#virginia-cavaliers

#virginia-cavaliers

Rick Pitino has signed a new deal with St. John's University, extending his contract through the 2029-30 season and receiving a significant pay increase. His leadership has transformed the program, leading to a 20-13 record in his first season and a remarkable 31-5 record in 2024-25, which included winning both the regular season and Big East Tournament titles.

The number of combos for one tourney is about 9.2 quintillion-nearly 2 quintillion more than the best estimate for sand.

For the first time ever, the St. John's Red Storm are back-to-back Big East champions after defeating UConn in a wire-to-wire 72-52 win in the conference title game on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. When these teams last met, the Huskies handed the Johnnies a humbling 32-point loss, snapping the team's 13-game winning streak and leaving them eager for redemption.

Oscar Cluff scored 21 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 20 and No. 18 Purdue topped No. 3 Michigan 80-72 on Sunday for the Big Ten tournament championship. Braden Smith had 14 points, 11 assists and three steals as Purdue (27-8) added to an impressive turnaround after closing the regular season with four losses in six games.

Duke outscores opponents by 19.6 points per game (scoring 82.5 per game to rank 47th in college basketball while allowing 62.9 per contest to rank third in college basketball) and has a +647 scoring differential overall.

Cornell is thrilled to welcome all of these incredible student-athletes to Ithaca. The NCAA basketball tournaments are cultural institutions and lots of fun. I'm excited and proud, both as a fan and as the university's president, to host our terrific Ivy athletes, coaches and fans.

The late Joe Kapp could make that claim. He played two sports at Cal, best known for leading the Bears to their most recent Rose Bowl following the 1958 season. But the man who later quarterbacked the BC Lions to a Canadian Grey Cup championship and the Minnesota Vikings into Super Bowl IV also played hoops for the Bears. He was an All-American in football, a backup guard on the basketball team. Kapp played the 1956-57 and '57-58 seasons, averaging just 1.8 points each season.

Howard University's sports have been a punchline or worse my whole life, and since before I was even around, and that's a mighty long time. I learned too much about Howard's athletic awfulness when I covered D.C. sports for Washington City Paper beginning in the 1990s. My education started when I wrote about the school's 1996 basketball team, which was in the middle of the worst losing streak in the NCAA at the time.

Duke is the pre-tournament favorite for a second straight year and the 10th time overall, tying North Carolina for the most tournaments as the favorite since 1979, according to ESPN Research. The pre-tournament favorite has won eight of the last 20 tournaments.

While projected top-five pick Caleb Wilson will sit out the entire ACC Tournament and all of March Madness with a left hand fracture, the Boozer twins and several other 2026 NBA Draft prospects will be very available.

Radford averages 67.2 points per game (154th in college basketball) while giving up 60.4 per contest (84th in college basketball). It has a +216 scoring differential overall and outscores opponents by 6.8 points per game. The Highlanders' leading scorer, Williams, ranks 210th in the nation putting up 14.6 points per game.

The Richmond Spiders (16-4) will host the Duquesne Dukes (7-13) after winning five straight home games. On Sunday, in its last game, Richmond topped VCU 77-47. With 20 points, Rachel Ullstrom was its top scorer. Duquesne lost its most recent game to Saint Joseph's (PA), 72-53, on Saturday. Alexis Bordas starred with 13 points, plus two boards and zero assists.