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North Carolina is hiring a coach with an NBA background to be its next men’s basketball head coach. However, it isn’t the NBA coach that many had speculated could become the next head man of the Tar Heels. Former Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone is expected to be hired as UNC’s next head coach, ESPN reported Monday. Malone, who helped coach the Nuggets to an NBA title in 2023, has never been a head coach at the college level, and hasn’t coached in the college game since 2001. Malone’s reported hire is a bit of a surprise. He wasn’t even speculated by most insiders as a potential candidate for the job, and there hadn’t been any credible reports indicating that UNC was interested in hiring him. Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan had been rumored as the top candidate for the job after Michigan’s Dusty May and Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd reportedly withdrew their names from consideration. Malone does have a connection to UNC’s athletic department, though. His daughter, Bridget, plays for the university’s women’s volleyball team. The reported hiring of Malone came nearly two weeks after UNC opted to fire head coach Hubert Davis after five seasons. Davis, who also played college basketball at UNC, went 125-54 over his tenure with the program, helping the Tar Heels play in the national championship game in his first season at the helm. But UNC opted to fire Davis after it blew a large lead to VCU in its upset loss in the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament. It marked the second straight year that UNC failed to advance past the first round. Malone, 54, was widely regarded as one of the top head coaches in the NBA over his 10-year stint with the Nuggets. He’s gone 510-394 in his NBA head coaching career, helping Denver become a playoff mainstay by the end of his tenure before he was abruptly fired just days before the start of the 2025 NBA Playoffs. Malone was also previously the head coach of the Sacramento Kings, but was fired not long into his second season with the team in 2014. Prior to becoming an NBA assistant head coach in 2001, Malone was an assistant coach at Oakland, Providence and Manhattan.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Shohei Ohtani, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and the rest of the crew that gave us that epic 2025 World Series are back on the same diamond since that amazing Fall Classic. It’s an early-season reunion between the two-time World Series champion Dodgers and the stout Blue Jays squad they took down in seven games, starting with Monday’s matchup. Breaking down the teams and how they’ve looked so far ahead of their three-game series. 1. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer is expected to take the mound for the Blue Jays on Monday, while the Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani set for Wednesday. How realistic will it be for Ohtani to win that award? Kavner: Ask Dave Roberts or any of Ohtani’s teammates, and it’s clear that winning a Cy Young is on the two-way player’s mind. “You can tell with the way he carries himself,” Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing said this spring. “He’s the greatest, and he wants to be the greatest.” Now that Ohtani’s a back-to-back champ, he has pretty much done everything else imaginable on a baseball field. The only year he didn’t win an MVP trophy the last five seasons is the season he finished fourth in American League Cy Young Award voting in 2022. He hit 34 home runs that year and had a 2.33 ERA in 166 innings. He would probably need to throw at least that many innings again if he wants a realistic shot at winning his first Cy Young in 2026, and he would need to be considerably better in the innings he pitches than the other contenders, who are almost certain to throw more innings than him. Ohtani is expected to go wire-to-wire on the mound this year after being slow-played in 2025, but the Dodgers will still be mindful of keeping him as fresh as possible by extending his rest between starts at times as the season moves forward. Over the last 30 years, only one starting pitcher — Corbin Burnes in 2021 — has thrown fewer than 170 innings and won a Cy Young. Perhaps Ohtani could make it a second. It has to be considered a longshot, given his two-way duties and the Dodgers’ desire to be as healthy as possible in October, but he tends to amaze and redefine the limits of what’s possible when he puts his mind to something. 2. Despite the pitching injuries the Blue Jays have, do these two teams have the best set of arms in baseball? Thosar: The Dodgers are in that conversation, but the Blue Jays’ pitching staff isn’t at the top of the heap, even though their arms are still very good. Toronto’s Dylan Cease has ace-level stuff while being frustratingly inconsistent. To demonstrate that point, Cease’s Blue Jays debut couldn’t have gone much better after the right-hander struck out 12 and held the Athletics to one run in 5 ⅓ innings. But he was less dominant in his second start as he struggled with control issues and gave up three runs over 4 ⅓ innings against the White Sox. Kevin Gausman has pitched like an ace so far this year, piling up 21 strikeouts in two starts, and he was impressive in the postseason last year, but he’s 35 now and projected to decline over the course of the season. Injured starters Trey Yesavage, Cody Ponce, Shane Bieber and Jose Berrios make up for an assortment of talented arms, but even if they were all healthy, the Blue Jays are still on the periphery of being considered a top-5 rotation in baseball. But the Dodgers? They have legitimate Cy Young award contenders in Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Ohtani leading the starting five. Roki Sasaki has Yamamoto’s durability last year (30 regular-season starts, followed by six postseason outings) was nothing short of incredible. Even though he’s an anomaly in the rotation, with Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell being elite-tier arms but injury-prone starters, the Dodgers are able to slow-play pitcher recoveries and overcome lengthy absences thanks to their excellent depth. Pitchers like Emmett Sheehan, River Ryan, Gavin Stone, and Justin Wrobleski are considered depth on the Dodgers. Anywhere else, those arms would be rotation regulars. Los Angeles’ star power, consistency, and ridiculously large quantity of high-quality arms put it at the top of any rankings. 