MANHATTAN – With 10 of the Top 11 individual players in the individual standings either from Hutchinson or Dodge City, the No. 1-ranked Blue Dragons and No. 5 ranked Conquistadors are locked in a tight battle for the first Jayhawk Conference tournament title of the 2023 spring season after 36 holes on Monday.

The Hutchinson Community College men's golf team leads Dodge City by two strokes after two round of Jayhawk No. 1, the first of three league-designated tournament. Hutchinson leads the tournament at Colbert Hills with a 3-under-par team score of 573. Dodge City is at 1-over 575. Garden City is third at 616.

The final round of the 54-hole events begins with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at Colbert Hills.

Led by sophomore&nbsp;<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/saffell_blake_2ov2">Blake Saffell</a>'s 2-under 70, the Blue Dragons shot even par 288 in the morning round and led Dodge City by one stroke. The Dragons counted scored in the first round of 71 by&nbsp;<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/lindstrom_alex_7wqw">Alex Lindstrom</a>, 73 by&nbsp;<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/clemons_dominic_18vf">Dominic Clemons</a>&nbsp;and 73 from Louis Gavin.

Galvin paced the Blue Dragons in the afternoon round with a season-best round of 69 and Lindstrom shot a second-straight round of 71 as Hutchinson shout a 3-under 285. Dodge City shot 286. Saffell carded a 72 in the second round and Clemons shot a second-straight 73 to count toward the team score.

Saffell and Lindstrom lead the Dragons individually with both players in a four-way tie for second at 2-under 142.

Galvin is sixth at 1-under 143. Clemons is eighth at 2-over 146.

<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/anderson_marco_z2pq">Marco Anderson</a>, the fifth Blue Dragons in the group of five who could figure in the team scoring is 15th after 36 holes at 153 around rounds of 75 and 78.

One of the Blue Dragon individual players is also in the individual Top 10 through 36 holes. Freshman&nbsp;<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/svederman_kalle_hvj9">Kalle Svederman</a>&nbsp;is tied for ninth at 3-over 147. Svederman had rounds of 74 and 73 on Monday.

<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/sauder_brooks_5d71">Brooks Sauder</a>&nbsp;is tied for 26th at 159 after Monday rounds of 84 and 75.

Dodge City's Arthit Kruaprayong is the tournament leader after two rounds with a 3-under 141 (70-71).

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1680007965134.jpeg" alt="Tied for 2nd after 36 holes, Blake Saffell chips onto a green at Colbert Hills Country Club on Monday during Jayhawk No. 1. (Billy Watson/Blue Dragon Sports Information)" />
 <figcaption>Tied for 2nd after 36 holes, Blake Saffell chips onto a green at Colbert Hills Country Club on Monday during Jayhawk No. 1. (Billy Watson/Blue Dragon Sports Information)</figcaption>
 </figure>Hutchinson CC Sports InformationMANHATTAN – With 10 of the Top 11 individual players in the individual standings either from Hutchinson or Dodge City, the No. 1-ranked Blue Dragons and No. 5 ranked Conquistadors are locked in a tight battle for the first Jayhawk Conference tournament title of the 2023 spring season after 36 holes on Monday.The Hutchinson Community College men's golf team leads Dodge City by two strokes after two round of Jayhawk No. 1, the first of three league-designated tournament. Hutchinson leads the tournament at Colbert Hills with a 3-under-par team score of 573. Dodge City is at 1-over 575. Garden City is third at 616.The final round of the 54-hole events begins with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at Colbert Hills.Led by sophomore&nbsp;<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/saffell_blake_2ov2">Blake Saffell</a>'s 2-under 70, the Blue Dragons shot even par 288 in the morning round and led Dodge City by one stroke. The Dragons counted scored in the first round of 71 by&nbsp;<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/lindstrom_alex_7wqw">Alex Lindstrom</a>, 73 by&nbsp;<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/clemons_dominic_18vf">Dominic Clemons</a>&nbsp;and 73 from Louis Gavin.Galvin paced the Blue Dragons in the afternoon round with a season-best round of 69 and Lindstrom shot a second-straight round of 71 as Hutchinson shout a 3-under 285. Dodge City shot 286. Saffell carded a 72 in the second round and Clemons shot a second-straight 73 to count toward the team score.Saffell and Lindstrom lead the Dragons individually with both players in a four-way tie for second at 2-under 142.Galvin is sixth at 1-under 143. Clemons is eighth at 2-over 146.<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/anderson_marco_z2pq">Marco Anderson</a>, the fifth Blue Dragons in the group of five who could figure in the team scoring is 15th after 36 holes at 153 around rounds of 75 and 78.One of the Blue Dragon individual players is also in the individual Top 10 through 36 holes. Freshman&nbsp;<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/svederman_kalle_hvj9">Kalle Svederman</a>&nbsp;is tied for ninth at 3-over 147. Svederman had rounds of 74 and 73 on Monday.<a href="https://hutchinson.prestosports.com/sports/mgolf/2022-23/bios/sauder_brooks_5d71">Brooks Sauder</a>&nbsp;is tied for 26th at 159 after Monday rounds of 84 and 75.Dodge City's Arthit Kruaprayong is the tournament leader after two rounds with a 3-under 141 (70-71).

⛳ Blue Dragons, Conqs in tight battle at Jayhawk Tourney

Fort Hays State University women's basketball will have a new, but very familiar face as its leader going into the 2023-24 season. On Monday, head coach&nbsp;<a href="https://fhsuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/tony-hobson/1136">Tony Hobson</a>&nbsp;announced his retirement after putting together a phenomenal career record of 745-227 in 31 seasons as a collegiate head coach, including a 332-121 mark over 15 years that made him the winningest coach in Fort Hays State program history. The university and Director of Athletics Curtis Hammeke looked no further than the individual who has been instrumental in helping Hobson build the program into one of the strongest in NCAA Division II the last 11 years. Assistant coach&nbsp;<a href="https://fhsuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/talia-kahrs/1137">Talia Kahrs</a>&nbsp;will elevate into the role of head coach. A press conference to officially introduce Kahrs as the next head coach will be held on Thursday, April 13, at the FHSU Memorial Union Lobby at 5 p.m. On Saturday, April 15, the university will be holding a celebration of&nbsp;<a href="https://fhsuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/tony-hobson/1136">Tony Hobson</a>'s coaching career at the Robbins Center at 11 a.m. The delay for these in-person celebrations is to allow for family members to be in attendance. Hobson has elevated the FHSU women's basketball program to heights it never saw at the NCAA Division II level prior to his arrival, serving as head coach from 2008 to 2023. The program has won 20 or more games in 12-straight seasons going back to the 2011-12 campaign, which is the longest-running streak in NCAA Division II. He guided the Tigers to 30 or more wins three times and the Tigers were the No. 1 seed in the Central Regional of the NCAA Tournament four times under Hobson's leadership, making the regional final three times (2015, 2019, 2022) and the regional semifinals twice. FHSU was an NCAA Tournament qualifier seven of the last nine years after qualifying for the NCAA national tournament just once before Hobson became head coach. The Tigers enjoyed six MIAA Championships under Hobson's guidance, which included four regular season titles (2015, 2019, 2021, 2022) and two tournament titles (2019, 2022). He was the MIAA Women's Basketball Coach of the Year four times (2015, 2016, 2019, 2021). Hobson was also the WBCA Regional Coach of the Year in 2015 and 2019 and was named the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Four-Year College Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2022. "Tony has done an outstanding job with our women's basketball program over the past 15 years," said Hammeke. "Our program has become consistently competitive at the conference, regional, and national levels during his tenure." Hobson started his career as head coach at Cloud County (Kan.) Community College in 1983-84, where he coached for six years. Eventually, he became head coach at Barton County (Kan.) Community College for three years from 1997 to 2000. Hobson notched 202 wins as a head coach in nine years as a junior college head coach. He then moved on to Hastings College (Neb.), where he put together a national powerhouse program at the NAIA level for seven years from 2001 to 2008. Hastings won three NAIA national titles (2002, 2003, 2006) under Hobson's guidance and won 211 games, reaching the 30-win plateau in five of his seven seasons. Hobson then came to FHSU, where he enjoyed his longest tenure as a head coach and tacked on 332 wins to his career total of 745. "Everybody in their career knows this time will come, and hopefully you get to go out on your own terms like I get to," said Hobson. "It's good timing for me to retire. I always hoped I'd be able to leave a really good team and have somebody take over for me that I'm confident in and will take really good care of that group that I'm leaving. Both of those things have happened. We've been able to sustain success for a long period of time and hopefully the way we are transitioning into this next phase of the program will give us the best chance of keeping that going. This is a great group of players we have right now and I think it's going to be about as seamless of a transition as possible." Helping Hobson push FHSU to new heights in the NCAA Division II realm since the 2012-13 season has been FHSU graduate&nbsp;<a href="https://fhsuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/talia-kahrs/1137">Talia Kahrs</a>&nbsp;(formerly Miller), who played for Hobson at FHSU from 2008-11. She then served as a student assistant coach in 2011-12 and elevated to assistant coach in 2012-13, highly instrumental in the success of the team and several great players that have been a part of the program the last 12 years. She has been here as both a player and coach during Hobson's entire 15-year tenure at FHSU. "I really believe in Talia," said Hobson. "She is a really intelligent, hard-working person and one of the more unselfish individuals I've ever been around. I know she has the players' respect and I think that is of utmost importance. She has turned into a really good recruiter, and to recruit kids you have to be genuine and she is that. You can't try to be something you're not because kids are smart, they figure that out. As far as X's and O's go, she's on top of it. The hard part of coaching is getting individuals here that fit into what you want to do, on and off the court. Talia has been one of the main reasons why we have been able to sustain what we have going here at FHSU because we have stability as a coaching staff. She has had plenty of interest from the outside the last few years and she has been very patient on doing her job at a very high level, waiting for her opportunity. As much of I think of her as a coach, I think even more highly of her as a person. I think she will do an excellent job." The Tigers have garnered 42 All-MIAA selections while Kahrs has been on the sideline with Hobson since 2011 to go with the six conference championships and seven NCAA Tournament appearances. They have also coached three All-America players in that span, including Kate Lehman, Tatyana Legette, and&nbsp;<a href="https://fhsuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/jaden-hobbs/6437">Jaden Hobbs</a>. Lehman and Legette also garnered MIAA Player of the Year honors in their time as Tigers. "I'm just really thankful for this opportunity and to have spent as much time as I have with Tony. To learn under him with as successful as he has been over the years," said Kahrs. "I'm thankful for the way he allowed me to do more in my role as assistant over the years to get me to this point where I feel confident that I'm prepared to be head coach. I'm very excited and willing to take the opportunity to lead this group of women, a team that we've worked really hard to put together." "Talia possesses all the traits we want to see in a coach to lead our program forward," said Hammeke. "She is passionate, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and has a strong work ethic. These characteristics coupled with her personality, love for the game, and care for our student-athletes, makes her well suited to take over where Tony left off." Kahrs will be the seventh head coach of women's basketball at Fort Hays State since 1969.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1679968005868.png" alt="FHSU Athletics photo" />
 <figcaption>FHSU Athletics photo</figcaption>
 </figure>FHSU AthleticsFort Hays State University women's basketball will have a new, but very familiar face as its leader going into the 2023-24 season. On Monday, head coach&nbsp;<a href="https://fhsuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/tony-hobson/1136">Tony Hobson</a>&nbsp;announced his retirement after putting together a phenomenal career record of 745-227 in 31 seasons as a collegiate head coach, including a 332-121 mark over 15 years that made him the winningest coach in Fort Hays State program history. The university and Director of Athletics Curtis Hammeke looked no further than the individual who has been instrumental in helping Hobson build the program into one of the strongest in NCAA Division II the last 11 years. Assistant coach&nbsp;<a href="https://fhsuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/talia-kahrs/1137">Talia Kahrs</a>&nbsp;will elevate into the role of head coach. A press conference to officially introduce Kahrs as the next head coach will be held on Thursday, April 13, at the FHSU Memorial Union Lobby at 5 p.m. On Saturday, April 15, the university will be holding a celebration of&nbsp;<a href="https://fhsuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/tony-hobson/1136">Tony Hobson</a>'s coaching career at the Robbins Center at 11 a.m. The delay for these in-person celebrations is to allow for family members to be in attendance. Hobson has elevated the FHSU women's basketball program to heights it never saw at the NCAA Division II level prior to his arrival, serving as head coach from 2008 to 2023. The program has won 20 or more games in 12-straight seasons going back to the 2011-12 campaign, which is the longest-running streak in NCAA Division II. He guided the Tigers to 30 or more wins three times and the Tigers were the No. 1 seed in the Central Regional of the NCAA Tournament four times under Hobson's leadership, making the regional final three times (2015, 2019, 2022) and the regional semifinals twice. FHSU was an NCAA Tournament qualifier seven of the last nine years after qualifying for the NCAA national tournament just once before Hobson became head coach. The Tigers enjoyed six MIAA Championships under Hobson's guidance, which included four regular season titles (2015, 2019, 2021, 2022) and two tournament titles (2019, 2022). He was the MIAA Women's Basketball Coach of the Year four times (2015, 2016, 2019, 2021). Hobson was also the WBCA Regional Coach of the Year in 2015 and 2019 and was named the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Four-Year College Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2022. "Tony has done an outstanding job with our women's basketball program over the past 15 years," said Hammeke. "Our program has become consistently competitive at the conference, regional, and national levels during his tenure." Hobson started his career as head coach at Cloud County (Kan.) Community College in 1983-84, where he coached for six years. Eventually, he became head coach at Barton County (Kan.) Community College for three years from 1997 to 2000. Hobson notched 202 wins as a head coach in nine years as a junior college head coach. He then moved on to Hastings College (Neb.), where he put together a national powerhouse program at the NAIA level for seven years from 2001 to 2008. Hastings won three NAIA national titles (2002, 2003, 2006) under Hobson's guidance and won 211 games, reaching the 30-win plateau in five of his seven seasons. Hobson then came to FHSU, where he enjoyed his longest tenure as a head coach and tacked on 332 wins to his career total of 745. "Everybody in their career knows this time will come, and hopefully you get to go out on your own terms like I get to," said Hobson. "It's good timing for me to retire. I always hoped I'd be able to leave a really good team and have somebody take over for me that I'm confident in and will take really good care of that group that I'm leaving. Both of those things have happened. We've been able to sustain success for a long period of time and hopefully the way we are transitioning into this next phase of the program will give us the best chance of keeping that going. This is a great group of players we have right now and I think it's going to be about as seamless of a transition as possible." Helping Hobson push FHSU to new heights in the NCAA Division II realm since the 2012-13 season has been FHSU graduate&nbsp;<a href="https://fhsuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/talia-kahrs/1137">Talia Kahrs</a>&nbsp;(formerly Miller), who played for Hobson at FHSU from 2008-11. She then served as a student assistant coach in 2011-12 and elevated to assistant coach in 2012-13, highly instrumental in the success of the team and several great players that have been a part of the program the last 12 years. She has been here as both a player and coach during Hobson's entire 15-year tenure at FHSU. "I really believe in Talia," said Hobson. "She is a really intelligent, hard-working person and one of the more unselfish individuals I've ever been around. I know she has the players' respect and I think that is of utmost importance. She has turned into a really good recruiter, and to recruit kids you have to be genuine and she is that. You can't try to be something you're not because kids are smart, they figure that out. As far as X's and O's go, she's on top of it. The hard part of coaching is getting individuals here that fit into what you want to do, on and off the court. Talia has been one of the main reasons why we have been able to sustain what we have going here at FHSU because we have stability as a coaching staff. She has had plenty of interest from the outside the last few years and she has been very patient on doing her job at a very high level, waiting for her opportunity. As much of I think of her as a coach, I think even more highly of her as a person. I think she will do an excellent job." The Tigers have garnered 42 All-MIAA selections while Kahrs has been on the sideline with Hobson since 2011 to go with the six conference championships and seven NCAA Tournament appearances. They have also coached three All-America players in that span, including Kate Lehman, Tatyana Legette, and&nbsp;<a href="https://fhsuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/jaden-hobbs/6437">Jaden Hobbs</a>. Lehman and Legette also garnered MIAA Player of the Year honors in their time as Tigers. "I'm just really thankful for this opportunity and to have spent as much time as I have with Tony. To learn under him with as successful as he has been over the years," said Kahrs. "I'm thankful for the way he allowed me to do more in my role as assistant over the years to get me to this point where I feel confident that I'm prepared to be head coach. I'm very excited and willing to take the opportunity to lead this group of women, a team that we've worked really hard to put together." "Talia possesses all the traits we want to see in a coach to lead our program forward," said Hammeke. "She is passionate, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and has a strong work ethic. These characteristics coupled with her personality, love for the game, and care for our student-athletes, makes her well suited to take over where Tony left off." Kahrs will be the seventh head coach of women's basketball at Fort Hays State since 1969.

