UNDATED (AP) — The March Madness bracket is out. Gonzaga received the top overall seed, with Arizona, Kansas and defending champion Baylor joining the Zags as top seeds. Early round games in the 68-team tournament start Tuesday. The nets come down for the final time on April 4 at the Final Four in New Orleans. This marks the return to the first “normal” tournament since 2019, with teams scattering to eight cities for the first weekend and four more for the Sweet 16. The tournament was scratched in 2020 due to the then-erupting COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, all the teams played in and around Indianapolis.
UNDATED (AP) — South Carolina has expectedly earned the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament. North Carolina State, Stanford and Louisville also earned No. 1 seeds announced Sunday. This year’s bracket expanded to 68 teams for the first time to match the men’s field with the play-in games on Wednesday and Thursday. It was one of the many changes to the women’s basketball tournament in the wake of inequities revealed at last season’s NCAAs. The final four teams in the field will play games on Wednesday and Thursday.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas earned a No. 1 seed for the 15th time on Sunday, second only to North Carolina for most in college hoops history, and will open the NCAA Tournament in the Midwest Region against the play-in winner between Texas Southern and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Fort Worth, Texas. The regional finals will occur in Chicago. Auburn earned the No. 2 seed after a late-year slide, while LSU earned the No. 6 seed one day after the firing of coach Will Wade amid allegations of NCAA misconduct that stems from a wide-ranging FBI investigation into college basketball corruption.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Rori Harmon scored 20 points and No. 7 Texas beat No. 4 Baylor 67-58 to win the Big 12 Women's Tournament championship. Harmon, a freshman, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Texas also got 14 points from Joanne Allen-Taylor and 12 from Aaliyah Moore. Big 12 Player of the Year NaLyssa Smith scored 21 points to lead Baylor, but she only had seven before the fourth quarter as Texas built a big lead. The game was projected to be a tussle between the front courts, but foul trouble on both sides put a crimp in that plan. Instead, the guards took over.
UNDATED (AP) — Tennessee and Iowa have ended lengthy conference title droughts. The 24th-ranked Hawkeyes are Big Ten champs for the first time in 16 years after Keegan Murray provided 19 points and 11 rebounds in a 75-66 victory over No. 9 Purdue. Santiago Vescovi scored 17 points and the ninth-ranked Volunteers captured their first SEC crown since 1979 by beating Texas A&M, 65-50.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS (AP) — No. 18 Houston earned a conference tournament title in men's basketball, capturing the American Athletic title with a 71-53 rout of Memphis. Fabian White Jr. dropped in 20 points after playing just three minutes of the semifinal because of a back issue. Fellow big man Josh Carlton had 18 to help the Cougars close out their second straight conference crown.
UNDATED (AP) — Dayton, Oklahoma, SMU and Texas A&M have earned top seeds in the National Invitation Tournament. The field also includes Virginia, which won its first national title in 2019. The Cavaliers are hosting Mississippi State in what could be the last game for Bulldogs coach Ben Howland. He's 134-97 in seven seasons with Mississippi State, with one NCAA Tournament appearance. Florida will face Iona and coach Rick Pitino, who guided Kentucky to the national championship in 1996. Dayton will play at Toledo despite its top seeding because its arena hosts NCAA Tournament play-in games on Tuesday and Wednesday.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Quarterback Tom Brady says he’ll be back with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a 23rd NFL season, putting an end to his 40-day retirement. The seven-time Super Bowl champion announced his decision on Twitter and Instagram, saying he has “unfinished business.” The 43-year-old Brady led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title following the 2020 season and NFC South championship last season.
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Chase Briscoe executed two great restarts over the final 20 laps to pull away from Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick in NASCAR’s Cup race at Phoenix Raceway. Pole-sitter Ryan Blaney won the second stage after leading 138 of the first 185 laps before settling for fourth.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Players Championship has become a meteorologist’s dream. First came two days of heavy rain, followed by high winds on Saturday and frigid temperatures on Sunday.
Players finally were able to complete the second round at TPC Sawgrass, where they braved 35-degree weather as Sam Burns and Tom Hoge moved into a first-place tie through two rounds. Burns closed out his second round with a 75-foot eagle putt and an 18-foot par. Hoge shot a 71 on Sunday for a 7 under total. The third round was to finish Monday morning, followed by the final round in pursuit of the $3.6 million payoff to the winner. Anirban Lahiri of India was the clubhouse leader when Round 3 was halted by darkness.
Sunday Tourney Scores
American Athletic
Houston 71, Memphis 53
Atlantic 10
Richmond 64, Davidson 62
Big Ten
Iowa 75, Purdue 66
Ivy League
Yale 66, Princeton 64
Southeastern
Tennessee 65, Texas A&M 50