3. Let’s talk hitters: Who has started hot? Who needs to shake off the offseason rust? Kavner: On a team that features three former MVPs, it’s a player who went 4-for-51 last postseason who’s carrying the Dodgers’ offense. Andy Pages can be prone to volatility at the plate, but the Dodgers are riding the roller-coaster up right now. The 25-year-old outfielder entered Sunday leading all of MLB in hits (15), with nearly twice as many as the next closest hitter on the Dodgers. Pages started the season 15-for-30, also leading the team in home runs (3) and RBI (10). The Dodgers needed to find that production from somewhere, with their stars struggling through the first week of the season. Entering this weekend’s series in Washington, the batting averages of the top three hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup — Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker and Mookie Betts — were all in the .100 range. The Nos. 4 and 5 hitters, Freddie Freeman (.208) and Will Smith (.200), weren’t much better. This weekend was a reminder that it’s still not worth overreacting to any numbers we see, good or bad. Each of the top four hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup homered on Friday, and Ohtani, Tucker, Freeman and Smith each had multiple hits Saturday. Already, the best hitters in the lineup are getting their averages up to more respectable numbers. The only worry now is the health of Betts, who was placed on the injured list with an oblique strain. The Blue Jays have had their own surprises, as the typically light-hitting Andres Gimenez, who was coming off his worst-hitting season as a big-leaguer, has been the best hitter on the team. He has knocked in more runs than anyone on the team, and after hitting just seven home runs all of last year, he already has two. That total is tied with Kazuma Okamato, who has struck out in nearly half of his at-bats as a big-leaguer but has otherwise performed well, and George Springer for the most on the team. Springer, however, has been unable to reproduce last year’s resurgent year to this point, and Addison Barger has started 1-for-16 at the plate following last year’s breakout. 4. Way-too-early take: Are these two teams the teams to beat in their respective leagues? Thosar: The Blue Jays aren’t the team to beat in the American League right now — that characterization belongs to the 8-1 Yankees after their red-hot start to the season — but Toronto is definitely in the mix to be a playoff threat. The Jays have a strong, balanced roster that’s hungry to finish what they started during last year’s captivating run to the World Series. As previously mentioned, their pitching is good but not dominant, and several injuries in the rotation are already cause for concern. The success of the offense, led by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Springer, is dependent on big steps forward from potential breakout hitters like Barger and Okamoto. Still, the Jays should be right behind New York and neck and neck with the Mariners to finish as a top-two team in the A.L. The Dodgers are the favorites to win the World Series and three-peat, making them the unequivocal team to beat in the National League. They addressed their two major weaknesses (the outfield and bullpen) in dramatic fashion this past offseason. They signed the consensus top free agent in outfielder Tucker and shocked everyone by acquiring the game’s top closer in Diaz. Los Angeles’ roster depth is unrivaled. The Dodgers’ phenomenal farm system will help them address any potential holes at the trade deadline. Finally, their postseason grit and back-to-back championship pedigree means they’ve proven they can get it done in October, and there’s no reason to doubt them now.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

PHOENIX — We all know Sean McVay’s memory is sticky, with the Los Angeles Rams coach demonstrating an archival and categorical knowledge of football during his weekly press conferences. But it doesn’t stop there. At the Biltmore Hotel, site of the 2026 Annual NFL League Meeting, McVay and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni were talking about what Duke’s Cayden Boozer could’ve done differently in the team’s crushing loss to UConn. McVay wanted Boozer to hold the ball and take the foul in the final seconds, but the point guard instead tried to pass the ball and turned it over, leading to The Shot 2.0. Sirianni nodded along in approval, which led McVay to start referencing March Madness plays from last year. Yes, this is still college hoops time, but you probably need your NFL fix. That’s what I’ve got — six observations from my four days at the owners meeting in Arizona last week. This is “Sound Smart,” where I try to spin forward, dive deeper and think outside the box. If I do my job, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s happening this NFL offseason. 1. WHAT IF? Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson sets forth “the challenge” for Caleb Williams There is no more obvious statistic for Bears quarterback Caleb Williams to improve than his completion percentage, which landed at 58.1% in 2025. Speaking to multiple Bears staffers at the owners meeting — including a one-on-one with coach Ben Johnson — there is clear optimism that Williams can improve that number sizably in his third NFL season. That confidence comes from a self-scout that the Chicago coaching staff recently did. The coaches examined every play, and in the case of the passing plays, they saw opportunities for improvement. From that self-scout, Johnson is going to identify the top three items for Williams to focus on improving. And by now, you surely know one of the items on that list. “We need to get the completion percentage up,” Johnson told me. “And so we’ll look at that as we go through the cut-ups of where we can best do that. There were probably 80 or 90 throws on tape that we felt like could have been completions. “You’re always going to have some drops by the route-runners. … We need to find a way to complete some of those other ones, though. That’s really the challenge for Caleb. If we do that, then we’ll be 65%, 70% completion, which is closer to where we want to be.” Another Bears source picked the high end of that range: 70%. It speaks to how bullish the Bears are on Williams that they think he can get that number up almost 12 percentage points this year. In 2025, his completion percentage over expected was -6.9%, and his time to throw was a full 3.2 seconds, per Next Gen Stats. Those shortcomings are, in part, why his expected points per dropback landed at 14th in the NFL (.05). Williams should be able to get the ball out more quickly by trusting the system — and his receivers, who do a good job getting open. What makes Williams so impressive — and has the Bears trusting him so immensely — isn’t just that he can make big plays. It’s that he took just 24 sacks last season (after taking a league-high 68 as a rookie) and threw just seven interceptions. He kept the team on schedule, which played a major role in the Bears sticking around in (and winning) close games last year. A gulf stands between Williams’ 2025 season and his goal for the 2026 season. But given the way Williams improved from Year 1 to Year 2, in Year 3 the QB may just get the most out of his young core and achieve the high standard his coach is setting. 