesday night in Minneapolis, erasing a 13-point deficit in overtime to stun the Rockets and maintain their slight edge over them in the standings. ๐ "Tush push" lives on: The "tush push" will not be discussed at next week's NFL owner's meetings, meaning it will live to see at least one more season. The controversial play has drawn plenty of criticism, and multiple attempts to ban it, in recent years. ๐ย NBA expansion update: The NBA's Board of Governors voted in favor of exploring expansion opportunities in Las Veush" will not be discussed at negas and Seattle, though commissioner Adam Silver did acknowledge that "there are some" owners who don't see a need to expand to 32 teams. โ โ โพ๏ธ AROUND THE HORN OPENING DAY: AL PREVIEWS (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports) AL East:ย Three different teams have won this perennially-deep division in the past three years, and such volatility should be expected again this summer with four teams in the top eight of our power rankings and all five projected by FanGraphs to win at least 80 games. The Yankees lead the way (85-77), just barely ahead of the Red Sox (84-78), Blue Jays (84-78), Orioles (82-80) and Rays (81-81), in their return to Tropicana Field. Cream of the crop: There's a decent chance the AL MVP comes from this division, which features six of the top 11 favorites at BetMGM. Three-time winner Aaron Judge leads the way (+200), but don't overlook Orioles SS Gunnar Henderson (+1600), Red Sox RF Roman Anthony (+1600), Blue Jays 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (+1600), Rays 3B Junior Caminero (+2500) and Orioles 1B Pete Alonso (+2500). (Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports) AL Central: The Tigers are projected to win this division (83-79), but don't be surprised if the Royals (81-81) make a run at it behind generational talent Bobby Witt Jr. and one of the league's best rotations. The Twins (80-82) have more of an eye toward the future than present, the Guardians (77-85) will try to beat expectations again, and the White Sox (71-91), well, won't be very goodโฆ But Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami should be fun to watch! Cy Young three-peat? Detroit's Tarik Skubal already became the first AL pitcher to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards since Pedro Martรญnez (1999-2000). He's the favorite to win again (+300), and would join Greg Maddux (1992-95) and Randy Johnson (1999-2002) as the only pitchers in either league to win three in a row. (Davis Long/Yahoo Sports) AL West: There's a new sheriff in town, with the Mariners โ who came within a win last season of reaching their first-ever World Series โ projected as heavy favorites (87-75) in a division that used to be ruled by the Astros (81-81). The Rangers (82-80) will probably be in the mix all year, the Athletics (78-84) should be a sneaky fun team and the Angels (73-89) are a near-lock to extend their 11-year postseason drought. Catching up with the A's: As a reminder, the Athletics are moving to Las Vegas in 2028. Until then, they'll play at Sacramento's hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park โ a boon for an excellent young offense that includes last year's top-two ROY finishers in Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson. They will also make one brief stop in Sin City this June for six "home" games at Las Vegas Ballpark, where their Triple-A affiliate plays. โ โพ๏ธ AROUND THE HORN OPENING DAY: NL PREVIEWS (Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports) NL East:ย The Mets, hoping to put last season's epic collapse in the rearview, signed a host of free agents including ace Freddy Peralta, infielder Bo Bichette and closer Devin Williams. And with a projected record of 87-75 they should be locked in a three-way battle with the Braves (87-75) โ looking to rebound after last year's 76-win faceplant โ and defending division champion Phillies (86-76). The Marlins (78-84) and Nationals (72-90) remain at the bottom. Spending chasm: No division represents MLB's spending gap more than the NL East, which has two of the four biggest spenders in the Mets ($368M) and Phillies ($310M) and by far the most frugal team in the Marlins, whose $77M tax payroll is $20M less than any other team. Miami's highest-paid player, closer Pete Fairbanks ($13M), would be the 10th highest-paid Met. (Amy Monks/Yahoo Sports) NL Central: The Cubs, who lost Kyle Tucker but added Alex Bregman, are projected as slight favorites (85-77) over the Brewers (83-79), who have won three straight division titles. But don't count out the potentially frisky Pirates (83-79) or the talented Reds (79-83), who snuck into the wild card last year. It could be a long summer for the Cardinals (76-86), who are still in rebuild mode. Buccos rising? The Pirates' 10-year playoff drought is the longest in the NL, but they're a popular dark-horse pick to make the postseason. They added some veteran talent on offense, boast the top prospect in baseball (SS Konnor Griffin), and Paul Skenes (career 1.96 ERA!) should continue mowing down the opposition every fifth day. (Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports) NL West:ย The two-time defending champion Dodgers (94-68) got even better this offseason, so it would be an upset of epic proportions if the Diamondbacks (83-79), Giants (81-81) or Padres (81-81) finished ahead of them. Perhaps equally as shocking: if one of those teams finished below the Rockies (67-95), who were one of the worst teams in MLB history last year. SF's new skipper: While nine MLB teams named new managers this offseason, no hire stood out more than the Giants' choice of Tony Vitello. The former Tennessee coach made history last night, becoming the first manager to make the leap from college to MLB without any prior experience at the pro level (coaching or playing). โ ๐ PASSING THE TORCH DUKE'S SEAMLESS SUCCESSION (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) Replacing a legendary coach has been one of the most difficult, drama-filled dynamics in the history of college sports. Duke and Jon Scheyer have made it look easy. Is it the best coaching transition ever? From Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken: As college basketball heads toward the Final Four next week, much of the sport's focus will be on the simmering uncertainty at several of the sport's blue bloods. North Carolina's transition plan from Roy Williams to Hubert Davis went bust. Kansas could be facing just its second coaching search since 1988, caught between cross-pressures to elevate current assistant and alum Jacque Vaughn or cast a wider net if Bill Self leaves. And Kentuckys discontent after 15 years of John Calipari has put Mark Pope, another alum, on the hot seat headed into next year. Meanwhile, four years after the retirement of Mike Krzyzewski, Duke is in its third straight Sweet 16, has won 83.7% of its games under Jon Scheyer and seems poised to continue contending for national titles as far as the eye can see. Over the history of college sports, few tasks have been more vexing for schools and administrators than keeping things both successful and sane around a prominent program once their forever coach leaves. Duke has made it look easy. It might even be the most well-executed coaching handoff there's ever been from legend to successor. โ ๐ BIG BOARD NFL DRAFT: TOP 50 PROSPECTS (Yahoo Sports) The 2026 NFL Draft kicks off exactly four weeks from today (April 23-25). To celebrate, here's our latest Big Board, courtesy of Nate Tice and Charles Robinson. (Yahoo Sports) Early QB rankings: Breaking down Mendoza and other top prospects (Tice) (Yahoo Sports) NFL power rankings: Who's having best offseason so far? (Frank Schwab) โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: THURSDAY, MARCH 26 (Taylar Sievert/Yahoo Sports) โพ๏ธ Opening Day ย Last night's appetizer gave way to today's main course, with an 11-game slate kicking off the 2026 MLB season in earnest. ย Game of the Day: The Mets, who open the season with the third-best title odds (+1200 at BetMGM), host the Pirates (1:15pm ET, NBC), who are clearly on the rise in the NL Central. On the bump: Reigning Cy Young Paul Skenes and Mets newcomer Freddy Peralta in one of the day's many excellent starting pitching matchups. ย ๐ย Sweet 16 ย The men's Sweet 16 tips off today in San Jose and Houston, where four teams will book their spots in the Elite Eight. ย Houston: No. 4 Nebraska and No. 9 Iowa get things started (7:30pm, TBS) in a matchup between Big Ten rivals and two of the top corn-producing states. Then No. 2 Houston, back in the Sweet 16 for the seventh straight tournament, plays what is effectively a home game against No. 3 Illinois (10:05pm, TBS). ย San Jose: No. 2 Purdue is a 7.5-point favorite against No. 11 Texas (7:10pm, CBS), who will try to become the first team to go from the First Four to the Elite Eight since UCLA in 2021. No. 1 Arizona is equally favored against No. 4 Arkansas (9:45pm, CBS), who will need another big night from freshman sensation Darius Acuff Jr. (60 points through two games). ย ๐พย Miami Open ย Today's slate features two of the top three men's players in the world, and three of the top four women. ย Men's QF: No. 2 Jannik Sinner vs. No. 19 Francis Tiafoe (1pm); No. 3 Alexander Zverev vs. No. 18 Francisco Cerรบndolo (7pm) โฆ Winners will join No. 21 Jiri Lehecka and No. 28 Arthur Fils in the semifinals. ย Women's SF: No. 4 Coco Gauff vs. No. 13 Karolรญna Muchovรก (3pm); No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 3 Elena Rybakina (8:30pm). ย More to watch: ๐ย NBA: Knicks at Hornets (7pm, NBA) โฆ New York (48-25) has won seven straight and Charlotte (38-34) has won four straight. ๐ย NHL: Wild at Panthers (7pm, ESPN); Oilers at Golden Knights (9:30pm, ESPN) โฆ Connor McDavid just became the third-fastest player to reach 1,200 points (784 games). ๐ย NCAA Hockey Tournament: No. 3 Michigan State vs. UConn (1:30pm, ESPN2); Dartmouth vs. Wisconsin (5pm, ESPNU); Providence vs. Quinnipiac (5pm, ESPN+); No. 2 North Dakota vs. Merrimack (8:30pm, ESPN2) โฆ Regional semifinals. โณ๏ธ PGA: Houston Open (8:15am, ESPN+; 3pm, Golf) โฆ Min Woo Lee is favored to win (+1200) after Scottie Scheffler withdrew due to the impending birth of his second child. โฝ๏ธ World Cup Playoffs: Wales vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina (3:45pm, FS1); Poland vs. Albania (3:45pm, FS2); Bolivia vs. Suriname (6pm, FS1); New Caledonia vs. Jamaica (10pm, FS1) โฆ Six spots are up for grabs in this summer's World Cup. Who ya got? Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ ๐ HOOPS MATH FINAL FOUR TRIVIA (Davis Long/Yahoo Sports) Question: With 16 teams still alive in the men's NCAA tournament, how many potential Final Four combinations are there? A) 64 128 C) 256 D) 512 Answer at the bottom. โ โพ๏ธ GOING YARD NEED AN OPENING DAY HOMER? CALL TYLER (Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) When Tyler O'Neill takes the field for the Orioles this afternoon, he'll try to extend one of the wildest streaks in sports with yet another Opening Day home run. Six in a row: The 30-year-old outfielder has hit a homer on six straight Opening Days, which is (obviously) an MLB record. He'll go for lucky number seven today in Baltimore. โ Trivia answer: C) 256 Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 31 Author Members Posted March 31 ๐ธ Pics to go: America's pastime returns ย Bunting hangs at Citi Field today. Photo: Dustin Satloff/MLB Photos via Getty Images MLB's Opening Day began this afternoon, with the Pittsburgh Pirates visiting the New York Mets in Queens. ๐ช Hotshot Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes got the hook in the first after the Amazins' pulled ahead 5-2 on 37 pitches. That's after the Yankees shut out the San Francisco Giants last night 7-zip in Netflix's "Opening Night" showdown. (Gift link: TV review by The Athletic's Andrew Marchand.) Ceremonies before last night's Yankees-Giants matchup in San Francisco. Photo: Lachlan Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images โพ๏ธ Tim Barnicle, academic and writer, waxes poetic about America's pastime on Substack: "Baseball remains our game, but it is much more than that." "It is a clarion call for hope, for wonder, and for possibility. A warren to protect from the winter wind. A daily American Aeneid, unfolding not verse by verse but pitch by pitch." Keep reading. The San Francisco Giants' Luis Arraez and Jung Hoo Lee take the field at Oracle Park last night. Photo: Lachlan Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images ๐ญ "It is the sizzle of the grill and a melting bead of ice cream running down a child's face in the hot summer sun. It is the tang of lemonade on your lips and the pop of a bubble that got too big." "It is the feeling of a sunburn when you sit down to dinner and the chirping of crickets on a summer night you hope never ends. It is the call of your father's voice, resonant once more, calling you in from the porch as you reply, "One more at bat!" Today's schedule. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted March 31 Author Members Posted March 31 ๐ Yahoo! It's Friday! You made it. In today's edition: The key characters entering the MLB season, Sweet 16 recap, Opening Day in photos, Weekend Watchlist, NBA expansion mock draft, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES โพ๏ธ Dodgers dominate sales: The two-time defending champs boast five of the top 12 most popular MLB jerseys since the end of last season, led by Shohei Ohtani at the top of the list. No other team has more than two players in the top 20. ๐ณ๏ธโโง๏ธย Olympics trans ban: The International Olympic Committee announced a new policy on Thursday that bans transgender athletes from competing in the women's category in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and beyond. ๐ย Back in Baton Rouge: LSU is bringing back head coach Will Wade, who had a successful five-year run at the school before he was fired in 2022 following an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations. Wade went 70-23 across the last three seasons at McNeese and NC State. โธ๏ธ "Quad God" shines: Ilia Malinin, seeking redemption after stumbling at the Olympics, skated spectacularly on Thursday at the world championships, where his personal-best free skate put him in position to win his third straight world title. ๐ย Kon hits 250: ROY favorite Kon Knueppel hit six more threes in the Hornets' win over the Knicks to become the youngest player in NBA history (20) with at least 250 triples in a season. In fact, he leads the entire league and has Charlotte surging towards the playoffs. โ โ โพ๏ธ KEY CHARACTERS WHO WILL DEFINE THE MLB SEASON? (Dillon Minshall/Yahoo Sports) Who are the figures most likely to define, influence and dictate the 2026 MLB season? When the dust settles in November, what and whom will we remember? Yahoo Sports' Jake Mintz took a crack at naming the Top 50. Top 3: Shohei Ohtani: Who else? There are a gazillion interesting things about the two-way sensation, like there are stars in the sky. Such is life as the game's most transcendent figure. This year, the Ohtani storyline is all about his full-time return to pitching. Tarik Skubal: Barring an unforeseen contract extension, the two-time reigning Cy Young will reach free agency for the first time at season's end. Each start will feel like a referendum on his future and his team's future. It's a fascinating dynamic. Aaron Judge: Judge is the greatest Yankee ever without a World Series ring. From now until the day he retires or raises a trophy, that reality will define his professional life. Such are the stakes in the Bronx, where the regular season is just a preamble, a home run derby exhibition for the best to ever do it. 4-5: Franciso Lindor and Juan Soto The 2025 Mets were not a trainwreck because Lindor and Soto didn't become besties, but things definitely weren't all peaches and cream between these two superstars. Both are on the team for the long haul, so it would behoove everyone in Queens if Soto and Lindor could get on the same page. Again, they don't need to have scrapbooking sleepovers or anything, but there's room for them to establish a more productive working environment. 6-7: Rob Manfred and Bruce Mayer With the collective bargaining agreement set to expire Dec. 1, the entire baseball world is preparing for a messy, acrimonious battle. A league-initiated lockout is almost definitely happening. Team owners want a salary cap. The union does not. Missing games is a real possibility. Because negotiations will begin during this upcoming season, the commissioner and the union's new interim executive director will find themselves making headlines quite often. Rounding out the top 10: Paul Skenes (8) struggled on Opening Day, but he's a unicorn with the kind of talent that rarely comes along. Is Bryce Harper (9) still elite? That's the question being asked within his own organization. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (10) needs to reemerge as one of the absolute best bats in the sport if the Jays want to win another AL East crown. โ ๐ SURVIVE AND ADVANCE SCOREBOARD: MEN'S SWEET 16 (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) Purdue 79, Texas 77 โ Trey Kaufman-Renn tipped in a missed layup with 0.7 seconds left to send the Boilermakers to their second Elite Eight in three years (and third in the past seven tournaments). (Alex Slitz/Getty Images) Iowa 77, Nebraska 71 โ The Hawkeyes rallied late (they didn't hold a lead until the final two minutes!) to end the Cornhuskers' first tourney run and punch their first Elite Eight ticket since 1987. Hats off to head coach Ben McCollum, who is now 38-8 in the NCAA tournament (D-I and D-II). (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) Arizona 109, Arkansas 88 โ The Wildcats completely dominated the Razorbacks from start to finish in a game that got chippy late. After a 25-year drought, is this finally the year Arizona gets over the hump and makes the Final Four again? (Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images) Illinois 65, Houston 55 โ The Fighting Illini beat the Cougars at their own game, using a smothering defensive effort to win ugly. Houston shot just 34% from the floor and got to the free-throw line just twice. โ โพ๏ธ PLAY BALL SNAPSHOTS: OPENING DAY Rookie Carson Benge gets a Gatorade bath. (Ishika Samant/Getty Images) New York โ Opening Day got off to a stunning start when the new-look Mets chased Paul Skenes in the first inning of the day's first game, putting up five runs on the reigning Cy Young in two-thirds of an inning (with the help of two defensive miscues) en route to an 11-7 victory. A day for debuts: There have been over 25,000 days of games in MLB history. Thursday was the first in which four different players homered in their debuts. First was Mets RF Carson Benge, joined later by White Sox 1B Munetaka Murakami, Cardinals SS JJ Wetherholt and Guardians RF Chase DeLauter, who hit two. (Aaron Gash/MLB Photos via Getty Images) Milwaukee โ The Brewers blew out the White Sox, 14-2, behind 12 hits from the offense and a lights-out performance from fireballer Jacob Misiorowski, who allowed just two hits in five innings and struck out 11 โ a Brewers Opening Day-record. More of the day's best performances: Phillies ace Cristopher Sรกnchez (6 IP, 10 K, 3 H, 0 R) was nails in a 5-3 win over the Rangers; Tigers' rookie Kevin McGonigle (4-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI) became the sixth player since 1900 with 4+ hits in their MLB debut on Opening Day. Everybody be cool, this is a robbery! (Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) St. Louis โ Cardinals LF Nathan Church made the play of the day in one of the best games of the day, robbing a homer in the fifth inning before St. Louis and Tampa combined for 14 runs in the sixth inning of the Cards' 9-7 win. Wild inning: The score was 1-1 entering the sixth. Then the Rays scored six in the top of the frame on seven singles, a walk and a sac fly, and the Cardinals answered with eight runs on five singles, two doubles, two sac flies and a homer. (Griffin Quinn/Getty Images) Chicago โ The Cubs may not have won their season opener, falling 10-4 to the Nationals, but the Wrigley Field facade remains undefeated. Just gorgeous. Fun fact: Wrigley Field is not named after the chewing gum company, but rather after William Wrigley Jr., the chewing gum magnate who also owned the team in the 1920s. That makes it one of eight MLB ballparks that hasn't sold its naming rights, along with Angel Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Fenway Park, Kauffman Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Nationals Park and Oriole Park at Camden Yards. โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WEEKEND WATCHLIST (Hayden Hodge/Yahoo Sports) ๐ย March Madness ย The NCAA men's and women's tournaments continue throughout the weekend with the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. ย Men: No. 1 Duke and No. 5 St. John's face off tonight (7:10pm ET, CBS), followed by No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 4 Alabama (7:35pm, TBS), No. 2 UConn vs. No. 3 Michigan State (9:45pm, CBS) and No. 2 Iowa State vs. No. 6 Tennessee (10:10pm, TBS). The Elite Eight begins tomorrow with No. 3 Illinois vs. No. 9 Iowa (6:09pm, TBS) and No. 1 Arizona vs. No. 2 Purdue (8:49pm, TBS). ย Women: Today it's No. 2 Vanderbilt vs. No. 6 Notre Dame (2:30pm, ESPN), No. 1 UConn vs. No. 4 UNC (5pm, ESPN), No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 4 Minnesota (7:30pm, ESPN) and No. 2 LSU vs. No. 3 Duke (10pm, ESPN). Tomorrow it's No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 Louisville (12:30pm, ABC), No. 1 Texas vs. No. 5 Kentucky (3pm, ABC), No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 4 Oklahoma (5pm, ESPN) and No. 3 TCU vs. No. 10 Virginia (7:30pm, ESPN). The Elite Eight begins on Sunday. ย โพ๏ธ Opening Weekend ย Baseball is back, and there are 35 games this weekend to remind you that the winter doldrums are truly over. ย Sunday's new home: After spending the last 36 years on ESPN, "Sunday Night Baseball" will now air on NBC and Peacock, with the Mariners hosting the Guardians in the inaugural game (7:20pm, Peacock). ย ๐พย Miami Open ย Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and second-ranked Jannik Sinner will both look to follow up their victories at Indian Wells with their second straight Masters 1000 titles. ย Men's Semifinals: No. 21 Jiri Lehecka vs. No. 28 Arthur Fils (Fri. 3pm); No. 2 Jannik Sinner vs. No. 3 Alexander Zverev (Fri. 7pm); โฆ Winners meet in Sunday's final. ย Women's Final: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 4 Coco Gauff (Sat, TBD) โฆ They've split their first 12 meetings dating back to 2020. How will this one fare? ย ๐ NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament ย The road to the championship continues this weekend. By Sunday night, the Frozen Four will be set. ย Friday: No. 1 Michigan vs. Bentley (Fri. 5:30pm, ESPNU); Minnesota Duluth vs. Penn State (Fri. 9pm, ESPN2); No. 4 Western Michigan vs. Minnesota State (Fri. 2:30pm, ESPNU); Denver vs. Cornell (Fri. 6pm, ESPN+) โฆ Winners face off in Sunday's regional finals. ย Saturday: No. 3 Michigan State vs. Wisconsin (4:30pm, ESPN2); No. 2 North Dakota vs. Quinnipiac (7pm, ESPN2) โฆ Winners advance to the Frozen Four. ย More to watch: โฝ๏ธ Friendly: USMNT vs. Belgium (Sat. 3:30pm, TNT) โฆ The 15th-ranked Americans host the ninth-ranked Belgians in Atlanta. ๐ย NBA: Spurs at Bucks (Sat. 3pm, Prime); Pistons at Timberwolves (Sat. 5:30pm, ABC); Knicks at Thunder (Sun. 7:30pm, NBC); Warriors at Nuggets (Sun. 10pm, NBC) ๐ย NHL: Red Wings at Sabres (Fri. 7pm, NHL); Wild at Bruins (Sat. 5pm, NHL); Flyers at Red Wings (Sat. 8pm, ABC) โณ๏ธ Golf: Houston Open (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/NBC); Ford Championship (Fri-Sun, Golf) โฆ Paul Waring (-7) leads in Houston and Lydia Ko (-12) leads in Phoenix. โฝ๏ธ NWSL: Angel City vs. Houston (Fri. 10pm, Prime) โฆ The league's top two teams square off in Los Angeles. โธ๏ธย Figure Skating: Worlds (Fri-Sun, Peacock/USA/NBC) โฆ Ilia Malinin leads the field in Prague. ๐๏ธย F1: Japanese Grand Prix (Sun. 1am, Apple) โฆ With F1 canceling races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, this is the final grand prix before Miami on May 3. ๐ย NASCAR: Martinsville Speedway (Sun. 3:30pm, FS1) โฆ Can Tyler Reddick win for a fifth time in seven races? ๐ย IndyCar: Alabama (Sun. 1pm, Fox) โฆ Birmingham's road course hosts the fourth race of the season. ๐ย UFL: Week 1 (Fri-Sun, ESPN/Fox) โฆ All eight teams take the field as the third season of the spring football league kicks off. ๐ย IFL: Week 3 (Sat-Sun, Yahoo Sports Network) โฆ Here's your Indoor Football League viewer's guide. Got plans this weekend?