Tyrese Proctor had 19 points and freshman star Cooper Flagg returned from an ankle injury as No. 1 seed Duke beat Mount St. Mary’s 93-49 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
Mets Opening Day starter Clay Holmes looking forward to 'attacking' season from Day 1
When the Mets signed Clay Holmes to a three-year, $38 million contract during the offseason it was with the idea that he could potentially translate from the reliever he had been for basically his entire career into a starting pitcher.
So that's what both sides sought to do in spring training.
Regardless of what New York saw in Holmes that suggested he could make the jump into the starting rotation, what the right-hander has done for the Mets throughout camp has probably shocked even them to a degree. That's because Holmes has been nothing short of brilliant in his first endeavor at becoming a starter since 2018 when he made four starts for the Pittsburgh Pirates in his debut season.
The 31-year-old's mastery was on full display once again on Friday afternoon in a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in what was his final tune-up of the spring before taking the ball on Opening Day. In 5.1 innings, his longest outing so far, Holmes allowed no runs on two hits, and three walks and struck out eight on 88 pitches (53 strikes).
It marked the culmination of New York's plan to stretch out the big right-hander this spring which began with three perfect innings in the Mets' spring opener against the Houston Astros on Feb. 22.
"It doesn’t feel like things are really ending for me, I feel like it’s just another part of the process," Holmes said. "But I feel like the plan we had in place from the get-go was right on track and we wanted to get to 90 pitches by the end of spring and we’re here.
"I think it’s just a testament to having some very thoughtful and intentional plans going into this and it’s nice to kind of see it come to fruition and being in such a good spot right now. Really just having a good foundation set for the season and looking forward to keep building on this."
With Sean Manaea getting injured at the start of spring training and Kodai Senga coming off an injury-plagued season, Holmes made what could have been a difficult decision easy for the Mets with his performances on the mound, forcing manager Carlos Mendoza's hand to name him the Game 1 starter.
And while making him a starter was certainly part of New York's plan, naming him the team's Opening Day starter was a pleasant surprise, especially for Holmes who didn't necessarily have any intentions of transitioning from a reliever to a starting pitcher in the big leagues.
"I’m excited, I mean Opening Day is a special day," he said. "It’s a long offseason and this is a day you’re kind of working towards and for it to be here it feels special. And to be able to have the Mets uniform on and really compete and be on the field with the guys in this locker room is gonna be special.
"You can see there’s a lot of people in here that really care and that have worked really hard to put themselves in position to be the best player they can and the best team we can and we know the opportunity we have in front of us and we’re looking forward to attacking it from day one."
There will surely be a learning curve at some point in the season or a few bumps along the way, but Holmes has done everything the Mets have asked of him and has handled it with aplomb.
Even on Friday, Holmes discussed how different it feels to pitch five-plus innings rather than the one or two innings he was accustomed to. "Six ups just feels long, it feels like you're pitching forever out there," he said with a chuckle.
He added, "I think that's just a mental thing."
In five Grapefruit League starts the right-hander finished with a 0.93 ERA (0.78 WHIP) to go along with 23 strikeouts in 19.1 innings, consistently dominating hitters and pitching like the ace on the team.
"It’s not something I was necessarily striving for, but it just kind of organically came about," Holmes said about his journey to becoming a starter. And I think for me I’m a learner, I’m curious, I’m always thinking and sometimes life takes an uncertain route and you just roll with it. I think it’s meant to be.
Even though it's not something Holmes necessarily sought after, getting a taste of being a front-line starter has him as eager as he's ever been in his career to continue to improve.
"I’m excited, I think I’m in a great spot and I haven’t been this excited just to attack a season, attack the next day in a while so I think it’s kind of just giving me something to look forward to and I think it’s gonna be a fun year ahead," he said.
Cooper Flagg’s drama-free return from injury bodes well for Duke’s national title hopes
Flagg made his NCAA tournament debut a mere eight days after suffering a sprained left ankle in the ACC quarterfinals.
March Madness: Cooper Flagg shows no signs of rust in commanding return as Duke dominates Mount Saint Mary’s
Cooper Flagg returned to the lineup after missing two-plus games with a sprained ankle and looked no worse for wear as No. 1 seed Duke went on to a commanding win.
Blue Devils blow past Mount St. Mary’s
Everything about Duke’s first game of the NCAA tournament went according to plan. Cooper Flagg returned from a two-game absence and had 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes, an all-around impressive performance in the Blue Devils’ 93-49 victory against Mount St. Mary’s on Friday at Lenovo Center. Duke will play Baylor on Sunday in the second round.