2. IF THERE’S ONE THING YOU SHOULD KNOW… An 18-game schedule may not be what’s best for the NFL in the long term. Adding one more game to the NFL schedule is much more complicated when measuring the value of the league’s product over the long haul instead of the clear short-term profit. It could be argued that the more games are added to the league’s schedule, the less importance each week has. The beauty of the NFL schedule is how precious its games are. Since the NFL made the regular season 17 games in 2021, the quality of the game has been diluted. There are weeks when the stakes don’t feel high enough. The NFL schedule is already 27 weeks long, starting with the Hall of Fame Game and ending with the Super Bowl. That’s already more than half the calendar year. The frequency is also increasing, as the NFL will have a game on every day of the week except Tuesday next season with the addition of a Wednesday game the day before Thanksgiving. It was interesting to hear what Cowboys owner Jerry Jones thought about the issue — given how much he has grown the league’s brand since buying the team in 1989. He was asked if this might be a case of pigs getting fat and hogs getting slaughtered. Jones countered with an animal-related pearl of wisdom of his own. “When the duck quacks, feed it,” he said in Phoenix. “We have that demand for our games because of the hard work, great players that we have. … We should address it, respond to it and feed it.” Feeding the beast has always worked for the NFL, but at what point is it overfeeding? 3. BEHIND THE SCENES Sights and sounds from the owners meeting The league encourages the highest level of competition, which is why any time you put two coaches in a room or on a field, they view each other as adversaries. Even joint practices — an opportunity for a brotherly rivalry — is still an open competition by nature. That’s what makes the owners meeting unique. It’s the friendliest NFL event of the year. Everyone is working — and often working together — but there’s time to play 18 holes, sit at the bar and chat and think aloud by the pool. So here are a few unfiltered moments that I found fun from my time at the Biltmore Hotel. 4. PEELING BACK THE CURTAIN Here’s why DJ Moore was so important to the Bills and Joe Brady. As new Bills coach Joe Brady worked to build a new identity for his team — a unique challenge, given how many of Sean McDermott’s staffers Brady will retain — the young coach looked to his past to find touchstone points for Buffalo’s culture. Brady, for example, told me his “biggest hire” was Pete Carmichael, the Bills’ new offensive coordinator. Carmichael and Brady worked together under Sean Payton for two years in New Orleans. And the team’s biggest offseason move? That was Buffalo’s trade for receiver DJ Moore, whom Brady worked with during their days with the Carolina Panthers. Interestingly enough, Brady once called that era of his career “my downfall.” But he decided to draw from that time, because of what he and Moore went through together. “I wouldn’t be talking to you right now if I didn’t go through the Carolina days. I learned a lot from that,” Brady told me. “DJ was a guy, through the ups and downs in the Carolina days, who was consistent — his work ethic, his approach, his ability to go out there and make plays, being able to move him around. “He has a skill set that I thought would be a great addition to us both in the locker room and on the field and, man, I’m excited to work with him again.” That enthusiasm, in part, led Bills GM Brandon Beane to trade a second-round pick to Chicago for Moore and a fifth-rounder. Now, Moore is the WR1 that the Bills have so badly needed since Stefon Diggs’ departure. The goal isn’t just to build culture. It’s also to make star QB Josh Allen happy. 5. WHAT’S NEXT? Mike Vrabel’s comments about TreVeyon Henderson on Jaden Ivey were a good start, but I hope they’re just that — the start. New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson tweeted a Bible verse that aligned himself with NBA player Jaden Ivey, whom the Chicago Bulls waived last week following anti-LGBTQ comments. Ivey said that Pride Month is a celebration of “unrighteousness.” When news of Ivey’s release broke, Henderson responded on X with a Bible verse, Matthew 5:10. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” Henderson wrote. The day after Henderson’s post, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel fielded a question about it at the league meeting. “I think there is a fine line,” Vrabel said. “I want to tell you — I love TreVeyon. I love the person. He cares deeply about our team. He cares deeply about his faith. He cares deeply about his family, his wife, the people in our building. And so I want them to be able to express what they believe in their heart and in their mind, but also want to make sure that they’re educated. And we want to be inclusive. Everything we want to do [is] to provide an environment for people to want to feel comfortable, but also to share their personal beliefs. And then also, we represent the team. And we represent the organization.” It’s a nice place to start. I understand where Vrabel was coming from: Empathy and understanding might be the remedy to this situation. That’s Vrabel’s philosophy on how he coaches his players — by showing them love while also telling them the harsh truth. 