March Madness Has Arrived; USA to WBC Title Game After Suspect Call; NCAAB Conference Tourney Highlights

TRENDING FAN CONVERSATIONS FROM THE WEEKEND IN SPORTS

MARCH 13 - 15 2026

TOP WEEKEND MOMENTS

Arizona’s Jaden Bradley Hits the First Big 12 Tourney Buzzer-Beater in 11 Years — Iowa State's Tamin Lipsey had been 1-for-10 from the field all game before draining a three to tie Arizona with 15 seconds left. Then Bradley caught, faded away on the baseline over Arizona's best defender, and released a 15-footer at the buzzer heard around the Big 12 to win 82-80. Appropriately, the Arizona bench spilled onto the court in a delirious dogpile.

Wilyer Abreu Bat-Flips the Defending Champs Into Elimination — Down 5-4 in the sixth, two runners on, Venezuela needing a miracle against the reigning champions. Abreu faced up with Hiromi Itoh, Japan's version of a Cy Young winner, and double-decked a three-run shot to send the crowd into absolute pandemonium.

TOP STORY

The Bracket Is Set. March Madness Starts Tuesday. Workplaces Brace For Low Productivity.

Duke, Arizona, Michigan, and Florida are the four No. 1 seeds in the 2026 NCAA Tournament, with Duke landing the overall top line after claiming the ACC title over Virginia. Florida barely held on after Houston’s loss to Arizona, and UConn fell to St. John's, allowing the Gators to keep the fourth No. 1 seed that looked like a sure bet to slip away after getting blown out by Vanderbilt.

Purdue's Big Ten tournament run was awarded with a No. 2 seed, bumping them ahead of where they'd been projected. Vanderbilt also surged to a No. 4 seed after taking it to Florida in the SEC tournament. The teams left out who'll be talked about most: Auburn (17-16), San Diego State (22-11), Indiana (18-14), and Oklahoma (19-15) are all on the outside looking in.

Duke enters as the slight underdog in betting odds behind Michigan, but the real story is that Duke's East Region features UConn and Michigan State, two of the 11 KenPom-certified national title contenders. The best team was handed the most unlikely gauntlet to survive, teeing up for some must-watch March basketball!

Biggest Snub: San Diego State

The case for Auburn is that they beat Florida, the No. 1 team in the country at the time, and also took down St. John's, Arkansas, and Kentucky. But they went 4-13 in Quad 1 games, finished 17-16 overall, and no team with 16 losses has ever gotten an at-large bid. Making San Diego State the biggest snub in truly unfortunate fashion. They beat New Mexico and Nevada twice each, played one of the Mountain West's toughest schedules, and missed the field due to the conference sending only one team for the first time since 2017. Their worst loss came against a team that won an automatic bid.

Biggest Surprise: Purdue as a No. 2 Seed

Purdue entered the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 7 seed. They left as national No. 2 seeds after going four wins in four days, including a title game win over a Michigan team that had gone 31-3. The committee said all year they'd reward momentum and Purdue saw both ends of that pendulum recently, having lost four of their last six regular-season games before ripping off an insane week of winning to close out the season. The Boilermakers Braden Smith, aka the Big Ten Tourney MVP, enters two assists away from owning the outright NCAA record.

Best Situation for a Mid/Low Seed Run: BYU (No. 6 Seed, West)

BYU enters the Tourney with AJ Dybantsa as the betting favorite to go No. 1 overall in June's NBA Draft, and he's playing in the most favorable bracket draw of any star player in the field. BYU opens against a First Four survivor, either Texas or NC State, both ranked outside the top 85 in defensive efficiency. Following that comes a more than likely second-round matchup with a Gonzaga team whose best player, Braden Huff, is doubtful for the first weekend with a knee injury. BYU matches up well against teams that rely on defensive stops but struggles against teams dominant on the offensive end. Gonzaga is a good, not great, offensive team. Win those two and they're dancing in the Sweet 16, with a path that avoids any No. 1 seed entirely.

Easiest Region for a No. 1 Seed: Florida (South)

Florida's South Region has no other KenPom-certified national title contenders before the Final Four. Their No. 3 seed is Illinois, whose defense is leakier than a busted pipe against elite guards, and their No. 4 is Nebraska, which has never won a tournament game. The committee handed Florida the bracket path to run it up for back-to-back championships. It’s theirs to lose en route to cutting down nets again.