🏀 Hobson to retire; Kahrs new head coach of FHSU women’s basketball

SEATTLE (AP) — Elizabeth Kitley scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Georgia Amoore added 24 points and top-seeded Virginia Tech advanced to the Final Four for the first time in school history with an 84-74 win over No. 3 seed Ohio State in the Seattle 3 Regional final. Playing in its first regional final, Virginia Tech won its 15th straight game and will head to the Final Four having not lost in more than two months. The Hokies will face LSU in the national semifinals on Friday in Dallas. Taylor Mikesell led Ohio State with 25 points, but 19 of those came in the first half.

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Aliyah Boston had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Zia Cooke scored 18 points and top-seeded South Carolina used its smothering defense to outlast second-seeded Maryland 86-75 to reach its third straight Final Four. The Gamecocks improved to 36-0 on the season with their 42nd straight win dating to last year's NCAA title run. They're now just two victories away from consecutive titles and the 10th undefeated season in the history of the women's game. Maryland used a fast pace to lead in the opening period. But South Carolina turned on its trademark defense to grab control.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas on Monday named Rodney Terry as full-time head basketball coach, removing the interim tag after he led the Longhorns to the Elite Eight following the midseason firing of Chris Beard. The school scheduled a Tuesday news conference to introduce him as the head coach going forward. Financial terms and years of the deal were not immediately available. Rewarding Terry with the promotion was no surprise. He took over Texas when Beard was first suspended on Dec. 12 after a felony domestic violence arrest, and the Longhorns made their deepest NCAA tournament run in 15 years.

UNDATED (AP) — Lamar Jackson says he has requested a trade from the Baltimore Ravens, saying the team “has not been interested in meeting my value.” The star quarterback said Monday in a series of tweets that he requested a trade as of March 2. On March 7, the Ravens put the nonexclusive franchise tag on Jackson and said they were still hopeful they could reach a long-term deal with him. That version of the franchise tag allowed Jackson to negotiate with other teams, but it also gives Baltimore a chance to match any agreement he makes.

PHOENIX (AP) — Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said he’s not requiring a first-round pick in a potential trade sending four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets but added he’d want “fair value.” Gutekunst and Jets general manager Joe Douglas both discussed trade talks involving the 39-year-old Rodgers on Monday at the NFL annual meeting. Rodgers said March 15 during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on SiriusXM and YouTube that he intends to play for the Jets in 2023.

UNDATED (AP) — Baseball has transformed in the 145 days since Dusty Baker and the Houston Astros sealed the franchise’s second title in six seasons. As New York Mets owner Steve Cohen dominated an offseason that saw billions spent, the sport braced for a new world that includes pitch clocks, bigger bases, limits on defensive shifts and pickoff throws, and an overarching attempt to reverse decades of lengthening games and the Analytics Era domination of the Three True Outcomes — strikeouts, walks and home runs. No player will be watched more closely this season than Shohei Ohtani, a two-way megastar in the final year under contract with the Los Angeles Angels.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sergio Romo retired as a San Francisco Giant just as he wanted to do. The entertaining reliever and three-time World Series champion called it a career Monday night when he pitched against another of his former clubs — the Oakland A's — in the seventh inning of the exhibition finale for both teams at Oracle Park. The Giants reached out a few weeks back asking whether Romo might consider a last time on the mound. He drew a rousing ovation when he came into the game and again when he walked off. The 40-year-old Romo gave up two singles and a walk without getting an out. He also was called for two clock violations before his first pitch, but it hardly mattered on this emotional night in the Bay Area.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1680006721184.jpeg" alt="Sports Headlines for Tuesday" />
 <figcaption>Sports Headlines for Tuesday</figcaption>
 </figure>SEATTLE (AP) — Elizabeth Kitley scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Georgia Amoore added 24 points and top-seeded Virginia Tech advanced to the Final Four for the first time in school history with an 84-74 win over No. 3 seed Ohio State in the Seattle 3 Regional final. Playing in its first regional final, Virginia Tech won its 15th straight game and will head to the Final Four having not lost in more than two months. The Hokies will face LSU in the national semifinals on Friday in Dallas. Taylor Mikesell led Ohio State with 25 points, but 19 of those came in the first half.GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Aliyah Boston had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Zia Cooke scored 18 points and top-seeded South Carolina used its smothering defense to outlast second-seeded Maryland 86-75 to reach its third straight Final Four. The Gamecocks improved to 36-0 on the season with their 42nd straight win dating to last year's NCAA title run. They're now just two victories away from consecutive titles and the 10th undefeated season in the history of the women's game. Maryland used a fast pace to lead in the opening period. But South Carolina turned on its trademark defense to grab control.AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas on Monday named Rodney Terry as full-time head basketball coach, removing the interim tag after he led the Longhorns to the Elite Eight following the midseason firing of Chris Beard. The school scheduled a Tuesday news conference to introduce him as the head coach going forward. Financial terms and years of the deal were not immediately available. Rewarding Terry with the promotion was no surprise. He took over Texas when Beard was first suspended on Dec. 12 after a felony domestic violence arrest, and the Longhorns made their deepest NCAA tournament run in 15 years.UNDATED (AP) — Lamar Jackson says he has requested a trade from the Baltimore Ravens, saying the team “has not been interested in meeting my value.” The star quarterback said Monday in a series of tweets that he requested a trade as of March 2. On March 7, the Ravens put the nonexclusive franchise tag on Jackson and said they were still hopeful they could reach a long-term deal with him. That version of the franchise tag allowed Jackson to negotiate with other teams, but it also gives Baltimore a chance to match any agreement he makes.PHOENIX (AP) — Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said he’s not requiring a first-round pick in a potential trade sending four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets but added he’d want “fair value.” Gutekunst and Jets general manager Joe Douglas both discussed trade talks involving the 39-year-old Rodgers on Monday at the NFL annual meeting. Rodgers said March 15 during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on SiriusXM and YouTube that he intends to play for the Jets in 2023.UNDATED (AP) — Baseball has transformed in the 145 days since Dusty Baker and the Houston Astros sealed the franchise’s second title in six seasons. As New York Mets owner Steve Cohen dominated an offseason that saw billions spent, the sport braced for a new world that includes pitch clocks, bigger bases, limits on defensive shifts and pickoff throws, and an overarching attempt to reverse decades of lengthening games and the Analytics Era domination of the Three True Outcomes — strikeouts, walks and home runs. No player will be watched more closely this season than Shohei Ohtani, a two-way megastar in the final year under contract with the Los Angeles Angels.SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sergio Romo retired as a San Francisco Giant just as he wanted to do. The entertaining reliever and three-time World Series champion called it a career Monday night when he pitched against another of his former clubs — the Oakland A's — in the seventh inning of the exhibition finale for both teams at Oracle Park. The Giants reached out a few weeks back asking whether Romo might consider a last time on the mound. He drew a rousing ovation when he came into the game and again when he walked off. The 40-year-old Romo gave up two singles and a walk without getting an out. He also was called for two clock violations before his first pitch, but it hardly mattered on this emotional night in the Bay Area.MONDAY SCORESINTERLEAGUEFinal Minnesota 8 Pittsburgh 4Final Atlanta 6 Boston 1Final St. Louis 8 Baltimore 2Final Philadelphia 5 Toronto 2Final San Diego 4 Seattle 2Final L.A. Angels 5 L.A. Dodgers 4Final Arizona 7 Cleveland 6Final Oakland 12 San Francisco 6Final Chicago White Sox 6 Chicago Cubs 6AMERICAN LEAGUEFinal N.Y. Yankees 8 Tampa Bay 4Final Houston 3 Sugar Land 1Final Kansas City 4 Texas 4NATIONAL LEAGUEFinal Colorado 12 Milwaukee 8NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATIONFinal Dallas 127 Indiana 104Final Milwaukee 126 Detroit 117Final New York 137 Houston 115Final Phoenix 117 Utah 103Final Denver 116 Philadelphia 111Final New Orleans 124 Portland 90Final Minnesota 119 Sacramento 115Final L.A. Clippers 124 Chicago 112NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUEFinal Ottawa 5 Florida 2Final SO Montreal 4 Buffalo 3Final N-Y Islanders 5 New Jersey 1Final Minnesota 5 Seattle 1Final Colorado 5 Anaheim 1Final Edmonton 5 Arizona 4

Sports Headlines for Tuesday

HOUSTON, Texas—A startling Connecticut show of force. A Florida Atlantic ride that hardly anybody saw coming. A foul that sent San Diego State to the Final Four and will live in Creighton infamy. An astonishing rally from 13 points down by a Miami team without a single 3-pointer in the second half.

Can it get any weirder in college basketball this season? Well, there’s still another week.

A most irregular season has given birth to a most unconventional Final Four, intriguing because of not only who will show up in Houston, but who won’t.

“It’s moments like that you can’t make up,” Gonzaga’s Julian Strawther said the other day, after his shot that beat UCLA. But he could have been talking about most of this entire tournament, from the palm trees of Boca Raton to the beaches of Miami to the golf courses of San Diego. The whole country gets involved in March and two of the survivors for the Final Four are not 50 miles away from one another on the Atlantic Ocean. If not for Connecticut, this list of teams would sound like a cruise ship itinerary.

Consider the climbs made by the finalists.

When the season began, Connecticut was nowhere to be found in the top 25 rankings. Nor Miami.

When March began, 237 schools in the nation could claim an NCAA tournament win in their history. Florida Atlantic wasn’t one of them.

MORE COVERAGE:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncaa.com/live-updates/basketball-men/d1/mens-march-madness-upset-tracker?utm_campaign=inline-article" target="_blank">Upset tracker</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncaa.com/live-updates/basketball-men/d1/track-how-many-perfect-ncaa-brackets-are-left-2023?utm_campaign=inline-article" target="_blank">How each bracket was busted</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-men?utm_campaign=inline-article" target="_blank">Latest highlights and previews</a>

When last Friday began, San Diego State had never won a Sweet 16 game, never beaten a No. 1 seed, never knocked off a top-ranked opponent. The Aztecs took care of all that in one night.

When last week began, Miami was faced with the scary task of probably facing both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the Midwest, the one region where the big names had not keeled over. Houston first, then Texas.

But all four are&nbsp;going to the Final Four. What San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher called “the volatility of this tournament.”

None of the teams seeded Nos. 1 or 2 or 3 will be there, the first time since seeding was introduced 44 years ago. UConn is the ranking member of the foursome at No. 4 seed. Miami and San Diego State are No. 5, Florida Atlantic No. 9, and let the record show no fifth or ninth seed has ever won the national championship. Ever. For that matter, only one No. 4 has done it, and that was Arizona 26 years ago.

None of the top 18 in the preseason Associated Press rankings will be there.

Nobody who has ever been to a Final Four will be there, except for Connecticut. It has been 53 years since the Final Four had three first-timers.

No one who has been in the past eight Final Fours will be there.

The Big Ten won't be there, nor the Big 12, nor the SEC or Pac-12.

Who will be there is a pack of fresh faces who have taken a variety of paths to Houston.

Connecticut will roll into town like a thunderstorm, having won every tournament game by at least 15 points, establishing itself on paper as the most fearsome team in the land. The fact the Huskies — the fact that&nbsp;anyone —&nbsp;would ever be ahead of Gonzaga by 33 points suggests the momentum they are bringing with them. The 82-54 shellacking was the Zags’ worst loss in tournament history and the most lopsided Elite Eight game in 31 years.

“We didn’t have any answers,” Mark Few said, and how often has he said that? “They’re very different.”

Florida Atlantic has gotten there by winning four tournament games by a combined 19 points, engaging in a classic display of survive and advance, constantly shunning the Cinderella tag even as the Owls seem to fit it like a foot into a glass slipper. A team that plays its home games in an arena with fewer than 3,000 seats will this weekend be in front of 72,000.

“We don’t feel like we’re Cinderella,” Alijah Martin said. “We feel like we’re supposed to be here, doing exactly what we’re supposed to do.”

San Diego State will be there on a dramatic twist of fate, having escaped Creighton with a Darrion Trammell free throw with 1.2 seconds left Sunday.