6. OFFSEASON ODDITY The Lions are considering moving Penei Sewell from right tackle to left, according to coach Dan Campbell. You don’t often hear about an NFL team switching the position of its best player. That’s what Campbell is interested in doing with Sewell, whom the Lions might move from right tackle to left. “If you’re asking me, I’d like to move him,” Campbell said at the owners meeting. “We are ready to do that, if need be. I don’t want to say right now I’m going to commit to that, but we are ready to do that.” It reminds me of when the Chiefs moved Trent McDuffie — another one of the league’s elite players — from the slot cornerback spot to the perimeter in 2024. The moves are comparable, with different techniques and duties — and a heightened sense of competition. It went well for McDuffie. It should go just fine for Sewell, who played left tackle at Oregon before the Lions drafted him in 2021 and moved him to the right side. “All he wants is a couple of days to work his left-handed stance a little bit,” Campbell said of Sewell. “It’s a little bit like riding a bike for him. He’ll be fine. He’ll bank some reps and be able to do it. He gives us that flexibility.” There are inherent risks, of course. Sewell could hit unforeseen adversity in the transition, simply because the two positions are more different than people realize. Every offensive lineman will tell you that. And then the position change for Sewell would open up the right tackle spot for an open competition — likely involving a rookie. The Lions pick at No. 17 in the first round, and while it appears to be a tough draft to find a left tackle, there should be a handful of right tackles who go in Round 1. We’ve seen teams have success with this type of move in the past. Buccaneers tackle Tristan Wirfs and Bengals tackle Orlando Brown made the move across the line to the blindside without a hitch. There’s basically no reason why Sewell won’t be dominant on the left. But the stakes will be extremely high — and there will be no margin for error. And if the Lions have a rookie at right tackle and Sewell at left, how long will it take for everyone to get acclimated? Given Detroit’s inconsistencies on offense last year (and their decision to make changes at offensive coordinator), the move would be one of the most scrutinized personnel decisions of the offseason. The Lions can’t waste any time in arguably the NFL’s best division, the NFC North.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Who will be the next head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels’ men’s basketball team? Nearly two weeks after the program fired Hubert Davis, there seems to be a lot of unknowns about who’ll be the next head coach of one of college basketball’s blue bloods. Let’s take a closer look at some of the rumored candidates to replace Davis, and who might remain in the running to become the next head coach of North Carolina. Billy Donovan, Chicago Bulls head coach Donovan, who hasn’t coached the college game in over a decade, might be the favorite to become UNC’s next head coach. In fact, Donovan is one of the Tar Heels’ primary targets, CBS Sports reported. If UNC wants to hire Donovan, though, it might have to wait a little longer than it might like to. The Bulls’ regular season doesn’t end until April 12, which is several days after the transfer portal opens on April 7. But there have been hot-seat rumors about Donovan’s future in Chicago as the Bulls are set to miss the playoffs for a fourth-straight season. Donovan, 60, was one of the top coaches in college basketball before he left for the NBA in 2015. He helped Florida win back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007, posting a 467-186 record in 19 seasons in Gainesville. Dusty May, Michigan head coach May was the latest head coach to pull out of the running to become North Carolina’s next head coach. May has informed Michigan officials that he won’t pursue other college basketball jobs this offseason, ESPN reported Sunday. May, 49, has quickly become one of the top coaches in the sport over the last five years or so. He led Florida Atlantic to the Final Four in 2023 and has quickly turned Michigan around. The Wolverines are on the precipice of winning a national championship as they prepare to face UConn in the national championship game on Monday night in May’s second year at the helm. Prior to Sunday, May had been among the top names speculated as a potential candidate to replace Hubert Davis. Nate Oats, Alabama head coach Oats was another speculated candidate for the North Carolina job. However, he is no longer in the running. Oats has signed a new contract that will make him one of the five-highest-paid coaches in the sport, ESPN reported Sunday. In his seven seasons at Alabama, Oats has helped the Crimson Tide become one of the more consistent programs in college basketball this decade. Alabama has reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in five of the last six seasons, including a Final Four appearance in 2024. Tommy Lloyd, Arizona head coach Lloyd said he turned down a larger offer from North Carolina before signing an extension with Arizona on April 3. Prior to the extension, Lloyd was UNC’s top choice for the job, CBS Sports reported. Lloyd, 51, has quickly helped Arizona become one of the top teams in college basketball again. The former Gonzaga assistant has a 148-36 record in five seasons, making the NCAA Tournament in all five seasons he’s been with the Wildcats. Arizona went 36-3 in 2025-26, reaching its first Final Four since Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Stevens quickly removed his name from consideration to be North Carolina’s next head coach, CBS Sports reported on March 25. Stevens was widely regarded as one of the top coaches in college basketball after he led Butler to two straight national championship games in 2010 and 2011. However, he’s remained out of the college game since he became the Celtics’ head coach in 2013. He became the team’s president of basketball operations in 2021.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

The UCLA women’s basketball team’s star-studded senior class will go out on the highest possible note. UCLA defeated South Carolina, 79-51, to win its first NCAA women’s basketball championship on Sunday, completing a 37-1 season. UCLA dominated Sunday’s national championship game, leading for all but one minute. The Bruins were able to get a double-digit lead in the final seconds of the first quarter, with guard Kiki Rice’s 3-pointer giving them a 21-10 lead. That was the last time the Gamecocks were within striking distance as well, with the Bruins leading by at least 10 points for the entirety of the final three quarters. After a relatively even second quarter, UCLA was really able to run away in the third. The Bruins turned their 36-23 halftime lead into a 61-32 advantage by the end of the third quarter. Guard Gabriela Jaquez was seemingly all over the place in that quarter, making hustle plays on both ends to allow the fourth quarter to be a formality. She had seven of her game-high 21 points in the frame, adding 10 rebounds and five assists in Sunday’s win. UCLA star center and First-Team All-American Lauren Betts also pitched a strong effort in her final college game. She scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the victory, further etching her spot as one of the program’s best players ever after transferring from Stanford in 2023. Betts, Jaquez, Rice, guard Gianna Kneepkens and guard Charlisse Leger-Walker headlined a loaded UCLA