TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd didn’t even need much help from superstar Paige Bueckers to propel UConn into the national title game, leading the Huskies to a remarkably easy 85-51 victory over UCLA in the Final Four of the women’s NCAA Tournament. Strong finished with 22 points and Fudd scored all of her 19 points in the first half for the second-seeded Huskies, who are one win away from their 12th national championship and first since the team won four straight from 2013-16 led by former great Breanna Stewart. UConn will face defending champion South Carolina on Sunday for the title.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Matt Patricia knows the pressure that comes with defending a championship and the limited amount of time that comes with it. Whether or not Patricia can have the same success in college will be a work in progress. Patricia is still getting up to speed after being named Ohio State’s defensive coordinator on Feb. 20. After spending most of his career coaching in the NFL, Patricia has received positive reviews for his work during the first three weeks of the Buckeyes’ spring practices.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Duke star Cooper Flagg is The Associated Press men’s college basketball national player of the year. Flagg is just the fourth freshman to win the award. He joins Duke’s Zion Williamson, Kentucky’s Anthony Davis and Texas star Kevin Durant. He is also the eighth Duke player to win the award, the most of any school. Flagg received 41 of 61 votes from AP Top 25 poll voters to beat Auburn’s Johni Broome. They were the only two players to receive votes. Both have their teams in the Final Four this weekend.
UNDATED (AP) — Bruce Pearl of Auburn and Rick Pitino of St. John’s are The Associated Press coaches of the year in men’s college basketball. It is the first tie in the 58-year history of the award, with each receiving 20 votes. St. John’s matched a school record with 34 wins under Pitino and had its highest ranking in 34 years at No. 5 in the AP Top 25. Pearl led Auburn to a school-record 32 wins and the program’s second Final Four.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, Florida’s Todd Golden and Duke’s Jon Scheyer are basketball rivals at the Final Four with a unique thread of connection. All are Jewish, with careers that have cut various paths through Israel. To have three Jewish head coaches at one of the biggest events in college sports comes at a time when university campuses grapple with protests over the Israel-Hamas war, Jews are regularly pressed for opinions on the conflict, and the Trump administration is cracking down on schools it contends are not doing enough to fight antisemitism. Of the three, Pearl is the most outspoken about his faith and unwavering support of Israel.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The $1 million March Madness wager between a pro gambler and an artificial-intelligence site will be decided by the winner of the Duke-Houston game in the Final Four. The Vegas bookies say the gambler, who picked 5 1/2-point favorite Duke, should win. The AI platform 4C Predictions, which picked Houston, says that’s why its smarter than them. The bottom line: both pro gambler Sean Perry and the 4C’s AI program have done very well over the first 60 games of the tournament. Perry has missed only 13 picks. AI has missed only 10. They both picked all the Final Four teams correctly.
UNDATED (AP) — Former Iowa forward Owen Freeman, the 2023-24 Big Ten freshman of the year, has signed with Creighton. The 6-foot-10 Freeman averaged 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in 19 starts this season for the Hawkeyes before missing the final two months following finger surgery. He shot 63.8% from the field and blocked 35 shots. Freeman has two years of eligibility remaining. The Bluejays also secured a transfer from Nik Graves, a guard who averaged 17.5 points per game this season with Charlotte. Former Minnesota forward Frank Mitchell signed with St. Bonaventure. In women’s college basketball, Louisville added former Arizona guard Skylar Jones.
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