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Alabama State Hornets and Saint Francis (PA) Red Flash play in the First 4

Saint Francis (PA) Red Flash (16-17, 11-8 NEC) vs. Alabama State Hornets (19-15, 15-6 SWAC) Dayton, Ohio; Tuesday, 6:40 p.m. EDT BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Hornets -3.5; over/under is 141.5 BOTTOM LINE: Alabama State and Saint Francis (PA) play in the NCAA Tournament First Four round. The Hornets are 15-6 against SWAC opponents and 4-9 in non-conference play.

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Saint Bonaventure, Kent State meet in NIT

Saint Bonaventure is third in the A-10 at limiting opponent scoring, giving up 64.9 points while holding opponents to 42.0% shooting. The Golden Flashes are 12-8 against MAC opponents. Kent State is third in the MAC with 33.3 rebounds per game led by Delrecco Gillespie averaging 7.7.

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Betting on women’s college basketball rides post-Caitlin Clark wave as NCAA Tournament begins

Caitlin Clark not only drew lots of eyes to women's basketball when she led Iowa to consecutive national-championship games, she also attracted a lot of bettors who otherwise might have put their money elsewhere. BetMGM Sportsbook said it received 35% more money being bet on the sport this season, 39% more female bettors and 32% more customers regardless of gender. Since the 2022-23 season, when Clark first hit the national stage, BetMGM has seen an increase of 587% of money wagered on women's college hoops.

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Dodgers' Mookie Betts ruled out of Tokyo Series vs. Cubs because of stomach virus

Los Angeles Dodgers' Mookie Betts runs drills during a baseball spring training workout, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Mookie Betts will sit out the first two games of the regular season against the Cubs at the Tokyo Dome. (Matt York / Associated Press)

Mookie Betts’ return to shortstop will have to wait until the Dodgers return home from Japan.

Betts will miss both of the Dodgers’ season-opening games at the Tokyo Dome this week against the Chicago Cubs, manager Dave Roberts said Monday, as he continues to recover from a stomach virus that has kept him out of action since last weekend.

Betts is expected to be ready for the Dodgers’ domestic home opener on March 27 against the Detroit Tigers. But in the meantime, Roberts said the Dodgers are “contemplating” sending him back home to Los Angeles early, before the team departs following Wednesday’s second game against the Cubs.

“He’s still trying to find his way [physically],” Roberts said. “I think the question is, what’s best to get him ready for opening day? We’re still talking. That’s on the table.”

Read more:'Paint Japan blue': How the Dodgers' vision of Japanese prominence became reality

Betts first started feeling sick before the team left for Japan last week. He made his final Cactus League appearance on March 9, continuing to transition back to a shortstop position he is slated to play full-time this year after a three-month stint there last year. But after reporting his symptoms to the club the next day, he was held out of the team’s final two games in Arizona.

Roberts said there wasn’t much initial consideration to having Betts miss the trip to Tokyo; nor concern that his illness, which Roberts said doctors didn’t believe was contagious, would spread to others on the team.

However, over the course of his sickness, Betts lost almost 15 pounds, according to Roberts, and looked noticeably slimmer when he arrived in Tokyo. Though he finally began feeling better in recent days, he was still battling lingering effects of dehydration and fatigue.

“The thing is when you lose a lot of weight, when you’re dehydrated, that’s what opens a person up to soft-tissue injuries,” Roberts said. “We’re very mindful of that. So to take the next week, call it, to build him back up, his strength, do some baseball activities to get ready for the home opener.”

Betts didn’t play in either of the Dodgers’ exhibition games against Japanese teams this weekend. During a pregame workout on Sunday, the 32-year-old former MVP looked visibly tired while taking ground balls, resting his hands on his knees several times between drills.

Read more:Dodgers fall to Hanshin Tigers in final tuneup before start of season

Betts was scheduled to participate in an off-day workout Monday, but ended up scrapping the session.