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ โพ WORLD SERIES MLB TRIVIA The Commissioner's Trophy. (Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images) No team from the AL or NL Central has reached the World Series since 2016, when two Central teams met in the Fall Classic. Question: Can you name those two teams? Answer at the bottom. โ ๐ NEW TEAMS FUN READ: NBA EXPANSION MOCK DRAFT (Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports) For the first time in more than two decades, the NBA appears to be on the verge of expansion, with two franchises potentially coming soon in Seattle and Las Vegas. Fun exercise: Here's a look at how an expansion draft might work. (Spoiler alert: Zion Williamson headlines the Sin City squad, who we've dubbed the Las Vegas Neon. As for the Seattle team, we have creatively named them the SuperSonics.) โ Trivia answer: Cubs vs. Indians (Chicago won 4-3) Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 2 Author Members Posted April 2 ๐ย Good morning! Welcome back. Fun fact: This year's Men's Final Four (Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan) is the first with all four schools as the name of states since 2014 (Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Wisconsin). In today's edition: UConn stuns Duke, WNBA relocation, MLB Opening Weekend, Tiger Woods is not OK, Frozen Four trivia, Baker's Dozen, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES โฝ๏ธ Historic crowd in Denver: The Denver Summit drew 63,004 fans to their inaugural home opener, shattering the NWSL's single-game attendance record (40,091) with the largest standalone crowd ever at a women's professional sporting event in the U.S. ๐ย Cassidy out in Vegas: The Golden Knights are making a stunning late-season coaching change, firing Bruce Cassidy and replacing him with veteran bench boss John Tortorella. Vegas (32-26-12) is solidly in playoff position, though the team has only won three of its last 10 games. ๐ย WNBA relocation: The Connecticut Sun have been sold for $300 million to the Feritta family (Rockets owners), who will relocate the franchise to Houston next year. They will also be renamed the Comets after the team that won the league's first four championships (1997-2000). โฝ๏ธ Belgium 5, USA 2: The USMNT was dismantled by the Belgians on Saturday in a friendly that served as a reality check just 76 days before the World Cup opener. "The ninth-ranked Red Devils were a class above the 15th-ranked Americans," writes Steven Goff. "Make that three classes above." โณ๏ธ Woodland's emotional victory: Gary Woodland, whoย underwent brain surgery in 2023ย and has been dealing with PTSD as a result, ran away with the Houston Open on Sunday to clinch his first PGA Tour win since the 2019 U.S. Open. โ โ ๐ MARCH MADNESS THE MULLINS MIRACLE Braylon Mullins celebrates his game-winning shot. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) "Utterly impossible." Those were the words of the great Bill Raftery after UConn stunned top-seeded Duke on Sunday in one of the wildest endings March Madness has ever delivered. Instant classic: The Blue Devils led by 19 points late in the first half, and by 10 with less than seven minutes to go. But the Huskies kept chipping away, pulling to within two with 10 seconds left. It was still Duke's game to lose as they inbounded the ball under their own basket, up 72-70, but a deflected pass wound up in the hands of UConn freshman Braylon Mullins, who sank a 35-footer to win the game and cement his place in college hoops lore. Jeff Eisenberg, Yahoo Sports: The hero of one of the greatest games in NCAA tournament history initially wanted no part of attempting the winning shot. When he retrieved Boozer's deflected pass near mid-court, Mullins wasted no time whipping a pass to teammate Alex Karaban on the right wing. Mullins, after all, was mired in a month-long shooting slump from behind the arc and had missed all four 3-pointers he had previously tried on Sunday night. "I looked at the clock and it said five seconds," he told CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson, "so I tried to get the ball to someone who had made one in the game." That would have been the end of Mullins' involvement in the play, except that Karaban did not have space to get off a shot and passed it right back to the UConn freshman with less than three seconds to go in regulation. That left Mullins with little choice but to rise and fire from the edge of the mid-court logo. What happened next will be replayed for decades in March Madness highlight montages. Mullins buried a last-second 35-footer to secure a 73-72 victory, sending second-seeded UConn to the Final Four for the third time in four years and ending Duke's season in the most heartbreaking possible way. Another Duke collapse: This was the latest gut-wrenching NCAA tournament exit for a Blue Devils program that has seen some of the best NBA prospects of the past decade come through its doors โ with no titles to show for it. Duke last cut down the nets in 2015. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) More Elite Eight: Michigan 95, Tennessee 62: The Wolverines' 33-point win was the biggest blowout in the Elite Eight since 1989 (another UM win!). It was also the 21st game of this year's tournament with a winning margin of 20+ points, which is a modern era record. Illinois 71, Iowa 59: Freshman Keaton Wagler (25 pts) and a supporting cast of Eastern Europeans helped the Illini clinch their first Final Four berth since 2005, when Deron Williams, Dee Brown, Luther Head and company fell to North Carolina in the title game. Arizona 79, Purdue 64: For a quarter century, the Wildcats found every possible way to let opportunities to make the Final Four slip through their fingers. This year's team refused to allow that 25-year hex to continue any longer. Title odds: Duke was the +300 favorite to win the national championship entering the tournament, but Arizona (+165 at BetMGM) is now the favorite, followed by Michigan (+180), Illinois (+475) and UConn (+550). โ โพ๏ธ STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS: MLB OPENING WEEKEND Roman Anthony watches strike three go by just before calling for an ABS challenge, which he won. (Jeffrey Dean/MLB Photos via Getty Images) ๐คย 54% overturned ย The ABS era is off and running, with 54% of challenged calls (94 of 175) overturned so far in the young season. That works out to 3.7 challenges per game, with pitchers and catchers (63%) having a much higher success rate than batters (42%). ย Tough day at the office: Umpire C.B. Bucknor had six calls overturned in Saturday's Red Sox-Reds game. That included two consecutive blown calls in one at-bat, both correctly challenged by Cincinnati slugger Eugenio Suรกrez. And on Sunday, umpire Chris Segal one-upped Bucknor with seven calls overturned in the Orioles-Twins game. ย ๐ฅย 3 straight games ย Guardians RF Chase DeLauter and White Sox 1B Munetaka Murakami entered an exclusive club this weekend, joining Trevor Story (2016) and Kyle Lewis (2019) as the third and fourth players in MLB history to hit a home run in each of their first three career regular-season games. ย (Very) early HR leaderboard: DeLauter's four dingers lead the league, just ahead of Murakami and three other players with three each: Mariners RF Luke Raley, A's C Shea Langeliers and Pirates 2B Brandon Lowe. Dominic Smith gets mobbed at home plate after hitting a walk-off grand slam in Atlanta. (Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images) ๐ย 7 walk-offs ย There were plenty of fireworks as six teams combined for seven walk-off victories. The Blue Jays did it twice, while the Cardinals, Reds, Mets, Braves and Marlins notched one apiece. ย Who played the hero? No one had a bigger swing than Braves DH Dominic Smith, whose walk-off grand slam came weeks after his mother passed away. Mets CF Luis Robert Jr. and Marlins RF Owen Caissie also hit walk-off homers, while Blue Jays SS Andrรฉs Gimรฉnez, Blue Jays 2B Ernie Clement, Cardinals 2B JJ Wetherholt and Reds CF Dane Myers hit walk-off singles. ย โพ๏ธ 0 wins ย The White Sox, Athletics and the NL West trio of the Diamondbacks, Rockies and Giants remain winless after getting swept to start the season. ย The other side: The Blue Jays, Yankees, Marlins, Brewers and Dodgers are the only undefeated teams left. 162-0 here we come! โ โณ๏ธ UNDER THE INFLUENCE TIGER WOODS IS NOT OK Woods at the Genesis Invitational last month. (Mike Mulholland/Getty Images) Tiger Woods was arrested on DUI charges on Friday afternoon after being involved in a two-vehicle crash near his home in Jupiter Island, Florida. Details: Woods' Range Rover was traveling at a high rate of speed when he clipped the back of a work truck and flipped his SUV onto its side. Woods, who was able to climb out of the car, was described as "lethargic" on the scene, and officers suspected medications or drugs. He took a breathalyzer test that returned a 0.00 reading but refused a urinalysis test at the jail. The big picture: We are looking at a pattern. Woods, 50, has now been involved in three traffic incidents in which he was either impaired, involved in a wreck, or both. In 2017, he was found asleep in his Mercedes by the side of the road in Jupiter, and was arrested for DUI. In 2021, he suffered substantial injury in a near-fatal crash near Los Angeles. Woods stands by his overturned vehicle on Beach Road, about four miles north of his home. (Jason Oteri/AP Photo) Joel Beall, Golf Digest: Something's wrong with Tiger Woods. We don't know the struggle's precise shape, but it's there. It has been there. The evidence is not subtle, and it is not new. That is the sad and disconcerting thing, and until it is reckoned with honestly, everything else is secondary. Chronic pain and how people manage it are not moral failures. They are medical realities that have unmade careful, disciplined, strong-willed people for as long as the drugs have existed. Tiger Woods is, whatever else you want to say about him, among the most disciplined human beings to ever stand over a golf ball. That discipline did not protect him. It may have obscured how much protection he needed. The golf world, this publication included, has organized its Tiger coverage around one persistent question for years:ย Can he play?ย It is a reasonable question if you are covering sports. It becomes an incomplete one when the honest answer to a prior question โ Is this man OK? โ is visibly, and has for some time been, no. We hope we are wrong. Maybe there is an explanation for the refused urine test that has nothing to do with what it appears to suggest. Everyone is entitled to their privacy, and no one should be mocked for their trials. But privacy is a harder argument to make when the struggle keeps arriving in public. On roadsides, in mugshots, in sheriff's press conferences. At some point, looking away is not discretion. It's something closer to abandonment. โ ๐ SNAPSHOTS THE WORLD IN PHOTOS (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) ๐บ๐ธย Miami Gardens, Florida โ Jannik Sinner overpowered Jiri Lehecka in Sunday's Miami Open final, joining Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only men this century to achieve the "Sunshine Double" by winning at Indian Wells and Miami in the same year. Meanwhile, for the women: Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka held off Coco Gauff in a three-setter to match Sinner's feat, becoming the fifth woman to complete the Sunshine Double (Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarena, Iga ลwiฤ tek). (Joosep Martinson/International Skating Union via Getty Images) ๐จ๐ฟย Prague, Czech Republic โ Ilia Malinin cruised to a gold medal on Saturday for his third straight figure skating world championship, putting his Olympic disappointment behind him with a dominant performance that included five quadruple jumps and his signature backflip. What they're saying: "He could win seven world titles and an Olympic gold if he skates through 2030, and he could go another four years after that if he wanted to," 1984 gold medalist Scott Hamilton told ESPN. "He's definitely in a position to establish himself as the GOAT" (Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images) ๐ฏ๐ตย Suzuka, Japan โ Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli took advantage of a safety car to win Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, giving the 19-year-old two wins in three races this season and making him the youngest driver ever to sit atop the F1 leaderboard. Verstappen frustrated: Four-time champion Max Verstappen, who sits ninth after Sunday's eighth-place finish, said he's considering stepping away from F1 at the end of the season due to his frustration with this year's new rules and regulations. Saturday's celebratory halftime show featured a dazzling array of lights and fireworks. (Rodrigo Oropeza/Getty Images) ๐ฒ๐ฝย Mexico City, Mexico โ Estadio Azteca celebrated its grand reopening with a friendly between Mexico and Portugal, the first match played at the historic grounds since May 2024 following extensive renovations to prepare for the World Cup. 73 days away: Estadio Azteca will host five matches at this summer's tournament, including the opener between Mexico and South Africa on June 11. That will make it the first stadium ever to host three different World Cup openers (1970, 1986). โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: MONDAY, MARCH 30 (Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports) ๐ Women's Elite Eight ย No. 1 Texas takes on No. 2 Michigan in Fort Worth (7pm ET, ESPN) and No. 1 South Carolina takes on No. 3 TCU in Sacramento (9pm, ESPN), with the winners joining UConn and UCLA in the Final Four. ย Fresh blood or more of the same? The Wolverines and Horned Frogs are both seeking their first-ever trips to the Final Four, while the Longhorns made it last year and the Gamecocks have been there in five consecutive tournaments. ย ๐ย Pistons at Thunder ย It's a battle of first-place teams tonight in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder host the Pistons in the final leg of a Peacock triple-header (9:30pm). The first two games to get things started: 76ers at Heat (7pm) and Bulls at Spurs (8pm). ย Chasing OKC: San Antonio (56-18) has gone a ridiculous 24-2 in its last 26 games to pull within 2.5 games of OKC (59-16) atop the West. With two weeks left in the season, can the Spurs catch the Thunder and earn their first No. 1 seed since 2014? ย More to watch: โพ๏ธ MLB: Pirates at Reds (6:40pm, FS1); Giants at Padres (9:40pm, FS1) โฆ Braxton Ashcraft vs. Chase Burns in Cincinnati, Landen Roupp vs. Walker Buehler in San Diego. ๐ย NHL: Penguins at Islanders (7pm, NHL) โฆ The second- and third-place teams in the Metropolitan Division are separated by just a point. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ ๐ TROPHY CASE FROZEN FOUR TRIVIA Wisconsin celebrates its overtime game-winner against Michigan State. (Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images) This year's Frozen Four โ No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 North Dakota, Denver and Wisconsin โ features the four programs with the most national titles in D-I men's ice hockey history. Question: Which program sits atop the list with 10 championships? Answer at the bottom. โ ๐ฟ BAKER'S DOZEN TOP PLAYS OF THE WEEKEND (Patrick Smith/Getty Images) ๐ย The Mullins Miracle! ๐ย Tkachuk's filthy goal โพ๏ธ Nasim, that's nasty ๐ย Duke at the buzzer! ๐ฅย No-look pickoff?! โฝ๏ธ Wirtz's wonder strike โพ๏ธ Made that look easy โพ๏ธ Catch at the wall ๐ฅย How'd she score?! ๐ย ลengรผn to Thompson ๐ย Maxey to the rack! ๐ฅย Take a bow, Gracie! ๐ย Wemby gets fancy Watch all 13. โ Trivia answer: Denver (10 national titles), followed by Michigan (9), North Dakota (8) and Wisconsin (6) Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 3 Author Members Posted April 3 ๐ย Good morning! Happy April Fool's Eve. In today's edition: Women's Final Four, customized ballparks, NFL flag football league, NBA blowouts, two new docs, Photo Finish, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES ๐ย NFL flag coming soon: The NFL confirmed on Monday that it's partnering with TMRW Sports to launch a professional flag football league (men and women) ahead of LA 2028, where the sport will make its Olympics debut. Individual investors include Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Serena Williams. ๐ย Blazers sale approved: The NBA has approved the $4.25 billion sale of the Trail Blazers to a group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon. The proceeds will go towards philanthropic ventures as dictated by the will of late owner Paul Allen. โฝ๏ธ Well, what was quick: Tottenham sacked manager Igor Tudor after just 44 days in charge (and five losses in seven matches). Spurs currently sit in 17th place in the Premier League, just one point above the relegation zone. ๐ย Replacement refs? The NFL is preparing for the possibility of hiring replacement officials amid stalled negotiations between the league and referees' union, whose CBA expires May 31. Replacements were used through Week 3 of the 2012 season due to a referee lockout. โพ๏ธ Scorching start: Nationals CF Joey Wiemer โ who barely made the team โ reached base safely in each of his first 10 plate appearances to start the season (8-8, 2 HR, 3B, 2 BB), matching Carlos Delgado (2002) for the longest such streak in the last 75 years. โ โ ๐ DรJร VU WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR: RUNNING IT BACK (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports) South Carolina and Texas took care of business on Monday night, winning their Elite Eight matchups to set up a chalky โ and familiar โ Final Four comprising entirely No. 1 seeds for just the fifth time ever. South Carolina 78, TCU 52: The Gamecocks pulled away in the fourth quarter to eliminate the Horned Frogs, who fell one win short of their first Final Four for the second year in a row. Texas 77, Michigan 41: The Longhorns annihilated the Wolverines behind a balanced offense (four players scored in double digits) and a stifling defense that held Michigan to 23% shooting. Dรฉjร vu: This year's Final Four quartet of South Carolina, Texas, UConn and UCLA are the same four teams that made it last year. That's only happened once before in NCAA women's tournament history, when Tennessee, Georgia, UConn and Stanford made the Final Four in 1995 and 1996. One difference this year, though, is the chasm between these four teams and the rest of the field. They've won every tournament game so far by at least 10 points, and their average margin of victory last round โ 23 points โ was the largest ever in the Elite Eight. "It's not that these four are entitled to reach the final weekend," writes Yahoo Sports' Cassandra Negley. "It's that we deserve to see which one is the best after the year they've had โ and the year the others haven't." Last four standing: Let's meet the semifinalistsโฆ UConn: The defending champions have won 54 consecutive games and have reached 17 of the last 18 Final Fours, which is truly unbelievable. This year has been another masterclass by Geno Auriemma, who's taken the Huskies to 25 Final Fours in 41 seasons at the helm. UCLA: Last year's move to the Big Ten has agreed with the Bruins, who'd never made the Final Four before the switch and have now made two straight. Now, riding a 29-game win streak, they'll try to become the conference's first national champion since Purdue in 1999. South Carolina: No program can touch UConn's all-time rรฉsumรฉ, but even the Huskies can't match what the Gamecocks have done in the past decade, winning three titles since 2017 and reaching the last six Final Fours. Texas: Over the last six years, the Longhorns have won 14 NCAA titles in eight different sports (3x men's swimming, 3x women's rowing, 2x women's tennis, 2x women's volleyball, men's golf, men's indoor track, women's outdoor track, softball). Can Vic Schaefer's squad add to that tally? Flashback: A year ago, UConn crushed UCLA and South Carolina crushed Texas in the Final Four, then the Huskies blew out the Gamecocks in the grand finale. The teams are the same this time around, but the matchups are different, with UCLA facing Texas and UConn facing South Carolina in a title game rematch. Title odds: UConn is heavily favored to cut down the nets again (-235 at BetMGM), followed by UCLA (+550), Texas (+600) and South Carolina (+750). โ โพ๏ธ MONEYWALL CUSTOM BALLPARKS: THE NEXT ANALYTICS FRONTIER? Kauffman Stadium on Monday. (Mikayla Schlosser/MLB Photos via Getty Images) Analytics have permeated