senior class that helped bring the program some of the best years it’s ever had. The Bruins made their first Final Four in the women’s NCAA basketball tournament in 2025 and reached the Sweet 16 in each of the last four seasons, something they had only done once before. All five of those aforementioned players are projected to be picked early in the 2026 WNBA Draft later in April. The title is also the crowning achievement in UCLA women’s basketball head coach Cori Close’s career. Now in her 15th season, Close has made UCLA one of the sport’s powerhouses, posting a 358-144 record in her time with the program. While Sunday marks UCLA’s first NCAA title in women’s baseball, it won the AIAW championship in 1978. That tournament was before the start of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in 1982. UCLA’s title also marks the first women’s basketball championship for the Big Ten in 27 years. Purdue was the last Big Ten team to win the national championship in women’s college basketball, doing so in 1999. With UCLA’s win on Sunday, the Big Ten can also do something that no conference has done in nearly two decades. If Michigan beats UConn in the men’s basketball national championship game on Sunday night, the Big Ten will be the first conference to win the football championship plus the men’s and women’s basketball championships in the same academic year since the SEC did so in 2006-07.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

UConn and Michigan are dealing with some injury concerns to key players ahead of Monday night’s national championship game, but Wolverines star Yaxel Lendeborg seems more likely to play than Huskies guard Solo Ball. Ball missed Sunday’s practice because of a sprained foot. He said he expects to play, but UConn head coach Dan Hurley said Ball’s status is uncertain as his foot remains in a walking boot. “Just doing everything I can to prepare for tomorrow,” said Ball, who hurt his left foot when he got tangled with teammate Tarris Reed Jr. in the first half of UConn’s semifinal win over Illinois. “So, it’s a bump in the road, but I’m still going to play.” Lendeborg, meanwhile, hurt his left ankle and wore a protective brace covering his left knee in the second half of Saturday’s 91-73 rout of Arizona. But the All-American has quickly stated that he’ll play in Monday’s game. “Absolutely not,” Lendeborg said when asked whether he would miss Monday night’s game. “Unless I wake up and I get up and fall off my feet, I’m going to be in that game.” Ball was wearing a boot on his left foot less than 24 hours after playing 28 minutes and scoring 13 points in the 71-62 victory over the Illini. The Huskies advanced to their third national championship game in four years. Ball said adrenaline helped him get through the rest of the game and “I’m doing everything I can to prepare” for the game against the Wolverines on Monday night. Ball started all 38 games he’s played, averaging 12.9 points. Coach Dan Hurley was noncommittal to whether his junior guard would play Monday night, saying he would know more about Ball’s status after an MRI. As for Lendeborg, he played five minutes in the first half before reinjuring his left ankle. Team officials later announced he had hurt his knee as well. But Lendeborg returned in the second half and made two key 3-pointers to propel the Wolverines to their first title game since 2018. Michigan head coach Dusty May said that he’s “sure” Lendeborg will give it a go and play against UConn on Monday. “He played the second half like a 38-year-old at the YMCA,” May told reporters of Lendeborg. “And a really good 38-year-old at the YMCA.” The Wolverines have lost four consecutive championship games since beating Seton Hall in overtime in 1989 for the school’s only national title. The Associated Press contributed to this report.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

The Los Angeles Dodgers placed shortstop Mookie Betts on the injured list Sunday with a right oblique strain and recalled Hyeseong Kim from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Betts left Saturday’s 10-5 victory over the Washington Nationals after walking and scoring in the first inning. Manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers believe Betts was initially injured on a check swing during the at-bat. While Roberts said he was hesitant to put a timeline on Betts’ return, he hopes it would be quicker than a 4 to 6 week absence. “He’s actually in better spirits,” Roberts said. “He’s obviously disappointed, but just the way he feels today, I think he’s had some dealings with that before and said it’s better than he recalls in past experience, so that was encouraging.” Betts is hitting .179 in Los Angeles’ first eight games. The 33-year-old hit .258 with 20 homers and 82 RBIs in 150 games last season. Kim hit .280 with three home runs and 17 RBIs in 71 games as a rookie last season. Roberts said Kim and Miguel Rojas will likely split time at shortstop while Betts is out. Rojas replaced Betts in Saturday’s game and is batting second on Sunday against the Nationals. Roberts said Kim is likely to start two of three games in the Dodgers’ series at Toronto against the Blue Jays that begins Monday. The Dodgers’ lineup figures to have a different look as well. Betts hit in the No. 3 spot every game this season after spending much of last year batting second. “He’s Mookie Betts, so it certainly changes,” Roberts said. “But that’s the great thing about having depth that a lot of teams don’t have. A platoon at short and you feel like you’ve got good matchups, it’s not all bad and it gives other guys opportunities. But it’s a blow, for sure.” Reporting by The Associated Press.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