“We’re making the next step and it’s something we’ve always talked about and I’m sure there were people that doubted we could do it, but we never doubted for a minute,” Dutcher said.

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Miami will be there, outdefending a Houston team known for its defense and outshooting a Texas team known for its firepower. “No one wanted to go home,” said guard Jordan Miller, and apparently that included him. He made all seven of his field goal attempts, all 13 of his free throws.

In a way, the four have all been on curving roads, demanding reevaluation as this chaotic year careened along.

The Huskies were unranked before the season, and did&nbsp;that&nbsp;ever get their notice. “We have something on our shoulders," forward Adama Sanogo said, “Every time we play basketball we’re trying to show people wrong.”

A roaring 14-0 start carried them to No. 2 in the polls, but then they stalled in Big East play, losing six of eight. Had Connecticut flowed, and was now ebbing? Nah, just regrouping.

Now this team has steamrolled through its first four tournament wins. The Huskies trailed all of 47 seconds at the East Regional last weekend. They’ve allowed 35.4 percent shooting in the tournament, turning the nation’s top offense from Gonzaga into a 54-point water pistol, 33 points under the Zags’ average. They have had 82 assists on their 120 field goals and outscored four tournament opponents 123-54 just from the 3-point line.

Coach Dan Hurley traced some of the conference woes to Big East teams just knowing each other so well. “Sometimes when people are seeing us for the first time it’s overwhelming,” Hurley said.

If the Owls have been continually overlooked, it’s due to pedigree and not performance. Pretty hard to ignore a 35-3 record. And yet they continue to be driven by the fire of being taken lightly nationally.

“I expect the prognosticators to pick us fifth in the Final Four,” coach Dusty May said.

There is more than magic to Florida Atlantic, of course. The Owls have spent the past two weeks coming up with big plays, one after another. Let one of the victims explain how.

“When you draw up plays with X’s and O’s, on some teams, all the O’s don’t have to be guarded so you can put your X’s in the right spot to make it hard for the team to score on offense,” Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said. “Every one of their O’s can score the ball and that’s what makes them hard to guard.”

The Aztecs almost always have a good record but have not been large on the March radar screen, mostly because they never have lasted very long. How to explain them doing this now?

“Pretty good defense to begin with,” Dutcher said.

Indeed, the Aztecs have made shooting a maddening and frustrating ordeal for the opponents, especially from the outside. Creighton expired with 2-for-17 shooting from behind the 3-point arc, including 0-for-10 the second half. Two nights before it was Alabama going 3-for-27.&nbsp;

Still, San Diego State needed one critical whistle to clinch advancement, Ryan Nembhard bumping Trammell as he drove the lane in the final seconds of a 56-56 tie. The foul depended upon perspective. There was certainly contact. But there had been a lot of that all day, and up to that moment the two teams had shot only 15 free throws.

Trammell: “I think I got fouled but that’s up to the refs to decide.”

Nembhard: “I tried to make a rearview contest. Called a foul. So yeah, it’s a tough feeling.”

Trammell missed the first free throw to increase the tension. That included for the folks up in the stands, where Diema Adams-Parham and Lester Parham — his mother and step-father — were anxiously watching.

“I’ve been doing this for 22 years and it never gets any easier,” she would say later. But that moment after the first miss? “The hardest. It was the most pivotal moment of his career.”

Lester bit on the towel he was holding before the second attempt.

At the line, Trammell had his own thoughts, which he mentioned later: “That the moment was not too big for me.”

“When you play defense like that,” Lester Parham said later, “all you need is one.”

The way it ended was an echo from Dutcher’s past. “This is not the first time fouls have been called at the end of NCAA tournament games,” he said. He should know. He was an assistant on the Michigan bench in the 1989 national championship game when Rumeal Robinson was fouled with three seconds left in overtime and the Wolverines behind a point, a call the Seton Hall camp contests to this day and always will. Robinson made both free throws to win 80-79. So Dutcher is on a roll with timely tournament whistles.

What a way for a losing team to exit, but Creighton coach Greg McDermott took the high road out of town.

“All the credit goes to San Diego State and it’s on us that we didn’t quite get it done,” he said. “Not anyone else.”

But that call? “We’re not going to go there.”

Jim Larrañaga is 73 years old and recent films suggest he might have lost a step on his locker room dancing, but certainly not his coaching.

The Hurricanes were supposed to be on the periphery of the ACC race, and so it seemed in January when they went 3-4 in a stretch, Later, they even blew a 25-point lead and lost at home to 9-23 Florida State. Hardly the look of a team destined for late March. But they ended up sharing the ACC season title.

Larrañaga understands this road. It was 17 years ago he led George Mason to a shocking Final Four bid. Know who his team upset along the way? Connecticut, same team the Hurricanes will be facing Saturday.

“It's the same exhilaration, just the jubilant attitude, because you just love when your players accomplish a goal they set out before the season,” Larrañaga said of then and now. “What we said the first day of practice, we've got to start visualizing right now what we want to accomplish and be working toward that every single day. And that's what these guys have done.”

All five starters scored in double figures in both the Houston and Texas wins and the Hurricanes shot over 50 percent against both. They outscored Texas 37-17 the last 13 minutes of the 88-81 victory. For the weekend in Kansas City, Miami shot 51 free throws against Houston and Texas. The Hurricanes missed seven. And that’s how they took care of the state of Texas teams who wanted so badly to get to Houston.

What this quartet creates is a Final Four rainbow of tradition.

Florida Atlantic, San Diego State and Miami are first-timers. There is something powerful about a sense of destiny in March, when it is a team’s chance at last.

“I still remember being a child watching the ’87 Hoosiers (national champions on Keith Smart’s famed late shot) and because of that, I became a fan forever,” said Florida Atlantic’s May, whose journey started in small-town Indiana. “So we’ve never had our moment. And when we made the tournament this year we felt like this could be our moment to really captivate an area, a fan base, a student body. And I think we’ve exceeded that moment but there’s no reason why we wouldn’t just continue to ride this wave.”

Dutcher spent much of his career at Steve Fisher’s right hand, both at Michigan and San Diego State, and credits Fisher’s vision for starting the path to this high spot.

“We recruited and told people this is what we were going to do,” he said. “They all thought it was recruiting talk, but here we sit.”

Miami didn’t even have a basketball team for 14 years through the 1970s and ‘80s, dropping the sport before deciding to revive the program. Now look at the Hurricanes.

“Last week I went through the lobby of the hotel, and our cheerleaders and dance team were all there studying,” Larrañaga said. “Two of them are going to be doctors. One of them is going to be a lawyer. I sat and talked with them because to be at the University of Miami is a very, very special place. It's like a resort.”

Connecticut is the outlier here, both in climate and a glorious Final Four past. Four national championships in the past 25 years and no other program in America can say that. Not Duke, not North Carolina, not Kentucky. Three of those four titles, incidentally, came in the state of Texas. Same as where this Final Four will be.

“We sold it to these guys. We’ve done it here before, we can do it again,” Hurley said. “But I think it becomes a little bit of a mental hurdle, especially like early rounds of the NCAA tournament where you feel maybe the burden of the history and the tradition.

“So the climb to get to this point has been real and it’s been more challenging than I thought.”

But they have taken these last steps to the Final Four in a single bound.

&nbsp;“UConn’s back,” guard Jordan Hawkins said at the post-Gonzaga bashing press conference.

“Back,” guard Andre Jackson Jr. agreed sitting next to him. “But we never left.”

The Connecticut men have even lasted a week longer than the Connecticut women and that hadn’t happened in 24 years. This season just keeps putting stranger and stranger. And now there is one week to go.

<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k4heS0vNcbI" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>HOUSTON, Texas—A startling Connecticut show of force. A Florida Atlantic ride that hardly anybody saw coming. A foul that sent San Diego State to the Final Four and will live in Creighton infamy. An astonishing rally from 13 points down by a Miami team without a single 3-pointer in the second half.Can it get any weirder in college basketball this season? Well, there’s still another week.A most irregular season has given birth to a most unconventional Final Four, intriguing because of not only who will show up in Houston, but who won’t.“It’s moments like that you can’t make up,” Gonzaga’s Julian Strawther said the other day, after his shot that beat UCLA. But he could have been talking about most of this entire tournament, from the palm trees of Boca Raton to the beaches of Miami to the golf courses of San Diego. The whole country gets involved in March and two of the survivors for the Final Four are not 50 miles away from one another on the Atlantic Ocean. If not for Connecticut, this list of teams would sound like a cruise ship itinerary.Consider the climbs made by the finalists.When the season began, Connecticut was nowhere to be found in the top 25 rankings. Nor Miami.When March began, 237 schools in the nation could claim an NCAA tournament win in their history. Florida Atlantic wasn’t one of them.MORE COVERAGE:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncaa.com/live-updates/basketball-men/d1/mens-march-madness-upset-tracker?utm_campaign=inline-article" target="_blank">Upset tracker</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncaa.com/live-updates/basketball-men/d1/track-how-many-perfect-ncaa-brackets-are-left-2023?utm_campaign=inline-article" target="_blank">How each bracket was busted</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-men?utm_campaign=inline-article" target="_blank">Latest highlights and previews</a>When last Friday began, San Diego State had never won a Sweet 16 game, never beaten a No. 1 seed, never knocked off a top-ranked opponent. The Aztecs took care of all that in one night.When last week began, Miami was faced with the scary task of probably facing both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the Midwest, the one region where the big names had not keeled over. Houston first, then Texas.But all four are&nbsp;going to the Final Four. What San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher called “the volatility of this tournament.”None of the teams seeded Nos. 1 or 2 or 3 will be there, the first time since seeding was introduced 44 years ago. UConn is the ranking member of the foursome at No. 4 seed. Miami and San Diego State are No. 5, Florida Atlantic No. 9, and let the record show no fifth or ninth seed has ever won the national championship. Ever. For that matter, only one No. 4 has done it, and that was Arizona 26 years ago.None of the top 18 in the preseason Associated Press rankings will be there.Nobody who has ever been to a Final Four will be there, except for Connecticut. It has been 53 years since the Final Four had three first-timers.No one who has been in the past eight Final Fours will be there.The Big Ten won't be there, nor the Big 12, nor the SEC or Pac-12.Who will be there is a pack of fresh faces who have taken a variety of paths to Houston.Connecticut will roll into town like a thunderstorm, having won every tournament game by at least 15 points, establishing itself on paper as the most fearsome team in the land. The fact the Huskies — the fact that&nbsp;anyone —&nbsp;would ever be ahead of Gonzaga by 33 points suggests the momentum they are bringing with them. The 82-54 shellacking was the Zags’ worst loss in tournament history and the most lopsided Elite Eight game in 31 years.“We didn’t have any answers,” Mark Few said, and how often has he said that? “They’re very different.”Florida Atlantic has gotten there by winning four tournament games by a combined 19 points, engaging in a classic display of survive and advance, constantly shunning the Cinderella tag even as the Owls seem to fit it like a foot into a glass slipper. A team that plays its home games in an arena with fewer than 3,000 seats will this weekend be in front of 72,000.“We don’t feel like we’re Cinderella,” Alijah Martin said. “We feel like we’re supposed to be here, doing exactly what we’re supposed to do.”San Diego State will be there on a dramatic twist of fate, having escaped Creighton with a Darrion Trammell free throw with 1.2 seconds left Sunday.“We’re making the next step and it’s something we’ve always talked about and I’m sure there were people that doubted we could do it, but we never doubted for a minute,” Dutcher said.CHECK YOUR BRACKET:&nbsp;<a href="https://mml.smart.link/gwdaynct3?cid=mbcg_partner_ncaa_editorial_articles" target="_blank">2023 Bracket Challenge Game</a>Miami will be there, outdefending a Houston team known for its defense and outshooting a Texas team known for its firepower. “No one wanted to go home,” said guard Jordan Miller, and apparently that included him. He made all seven of his field goal attempts, all 13 of his free throws.In a way, the four have all been on curving roads, demanding reevaluation as this chaotic year careened along.Connecticut, for instance.The Huskies were unranked before the season, and did&nbsp;that&nbsp;ever get their notice. “We have something on our shoulders," forward Adama Sanogo said, “Every time we play basketball we’re trying to show people wrong.”A roaring 14-0 start carried them to No. 2 in the polls, but then they stalled in Big East play, losing six of eight. Had Connecticut flowed, and was now ebbing? Nah, just regrouping.Now this team has steamrolled through its first four tournament wins. The Huskies trailed all of 47 seconds at the East Regional last weekend. They’ve allowed 35.4 percent shooting in the tournament, turning the nation’s top offense from Gonzaga into a 54-point water pistol, 33 points under the Zags’ average. They have had 82 assists on their 120 field goals and outscored four tournament opponents 123-54 just from the 3-point line.Coach Dan Hurley traced some of the conference woes to Big East teams just knowing each other so well. “Sometimes when people are seeing us for the first time it’s overwhelming,” Hurley said.Or take Florida Atlantic.If the Owls have been continually overlooked, it’s due to pedigree and not performance. Pretty hard to ignore a 35-3 record. And yet they continue to be driven by the fire of being taken lightly nationally.“I expect the prognosticators to pick us fifth in the Final Four,” coach Dusty May said.There is more than magic to Florida Atlantic, of course. The Owls have spent the past two weeks coming up with big plays, one after another. Let one of the victims explain how.“When you draw up plays with X’s and O’s, on some teams, all the O’s don’t have to be guarded so you can put your X’s in the right spot to make it hard for the team to score on offense,” Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said. “Every one of their O’s can score the ball and that’s what makes them hard to guard.”Take San Diego State.The Aztecs almost always have a good record but have not been large on the March radar screen, mostly because they never have lasted very long. How to explain them doing this now?“Pretty good defense to begin with,” Dutcher said.Indeed, the Aztecs have made shooting a maddening and frustrating ordeal for the opponents, especially from the outside. Creighton expired with 2-for-17 shooting from behind the 3-point arc, including 0-for-10 the second half. Two nights before it was Alabama going 3-for-27.&nbsp;Still, San Diego State needed one critical whistle to clinch advancement, Ryan Nembhard bumping Trammell as he drove the lane in the final seconds of a 56-56 tie. The foul depended upon perspective. There was certainly contact. But there had been a lot of that all day, and up to that moment the two teams had shot only 15 free throws.Trammell: “I think I got fouled but that’s up to the refs to decide.”Nembhard: “I tried to make a rearview contest. Called a foul. So yeah, it’s a tough feeling.”Trammell missed the first free throw to increase the tension. That included for the folks up in the stands, where Diema Adams-Parham and Lester Parham — his mother and step-father — were anxiously watching.“I’ve been doing this for 22 years and it never gets any easier,” she would say later. But that moment after the first miss? “The hardest. It was the most pivotal moment of his career.”Lester bit on the towel he was holding before the second attempt.At the line, Trammell had his own thoughts, which he mentioned later: “That the moment was not too big for me.”He made the second.“When you play defense like that,” Lester Parham said later, “all you need is one.”The way it ended was an echo from Dutcher’s past. “This is not the first time fouls have been called at the end of NCAA tournament games,” he said. He should know. He was an assistant on the Michigan bench in the 1989 national championship game when Rumeal Robinson was fouled with three seconds left in overtime and the Wolverines behind a point, a call the Seton Hall camp contests to this day and always will. Robinson made both free throws to win 80-79. So Dutcher is on a roll with timely tournament whistles.What a way for a losing team to exit, but Creighton coach Greg McDermott took the high road out of town.“All the credit goes to San Diego State and it’s on us that we didn’t quite get it done,” he said. “Not anyone else.”But that call? “We’re not going to go there.”The last to come aboard was Miami.Jim Larrañaga is 73 years old and recent films suggest he might have lost a step on his locker room dancing, but certainly not his coaching.The Hurricanes were supposed to be on the periphery of the ACC race, and so it seemed in January when they went 3-4 in a stretch, Later, they even blew a 25-point lead and lost at home to 9-23 Florida State. Hardly the look of a team destined for late March. But they ended up sharing the ACC season title.Larrañaga understands this road. It was 17 years ago he led George Mason to a shocking Final Four bid. Know who his team upset along the way? Connecticut, same team the Hurricanes will be facing Saturday.“It's the same exhilaration, just the jubilant attitude, because you just love when your players accomplish a goal they set out before the season,” Larrañaga said of then and now. “What we said the first day of practice, we've got to start visualizing right now what we want to accomplish and be working toward that every single day. And that's what these guys have done.”All five starters scored in double figures in both the Houston and Texas wins and the Hurricanes shot over 50 percent against both. They outscored Texas 37-17 the last 13 minutes of the 88-81 victory. For the weekend in Kansas City, Miami shot 51 free throws against Houston and Texas. The Hurricanes missed seven. And that’s how they took care of the state of Texas teams who wanted so badly to get to Houston.What this quartet creates is a Final Four rainbow of tradition.Florida Atlantic, San Diego State and Miami are first-timers. There is something powerful about a sense of destiny in March, when it is a team’s chance at last.“I still remember being a child watching the ’87 Hoosiers (national champions on Keith Smart’s famed late shot) and because of that, I became a fan forever,” said Florida Atlantic’s May, whose journey started in small-town Indiana. “So we’ve never had our moment. And when we made the tournament this year we felt like this could be our moment to really captivate an area, a fan base, a student body. And I think we’ve exceeded that moment but there’s no reason why we wouldn’t just continue to ride this wave.”Dutcher spent much of his career at Steve Fisher’s right hand, both at Michigan and San Diego State, and credits Fisher’s vision for starting the path to this high spot.“We recruited and told people this is what we were going to do,” he said. “They all thought it was recruiting talk, but here we sit.”Miami didn’t even have a basketball team for 14 years through the 1970s and ‘80s, dropping the sport before deciding to revive the program. Now look at the Hurricanes.“Last week I went through the lobby of the hotel, and our cheerleaders and dance team were all there studying,” Larrañaga said. “Two of them are going to be doctors. One of them is going to be a lawyer. I sat and talked with them because to be at the University of Miami is a very, very special place. It's like a resort.”Well, maybe not at practice.Connecticut is the outlier here, both in climate and a glorious Final Four past. Four national championships in the past 25 years and no other program in America can say that. Not Duke, not North Carolina, not Kentucky. Three of those four titles, incidentally, came in the state of Texas. Same as where this Final Four will be.“We sold it to these guys. We’ve done it here before, we can do it again,” Hurley said. “But I think it becomes a little bit of a mental hurdle, especially like early rounds of the NCAA tournament where you feel maybe the burden of the history and the tradition.“So the climb to get to this point has been real and it’s been more challenging than I thought.”But they have taken these last steps to the Final Four in a single bound.&nbsp;“UConn’s back,” guard Jordan Hawkins said at the post-Gonzaga bashing press conference.“Back,” guard Andre Jackson Jr. agreed sitting next to him. “But we never left.”The Connecticut men have even lasted a week longer than the Connecticut women and that hadn’t happened in 24 years. This season just keeps putting stranger and stranger. And now there is one week to go.

