March Madness is underway and NCAA Tournament brackets were busted early Thursday. No. 13 seed Furman beat fourth-seeded Virginia 68-67 and No. 15 Princeton defeated second-seeded Arizona 59-55.
Other First Round Scores:
SOUTH:
At Golden 1 Center:
Missouri 76 Utah St. 65
Princeton 59 Arizona 55
At Legacy Arena at BJCC:
Maryland 67 West Virginia 65
Alabama 96 Texas A&M-CC 75
At Amway Center:
Furman 68 Virginia 67
San Diego St. 63 College of Charleston 57
MIDWEST
at Legacy Arena at BJCC:
Final Auburn 83 Iowa 75
Final Houston 63 N. Kentucky 52
at Wells Fargo Arena:
Final Texas 81 Colgate 61
Final Penn St. 76 Texas A&M 59
EAST
at Amway Center:
Final Duke 74 Oral Roberts 51
Final Tennessee 58 Louisiana-Lafayette 55
WEST
at Golden 1 Center:
Final Northwestern 75 Boise St. 67
Final UCLA 86 UNC-Asheville 53
at Wells Fargo Arena
Final Kansas 96 Howard 68
Final Arkansas 73 Illinois 63
NIT
No games scheduled.
CBI
No games scheduled.
The NCAA men’s basketball tournament continues today as the rest of the first-round games on the bracket are played. Meanwhile, today’s action includes the first men’s tournament games held in Albany since 2003.
#4 UConn takes on #13 Iona at 4:30, #5 Mt. St. Mary’s goes up against #12 VCU at 2:00, #4 Indiana faces #13 Kent State at 9:55 tonight, and #5 Miami takes on #12 Drake at 7:25 p.m. #15 Vermont faces #2 Marquette at 2:45 today in Columbus.
Meanwhile, after the Albany County-owned MVP Arena underwent millions of dollars in renovations, arena general manager Bob Belber says the goal is to get the tournament back in town soon:
Meanwhile, after the Albany County-owned MVP Arena underwent millions of dollars in renovations, arena general manager Bob Belber says the goal is to get the tournament back in town soon:
"When they go back out with bids here in July for '25 and beyond, we're hoping that we'll be able to get something either in '26, '27, '28, with basketball again, and we'll also be resubmitting for hockey beyond '26."
On the women’s side, #2 Maryland faces #15 Holy Cross at 2:30 today in College Park, #3 Duke challenges #14 Iona at 9:30 tomorrow night in Durham, and #2 UConn presses #15 Vermont at 3p.m. tomorrow in Storrs.
Rick Pitino is once again a hot commodity in college coaching. The 70-year-old two-time national champion, whose Hall of Fame four-decade career has been sprinkled with scandal, has Iona back in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons. As Pitino prepares to face fourth-seeded Connecticut in the first round of the West Region, speculation is swirling that he could be heading back to the Big East to become coach of St. John's. Pitino dodged questions about his future other than to say he hopes to coach a dozen more years.
No. 13 seed Furman hands UVA its latest early March exit
JP Pegues made a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining, and No. 13 seed Furman completed a rally from a 12-point second-half deficit to hand fourth-seeded Virginia another first-round NCAA Tournament loss, 68-67. Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play either San Diego State or Charleston on Saturday. Kihei Clark threw a bad pass that Garrett Hien intercepted at midcourt with 7 seconds to go, setting up Pegues’ go-ahead basket. Virginia was eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in its past four NCAA tournaments.
All-American Marcus Sasser is a big question mark in the NCAA Tournament. Houston's star guard tried to play against Northern Kentucky, but an ailing groin began acting up again. Sasser spent the entire second half on the bench as the top-seeded Cougars struggled to put away Northern Kentucky, finally prevailing 63-52. Sasser finished with only five points in about 14 minutes of playing time. Coach Kelvin Sampson says Sasser reported that his groin “felt funny.” So, he decided to shut it down for the rest of the night. Sasser was injured last weekend in the American Athletic Conference tournament.