PHOENIX — An 18-game,regular-season schedule seems like an inevitability after listening to NFL owners discuss the topic during the league’s owners meeting at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix this past week. In fact, owners of multiple teams flat-out said they want to add another regular-season game to the ever-growing NFL slate. “Growing the number of international games, that’s something we’re very supportive of,” Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt told reporters. “From a schedule dynamic, having 18 games would facilitate that.” Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said expanding to 18 games is just a matter of giving fans what they want – more football. “When the ducks quack, feed them,” Jones told reporters in Arizona this week. “And we have that demand for our game because of the hard work of our great players that we have. We have that demand. We should address it, respond to it and feed it.” The NFL transitioned to 17 games and three preseason games in 2021. But with the league engaging in talks to renegotiate the NFL’s TV package with networks and streaming services, having more games to add to that inventory creates more revenue and opportunities to make more money. More football is great for everybody, right? Well, not so fast. Here’s what I’ve learned after hearing other people speak in Arizona and talking to other people around the league about the possibility of adding an 18th regular-season game. NFL coaches say 18 games ‘will water down the product’ If the NFL added another game to the regular season, it would be just its latest move to expand the product over the last decade. Since 2020, the league has expanded its postseason from 12 to 14 teams, added annual games on Christmas Day and continues to increase the number of games played internationally. Of course, that’s also on top of adding a 17th regular-season game. [4 Takeaways From the NFL Owners Meeting in Phoenix] With all the expansion, particularly the two teams added to the postseason field, NFL players are already being pushed to the brink of what their bodies can handle physically, according to two former players-turned-coaches I spoke with. As a result, more games could lead to more load management and tanking, like we’ve seen in the NBA and other professional sports. “Eighteen games will water down the product,” a longtime NFL coach and former player told me. “What made the NFL different from the rest of the competition is every game matters. You had 16 intense weeks, and there’s nothing like it. “Now we have 17 games, and with one extra game some players are looking to take a game off. Eighteen games will definitely get players thinking about taking games off. It will only work if the players get rewarded handsomely. They will sell their souls for money.” As the NFL ponders adding an 18th regular-season game, the league is slated to play a record nine games internationally, including for the first time in Australia and France in 2026. The NFL might also have two games on Wednesday for the first time in league history this upcoming season. The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks are opening the season at home on Wednesday, Sept. 9, in order to help accommodate the game being played in Australia, and the league could schedule a Thanksgiving Day eve game in November. There will also be a handful of games played on a Friday this year. The annual Black Friday game will continue, while the league is expected to play a three-game slate on Christmas Day, which will be on a Friday in 2026. That means the only day of the week there won’t be an NFL regular-season game in 2026 is Tuesday, but it will also mean many more games will be played with shorter rest than usual. With the NFL stretching out the schedule further and further, another coach nostalgically reminisced about the efficiency of a 16-game schedule, which included the top two playoff seeds receiving a bye week. “The writing has been on the wall for years now [for expanding to 18 games],” the position coach told me. “It’s inevitable. Don’t make it two bye weeks, though. The season already is long enough.” NFLPA still not on board with 18-game season Former NFL Players Association interim executive director David White stated during Super Bowl week back in February that his members had “no appetite” for an 18th regular season game. “The 18th game is not casual for us,” White said. “It’s a very serious issue. It is something that comes out of negotiations.” The current collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players runs through 2030, but could be reopened to negotiate an 18th game. For now, the players aren’t interested in expanding the regular season. It’s one of the reasons the NFL has not announced a date for Super Bowl LXII in Atlanta in two years, leaving open the possibility of expanding to an 18-game schedule before the 2027 season if negotiations take place in the next year to expand the league’s schedule. The NFLPA has been in flux as it changes leadership, with disgraced former NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell permanently replaced by former NFL player JC Tretter. Tretter recently echoed White’s comments in an interview with The Athletic. “There are things that are not good for our players that we need to make sure we’re protecting them from,” Tretter said. “And as of right now, those are all subjects of bargaining. The league can’t expand past 10 international games. The league is at 17 games in the CBA. That is where we’re at, and we’re going to make sure we defend our players and their health and safety, because our guys feel they know what this feels like.” NFL Scout says expanded rosters needed for 18-game slate A longtime NFL scout told me the NFL would need to expand rosters by at least five more active players on game day and consider the possibility of bringing 100 players to training camp with the expansion to an 18-game season. Currently, NFL teams are allowed to go to camp with 90 players, and 48 players are active on game day. “The game product at some point suffers if the league and owners’ greed outweigh the development of players, along with paying the officials, staff, coaches and scouts their fair share, too,” the scout told me. The scout noted that the USFL had a grueling 18-game season that included fully padded, two-a-day practices for six weeks and the postseason. The scout wondered if today’s players would be up to the physical toll on the body of an 18-game season. “Today’s players are bigger and stronger — but not as mentally and physically as tough or instinctive collectively [as they were in earlier years],” the scout said. “So, the owners may want to be careful what they wish for.” NFL agent says staying at 17 games is ‘definitely possible’ The push by NFL owners for 18 games makes sense financially, generating more revenue for the league and its players. However, the current players will have to weigh the risk to their careers and the injuries they could sustain in the chase for more of a financial reward that will be with them for life after football. “I think there are enough regular-season games,” an NFL agent told me. “The league will need to pay a massive price to get the players to do it. Most players who actually play would not be in favor of it. Most can’t make it through 17 games. The league has zero ability to do it unilaterally.” Asked if the NFL is at risk of oversaturating the product, the NFL agent had this to say: “I think it is there now, just about,” the NFL agent said. “Staying at 17/3 (17 regular-season games, three preseason games) is definitely possible.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