🏀 Fittingly, an atypical Final Four group follows a most unusual March Madness

ORLANDO –&nbsp;No. 22 Wichita State scored all 10 of its runs with two outs to record a series-clinching 10-5 win at UCF Sunday afternoon. Wichita State (26-7, 2-1) was 8-for-15 with two outs in the final game of the series, dropping UCF to 19-18 overall and 1-2 in the league. <a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/sydney-mckinney/7236">Sydney McKinney</a>&nbsp;came up a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. She was 3-for-5 with a single, double, triple, an RBI and two runs scored.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/zoe-jones/7234">Zoe Jones</a>&nbsp;continued her red-hot weekend, going 2-for-4 with a home run, double and five RBI.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/addison-barnard/7228">Addison Barnard</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/lauren-mills/7237">Lauren Mills</a>&nbsp;(RBI),&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/taylor-sedlacek/7248">Taylor Sedlacek</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/lainee-brown/7229">Lainee Brown</a>&nbsp;(RBI double) and&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/krystin-nelson/7238">Krystin Nelson</a>&nbsp;added a hit apiece. <a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/alex-aguilar/7249">Alex Aguilar</a>&nbsp;(6-2) won her sixth game, allowing five runs on seven hits in 6.0 innings. Aguilar put up four straight scoreless frames after three runs in the first two innings.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/lauren-howell/7244">Lauren Howell</a>&nbsp;recorded the final three outs out of the bullpen. UCF grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a one-out, solo home run, but Wichita State answered in a big way in the top of the second. The Shockers put up seven runs in the frame, all with two outs. After&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/lauren-mills/7237">Lauren Mills</a>&nbsp;and Brown drew walks, Nelson started the two-out rally with an RBI single into right-center. The very next batter, McKinney, dropped a run-scoring double into left-center to put the Shockers in front, 2-1. An infield single from Barnard and a bases loaded walk to&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/lauren-lucas/7235">Lauren Lucas</a>&nbsp;set the stage for Jones. The senior belted her first career grand slam over the right field wall to make it 7-1. UCF cut into the lead in the home half of the second on a two-out, two-run single. Wichita State went scoreless in the third and fourth innings, but Brown delivered in the top of the fifth with yet another two-out hit. Brown drove an RBI double over the head of the right fielder, increasing the lead to 8-3. McKinney led off the sixth with her sixth triple of the season, and Wichita State proceeded to do more damage with two outs. Following an Barnard pop up and a Lucas fly out, Jones ripped an RBI double to center. Mills then added the final run on a single up the middle. The Knights put up two in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run home run. Up Next Wichita State returns home for a midweek matchup against Omaha on Wednesday, March 29 at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1679921313266.jpeg" alt="WSU Softball vs UCF" />
 <figcaption>WSU Softball vs UCF</figcaption>
 </figure>ORLANDO –&nbsp;No. 22 Wichita State scored all 10 of its runs with two outs to record a series-clinching 10-5 win at UCF Sunday afternoon. Wichita State (26-7, 2-1) was 8-for-15 with two outs in the final game of the series, dropping UCF to 19-18 overall and 1-2 in the league. <a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/sydney-mckinney/7236">Sydney McKinney</a>&nbsp;came up a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. She was 3-for-5 with a single, double, triple, an RBI and two runs scored.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/zoe-jones/7234">Zoe Jones</a>&nbsp;continued her red-hot weekend, going 2-for-4 with a home run, double and five RBI.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/addison-barnard/7228">Addison Barnard</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/lauren-mills/7237">Lauren Mills</a>&nbsp;(RBI),&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/taylor-sedlacek/7248">Taylor Sedlacek</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/lainee-brown/7229">Lainee Brown</a>&nbsp;(RBI double) and&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/krystin-nelson/7238">Krystin Nelson</a>&nbsp;added a hit apiece. <a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/alex-aguilar/7249">Alex Aguilar</a>&nbsp;(6-2) won her sixth game, allowing five runs on seven hits in 6.0 innings. Aguilar put up four straight scoreless frames after three runs in the first two innings.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/lauren-howell/7244">Lauren Howell</a>&nbsp;recorded the final three outs out of the bullpen. UCF grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a one-out, solo home run, but Wichita State answered in a big way in the top of the second. The Shockers put up seven runs in the frame, all with two outs. After&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/lauren-mills/7237">Lauren Mills</a>&nbsp;and Brown drew walks, Nelson started the two-out rally with an RBI single into right-center. The very next batter, McKinney, dropped a run-scoring double into left-center to put the Shockers in front, 2-1. An infield single from Barnard and a bases loaded walk to&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/softball/roster/lauren-lucas/7235">Lauren Lucas</a>&nbsp;set the stage for Jones. The senior belted her first career grand slam over the right field wall to make it 7-1. UCF cut into the lead in the home half of the second on a two-out, two-run single. Wichita State went scoreless in the third and fourth innings, but Brown delivered in the top of the fifth with yet another two-out hit. Brown drove an RBI double over the head of the right fielder, increasing the lead to 8-3. McKinney led off the sixth with her sixth triple of the season, and Wichita State proceeded to do more damage with two outs. Following an Barnard pop up and a Lucas fly out, Jones ripped an RBI double to center. Mills then added the final run on a single up the middle. The Knights put up two in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run home run. Up Next Wichita State returns home for a midweek matchup against Omaha on Wednesday, March 29 at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.&nbsp;&nbsp;

⚾ Shockers Softball wins series at UCF behind two-out hitting

WICHITA, Kan.— After failing to score in each of the first three innings, Wichita State exploded for 14 runs over the next three frames to run-rule Massachusetts 14-2 on Sunday afternoon at Eck Stadium. It was the third consecutive run-rule victory in the series for the Shockers, who bested the Minutemen 12-2 in each of the first two games of the set. The Shockers (13-10) could not solve UMass starter Jack Steele, who held the Shockers off the board for three innings while the Minutemen (3-12) took a 1-0 lead. But Wichita State broke through in the fourth against the UMass bullpen, scoring three times with two outs.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/kyte-mcdonald/7459">Kyte McDonald</a>&nbsp;started the rally by drawing a walk and stealing two bases, setting the stage for a&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/seth-stroh/7454">Seth Stroh</a>&nbsp;RBI double that tied the game at 1-1.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/jack-little/7464">Jack Little</a>&nbsp;followed by slicing a run-scoring triple to the gap in right-center, and&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/chuck-ingram/7448">Chuck Ingram</a>&nbsp;knocked Little home with an RBI single for a 3-1 lead. The Minutemen had a huge opportunity to answer back in the top of the fifth, pulling a run back on an RBI single from Zack Zaetta and then loading the bases with one out. Reliever&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/jace-miner/7449">Jace Miner</a>&nbsp;was able to thwart the rally, coming on to record a strike out and soft line out to escape with the lead still intact at 3-2. WSU added two runs in the fifth via a McDonald sacrifice fly and UMass throwing error, then blew the game open with a nine-run bottom of the sixth. The first ten batters in the inning all reached, highlighted by a pair of two-run singles from&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/garrett-pennington/7468">Garrett Pennington</a>&nbsp;and Little, plus RBI knocks from&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/david-herring/7462">David Herring</a>, McDonald and Ingram. The Minutemen contributed two errors in the inning, helping the Shockers to a 14-2 advantage. <a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/nate-snead/7469">Nate Snead</a>&nbsp;worked a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to activate the run-rule. Five different Shockers recorded multiple hits, led by Ingram's three-hit day, and five scored multiple runs. Little paced Wichita State with a career-best three RBI.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/brock-rodden/7450">Brock Rodden</a>&nbsp;added two doubles and a walk as part of a 14-hit attack. Miner (1-0) picked up the win, retiring all five batters he faced. Starter&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/grant-adler/7467">Grant Adler</a>&nbsp;ended with a no-decision, tagged for two runs, one earned, in 4.1 innings with six strikeouts. Dylan Terwilliger (1-3) took the loss for UMass, allowing four hits and five runs in 1.2 innings. The Shockers head downtown on Tuesday for a matchup with Oklahoma at Riverfront Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 pm.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1679921036867.jpeg" alt="WSU Baseball vs UMASS" />
 <figcaption>WSU Baseball vs UMASS</figcaption>
 </figure>WICHITA, Kan.— After failing to score in each of the first three innings, Wichita State exploded for 14 runs over the next three frames to run-rule Massachusetts 14-2 on Sunday afternoon at Eck Stadium. It was the third consecutive run-rule victory in the series for the Shockers, who bested the Minutemen 12-2 in each of the first two games of the set. The Shockers (13-10) could not solve UMass starter Jack Steele, who held the Shockers off the board for three innings while the Minutemen (3-12) took a 1-0 lead. But Wichita State broke through in the fourth against the UMass bullpen, scoring three times with two outs.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/kyte-mcdonald/7459">Kyte McDonald</a>&nbsp;started the rally by drawing a walk and stealing two bases, setting the stage for a&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/seth-stroh/7454">Seth Stroh</a>&nbsp;RBI double that tied the game at 1-1.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/jack-little/7464">Jack Little</a>&nbsp;followed by slicing a run-scoring triple to the gap in right-center, and&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/chuck-ingram/7448">Chuck Ingram</a>&nbsp;knocked Little home with an RBI single for a 3-1 lead. The Minutemen had a huge opportunity to answer back in the top of the fifth, pulling a run back on an RBI single from Zack Zaetta and then loading the bases with one out. Reliever&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/jace-miner/7449">Jace Miner</a>&nbsp;was able to thwart the rally, coming on to record a strike out and soft line out to escape with the lead still intact at 3-2. WSU added two runs in the fifth via a McDonald sacrifice fly and UMass throwing error, then blew the game open with a nine-run bottom of the sixth. The first ten batters in the inning all reached, highlighted by a pair of two-run singles from&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/garrett-pennington/7468">Garrett Pennington</a>&nbsp;and Little, plus RBI knocks from&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/david-herring/7462">David Herring</a>, McDonald and Ingram. The Minutemen contributed two errors in the inning, helping the Shockers to a 14-2 advantage. <a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/nate-snead/7469">Nate Snead</a>&nbsp;worked a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to activate the run-rule. Five different Shockers recorded multiple hits, led by Ingram's three-hit day, and five scored multiple runs. Little paced Wichita State with a career-best three RBI.&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/brock-rodden/7450">Brock Rodden</a>&nbsp;added two doubles and a walk as part of a 14-hit attack. Miner (1-0) picked up the win, retiring all five batters he faced. Starter&nbsp;<a href="https://goshockers.com/sports/baseball/roster/grant-adler/7467">Grant Adler</a>&nbsp;ended with a no-decision, tagged for two runs, one earned, in 4.1 innings with six strikeouts. Dylan Terwilliger (1-3) took the loss for UMass, allowing four hits and five runs in 1.2 innings. The Shockers head downtown on Tuesday for a matchup with Oklahoma at Riverfront Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 pm.&nbsp;&nbsp;

⚾ WSU Baseball run-rules UMass for third straight day

2022: 92-70, first place, lost to New York Yankees in Division Series.