MLB

World Baseball Classic: Venezuela Knocked Out Reigning Champs Japan; USA Advances To The Title Game Off A Slider That Literally Stole The Win.

If the MLB produced even half the passion from fans as the WBC gets, it’d be the most popular professional league in North America.

Team USA took down the Dominican Republic 2-1 in controversial fashion, winning the highly anticipated matchup on a ball 4 called strike 3 in the bottom of 9 with two outs and a man on 3rd. Paul Skenes wasn't dominant, gave up a Junior Caminero solo shot in the second, but escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, and exited in the fifth with two runners aboard. The bullpen took care of business from there to make Gunnar Henderson’s and Roman Anthony’s solo homers in the fourth be just enough to give USA the runs they needed to snatch victory. It was otherwise a pitching clinic put on from a DR bullpen that struck out USA hitters 15 times.

To the controversy, when Mason Miller's game-winning slider clearly missed the bottom corner of the strike zone, was called a third strike, and no ABS challenge system for the DR to review it. ESPN's own broadcast said the ball was "clearly below the zone." The DR dugout disagreed loudly. The whole baseball internet disagreed loudly. USA fans cheered loudly.

Meanwhile, the other story of the weekend is Venezuela eliminating three-time defending champion Japan 8-5 in a quarterfinal that started with Ronald Acuña Jr. and Shohei Ohtani combining for the first back-to-back leadoff home runs in WBC history. Venezuela's bullpen held Japan scoreless across the final four innings, and Wilyer Abreu's three-run go-ahead blast in the sixth was the dagger. The Tokyo Dome crowd was silenced after having never watched their team lose this early in the tournament's history, and now Venezuela takes on undefeated Italy with the Title Game on the line.

NCAAB

Darius Acuff Jr. Just Had The Greatest SEC Tourney In Recent History To Send Arkansas Dancing As SEC Champs

Darius Acuff Jr. scored 37, 24, and 30 points across three tournament games to deliver Arkansas its first SEC title since 2000. The freshman point guard and projected top-10 pick became the first player in SEC tournament history to finish with 30-plus points and 10-plus assists in a single game. John Calipari, coaching his seventh SEC title, summed up the game with, "Two teams played well. We just happened to play a little bit better the last four minutes."

That's underselling it. Down six with six minutes left against Vanderbilt, Trevon Brazile hit back-to-back threes, added a block, and Arkansas went on a 12-0 closing run to win 86-75. DJ Wagner hit two clutch threes during the surge, earning recognition from Calipari, who called him the reason they won the game. Arkansas heads into March Madness as a team nobody wants to see, with Acuff playing out of his mind.

Vanderbilt Humiliated The Defending Natty Champs By 17 And Broke The Rim Doing It

Florida walked in as winners of 11 straight, and find themselves departing the SEC tourney before the title game. Vanderbilt led from the opening possession and didn’t give it back, finishing 91-74. Tyler Tanner and Duke Miles combined for 35 points and 15 assists, Jalen Washington added 17, and the Commodores shot 54.5% from the field. The Gators never had an answer, and Florida coach Todd Golden earned a technical foul amid the frustration of being the No. 1 seed getting handled like a mid-major in their own building.

But the moment everyone's talking about was freshman guard Chandler Bing throwing down a second-half dunk and walking away with a piece of the rim.

Braden Smith Ripped His Jersey In Frustration, Then Orchestrated A Big Ten Tourney Upset For The Ages

Early in the Big Ten Championship game, Braden Smith was in a deep rut, struggling through a 4-23 stretch from the field across his previous three games. So, naturally, amid first-half struggles, Smith channeled his inner Hulkamania, ripping his jersey down the center. After changing to the 41 jersey, everything began to change. Smith ran up the most efficient pick-and-roll offense Michigan had seen all season and had no answer for.

Smith finished with a flashy 14 points, 11 assists, and 3 steals as 7-seeded Purdue snapped a stretch of losing four of its last six regular-season games to dismantled top seeded Michigan 80-72 to win the Big Ten Tournament. Oscar Cluff scored 21, Trey Kaufman-Renn added 20, and the Boilermakers shot 15-for-26 in the second half to fuel the shocking upset. Purdue has found the right choreography for March dancin’.