Kyan Evans and favored No. 12 seed Colorado State beat short-handed Memphis 78-70 in March Madness
Kyan Evans made a career-high six 3-pointers and scored 23 points to lead No. 12 seed Colorado State past fifth-seeded Memphis 78-70 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
VIDEO: Preview press conferences – Arkansas vs. St. John’s
Video of Arkansas' John Calipari, players previewing the Round of 32 matchup against the St. John's Red Storm
Jets' Connor Hellebuyck Keeps Winning: Now He Needs A Stanley Cup
On Thursday night, Connor Hellebuyck became the first NHL goalie to reach 40 wins in the 2024-25 NHL season when the Winnipeg Jets beat the Edmonton Oilers in overtime.
It’s the second time in his career that the 31-year-old has reached that plateau, and it’s quite a feat. The only other active netminder with multiple 40-win seasons is Marc-Andre Fleury, whose career has been 11 years longer.
One other challenger could also get to 40 this season: the goalie who was also drafted 111 picks ahead of Hellebuyck in 2012, Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Tampa Bay Lightning have 14 games remaining, and Vasilveskiy currently sits at 33 wins.
Look back at the last decade, and Vasilevskiy is the only goalie whose body of work comes close to touching Hellebuyck’s. He won 44 games in 2017-18 and hit 39 in two other seasons, and their career performances have been almost identical. Both have save percentages of .917, and while Vasilevskiy’s career goals-against average is 2.53, Hellebuyck’s is just a few ticks higher, at 2.57.
When it comes to Vezina voting, Hellebuyck holds the edge. He already has two wins under his belt, from 2020 and from last season, when he collected 31 of 32 first-place votes from the league’s GMs. As well as his strong lead in the win category, which the GMs value highly, Hellebuyck is also first with his .924 save percentage, which ties his career high, along with his career-best 2.06 GAA and his 34.4 goals saved above expected per moneypuck.com.
Washington’s Logan Thompson is the only other stopper over 30 GSAE, and Hellebuyck nearly doubles Vasilevskiy’s 18.1.
Hellebuyck and Sergei Bobrovsky are the only active goalies with two Vezina wins. If the voters reward Hellebuyck again this spring as expected, he’ll be just the 13th goalie in NHL history to win three times and the first to collect back-to-back awards since Martin Brodeur did it in 2007 and 2008.
But there’s one notable achievement missing from Hellebuyck’s resume: a Stanley Cup.
To date, his best playoff run was his first. In 2018, the Jets bested the Nashville Predators in a seven-game second-round slugfest before losing to Fleury and the first-year Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference final.
After last year’s chaotic first-round loss to the Colorado Avalanche, the Jets look like they’ve done everything right in preparing to erase that memory. Thursday’s win in Edmonton got them to 100 points for the second-straight year, and they’re on their way to clinching their first division title since returning to Winnipeg and the first conference championship in the history of the Jets/Thrashers franchise.
That positioning will protect them from a first-round matchup against one of the Central’s other strong contenders. Instead, they’ll meet whichever bubble team ultimately snags the second wild card in the West.
Having home-ice advantage for at least three rounds should also pay big dividends. The Jets’ record of 25-5-4 at Canada Life Centre is one of the best in the NHL, and that’s also where Hellebuyck has played his best hockey. He’s 22-3-3 on home ice this year, with a save percentage of .934 and a 1.74 GAA.
While most NHL players were re-charging their batteries in February, Hellebuyck was logging some of the most intense minutes of his career with Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off. And while there’s always a risk attached when top teams shift into cruise control in an attempt to rest up for the playoffs, the Jets are comfortable enough that they don’t need Hellebuyck to stand on his head over the next four weeks.
Right now, he’s near the top of the list of total minutes played — as usual. But the Jets are one of nine teams that have already completed 70 games.
And while Eric Comrie’s record is a moderate 8-8-1, he has delivered quality minutes, with a .914 save percentage, 2.39 GAA, and 2.4 GSAE.
Other than a 10-minute pull by the concussion spotter in Seattle last weekend, Comrie has delivered complete games in all his other starts this year — helping to keep Winnipeg’s rotation stable and predictable, which Hellebuyck appreciates.
“The way that I usually handle it is telling the other guy, ‘You’re not coming out, no matter what,’ ” he said. “Make him feel good, that no matter what’s gonna happen, he’s in.”
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#12 Colorado St. wins 11th straight, eliminates #5 Memphis
Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz and basketball analyst Isis ‘Ice’ Young react to the Rams 78-70 win over Memphis in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Doctor explains why Steph's injury update is ‘good news'
Doctor explains why Steph's injury update is ‘good news' originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Dub Nation experienced a collective fright when Steph Curry exited the Warriors’ win over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday after suffering an injury in the third quarter.
On Friday the Warriors announced Curry would be re-evaluated Monday after an MRI revealed the superstar point guard suffered a pelvic contusion, but not structural damage, which is a good sign according to Stanford Medicine’s Dr. Todd Alamin.
“So that’s really good news,” Dr. Alamin told NBC Sports Bay Area regarding Curry’s MRI results. “He landed directly on his tailbone, and the worry is that he might have a more significant injury to his tailbone such as a fracture or a dislocation of one of the joints within it. The fact that he had a contusion, which is basically a little bit of bleeding between the back of the bony part of the tailbone and the skin overlying it. It’s a really good bit of news because it tells us it’s more of a soft-tissue injury than a bone injury.
Following Thursday’s game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr shared that Curry wanted to come back into the game after suffering the injury. Dr. Alamin shared why that is an encouraging development in Curry’s eventual return to action.
“That’s also a really good sign. I think the team did exactly the right thing though in getting an MRI scan to really be able to understand the significance of his injury,” Dr. Alamin said. “Obviously he’s a competitor and an incredible athlete, sometimes incredible athletes can do things that might not be great for them in the longer term. But with this knowledge they’ll be able to use how Steph is feeling to determine when he’s able to get back to the game.”
While Curry missed five games toward the end of the 2020-2021 NBA season after suffering a tailbone injury, it’s unlikely that history would play a role in his most recent ailment.
“The only situation we’d be worried about is a situation in which he broke his tailbone and then re-broke it, which clearly did not happen based on the information we have available,” Dr. Alamin explained. “So, I think his previous injury and this one are not going to be affecting each other in any signifcant way, which is really good news.
While it’s hard to place an exact timetable on Curry’s eventual return, Dr. Alamin exuded confidence in the Warriors’ ability to assess whenever the two-time NBA MVP will be ready to return to action.
“Well, it’s a little variable from one person to the next. But soft tissue injuries like this can take a week to six weeks to heal. And it just sort of depends on how he feels,” Dr. Alamin said. “Again, I have not seen the imaging studies directly, but how significant the contusion was. I think he’s going to have a pretty good sense as to when he’s able to get back in. I think the [Warriors] training staff and the coaches will be able to have a pretty good idea of when it’s safe to get him back based on how he’s feeling and how he’s moving aorund the court.”
As the Warriors gear up for a stretch run entering the NBA playoffs, Dr. Alamin believes Curry’s pelvic contusion isn’t a significant concern when it comes to re-injury or additional ailments directly caused by it.
“No I don’t think so. Although, clearly basketball players are susceptible to direct falls ont heir back, on their tailbone. These things happen in games,” Dr. Alamin said. “If it were to happen again, it might take longer to heal from a secondary episode if it was within, hard to say exactly, but two to six weeks of the original injury here that he has just had.”
Doctor explains why Steph's injury update is ‘good sign'
Doctor explains why Steph's injury update is ‘good sign' originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Dub Nation experienced a collective fright when Steph Curry exited the Warriors’ win over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday after suffering an injury in the third quarter.
On Friday the Warriors announced Curry would be re-evaluated Monday after an MRI revealed the superstar point guard suffered a pelvic contusion, but not structural damage, which is a good sign according to Stanford Medicine’s Dr. Todd Alamin.
“So that’s really good news,” Dr. Alamin told NBC Sports Bay Area regarding Curry’s MRI results. “He landed directly on his tailbone, and the worry is that he might have a more significant injury to his tailbone such as a fracture or a dislocation of one of the joints within it. The fact that he had a contusion, which is basically a little bit of bleeding between the back of the bony part of the tailbone and the skin overlying it. It’s a really good bit of news because it tells us it’s more of a soft-tissue injury than a bone injury.
Following Thursday’s game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr shared that Curry wanted to come back into the game after suffering the injury. Dr. Alamin shared why that is an encouraging development in Curry’s eventual return to action.
“That’s also a really good sign. I think the team did exactly the right thing though in getting an MRI scan to really be able to understand the significance of his injury,” Dr. Alamin said. “Obviously he’s a competitor and an incredible athlete, sometimes incredible athletes can do things that might not be great for them in the longer term. But with this knowledge they’ll be able to use how Steph is feeling to determine when he’s able to get back to the game.”
While Curry missed five games toward the end of the 2020-2021 NBA season after suffering a tailbone injury, it’s unlikely that history would play a role in his most recent ailment.
“The only situation we’d be worried about is a situation in which he broke his tailbone and then re-broke it, which clearly did not happen based on the information we have available,” Dr. Alamin explained. “So, I think his previous injury and this one are not going to be affecting each other in any signifcant way, which is really good news.