Manager: Terry Francona (11th season).

He’s Here: 1B/DH Josh Bell, C Mike Zunino.

He’s Outta Here: C Austin Hedges, OF/DH Franmil Reyes, RHP Bryan Shaw, C Luke Maile, 1B Bobby Bradley, INF Yu Chang, OF Nolan Jones, C Sandy Leon.

Top Hitters: 3B José Ramírez (.280, 29 HRs, 126 RBIs, .869 OPS, AL-high 44 doubles), 2B Andrés Giménez (.297, 16, 69, .837 OPS, AL-high 25 HBP), LF Steven Kwan (.298, 6, 52, .373 OBP, 9.4 AB per K, 3rd in AL Rookie of Year voting), SS Amed Rosario (.283, 11, 71, AL-high 9 triples), 1B/DH Josh Bell (.266, 17, 71, .784 OPS with Nationals and Padres).

Projected Rotation: RH Shane Bieber (13-8, 2.88 ERA, 198 Ks in 200 innings), RH Triston McKenzie (11-11, 2.96, 190 Ks), RH Cal Quantrill (15-5, 3.38; 9-0 at home in 19 starts), RH Zach Plesac (3-12, 4.31), RH Aaron Civale (5-6, 4.92).

Key Relievers: RH Emmanuel Clase (3-4, 1.36 ERA, MLB-leading 42 saves), RH Eli Morgan (5-3, 3.38, 13 walks in 66 1/3 innings), RH James Karinchak (2-0, 2.03, 3 saves, 62 Ks in 39 innings), LH Sam Hentges (3-2, 2.32, 57 appearances), RH Enyel De Los Santos (5-0, 3.04 in 50 games).

Outlook: In their first year as the Guardians, baseball’s youngest team rolled to a surprising division title, winning the AL Central by 11 games. They did it without a proven power hitter in a lineup that relied on patience at the plate, speed on the bases and timely hits. The club hopes signing the switch-hitting Bell will give the Guardians an infusion of extra-base pop. Bieber bounced back nicely following an injury-slowed season. Cleveland’s strong bullpen is a major weapon for Francona, who has finally recovered from some major health concerns. Expectations are to go farther in the postseason for a franchise that hasn’t won the World Series since 1948.

Manager: Pedro Grifol (first season).

He’s Here: RHP Mike Clevinger, OF Andrew Benintendi.

He’s Outta Here: Manager Tony La Russa, 1B Jose Abreu, RHP Johnny Cueto, OF AJ Pollock, OF Adam Engel, INF Danny Mendick.

Top Hitters: SS Tim Anderson (.301, 6 HRs, 25 RBIs in 79 games), OF Eloy Jiménez (.295, 16, 54, .858 OPS in 84 games), OF Luis Robert (.284, 12, 56 in 98 games), 3B Yoán Moncada (.212, 12, 51), 1B Andrew Vaughn (.271, 17, 76), OF Andrew Benintendi (.304, 5, 51 with Royals and Yankees).

Projected Rotation: RH Dylan Cease (14-8, 2.20 ERA, 227 Ks), RH Lance Lynn (8-7, 3.99), RH Lucas Giolito (11-9, 4.90), RH Michael Kopech (5-9, 3.54), RH Mike Clevinger (7-7, 4.33 with San Diego).

Key Relievers:&nbsp;RH Liam Hendriks (4-4, 2.81 ERA, 37/41 saves), RH Reynaldo López (6-4, 2.76), RH Joe Kelly (1-3, 6.08), LHP Aaron Bummer (2-1, 2.36), LH Jake Diekman (5-4, 4.99 for Red Sox and White Sox), RH Kendall Graveman (3-4, 3.18), RH Jimmy Lambert (1-2, 3.26), RH José Ruiz (1-0, 4.60).

Outlook: The White Sox had their sights set on a deep playoff run this time last year after back-to-back early exits, only to deliver their most disappointing season in recent memory. Hall of Fame manager La Russa is gone after two seasons, and so is Abreu, the 2020 AL MVP. The White Sox hope better health and a change on the bench, not to mention the few additions they made, give them the lift they need to bounce back. One big question is when Hendriks will pitch. The three-time All-Star announced in January he has non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Clevinger was investigated by MLB after the mother of his daughter revealed allegations of domestic abuse in an Instagram post in January, about seven weeks after he signed with Chicago. MLB ultimately opted not to discipline him.

Manager: Rocco Baldelli (fifth season).

Opening Day: March 30 at Kansas City.

He’s Here: RHP Pablo López, OF Joey Gallo, C Christian Vázquez, OF Michael Taylor, INF Kyle Farmer, INF Donovan Solano.

He’s Outta Here: 1B/2B Luis Arraez, 3B Gio Urshela, C Gary Sánchez, RHP Dylan Bundy, RHP Chris Archer, RHP Michael Fulmer, LHP Devin Smeltzer, 1B Miguel Sanó, OF Jake Cave.

Top Hitters: SS Carlos Correa (.291, 22 HRs, 64 RBIs, .834 OPS), CF Byron Buxton (.224, 28, 51, .833 OPS in 92 games), 3B Jose Miranda (.268, 15, 66, .751 OPS), 2B Jorge Polanco (.235, 16, 56, .751 OPS).

Projected Rotation: RH Sonny Gray (8-5, 3.08 ERA), RH Pablo López (10-10, 3.75 for Miami), RH Tyler Mahle (6-8, 4.40 for Cincinnati and Minnesota), RH Kenta Maeda (missed 2022 season recovering from elbow surgery), RH Joe Ryan (13-8, 3.55).

Key Relievers: RH Jhoan Duran (2-4, 1.86 ERA, 8 saves, 89 Ks in 67 2/3 IP), RH Jorge López (4-7, 2.54, 23 saves for Baltimore and Minnesota), RH Griffin Jax (7-4, 3.36, 1 save).

Outlook: Bringing back Correa on a franchise-record $200 million contract after his agreed-to deals with the Giants and Mets fell through was a game-changer on and off the field for the Twins, who led the AL Central for 108 days last season before a hard fade triggered by a rash of injuries to important players. Buxton was again limited by injury, this time patellar tendinitis in his right knee and a related hip strain that popped up. Polanco is also coming off a bothersome knee injury that might keep him from being ready for opening day. Alex Kirilloff, in line to take over at first base, is yet another key hitter who’s been brought along slowly in spring training. If those four and Miranda can stay healthy, the Twins ought to have a productive lineup. If not, they’ll miss AL batting champion Arraez — who was traded to the Marlins for López — all the more. While the Twins still don’t have a true ace, their rotation is as deep as they’ve assembled lately. That’s good, because they had multiple starting pitchers hurt at all times last season. Maeda is back from Tommy John surgery.

Manager: A.J. Hinch (third season).

Opening Day: March 30 at Philadelphia.

He’s Here: RHP Michael Lorenzen, LHP Matthew Boyd, INF Nick Maton, INF Andy Ibanez, OF Matt Vierling.

He’s Outta Here: LHP Gregory Soto, RHP Joe Jimenez, LHP Andrew Chafin, INF Harold Castro, OF Willi Castro, INF Jeimer Candelario, C Tucker Barnhart, utility player Kody Clemens.

Top Hitters: SS Javier Baez (.238, 16 HRs, 67 RBIs, 147 Ks in 555 ABs), DH Miguel Cabrera (.254, 5, 43), CF Riley Greene (.253, 5, 42), 1B Spencer Torkelson (.203, 8, 28 in 110 games), C Eric Haase (.254, 14, 44, .748 OPS).

Projected Rotation: LH Eduardo Rodriguez (5-5, 4.05 ERA), LH Matthew Boyd (2-0, 1.35 in 10 games with Seattle), RH Michael Lorenzen (8-6, 4.24 in 18 games for Angels), RH Spencer Turnbull (4-2, 2.88 in 9 games), RH Matt Manning (2-3, 3.43 in 12 games).

Key Relievers: RH Alex Lange (7-4, 3.41 ERA in 71 games), RH Jose Cisnero (1-0, 1.08 in 28 games), LH Tyler Alexander (4-11, 4.81).

Outlook: Hopes are not high in the Motor City, where the Tigers are rebuilding as they enter the first full season under general manager Scott Harris. Detroit hasn’t had a winning season since 2016, a fact that cost former GM Al Avila his job last August, and the team hasn’t been in the playoffs in nearly a decade. The franchise desperately needs Rodriguez to bounce back after a shaky season on and off the field. The rest of the rotation includes pitchers coming off injury-shortened seasons, potentially another source of concern. Like Rodriguez, Baez is being counted on to provide a better return on the club's investment in him than he delivered last year. Cabrera, who turns 40 on April 18, said this will be the last season of his career and fans will come to Comerica Park to watch him add to his 507 homers, 3,088 hits and 607 doubles. Greene and Torkelson are potentially young players the franchise can build around.

Manager: Matt Quatraro (first season).

Opening Day: March 30 vs Minnesota.

He’s Here: RHP Jordan Lyles, LHP Ryan Yarbrough, LHP Aroldis Chapman.

He’s Outta Here: Manager Mike Matheny, CF Michael A. Taylor, SS Adalberto Mondesi.

Top Hitters: C Salvador Perez (.254, 23 HRs, 76 RBIs), SS Bobby Witt (.254, 20, 80, 30 SBs), C/OF MJ Melendez (.217, 18, 62), 1B/DH Vinnie Pasquantino (.295, 10, 26).

Projected Rotation: RH Zack Greinke (4-9, 3.68 ERA), RH Jordan Lyles (12-11, 4.42 with Baltimore), RH Brady Singer (10-5, 3.23), LH Ryan Yarbrough (3-8, 4.50 with Tampa Bay), RH Brad Keller (6-14, 5.09).

Key Relievers: RH Scott Barlow (7-4, 2.18 ERA, 24 saves), LH Aroldis Chapman (4-4, 4.46, 9 saves with Yankees), RH Dylan Coleman (5-2, 2.78), RH Taylor Clarke (3-1, 4.04), RH Josh Staumont (3-3, 6.45), LH Amir Garrett (3-1, 4.96).

Outlook: Rather than invest in free agents to improve on last year’s dismal record, the Royals hope a change in leadership from Matheny to Quatraro, coupled with some growth in their young core, will help them take a big step forward. Witt emerged as one of the game’s bright young stars and Singer had a breakout year, but the Royals need to surround both with more help. That is especially true when it comes to pitching, where Kansas City was among the worst in baseball last season.

