PROVIDENCE, R.I. — John Poulakidas, Yale’s perimeter marksman, missed seven of his first eight shots in the Ivy League championship game, but with another NCAA appearance on the line, he wasn’t about to stay cool for long.

Poulakidas hit his first seven shots of the second half, finishing with 25 points, to lead the Bulldogs to an 90-84 ...Read more

GAINESVILLE, Fla.— Florida will open NCAA Tournament play Friday in Raleigh, N.C., against Norfolk State as the No. 1 seed in the West Region.

The Gators’ emphatic win Sunday against Tennessee in the SEC Tournament championship game ended the debate on whether the Gators would earn a No. 1 seed.

The only question after Sunday’s 86-77 win...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Jayhawks were awarded a No. 7 seed in the West Regional of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

KU (21-12) will meet No. 10 seed Arkansas of the SEC in a first-round contest on Thursday in Providence, R.I.

If the Jayhawks win their opener in the annual men’s basketball tournament, they’ll play either St. John...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats (22-11 overall) will be a No. 3 seed in the 2025 men’s NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats, a No. 3 seed in the Midwest Regional (Indianapolis), will begin March Madness with a round-of-64 matchup against No. 14 seed Troy (23-10) on Friday in Milwaukee.

The Trojans went 13-5 in regular ...Read more

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The No. 1 team in the Big Ten is a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

For the 27th straight season, Michigan State will play in March Madness. After an unexpected run to the top of the Big Ten standings this season, the Spartans (27-6) earned a No. 2 seed in the South Region, where it faces No. 15 seed Bryant (23-11) on ...Read more

DURHAM, N.C. — After an impressive run through the season, including an ACC championship, the No. 1 Duke Blue Devils begin their quest for a sixth NCAA championship in their own area code.

The Blue Devils (31-3) were awarded the No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament’s East Region and will begin play Friday at Raleigh’s Lenovo Center against ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s Tar Heels, to a man, left Charlotte and the ACC Tournament believing they should and would be playing in the NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA selection committee has made the call, and has included the Tar Heels. UNC (22-13) will face San Diego State (21-9) in a First Four game Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio, with winner ...Read more

NEW YORK — Let the Madness begin for St. John’s.

Rick Pitino’s resurgent Red Storm are the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s West Region and will face No. 15 Omaha on Thursday in Providence, R.I., in the Round of 64.

With a win, St. John’s would face the winner of No. 7 Kansas vs. No. 10 Arkansas on Saturday in Providence in the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The 68-team bracket for the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is set, but matchup starting times will not be announced until later Sunday.

The First Four begins Tuesday and first-round games begin on Thursday. The women's NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed on ESPN starting at 5 p.m. PDT.

Here's a look at the NCAA ...Read more

INDIANAPOLIS — The Wolverines let one Big Ten title slip through their fingers. They weren’t going to let that happen again.

Not this time.

No. 3 seed Michigan rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half and reeled off its third win in as many days, beating No. 5 seed Wisconsin, 59-53, in Sunday’s Big Ten Tournament championship ...Read more

INDIANAPOLIS — What a difference a year makes.

At this time last March, Michigan’s season was already over. There was no reason to tune into Selection Sunday after a miserable 8-24 campaign that set a single-season program record for losses.

Fast forward to this Sunday, and the Wolverines already knew their fate before the NCAA Tournament ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Dorian Finney-Smith hobbled around, the ankle problems that kept him off the court in the Lakers' losses to Brooklyn and Denver, obvious. Still, he fought with Kevin Durant and helped push the Phoenix star into missing eight of his first nine shots.

In the second half, Finney-Smith would hit two big threes and have a key ...Read more

STORRS, Conn. – The path to a third consecutive NCAA Tournament title is a bit overgrown and rugged, having not been walked in over half a century.

John Wooden’s UCLA teams won seven national championships in a row from 1967-73, and the trail was a bit wider then. For this UConn men’s basketball team, which went 23-10 after losing four of...Read more

DALLAS — It’s a tricky line, the concept of tanking without overtly doing it.

The downtrodden Philadelphia 76ers played the equally depleted Dallas Mavericks on Sunday afternoon at American Airlines Center. The teams were even, missing-player-wise, and equally looking ahead to an infusion of young talent in the draft.

For the unenlightened...Read more

CLEVELAND — The top-seeded Cavaliers entered Rocket Arena averaging a league-leading 122.8 points, shooting an NBA-best 39% from 3, and boasting the No. 1 offensive rating (121.8).

But Sunday at home against the Magic in front of a national TV audience on ABC told a different story.

Behind a combined 46 points from Paolo Banchero (24) and ...Read more

DENVER — Work hours in South Korea were prime-time basketball hours on the other side of the world. Taehyun Kim didn’t care for his day job. Fresh out of college, he was a finance assistant for a German IT company. His head and heart were elsewhere.

“That wasn’t my dream job,” he said.

So Kim used his computer to watch games at the ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Late in the second half, Louisville schemed open the matchup it wanted: The Cardinals’ unrelenting guard Terrence Edwards Jr. one-on-one against Duke’s 7-foot-2 Khaman Maluach.

A speedster against a big. Louisville’s unstoppable force Saturday on the perimeter, on an island, in need of a key bucket to keep the ACC ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Like the individual matchup between Draymond Green and Karl-Anthony Towns, the Warriors and Knicks locked their horns.

Neither team led by double digits all game, the final three quarters were rock fights and the officials permitted each team to play bruising defense.

Although Towns (29 points, 12 rebounds) won his battle ...Read more

DENVER — Rock bottom for the 2024-25 Denver Nuggets was in Washington. Caught in a malaise too early in the season for it to be acceptable, they fell to 11-10 on Dec. 7 after wasting a Nikola Jokic career-high scoring night and freeing the Wizards from a 16-game losing streak.

Since then, Denver has rounded into form as one of the best teams ...Read more

DETROIT — The Detroit Pistons dropped their second consecutive game, a 113-107 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added to his MVP candidacy with a game-high 48 points, shooting an efficient 17 of 26 and dishing six assists to lead the Thunder.

Cade Cunningham struggled to ...Read more