nearly every aspect of Major League Baseball. It was only a matter of time before that extended to the very ballparks hosting the games. Home improvement: The Royals played their first game at the new-look Kauffman Stadium on Monday, debuting their home ballpark after moving the majority of the outfield fence in by 10 feet, and lowering it by 18 inches, this offseason in an effort to create a more hitter-friendly environment. It's not unusual for a team to modify its ballpark dimensions; the Orioles and Mets both made similar changes to their outfield walls in recent years. But Kansas City's move is unique because it's specifically about optimizing their current roster's performance โ a fascinating wrinkle that could signal the start of a new league-wide trend. A targeted approach: Royals assistant GM Daniel Mack, who has a Ph.D. in computer science, was tasked with analyzing the team's strengths and weaknesses to come up with new outfield dimensions that would make a meaningful difference, notes Sportico's Eben Novy-Williams. Mack found that Kansas City's hitters were narrowly missing a lot of home runs while their pitchers were surrendering far fewer fly balls than the average team. So he recommended a change that would positively impact the offense more than it negatively impacted their staff. The team believes the adjustment will add 1.5 wins this season, while also giving them more roster-building flexibility moving forward โ no longer having to focus on acquiring contact hitters to take advantage of what was the league's second-largest outfield. Will more teams follow KC's lead? There's technically nothing stopping them, as MLB's 191-page rule book is pretty lenient regarding outfield dimensions. The league does review all potential changes, though, so any extreme (or extremely frequent) modifications would be unlikely to get approved. Still, the Royals might be early to something bigger: the era of custom-built ballparks, tailored not to history, but to the roster on hand. Between the lines: It's well-known that the Royals hope to be in a new ballpark by the time their lease at The K ends in 2030, notes MLB.com's Mike Petriello. That gave them license to really focus on their current roster with these changes. In other situations, it might not make as much sense for a team to customize a ballpark knowing they'll be there for many years to come (with many different rosters). Early results: The Royals beat the Twins, 3-1, in Monday's home opener. All four runs came courtesy of the long ball โ though all three homers (two for Kansas City, one for Minnesota) would have also been out with the old dimensions. โ ๐ฏ STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS (Giphy) ๐ 82 blowouts ย In case the NBA's tanking epidemic wasn't already abundantly clear, the league has set a new single-season record with 82 games decided by 30 or more points. That tops the previous mark of 80 such games setโฆ last season. ย Who are the culprits? No team has been blown out more than the Wizards, who've lost 11 games by 30+ points. The Kings (9 blowout losses), Jazz (7), Nets (7) and Bucks (7) aren't far behind. On the other side, the Thunder and Knicks are tied for the most 30-point wins, with eight each. ย โพ๏ธ 20 feet shorter ย MLB's introduction of the ABS Challenge System means that teams must now provide more precise measurements of their players' heights. The result? The league has gotten a lot shorter! All told, the 430 hitters on Opening Day rosters lost nearly 20 combined feet compared to their previously listed heights, per the Athletic ($). ย How it works: The ABS zone is set at 17 inches wide for all players (the width of home plate), but the height is variable, with the top of the zone set at 53.5% of a player's height and the bottom set at 27% of their height. Put simply: shorter players have smaller zones. (Brett Wilhelm/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) ๐ย 17 tourney wins ย UConn's Alex Karaban has put together one of the most impressive rรฉsumรฉs in men's college basketball history, winning two titles and 17 NCAA tournament games. Only two players have ever started in more tournament wins: Duke's Christian Laettner (21) and Bobby Hurley (18), who is of course his coach's older brother. ย Looking ahead: If the Huskies cut down the nets, Karaban will become the 10th man to appear in three NCAA title game victories. The other nine โ most famously, Lew Alcindor โ all played for UCLA's dynasty that won seven straight titles from 1967-73. ย ๐พย 76 straight weeks ย Aryna Sabalenka has now spent 76 consecutive weeks as the world's No. 1 women's player, passing Iga ลwiฤ tek for the third-longest streak this century. Only Serena Williams (186 straight weeks) and Ash Barty (114) were on top for longer. ย All-time leaderboard: Sabalenka has spent 84 total weeks at No. 1, the 11th-most since the WTA rankings debuted in 1975. The top 10: Steffi Graf (377), Martina Navratilova (332), Williams (319), Chris Evert (260), Martina Hingis (209), Monica Seles (178), ลwiฤ tek (125), Barty (121), Justine Henin (117) and Lindsay Davenport (98). โ ๐ฟ PRESS PLAY NOW STREAMING (Netflix) Itching for a new sports documentary to watch? You're in luck as two new docs just hit streaming services. Netflix: Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom (79 minutes) โฆ The Untold series is back with four new films premiering weekly. Up first: The story of two-time NBA champion Lamar Odom, from his rise to basketball (and Kardashian) fame to his struggles with drug addiction and his near-fatal overdose at a Nevada brothel in 2015. (Prime Video) Prime: Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait (81 minutes) โฆ Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Drea Cooper tells the inside story of McIlroy's emotional victory at Augusta last April, where he finally completed the career Grand Slam. The film chronicles Rory's epic final round, while flashing back to his youth and other pivotal moments. โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, MARCH 31 USMNT starters poses ahead of Saturday's game against Belgium. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) โฝ๏ธ USA vs. Portugal ย The USMNT's training camp comes to an end with tonight's friendly against Portugal in Atlanta (7pm ET, TNT). The Americans will look to put Saturday's disappointing defeat against Belgium behind them in their final match before the World Cup roster is announced in May. ย Coming soon: U.S. Soccer's new $228 million training center โ the first permanent home for all 27 national teams โ is nearly complete. The 200-acre facility in the Atlanta suburbs will open on May 7 and host the World Cup squad's first training session on May 27, one day after Mauricio Pochettino names his squad. ย โพ๏ธ Yankees at Mariners ย The MLB season doesn't really start until the first Tuesday night game on TBS, right? Seattle hosts New York this evening (9:40pm), with Max Fried and Logan Gilbert squaring off in a battle of aces. ย The nightcap: The final game of the day is in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers host the Guardians in Shohei Ohtani's first pitching start of the season (10:10pm, MLB.TV). ย More to watch: ๐ย NBA: Knicks at Rockets (8pm, NBC); Trail Blazers at Clippers (11pm, NBC) โฆ The last full month of regular season action draws to a close. โฝ๏ธ World Cup Playoffs: Italy vs. Bosnia and Herzevogina (2:45pm, FS1) โฆ One of today's six matches to determine the final six spots in the World Cup. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ ๐ DOUBLE TROUBLE FINAL FOUR TRIVIA A UConn basketball fan during the 2014 victory parade for both the men and women's teams. (Darren McCollester/Getty Images) This is the sixth time that UConn has reached both the men's and women's Final Four in the same year (2004, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2024, 2026). Only nine other schools have ever done that, one time each. Question: Can you name any of those nine schools? Bonus points if you get multiple. Hint: 1983, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2024. Answer at the bottom. โ ๐ธ THROUGH THE LENS PHOTO FINISH Daniil Medvedev returns a shot during the Miami Open. (Rich Storry/Getty Images) Sports, but make it art. โ Trivia answer: Georgia (1983), Duke (1999), Texas (2003), Michigan State (2005), LSU (2006), Louisville (2013), Syracuse (2016), South Carolina (2017), NC State (2024) Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 4 Author Members Posted April 4 ๐ It's a repeat for the women's Final Four, with No. 1 seeds UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina still dancing for the second straight season. Go deeper ... Final Four schedule. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 5 Author Members Posted April 5 ๐ย Good morning! Welcome to April. Stat of the day: We're less than a week into the MLB season and there have already been more pitchers that have thrown 100+ mph (21) than in all of 2008 (20). In today's edition: The NBA's two leagues, Tiger to seek treatment, USMNT loses to Portugal, Italy misses another World Cup, NFL teams sell stakes, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES โณ๏ธ Tiger to seek treatment: Tiger Woods announced Tuesday that he's stepping away "for a period of time to seek treatment" after his rollover crash last week. "I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today," wrote Woods, who entered a plea of not guilty in his DUI case. ๐ย Champs on "Hard Knocks": The Seahawks will be on this summer's edition of HBO's "Hard Knocks," marking the first time since the show's inaugural season in 2001 that it will feature the defending Super Bowl champions. The runner-up Patriots will appear on next year's edition. ๐ย Class of 2026: Doc Rivers, Amar'e Stoudemire, Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne are reportedly among those who will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2026 this summer. The official announcement and full class will be revealed on Saturday. โพ๏ธ Top prospect extended: The Mariners have signed minor league SS Colt Emerson to an eight-year, $95 million extension, locking up their top prospect (No. 7 in MLB) with the largest contract ever given to a player before making his MLB debut. Who else could get a long-term deal this spring? ๐ย Lakers milestones: In L.A.'s win over the Cavs, LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most wins in NBA history, including playoffs (1,229), and Luka Dorson to an eight-year, $95 million extension, locking up their top prospenฤiฤ became the third-youngest player ever to reach 15,000 career points, trailing only James and Kevin Durant. โ โ ๐ WINNERS AND LOSERS THE NBA'S TWO LEAGUES (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports) A new phenomenon has taken over the NBA: the league has split off into two leagues like never before โ one trying to win and one trying to lose. Tom Haberstroh, Yahoo Sports: Playing without Trae Young and Anthony Davis, the Washington Wizards were on the verge of a breakthrough. On Friday night, the 17-55 team entered the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors with a two-point lead. For Alex Sarr and the youthful Wizards, it stood as an impressive showing on the road against a Steve Kerr squad with playoff aspirations. Now the hard part, the Wizards had to close it out with their stars in street clothes. But a weird thing happened. Wizards head coach Brian Keefe never put his key starters into the game when it mattered most. Washington fumbled the lead and lost by five. It showed in plain sight one of the most bizarre developments in NBA history. In that game, one team was trying to win and the other team was trying to lose. This happens every year. What's different this season is the sheer quantity of teams doing it and how early they started doing it. With so many of these games these days, it's time to look at the league through an entire different prism. Yes, the NBA prides itself on being the top competitive basketball league in the world. But if you pay close attention, you'll notice a new phenomenon: the league has broken into two separate leagues of competition. One league, comprising 21 teams, is competing toย win. Call it the A-League. The other league โ the B-League โ is nine teams competing toย lose. They're certainly competing, just in opposite directions. And it's warped the league in ways the league stakeholders didn't foresee. (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports) Head-to-head: Here's a summary of the B-League teams in recent "competition" against A-League teams: Washington is 0-20 in its last 20 Brooklyn is 1-29 in its last 30 Sacramento is 1-23 in its last 24 Indiana is 2-12 in its last 14 Utah is 1-14 in its last 15 Memphis is 1-17 in its last 18 Dallas is 2-23 in its last 25 Milwaukee is 1-12 in its last 13 Chicago is 3-17 in its last 20 Haberstroh: Aggregate those utterly sad win-loss figures and you'll find B-League teams have posted a dastardly 12-167 record against A-League teams across those varying chunks of games. 12 wins and 167 losses. That's almost 15 losses for every win. The outright futility is so pervasive that it's worth wondering if more than a third of the league has essentially split off and morphed into a G League division. Seriously, if the South Bay Lakers, who went 26-10 in the G League this season, played 179 games against A-League competition, could they eke out 12 wins over that span? It's not out of the realm of possibility, and that's what's so unnerving about the state of the league. Big picture: The fact that bad teams are losing to good teams isn't the story here. It's how many of them threw in the towel so early in the season. The question is whether this is a one-year blip or a sign of things to come. โ ๐บ๐ธ SNAPSHOTS PHOTOS ACROSS AMERICA (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) Atlanta โ The USMNT wrapped up its critical March training camp with another dud, falling 2-0 to Portugal in Tuesday's friendly that saw many of the same problems resurface from Saturday's 5-2 defeat against Belgium. What they're saying: "I am more positive now than before, because seeing the team compete, we are not far away," said manager Mauricio Pochettino, grasping for optimism. "We did a lot of great things," added Christian Pulisic, who's gone 14 matches without a goal for club and country. "It's just the same story, but I feel we're really close and I feel like we're in a good place, so I'm going to stay positive." (Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Washington, D.C. โ Alex Ovechkin scored twice in Tuesday's win over the Flyers, giving the Capitals legend 30 goals in a season for the 20th time in his career. That's three more such seasons than any other player in NHL history. Almost perfect: The only time Ovechkin has ever failed to reach the 30-goal mark was the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. And he only just barely missed it, scoring 24 goals in 45 games played for a pace of well over 30 goals in a full season. (Ryan Sirius Sun/Getty Images) Los Angeles โ Shohei Ohtani's first pitching start of the season was, what else, incredibly impressive. The two-way star struck out six and allowed just one hit across six scoreless innings, earning the win in the Dodgers' 4-1 victory over the Guardians. Wild stat: Ohtani now has both the longest active on-base streak in MLB (36 games) and the longest active scoreless innings streak (22 2/3 IP). He's simply not human. โ โฝ๏ธ WORLD CUP MORE HEARTBREAK FOR ITALY Another cycle goes by for the Italians without a World Cup. (Armin Durgut/AP Photo) One of the most successful nations in the history of the beautiful game will, yet again, watch the World Cup from home. Heartbreak for Italy: Bosnia and Herzegovina outlasted Italy in penalties on Tuesday to clinch a spot in this summer's World Cup. With the loss, the Azzurri have now failed to qualify for three straight editions of a tournament they once dominated. The Italians have won four World Cups (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), tied with Germany for the second-most behind Brazil's five. Prior to 2018, they'd made 14 consecutive appearances on the sport's grandest stage. Now, they're guaranteed to go a minimum of 16 years between trips โ a drought made all the more stunning by the fact that a record 48 teams made this year's expanded field (up from 32). "Everyone out!" reads the front page of Italy's daily Tuttosport newspaper. (Tuttosport) Tickets punched: The field is now set for the 2026 World Cup, with Bosnia joined by five other nations that earned the final six spots with victories on Tuesday. ๐ง๐ฆย Bosnia 1, Italy 1 (4-1 Pens): They'll join Group B alongside Canada, Qatar and Switzerland. ๐จ๐ฟย Czechia 2, Denmark 2 (3-1 Pens): Group A, alongside Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. ๐น๐ทย Turkey 1, Kosovo 0: Group D, alongside the USA, Paraguay and Australia. ๐ธ๐ชย Sweden 3, Poland 2: Group F, alongside Netherlands, Japan and Tunisia. ๐ฎ๐ถย Iraq 2, Bolivia 1: Group I, alongside France, Senegal and Norway. ๐จ๐ฉย DR Congo 1, Jamaica 0: Group K, alongside Portugal, Uzbekistan and Colombia. The final countdown: Just 71 days left until the tournament kicks off on June 11. โ ๐ต BILLIONS DOLPHINS, RAIDERS SELL STAKES Dolphins owner Stephen Ross (R) and Patriots owner Robert Kraft chat on the field before a game last season. (Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Never let it be said that owning an NFL team isn't a lucrative business, writes Yahoo Sports' Jack Baer. Pieces of the pie: NFL owners approved the sale of minority stakes in the Dolphins and Raiders on Tuesday, with both deals valuing the franchises at well north of $10 billion. Dolphins: Owner Stephen Ross sold a 1% stake in not just the team, but also Hard Rock Stadium, the Miami Grand Prix and part of the Miami Open at a $12.5 billion valuation* to Bin Lin, co-founder of Chinese tech giant Xiaomi. Raiders: Owner Mark Davis sold a 7% stake to Egon Durban, co-CEO of the Silver Lake investment firm, and Michael Meldman, founder and chairman of Discovery Land Co., at an $11.1 billion valuation,ย per CNBC. That works out to a $777 million purchase price. *Quick math: That's $125 million for 1% of an NFL team, its stadium, a Formula 1 race and even less of a tennis tournament. โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1 (Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) ๐ย NBA Doubleheader ย The No. 2 seeds in the East and West both hit the road tonight against play-in teams, with the Celtics visiting the Heat (7:30pm ET, ESPN) and the Spurs visiting the Warriors (10pm, ESPN). ย Wemby gone wild: Victor Wembanyama's latest feat of statistical absurdity came on Monday, when he recorded a double-double in under nine minutes (!!!) and finished with 41 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks in San Antonio's 25th win in their past 27 games. ย โณ๏ธ Augusta National Women's Amateur ย The seventh edition of this 54-hole stroke play event tees off today (8am, Peacock; 1:30, Golf) at Champions Retreat Golf Club (near Augusta), where 72 of the world's top amateurs will compete for a chance to play in Saturday's final round at Augusta National. ย What's at stake? Everyone gets to play a practice round on Friday at Augusta, but only the 30 who make the cut will play for the championship, where the winner earns a spot in four of this year's five majors (U.S. Women's Open, Women's Open, Evian Championship, Chevron Championship). ย More to watch: ๐ย NHL: Ducks at Sharks (9pm, TNT) โฆ Sharks center Macklin Celebrini just became the sixth teenager in NHL history to record 100 points in a season. โฝ๏ธ Women's Champions League: Bayern Munich (3-2) vs. Manchester United (12:45pm, CBSSN); Chelsea (1-3) vs. Arsenal (3pm, CBSSN) โฆ Quarterfinals, second leg. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ โ๏ธย ANNOUNCEMENT TRIVIA: AN UPDATE We have made the difficult decision to end our long-running trivia section. More info at the bottom. โ ๐ธ OFFSEASON PICTURE DAY (Mark Peterman/AP Photo) The annual NFL head coaches photo was taken on Monday at the league meeting in Phoenix. Missing: Rams head coach Sean McVay and new Browns coach Todd Monken, who apparently missed the photo because he was getting his haircutโฆ for the photo. โ Trivia answer: April Fools! Everybody loves trivia. Back with more tomorrow. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 5 Author Members Posted April 5 ๐ย Good morning! It's a great day to have a great day. Star of the night: Jayson Tatum filled up the box score (25 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists) in Boston's win over Miamiโฆ less than 11 months after rupturing his Achilles. Pretty remarkable. In today's edition: College hoops goes global, Self to return to Kansas, 50 highest-paid athletes, golf's post-Tiger era, Alcantara tosses a "Maddux," and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES ๐ย Self to return: Bill Self, who was considering stepping away from coaching after undergoing multiple heart procedures in the past few years, has decided to return to Kansas this fall for his 24th season with the Jayhawks. โฝ๏ธ France reclaims top spot: Les Bleus ended the March international break atop FIFA's world rankings, marking their first time back in the No. 1 spot since September 2018. Rounding out the top five: Spain, Argentina, England and Portugal. The USMNT fell one spot to No. 16. ๐ย NFL star enters rehab: Rams WR Puka Nacua has voluntarily entered a holistic care facility after a series of off-field allegations. Nacua was sued by a woman earlier this month over an alleged antisemitic comment and biting allegation. ๐ย NBA Europe gaining steam: The NBA touted "significant interest from a range of prospective teams and investors" and "enormous enthusiasm" for its planned league in Europe, which is expected to field teams in 12 markets including London, Paris and Rome. โพ๏ธ ABS walk-off: The Orioles beat the Rangers, 8-3, on the first-ever walk-off ABS challenge. With two outs and a 1-2 count in the top of the ninth, catcher Samuel Basallo tapped his head to challenge what had just been called ball two. The result? Overturned. Strike three. Game over. โ โ ๐ FINAL FOUR COLLEGE HOOPS GOES GLOBAL (Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports) The NBA has become a hotbed of international talent, with foreign-born players winning each of the last seven MVP awards. Now, the college game is following the NBA's lead โ a trend that will be on full display this weekend in Indianapolis. By the numbers: 23 of the 62 players (37%) on the Final Four rosters have a foreign country listed as their hometown. Five are starters and five others are in their team's regular rotation. Arizona (8): Ivan Kharchenkov (Germany) and Motiejus Krivas (Lithuania) are starters; Anthony Dell'Orso (Australia) and Dwayne Aristode (Netherlands) are in the rotation; Sidi Gueye (Senegal), Jackson Cook (England) and Sven Djopmo (France) see occasional minutes; Mabil Mawut (South Sudan) is redshirting. Illinois (7): Tomislav Iviลกiฤ (Croatia) and David Mirkoviฤ (Montenegro) are starters; Andrej Stojakoviฤ (Greece) โ yes, that's Pejaโs son โ is the key sixth man; Zvonimir Iviลกiฤ (Croatia) is in the rotation; Mihailo Petroviฤ (Serbia) and Brandon Lee (Puerto Rico) see occasional minutes; Toni Biliฤ (Croatia) is redshirting. UConn (5): Eric Reibe (Germany) is in the rotation; Uroลก Paunovic (Serbia), Rrezon Elezaj (Kosovo), Jacob Furphy (Tasmania) and Dwayne Koroma (Germany) see occasional minutes. Michigan (3): Aday Mara (Spain) is a starter; Oscar Goodman (New Zealand) and Malick Kordel (Germany) see occasional minutes. Global game: It's not just the Final Four. There were 888 international men's D-I basketball players last season, according to the NCAA's latest available data. That's more than twice as many as there were in 2010 (406), and a 557% increase compared to the first reported numbers in 1993 (135). Tomislav Iviลกiฤ (13) and David Mirkoviฤ (0) with teammates Keaton Wagler and Ben Humrichous during Illinois' second-round win over VCU. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) What's driving this? NIL has changed the calculus for elite international prospects, particularly those in Europe who would have otherwise played professionally close to home. But now that they can make money in college, I mean, would you rather play for Crvena zvezdaโฆ or Arizona? The broker: One man has played an outsized role in the NCAA's boom of international talent. Serbian agent Miลกko Raลพnatoviฤ โ whose most famous client is three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokiฤ โ represents 26 men's college basketball players, including four of the Illini's "Balkan Five." He's been supplying the NCAA with talent since 2023, and shows no signs of slowing anytime soon. "I'm really trying to, when I speak with teams, convince them to have at least two guys," Raลพnatoviฤ told Front Office Sports. "If you have two, you have someone to adjust with and they perform much better. Next season, I think you'll see more package deals." Looking ahead: As more foreign-born players come to the states, NCAA teams have also increasingly played games abroad in recent years. That footprint is set to expand as soon as this fall, with games planned in Croatia and Serbia as part of a proposed international series launched by Intersport and Rochelle Management Group. Zoom out: While the influx of international talent is more prominent in the men's game, the women's side has its fair share, too. Every team in the Final Four (UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, Texas) has at least two foreigners on its roster, representing eight countries: Canada, Kenya, France, Egypt, Ireland, Ecuador, Sweden and Croatia. โ ๐ต SHOW ME THE MONEY CHARTED: HIGHEST-PAID ATHLETES (Lev Akabas/Sportico) The 50 highest-paid athletes of all-time have earned a combined $56.2 billion when adjusted for inflation through the end of 2025, per Sportico. Breakdown: They represent 10 different sports and 17 countries. NBA players lead the way with 13 entries, and Americans make up 32 of the 50 athletes. โ โณ๏ธ STEPPING AWAY GOLF'S POST-TIGER ERA HAS ARRIVED (Mike Mulholland/Getty Images) It's here. The moment the sport of golf โ its players, its executives, its sponsors โ has dreaded for nearly three decades. It's time to face a world without Tiger Woods. Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports: Like a dreamer in a warm bed hitting snooze again and again, the entire sport of golf has pushed off this moment of reckoning. And why not? Woods transformed his sport like almost no other single athlete in history. He transformed a niche sport into a mainstream one. He added zeroes to the bank accounts of everyone involved in the game. He embodied a relentless dominance that singlehandedly reshaped golf from its pleats-and-plaid image into aspirational cool. And clearly, it all came at terrible personal cost to Woods himself. "I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today," he wrote in his first public statement since a Friday wreck and arrest, his fourth major traffic incident involving the police. "I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery." While the statement doesn't exactly help Woods' fight against DUI charges โ it's not an admission of guilt, but it certainly suggests there's more at work than simply distracted driving โ this was a necessary step for Woods to try to salvage what he can professionally from the disaster that is now his personal life. He's gone from the game now, and who knows for how long? "A period of time" could mean he's coming back to play later this year, or it could literally mean we'll never see him again. If he does come back, though, it's all but impossible to imagine that Woods will have any kind of significant competitive impact on the course ever again. He'll remain at 15 majors, three behind Jack Nicklaus. Whenever Woods does return, there will be the requisite stories, profiles, social media banners. But it's clear now that it's all cheap heat, a pale reflection of a Woods that burned out and vanished a long time ago. Tiger Woods can't give, or be, everything to golf. Not anymore. Update: Woods has already informed the PGA of America that he won't captain the 2027 U.S. Ryder Cup team. โ ๐ฏ STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS See that guy on the right trying to defend Rioux? He's 6-foot-9. (Chris Watkins/AP Photo) ๐ย 7-foot-9 ย Florida center Olivier Rioux, who at 7-foot-9 is the tallest player in NCAA basketball history, is entering the transfer portal after playing just 1.5 minutes per game this season as a redshirt freshman in Gainesville. I think I speak for us all when I say I hope he goes to a team where he'll get legit playing time. The people want to see him hoop! ย Rioux's NBA counterparts: The tallest active NBA player is Victor Wembanyama (7-foot-4), while the tallest NBA players ever are Gheorghe Mureศan and Manute Bol (both 7-foot-7). Can Rioux, 20, improve enough during his college career to reach the league and topple that record? ย โพ๏ธ 8th player ย Diamondbacks rookie Jose Fernandez mashed two home runs in Tuesday's comeback win over the Tigers, becoming the eighth player in MLB history to hit multiple homers in his regular-season debut (and second this year after Chase DeLauter did so last week). ย The other seven: DeLauter (March 2026), Trevor Story (April 2016), J.P. Arencibia (August 2010), Mark Quinn (Sept. 1999), Bert Campaneris (July 1964), Bob Nieman (Sept. 1951) and Charlie Reilly (Oct. 1889). Sabalenka and Gauff after battling in last week's Miami Open final. (Mauricio Paiz/NurPhoto via Getty Images) ๐พย 7,000 points ย For the first time in 13 years, the top four players in the WTA rankings each have at least 7,000 points: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (11,025), No. 2 Elena Rybakina (8,108), No. 3 Coco Gauff (7,278), No. 4 Iga ลwiฤ tek (7,263). In other words, the women's game is extremely deep right now. ย Then vs. now: In a rather eerie coincidence, the current quartet has the same national composition as the one from March 2013: American No. 1 Serena Williams (Gauff), Russian No. 2 Maria Sharapova (Rybakina is Russian-born), Belarusian No. 3 Victoria Azarenka (Sabalenka) and Polish No. 4 Agnieszka Radwaลska (ลwiฤ tek). ย โพ๏ธ 93 pitches ย Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara threw the first shutout of the 2026 season on Wednesday in a 10-0 win over the White Sox. And since he threw just 93 pitches, it also marks his second career "Maddux" โ a complete-game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches, so named for Greg Maddux, who accomplished the feat a record 13 times. ย A lost art: Complete games are harder and harder to come by in modern baseball, but this was the 13th of Alcantara's career, trailing only Justin Verlander (26) and Chris Sale (16) among active pitchers. Shutouts are (obviously) even rarer, and this was his fifth, tied for second among active pitchers behind Verlander (9). โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: THURSDAY, APRIL 2 (Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images) ๐ย Lakers at Thunder ย Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Donฤiฤ โ two of the top three MVP candidates โ square off tonight in Oklahoma City, where the first-place Thunder host the third-place Lakers (7pm ET, Prime). ย Tale of the tape: SGA, the league's second-leading scorer at 31.6 ppg, remains the favorite to win his second straight MVP (-350 at BetMGM) ahead of Victor Wembanyama (+250). But Luka (+3000) is surging, with three straight 40-point games and an NBA-best 33.8 ppg. ย ๐ย NIT Semifinals ย Itching for some college hoops during this pre-Final Four lull? The NIT semifinals tip off tonight in Indianapolis, with New Mexico taking on Tulsa in the first game (7pm, ESPN) and Illinois State taking on Auburn in the second (9:30pm, ESPN). ย Meanwhile, in Las Vegas: We also have quarterfinal action in the second annual College Basketball Crown, which features a $500,000 NIL prize pool. Tonight, it's Stanford vs. West Virginia (8pm, FS1) and Rutgers vs. Creighton (10:30pm, FS1). ย More to watch: โพ๏ธ MLB: Mets at Giants (9:45pm, MLB) โฆ One of just three games today. โณ๏ธ PGA: Texas Open (8:15am, ESPN+; 4pm, Golf) โฆ TPC San Antonio hosts the final tournament before the Masters. โณ๏ธ LPGA: Aramco Championship (7pm, Golf) โฆ 120 women, including the entire world top 20, head to Las Vegas. โณ๏ธ Augusta National Women's Amateur: Round 2 (8am, Peacock; 1:30pm, Golf) โฆ Maria Jose Marin and Soomin Oh (-7) are tied for the lead after Round 1. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ ๐ 2X CHAMPS COLLEGE HOOPS TRIVIA (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) Bill Self, who will return to Kansas next season, is one of three active D-I men's basketball coaches with multiple national championships. Question: Who are the other two? Hint: One did it with two different schools. Answer at the bottom. โ โฝ๏ธ WORLD CUP THE BEAUTIFUL GAME (FIFA) This is what the biggest World Cup ever looks like. โ Trivia answer: Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 6 Author Members Posted April 6 ๐ Yahoo! It's Friday! You made it. In today's edition: How UConn became the center of the college hoops universe, Weekend Watchlist, clay season is upon us, Why We Love Sports, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES โพ๏ธ Griffin gets the call: Pirates SS Konnor Griffin, the No. 1 prospect in baseball, was called up for today's home opener, where he'll make his MLB debut against the Orioles. And he'll do so with a full bank account after reportedly agreeing to a nine-year, $140 million extension. ๐ย Raiders sign Cousins: Kirk Cousins is heading to Las Vegas on what is essentially a one-year, fully-guaranteed $20 million contract. The idea, it seems, is that he'll open the season as the starter to give presumptive No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza some time to get his feet wet. ๐ย Brutal night for the Lakers: Things couldn't have gone much worse for the Purple and Gold on Thursday. The Thunder handed LeBron James the second-worst loss of his career (139-96) and Luka Donฤiฤ went down with a hamstring injury. โณ๏ธ End of an era: Phil Mickelson will not take part in next week's Masters due to a "personal health matter" in his family. With Lefty out, it marks the first time since 1994 that the Masters will not feature Mickelson or Tiger Woods. ๐ "Fab Five" reunite: Michigan's iconic "Fab Five" of Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson will reunite for an alternate broadcast during tomorrow's Final Four game between Arizona and the Wolverines. Their watch-along will air on truTV. โ โ ๐ BASKETBALL EMPIRE HOW UCONN TOOK OVER COLLEGE HOOPS (Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports) Jeff Eisenberg, Yahoo Sports: Steve Pikiell used to hate it when someone approached him and his teammates at the airport and asked what school they played for. The stranger would hear the name UConn, notice the Husky logo emblazoned on Pikiell's clothes and inevitably ask, "Is that in Alaska?" "No," the former point guard would have to explain. "It's UConn with a U, not Yukon with a Y." That was an easy mistake to make back in the late 1980s, before a former agricultural college surrounded by nothing but livestock and farmland became an unlikely destination for some of the nation's most decorated basketball prospects. Now UConn is the center of the college hoops universe, home to twin dynasties that have combined for 33 Final Four appearances and 18 national championships. UConn has been the women's basketball standard-bearer for more than three decades, deftly adapting to the changing landscape of college sports to keep racking up trophies and pumping out superstars. The men have emerged as a modern-day blue blood, climbing to a tie for third behind UCLA and Kentucky for the most national titles despite not capturing their first one until 1999. Geno Auriemma relaxes behind his desk at Gampel Pavilion in 1995. (Bob Stowell/Getty Images) Braylon Mullins' dramatic last-second 40 footer against Duke last Sunday ensured that this would be the sixth time that UConn's men's and women's teams reached the Final Four in the same season. No other school has achieved that feat more than once since the women's NCAA tournament began in 1982. And no other school besides UConn has ever won men's and women's basketball national titles in the same year. How did the UConn men emerge as one of the nation's elite programs barely a decade after some within the newly formed Big East questioned why Dave Gavitt even let the Huskies into the league? And how did the UConn women launch a dynasty only a few years after frustrated players accused the school's administration of being indifferent whether the program won or lost? Says former UConn women's basketball player Chris Gedney, "If someone tried to tell me what UConn men's and women's basketball would become, I would have recommended they go to a mental health professional." โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WEEKEND WATCHLIST (Davis Long/Yahoo Sports) ๐ Men's Final Four ย The semifinals tip off tomorrow at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, where the Huskies, Illini, Wildcats and Wolverines will play for spots in Monday's title game. Game 1: No. 3 Illinois vs. No. 2 UConn (6:09pm ET, TBS) Game 2: No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 1 Arizona (8:49pm, TBS) Game of the decade? Michigan and Arizona are pretty clearly the two best teams in the field โ and KenPom has them as the third- and fourth-best teams ever. Not sold yet? This is just the fifth matchup in Final Four history between 35-win teams, and the second since the tournament expanded in 1985 between teams who won each of their first four games by double digits. (Josh Heim/Yahoo Sports) ๐ Women's Final Four ย The women get things started tonight in Phoenix, where the same four teams that made it to last year's Final Four are running it back. Game 1: No. 1 UConn vs. No. 1 South Carolina (7pm, ESPN) Game 2: No. 1 Texas vs. No. 1 UCLA (9pm, ESPN) Looking ahead: The winners will meet on Sunday afternoon in the national championship game (3:30pm, ABC). ย More to watch: ๐ย NBA: Spurs at Nuggets (Sat. 3pm, Prime); Pistons at 76ers (Sat. 7pm, NBA); Rockets at Warriors (Sun. 10pm, NBC) ๐ย NHL: Avalanche at Stars (Sat. 3pm, ABC); Wild at Red Wings (Sun. 1pm, TNT); Bruins at Flyers (Sun. 3:30pm, TNT) โพ๏ธ MLB: Brewers at Royals (Fri. 7:40pm, Apple); Cubs at Guardians (Sat. 7:15pm, Fox); Cardinals at Tigers (Sun. 7:20pm, Peacock) ๐ย WNBA: Expansion Draft (Fri. 3:30pm, ESPN) โฆ The Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire will fill out their rosters from the league's other 13 teams. โฝ๏ธ MLS: Chicago vs. Nashville (Sat. 8:30pm, Apple); LAFC vs. Orlando (Sat. 9:30pm, Apple) โฆ Nashville and LAFC sit atop their respective conferences. โฝ๏ธ NWSL: Orlando vs. Angel City (Fri. 8pm, Prime); Kansas City vs. Gotham (Sat. 4pm, CBS); Bay vs. Washington (Sun. 5pm, ESPN2) โฝ๏ธ FA Cup: Man City vs. Liverpool (Sat. 7:45am, ESPN) โฆ One of four quarterfinal matches this weekend. โณ๏ธ PGA: Texas Open (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/NBC) โฆ Mark Hubbard (-7) leads by one stroke in San Antonio. โณ๏ธ LPGA: Aramco Championship (Fri-Sun, Golf) โฆ Three golfers are tied for the lead at 5-under in Las Vegas. โณ๏ธ Augusta National Women's Amateur: Final Round (Sat. 12pm, NBC) โฆ American Asterisk Talley (-11) holds the lead as the tournament shifts to Augusta for the final 18 holes. ๐คธย NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships: Second Round and Regional Finals (Fri-Sun, ESPN+) โฆ Top-seeded Oklahoma looks to win its second straight title, and fourth in five years. Got plans this weekend?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ ๐ UP, UP AND AWAY FROM FOOTBALL TO THE MOON (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images) A former college football player is among the four astronauts on NASA's Artemis II mission that will send its crew to the moon and back during a 10-day operation. Going to the moon: Victor Glover, 49, wrestled and played defensive back at Cal Poly during the 1996 season before graduating in 1999 with a degree in general engineering. What they're saying: "He may not have been the fastest guy out there or the most athletic guy out there, but he was going to succeed since he was the best technician out there," former Cal Poly head coach Andre Patterson told NYT. "That's who he is at his core." P.S. My cousin captured the Artemis takeoff from his commercial flight earlier this week. Pretty incredible stuff. โ โค๏ธ MARCH MADNESS WHY WE LOVE SPORTS An aerial view of the Stanford University campus. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images) Simon O. (Palo Alto, CA): I grew up in a house with two parents completely uninterested in sports. I remember saying the sports section made the best packing paper โ because it would never be used for anything else. But by the mid-90s, Stanford men's basketball was becoming harder to ignore in my hometown of Palo Alto. A program that hadn't made the NCAA Tournament from 1942 to 1988 suddenly found life, reaching the second round in back-to-back seasons. Even in our non-sports household, my mom started watching. My breakthrough came in 1997, when underdog Stanford ended Tim Duncan's Wake Forest career to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in 55 years. Watching one of the greatest college players ever walk off the court after losing to my hometown program flipped a switch. I didn't fully understand it then, but I was hooked. I had my team. Stanford returned nearly everyone the following season (1997-98) and added twin superstars Jason and Jarron Collins. The hype felt real. In the most unlikely twist, my mom and I bought season tickets. Simon during he and his mom's trip to St. Louis. The team didn't disappoint. They finished 26-4 and earned a No. 3 seed in the Midwest Regional. Next thing I knew, we were staring down a Sweet 16 matchup against No. 2 seed Purdue. The day before that game, my eighth-grade teacher told me my mom was waiting in the front office and that I needed to go meet her. Being pulled out of class midweek rarely signals good news. She told me to grab my things. We were leaving. Not because anything was wrong โ but because we were going to the airport. She had decided we were flying to St. Louis to watch Stanford play in the Sweet 16. At 14 years old, it felt like winning the lottery. And it got even better when the Cardinal beat the Boilermakers, meaning we'd get to stay for their Elite Eight game against Rhode Island, too. That game ended up being a classic. With 57 seconds left, Stanford trailed 71-65. It felt over. But March Madness never really ends until the clock hits zero. A few plays later, a three-point play cut the lead to one. Stanford still needed a stop. Then it happened: Arthur Lee jumped the inbound pass, deflected it to Mark Madsen, who dunked it and then celebrated in a way generously described as "dancing." I remember sitting next to my mom while all of this unfolded, trying to process how lucky I was to witness it. That play sent Stanford to its first (and still only) Final Four. Mark Madsen and Arthur Lee celebrate during Stanford's win over Rhode Island. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) A few years later, I attended the University of Arizona. It wasn't the only reason, but being around high-level college basketball had become something I valued. Now, at 42, I see that weekend differently. Moments like that are rare. You can go years โ decades even โ without something truly transcendent. When it happens, you just take it in. Even now, my mom and I text constantly during Arizona games. For someone who once claimed not to like sports, it's a shared language neither of us saw coming. And as luck would have it, Arizona has now returned to its first Final Four since 2001, one year before I arrived on campus. The Wildcats are set to face Michigan this Saturday with a chance to reach the national title game. This time, my mom and I will be catching separate Midwest flights to Indianapolis, hoping to recreate a little St. Louis magic. Because you never know when you'll get another moment like that. โ๏ธย Submitย yourย story: Do you have a fondestย sportsย memory? Or an example ofย sportsย having a profoundย impact onย yourย life? If you'd like to share, email me at kendall.baker@yahooinc.com. We'll keep sharing your stories until they run out! โ โณ๏ธ GREEN JACKETS MASTERS TRIVIA (Jamie Squire/Getty Images) With Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods both out, just three multi-time Masters champions are left in this year's field. Question: Can you name them? Hint: 1994, 1999, 2012, 2014, 2022, 2024 Answer at the bottom. โ ๐ธ THROUGH THE LENS PHOTO FINISH Carlos Alcaraz during a practice session as he prepares for the clay court season and to defend his Monte-Carlo Masters title. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) Clay season is upon us. โ Trivia answer: Josรฉ Marรญa Olazรกbal, Bubba Watson, Scottie Scheffler Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 7 Author Members Posted April 7 UCLA storms past South Carolina to claim its 1st NCAA womenโs basketball title PHOENIX (AP) โ Itโs mission accomplished for UCLA. https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-ucla-south-carolina-score-1b7d7aa969d6bded7ad857fa1d760e32? Lady Bruins Dominate No. 1 UCLA won the womenโs college basketball championship last night, entering the finals as underdogs but dominating No. 1 South Carolina, 79-51. The victoryย caps a 37-1 season for the Lady Bruins, whose only loss came against Texas in late November.ย UCLA never trailed in either of its Final Four games, and the win comes a year after it entered the 2025 tournament as the title favorites but lost by 34 points in the semifinals. It's the first NCAA title for the program and comes 15 years into the tenure of coach Cori Close, who was mentored by legendary UCLA menโs coach John Wooden for more than a decade. Watch the tearful trophy presentation here. The men's side wraps up tonight (8:50 pm ET, CBS), with No. 1 Michigan taking on No. 2 Connecticut. The Wolverines enter as 6.5-point favorites; watch top highlights from the Final Four games here. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 7 Author Members Posted April 7 ๐ฅ Year's biggest film debut ย Yoshi (left), voiced by Donald Glover; Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt (center); and Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day, in "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie." Image: Nintendo and Illumination/Universal Pictures via AP "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" scored Hollywood's biggest opening of 2026 after Universal Pictures released the animated sequel globally Wednesday, capitalizing on spring breaks leading up to Easter. It's the biggest debut since "Avatar: Fire and Ash" over Christmas. The Chinese movie "Pegasus 3," which wasn't a Motion Picture Association release, has the slight edge for the 2026 global record, AP reports. "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" played in 4,252 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, including 421 IMAX and 1,345 premium large-format screens. Mario ended the two-week reign of the Ryan Gosling-led sci-fi hit "Project Hail Mary." Third place went to A24's "The Drama," starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson about an engaged couple grappling with an unnerving revelation. Mario trailer ... See the Top 10. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 8 Author Members Posted April 8 ๐ย Good morning! Welcome back. In today's edition: Bruins on top, three robberies in one game, Sabres end the drought, Dusty May's full-circle moment, the NHL's Ironman, Flagg's big weekend, Photo Finish, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES ๐ย The drought is over: The Buffalo Sabres have clinched their first playoff spot since 2011, ending the longest active drought in the NHL and second-longest across the "Big Four" North American sports leagues. Only the NFL's Jets have gone longer since appearing in the postseason (2010). ๐ย Players of the Year: Duke's Cameron Boozer was named the Naismith POY, marking the second straight year a Blue Devils freshman took home the honor (Cooper Flagg). UConn sophomore Sarah Strong won the award on the women's side. โณ๏ธ Golf roundup: J.J. Spaun (-17) survived a rainy week in San Antonio to win his second Texas Open; Lauren Coughlin (-7) rolled to a five-shot victory at the LPGA's Aramco Championship; Marรญa Josรฉ Marรญn (-14), a junior at Arkansas, won the Augusta National Women's Amateur. ๐ย Class of 2026: Doc Rivers, Mike D'Antoni, Amar'e Stoudemire and Candace Parker headline the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2026, which includes three coaches, four players, one referee and the entire 1996 U.S. Women's National Team. โฝ๏ธ Grand opening: Inter Miami opened their new stadium on Saturday, debuting the $350 million venue to a sold-out crowd of 26,700. Lionel Messi and Luis Suรกrez both scored, but the defending champions could only salvage a draw against Austin. โ โ ๐ NATIONAL CHAMPS UCLA'S HOLLYWOOD ENDING (Christian Petersen/Getty Images) South Carolina looked poised to cement its dynasty status after ousting unbeaten UConn in the Final Four. Then UCLA flipped the script, dominating the Gamecocks on Sunday in Phoenix to win their first NCAA championship and cap a storybook 37-1 season. UCLA 79, South Carolina 51: The rout was on from the jump, as the Bruins held the Gamecocks to 10 first-quarter points, went into halftime up 13 and put the game away with a 25-9 shellacking in the third. All in, it was the third-largest victory ever in the title game. UCLA's top-ranked offense was its calling card most of the season, but its newfound smothering defense paced the Bruins during the Final Four, holding South Carolina to a season-low 51 points after holding Texas to a season-low 44 in Friday's semifinal. Another key to the Bruins' success? Lauren Betts, the 6-foot-7 All-American who was named Tournament MOP after becoming the first player (man or woman) to finish an NCAA tournament with at least 125 points, 50 rebounds and 15 blocks on 65% shooting or better. The other side: Hats off to the Gamecocks, who've reached four of the last five national title games, winning twice. But now they must regroup after losing back-to-back finals by 20+ points. The post-UConn letdown is very real, by the way: Since 2007, teams that beat the Huskies in the NCAA tournament are 1-10 in their next tournament game that season. That championship feeling. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images) Championship blueprint: The UCLA men are famously the winningest program of all time, but the women had never even reached the Final Four until last year, when they were blown out by UConn. 366 days later, they're champions under the leadership of Cori Close, who spent the last four years building a team whose time was nowโฆ or never. UCLA's top six players are all seniors, with two homegrown stars and four transfers โ led by Betts โ brought in through the portal over the last few years. Those seniors scored every single one of the Bruins' points in the Final Four. "We knew, we had a feeling this was our time, this was our year," said guard Kiki Rice, one of those homegrown stars. "We came out there this entire weekend, and we would not be denied." They weren't, and now they join UCLA's long and storied list of champions. One down, one to go? UCLA gives the Big Ten its first women's basketball national champion since Purdue in 1999. And tonight, Michigan will try to snap a nearly identical drought: the last Big Ten men's national champion was Michigan State in 2000. Good read: UCLA honors its history while making more of it (Cassandra Negley, Yahoo Sports) โ โพ๏ธ AT THE WALL ONE MAN, THREE ROBBERIES Adell's third robbery of the night. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Angels outfielder Jo Adell etched his name in the history books on Saturday night in Anaheim, robbing three home runs in a 1-0 win over the Mariners. What are the chances? There have been over 70,000 MLB games played in the wild card era (since 1995), and this was the first to feature three total home run robberies, much less three by the same player. Here they are in all their glory: Top of the first, off the bat of Cal Raleigh. Top of the eighth, off the bat of Josh Naylor. Top of the ninth, off the bat of J.P. Crawford. Over and out: While the first two robberies were spectacular in their own right, the third is the one everybody's talking about because this is where Adell ended up after making the grabโฆ (Los Angeles Angels) Embrace debate: Adell's ninth-inning leap into the right field corner took him all the way over the fence into the stands. The Mariners challenged to see if it might still count as a home run, but the call was confirmed because he made the catch before falling out of play. That's in accordance with MLB's rules (page 148), but should it be? If you fail to keep the ball from going over the fence, did you really rob the home run? What do you think? โ ๐ FINAL FOUR DUSTY MAY'S FULL-CIRCLE MOMENT Dan Block, Dusty May, Joe Pasternack and Matthew Babrick before heading to the 2000 Final Four. (Photo credit: Matthew Babrick) More than a quarter century after Dusty May and three fellow Indiana student managers went to the Final Four to beg for jobs, the Michigan head coach is back in Indianapolis, on the precipice of a national championship. Jeff Eisenberg, Yahoo Sports: Dusty May's first trip to a Final Four in Indianapolis was a bit less glamorous than his current one. He and three other Indiana men's basketball student managers spent multiple days posted up in the lobby of the downtown Indianapolis Marriott that was hosting the National Association of Basketball Coaches' annual convention. Their goal was to introduce themselves to as many big-time coaches as possible and to leave Final Four weekend with an offer to join one of their staffs as a graduate assistant. "All of us managers who wanted to find a way into coaching in any capacity would pile in a car and just get out and hopefully bump into any coach and find a way to make an impression," May said. "So it's just a full-circle moment to go from chasing around coaches trying to beg for a GA spot to being back here with this team." โ ๐ฏ STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS (Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images) ๐ย 1,000 straight games ย Avalanche defenseman Brent Burns played his 1,000th consecutive regular-season game on Saturday, becoming just the second NHL player (Phil Kessel) to reach the milestone. Considering how physical hockey is, it's an almost unbelievable feat. ย Late start: Burns, 41, began his streak when he was 28 years old, having already played 572 NHL games. "A lot of careers end before 600 games, and then you're playing a thousand straight after that," said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. "It's mind-blowing, really, to me." ย ๐ฅย 30 homers (in 40 games!) ย Oklahoma's Kendall Wells hit her 30th home run of the season on Saturday, tying the Division I record for the most by a freshmanโฆ and she's only played 40 games! ย Chasing history: Wells leads the nation in homers and is now seven away from the all-time single-season record of 37, set by Arizona's Lauren Espinoza in 1995. Espinoza reached that number in 72 games. At Wells' current pace (0.75 HR per game), she'll get there in 50. (Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images) ๐ย 96 points ย Cooper Flagg scored 51 points against the Magic on Friday, then followed that up with a 45-point effort on Sunday to outmatch LeBron James and lead Dallas to a 134-128 victory over the Lakers. ย Elite company: Flagg is the first rookie to post 40-point efforts in consecutive games since Allen Iverson in 1996-97. And his 96 combined points in two games are the most by a rookie since Wilt Chamberlain. ย โฝ๏ธ 6 straight shutouts ย LAFC demolished Orlando City, 6-0, over the weekend to improve to 5-1-0 and record their sixth consecutive clean sheet to begin the season. They've scored 14 goals so far and surrendered zero. ย West is Best: The Western Conference has been far superior this season, sporting a combined record of 41-18-30 (141 points) and earning points (win or draw) from two-thirds of their matches. The Eastern Conference, by comparison, has a combined record of 32-14-43 (110 points) and is home to the league's three worst teams: Philadelphia (0 points), Montrรฉal (3 points) and Orlando City (3 points). โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: MONDAY, APRIL 6 (Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports) ๐ย National Championship ย It all ends tonight in Indianapolis (8:50pm ET, TBS), where No. 1 Michigan (-6.5) and No. 2 UConn have 40 minutes left to put their stamp on the college basketball season. ย Who ya got? The Wolverines have been utterly dominant so far, scoring 90+ points in all five games and winning each by double digits. But a victory won't come easy against the Huskies, who are 19-0 in the Sweet 16 or later dating back to 2009, and 6-0 all-time in national title games. ย More to watch: โพ๏ธ MLB: Dodgers at Blue Jays (7:07pm, FS1) โฆ World Series rematch in Toronto. ๐ย NBA: Knicks at Hawks (7pm, Peacock) โฆ Fifth-place Atlanta (45-33) is a couple wins away from clinching its first non-play-in postseason spot since 2021. ๐ย NHL: Lightning at Sabres (7pm, NHL) โฆ Buffalo (100 points) could still catch Tampa Bay (102) atop the Atlantic Division with five games left. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ ๐ TROPHY CASE NCAA TRIVIA Head coach Cori Close celebrates after cutting down the net. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images) UCLA is now just the third Division I school with national championships in football, men's basketball and women's basketball. Question: Can you name the other two schools? Hint: Big Ten and ACC. Answer at the bottom. โ ๐ธ THROUGH THE LENS PHOTO FINISH (Mary Washington University) It doesn't get much better than this: Mary Washington scored at the buzzer on Sunday to beat Emory, 75-73, and win the program's first D-III men's basketball national championship. โ Trivia answer: Maryland and Stanford Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 8 Author Members Posted April 8 ๐ 1 sports thing: NBA's next big Euro step ย Illustration: Aรฏda Amer/Axios Initial bids are in for teams in the NBA's upcoming European league, Axios' Dan Primack reports. NBA Europe is expected to include around 15 teams in a dozen cities, with play beginning in October 2027 or later. ๐ฐ Multiple bids exceeded $500 million, and some hit $1 billion. Suitors included owners of existing EuroLeague basketball clubs and European soccer clubs. Go deeper ... Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 8 Author Members Posted April 8 ๐ The road ends: Michigan muscle ย Michigan celebrates after defeating UConn in the March Madness championship game in Indianapolis last night. Photo: Michael Conroy/AP Michigan beat UConn 69โ63 last night to win its first men's college basketball national championship since 1989, ending the Big Ten's 26-year title drought. The Wolverines won despite shooting 2-for-15 from the three, boosted by near-perfect free-throw shooting (25-of-28). UConn fell just short of becoming the first program to win three titles in four years since UCLA's seven-peat in the '60s and '70s. Watch "One Shining Moment." ... Gamer. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 9 Author Members Posted April 9 ๐ย Good morning! Today's newsletter is dedicated to my mother, a proud Michigan graduate who never misses an edition of Yahoo Sports AM (hi mom, and congrats). In today's edition: Michigan cuts down the nets, March Madness expansion, UNC hires Malone, Josรฉ Ramรญrez makes Cleveland history, Champions League resumes, hole-by-hole at Augusta, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES ๐ย UNC hires Malone: North Carolina has found its replacement for Hubert Davis, reportedly hiring former Nuggets head coach Michael Malone to lead the program in Chapel Hill. Malone, 54, has experience as a college assistant, but has never been a head coach at a university. ๐ย Wemby injured: Victor Wembanyama left Monday's win early with a rib contusion, grimacing while his left arm hung down at his side as he checked out out of the game. He still must play at least 20 minutes in one of the Spurs' final three games to become eligible for end-of-season awards. ๐ย Kuch nets 400th: Lightning star Nikita Kucherov scored his 400th career goal on Monday, becoming the eighth Russian-born player to reach the milestone. It also tied him with Connor McDavid for the league lead in points (126) with five games left. ๐ย Reese traded to Atlanta: The Chicago Sky traded two-time All-Star Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream for two first-round picks. Reese confirmed the news, calling it an "Angel's dream" to play for Atlanta. โพ๏ธ Soto lands on IL: Juan Soto will miss 2-3 weeks with a calf strain after landing on the IL for the first time since 2021. The Mets' $765 million man has been remarkably durable in his career, playing 150+ games in every non-COVID season except for his rookie year in 2018. โ ๐ NATIONAL CHAMPS HAIL TO THE VICTORS (Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) Michigan put an exclamation point on a historic season in Monday's national title game, defeating UConn 69-63 to win the program's first championship since 1989. Between the lines: The Huskies had the perfect gameplan to beat the Wolverines โ slow pace, long possessions, muddy things up. But there's only so much scheming can do against superior talent and depth. Elliot Cadeau scored a game-high 19 points en route to being named Most Outstanding Player. Morez Johnson added 12 points and 10 boards. And Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan's best player, battled through injury and scored nine of his 13 points in the second half to help lift his team to victory. Big Ten supremacy: Michigan's title snaps a 25-year men's basketball championship drought for the Big Ten, which becomes the first conference in Division I history to have three different schools win titles in football (Indiana), men's hoops and women's hoops (UCLA) in the same academic year. (Tyler Schank/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) Two-year turnaround: Much like Curt Cignetti, who turned Indiana's football program into a national champion in the same two-year window, Dusty May has shown that long rebuilds are for suckers in this era of college athletics. Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports: Just over 750 days ago, Michigan basketball finished a miserable, degrading eight-win season and did the only thing it could have done. Five years into a tenure that finally healed the university's sometimes complicated relationship with the Fab Five, it had no choice but to fire Juwan Howard. The energy around the program was gone. The roster was threadbare. The impending coaching search was uncertain, as most of them are. Michigan has been a good program for a long time, with a lone national championship banner nearly four decades old, but it was nobody's idea of a blue blood. There was no guarantee Michigan could land a slam-dunk coaching star. Down in Florida, Dusty May was the most desired coaching prospect on the market. Though the journey had been winding, six years at Florida Atlantic โ and the stunning Final Four appearance in 2023 โ had put May in a position for the first time in his career to pick the next move. Louisville wanted him badly. Vanderbilt was pitching a big investment into basketball. And then there was Michigan, a school more associated with the championships it lost in 1992 and 1993 with one of the most famous teams in the history of the sport than the title it won in 1989. "At the end of the day, we left it up to him," said his son, senior walk-on Charlie May. "I remember him saying, 'I feel like I can win a national championship at University of Michigan.'" At 11:19 p.m. on Monday, it happened. With a 69-63 victory over UConn, May completed one of the great two-year turnarounds in college basketball history and fulfilled a destiny the Fab Five could never quite reach. For some corners of college sports fandom, Michigan's roster has become the avatar for what's wrong with the current system. Rather than going out and recruiting a new Fab Five and cultivating it from the ground up, May got four of Michigan's five starters out of the transfer portal. But you could also look at it the other way: If you have an opportunity to improve your team quickly, why would you choose to go through the growing pains that come with a traditional rebuild? Bottom line: For decades, fixing a college sports program required patience and luck. Now, it's a game of investment and competence. But even Michigan didn't realize when it won the sweepstakes for May how big of a jackpot it had hit. Looking ahead: Florida is the early favorite to win the 2026-27 national championship (10-1 odds at BetMGM), followed by Duke (11-1), Michigan (12-1), Michigan State (14-1) and Arizona (15-1). Expect those odds to change dramatically in the coming weeks as players hit the transfer portal (which opens today) and rosters begin to take shape. โ ๐ 76 TEAMSย REPORT: MARCH MADNESS EXPANSION 'WILL HAPPEN' (Dillon Minshall/Yahoo Sports) Well folks, I hope you enjoyed the latest edition of March Madness, because the format is about to change. Barring something unforeseen, the NCAA is expected to finalize an expansion of the men's and women's tournaments to 76 teams, which could take effect as soon as next year. What we're hearing: Barring something unforeseen, "it will happen," one high-placed source tells Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger. The new format: According to a proposal socialized with members last year, both tournaments would add eight at-large selections, most of which are certain to provide the Big Ten, ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Big East with more participants. Eight games would be added to the current "First Four," creating a new "Opening Round" that would feature 24 teams playing 12 games over two days at two different sites (Dayton and another). Six of those games would likely feature lower-seeded automatic qualifiers, while the other six would pit at-large teams against each other. The 12 winners of the opening-round games would advance to an awaiting 52 teams in the original bracket. Under this concept, eight teams are extracted from the main bracket, plus the eight new at-large selections from expansion. But plenty of this could change through the course of continuing talks with TV partners Warner Bros. Discovery and CBS. What they're saying: Leaders at the Big 12 and ACC, perhaps more than others, have aggressively pushed for the expansion of the tournament. But so has NCAA president Charlie Baker, who views it as a way for deserving bubble teams to extend their seasons. "There are every year some really good teams that don't get to the tournament for a bunch of reasons," Baker said last fall. "One of the reasons is we have 32 automatic qualifiers [for conference champions]. I love that and think it's great and never want that to change, but that means there's only 36 slots left for everybody else." There is also an unsaid reason for expansionโฆ Paving the way for more access for power league programs that likely control the future of the event. Over the last five years, 15 of the 20 teams that the selection committee deemed as the "last four out" of the tournament have been from the power conferences. โ ๐บ๐ธ SNAPSHOTS PHOTOS ACROSS AMERICA (MLB) Cleveland, Ohio โ Josรฉ Ramรญrez, the heart and soul of the Guardians since his debut in 2013, played his 1,620th game on Monday, passing Terry Turner (1904-18) for the most in franchise history. The seven-time All-Star is now the only active player to lead a franchise in games played. Is anyone else close? Mike Trout has played the fourth-most games in Angels history (1,658), a little over two full seasons behind franchise leader Garret Anderson (2,013); Jose Altuve has played the third-most among Astros (1,987), though he still has a ways to go before catching Craig Biggio (2,850). Josรฉ Marรญa Olazรกbal warms up in the practice area. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images) Augusta, Georgia โ Masters week got underway on Monday at Augusta National. Practice rounds began, the mowing report was released, the range got a workout and the six amateurs in this year's field were honored with their annual dinner. Perfect forecast: After two straight years of less than ideal weather, the 90th edition of the tournament is set to be graced with beautiful conditions: 73 and sunny, 79 and sunny, 83 and sunny, 85 and sunny. (Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images) Denver, Colorado โ Nikola Jokiฤ had another sensational performance on Monday (35 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks) in the Nuggets' comeback win over the Trail Blazers, as Denver won its ninth straight game and leapfrogged the Lakers for third in the West. Another stratosphere: We can save the MVP debate for another day, but this is your friendly reminder that Jokiฤ is averaging a triple-double for the second straight season, leading the league in both rebounds (12.9) and assists per game (10.9) while averaging 28.0 points. โ โฝ๏ธ STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS: CHAMPIONS LEAGUE (Davis Long/Yahoo Sports) With the quarterfinals kicking off today, hereโs a Champions League-focused edition of โBig Numbers.โ ย ๐ 41st appearance ย Real Madrid โ who have won a record 15 Champions League titles โ are making their record 41st appearance in the quarterfinals, including six in a row and 14 of the last 16. ย The rest: Bayern Munich (36 appearances) and Barcelona (25) have the next-most quarterfinal appearances among the remaining teams, followed by Liverpool (18), Atlรฉtico Madrid (13), Arsenal (10), PSG (10) and Sporting CP (2). ย ๐ตย +275 odds ย Arsenal are the current title favorites (+275 at BetMGM) ahead of Bayern (+300), Barcelona (+450), PSG (+500), Real Madrid (+800), Liverpool (+1000), Atlรฉtico Madrid (+2000) and Sporting CP (+5000). ย The long shot: Sporting CP are clearly the minnow here as they seek to become the first Portuguese club to reach the semis since Porto in 2004. Since then, Portuguese sides are 0-9 in the quarterfinals. Mbappรฉ celebrates a goal in January's league phase match against Benfica. (Filipe Amorim/AFP via Getty Images) โฝ๏ธ 13 goals ย Madrid's Kylian Mbappรฉ leads all scorers in this year's competition, with 13 goals in nine games. Only three other players still alive in the tournament are even within six of Mbappรฉ: Bayern's Harry Kane (10), Atlรฉtico's Juliรกn Alvarez (8) and PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (7). ย Chasing Ronaldo: Mbappรฉ already broke Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 11 goals in a single group stage or league phase, though the Frenchman had the benefit of two additional games. Now he'll try to catch Ronaldo's record of 17 goals in a single Champions League season (2013-14). ย ๐ค 29th meeting ย No two clubs have squared off more often in UEFA competition than Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, whose 29th match is coming later today in Spain. Madrid holds a narrow 13-11 edge (plus four draws). ย The other matchups: PSG and Liverpool are 3-3 in their previous six UEFA matches; Arsenal holds a 2-0 edge over Sporting CP (plus three draws); Atlรฉtico holds a 2-1 edge over Barcelona (plus one draw). โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, APRIL 7 The Dodgers' offense put on a clinic on Monday. (Mark Blinch/Getty Images) โพ๏ธ Dodgers at Blue Jays ย The World Series rematch continues tonight in Toronto (7:07pm ET, TBS) after the Dodgers trounced the Blue Jays, 14-2, on Monday. ย Studs on the bump: World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start for the Dodgers, while Kevin Gausman โ who has a pristine 0.75 ERA with 21 strikeouts against no walks through his first two starts this season โ takes the mound for the Blue Jays. ย ๐ย NBA on NBC ย The second-place Celtics host the eighth-place Hornets in the first leg of tonight's doubleheader (8pm), followed by the fifth-place Rockets at the seventh-place Suns in the nightcap (11pm). ย Ending the drought: Charlotte's nine-year playoff drought, the longest in the league, may finally be coming to an end. The Hornets (43-36) have won four straight and sit just a half-game out of sixth place. Either they'll catch the 76ers and Raptors for an automatic playoff spot or they'll have a chance to win their way in via the play-in. ย More to watch: โฝ๏ธ Champions League: Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich (3pm, Paramount+); Sporting CP vs. Arsenal (3pm, Paramount+) โฆ Quarterfinals, first leg. ๐ย NHL: Flyers at Devils (7pm, ESPN); Oilers at Mammoth (9:30pm, ESPN) โฆ The first-place Oilers (39-29-9) are in position to win their division for the first time since 1987. ๐พย Tennis: Monte-Carlo Masters (7:30am, Tennis) โฆ Round of 32 action for Carlos Alcaraz, Alex de Minaur and more. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ โพ ALMOST MVP MLB TRIVIA (Lauren Leigh Bacho/MLB Photos via Getty Images) Cleveland legend Josรฉ Ramรญrez has six career top-five MVP finishes, tied for the most in MLB history among players who've never won the award. Question: Who is he tied with? Hint: Orioles. Answer at the bottom. โ โณ๏ธ INSIDE THE ROPES EXPLORING AUGUSTA NATIONAL Golden Bell, the par-3 12th, is the heart of Amen Corner. Pure majesty. (Masters) The 90th Masters tees off in two days, and the fine folks over at Fried Egg Golf have created an excellent interactive course map to help bring the iconic grounds at Augusta National to life. Hole-by-hole: From Tea Olive (No. 1) to Holly (No. 18) and everything in between, each hole features analysis, strategy and memorable shots from over the years. โ Trivia answer: Eddie Murray Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 9 Author Members Posted April 9 ๐ย Good morning! Happy Hump Day. In today's edition: NBA playoff picture, brawl in Anaheim, Avalanche clinch No. 1 seed, from patron to champion, NFL mock draft, the "Zammoth," and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES ๐ย Avs clinch No. 1 spot: The Avalanche clinched the top seed in the West for the third time in the last five seasons, and can clinch the Presidents' Trophy (league's best record) as soon as tomorrow. ๐ย Meltdown in Milwaukee: Giannis Antetokounmpo's rocky relationship with the Bucks is apparently even more fractured than it seemed, with the two-time MVP reportedly asking Milwaukee to trade him multiple times this season. Their yearslong game of tug of war may finally, actually, be coming to an end. โฝ๏ธ Champions League quarterfinals: The last eight kicked off on Tuesday with a pair of first-leg matches. Bayern Munich won their heavyweight clash against Real Madrid, 2-1, and Arsenal beat Sporting CP, 1-0, with a game-winner in stoppage time. ๐ย Geno reflects on outburst: Geno Auriemma released a second statement apologizing for his postgame blowup towards Dawn Staley that dominated headlines following UConn's Final Four loss to South Carolina. "I've lost more games in the Final Four than any coach in history," he wrote. "But Friday I lost something more important. I lost myself." โฝ๏ธ USMNT hopeful injured: American Patrick Agyemang will miss the World Cup after suffering a serious Achilles injury in Monday's Derby County game. The Connecticut native was one of four strikers competing for three spots on this summer's roster. โ ๐ PLAYOFF PICTURE THE WEST IS SET (Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports) With the Timberwolves winning and the Suns losing on Tuesday, the Western Conference's six playoff teams (Thunder, Spurs, Nuggets, Lakers, Rockets, Wolves) and four play-in teams (Suns, Clippers, Trail Blazers, Warriors) are now set. All that's left is determining seeding before the regular season concludes on Sunday. Meanwhile, in the East: The top four teams (Pistons, Celtics, Knicks, Cavaliers) are locked into playoff spots, though seeding remains up for grabs, while the Heat are headed to the play-in tournament for the fourth straight year. The middle of the pack (Hawks, Raptors, 76ers, Magic, Hornets) remains tight, and those five teams could end up in either the playoffs or play-in. โ ๐ธ THROUGH THE LENS IN PHOTOS: BRAWL IN ANAHEIM (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Unlike most MLB "brawls," this one actually had punches. In Tuesday's game between the Braves and Angels, a fight broke out in the fifth inning when Atlanta pitcher Reynaldo Lรณpez and Angels DH Jorge Soler went at it, triggering a full clearing of the benches and bullpens. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) Tension had been brewing throughout the game, with Soler hitting a two-run homer in the first inning and then getting hit by a 96-mph fastball in the third. That tension boiled over when Lรณpez threw a high fastball during Soler's third plate appearance. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) The former teammates were soon going after each other, with Lรณpez using a baseball as a weapon and Soler eventually being tackled to the ground by Braves manager Walt Weiss and others. Meanwhile, Angels star Mike Trout pushed Lรณpez out of the action. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) There is a degree of familiarity on both sides of this fracas, as Lรณpez used to play for the Angels and Soler used to play for the Braves. Both combatants were ejected from the game, and Atlanta went on to win 7-2. โ โณ๏ธ MASTERS MOMENT FROM PATRON TO CHAMPION Bubba Watson's iconic shot at Augusta. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports: Bubba Watson's shot from the trees on the 10th hole at the 2012 Masters remains one of the finest moments in the tournament's history. An impossible arc that somehow ended up on the green, the shot in sudden death gave Watson the first of his two green jackets. Equally remarkable: although nobody knew it at the time, another two-time green jacket winner was among the patrons in the gallery watching it all unfold. "I was here that day," Scottie Scheffler said Tuesday prior to the start of the 2026 Masters. "This tournament is a great experience to come to as a patron, and being able to be up close and see someone accomplish something that I dreamed of accomplishing at the time, I think is very inspirational." At the time, Scheffler was a 15-year-old student at Highland Park High School in Dallas, and already showing signs of the golf genius he would become. He won three straight state titles from 2012-14, and the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2013. Two years after watching Watson execute one of the finest shots in Masters history, Scheffler made his PGA Tour debut as a 17-year-old at what was then called the HP Byron Nelson Championship. (Naturally, he made the cut and finished T22.) Scheffler and caddie Ted Scott after winning the 2022 Masters. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) Continuing the improbable intersecting storylines from that day, Watson's caddie Ted Scott would one day become Scheffler's caddie, and an instrumental element of his charge to the top of the golf world. "Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought the guy carrying Bubba's bag at the time would be one of my best friends," Scheffler said, "and my caddie for a long time as well." Scheffler is in what passes for him as a lull, with "just" one win in six starts. Still, there's something about this week that brings him peace. "Augusta is the place you always want to get to, whether or not it's to play in the tournament or just to get to see the golf course," he said. "For me, I truly feel that once you drive down Magnolia Lane, everything else melts away, and you get to be here and be focused. There's not a lot of distractions this week." Although he has two green jackets of his own, Scheffler hasn't yet crafted one of the eternal Masters shots like Watson's in 2012. Still, there's plenty of time โฆ starting with his 1:44pm ET tee time on Thursday. โ ๐ฏ STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS (Michael Reaves/Getty Images) ๐ย +39.70 ย Michigan earned every bit of its national championship, finishing the season with a net rating of +39.70, which trails only 1999 Duke (+43.01) for the highest ever tracked by KenPom (since 1997). ย Best year ever? Across 30 years of KenPom data, just six teams have had a net rating of +37 or better, and three came this season alone: 1999 Duke (+43.01), 2026 Michigan (+39.70), 2025 Duke (+39.29), 2026 Arizona (+38.06), 2026 Duke (+37.37) and 2001 Duke (+37.32). ย ๐ย 4 of 10 ย Four of the top 10 picks in our latest NFL mock draft played at Ohio State, with LB/Edge Arvell Reese going to the Jets (2nd pick), LB Sonny Styles going to the Titans (4th), WR Carnell Tate going to the Browns (6th) and S Caleb Downs going to the Chiefs (9th). ย Rounding out the top 10: The rest of the top 10, courtesy of Yahoo Sports' Nate Tice and Charles McDonald, are Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza (Raiders, 1st), Georgia OT Monroe Freeling (Cardinals, 3rd), Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love (Giants, 5th), Texas Tech Edge David Bailey (Commanders, 7th), LSU CB Mansoor Delane (Saints, 8th) and Miami Edge Rueben Bain Jr. (Bengals, 10th). (Mike Carlson/MLB Photos via Getty Images) โพ๏ธ 561 days later ย The Rays held their home opener on Monday, marking their first game back at Tropicana Field in 561 days. As a reminder, they played home games last season at Steinbrenner Field โ the Yankees' spring training complex in Tampa โ while the Trop (in nearby St. Petersburg) underwent extensive repairs due to the damage caused by Hurricane Milton in October 2024. ย A temporary home: The Rays' lease at Tropicana Field runs through 2028, and new ownership (the team was sold last year for $1.7B) has made it clear their plan is to open a new stadium in Tampa by Opening Day 2029. "From a player perspective, I think the Trop will be a very welcome return home," Rays CEO Ken Babby told The Athletic ($). "But it is not a long-term home." ย ๐พย 66 weeks ย This is the 66th week that Carlos Alcaraz has spent as the world's No. 1 player, tied with Jannik Sinner for the 12th-most ever. Stefan Edberg (72 weeks) and Lleyton Hewitt (80) โ in 10th and 11th โ aren't too far ahead, but Novak Djokovic (428) will take quite a while to catch. ย 67th week up for grabs: The timing here is fortuitous, as Sinner could reclaim No. 1 from Alcaraz depending on the results of this week's Monte-Carlo Masters. If it comes down to both reaching the final (a very reasonable assumption), the winner will earn the No. 1 ranking. โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8 McDavid wins a face-off against Celebrini in a game last month. (Leila Devlin/Getty Images) ๐ย NHL on TNT ย The first-place Sabres visit the last-place Rangers in the first leg of tonight's doubleheader (7pm ET), but the marquee game comes later when Macklin Celebrini's Sharks host Connor McDavid's Oilers (10pm). ย The present and the future: McDavid has already cemented his status as the best player of his generation, and Celebrini looks poised to take the mantle in the not-too-distant future. The 19-year-old currently has the third-best odds to win MVP, and his 107 points are fourth-most in the NHL, trailing only McDavid (128), Nikita Kucherov (127) and Nathan MacKinnon (123). ย โณ๏ธ Masters Par 3 Contest ย The annual competition tees off this afternoon (12pm, ESPN+; 2pm, ESPN) at the nine-hole layout nestled in the northeast corner of Augusta National's grounds, where players and family members will partake in the lighthearted tradition that dates back to 1960. ย Fun facts: There have been 115 holes-in-one during the competition; six-time PGA Tour winner Jimmy Walker set the course record of 19 (-8) in 2016; no Par 3 Contest winner has ever gone on to win the Masters that same year. ย More to watch: โฝ๏ธ Champions League: PSG vs. Liverpool (3pm, Paramount+); Barcelona vs. Atlรฉtico Madrid (3pm, Paramount+) โฆ Quarterfinals, first leg. ๐ย NBA: Hawks at Cavaliers (7pm, ESPN); Trail Blazers at Spurs (9:30pm, ESPN) โฆ San Antonio (60-19) has 60 wins for the first time since 2017. ๐พย Tennis: Monte-Carlo Masters (7:30am, Tennis) โฆ Round of 32 action for No. 4 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 9 Casper Ruud and more. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city.ย Get tickets now! โ โณ๏ธ POTUS MASTERS TRIVIA (Andrew Redington/Getty Images) Question:ย Who is the only U.S. president known to have been a member at Augusta National? โHint:ย He became a member in 1948. โAnswer at the bottom. โ ๐ RIDE ALONG UTAH DEBUTS THE "ZAMMOTH" (Eli Rehmer/NHLI via Getty Images) The Utah Mammoth have introduced the "Zammoth," a mammoth-shaped Zamboni designed to carry eight people at a time. Fan mobile: The Zammoth, which debuted during Tuesday's 6-5 (OT) win over the Oilers, will take a lap around the ice before each game and between each period, with Mammoth fans in tow. The other Zambonis will take care of the actual ice-cleaning. โ Trivia answer: Dwight D. Eisenhower Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 10 Author Members Posted April 10 ๐ย Good morning! Nearly 2,000 Division I men's basketball players (roughly half of all scholarship players) have already entered the transfer portal. Insanity. In today's edition: Masters preview, the National League is on a heater, NCAA to propose age limits, Frozen Four, Tatum returns to MSG, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES ๐ย Title game viewership: Michigan's win over UConn on Monday drew an average of 18.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched men's basketball national championship since 2019. โพ๏ธ Suspensions handed down: Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lรณpez and Angels slugger Jorge Soler were both suspended seven games for inciting Tuesday's brawl in Anaheim. Lรณpez settled for a five-game ban, while Soler appealed his suspension, then homered in his first at-bat on Wednesday. โฝ๏ธ Champions League quarterfinals: Wednesday's first-leg matches saw Atlรฉtico Madrid beat Barcelona, 2-0, for their first win at Camp Nou in 20 years, and PSG beat Liverpool, 2-0, as the Reds failed to register a single shot on goal. ๐ย Ovechkin's future: Alex Ovechkin, 40, says he has not yet made a decision about his future in the NHL, but will do so this summer. Right now, the league's all-time goals leader is trying to will his Capitals into the playoffs, as they sit three points out of a wild card with three games left. โณ๏ธ No phones allowed: Not even major champions are exempt from Augusta National's strict no-phones policy, which 1989 Open Championship winner Mark Calcavecchia learned the hard way on Tuesday when he was removed from the Masters for breaking the rules. โ โณ๏ธ HELLO, FRIENDS THE 90th MASTERS IS HERE (Davis Long/Yahoo Sports) The 90th Masters tees off today at Augusta National, where 91 golfers will compete for one of the most coveted trophies in sports: the iconic green jacket. The field: Here are some of the names to watch in a field that includes six amateurs, 18 past champions, 22 debutants and a handful of notable major winners looking to add to their collection. The defending champ: Rory McIlroy's quest for a green jacket (and the career Grand Slam) was a major storyline for years. So what's the story for McIlroy now? Whatโs going to motivate him? Even he's not quite sure. But for the first time in a long time, the pressure is off. The favorite: Scottie Scheffler (+600 at BetMGM) is having a down year by his standards and has finished outside the top 20 in his two most recent starts. But he still enters his fifth straight Masters as the No. 1 player in the world, tying a mark set by Tiger Woods (twice). The runner-up: Justin Rose may be 45, but he's been playing some of the best golf of his career lately, including last year's playoff loss to McIlroy โ one of three times he's finished second at the Masters. Can the 2013 U.S. Open champ finally conquer Augusta? The breakout star: Ludvig ร berg is the only golfer this week with better than 20-to-1 odds who's never won a major. Everyone agrees his first such win is coming eventually, and where better than Augusta, where he's finished top seven each of the last two years. The LIV contingent: Just 10 members of LIV Golf are in the field, the fewest since the breakaway tour was founded. The big names are Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, who trail only Scheffler among the betting favorites. The dark horses: Some lesser-known names expected to make waves this week are Jacob Bridgeman (leads 2026 money list), Chris Gotterup (won Sony Open and Phoenix Open), Akshay Bhatia (won Arnold Palmer Invitational), Jake Knapp (five top-10 finishes this year) and Min Woo Lee (three top-six finishes this year). Recipe for success: The last 14 Masters winners all gained at least 18 total strokes from tee-to-green in their four preceding starts. Only 10 golfers meet that criteria this year: McIlroy, ร berg, Rahm, DeChambeau, Lee, Collin Morikawa, Cameron Young, Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele. Scottie Scheffler smiles alongside his son, Bennett, during Wednesday's Par 3 Contest. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) A brutal test awaitsโฆ The gorgeous weather in Augusta this week is a dream come true for patrons. But the driest Masters since 2011 will present quite the challenge for golfers, who could have trouble holding the lightning-fast greens. Beware Amen Cornerโฆ The most iconic stretch of holes at Augusta National is also where the tournament is most likely to be won or lost. No. 11, the 520-yard par 4, has the worst score to par over the last 30 years; No. 12, the 155-yard par 3, has the most double bogeys or worse in that time (thank you, Rae's Creek); and No. 13, the 545-yard par 5, is one of the great risk-reward challenges in golf with its narrow dogleg and well-protected green. Good read: Is Augusta National in danger of jumping the shark? (Jay Busbee) In an era of social media flexing, the emphasis isn't visiting Augusta, it's making sure other people know you visited Augusta. During practice rounds this week, budding influencers from the clubhouse oak to Amen Corner posed before the iconic pines, fairways and flags of Augusta National. Augusta National is leaning into the moment, creating TikToks of its own. Would co-founder Bobby Jones have approved of sticking a camera in patrons' faces and asking them to pronounce "pecan"? Probably not, but he's not available for comment. โ โพ๏ธ SENIOR CIRCUIT THE NL IS ON A HEATER (Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports) 13 of the 15 teams in the National League are currently .500 or better. Why it matters: That's the most teams in one league to be .500 or better (minimum 10 games played) at the end of any given day in MLB history, per Opta Stats. Meanwhile, in the AL: Only five teams are .500 or better, and only three are over .500. Context: This is made possible by MLB's new "balanced" schedule, which debuted in 2025 and includes far more interleague play than ever before. In years past, most opponents were in the same division (and definitely the same league), so you'd never see numbers like this when comparing the NL and AL two weeks into the season. โ ๐ ELIGIBILITY RULES REPORT: NCAA PROPOSING AGE LIMITS NCAA President Charlie Baker speaks at the White House last month during a roundtable discussion on college sports. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) The NCAA is considering a significant change to its eligibility rules, Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reports. What we're hearing: Under a new proposal, NCAA athletes would have five full years of college eligibility from the time of their 19th birthday or their high school graduation, whichever is earliest. Those with knowledge of the proposal spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity. Under current NCAA rules, athletes are granted four playing seasons over a five-year calendar, with the option to regain a season of eligibility through a redshirt or waiver request. While the new policy would grant athletes a fifth season of eligibility, it would eliminate their ability to regain seasons through redshirts and waivers, which have complicated the system. Here's Ross: In an era when college athletes are legally compensated by schools, cash has incentivized players to seek longer college careers, many of them even delaying their NFL careers. For instance, most of the seasoned power conference QB transfers this past cycle sought more than $4 million in annual compensation from their new teams. Some are believed to be making closer to $6 million. Because of the NFL's rookie salary structure, a player would need to be drafted in the top half of the first round to earn that kind of annual money in their first year. While athletes' pursuit of compensation is understandable, the granting of extended eligibility to one player takes a roster spot from a younger transfer, high school recruit or junior college prospect. In fact, more than ever, roster spots are finite as the House settlement set strict roster limits. Last academic year, the NCAA received 1,450 waiver requests for extended eligibility. The association has granted two-thirds of those. Of those not granted (around 500), more than 70 have resulted in lawsuits. State of play: An increasing number of American families are holding kids back a grade to gain a physical edge in youth sports and maximize their NIL opportunities. It's become normal for college basketball teams to have players who are 23, 24, even 25 years old, with some even coming over from the European pro ranks. Creating an age-based standard would disrupt those (alarming) trends. What's next: Members of the NCAA Division I Cabinet are set to review the proposal at their meeting next week. If approved, it could be implemented as soon as this coming academic year (fall 2026). โ ๐ SEMIFINALS FROZEN FOUR: AT A GLANCE T.J. Hughes (center) and top-ranked Michigan are the favorites entering the Frozen Four. (Richard T. Gagnon/Getty Images) The Frozen Four begins tonight in Las Vegas, where Denver, Michigan, North Dakota and Wisconsin will be looking to add more hardware to their trophy cases. Championship pedigree: You could not have hand-picked a better quartet, as these are the four programs with the most national championships in NCAA menโs hockey history. That said, only eight of their 33 combined titles have come this century. Denver Pioneers: 10 titles (1958, 1960-61, 1968-69, 2004-05, 2017, 2022, 2024) Michigan Wolverines: 9 titles (1948, 1951-53, 1955-56, 1964, 1996, 1998) North Dakota Fighting Hawks: 8 titles (1959, 1963, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1997, 2000, 2016) Wisconsin Badgers: 6 titles (1973, 1977, 1981, 1983, 1990, 2006) Players to watch: The Frozen Four rosters include 49 NHL draft picks and two of the three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award (hockey's Heisman): T.J. Hughes (Michigan): The senior center is the NCAA's active scoring leader with 178 points (68 goals, 110 assists) in 155 games. He will be a highly sought-after free agent once his season ends, with numerous NHL teams expected to pursue the Ontario native. Eric Pohlkamp (Denver): The junior leads all NCAA defensemen this season with 39 points (18 goals, 21 assists) in 41 games. The Minnesota native, who began his college career at Bemidji State, was drafted in the fifth round (No. 132) by the Sharks in 2023. โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: THURSDAY, APRIL 9 Ah, to be a part of that gallery. (Masters) โณ๏ธ The Masters ย Round 1 tee times begin at 7:40am ET, and there's coverage all day on the excellent Masters app (cannot recommend this enough), ESPN app, Paramount+ and more. The main broadcast will air on Prime Video (1-3pm) and ESPN (3-7:30pm). ย Featured groups: Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele (10:07am); Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young, Mason Howell (10:31am); Jon Rahm, Chris Gotterup, Ludvig ร berg (1:08pm); Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka (1:20pm); Scottie Scheffler, Robert MacIntyre, Gary Woodland (1:44pm). ย ๐ย Frozen Four ย The NCAA men's hockey semifinals are today in Las Vegas, where No. 2 North Dakota faces Wisconsin in the first game (5pm, ESPN2) and No. 1 Michigan faces Denver in the second (8:30pm, ESPN2). ย Another Badger double? Wisconsin is the only school to win men's and women's hockey titles in the same year (2006). With the Badgers already taking the women's crown last month, they're two wins away from pulling off the feat again. ย More to watch: ๐ย NBA: Celtics at Knicks (7:30pm, Prime); Lakers at Warriors (10pm, Prime) โฆ Jayson Tatum returns to MSG for the first time since rupturing his Achilles there last spring. โพ๏ธ MLB: Diamondbacks at Mets (7:10pm, MLB) โฆ Eduardo Rodrรญguez (ARI) and Nolan McLean (NYM) square off in a rematch of the starting pitchers from the WBC final between Venezuela and USA. ๐พย Tennis: Monte-Carlo Masters (7:30am, Tennis) โฆ Round of 16 action for Carlos Alcaraz, Alex de Minaur and more. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ ๐ BACK-TO-BACK NBA TRIVIA (Joshua Gateley/Getty Images) The Thunder (64-16) clinched the NBA's best overall record for the second straight season with Wednesday's win over the Clippers. Question: Who was the last team to post the best record in back-to-back seasons? Hint: 2018-19 and 2019-20. Answer at the bottom. โ โณ๏ธ MASTERS FARE THE BEST DEAL IN SPORTS (Davis Long/Yahoo Sports) The real tradition unlike any other? Our annual surprise and delight over the Masters concessions prices, which remain (nearly) inflation-proof. Consider this: If you wanted to buy one of each item on the menu โ all 27 drinks, snacks, sandwiches and more โ it would run you just $78.75. Menu highlights: The pimento cheese and egg salad are $1.50 each, and the $3 peach ice cream sandwich is the GOAT, according to our very own Jay Busbee. Another tip from Jay? Combine the pimento cheese, BBQ pork and potato chips for a delicious DIY treat. The only new item this year is a dark chocolate candy bar with caramel, rice crisps and hazelnut crunch. โ Trivia answer: Bucks Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 12 Author Members Posted April 12 ๐ Yahoo! It's Friday! You made it. In today's edition: Masters update, Denver and Wisconsin advance, Slam Diego, NBA regular-season finale, a realtor at Augusta, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ โณ๏ธ THE MASTERS A FAMILIAR FACE LEADS AT AUGUSTA (Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports) 18 holes into the 90th Masters, two men are tied atop the leaderboard at 5-under par. One is five-time PGA Tour winner Sam Burns. The other? Well, let's just say there's no green jacket hangover this year at Augusta. Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports: When Rory McIlroy went to put his tee in the ground on No. 1 for the first time Thursday as defending Masters champion, the familiar nervous shake in his hand showed up like clockwork. It was a good thing to feel. After 52 weeks of conversation about completing his career Grand Slam, the weight it lifted off his shoulders and the occasional struggle to motivate himself for The Next Thing, McIlroy was hoping he'd have that familiar sensation of struggling to set his ball on the tee as he prepared to hit his first shot of the Masters. For a golfer, it's almost like proof of life. "I'm thankful that I felt the same as I always have," he said. "I think it would be worrisome if I didn't feel that way because it definitely still means something to me." Year after year, McIlroy's anxiety at Augusta National has been the dominant storyline of his relationship with this tournament โ even last year when he had to overcome some mental disasters on Sunday to finally claim his green jacket. It would be hard, if not impossible, to say definitively that McIlroy has come back here freed up from those demons. This is golf, after all. But if that were the case for McIlroy, it would probably manifest in a round like the one he played Thursday: All over the place off the tee but relentlessly committed to his shots, efficient around the greens and deadly on the par-5s where his length and experience gives him such a huge advantage. Translation: After shooting 67 for the co-lead on a day where his game wasn't nearly that good, Rory might be as dangerous as ever as he tries to become the first golfer since Tiger Woods in 2001-02 to win back-to-back here. Scottie just a few strokes off the lead? Who would have guessed. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) Who else is in contention? 79 of 89 Masters winners were within five shots of the lead after Round 1, which is good news for the 32 golfers at even par or better. But narrow the focus a bit and you'll see that the winner is probably even closer to the top of the leaderboard: 18 of the last 19 champions were in the top 11 after Thursday. The only exception? McIlroy last year. That cuts the list of contenders in half, with McIlroy and Burns (-5) leading a group of nine golfers at 2-under or better, plus another seven sitting at 1-under. And half of them have serious championship pedigree, with eight former major winners in the group: McIlroy (-5), Patrick Reed (-3), Jason Day (-3), Scottie Scheffler (-2), Xander Schauffele (-2), Shane Lowry (-2) and Gary Woodland (-1). The other side: Plenty of pre-tournament green jacket hopefuls struggled on Thursday, most notably LIV Golf's Bryson DeChambeau (+4) and Jon Rahm (+6). In fact, none of LIV's 10 competitors finished under par. Other surprisingly tough days included Robert MacIntyre (+8), Min Woo Lee (+6) and Ludvig ร berg (+2). The last word: "The course is only going to get drier and firmer and faster as the week goes on," said McIlroy, referencing the warm weather and clear skies expected through Sunday at Augusta. "I think as the golf course speeds up, it only gets more difficult out there," added Burns. "And I think it's going to be a really good test." Follow along live as cut day unfolds at Augusta. โ ๐ธ SNAPSHOTS PICS DU JOUR (Ethan Miller/Getty Images) Las Vegas โ Denver upset top-seeded Michigan, 4-3 (2OT), on Thursday night to book a spot in the NCAA men's hockey title game. They'll play Wisconsin, who beat North Dakota, 2-1. Standing tall in net: Johnny Hicks made 49 saves in goal for the Pioneers, including 13 in the double overtime period. Overall, Michigan outshot Denver, 52-26. (Pamela Smith/Getty Images) New York โ Jayson Tatum nearly had a triple-double (24-13-8) in his first game back at Madison Square Garden since rupturing his Achilles there last spring, but the Knicks came away with the 112-106 victory behind 26 points (and some clutch 3-pointers) from Josh Hart. Head-to-head: The Knicks took the season series against the Celtics (3 wins, 1 loss). I have a feeling we could be seeing these two teams again in the playoffs. (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) San Diego โ Xander Bogaerts hit a walk-off grand slam in the 12th inning to lift the Padres past the Rockies, 7-3, and send Petco Park into a frenzy. Unhittable: Padres reliever Mason Miller struck out the side in the ninth inning to continue his dominant start to the season. He's now struck out 16 of the 21 batters he's faced and has surrendered just one hit. โ ๐ FINAL WEEKEND NBA PLAYOFF PICTURE: TWO GAMES LEFT (Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports) The regular season comes to an end on Sunday, and while the West is set (aside from seeding), the East still has five teams fighting for playoff spots. Where it stands: The Raptors, Hawks, Magic, 76ers and Hornets โ separated by just two games โ have all clinched at least the play-in. But two of them will earn automatic playoff berths depending on this weekend's results. Raptors (45-35): at Knicks, vs. Nets Hawks (45-35): vs. Cavaliers, at Heat Magic (44-36): at Bulls, at Celtics 76ers (43-37): at Pacers, vs. Bucks Hornets (43-37): vs. Pistons, at Knicks Jockeying for seeding: The Knicks could catch the Celtics for the No. 2 seed if they win out and Boston loses out, but New York also leads Cleveland by just one game for the No. 3 seed. In the West, the Nuggets, Lakers and Rockets are separated by one game for the Nos. 3-5 seeds. โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WEEKEND WATCHLIST (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) โณ๏ธ The Masters ย The action continues at Augusta with today's main broadcast airing on Prime Video (1-3pm) and ESPN (3-7:30pm) before CBS takes over on Saturday and Sunday (2-7pm). The Masters app, Paramount+ and more will again have full coverage beginning at 8:30 this morning. ย Notable second-round tee times: Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka (9:55am); Scottie Scheffler, Robert MacIntyre, Gary Woodland (10:19am); Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood, Akshay Bhatia (1:08pm); Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young, Mason Howell (1:44pm) ย ๐ย NBA Finale ย All 30 teams play both today and Sunday to close out the regular season. Tomorrow is a rare league-wide off day. ย What to watch: In addition to two critical Eastern Conference matchups with playoff implications โ Cavaliers at Hawks (Fri. 7pm, Prime) and Magic at Celtics (Sun. 6pm, ESPN) โ we've got an epic game on Sunday night in San Antonio between Victor Wembanyama's Spurs and Nikola Jokiฤ's Nuggets (8:30pm, ESPN). ย ๐ย Frozen Four ย Wisconsin and Denver face off in the NCAA men's hockey national championship tomorrow in Las Vegas (5:30pm, ESPN). ย Trophy case: Denver has won 10 national titles, including two in the last four years, while six-time champion Wisconsin seeks its first since 2006. ย ๐พย Monte-Carlo Masters ย The quarterfinals are already underway, with No. 3 Alexander Zverev defeating Joรฃo Fonseca to reach the semifinals and No. 2 Jannik Sinner vs. No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime starting shortly on the Tennis Channel. ย Full schedule: Today's other two quarterfinals, played in succession following the conclusion of those above, are No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz vs. No. 8 Alexander Bublik and No. 5 Alex de Minaur vs. Valentin Vacherot. The semifinals are tomorrow and the final is on Sunday (9am, Tennis). ย More to watch: ๐ย NHL: Lightning at Bruins (Sat. 12:30pm, ABC); Capitals at Penguins (Sat. 3pm, ABC); Golden Knights at Avalanche (Sat. 8pm, ABC); Penguins at Capitals (Sun. 3pm, TNT) โพ๏ธ MLB: Angels at Reds (Fri. 6:45pm, Apple); Giants at Orioles (Fri. 7:15pm, Apple); Diamondbacks at Phillies (Sat. 1pm, FS1); Guardians at Braves (Sun. 7:20pm, NBC) โฝ๏ธ Friendly: USWNT vs. Japan (Sat. 5:30pm, TNT) โฆ In San Jose. โฝ๏ธ MLS: Portland vs. LAFC (Sat. 4:45pm, Apple/Fox) โฆ First-place LAFC (5-0-1) have yet to concede a goal. โฝ๏ธ Premier League: Chelsea vs. Manchester City (Sun. 11:30am, USA) โฆ City (61 points) trail first-place Arsenal (70) by nine points with eight matches left and a game in hand. ๐ย NASCAR: Bristol (Sun. 3pm, FS1) โฆ The Cup Series is nearly one-third of the way through its 26-race regular season. ๐ดย Cycling: Paris-Roubaix (Sun. 4:30am, Peacock) โฆ Tadej Pogaฤar continues his quest to become the first rider to sweep all five Monuments. ๐ฅย Boxing: Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov (Sat. 5pm, Netflix) โฆ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hosts Fury's first fight since 2024. ๐ย MMA: UFC 327 (Sat. 9pm, Paramount+) โฆ Jirรญ Prochรกzka and Carlos Ulberg's light heavyweight title bout headlines the card in Miami. ๐ย Women's Six Nations: Week 1 (Sat. 7:30am, Peacock) โฆ Seven-time reigning champion England opens its title defense. Got plans this weekend?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ โพ ON THIS DAY BASEBALL TRIVIA (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) 79 yearsย agoย today,ย Jackie Robinson signed his first major league contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Question: Which Negro Leagues team did Robinson play for before joining the Dodgers? Answer at the bottom. โ โณ๏ธ TEE TIME MEET THE REALTOR PLAYING THE MASTERS Holtz plays a shot on the second hole at Augusta. (David J. Phillip/AP Photo) On a normal Thursday afternoon, Brandon Holtz would be selling houses. But this week, he is teeing it up at the Masters. Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports: With their Azalea cocktails in hand, a few dozen of Brandon Holtz's family members and golf buddies from Bloomington, Illinois, walked toward the second green Thursday morning at Augusta National and watched him line up a birdie putt. "This is insane," said City Petersen, who has played a few July 4 tournaments as Holtz's partner at Lakeside Country Club, the nine-hole course where Holtz spends most of his Saturdays. "It wasn't real until we got here," said Steve Gildner, a friend in the insurance business. "When he was stretching this morning, he was between [Dustin Johnson] and Rory [McIlRoy]. It's crazy." Can you imagine if the local real estate agent in your regular golf game decided to enter some amateur events and ended up qualifying to play in the Masters? Though admittedly an oversimplification of Holtz's story โ more on that in a moment โ it's pretty much the experience his friends had Thursday watching him play with two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and Nicolas Echavarria. "This will ruin Crestwicke for him," John McGrew, who plays with Holtz at the local country club, said with a laugh. Between the jokes, the drinks and the busting of chops from outside the ropes, it barely mattered that Holtz shot 81. Nerves? Yes, there were a few, particularly on the first tee. Did he play as well as he hoped? Absolutely not. But all in all, it was the kind of day that reaffirmed the thought Holtz has held in his mind all week: He already won before hitting his first shot. โ Trivia answer: Kansas City Monarchs Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 14 Author Members Posted April 14 ๐ย Good morning! Welcome back. In today's edition: Rory repeats, NBA regular season concludes, Ovechkin's farewell (just in case), Wooden Award winners, City gain ground on Arsenal, Baker's Dozen, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES ๐ย Denver wins 11th title: Denver beat Wisconsin, 2-1, on Saturday in Las Vegas to win its 11th NCAA men's hockey national championship (most ever) and third in the past five years. The Badgers' loss, meanwhile, extended the Big Ten's title drought in the sport to 20 years. ๐ย Doc steps down: Doc Rivers is stepping down as head coach of the Bucks following their 32-50 campaign, ending his tenure in Milwaukee after 2.5 seasons and a pair of first-round playoff exits. Next up for Rivers: Induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2026. ๐ย Fight Night: Tyson Fury dominated Arslanbek Makhmudov in Saturday's bout at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while Carlos Ulberg stunned Jirรญ Prochรกzka at UFC 327 in Miami, winning by first-round knockout despite blowing out his knee in the opening minute of the fight. ๐ย Wooden Award winners: Duke's Cameron Boozer and UConn's Sarah Strong won the men's and women's Wooden Awards, locking up the consensus National Player of the Year honors after winning the Naismith and AP awards, too. โฝ๏ธ Glass ceiling, shattered: Bundesliga club Union Berlin appointed Marie-Louise Eta as their interim manager after firing Steffen Baumgart, making her the first woman ever to manage a club in one of Europe's "Big Five" soccer leagues. โ โณ๏ธ THE 90TH MASTERS RORY REPEATS AT AUGUSTA (Hector Vivas/Getty Images) It took forever. Then it took no time at all. Rory reigns again: After waiting 17 years to get his first green jacket, Rory McIlroy wasted no time getting his second, riding a hot start and a gutsy finish to a one-stroke victory at the 2026 Masters. Running it back: McIlroy is the fourth back-to-back winner in Masters history, joining some elite company. How about this foursome? Jack Nicklaus: 1965-66 Nick Faldo: 1989-90 Tiger Woods: 2001-02 Rory McIlroy: 2025-26 What he's saying: "I did want to come back here and prove last year wasn't a fluke," said McIlroy, who will take home a cool $4.5 million in prize money, pushing his career earnings to $114.69 million โ just $6.3 million behind Woods ($120.99 million) for the most ever. How it happened: McIlroy entered the weekend with a six-stroke lead over the field, the largest ever through 36 holes at the Masters. But while almost every other golfer near the top of the leaderboard went low on moving day, he shot one over par and entered Sunday tied for first with Cameron Young (-11), while six other golfers were within four strokes of the lead. Some of the familiar names chasing him were Justin Rose, the three-time runner-up whom he beat in last year's playoff, and Scottie Scheffler, who erupted for a seven-under 65 on Saturday. Rose briefly took the lead on Sunday as Rory continued to struggle off the tee (his 31 fairways were the fewest ever by a Masters champion), and Scheffler fired a 68 to take the clubhouse lead at 11-under, becoming the first golfer since 1942 to play the final 36 holes at the Masters bogey-free. The final hole: McIlroy got to the 18th tee with a two-stroke lead and survived another errant drive to card a bogey and finish one stroke ahead of Scheffler, making this the first 1-2 finish in a major by the world's top two players since the 2002 U.S. Open (Woods, Mickelson). (Yahoo Sports) Climbing up the ranks: Six majors ties McIlroy with Faldo, Mickelson and Lee Trevino for the 12th-most ever. The next one โ and it would be hard to believe there won't be a next one at this point โ will put him on par with Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen and Bobby Jones. The big picture: With two Masters victories in the last 12 months, McIlroy has cemented his spot as the greatest European player ever, and firmly planted himself among the 10 best golfers of all-time. For the next decade or so, only one question matters: How high can he climb? Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports: McIlroy will never have the numbers or the time to get into the Woods-Nicklaus conversation. But with six majors, a newfound security under pressure and potentially another decade of great golf ahead, he has a pathway to be No. 3. A year and a week ago, before he won his first green jacket, that didn't seem within the realm of possibility anymore. But somehow, McIlroy has changed the narrative. In the third chapter of his career, it suddenly seems like almost anything is possible. Looking ahead: The next major, the PGA Championship, tees off a month from tomorrow at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia. โ ๐ SURVIVE AND ADVANCE BRING ON THE NBA POSTSEASON (Yahoo Sports) 173 days later, from October's opening night tipoff to Sunday's regular-season finale, the NBA playoffs have arrived. (Yahoo Sports) โ ๐ THE GREAT 8 D.C. SAYS FAREWELL, JUST IN CASE Ovechkin warms up before Sunday's game against the Penguins. (Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) Everybody at the Capitals' final regular-season home game on Sunday was treating the afternoon like a well-earned goodbye โ everybody, that is, except the man they were celebrating. Jake Mintz, Yahoo Sports: The Pittsburgh Penguins wanted to say thank you, but Alexander Ovechkin just wanted to go home. He laughed. They lingered. He insisted. They stayed. He waved them away, again and again. Eventually, Ovechkin's longtime sporting nemeses relented, and the pack of white and black and yellow made its way down the tunnel and out of sight. Ovechkin might be hanging up his skates this summer. He also might not be. Nobody, including the 40-year-old star, knows with any certainty. But with his hair graying, his body decaying and his contract expiring, the end is rapidly creeping up on an all-time great. And so, just in case this was it, Washington hockey fans eschewed the glories of a picture-perfect April day and sardined themselves into Capital One Arena to say goodbye on Sunday. All throughout the final home game of the Capitals' regular season, the sea of red chanted "ONE MORE YEAR" and "OVI, OVI" and roared themselves hoarse each time he touched the puck. Ovechkin waves to the crowd after being named First Star of the Game. The Capitals won, 3-0. (Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) Towels featuring two decades' worth of Ovechkin pictures and the phrase "Gr8ness" were draped on every seat. Multiple retrospective highlight reels were shown, including one covering Ovechkin's storied relationship with fellow future Hall of Famer Sidney Crosby. Capitals center Dylan Strome purposefully got himself booted from the opening faceoff so Ovechkin and Crosby could square off. Everybody under the roof was treating the afternoon like a well-earned goodbye. Everybody, that is, except Ovechkin. "I haven't decided yet," he said dryly about his impending decision, when asked why he declined Pittsburgh's handshake line. That's Ovechkin's right. He has earned as much and more. But that approach meant his potential final home game existed in a bizarre in-between. Opponents, teammates, fans and coaches wanted to celebrate the accomplishments of a sporting legend. They showered him with love and praise. Ovechkin, though, wanted little part of the party. In his mind, he's still just another player, searching for two points, trying to keep Washington's slim playoff hopes alive. โ ๐พ THE BIG TWO THE "SINCARAZ" DUOPOLY (Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images) Jannik Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday to win the Monte-Carlo Masters, adding another chapter to a rivalry whose margins remain razor thin. Sinner's historic run: Sinner's 7-6, 6-3 victory helped him reclaim the No. 1 ranking from Alcaraz and marked his fourth consecutive Masters 1000 title, a feat last accomplished by Novak Djokovic in 2013. This will be Sinner's 67th week atop the rankings, breaking a tie withโฆ Alcaraz for the 12th most all-time. That's just one of the many areas in which the phenoms are neck-and-neck as they simultaneously build two of the greatest careers in tennis history. I mean, just look at thisโฆ Some key stats entering Sunday's final. (Tennis Channel) Head-to-head: In addition to weeks at No. 1, Sinner and Alcaraz entered Sunday's final with the same number of ATP titles, the same number of points in their 16 previous head-to-head matches and even the same amount of time on the court in Monte Carlo. Sinner now holds the narrowest of leads in weeks at No. 1 (67-66), overall titles (27-26) and points in head-to-head matches (1,739-1730), while drawing even with eight Masters 1000 titles. Alcaraz still leads the all-time series, 10-7, and has a commanding 7-4 lead in the all-important tally of Grand Slam titles. Still just 22, he's also two years younger than his Italian rival. A league of their own: There's Sinner (13,350 ATP rankings points) and Alcaraz (13,240) โฆ and then there's everyone else (next-most ATP ranking points: 5,555). "The Big Two" have claimed the past nine Grand Slam titles, and now they've won 11 of the past 21 Masters 1000 tournaments. Looking ahead: This was Sinner's first "big" title on clay, whereas Alcaraz has six. He'll have a chance to build on that with upcoming events in Madrid and Rome, which lead into next month's French Open โ the only major standing between Sinner and the career Grand Slam. โ ๐ SNAPSHOTS THE WORLD IN PHOTOS (Jack Compton/Getty Images) ๐บ๐ธย Seattle, Washington โ The Mariners unveiled a statue of Ichiro Suzuki outside T-Mobile Park on Friday, though his bronze bat was damaged as the tarp came off. Ichiro took the malfunction in stride: "I didn't think Mariano [Rivera] would come out here and break the bat," he joked. Broken bat, broken record: Ichiro's bat wasn't the only thing broken on Friday. Later in the evening, Shohei Ohtani extended his on-base streak to 44 straight games, breaking Ichiro's record for the longest such streak by a Japanese-born player. Mikel Arteta reacts during Arsenal's loss. (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟย London, England โ Arsenal fell to surging Bournemouth, 2-1, on Saturday for their third loss in their last four matches (across all competitions), opening the door to a thrilling Premier League title race down the stretch. Where it stands: With Manchester City beating Chelsea on Sunday, they now trail Arsenal by just six points with a game in hand. If they beat the Gunners this weekend, and win that game in hand the following week, the two clubs will be tied on points with five matches remaining. (Rhode Van Elsen/Getty Images) ๐ซ๐ทย Roubaix, France โ Belgium's Wout van Aert beat Tadej Pogaฤar with a sprint to the finish in Sunday's Paris-Roubaix, denying the Slovenian's quest for a clean sweep of this year's Monuments. An emotional victory: Van Aert's win came eight years after his teammate, Michael Goolaerts, died after suffering cardiac arrest during this brutal race, known as The Hell of the North. "This means everything to me," he said. "Since [losing Goolaerts] in 2018, it's been my goal to come back and point my finger to the sky." (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images) ๐ฆ๐บย Sydney, Australia โ Gout Gout, an 18-year-old from Queensland, ran the 200m in a blistering 19.67 seconds at the Australian Athletics Championships, breaking the U20 world record and putting up the fastest time by anyone in the world this year. Get to know the name: Gout has long been seen as a future star, but it seems his timeline could be fast-tracked to the 2028 Olympics. Consider that 19.67 would have won him bronze two years ago in Paris, gold in 2000 in Sydney, and was faster than Usain Bolt ever ran at his age. โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: MONDAY, APRIL 13 (Amy Monks/Yahoo Sports) ๐ย WNBA Draft ย The WNBA Draft is tonight in Manhattan (7pm ET, ESPN), where the Dallas Wings are picking first (for the second straight year) in the three-round, 45-player draft less than a month before the season begins on May 8. ย Who will go No. 1? For the first time in a long time, there's no consensus No. 1 overall pick. TCU's Olivia Miles, UConn's Azzi Fudd, UCLA's Lauren Betts and Spain's Awa Fam are all in play for the top spot. ย Pre-draft reading: Why more rookies than ever will stick with their teams under the new CBA (Cassandra Negley, Yahoo Sports) ย More to watch: ๐ย NHL: Kings at Kraken (9:30pm, ESPN) โฆ The Kings are trying to hold onto the final Western Conference playoff spot with four days left in the regular season. โพ๏ธ MLB: Cubs at Phillies (6:40pm, FS1) โฆ Phillies ace Cristopher Sรกnchez (1-1, 1.65 ERA) has struck out 12.7 batters per nine innings through his first three starts. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ ๐ WOODEN AWARD COLLEGE HOOPS TRIVIA (John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Cameron Boozer is the eighth Duke player to win the men's Wooden Award, the most of any program. Question: Can you name the other seven Blue Devils who won the award? Hint: 1992, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2019, 2025. Answer at the bottom. โ ๐ฟ BAKER'S DOZEN TOP PLAYS OF THE WEEKEND โฝ๏ธ Goal of the century โพ๏ธ Over the wall! โณ๏ธ Lowry ace โณ๏ธ Rory chips it in โพ๏ธ Rockies robbery ๐ย Ausar Thompson! ๐ย Epic hockey save ๐ฅย Epic lacrosse save โพ๏ธ A+ reaction time โฝ๏ธ Beautiful strike โพ๏ธ Game-ending grab โพ๏ธ McGonigle web gem ๐ย Jaime's so smooth Watch all 13. โ Trivia answer: Christian Laettner, Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Jason Williams, JJ Redick, Zion Williamson, Cooper Flagg Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 15 Author Members Posted April 15 ๐ย Good morning! 58 days until the World Cup kicks off. In today's edition: Big spenders, Fudd goes No. 1 overall, the NHL postseason field is set, NBA MVP arguments, Olson's streak continues, "Jail Blazers" doc, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... โ ๐จ ICYMI HEADLINES ๐ย Draft night: The Dallas Wings selected Azzi Fudd with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, reuniting her with former UConn teammate Paige Bueckers. Rounding out the top five: TCU's Olivia Miles (Lynx), Spain's Awa Fam (Storm), UCLA's Lauren Betts (Mystics) and UCLA's Gabriela Jaquez (Sky). โพ๏ธ Home run bonanza: Nine different players had multi-homer games on Monday, tied for the second-most on a single day in MLB history. The sluggers: Aaron Judge (NYY), Mike Trout (LAA), Kyle Schwarber (PHI), Ketel Marte (AZ), Nolan Arenado (AZ), Josh Naylor (SEA), Trent Grisham (NYY), Jake Burger (TEX) and Jeremiah Jackson (BAL). ๐ย Curry tops jersey sales: Stephen Curry led all NBA players in jersey sales this season despite injuries limiting him to just 43 games. Luka Donฤiฤ, Jalen Brunson, Victor Wembanyama and LeBron James rounded out the top five. ๐ย Triple Crown shakeup: The Preakness Stakes will reportedly move back one week in May โ to three weeks after the Kentucky Derby instead of two โ beginning next year. The change should allow more horses to compete in all three legs of the Triple Crown, which has become less common under the current schedule. โพ๏ธ Bohm fires Boras: Phillies 3B Alec Bohm has fired agent Scott Boras in the midst of his legal dispute with his parents over the mismanagement of his finances, per The Athletic ($). Bohm alleges that his parents steered him toward hiring Boras under "considerable duress" to "further their own interests, to my detriment." โ Create your NBA ID today and get ready to play NBA Pick'Em Bracket Challenge presented by Castrol. Make your NBA Playoff predictions and you could win $1 million! โ โพ๏ธ BIG SPENDERS BASEBALL'S BILLION-DOLLAR SERIES (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports) The most expensive series in MLB history began* on Monday night in Hollywood, where the Dodgers are hosting the Mets in a matchup of financial behemoths. A billion dollars on the diamond: The Dodgers and Mets' combined tax payrolls this season, including their estimated tax bills, is $1.07 billion, per Spotrac. That's the largest such figure ever, surpassing the previous record set last season by the same two teams ($1.025B). Consider this: Los Angeles will pay more this season just in taxes ($161.5M) than the bottom 12 teams in the league will each pay for their entire rosters. New York ($123.9M) will pay more than the bottom seven. Or, how about this: The combined 2026 salaries of the four players with the highest AAV in this series (Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Juan Soto, Bo Bichette) is more than the total payroll of 14 MLB teams, notes ESPN. Put another way: You could put MLB's nine lowest-spending teams on the field together ($1.04B) and they still wouldn't be paying as much as the Dodgers and Mets ($1.07B). Looking ahead: This league-wide spending discrepancy is precisely why so many believe we're headed for a lockout when the CBA expires this offseason โ and why a salary cap could be in MLB's future. No use in worrying about that now, though. We're two weeks into a six-month marathon, and there's baseball on tonight. *Game 1 recap: The Dodgers shutout the reeling Mets, 4-0, handing New York its sixth straight loss behind eight near-perfect innings from righty Justin Wrobleski. โ ๐ SWEET 16 NHL PLAYOFFS: THE FIELD IS SET The Flyers won in a shootout on Monday to clinch their first playoff berth since 2020. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) The Flyers, Ducks and Kings clinched the NHL's final three playoff spots on Monday to complete the 16-team postseason field with three days remaining in the regular season. Who's in? The following teams will be in the field when the playoffs begin this weekend. All that's left to determine is their seeding. East: Hurricanes (111 points), Sabres (108), Lightning (106), Canadiens (106), Penguins (98), Bruins (98), Senators (97), Flyers (96) West: Avalanche (117 points), Stars (110), Wild (102), Golden Knights (93), Oilers (91), Ducks (90), Mammoth (90), Kings (89) Bracket: Here's what it would look like if the season ended today Metropolitan meltdown: For the first time ever, the Rangers, Islanders and Devils will all miss the playoffs in the same season. โ ๐ MOST VALUABLE NBA MVP: SGA, JOKER OR WEMBY? (Hayden Hodge/Yahoo Sports) It's a three-man race for NBA MVP, and Yahoo Sports' Nekias Duncan makes a strong argument for every candidate. Shai Gilgeous Alexander: Who's been more consistently unstoppable? I've been struggling with a way to simplify SGA's case, aside from invoking the name of the (arguable) GOAT โ so I'm just going to stop struggling. SGA's blend of interior scoring dominance, coverage-bending due to that dominance and context-proof winning is the closest thing we've seen to Michael Jordan. Full stop. (Hayden Hodge/Yahoo Sports) Nikola Jokiฤ: Who's doing more, this efficiently? Jokiฤ has once again diced up defenses in whatever way he's needed to, averaging a triple-double for the second straight season and becoming the first player in NBA history to lead the league in both rebounds and assists (while ranking eighth in points). He's filling the box score to an absurd degree โ and doing so on efficiency that doesn't make sense. (Hayden Hodge/Yahoo Sports) Victor Wembanyama: Who's providing more per-possession impact? To be frank, we've never seen a defender like this: 7-foot-4 with an 8-foot wingspan that isn't stuck in quicksand as a mover. It's hard to comprehend, much less actually quantify, what Wemby's presence alone does to opposing offenses. He covers an insane amount of real estate, amplified by the Spurs essentially using him as a one-man zone to make the paint inaccessible. โ ๐ฏ STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS Olson high fives his teammates after scoring a run in Monday's game. (Cole Carter/MLB Photos via Getty Images) โพ๏ธ 799 straight games ย Braves 1B Matt Olson played in his 799th consecutive game on Monday, passing Hall of Famer Nellie Fox for the 11th-longest streak in MLB history. ย How high can he climb? Olson's streak began in May 2021, and assuming he doesn't miss a game this year he'll pass Gus Suhr, Eddie Yost and Stan Musial for eighth place by season's end. Beyond that, the 32-year-old could realistically climb to third place, which he'd reach early in the 2029 season. But that would still leave him 822 games behind Lou Gehrig (2,130), and 1,324 games โ or over eight full seasons โ behind Cal Ripken Jr. (2,632). ย ๐ย +28 wins ย The Spurs (62-20) won 28 more games this season than last (34-48) for the biggest year-over-year improvement in the NBA. But theirs wasn't the only big jump, as the Hornets (+25), 76ers (+21), Pistons (+16) and Raptors (+16) also improved their records by 10+ wins. ย The other side: Seven teams won at least 10 fewer games than last season. While the fourth-seeded Cavaliers (-12) and injury-depleted Warriors (-11) can be forgiven, the tank was on for the Pacers (-31), Grizzlies (-23), Kings (-18), Bucks (-16) and Mavericks (-13). Denver celebrates after winning the championship on Saturday. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images) ๐ย 8 titles in 13 years ย Denver's latest national championship in men's hockey was the third in a row for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference โ and the eighth in 13 years since the league debuted in 2013. ย NCHC members: Denver (titles during the NCHC era: 2017, 2022, 2024, 2026), Western Michigan (2025), Minnesota-Duluth (2018, 2019) and North Dakota (2016) are joined by Colorado College, Arizona State, Miami (Ohio), Nebraska (Omaha) and St. Cloud State. The league is also adding St. Thomas next season as its 10th member. ย โฝ๏ธ 105 goals ย Bayern Munich have smashed the Bundesliga record for most goals in a season, scoring 105 times to surpass the previous mark of 101, also set by Bayern back in 1972. With five matches left, the question now is whether they can catch the record-holders across the rest of Europe's "Big Five" soccer leagues. ย Who they're chasing: They're a lock to eclipse Manchester City's Premier League record (106 goals in 2017-18) and PSG's Ligue 1 record (108 in 2017-18), while they're on pace to finish between Real Madrid's La Liga record (121 in 2011-12) and Torino's Serie A record (125 in 1947-48). โ ๐บ VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, APRIL 14 (Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images) ๐ย NBA Play-In Tournament ย The postseason begins today with the Hornets hosting the Heat in the East's 9-10 game (7:30pm ET, Prime) and the Suns hosting the Trail Blazers in the West's 7-8 game (10pm, Prime). ย What's at stake: The Hornets-Heat loser is eliminated, while the winner will get one more chance to earn the East's No. 8 seed. The Suns-Trail Blazers winner gets the West's No. 7 seed, while the loser will get one more chance to earn the No. 8 seed. ย โฝ๏ธ Champions League, Quarterfinals ย The second legs kick off today in Spain and England, where Atlรฉtico Madrid (up 2-0) host Barcelona (3pm, Paramount+) and Liverpool (down 2-0) host PSG (3pm, Paramount+) for spots in the semifinals. ย What's at stake: Atlรฉtico Madrid are 90 minutes away from reaching their first Champions League semifinal since 2017 after going 0-3 in the quarterfinals over the last five years. Liverpool last made it in 2022, Barcelona seeks a second straight trip and reigning champion PSG seeks a third straight trip. ย More to watch: ๐ย NHL: Capitals at Blue Jackets (7pm, ESPN); Penguins at Blues (9:30pm, ESPN) โฆ The penultimate ESPN doubleheader of the regular season. โพ๏ธ MLB: Cubs at Phillies (6:40pm, TBS) โฆ Colin Rea (1-0, 3.18 ERA) gets the start for Chicago, while Aaron Nola (1-1, 3.63 ERA) takes the ball for Philly. โฝ๏ธ Friendly: USWNT vs. Japan (10pm, TNT) โฆ Seattle hosts the second game in a three-match series after the U.S. won Saturday's opener, 2-1, for their 10th straight victory. Got plans tonight?ย Gametimeย is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. โ ๐ TOP PICKS WNBA TRIVIA (Angelina Katsanis/Getty Images) Azzi Fudd is the seventh UConn player to be drafted with the No. 1 overall pick. Question: Can you name the other six? Hint: 2002, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2025. Answer at the bottom. โ ๐ฟ PRESS PLAY NOW STREAMING (Netflix) "Untold: Jail Blazers," out today on Netflix, explores the notorious early-2000s era of Portland Trail Blazers basketball that, while successful, was overshadowed by off-the-court transgressions and legal troubles. Eventually, the city turned on the team. From Netflix: "Through firsthand accounts from star players Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire and Bonzi Wells, plus archival footage and other insider perspectives, Jail Blazers offers an unfiltered look at a team caught between brilliance and notoriety, examining how culture, race and media shaped one of the most infamous chapters in NBA history." Coming soon: "Rafa," Netflixโs upcoming documentary on Rafael Nadal, will premiere on May 29 โ appropriately timed to release in the middle of the French Open. โ Trivia answer: Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, Paige Bueckers Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
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