This time last year, Nebraska took home the inaugural College Basketball Crown trophy. The winner of Sunday’s championship game in Las Vegas between Oklahoma and West Virginia will hope to carry similar momentum into next season.

Oklahoma (21-15) endured a nine-game losing streak in the heart of Southeastern Conference play, ultimately dooming its NCAA Tournament chances before finishing as the first team left out of the 68-team field.

The Sooners face former Big 12 rival West Virginia on Sunday in the program’s first championship game since their 1991 NIT final loss to Stanford. For Oklahoma coach Porter Moser, the decision to accept the bid wasn’t a tough one, and so far, it’s paid off.

“I’m not going to lie, it was a very hard Selection Sunday,” Moser said. “The emotions were very raw, because of how much these guys battled through when no one else believed. We felt we should have been in (the tournament), but that’s for a later discussion. We could either talk about that, or we could show them why they made a mistake.”

After beating Colorado 90-86 in overtime on Wednesday in the quarterfinals, Oklahoma got 21 points from Xzayvier Brown in its 82-69 victory over Baylor on Saturday. Nijel Pack’s 16.6 points per game pace the Sooners, while Brown adds 15.5.

West Virginia (20-14) beat Creighton 87-70 in the semifinals on Saturday to earn its first 20-win season since the 2019-20 campaign. One more victory would give the Mountaineers their first postseason tournament title since winning the 2007 NIT.

First-year head coach Ross Hodge’s team flirted with the NCAA Tournament bubble all season. When that dream fell short, there were no doubts about heading to Las Vegas.

“There was no conversation that needed to be had about playing,” Hodge said. “These guys love each other. They love the university. They love the state of West Virginia. It’s their heart and their gratitude that is directly responsible for us to be in the position that we’re going to be in (Sunday).”

Freshman DJ Thomas scored 20 points in the Mountaineers’ win over Creighton — his second most this season. Honor Huff leads West Virginia with 15.9 points per game, followed by Brenen Lorient’s 11.8.

Nebraska followed up its CBC title last season by winning a school-record 28 games this season, including the first two NCAA Tournament victories in program history.

–Field Level Media

The visiting Atlanta Braves can begin the season with three straight series wins for the first time since 2018 when they face the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon in Phoenix.

Atlanta took two of three from both the Kansas City Royals and the Athletics and will finish a four-game set on Sunday. The Braves outscored Arizona 19-2 across their first two wins of the series before falling 2-1 on Saturday.

First-year manager Walt Weiss is far from worried about superstar Ronald Acuna Jr., but a .161 batting average through nine games has been an unwanted surprise.

“His swing looks kind of late,” Weiss said. “But they all go through ruts. We’ve seen all these guys go through ruts before. When he gets rolling, it’s going to be fun to watch. But he seems kind of late to me, right now.”

Atlanta’s pitching staff has allowed just three earned runs across the last four games and will turn to veteran Martin Perez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) in the series finale.

Perez, 35, threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief on Tuesday against the A’s. After signing a minor league contract with the club in January, Perez had his contract selected as a dependable left-handed arm who can be plugged into the starting rotation.

“(Perez) is just a crafty veteran,” Weiss said. “He knows how to pitch. He’s a salty veteran. He’s been a good pitcher in this league for a long time. He threw the ball really well for us in that relief appearance last time out, so I expect him to be good again.”

Perez is slated to make the 280th start of his career and fourth against Arizona. He’s 0-2 with a 6.43 ERA in three appearances against the Diamondbacks.

Arizona, meanwhile, can stamp a successful first homestand of the season. The Diamondbacks swept the Detroit Tigers and have bounced back from a 17-2 Thursday loss to Atlanta with a pair of competitive outings.

Still, offense has been an issue for manager Torey Lovullo’s club. Albeit a small sample size, Arizona is batting just .204 and has failed to score more than two runs in any of the last four games. For Lovullo, an emphasis needs to be placed on honing in on pitches around the plate.

“If we zone in, try not to do too much, wait for our pitch, it’s the art of hitting and the beauty of baseball. When you do it, it’s sweet music,” Lovullo said. “When you chase, you get yourself into bad counts.”

Both of Arizona’s runs were unearned on Saturday. Rookie Jose Fernandez has been a bright spot, batting .333 with two home runs for the Diamondbacks.

On the mound Sunday, Brandon Pfaadt (0-0, 7.50 ERA) will look to bounce back after allowing five runs across six innings in a no-decision against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. The Diamondbacks won 7-5. Pfaadt, 27, is 2-0 with a 5.66 ERA in four career starts against the Braves.

–Field Level Media

–Field Level Media

The Athletics will be looking for better results on Sunday as they host the Houston Astros in West Sacramento, Calif., with each team vying for its first series win against a divisional opponent in 2026.

It’s been a tale of two blowouts so far in this first meeting between American League West rivals this season, with the A’s taking the opener 11-4 on Friday night and Houston responding with an 11-0 shutout on Saturday.

Athletics manager Mark Kotsay is looking for a better effort from his team after that big loss.

“We didn’t do anything well today,” he said postgame on Saturday. “That game was reflective of, in my opinion, past performances that we feel like we have put behind us, and we need to put behind us as a team.”

He was critical of the pitching staff’s performance after five pitchers combined to give up 18 hits, walk 13 batters and strike out only five.

“This is not reflective of the expectation level of our staff right now,” Kotsay said. “We talk about beating ourselves all the time. Today, we completely beat ourselves.”

The A’s are second in walks in the majors with 47 as a staff in eight games, trailing only the Los Angeles Angels (48). Kotsay said his pitchers need to start locating their offspeed offerings better.

“You’ve got to be able to keep big-league hitters off-balance,” he said. “You’ve got to have some type of secondary (pitch) you can throw in the zone for a strike and land it and get ahead.”

He’ll also be hoping for an improvement from Jacob Lopez as he makes his first home start of 2026.

Lopez (0-1, 6.75 ERA) struggled for control as he walked five batters and gave up three runs in four innings of a 4-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Monday.

He did not take a decision in either of his previous two career starts against Houston, putting up a 0.87 ERA in 10 1/3 innings, allowing one run on six hits.

If the A’s are able to pull out a victory, they will win their first series of the young season after starting 1-5 against the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves.

Lance McCullers Jr. (1-0, 1.29 ERA) will take the mound for Houston for the rubber game. McCullers picked up the win in his season debut on Monday against Boston, striking out nine and allowing one run over seven innings. Over 15 starts against the Athletics in his career, McCullers is 7-3 with a 3.32 ERA.

“He kept attacking,” Astros manager Joe Espada said after McCullers’ outing against the Red Sox. “He set the tone from the very beginning. He was going to control the at-bats.”

McCullers has been in the Houston organization for his entire career, drafted in 2012 and debuting in 2015. He was an All-Star in 2017 when the Astros won the World Series, but he has thrown more than 100 innings in a season just once since 2018 while battling multiple injuries. He missed the 2019, 2023 and 2024 campaigns.

He will be looking to build on the work of Tatsuya Imai, who worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out nine in Houston’s win on Saturday to set up Sunday’s decisive Game 3.

Last season, the Athletics won the head-to-head series with Houston 8-5.

–Field Level Media