T-MOBILE ARENA (LAS VEGAS) — As Oklahoma center Mohamed Wague extended an arm to help lift teammate Derrion Reid off the floor, a smile stretched across his face. “That’s my block!” Wague shouted, lobbying for another tally on the stat sheet. Reid could only laugh in response as Wague hauled him to his feet. Seconds earlier, the two collided near the rim for what looked like a joint rejection of an attempted layup by Baylor guard Isaac Williams IV. It was unclear whether Wague or Reid had been the one to actually swat the shot, but with a double-digit lead in the waning moments, the Sooners were comfortably in position to enjoy the comedy of a two-man block. The official scorekeeper ultimately credited Wague with the stuff, but by that point, the Sooners had done enough to punch their ticket to the championship game of the second annual College Basketball Crown, pulling away from Baylor down the stretch for an eventual 82-69 win. Oklahoma will now face West Virginia on Sunday afternoon with $300,000 in prize money on the line (5:30 p.m. ET on FOX). The Mountaineers defeated Creighton, 87-70, in the second semifinal. Here are my takeaways from Day 3 of the College Basketball Crown: 1. Unprecedented era for Creighton comes to an end Only Doug McDermott, the Bluejays’ head coach, knows exactly when the hollow reality of Saturday’s outcome washed over him for good. Perhaps it happened when West Virginia forward DJ Thomas, who only averages 6.3 points per game, spun and twisted through the lane for a layup that extended the Mountaineers’ lead to nine with 12:13 remaining. Or maybe the recognition set in when guard Honor Huff ran a beautiful pick-and-roll with center Harlan Obioha that resulted in a traditional three-point play, pushing the margin to 14 points with 10:03 remaining. If it wasn’t either of those moments, then surely he knew it by the 5:18 mark when Huff buried a stepback 3 from the left wing that pushed Creighton’s deficit to 14, forcing McDermott to hang his head and turn around for a slow walk toward the bench. “I’ve been thinking about it,” McDermott said in the postgame news conference, “but you don’t ever want it to end. You’d like it to end with a win, especially for the guys. This team has been through a lot this season, and they’ve stayed incredibly close and they’ve had each other’s back during some really difficult times.” A blowout loss in his final game did little to overshadow the enormity of McDermott’s success in 16 seasons with the Bluejays. He tallied 366 victories with a .659 winning percentage. He made 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. He reached three Sweet 16s and one Elite Eight. He won a Big East championship and three Missouri Valley Conference tournament titles. He produced six NBA Draft picks. When news of McDermott’s impending retirement went public last month, the school announced that associate head coach Alan Huss would take over once the season concluded. In Huss, the Bluejays are now elevating one of the more respected assistant coaches in the country. He began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant at New Mexico (2014-17) before joining McDermott’s staff for a seven-year run (2017-23) that included five trips to the NCAA Tournament. Huss was named head coach at High Point ahead of the 2023-24 campaign. He spent two seasons with the Panthers, one of which included an appearance in the Big Dance, before returning to Creighton as the heir apparent. He has immense shoes to fill. “When [McDermott] announced his retirement, I sent him a long text,” Oklahoma head coach and Creighton alum Porter Moser said in response to my question about the legacy McDermott built at Creighton. “And I said, ‘As a colleague: Congratulations, man. Congratulations on a Hall-of-Fame career. Congratulations on everything you did.’ And then I said, ‘As a former player who wore that Bluejay jersey: Thank you for elevating the program. Thank you for everything you’ve done, you know, putting that program in the national spotlight and making it that kind of a name.’ “Great man, great coach.” 2. West Virginia flexes ferocious defense In contrast to Oklahoma, which arrived at the College Basketball Crown with the best offense in this year’s field, the Mountaineers came into the event far more accomplished on the opposite end of the floor. West Virginia entered Saturday’s semifinal against Creighton ranked 17th in the country in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom, and flashed its prowess in a throttling of the Bluejays. Creighton shot 42.9% from the floor and 31.3% from beyond the arc in the opening half — numbers that would be considered on the low end of acceptable for most offenses — but what happened around the rim told the real story. As West Virginia racked up 22 points in the paint and made 10 of 14 shots on layups or dunks, the Bluejays were hardly able to get close to the rim. They only generated four layup attempts in the entire half, making three of them, and did not record a dunk. “I just think we did a really good job of showing our hands,” West Virginia forward Brenen Lorient said in response to my question about the defensive effort. “Coach [Ross Hodge] emphasized just staying solid and showing our hands and limiting the catch-and-shoot 3s.” That effort matched the ferocious defensive style West Virginia has played all season under Hodge, formerly of North Texas. Hodge’s group entered the weekend ranked 12th nationally in opponent 2-point field goal percentage, limiting foes to a paltry 45.9% on attempts that originate inside the arc. The Mountaineers successfully protect the paint as well as anyone in college basketball. Their challenge now will be facing an elite Oklahoma offense that has flashed an ability to score both inside and out. 3. Sooners solve tricky 1-3-1 zone to pull away from Baylor Everything about the tenor of Saturday’s semifinal matchup between Baylor and Oklahoma changed when the Bears shifted their defensive philosophy. Having watched his defense get shredded to the tune of 45 points on 51.4% shooting in the first half, Baylor head coach Scott Drew instructed his team to unfurl an aggressive 1-3-1 zone after the break. He deployed 6-foot-9 center Caden Powell along the baseline and allowed athletic guards Tounde Yessoufou and Cameron Carr — both potential first-round picks in the NBA Draft — to stymie huge swaths of the 3-point line with their imposing wingspans. The effect was equal parts profound and immediate. Dysregulated and disoriented, the Sooners misfired on 10 of their first 14 field goal attempts to begin the second half. A double-digit advantage seemed to shrink in an instant once Baylor ignited from