By The Associated PressCLEVELAND GUARDIANS2022: 92-70, first place, lost to New York Yankees in Division Series.Manager: Terry Francona (11th season).Opening Day: March 30 at Seattle.He’s Here: 1B/DH Josh Bell, C Mike Zunino.He’s Outta Here: C Austin Hedges, OF/DH Franmil Reyes, RHP Bryan Shaw, C Luke Maile, 1B Bobby Bradley, INF Yu Chang, OF Nolan Jones, C Sandy Leon.Top Hitters: 3B José Ramírez (.280, 29 HRs, 126 RBIs, .869 OPS, AL-high 44 doubles), 2B Andrés Giménez (.297, 16, 69, .837 OPS, AL-high 25 HBP), LF Steven Kwan (.298, 6, 52, .373 OBP, 9.4 AB per K, 3rd in AL Rookie of Year voting), SS Amed Rosario (.283, 11, 71, AL-high 9 triples), 1B/DH Josh Bell (.266, 17, 71, .784 OPS with Nationals and Padres).Projected Rotation: RH Shane Bieber (13-8, 2.88 ERA, 198 Ks in 200 innings), RH Triston McKenzie (11-11, 2.96, 190 Ks), RH Cal Quantrill (15-5, 3.38; 9-0 at home in 19 starts), RH Zach Plesac (3-12, 4.31), RH Aaron Civale (5-6, 4.92).Key Relievers: RH Emmanuel Clase (3-4, 1.36 ERA, MLB-leading 42 saves), RH Eli Morgan (5-3, 3.38, 13 walks in 66 1/3 innings), RH James Karinchak (2-0, 2.03, 3 saves, 62 Ks in 39 innings), LH Sam Hentges (3-2, 2.32, 57 appearances), RH Enyel De Los Santos (5-0, 3.04 in 50 games).Outlook: In their first year as the Guardians, baseball’s youngest team rolled to a surprising division title, winning the AL Central by 11 games. They did it without a proven power hitter in a lineup that relied on patience at the plate, speed on the bases and timely hits. The club hopes signing the switch-hitting Bell will give the Guardians an infusion of extra-base pop. Bieber bounced back nicely following an injury-slowed season. Cleveland’s strong bullpen is a major weapon for Francona, who has finally recovered from some major health concerns. Expectations are to go farther in the postseason for a franchise that hasn’t won the World Series since 1948.CHICAGO WHITE SOX2022: 81-81, second place.Manager: Pedro Grifol (first season).Opening Day: March 30 at Houston.He’s Here: RHP Mike Clevinger, OF Andrew Benintendi.He’s Outta Here: Manager Tony La Russa, 1B Jose Abreu, RHP Johnny Cueto, OF AJ Pollock, OF Adam Engel, INF Danny Mendick.Top Hitters: SS Tim Anderson (.301, 6 HRs, 25 RBIs in 79 games), OF Eloy Jiménez (.295, 16, 54, .858 OPS in 84 games), OF Luis Robert (.284, 12, 56 in 98 games), 3B Yoán Moncada (.212, 12, 51), 1B Andrew Vaughn (.271, 17, 76), OF Andrew Benintendi (.304, 5, 51 with Royals and Yankees).Projected Rotation: RH Dylan Cease (14-8, 2.20 ERA, 227 Ks), RH Lance Lynn (8-7, 3.99), RH Lucas Giolito (11-9, 4.90), RH Michael Kopech (5-9, 3.54), RH Mike Clevinger (7-7, 4.33 with San Diego).Key Relievers:&nbsp;RH Liam Hendriks (4-4, 2.81 ERA, 37/41 saves), RH Reynaldo López (6-4, 2.76), RH Joe Kelly (1-3, 6.08), LHP Aaron Bummer (2-1, 2.36), LH Jake Diekman (5-4, 4.99 for Red Sox and White Sox), RH Kendall Graveman (3-4, 3.18), RH Jimmy Lambert (1-2, 3.26), RH José Ruiz (1-0, 4.60).Outlook: The White Sox had their sights set on a deep playoff run this time last year after back-to-back early exits, only to deliver their most disappointing season in recent memory. Hall of Fame manager La Russa is gone after two seasons, and so is Abreu, the 2020 AL MVP. The White Sox hope better health and a change on the bench, not to mention the few additions they made, give them the lift they need to bounce back. One big question is when Hendriks will pitch. The three-time All-Star announced in January he has non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Clevinger was investigated by MLB after the mother of his daughter revealed allegations of domestic abuse in an Instagram post in January, about seven weeks after he signed with Chicago. MLB ultimately opted not to discipline him.MINNESOTA TWINS2022: 78-84, third place.Manager: Rocco Baldelli (fifth season).Opening Day: March 30 at Kansas City.He’s Here: RHP Pablo López, OF Joey Gallo, C Christian Vázquez, OF Michael Taylor, INF Kyle Farmer, INF Donovan Solano.He’s Outta Here: 1B/2B Luis Arraez, 3B Gio Urshela, C Gary Sánchez, RHP Dylan Bundy, RHP Chris Archer, RHP Michael Fulmer, LHP Devin Smeltzer, 1B Miguel Sanó, OF Jake Cave.Top Hitters: SS Carlos Correa (.291, 22 HRs, 64 RBIs, .834 OPS), CF Byron Buxton (.224, 28, 51, .833 OPS in 92 games), 3B Jose Miranda (.268, 15, 66, .751 OPS), 2B Jorge Polanco (.235, 16, 56, .751 OPS).Projected Rotation: RH Sonny Gray (8-5, 3.08 ERA), RH Pablo López (10-10, 3.75 for Miami), RH Tyler Mahle (6-8, 4.40 for Cincinnati and Minnesota), RH Kenta Maeda (missed 2022 season recovering from elbow surgery), RH Joe Ryan (13-8, 3.55).Key Relievers: RH Jhoan Duran (2-4, 1.86 ERA, 8 saves, 89 Ks in 67 2/3 IP), RH Jorge López (4-7, 2.54, 23 saves for Baltimore and Minnesota), RH Griffin Jax (7-4, 3.36, 1 save).Outlook: Bringing back Correa on a franchise-record $200 million contract after his agreed-to deals with the Giants and Mets fell through was a game-changer on and off the field for the Twins, who led the AL Central for 108 days last season before a hard fade triggered by a rash of injuries to important players. Buxton was again limited by injury, this time patellar tendinitis in his right knee and a related hip strain that popped up. Polanco is also coming off a bothersome knee injury that might keep him from being ready for opening day. Alex Kirilloff, in line to take over at first base, is yet another key hitter who’s been brought along slowly in spring training. If those four and Miranda can stay healthy, the Twins ought to have a productive lineup. If not, they’ll miss AL batting champion Arraez — who was traded to the Marlins for López — all the more. While the Twins still don’t have a true ace, their rotation is as deep as they’ve assembled lately. That’s good, because they had multiple starting pitchers hurt at all times last season. Maeda is back from Tommy John surgery.DETROIT TIGERS2022: 66-96, fourth place.Manager: A.J. Hinch (third season).Opening Day: March 30 at Philadelphia.He’s Here: RHP Michael Lorenzen, LHP Matthew Boyd, INF Nick Maton, INF Andy Ibanez, OF Matt Vierling.He’s Outta Here: LHP Gregory Soto, RHP Joe Jimenez, LHP Andrew Chafin, INF Harold Castro, OF Willi Castro, INF Jeimer Candelario, C Tucker Barnhart, utility player Kody Clemens.Top Hitters: SS Javier Baez (.238, 16 HRs, 67 RBIs, 147 Ks in 555 ABs), DH Miguel Cabrera (.254, 5, 43), CF Riley Greene (.253, 5, 42), 1B Spencer Torkelson (.203, 8, 28 in 110 games), C Eric Haase (.254, 14, 44, .748 OPS).Projected Rotation: LH Eduardo Rodriguez (5-5, 4.05 ERA), LH Matthew Boyd (2-0, 1.35 in 10 games with Seattle), RH Michael Lorenzen (8-6, 4.24 in 18 games for Angels), RH Spencer Turnbull (4-2, 2.88 in 9 games), RH Matt Manning (2-3, 3.43 in 12 games).Key Relievers: RH Alex Lange (7-4, 3.41 ERA in 71 games), RH Jose Cisnero (1-0, 1.08 in 28 games), LH Tyler Alexander (4-11, 4.81).Outlook: Hopes are not high in the Motor City, where the Tigers are rebuilding as they enter the first full season under general manager Scott Harris. Detroit hasn’t had a winning season since 2016, a fact that cost former GM Al Avila his job last August, and the team hasn’t been in the playoffs in nearly a decade. The franchise desperately needs Rodriguez to bounce back after a shaky season on and off the field. The rest of the rotation includes pitchers coming off injury-shortened seasons, potentially another source of concern. Like Rodriguez, Baez is being counted on to provide a better return on the club's investment in him than he delivered last year. Cabrera, who turns 40 on April 18, said this will be the last season of his career and fans will come to Comerica Park to watch him add to his 507 homers, 3,088 hits and 607 doubles. Greene and Torkelson are potentially young players the franchise can build around.KANSAS CITY ROYALS2022: 65-97, fifth place.Manager: Matt Quatraro (first season).Opening Day: March 30 vs Minnesota.He’s Here: RHP Jordan Lyles, LHP Ryan Yarbrough, LHP Aroldis Chapman.He’s Outta Here: Manager Mike Matheny, CF Michael A. Taylor, SS Adalberto Mondesi.Top Hitters: C Salvador Perez (.254, 23 HRs, 76 RBIs), SS Bobby Witt (.254, 20, 80, 30 SBs), C/OF MJ Melendez (.217, 18, 62), 1B/DH Vinnie Pasquantino (.295, 10, 26).Projected Rotation: RH Zack Greinke (4-9, 3.68 ERA), RH Jordan Lyles (12-11, 4.42 with Baltimore), RH Brady Singer (10-5, 3.23), LH Ryan Yarbrough (3-8, 4.50 with Tampa Bay), RH Brad Keller (6-14, 5.09).Key Relievers: RH Scott Barlow (7-4, 2.18 ERA, 24 saves), LH Aroldis Chapman (4-4, 4.46, 9 saves with Yankees), RH Dylan Coleman (5-2, 2.78), RH Taylor Clarke (3-1, 4.04), RH Josh Staumont (3-3, 6.45), LH Amir Garrett (3-1, 4.96).Outlook: Rather than invest in free agents to improve on last year’s dismal record, the Royals hope a change in leadership from Matheny to Quatraro, coupled with some growth in their young core, will help them take a big step forward. Witt emerged as one of the game’s bright young stars and Singer had a breakout year, but the Royals need to surround both with more help. That is especially true when it comes to pitching, where Kansas City was among the worst in baseball last season.

⚾ AL Baseball: A look at the Central Division

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jordan Miller scored 27 points and made a series of crucial foul shots down the stretch as Miami rallied to an 88-81 victory over Texas for a spot in the Final Four. Miller finished 7 of 7 from the field and 13 of 13 from the foul line, while Isaiah Wong scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half for the Hurricanes. They are headed to NRG Stadium in Houston for a date with UConn on Saturday night. Two more first-time Final Four participants, San Diego State and Florida Atlantic, will play in the other national semifinal. Marcus Carr had 17 points to lead the Longhorns.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Darrion Trammell converted a go-ahead free throw after he was fouled on a floater with 1.2 seconds left, and San Diego State muscled its way into its first Final Four, grinding out a 57-56 victory over Creighton in the South Region final. Lamont Butler scored 18 points and Trammell had 12 for the fifth-seeded Aztecs (31-6), who slowed down the high-scoring, sixth-seeded Bluejays (24-13) and became the first Mountain West Conference team to reach the national semifinals. The experienced Aztecs, in their sixth season under coach Brian Dutcher, will play Florida Atlantic on Saturday in Houston for a spot in the national title game.

UNDATED (AP) — Everyone’s heard of UConn. The rest of the participants in next weekend's Final Four may need name tags. When they travel to Houston to play for the national title, Florida Atlantic, San Diego State and Miami will all be making their first appearances at the Final Four. It's the first time since 1970 that three first-timers all showed up in the same year. There will be no No. 1 seed at the Final Four for the first time since 2011. Instead, there will be a 9 seed in Florida Atlantic, two 5s in SDSU and Miami, and a 4 seed in UConn, which opens as an overwhelming favorite.

SEATTLE (AP) — Caitlin Clark put on a show with 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds to help No. 2 seed Iowa beat fifth-seeded Louisville 97-83 and send the the Hawkeyes to their first women's Final Four in 30 years. The unanimous first-team All-American was as dominant as she’s been all season in getting the Hawkeyes to Dallas for the women’s NCAA Tournament national semifinals on Friday night. The Seattle 4 Region champion will face the winner of the Greenville 1 region that has South Carolina playing Maryland on Monday night. Iowa (30-6) hadn’t been to the Final Four since Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer led the team to its lone appearance in 1993. Clark had the 11th triple-double of her career and the 19th in NCAA Tournament history.

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Angel Reese had 18 rebounds and LSU returned to the women’s Final Four for the first time in 15 years by beating Miami 54-42. The victory concludes a rapid rise for the Tigers under second-year coach Kim Mulkey, who won three NCAA titles at Baylor. Alexis Morris scored 21 points and Reese added 13 for the third-seeded Tigers, who asserted control of a grinding, defense-first game. LSU shot 30.2% and went 1 for 12 from 3-point range, including misses on its first nine attempts. But Miami was even worse from 3, missing all 15 tries. Reese was named the most outstanding player of the Greenville 2 Region. Jasmyne Roberts scored 22 points for Miami.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sam Burns is the final winner of the Dell Match Play, and it was a dud of an ending. After so much excitement over four days at Austin Country Club, Burns beat Cameron Young in just 13 holes. The 6-and-5 victory is the second-largest margin over 18 holes in this tournament. There wasn't much Young could do against a guy who made eight birdies over his last 10 holes. The big excitement was Sunday morning. Burns narrowly escaped defending champion Scottie Scheffler in 21 holes. Young was 2 down to Rory McIlroy when he rallied to win in 19 holes.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1679918511718.jpeg" alt="Sports Headlines for Monday" />
 <figcaption>Sports Headlines for Monday</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jordan Miller scored 27 points and made a series of crucial foul shots down the stretch as Miami rallied to an 88-81 victory over Texas for a spot in the Final Four. Miller finished 7 of 7 from the field and 13 of 13 from the foul line, while Isaiah Wong scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half for the Hurricanes. They are headed to NRG Stadium in Houston for a date with UConn on Saturday night. Two more first-time Final Four participants, San Diego State and Florida Atlantic, will play in the other national semifinal. Marcus Carr had 17 points to lead the Longhorns.LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Darrion Trammell converted a go-ahead free throw after he was fouled on a floater with 1.2 seconds left, and San Diego State muscled its way into its first Final Four, grinding out a 57-56 victory over Creighton in the South Region final. Lamont Butler scored 18 points and Trammell had 12 for the fifth-seeded Aztecs (31-6), who slowed down the high-scoring, sixth-seeded Bluejays (24-13) and became the first Mountain West Conference team to reach the national semifinals. The experienced Aztecs, in their sixth season under coach Brian Dutcher, will play Florida Atlantic on Saturday in Houston for a spot in the national title game.UNDATED (AP) — Everyone’s heard of UConn. The rest of the participants in next weekend's Final Four may need name tags. When they travel to Houston to play for the national title, Florida Atlantic, San Diego State and Miami will all be making their first appearances at the Final Four. It's the first time since 1970 that three first-timers all showed up in the same year. There will be no No. 1 seed at the Final Four for the first time since 2011. Instead, there will be a 9 seed in Florida Atlantic, two 5s in SDSU and Miami, and a 4 seed in UConn, which opens as an overwhelming favorite.SEATTLE (AP) — Caitlin Clark put on a show with 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds to help No. 2 seed Iowa beat fifth-seeded Louisville 97-83 and send the the Hawkeyes to their first women's Final Four in 30 years. The unanimous first-team All-American was as dominant as she’s been all season in getting the Hawkeyes to Dallas for the women’s NCAA Tournament national semifinals on Friday night. The Seattle 4 Region champion will face the winner of the Greenville 1 region that has South Carolina playing Maryland on Monday night. Iowa (30-6) hadn’t been to the Final Four since Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer led the team to its lone appearance in 1993. Clark had the 11th triple-double of her career and the 19th in NCAA Tournament history.GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Angel Reese had 18 rebounds and LSU returned to the women’s Final Four for the first time in 15 years by beating Miami 54-42. The victory concludes a rapid rise for the Tigers under second-year coach Kim Mulkey, who won three NCAA titles at Baylor. Alexis Morris scored 21 points and Reese added 13 for the third-seeded Tigers, who asserted control of a grinding, defense-first game. LSU shot 30.2% and went 1 for 12 from 3-point range, including misses on its first nine attempts. But Miami was even worse from 3, missing all 15 tries. Reese was named the most outstanding player of the Greenville 2 Region. Jasmyne Roberts scored 22 points for Miami.AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sam Burns is the final winner of the Dell Match Play, and it was a dud of an ending. After so much excitement over four days at Austin Country Club, Burns beat Cameron Young in just 13 holes. The 6-and-5 victory is the second-largest margin over 18 holes in this tournament. There wasn't much Young could do against a guy who made eight birdies over his last 10 holes. The big excitement was Sunday morning. Burns narrowly escaped defending champion Scottie Scheffler in 21 holes. Young was 2 down to Rory McIlroy when he rallied to win in 19 holes.SUNDAY SCORESNCAA Elite EightSOUTHFinal San Diego St. 57 Creighton 56MIDWESTFinal Miami 88 Texas 81MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALLINTERLEAGUEFinal Houston 24 St. Louis 1Final Baltimore 4 Philadelphia 2Final Chicago Cubs 5 Kansas City 0Final Colorado 4 Chicago White Sox 2Final Cleveland 3 Cincinnati 2Final San Francisco 9 Oakland 5Final L.A. Dodgers 3 L.A. Angels 0Final Seattle 5 San Diego 5AMERICAN LEAGUEFinal N.Y. Yankees 6 Toronto 2Final Minnesota 7 Boston 2Final Detroit 11 Tampa Bay 10NATIONAL LEAGUEFinal Atlanta 8 Pittsburgh 1Final Cincinnati 7 Colorado 5Final Washington 2 Miami 2Final Arizona 4 Milwaukee 4Final Miami 3 N.Y. Mets 3NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATIONFinal Charlotte 110 Dallas 104Final Chicago 118 L.A. Lakers 108Final Boston 137 San Antonio 93Final Toronto 114 Washington 104Final Cleveland 108 Houston 91Final Orlando 119 Brooklyn 106Final Memphis 123 Atlanta 119Final Oklahoma City 118 Portland 112Final Minnesota 99 Golden State 96NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUEFinal SO Colorado 4 Arizona 3Final SO Boston 4 Carolina 3Final Toronto 3 Nashville 2Final Vancouver 4 Chicago 2Final Los Angeles 7 St. Louis 6

Sports Headlines for Monday

<a href="https://kuathletics.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3846a6408b9536a51afeabac1&amp;id=a022b3f08d&amp;e=33e05464a3" target="_blank">Box Score</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://kuathletics.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3846a6408b9536a51afeabac1&amp;id=3b7f236cdd&amp;e=33e05464a3" target="_blank">Season Stats</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://kuathletics.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3846a6408b9536a51afeabac1&amp;id=22f86a26f6&amp;e=33e05464a3" target="_blank">Postgame Notes</a>

LAWRENCE, Kan. –&nbsp;Holly Kersgieter scored 25 points and Taiyanna Jackson had 22 points and 10 rebounds for her 21st double-double of the season and Kansas topped Arkansas 78-64 to advance to the Fab 4 of the WNIT.

Kansas now hosts Washington in the Fab 4 on Wednesday, March 4. Tipoff from Allen Fieldhouse is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.

"We had a fantastic first half. It was going to be really hard to replicate it, and Arkansas came out with a lot of fight. They were really aggressive and played downhill. Give them credit for an unbelievable third quarter. Any mistakes we made, they took advantage of them. But I like how we responded, as we were able to close out the game."

For the third straight WNIT game, the Jayhawks led wire-to-wire on Sunday, never once falling behind the Razorbacks in a convincing win and leading by as many as 21 at one point. Kansas held Arkansas to 37 percent shooting from the floor and 30 percent shooting from deep. The Jayhawks also outscored the Razorbacks 46-26 in the paint of the Great Eight matchup.

For the third-straight postseason game, the Jayhawks got off to a fast start thanks to their suffocating defense. After not allowing Missouri to score for the first five-plus minutes in the Round of 32 and holding Nebraska to two points over the first five in the Super 16, Kansas again stifled its opponent at the start.

Kansas built a 15-2 lead at 3:47 mark of the first quarter, holding Arkansas to a 1-for-9 start from the floor and 0-of-6 from 3-point range. The Razorbacks were forced to call their first timeout after a Jackson bucket extended the lead to 13. Jackson scored 10 of the team’s first 15 points, starting a perfect 5-for-5 from the field.

The Razorbacks started to get it going offensively over the final three minutes of the quarter and cut into the Kansas lead. Arkansas used a layup with 43 seconds left to get the deficit to seven. But Kersgieter made a layup, was fouled and hit her free throw for a 3-point play to extend the lead right back to 10. The Razorbacks scored with five seconds left to make it 20-12.

The Kansas defense again turned it up to start the second quarter, with Arkansas not getting its first basket until there were more than six minutes gone in the quarter. In the meantime, the Jayhawks continued to roll on the offensive end. Leading 27-12, Chandler Prater hit a layup and was fouled. She converted the three-point play to up the Kansas lead to 18. Arkansas finally got its first basket with 3:38 left in the half, but Kansas answered right back on the next possession courtesy of a Prater jumper to push it right back to 18 at 32-14.

The Jayhawks hit five of their final six from the floor to continue to take control of the game and grab a 38-19 lead at the break. Jackson led the team with 14 points at the break, while Kersgieter had 12. Kansas outscored Arkansas 24-10 in the paint and 7-0 in second-chance points. The Razorbacks were just 7 of 29 from the floor in the first half, while Kansas shot 47 percent, going 16 of 34.

Arkansas began cutting into the Kansas lead in the third quarter and got the deficit to as few as eight with 39 seconds left in the quarter. But Wyvette Mayberry hit a layup with five seconds left to get the lead back to 10 heading into the fourth quarter. When Arkansas cut it to eight, it marked the first time the deficit was in single digits since Kansas led 20-12 at the end of the first quarter.

The Jayhawks wasted no time extending the lead back to a comfortable margin after the Razorback run. Kansas scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to take a 67-50 lead with 7:55 to play and forcing a timeout from the visitors.

But Arkansas never got closer than nine points the remainder of the way as the Jayhawks flexed their muscles and finished off the complete effort.

Mayberry and Zakiyah Franklin both finished in double figures with 10 points and Prater added nine. The Jayhawks are now 23-12 on the season, while Arkansas finished its season with a 24-13 record.

Kansas advances to the Fab Four of the WNIT, where the Jayhawks will face Washington, who defeated Oregon 63-59 on Sunday evening in Seattle to advance to the semifinals. Kansas will host that matchup at Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday, March 29, with tipoff set for 6:30 p.m. CT.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1679902824866.jpeg" alt="KU WBB in WNIT Fab 4" />
 <figcaption>KU WBB in WNIT Fab 4</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://kuathletics.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3846a6408b9536a51afeabac1&amp;id=a022b3f08d&amp;e=33e05464a3" target="_blank">Box Score</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://kuathletics.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3846a6408b9536a51afeabac1&amp;id=3b7f236cdd&amp;e=33e05464a3" target="_blank">Season Stats</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://kuathletics.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3846a6408b9536a51afeabac1&amp;id=22f86a26f6&amp;e=33e05464a3" target="_blank">Postgame Notes</a>LAWRENCE, Kan. –&nbsp;Holly Kersgieter scored 25 points and Taiyanna Jackson had 22 points and 10 rebounds for her 21st double-double of the season and Kansas topped Arkansas 78-64 to advance to the Fab 4 of the WNIT.Kansas now hosts Washington in the Fab 4 on Wednesday, March 4. Tipoff from Allen Fieldhouse is set for 6:30 p.m. CT."We had a fantastic first half. It was going to be really hard to replicate it, and Arkansas came out with a lot of fight. They were really aggressive and played downhill. Give them credit for an unbelievable third quarter. Any mistakes we made, they took advantage of them. But I like how we responded, as we were able to close out the game."KANSAS COACH BRANDON SCHNEIDERFor the third straight WNIT game, the Jayhawks led wire-to-wire on Sunday, never once falling behind the Razorbacks in a convincing win and leading by as many as 21 at one point. Kansas held Arkansas to 37 percent shooting from the floor and 30 percent shooting from deep. The Jayhawks also outscored the Razorbacks 46-26 in the paint of the Great Eight matchup.For the third-straight postseason game, the Jayhawks got off to a fast start thanks to their suffocating defense. After not allowing Missouri to score for the first five-plus minutes in the Round of 32 and holding Nebraska to two points over the first five in the Super 16, Kansas again stifled its opponent at the start.Kansas built a 15-2 lead at 3:47 mark of the first quarter, holding Arkansas to a 1-for-9 start from the floor and 0-of-6 from 3-point range. The Razorbacks were forced to call their first timeout after a Jackson bucket extended the lead to 13. Jackson scored 10 of the team’s first 15 points, starting a perfect 5-for-5 from the field.The Razorbacks started to get it going offensively over the final three minutes of the quarter and cut into the Kansas lead. Arkansas used a layup with 43 seconds left to get the deficit to seven. But Kersgieter made a layup, was fouled and hit her free throw for a 3-point play to extend the lead right back to 10. The Razorbacks scored with five seconds left to make it 20-12.The Kansas defense again turned it up to start the second quarter, with Arkansas not getting its first basket until there were more than six minutes gone in the quarter. In the meantime, the Jayhawks continued to roll on the offensive end. Leading 27-12, Chandler Prater hit a layup and was fouled. She converted the three-point play to up the Kansas lead to 18. Arkansas finally got its first basket with 3:38 left in the half, but Kansas answered right back on the next possession courtesy of a Prater jumper to push it right back to 18 at 32-14.The Jayhawks hit five of their final six from the floor to continue to take control of the game and grab a 38-19 lead at the break. Jackson led the team with 14 points at the break, while Kersgieter had 12. Kansas outscored Arkansas 24-10 in the paint and 7-0 in second-chance points. The Razorbacks were just 7 of 29 from the floor in the first half, while Kansas shot 47 percent, going 16 of 34.Arkansas began cutting into the Kansas lead in the third quarter and got the deficit to as few as eight with 39 seconds left in the quarter. But Wyvette Mayberry hit a layup with five seconds left to get the lead back to 10 heading into the fourth quarter. When Arkansas cut it to eight, it marked the first time the deficit was in single digits since Kansas led 20-12 at the end of the first quarter.The Jayhawks wasted no time extending the lead back to a comfortable margin after the Razorback run. Kansas scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to take a 67-50 lead with 7:55 to play and forcing a timeout from the visitors.But Arkansas never got closer than nine points the remainder of the way as the Jayhawks flexed their muscles and finished off the complete effort.Mayberry and Zakiyah Franklin both finished in double figures with 10 points and Prater added nine. The Jayhawks are now 23-12 on the season, while Arkansas finished its season with a 24-13 record.Kansas advances to the Fab Four of the WNIT, where the Jayhawks will face Washington, who defeated Oregon 63-59 on Sunday evening in Seattle to advance to the semifinals. Kansas will host that matchup at Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday, March 29, with tipoff set for 6:30 p.m. CT.

🏀 WBB: Jayhawks handle Razorbacks to advance to WNIT’s Fab 4

AP Sports Summary for early Monday Morning.

Final Four newcomers: Grab your name tag at the door

Everyone's heard of UConn. The rest of the participants in next weekend's Final Four may need name tags. When they travel to Houston to play for the national title, Florida Atlantic, San Diego State and Miami will all be making their first appearances at the Final Four. It's the first time since 1970 that three first-timers all showed up in the same year. There will be no No. 1 seed at the Final Four for the first time since 2011. Instead, there will be a 9 seed in Florida Atlantic, two 5s in SDSU and Miami, and a 4 seed in UConn, which opens as an overwhelming favorite.

Miller, Wong rally Miami past Texas 88-81 for 1st Final Four

San Diego State muscles past Creighton, makes 1st Final Four

Caitlin Clark leads Iowa to first Final Four since 1993

SEATTLE (AP) — Caitlin Clark put on a show with 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds to help No. 2 seed Iowa beat fifth-seeded Louisville 97-83 and send the the Hawkeyes to their first women's Final Four in 30 years. The unanimous first-team All-American was as dominant as she's been all season in getting the Hawkeyes to Dallas for the women's NCAA Tournament national semifinals on Friday night. The Seattle 4 Region champion will face the winner of the Greenville 1 region that has South Carolina playing Maryland on Monday night. Iowa (30-6) hadn't been to the Final Four since Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer led the team to its lone appearance in 1993. Clark had the 11th triple-double of her career and the 19th in NCAA Tournament history.

Reese, LSU women push past Miami 54-42 to reach Final Four

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Angel Reese had 18 rebounds and LSU returned to the women's Final Four for the first time in 15 years by beating Miami 54-42. The victory concludes a rapid rise for the Tigers under second-year coach Kim Mulkey, who won three NCAA titles at Baylor. Alexis Morris scored 21 points and Reese added 13 for the third-seeded Tigers, who asserted control of a grinding, defense-first game. LSU shot 30.2% and went 1 for 12 from 3-point range, including misses on its first nine attempts. But Miami was even worse from 3, missing all 15 tries. Reese was named the most outstanding player of the Greenville 2 Region. Jasmyne Roberts scored 22 points for Miami.

LeBron James returns for season-ending push with Lakers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James says two doctors recommended season-ending surgery on a torn tendon in his right foot, but he has decided to finish out the season on the court with the Los Angeles Lakers. James returned to the Lakers on Sunday after a monthlong absence with what he revealed was a significant tendon injury. He wasn't in the starting lineup for only the second time in his 20-year NBA career, but he still led the Lakers with 19 points in their 118-108 loss to the Chicago Bulls. James returned with eight games left in the Lakers' regular season as they attempt to avoid missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

Sam Burns wins final Match Play in rout over Cameron Young

Top prospect Volpe, 21, wins Yankees' starting shortstop job

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Anthony Volpe grew up watching Derek Jeter star at shortstop for the New York Yankees. Now, the 21-year-old is getting the chance to be the Yankees' opening day shortstop Thursday against the San Francisco Giants. The Yankees announced after a 6-2 win over Toronto that Volpe had won the spot. Volpe was able to share the news with his parents and other family members near the Yankees' dugout and said it is something he will never forget. Volpe, who grew up a Yankees fan, lived in Manhattan as a child before moving to New Jersey. Jeter was his favorite player.

FAU's Final Four run fueled by sacrifice; 'No ego, no pride'

NEW YORK (AP) — Florida Atlantic has defied expectation and description all season. The winningest team in Division I, but the lowest seed left in the NCAA Tournament, is heading to the Final Four with a squad that is greater than the sum of its interchangeable parts. To win four tournament games so far, each by single digits, has taken contributions from up and down FAU's roster. The Owls have had three different leading scorers, three different leading rebounders and three different leaders in assists.

UConn's return to prominence has been a family affair

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Dan Hurley got choked up when asked about his dad on the eve of UConn's Sweet 16 game. Tears flowed again before the Huskies' Elite Eight game, this time from thinking about what he considers his other family. Now Hurley will get to coach them at least one more game, next week in Houston. UConn has blitzed its way through the bracket so far, winning each of its four NCAA Tournament games by at least 15 points. The Huskies turned what was supposed to a dream Elite Eight game into a nightmare for Gonzaga to earn their first Final Four trip since winning the 2014 national title.