Roberts said the added toll of Betts’ move back to shortstop contributed to the team’s decision to hold him out of Tuesday and Wednesday’s season-opening games.

The manager also acknowledged that, if the Dodgers had known Betts wouldn’t be able to play in Tokyo, they likely would have had him stay back from the trip.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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‘Frustrated’ Suns still searching for answers. Those may not come until summer.

LOS ANGELES — "Frustrating."

It was the word multiple Suns threw out Sunday afternoon to describe their loss to the Lakers. And their season.

"It's frustrating. We show we can do the right thing sometimes, and then sometimes we don't," Booker said.

Inconsistency has been a hallmark of the Suns this season. Phoenix came into Sunday off one of its best performances, a Friday night win against Sacramento, with the chance to move within half a game of the Mavericks for the 10th seed and the final play-in spot in the West. The Suns were taking on a shorthanded Lakers team just home after a long East Coast road trip. Everything was lined up for the Suns.

And they came out flat. It was the tired Lakers who went on a 23-2 run in the first quarter to lead by as many as 20. While Phoenix got that lead down to single digits a few times in the fourth quarter, the game never felt in doubt (Los Angeles won 107-96, a game Luka Doncic controlled on his way to 33 points).

Phoenix was ice cold from the opening tip — it shot 6-of-21 overall (28.6%) in the first quarter, 1-of-10 from 3 — but the offensive frustration bled over into every aspect of the game. It also bled over to Kevin Durant on the bench.

"I think we're good when we're making shots," Booker said. "We still have to find a way to power through when the offense isn't running and still hang our hat on the defense."

Suns defensive woes

Phoenix hasn't been able to hang its hat on its defense all season — they are 27th in the league in defensive rating, and over their last 10 games that defense has been 3.5 points per 100 possessions worse than that average.

"I think defensively is one of the things stands out," Coach Mike Budenholzer said when discussing why the Suns have been frustrating all season. "We're just not good enough defensively. We got to find a way to get better on that end of the court."

While the defense is the most obvious source of problems, the Suns' issues are bigger than just one side of the court. This is not a team that is one easy fix away.

"I think it's more than one thing, I think it's multiple things," Booker said. "And just in-house, in spots, we show that we can do it. That's what makes it even more frustrating. We have a game like [Friday's win against Sacramento], and then we come in and miss a few shots, and that affects our defense, which affects our offense right after that, so it's a domino effect.

"If you're playing with energy and effort, you can sleep well at night regardless. And I don't think we're doing that right now."

Changes coming in summer

To a man, the Suns say they are not giving up on this season.

Phoenix is 1.5 games back of an exceedingly shorthanded and struggling Dallas team for the final play-in spot, one the Suns should be able to get. While Phoenix would then have to win two road games to advance out of the No. 10 seed and into the playoffs — where the reward would be Oklahoma City in the first round — the Suns are not tanking. (That they don't control their own draft pick is part of it, unlike a team like Philadelphia the Suns have no motivation to throw in the towel).

"There's still 18 games left…" Budenholzer said, not realizing the actual number is 14 for Phoenix. "We need to get into the play-in, we need to get into the playoffs and try and do something there. There's a lot of talent in our locker room. There's a lot of fight in our locker room. So we got to get in, and then we got to play good basketball and win games, but we got to start winning to get there."

Whatever happens with the chase for the No. 10 seed, the Suns are expected to see major roster changes this summer — the most expensive roster in league history missing the playoffs will do that.

Phoenix and Kevin Durant are expected to work together to find him a new home via trade. The Suns should get quality draft picks back in that trade and may attach one (or two) to Bradley Beal and his contract to see if he might be moved (Beal still has a no-trade clause but is at least open to discussing a move this summer). It's just been one season, but Mike Budenholzer's job is not safe.

Things will look different, just don't expect a rebuild. The plan, according to owner Mat Ishbia, is to "reload" the roster around Booker and make him the star.

Suns fans hope that plan works better than what led to this frustrating season.