beyond the arc, with Carr and Williams combining to hit three triples in a little less than four minutes. And once Yessoufou flew coast to coast for a transition layup after pinning a blocked shot against the glass, the Bears climbed in front by a point with 13:16 remaining. “We knew Baylor was a championship program with Scott [Drew], a Hall-of-Fame coach, that they’d come out in the second half and give it everything they had,” Moser said during the postgame news conference. “They punched us in the face the first five minutes.” Once the under-12 media timeout came and went, Moser’s team began exploiting some of the cracks in Baylor’s zone. Oklahoma found creative ways to isolate Powell or fellow big man James Nnaji alone in the post, which created several easy baskets from close range. The Sooners enjoyed a run of eight made field goals in 11 attempts to reclaim control of the game, surging in front with a lead they would never relinquish. They outscored the Bears by 13 points over the final 10 minutes. “I thought we just stayed with it,” Moser said in response to my question about finding late-game success. “We made some shots, kept with what we were doing and you’re going to have that against a zone. The thing about the zone is you’ve just got to stay aggressive, stay confident in it. You can’t get hesitant. We were getting the ball where we needed to in the middle. I thought they did a really good job.” 4. Xzayvier Brown continues strong tournament run for Oklahoma Oklahoma guard Xzayvier Brown played a key role as the Sooners erased an eight-point second-half deficit against Colorado on Wednesday, forcing overtime and holding off the Buffaloes. He scored 11 of his 17 points after the half to ensure that the Sooners, who entered this year’s event as the overwhelming favorite to cut down the nets, avoided an upset in the quarterfinals. Two days later, Brown played even better in the victory over Baylor, pairing the same scoring punch he packed earlier in the week with remarkable efficiency and distribution. He poured in 16 points in the first half alone, beguiling the Bears from all parts of the court: He hit a pull-up jumper from the left baseline, an easy transition layup ahead of the pack, a leaner through contact in the lane to produce a traditional three-point play and a triple from beyond the arc. Brown scored or assisted on exactly half of his team’s 18 field goals in the opening half, which speaks to his all-around floor game. He also shot 5-of-5 from the free-throw line as the Sooners built a 10-point halftime advantage. “X has been great for us all year,” forward Tae Davis said in response to my question about Brown’s performance. “A floor general, he does it in every way. It’s huge for us because he does so much on both ends of the floor. He creates, and he can create for himself. So that’s just been a huge boost for us in every game.” Brown’s impact was felt even amid a relatively quiet second half in which he went more than 13 minutes without scoring another point. His 3-pointer from the right wing with 4:37 remaining extended Oklahoma’s lead back to double digits and all but assured the Sooners a spot in the championship game. He finished with a game-high 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists. 4½. What’s next? Here are a few storylines to watch ahead of the championship game: Oklahoma vs. West Virginia (Sunday) — With eight wins over their final 11 games heading into the College Basketball Crown, the Sooners were always the most popular choice to reach the championship game and, ultimately, win it. An overtime scare against Colorado in the quarterfinals gave way to a much more controlled victory over Baylor in the semis. Now, Oklahoma has a chance to cut down the nets on Sunday after being arguably the biggest snub from this year’s NCAA Tournament. West Virginia, meanwhile, rallied back from an eight-point deficit in the closing moments against Stanford to force overtime and survive the quarterfinals. From there, the Mountaineers picked apart Creighton in a dominant semifinal victory that limited the Bluejays to just 33 points in the second half. Now, the stage is set for a championship game between the tournament’s best offense (Oklahoma) and its best defense (West Virginia).​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

UConn coach Geno Auriemma apologized for his actions during a heated exchange with Dawn Staley at the end of the Huskies’ loss to South Carolina in the women’s Final Four. A visibly upset Auriemma went over to Staley in the final seconds of South Carolina’s 62-48 victory on Friday night and appeared to chastise her. Coaches from both teams had to separate them. When the game ended, Auriemma walked off the court to the locker room without going back to shake hands with anyone from South Carolina. “There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina,” the Hall of Fame coach said in a statement on Saturday. “It’s unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut. I want to apologize to the staff and the team at South Carolina. It was uncalled for in how I reacted. “The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don’t want my actions to detract from that. I’ve had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them.” Staley said Saturday that she’s focused on the title game against UCLA and not what happened the night earlier. “For me, no distractions at this time,” Staley said. “I’m concentrating on winning a national championship, that’s it. That’s a little disheartening. This is sports. Sometimes things like this happen. Continue to focus on my team and ability to advance in this tournament and hopefully win another national championship.” Staley later said that she would address it at a later point. After the loss, Auriemma said the exchange was about the lack of a traditional pregame handshake between the coaches. Staley said she was confused Friday night. “I have no idea,” the South Carolina coach said after the game. “But I’m going to let you know this: I’m of integrity. I’m of integrity. So if I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did. I guess he thought I didn’t shake his hand at the beginning of the game. I didn’t know. I went down there pregame, shook everybody on his staff’s hand. “I don’t know what he came with after the game, but, hey, sometimes things get heated. We move on.” South Carolina advanced to play UCLA in the title game on Sunday. The Gamecocks are looking for their third championship in five seasons. UConn and South Carolina are set to play each other the next two years, with the first game in Connecticut. Reporting by The Associated Press.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports