Sports
No. 3 seed Illinois opens title pursuit with familiar feel vs. Penn
JIllinois Fighting Illini guard Andrej Stojakovic (2), center Zvonimir Ivisic (44) and guard Keaton Wagler (23) and guard Kylan Boswell (4) and forward David Mirkovic (0) look on during the second half against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images Illinois team leaders called a players-only meeting last weekend after an early exit from the Big Ten tournament.
It allowed the Fighting Illini to regroup as they await the chance to reset for the NCAA Tournament.
Third-seeded Illinois meets No. 14 Penn in a South Region first-round game on Thursday in Greenville, S.C. The Illini (24-8) hope it’s a springboard to additional road trips in the next three weeks.
“This is the last time this group of guys will ever play together,” senior guard Kylan Boswell said. “All of us have to go different routes, different ways. We don’t want to leave the season with any regrets or anything we feel like we left behind or left on the court. So, take the Penn game as seriously as we can, try our best to take care of business and just play with the right mentality.”
Illinois will meet a familiar foe, at least on the opposing bench.
First-year Quakers coach Fran McCaffery guided Big Ten rival Iowa for 15 seasons before being fired a year ago.
Illinois counterpart Brad Underwood called McCaffery “a great, great friend and obviously a guy that we had some battles with over the years.”
On Sunday, McCaffery became the fifth coach to lead five or more different schools to the NCAA Tournament as Penn (18-11) edged top-seeded Yale 88-84 in overtime to win the Ivy League tournament.
“They’re all incredible,” McCaffery said. “But I do think this was a little different. Not only coming home to my alma mater, I just feel blessed to have this opportunity. I feel blessed that I had the group of guys that I had when I first met them.”
It’s a group that could have a different makeup than during that occasion. Penn senior forward Ethan Roberts, the team’s leading scorer at 16.9 points per game, missed the conference tournament with a concussion and his status for Thursday is uncertain.
McCaffery told 94.1 WIP radio in Philadelphia that Roberts would attempt to practice Tuesday, but the team wouldn’t hurry his recovery through concussion protocol.
Junior forward TJ Power, who previously played at Duke and Virginia, torched Yale for 44 points and 14 rebounds and averages 16.8 points a game. He knows the Quakers face a tougher test in Illinois but also feels the team is up for the challenge.
“They have talent everywhere,” Power said. “Individually, if you look on paper, you might not favor us or our matchups defensively. But if we can be more connected, if we can be on the same page, we can [succeed].”
To be sure, Illinois brings size, with the 6-foot-2 Boswell the only starter listed below 6-6. All five starters average in double figures, led by Big Ten Freshman of the Year Keaton Wagler (17.9). Andrej Stojakovic and David Mirkovic follow at 13.4 points apiece.
Wagler shoots 40.2% from long range, one of multiple threats from deep.
“We just need to enjoy the moment,” Boswell said. “I think we’ve played our best all year when we’re super intense, aggressive and we play with the right mentality. Coach says, ‘Let it rip.’ I think us understanding one another and how much we love one another will be our biggest advantage.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
TCU vs Ohio State Prediction: Best Bet for March Madness Opener
There aren’t many better feelings than starting March Madness off 1-0. Unfortunately, the committee will always make that as hard as possible by throwing a toss-up game in the 12:15 slot on Thursday.
This year is no different: the 9-seed TCU will face the 8-seed Ohio State, with the Buckeyes opening as slight 2.5-point favorites.
Yahoo Sports currently has 60% of brackets taking Ohio State in the first game of the tournament, which is the fifth-closest toss-up among all submitted brackets. Agreeing with the public normally won’t get you far in gambling, but I think I’m going to have to ride with them on this one.
Why to bet on Ohio State
I’ll get into more of my reasons why I like Ohio State in this game, but the biggest factor for me comes down to which team has the better best player. Bruce Thorton is leaving Ohio State as the all-time leading scorer for a university with a very solid basketball history. Thornton has missed the tournament in his first three years as a Buckeye, but made sure that he didn’t leave Columbus without one trip to the dance.
Thorton’s having an uber-efficient senior campaign, scoring 20 points a night on 55/40/83 splits. Thornton, along with his backcourt partner, John Mobley Jr. provide one of the more entertaining guard combos in the country. They shoot the three very well and provide a large majority of the Buckeyes’ offense.
With a guard combo like those two, you might wonder why Ohio State is only an 8-seed. Unfortunately, Ohio State has one of the worst front courts in the tournament, and has been abused inside all season long. What I like about Ohio State so much in this matchup is that TCU doesn’t have an imposing frontcourt that can take over a game.
What to know about TCU
The Horned Frogs have an equally small starting lineup, with 6’8” Xavier Edwards and 6’7” David Punch holding down the small-ball four and five’s. Ohio State does have size with 7’0” senior Chris Tilly, but he has consistently been bullied throughout conference play and has been a weak link for the Buckeyes.
In a single-elimination game against TCU, I think Tilly will be able to hold up long enough for his guards to win.
TCU head coach Jamie Dixon does a great job of running a defense that prevents guards from taking over, but they’ve been too inconsistent this year for me to trust them. Since the start of March, Ohio State is 4-1 and 4th best team in the country according to Bart Torvik. But even across the season, Torvik has Ohio State as the 23rd-best team and TCU as the 49th-best.
I think Vegas is a little off on this one, so I like Ohio State -2.5, and I love them to advance into the round of 32.
Sports
What Is the College Basketball Crown and Why It’s Struggling
Mar 1, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; DePaul Blue Demons forward Theo Pierre-Justin (21) holds the ball away from Marquette Golden Eagles guard Nigel James Jr. (0) during the first half at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images In theory, maybe the College Basketball Crown has appeal.
