General Sports 3d Briefing
×NCAA Basketball & March Madness
Fixer in NCAA point-shaving scheme espn.com pleaded guilty Monday in Philadelphia federal court. The final AP poll before Selection Sunday has a new top five espn.com with Florida and Houston joining Duke, Arizona and Michigan. No. 2 UCLA espn.com picked up three first-place votes from top-ranked UConn in this week's women's poll while Texas jumped South Carolina to No. 3. This week's rankings were shaken up espn.com after underwhelming performances from top teams. A week before Selection Sunday, championship takeaways espn.com show which teams should be worried (Tennessee) or encouraged (Notre , while the bubble's state remains fluid. The madness seems to be vanishing espn.com as power conferences keep dominating March thanks to NIL's impact on Cinderella stories.
College Basketball Tournament Action
No. 15 West Virginia espn.com avenged two regular-season losses to No. 10 TCU by beating the reigning Big 12 tournament champion 62-53 in the conference title game Sunday. Miami (Ohio) espn.com capped a 31-0 season with an overtime win over Ohio 110-108. Queens University espn.com earned an NCAA berth in its first year of eligibility with a 98-93 win over Central Arkansas in the Atlantic Sun tournament. UCLA espn.com rolled to its second straight Big Ten tournament title with a 96-45 rout of No. 9 Iowa. Texas espn.com sprinted to a 14-0 lead against No. 3 South Carolina en route to the Longhorns' first women's SEC tournament title. Duke women espn.com rallied to win their second straight ACC tournament title, beating No. 12 Louisville 70-65 in overtime.
International Sports
Ukraine's Maksym Murashkovskyi bbc.com says he has Chat GPT to thank for helping him win Para-biathlon silver at the Winter Paralympics. Two-time Olympian Perathoner bbc.com won Paralympic gold at his home Games after moving from Olympic snowboarding to Para-sport following a devastating knee injury. Para-alpine skier Varvara Voronchikhina bbc.com won Russia's first medal of the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics with downhill bronze. Britain's Sky Brown bbc.com became a skateboarding world champion for the second time after winning gold in a rain-disrupted park event in Brazil. Ireland bbc.com clinched a place in the Hockey World Cup finals with a dramatic shootout win over Japan to finish third at the qualification tournament in Santiago.
Rugby Union
Scotland bbc.com will be without first-choice second-row pair Gregor Brown and Scott Cummings, winger Duhan van der Merwe and three others in Dublin. Ireland bbc.com host England in the 2027 Six Nations opener as the full fixture list was released. Ireland head coach Andy Farrell bbc.com says his side will benefit from the pressure of having to secure a win in Saturday's game against Scotland to secure the Triple Crown. Four big calls Borthwick could make bbc.com to revive England after three straight defeats and a backline overhaul for the loss to Italy. England's Ben Earl bbc.com defends Steve Borthwick's record as head coach following their defeat by Italy and claims that "large parts of the performance were brilliant."
UFC & Combat Sports
Ex-UFC, PFL heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou espn.com will return to action on May 16 as part of Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions' inaugural MMA fight card headlined by Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carino. The BMF title headliner between Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway espn.com earned the lowest grade at UFC. Charles Oliveira bbc.com dominated Max Holloway from start to finish to win the BMF title by unanimous decision at UFC 326 in Las Vegas. A lightweight title bout between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje espn.com will headline the UFC's White House event on June 14, while Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane will vie for the interim heavyweight championship.
Formula 1 & Motorsports
Britain's Sky Brown became a skateboarding world champion for the second time after winning gold in a rain-disrupted park event in Brazil. Britain's Emma Raducanu bbc.com won only 11 points in the first set as Amanda Anisimova won 6-1 6-1 to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells. Reigning champion Luke Littler bbc.com moved into the quarter-finals of the UK Open with a comfortable 10-5 win over Gary Anderson, while Luke Humphries was beaten 10-6 by Danny Noppert. Team Penske espn.com completed a sweep at Phoenix Raceway as Ryan Blaney won the Cup Series race Sunday.
Golf
Akshay Bhatia bbc.com beat fellow American Daniel Berger on the first sudden death play-off hole to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando. Thomas Detry espn.com was among eight players from LIV Golf stuck in the Middle East amid the Israeli-U.S. attacks on Iran. Jon Rahm arranged a flight to get them to Hong Kong for the LIV event. Now Detry shares the lead with Rahm after the travel assist. Four-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar bbc.com soloed to victory as he won the Strade Bianche for a record fourth time.
Tennis
Britain's Sonay Kartal bbc.com saved a match point and took a medical time out before battling to a 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7-2) victory in her second round match against Emma Navarro at Indian Wells. Filipina tennis prodigy Alex Eala espn.com has drawn enormous crowds everywhere she goes. On Sunday, she will take on Coco Gauff at Indian Wells. Britain's Emma Raducanu won only 11 points in the first set as Amanda Anisimova won 6-1 6-1 to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells.
Soccer & International Football
Sri Lanka bbc.com named former South Africa batter Gary Kirsten as their new head coach. India's dominant T20 World Cup title win bbc.com - their third white-ball trophy in a row - shows the other nations need to catch up, writes Matthew Henry. England's men bbc.com won their Hockey World Cup qualification tournament with a 4-1 victory over Pakistan in the final in Egypt. If Wales qualify for the 2026 World Cup bbc.com, they are likely to be based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Coaching Changes & Retirements
Boston College espn.com has fired coach Earl Grant, ending his five-year run at the school. Georgia Tech espn.com has fired men's basketball coach Damon Stoudamire, ending his tenure at the school after three seasons. St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt espn.com is expected to retire after this season, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel. Schmidt, is the all-time wins leader in program history. Coach John Calipari espn.com picked up his 900th career win on Saturday in Arkansas' 88-84 overtime victory over Missouri.
Miscellaneous Sports
British Winter Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Bankes bbc.com claimed victory in the women's snowboard cross at a World Cup event in Erzurum, Turkey. Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo bbc.com regained the world half-marathon record as he claimed victory in Lisbon on Sunday. New Zealander Brett Randell bbc.com became the first bowler in the 254-year history of first-class cricket to take five wickets in five balls. British doubles player Henry Patten bbc.com on finally getting out of Dubai amid the Middle East conflict after explosions, fighter jets and aborted border crossings.