AP Sports Summary for early Monday Morning.Final Four newcomers: Grab your name tag at the doorEveryone's heard of UConn. The rest of the participants in next weekend's Final Four may need name tags. When they travel to Houston to play for the national title, Florida Atlantic, San Diego State and Miami will all be making their first appearances at the Final Four. It's the first time since 1970 that three first-timers all showed up in the same year. There will be no No. 1 seed at the Final Four for the first time since 2011. Instead, there will be a 9 seed in Florida Atlantic, two 5s in SDSU and Miami, and a 4 seed in UConn, which opens as an overwhelming favorite.Miller, Wong rally Miami past Texas 88-81 for 1st Final FourKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jordan Miller scored 27 points and made a series of crucial foul shots down the stretch as Miami rallied to an 88-81 victory over Texas for a spot in the Final Four. Miller finished 7 of 7 from the field and 13 of 13 from the foul line, while Isaiah Wong scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half for the Hurricanes. They are headed to NRG Stadium in Houston for a date with UConn on Saturday night. Two more first-time Final Four participants, San Diego State and Florida Atlantic, will play in the other national semifinal. Marcus Carr had 17 points to lead the Longhorns.San Diego State muscles past Creighton, makes 1st Final FourLOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Darrion Trammell converted a go-ahead free throw after he was fouled on a floater with 1.2 seconds left, and San Diego State muscled its way into its first Final Four, grinding out a 57-56 victory over Creighton in the South Region final. Lamont Butler scored 18 points and Trammell had 12 for the fifth-seeded Aztecs (31-6), who slowed down the high-scoring, sixth-seeded Bluejays (24-13) and became the first Mountain West Conference team to reach the national semifinals. The experienced Aztecs, in their sixth season under coach Brian Dutcher, will play Florida Atlantic on Saturday in Houston for a spot in the national title game.Caitlin Clark leads Iowa to first Final Four since 1993SEATTLE (AP) — Caitlin Clark put on a show with 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds to help No. 2 seed Iowa beat fifth-seeded Louisville 97-83 and send the the Hawkeyes to their first women's Final Four in 30 years. The unanimous first-team All-American was as dominant as she's been all season in getting the Hawkeyes to Dallas for the women's NCAA Tournament national semifinals on Friday night. The Seattle 4 Region champion will face the winner of the Greenville 1 region that has South Carolina playing Maryland on Monday night. Iowa (30-6) hadn't been to the Final Four since Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer led the team to its lone appearance in 1993. Clark had the 11th triple-double of her career and the 19th in NCAA Tournament history.Reese, LSU women push past Miami 54-42 to reach Final FourGREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Angel Reese had 18 rebounds and LSU returned to the women's Final Four for the first time in 15 years by beating Miami 54-42. The victory concludes a rapid rise for the Tigers under second-year coach Kim Mulkey, who won three NCAA titles at Baylor. Alexis Morris scored 21 points and Reese added 13 for the third-seeded Tigers, who asserted control of a grinding, defense-first game. LSU shot 30.2% and went 1 for 12 from 3-point range, including misses on its first nine attempts. But Miami was even worse from 3, missing all 15 tries. Reese was named the most outstanding player of the Greenville 2 Region. Jasmyne Roberts scored 22 points for Miami.LeBron James returns for season-ending push with LakersLOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James says two doctors recommended season-ending surgery on a torn tendon in his right foot, but he has decided to finish out the season on the court with the Los Angeles Lakers. James returned to the Lakers on Sunday after a monthlong absence with what he revealed was a significant tendon injury. He wasn't in the starting lineup for only the second time in his 20-year NBA career, but he still led the Lakers with 19 points in their 118-108 loss to the Chicago Bulls. James returned with eight games left in the Lakers' regular season as they attempt to avoid missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year.Sam Burns wins final Match Play in rout over Cameron YoungAUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sam Burns is the final winner of the Dell Match Play, and it was a dud of an ending. After so much excitement over four days at Austin Country Club, Burns beat Cameron Young in just 13 holes. The 6-and-5 victory is the second-largest margin over 18 holes in this tournament. There wasn't much Young could do against a guy who made eight birdies over his last 10 holes. The big excitement was Sunday morning. Burns narrowly escaped defending champion Scottie Scheffler in 21 holes. Young was 2 down to Rory McIlroy when he rallied to win in 19 holes.Top prospect Volpe, 21, wins Yankees' starting shortstop jobTAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Anthony Volpe grew up watching Derek Jeter star at shortstop for the New York Yankees. Now, the 21-year-old is getting the chance to be the Yankees' opening day shortstop Thursday against the San Francisco Giants. The Yankees announced after a 6-2 win over Toronto that Volpe had won the spot. Volpe was able to share the news with his parents and other family members near the Yankees' dugout and said it is something he will never forget. Volpe, who grew up a Yankees fan, lived in Manhattan as a child before moving to New Jersey. Jeter was his favorite player.FAU's Final Four run fueled by sacrifice; 'No ego, no pride'NEW YORK (AP) — Florida Atlantic has defied expectation and description all season. The winningest team in Division I, but the lowest seed left in the NCAA Tournament, is heading to the Final Four with a squad that is greater than the sum of its interchangeable parts. To win four tournament games so far, each by single digits, has taken contributions from up and down FAU's roster. The Owls have had three different leading scorers, three different leading rebounders and three different leaders in assists.UConn's return to prominence has been a family affairLAS VEGAS (AP) — Dan Hurley got choked up when asked about his dad on the eve of UConn's Sweet 16 game. Tears flowed again before the Huskies' Elite Eight game, this time from thinking about what he considers his other family. Now Hurley will get to coach them at least one more game, next week in Houston. UConn has blitzed its way through the bracket so far, winning each of its four NCAA Tournament games by at least 15 points. The Huskies turned what was supposed to a dream Elite Eight game into a nightmare for Gonzaga to earn their first Final Four trip since winning the 2014 national title.

Sports summary for early Monday Morning

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Texas is aiming for its first trip to the Final Four in 20 years, and Miami is seeking the first in school history. The teams will meet in the Midwest Region final of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. The Longhorns have rallied around interim coach Rodney Terry, who took over in December following Chris Beard's suspension and later firing. But the Big 12 tourney champs could be without star big man Dylan Disu, who is dealing with a foot injury. The Hurricanes have ridden red-hot Nijel Pack and Isaiah Wong to a second straight Elite Eight. They eliminated No. 1 seed Houston in the Sweet 16.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Texas coach Rodney Terry was not more than 20 minutes removed from a resounding win over Xavier in the Sweet 16 when he was asked about the next mammoth task during what is becoming an improbable run toward a home-state Final Four.

How do you slow down Nijel Pack and high-scoring Miami?

“You're not going to let me enjoy this for one night, huh?” Terry replied.

He was joking, of course. Terry and his second-seeded Longhorns — the best seed left in an upset-filled NCAA Tournament — have been savoring every&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness">moment of March Madness</a>. It began two weeks ago with a run through Kansas to the Big 12 Tournament title on the same floor inside T-Mobile Center, and with a win over the No. 5 seed Hurricanes on Sunday night, it would end with a trip to Houston and Texas' first Final Four appearance in 20 years.

“This has been a very resilient team all year long,” said Terry, the longtime assistant who epitomized that resolve by keeping the Longhorns together after coach Chris Beard was suspended and ultimately fired early in the season.

“When you play in the Big 12," Terry continued, "you've been battle-tested. There's not really anything you haven't faced all year long — foul trouble, an injured guy. You just keep playing and keep working.”

The latest injury for the Longhorns involves Dylan Disu,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-texas-xavier-fb592fb4c906ede93830cb55d95271cf">the Big 12 tourney MVP</a>, who hurt his left foot in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-texas-penn-state-f620fd4217ab3d3c2cd48c73bcbfb3e3">the second-round win over Penn State</a>. Disu had been a revelation during the NCAA Tournament's opening weekend, but the 6-foot-9 senior had to watch most of their regional semifinal win over the Musketeers from the bench in a walking boot.

Terry called him “day to day” on Saturday, though it appears unlikely Disu will be available against Miami.

That won't help when it comes to stopping Pack and Co.

The transfer from Kansas State, whose $800,000 deal with LifeWallet made him an early poster child for an era of name, image and likeness compensation, dropped seven 3-pointers and scored 26 points in leading the Hurricanes to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-miami-houston-4f6c0985a61d439da0db94ab973429fa">an easy win over Houston</a>&nbsp;on Friday night — thus eliminating the last No. 1 seed in the tourney.

Miami coach Jim Larrañaga called Pack's performance “a joke,” one that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-miami-elite-eight-cavinder-581204e1e764df8dba7d3c8f789f13fb">left only his own team laughing</a>, and it came after the Kansas State transfer scored 21 points in the Hurricanes' NCAA opener against Drake and 12 in a second-round win over Indiana.

“I wanted to be part of something special, something great,” Pack said. “We're doing something special right now.”

Even if the Longhorns and their own spectacular guards, Marcus Carr and Tyrese Hunter, manage to limit Pack's looks in the Midwest Region final, they still have to deal with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/narch-madness-indiana-miami-523e6165279ae3e238672c78f701943b">ACC player of the year Isaiah Wong</a>, ruthless rebounding machine Norchad Omier and a group trying to reach the Final Four for the first time in school history.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1617367758303.jpeg" alt="Texas push for the final four" />
 <figcaption>Texas push for the final four</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Texas is aiming for its first trip to the Final Four in 20 years, and Miami is seeking the first in school history. The teams will meet in the Midwest Region final of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. The Longhorns have rallied around interim coach Rodney Terry, who took over in December following Chris Beard's suspension and later firing. But the Big 12 tourney champs could be without star big man Dylan Disu, who is dealing with a foot injury. The Hurricanes have ridden red-hot Nijel Pack and Isaiah Wong to a second straight Elite Eight. They eliminated No. 1 seed Houston in the Sweet 16.<h2>Story Body</h2>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Texas coach Rodney Terry was not more than 20 minutes removed from a resounding win over Xavier in the Sweet 16 when he was asked about the next mammoth task during what is becoming an improbable run toward a home-state Final Four.How do you slow down Nijel Pack and high-scoring Miami?“You're not going to let me enjoy this for one night, huh?” Terry replied.He was joking, of course. Terry and his second-seeded Longhorns — the best seed left in an upset-filled NCAA Tournament — have been savoring every&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness">moment of March Madness</a>. It began two weeks ago with a run through Kansas to the Big 12 Tournament title on the same floor inside T-Mobile Center, and with a win over the No. 5 seed Hurricanes on Sunday night, it would end with a trip to Houston and Texas' first Final Four appearance in 20 years.“This has been a very resilient team all year long,” said Terry, the longtime assistant who epitomized that resolve by keeping the Longhorns together after coach Chris Beard was suspended and ultimately fired early in the season.“When you play in the Big 12," Terry continued, "you've been battle-tested. There's not really anything you haven't faced all year long — foul trouble, an injured guy. You just keep playing and keep working.”The latest injury for the Longhorns involves Dylan Disu,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-texas-xavier-fb592fb4c906ede93830cb55d95271cf">the Big 12 tourney MVP</a>, who hurt his left foot in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-texas-penn-state-f620fd4217ab3d3c2cd48c73bcbfb3e3">the second-round win over Penn State</a>. Disu had been a revelation during the NCAA Tournament's opening weekend, but the 6-foot-9 senior had to watch most of their regional semifinal win over the Musketeers from the bench in a walking boot.Terry called him “day to day” on Saturday, though it appears unlikely Disu will be available against Miami.That won't help when it comes to stopping Pack and Co.The transfer from Kansas State, whose $800,000 deal with LifeWallet made him an early poster child for an era of name, image and likeness compensation, dropped seven 3-pointers and scored 26 points in leading the Hurricanes to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-miami-houston-4f6c0985a61d439da0db94ab973429fa">an easy win over Houston</a>&nbsp;on Friday night — thus eliminating the last No. 1 seed in the tourney.Miami coach Jim Larrañaga called Pack's performance “a joke,” one that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-miami-elite-eight-cavinder-581204e1e764df8dba7d3c8f789f13fb">left only his own team laughing</a>, and it came after the Kansas State transfer scored 21 points in the Hurricanes' NCAA opener against Drake and 12 in a second-round win over Indiana.“I wanted to be part of something special, something great,” Pack said. “We're doing something special right now.”Even if the Longhorns and their own spectacular guards, Marcus Carr and Tyrese Hunter, manage to limit Pack's looks in the Midwest Region final, they still have to deal with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/narch-madness-indiana-miami-523e6165279ae3e238672c78f701943b">ACC player of the year Isaiah Wong</a>, ruthless rebounding machine Norchad Omier and a group trying to reach the Final Four for the first time in school history.“Their guard play is really good,” Terry said. “They share the basketball really well. Their interior players played really well against a really physical Houston team. Nothing but respect for Coach Larrañaga and what he has been able to do over the course of his career. His teams just win. We know we have our hands full.”Terry's feeling of admiration is quite mutual.“When Rodney had to step into his role," Larrañaga said, "he had to command the respect of his players first. And they bought into whatever he said, whatever he did — hook, line and sinker. ... They're an outstanding team. They’ve played very hard and very well together at both ends of the court. I was extremely impressed with how they've played.”Larrañaga has been to the Final Four once already. And if he could take George Mason to the national semifinals, perhaps reaching the same point with what some pundits still carelessly call "a football school” — one that dropped its basketball program for a 14-year stretch in the 1970s and '80s — doesn't seem quite so far-fetched.“The culture is changing,” the Hurricanes' Anthony Walker said. “Coach brings a winning mentality, and it drips onto us. It's the culture, man. We come out and play hard, Miami basketball. The outcome speaks for itself.”The outcome is all that matters at this point for Texas, too.The Longhorns have taken the season in 40-minute bites, one game at a time, never gazing too far down the path. It was an approach that helped them deal with an abrupt change in leadership, injuries along the way to Timmy Allen and now Disu, and a brutally difficult Big 12 that also advanced Kansas State to the NCAA Tournament's final eight.The next 40 minutes will decide whether Texas reaches its first Final Four since 2003, when the 54-year-old Terry was just&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-new-mexico-state-aggies-texas-longhorns-top-25-college-basketball-today-mens-d9601fa3c93f7e4fa792f6c5f6196047">an up-and-coming assistant</a>&nbsp;on the staff of Rick Barnes, and how many of the Longhorns will be remembered.“I think my one constant message to our guys was, ‘Be where your feet are. Stay in the present right now. And we’re going to control what we can control,’” Terry said. “All the goals we had for the season are still in front of us.”