While it’s hard to place an exact timetable on Curry’s eventual return, Dr. Alamin exuded confidence in the Warriors’ ability to assess whenever the two-time NBA MVP will be ready to return to action.
“Well, it’s a little variable from one person to the next. But soft tissue injuries like this can take a week to six weeks to heal. And it just sort of depends on how he feels,” Dr. Alamin said. “Again, I have not seen the imaging studies directly, but how significant the contusion was. I think he’s going to have a pretty good sense as to when he’s able to get back in. I think the [Warriors] training staff and the coaches will be able to have a pretty good idea of when it’s safe to get him back based on how he’s feeling and how he’s moving aorund the court.”
As the Warriors gear up for a stretch run entering the NBA playoffs, Dr. Alamin believes Curry’s pelvic contusion isn’t a significant concern when it comes to re-injury or additional ailments directly caused by it.
“No I don’t think so. Although, clearly basketball players are susceptible to direct falls ont heir back, on their tailbone. These things happen in games,” Dr. Alamin said. “If it were to happen again, it might take longer to heal from a secondary episode if it was within, hard to say exactly, but two to six weeks of the original injury here that he has just had.”
England cricket coach Jon Lewis sacked after 16-0 Ashes humiliation
England has sacked women’s cricket head coach Jon Lewis after a 16-0 Ashes humiliation in Australia earlier this year.
Stephen A. Smith: 'I might have been wrong' about Bronny James' NBA readiness
Stephen A. Smith isn't quite ready to admit he was wrong about Bronny James.
But the ESPN personality did lay the groundwork for such an admission on "First Take" the morning after the son and teammate of Lakers superstar LeBron James played his best NBA game.
Two weeks earlier, after Smith was confronted by an angry James over comments the TV analyst had made about his son, Smith had taken to the same airwaves to assert that he wasn't being disrespectful in saying he felt Bronny James belonged in the G League as a rookie.
On Friday, however, Smith told viewers, "I might have been wrong" about Bronny James' NBA potential this season.
Read more:Stephen A. Smith says LeBron James confronting him was 'weak': 'I was talking about you,' not Bronny
That acknowledgment came after Bronny James stepped up in the absence of a multitude of his teammates — including his father, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt and Dorian Finney-Smith — against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
The result of the game might have been a blowout loss for the Lakers, but Bronny James had a breakthrough performance. His 17 points and five assists in 30 minutes were all career highs, and his three rebounds tied his NBA best.
“I was very impressed," Smith said of Bronny James' performance. "I was very impressed because I saw an elevation in his level of confidence and poise. It was like it didn’t really faze him. He didn’t look as nervous as he had looked in previous appearances on the basketball court. He looked like somebody that belonged. …
"I might have been wrong. Are you listening, LeBron James?" 🤯 @stephenasmith reacts to Bronny James' career-high performance against the Bucks 👀 pic.twitter.com/3GMW05zbwR
— First Take (@FirstTake) March 21, 2025
"There were some moves that he put out on the court — ball-handling skills, getting to the basket, finishing at the basket, pulling up for jumpers, hitting a three, 17 points, 7-of-10 shooting from the field — I was impressed."
He added: "And if that kind of stuff continues, then indeed he’ll be in the league as a bonafide player sooner than later. One game doesn’t make that determination. You need to do more than that. But I wanted to make sure I emphasized that point."
Smith was sitting courtside at Crypto.com Arena for the Lakers-Knicks game March 6 when James approached him during a timeout and angrily addressed him face to face. Smith said the next day that James had come up to him “to confront me about making sure I mind what I say about his son.”
Read more:Bronny James credits focus on his game for career-best 17 points during loss to Bucks
On Friday, Smith reiterated what he has said numerous times since the incident, that he had never disrespected Bronny James.
“But I did believe that he belonged in the G League to get himself honed for the NBA level," Smith said. "What may have been wrong about that is that evidently being around JJ Redick and that staff and being around Pops and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers — combined with the G League, going back and forth — may be doing wonders for him sooner than we anticipated. Because I liked what I saw last night.
"And I’m gonna keep the same energy. When he plays well, we gonna give him props. When he doesn’t play well, we’re going to say so. That’s what happens with covering the league. Maybe his Pops didn’t tell him that, but I’m gonna tell him that. Congrats on a good performance last night. I hope it continues. I believe it will.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
March Madness upsets continue as Colorado State tops Memphis in men’s NCAA Tournament
Another double-digit seed has advanced in the NCAA men's tournament. No. 12 Colorado State knocked off Memphis in their first-round game in Seattle.
March Madness 2025: No. 12 Colorado State takes down No. 5 Memphis with big second half
The Rams were favored before the game despite being the lower seed.