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2 weeks ago | 
theguardian.com | Bryan Armen Graham |Nicholas Levine
What Florida need to do to win …The Gators need to push the pace and turn it into a high-possession game, disrupting the Cougars’ grind-it-out style. They also must knock down perimeter shots early to stretch Houston’s stingy defense, which is the best in the country by any metric.
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1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Dave Caldwell |Stephanie Kaloi |Nicholas Levine |Tiana Randall
The most exciting player this year is ... PJ Haggerty, a 6ft 3in redshirt sophomore guard, is already on his third college team, Memphis, after brief stints at Tulsa and TCU. Haggerty was third in Division I in scoring this year, averaging 21.8 points per game, and he scored 83 points in three games to boost the No 5-seeded Tigers to the American Athletic Conference title. DCThis is like asking me to pick my favorite child, which is easy because I only have one.
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Dec 31, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Bryan Armen Graham |Melissa Jacobs |Tom Dart |Stephanie Kaloi |Andrew Lawrence |David Lengel | +2 more
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Nov 4, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Gabriel Baumgaertner |Bryan Armen Graham |Stephanie Kaloi |Nicholas Levine
What are you most looking forward to, on or off the court? The dissolution of the Pac-12 means some new and unusual conference battles that look like midseason Sweet 16 matchups. UCLA v Indiana in Bloomington? Arizona v Kansas in Lawrence? Regular-season basketball in the Big Ten and Big 12 will either produce battle-tested teams for the NCAA tournament … or exhausted ones. Gabriel BaumgaertnerSeeing what’s next for the women’s game.
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Mar 21, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Gabriel Baumgaertner |Bryan Armen Graham |Andrew Lawrence |Nicholas Levine
Caitlin Clark is the most exciting college player since ... Davidson’s Stephen Curry and BYU’s Jimmer Fredette were the kind of electrifying guards that make the NCAA Tournament arguably the best annual American sporting event. Clark’s range is comparable to those two, and her college legacy has already eclipsed theirs. Her games from here on out are appointment viewing.
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Jan 1, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Gabriel Baumgaertner |Tumaini Carayol |Oliver Connolly |Bryan Armen Graham |Andrew Lawrence |Nicholas Levine | +1 more
Joe Flacco leads the Browns to the Super BowlIn the year of the backup quarterback, Flacco’s encore performance has been a genuine surprise. Just when it seemed as if the 38-year-old father of five might’ve been cooked, he came off the couch to win five of six starts and rally Cleveland to their second playoff berth in 21 years. Throughout the University of Delaware product has looked as elite as in his heyday in Baltimore, where devastating defense set him up to reign bombs downfield.
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Nov 6, 2023 | 
theguardian.com | Gabriel Baumgaertner |Bryan Armen Graham |Nicholas Levine
What are you most looking forward to, on or off the court? Who’s next in women’s hoops. Last year’s national title game between LSU and Iowa was watched by a record 9.9m people, another sign for the surging popularity of women’s basketball. The social media era has helped popularize talents like LSU’s Angel Reese and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, whose play would have never made it into nightly highlight packages of years past.
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Jun 2, 2023 | 
theguardian.com | Nicholas Levine
MiamiJimmy Butler (SF) Bottom line: the Heat are going to need much more from their best player. Butler didn’t get to the free-throw line once as the Denver defense did a great job of forcing tough two-pointers without fouling. 6Caleb Martin (SF) The undrafted 27-year-old was arguably the best player in the Eastern Conference finals but a complete non-factor in Game 1. He had some good looks early that didn’t fall and without seeing the ball go in, he was unable to impact the game.
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Apr 1, 2023 | 
theguardian.com | Nicholas Levine
When San Diego State take the floor under head coach Brian Dutcher on Saturday night for the first Final Four appearance in school history, they’ll be representing a city not traditionally known for its rich basketball history. San Diego briefly hosted the NBA’s Clippers for six unmemorable seasons before they relocated to Los Angeles. And while SDSU has fielded a team for more than 100 years, on-court success has largely proven hard to come by.
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Mar 20, 2023 | 
theguardian.com | Nicholas Levine
Upsets have always been a defining element of March Madness and this year has been no different. The 2023 tournament had barely tipped off when No 13 seed Furman, the smallest school in the field by enrolment making their first appearance in 43 years, sent fourth-seeded Virginia packing. By the end of opening weekend, half of the four No 1 seeds were already out. But none of this is terribly unusual in an event where fans have come to expect the unexpected.
