Category: NCAA Basketball

Final Four predictions? The picks are in from our March Madness experts.

Several projected first-round picks for the upcoming NBA draft will be playing in San Antonio in the Final Four.

Here's a look at who various experts have winning Saturday's Duke-Houston and Florida-Auburn matchups in the Final Four.

One of these No. 1 seeds is not like the other. Sports betting books list Duke as a clear favorite in the men's Final Four, but hang on just a second.

UCF Knights (19-16, 9-14 Big 12) vs. Villanova Wildcats (21-14, 12-10 Big East) Las Vegas; Saturday, 4 p.m. EDT BOTTOM LINE: Villanova faces UCF in the College Basketball Crown. The Wildcats are 12-10 against Big East opponents and 9-4 in non-conference play.

The Tigers are 16-4 against SEC opponents and 16-1 in non-conference play. Auburn is fifth in the SEC in rebounding averaging 34.5 rebounds. Johni Broome leads the Tigers with 10.9 boards.

UConn Huskies (35-3, 21-0 Big East) vs. UCLA Bruins (34-2, 18-2 Big Ten) Tampa, Florida; Friday, 9:30 p.m. EDT BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Huskies -7.5; over/under is 135.5 BOTTOM LINE: No. UCLA and No.

Auburn's season began with some real turbulence on its first trip. While it is unclear exactly what happened in the air on Nov. 8, other than there was some kind of in-flight disturbance between players, the plane carrying the Tigers returned home and left two players there. The rest of the team then went on to win at Houston the next day in their first road game.

Collin Mulholland scored 19 points and made five-pointers, Garrison Keeslar sank a go-ahead jumper from the free-throw line with 11 seconds left in overtime and Chattanooga became the first team from the Southern Conference to win the NIT championship after beating UC Irvine 85-84 on Thursday night. Chattanooga (29-9) tied a program record for victories in a season after winning 17 of its last 18 to capture the program’s first postseason title. UC Irvine 7-foot-1 center Bent Leuchten went to the free-throw line with 31 seconds left in overtime for a chance at a three-point lead, but he missed both free throws.

The camera sneaked up behind Jon Scheyer as he started the long walk into the Alamodome's cavernous center, a route that crossed a sea of black carpet and eventually required stairs onto college basketball's grand stage. Scheyer knows a thing or two about this moment. An assistant who did it twice under Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Auburn, Florida, Houston are part of the oldest men's Final Four of the modern era, and Duke's youngsters shouldn't look past them.

Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz, Caroline Fenton and Isis ‘Ice’ Young make their predictions for Saturday’s national semifinals featuring Florida vs. Auburn and Houston vs. Duke - then name the team that they believe will win the national championship. Hear the full conversation on the “College Basketball Power Hour” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.

Central Michigan fired basketball coach Tony Barbee on Thursday after the Chippewas failed to advance to the Mid-American Conference Tournament for the second time in three years.

A decade ago, Bruce Pearl of Auburn and Kelvin Sampson of Houston were emerging from exile — two coaches who had been handed the harshest sanction imaginable by the NCAA and were looking to resurrect their once-successful careers. This week, they're both coaching at the Final Four, the “show-cause” penalties that once stood as a scarlet letter in college sports now barely visible in their rearview mirrors. The recruiting misdeeds that nearly submarined their careers seem almost quaint now in a cash-saturated world of name, image, likeness endorsement deals for players who can move around as freely as the coaches while the coaches worry as much about what the schools can pay them as the players they recruit.

Freshman Avery Howell is leaving Southern California and entering the transfer portal, along with two other Trojans guards. Howell announced her decision on her Instagram account. Howell averaged nearly 21 minutes off the bench.