An independent law firm investigating a fatal shooting by a New Mexico State basketball player recommended the school enhance its weapons policy and “strengthen a culture that encourages student-athletes to adhere to the integrity and values of NMSU at all times.” The school released the report on the first full day of the NCAA Tournament, an event the Aggies were not eligible for after canceling their season in February. An executive summary of the report did not identify any NCAA violations or failure of the school to meet legal obligations. The summary said the report was restricted by the absence of several witnesses, “including multiple basketball coaches and players,” who refused to cooperate or were unavailable.
NBA
Domantas Sabonis had 24 points and 21 rebounds, and the Sacramento Kings clinched their first winning season since 2005-06 by beating the Brooklyn Nets 101-96 on Thursday night. De’Aaron Fox added 18 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Kings, who improved to 42-27, second in the Western Conference. They hadn’t finished above .500 since going 44-38 in 2005-06, the last of eight consecutive playoff appearances under Rick Adelman. Sabonis had 20 points by halftime and the Kings led by as much as 17, but the Nets made it close. Mikal Bridges scored 23 points for the Nets, who fell 1 1/2 games behind the New York Knicks for fifth place in the Eastern Conference and are just 1 1/2 ahead of seventh-place Miami as they try to avoid the play-in tournament. Spencer Dinwiddie added 18 points and Nic Claxton had 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Nets.
NHL
Chris Kreider scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and added an empty-netter, and Igor Shesterkin made 30 saves as the New York Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2. Kreider scored at 11:45 by sliding the puck past goaltender Tristan Jarry with Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin draped all over the New York forward in the crease. Kreider then scored his 30th of the season into an empty net at 19:10 to seal the win and give the third-place Rangers a 10-point lead over Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division. Mika Zibanejad and Tyler Motte also scored for the Rangers, who won for the eighth time in their last 10 home games. They are 11-4-0 in their past 15 at Madison Square Garden.
Jeremy Swayman made 36 saves for his third shutout of the season and eighth overall in the NHL-leading Boston Bruins’ 3-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night. Trent Frederic, Pavel Zacha and Tomas Nosek scored to help Boston rebound from its first consecutive regulation losses of the season. Frederic opened the scoring at 50 seconds of the first period with his 15th goal of the season. Zacha added his 18th with 6:38 left in the first. Nosek scored into an empty net with six seconds left for his sixth of the season. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 21 shots for the Jets.
Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist in regulation, and Alex Killorn and Ross Colton each scored in the shootout to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for Tampa Bay, which won its second in a row over New Jersey after a victory Tuesday night. Timo Meier had two goals in the third period and Tomas Tatar also scored for New Jersey. Akira Schmid made 21 saves in his 12th start this season.
MLB
New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz has a torn patellar tendon and is expected to miss the entire season after hurting his right knee while celebrating a victory in the World Baseball Classic. The Mets announced Thursday night that Díaz had surgery earlier in the day. General manager Billy Eppler said a general timeline for recovery from this type of injury is about eight months. The Mets re-signed Díaz to a five-year, $102 million contract — the largest ever for a closer — after he produced a spectacular 2022 season.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter has pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing related to a crash that killed Bulldogs offensive lineman Devin Willock and a recruiting staff member. Carter has been sentenced to 12 months' probation and a $1,000 fine. Carter is projected as one of the top players in next month’s NFL draft. He must complete 50 hours of community service and a state-approved defensive driving course. Willock and Chandler LeCroy died in the Jan. 15 crash, which happened hours after Georgia celebrated its second consecutive national championship.
GOLF
Ryan Brehm was having a solid round in the Valspar Championship. One swing made it a memorable round. Brehm made a hole-in-one on the 17th hole. That led to a 66 and gives Brehm a three-way share of the lead with Stephan Jaeger and Adam Schenk. Jordan Spieth is in the group one shot behind. Spieth only hit five fairways. But his putting is starting to look as good as ever. Spieth is a past winner at Innisbrook. He's playing the tournament for the first time in five years. Two-time defending champion Sam Burns and Justin Thomas are at 69.
