MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — In less than a year, Jerome Tang has taken a Kansas State program that was down to two scholarship players and built a team headed to the Sweet 16. The longtime Baylor assistant has changed the culture of the Wildcats' program. Tang and his team are headed to Madison Square Garden in New York on Thursday night to play Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament. With two more wins, Kansas State would be headed to its first Final Four in nearly 50 years.
UNDATED (AP) — Coaches across college basketball are looking at ways to evolve to deal with recruiting, roster management and athletes who can earn money. It is a chaotic landscape. The challenges include players being able to move freely through the transfer portal and cash in on their fame with endorsement deals. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson says programs have to adapt and have specialized roles. Kansas State coach Jerome Tang says the additional layers of support staff can make a program stand out from others.
UNDATED (AP) — The battle for the national championship in women’s basketball is on. The top seeds are South Carolina, Indiana, Stanford and Virginia Tech. Stanford was the first of that quartet to lose, followed by Indiana a day later. Sweet 16 weekend brings a twist this year for the women’s teams: There will be two regional sites instead of four: Greenville, South Carolina, and Seattle each will host eight teams. The Final Four is in Dallas on March 31 and the championship game is two days later on April 2.
MIAMI (AP) — Shohei Ohtani emerged from the bullpen and fanned Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out in a matchup the whole baseball world wanted to see, leading Japan over the defending champion United States 3-2 for its first World Baseball Classic title since 2009. Ohtani, the two-way star who has captivated fans across two continents, beat out an infield single in the seventh inning as a designated hitter, then walked down the left-field line to Japan’s bullpen to warm up for his third mound appearance of the tournament. Trout, the U.S. captain and a three-time MVP, struck out on a full-count pitch.
MIAMI (AP) — Team USA fielded a World Baseball Classic roster brimming with All-Star names from Trea Turner to Mookie Betts to Mike Trout. Despite its plethora of talented hitters, Team USA didn't bring the same pitching talent to the tournament, which culminated in the Americans being outpitched and outmatched in a 3-2 loss to Japan in Tuesday night's championship game.
MIAMI (AP) — The World Baseball Classic will return for its sixth edition in March 2026, with organizers concluding spring training remains a better time than after the World Series or in the middle of the major league season. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says MLB owners and general managers have to be pursuaded to make more star pitchers available to national teams. Since its launch in 2006, the WBC has been played in March, ahead of club opening day in MLB, Japan and South Korea. Many MLB teams blocked pitchers from participating, wanting them to concentrate on preparing for the season.
MIAMI (AP) — Major League Baseball’s new pitch clock is going to undergo some timing adjustments before it is turned on for games that count. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred called the changes “significant” but also described them as “clarifications” based on input from players. The alterations are likely to be announced Wednesday, eight days before opening day. Baseball’s 11-man competition committee, established in the labor agreement last March, adopted the pitch clock and shift limits last September over the opposition of the four players on the panel. MLB set the pitch clock at 15 seconds with no runners and 20 seconds with runners.
NEW YORK (AP) — St. John’s introduced 70-year-old Rick Pitino as its new men's basketball coach with a news conference at Madison Square Garden. St. John's is hoping the Hall of Famer can turn back the clock on a program that once stole New York City tabloid headlines away from the Knicks in the 1980s under coach Lou Carnesecca. The 98-year-old Carnesecca attended the news conference and called the hire a “home run.” Pitino, whose resume includes two national championships, including one that was vacated because of NCAA violations, was previously coaching at Iona. He said he has earned another shot at the big-time.
NEW YORK (AP) — Willis Reed, who dramatically emerged from the locker room minutes before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to spark the New York Knicks to their first championship and create one of sports’ most enduring examples of playing through pain, has died. He was 80. Reed died Tuesday, according to the National Basketball Retired Players Association, which confirmed it through his family. Reed had been in poor health recently and was unable to travel to New York when the Knicks honored the 50th anniversary of their 1973 NBA championship team last month. Nicknamed “The Captain,” Reed was the undersized center and emotional leader on the Knicks’ two NBA championship teams.
TUESDAY SCORES
NIT Quarterfinals
Final Wisconsin 61 Oregon 58
Final OT North Texas 65 Oklahoma St. 59
CBI Semifinals
Final 2OT E. Kentucky 108 S. Utah 106
Final Charlotte 63 Radford 56
INTERLEAGUE
Final Houston 2 Miami 1
Final L.A. Dodgers 4 Cleveland 2
Final Chicago White Sox 6 Milwaukee 5
Final L.A. Angels 7 Arizona 1
Final Chicago Cubs 6 Kansas City 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Baltimore 6 Boston 2
Final N.Y. Yankees 6 Detroit 3
Final Oakland 6 L.A. Angels 5
Final Minnesota 5 Tampa Bay 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Pittsburgh 4 Philadelphia 3
Final San Francisco 12 L.A. Dodgers 1
Final San Diego 14 Colorado 2
Final Washington 4 St. Louis 4
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Orlando 122 Washington 112
Final Atlanta 129 Detroit 107
Final Cleveland 115 Brooklyn 109
Final New Orleans 119 San Antonio 84
Final Boston 132 Sacramento 109
Final Oklahoma City 101 L.A. Clippers 100
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Nashville 7 Buffalo 3
Final Montreal 3 Tampa Bay 2
Final Philadelphia 6 Florida 3
Final Carolina 3 N-Y Rangers 2
Final Boston 2 Ottawa 1
Final OT Minnesota 2 New Jersey 1
Final OT Columbus 7 Washington 6
Final N-Y Islanders 7 Toronto 2
Final Winnipeg 2 Arizona 1
Final SO Detroit 3 St. Louis 2
Final OT Seattle 5 Dallas 4
Final Vegas 4 Vancouver 3
Final Calgary 5 Anaheim 1