Get the eight or 16 best teams that didn’t make the NCAA Tournament, put a quick bracket together and plop them in Vegas. Winner gets a chunk of “NIL money” (wink, nudge) to spread amongst the team. Surely this can work; done right, it may even quell the tide of pro-NCAA Tournament expansion idiots, as a worthwhile consolation prize for those who miss out.
But in Year 2 of the Crown, despite the tournament proactively shrinking itself from a 16-team field to eight, it had major trouble just filling those eight spots.
You are looking live at the tournament that will kill the NIT while simultaneously being sure to die out on its own in the next two or three years.
Who is this for?
Because the answer surely isn’t the fans. No one was clamoring to see Stanford-West Virginia, Baylor-Minnesota or Rutgers-Creighton in the first week of April. And somehow I have trouble foreseeing many student sections boarding a plane for the sole purpose of attending this tournament on Easter weekend (though maybe that’s where Las Vegas’ other amenities kick in).
How many of these teams do you think went .500 or worse in the regular season? If you said “all of them,” funny joke, but also you’re close. Half of them: Baylor (16-16), Minnesota (15-17), Rutgers (14-19) and Creighton (15-17).
See, the tournament organizers wanted to give automatic bids to the two best non-NCAA Tournament teams out of the Big 12, Big East and Big Ten conferences. (This is a Fox project, and those conferences have partnerships with Fox Sports.)
And so many teams passed that we’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel in the Big Ten and didn’t even get a second team from the Big East.
You’re telling me DePaul didn’t even want to celebrate its turnaround (sixth place in the Big East) by taking a trip to Vegas and trying to win some money?
So it’s not for the fans and it’s not for the players, either. Postseason opportunities don’t matter to today’s athletes the way they did a generation or even half a generation ago. North Carolina declining an invite to the NIT in 2023 opened the floodgates for this: statements from coaches or athletic directors about how they were proud of their accomplishments, or they left it up to a player vote, or we’re going to focus on next year.
It trickles down to the third-tier tournaments meant for mid-majors and low-major programs: The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) was canceled this month “due to circumstances beyond our control,” though they cheerily promised to see us next year.
Interestingly, the women’s game doesn’t seem to have trouble filling out a 68-team NCAA Tournament, a 32-team WBIT introduced in 2024 and a 48-team WNIT. The problem is isolated on the men’s side, perhaps because every team now thinks it’s good enough for the NCAA Tournament, much like Notre Dame felt it was College Football Playoff or nothing.
The obvious answer to the question “Who is the College Basketball Crown for?” is the TV network that wants inventory to put up against the real tournament, and the Las Vegas entertainment industrial complex that wedges its way into everything these days.
The irony is that for three of these teams — looking at you, Baylor, Rutgers and Creighton — they spent Thanksgiving week playing in front of several hundred fans in Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival, and now for Easter they’ll play in front of several hundred fans in Las Vegas once more. I suppose it’s better than politely declining, but you can’t tell me it’s how the average college hoops fan wants to see a season end.
Sports
Why Mark DeRosa Should Never Work in Baseball Again
Team USA suffered a tragic defeat at the hands of heavy underdogs Venezuela in the championship of the World Baseball Classic. It’s the second straight silver medal for Team USA, and another one-run loss that will weigh heavily on the Americans and manager Mark DeRosa.
Of course, the players have to go out and get the job done on the field, but too often during the WBC, questions were raised about decisions made by DeRosa. It’s a shame that DeRosa is the main talking point at the conclusion of an instant classic game. Bryce Harper’s 8th-inning two-run homer should be written into American baseball lore, but sadly, that play is forgotten due to leaving Mason Miller on the bench in the 9th inning.
There was never going to be a save situation for Miller in this game. You had all the momentum after Harper’s home run in the 8th, why would you not immediately go to Miller in the 9th? You were facing the heart of Venezuela’s order with Luis Arraez, who was having an amazing WBC, and Eugenio Suárez, following right behind him. Suárez, a player coming off a 49-homer season the year prior.
Garrett Whitlock isn’t a bad player, but Mason Miller hadn’t given up an earned run since August 5th of last season. If Venezuela is shut out in the 9th, I’m not saying the US still wins, but they go into the bottom half of the 9th inning with a different mindset.
Kyle Schwarber presses and strikes out, Gunnar Henderson comes on to pinch hit in a game he probably should have started, and pops up in a bad AB. Finally, Roman Anthony struck out for the last out, giving Venezuela their first WBC gold medal.
To avoid putting all the blame on DeRosa, the USA lineup had a pathetic final few games. Bobby Whitt Jr., Aaron Judge, Alex Bregman, Roman Anthony, Will Smith, and Pete Crow-Armstrong going hitless in a winner-go-home final is unacceptable.
It’s not like they were facing prime Randy Johnson either. Here are the last season ERAs for Venezuela’s pitching staff in the championship.
Eduardo Rodríguez: 5.02 ERA
Eduard Bazardo: 2.52 ERA
José Buttó: 3.90 ERA
Angel Zerpa: 4.18 ERA
Andrés Machado: 2.28 ERA (in JPL)
Daniel Palencia: 2.91 ERA
It’s an absolute choke from the top down to not win this game. One last person who also deserves a tiny bit of blame. Tarik Skubal should’ve been starting over Nolan McLean, who had a solid enough outing. Skubal being too scared of getting hurt and still deciding to sit in the dugout for the finals is a joke.
Any goodwill he’s built up with fans has been entirely eroded by his attitude during the WBC. I’m sure that will only continue after he leaves Detroit to go get paid a billion dollars by the Dodgers.
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