COLUMBUS, Ohio — Fairleigh Dickinson became the second No. 16 seed in history to win an NCAA Tournament game, stunning top-seeded Purdue 63-58 behind 19 points from Sean Moore and a relentless, hustling defense on Friday night. The shortest team in the tourney, the Knights (21-15) showed no fear in swarming 7-foot-4 All-America center Zach Edey from the start. FDU’s […]

ALBANY, N.Y. — Rick Pitino, immaculately dressed in a black suit with a checkered tie and a white pocket square, returned to the N.C.A.A. tournament stage on Friday in a game that helped further his comeback from coaching exile as he chased a memorable March upset. After his No. 13-seeded Iona Gaels lost to the University of Connecticut, 87-63, in […]

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Ask Pedro Grifol about his mentors, the folks who put him on the path to managing the Chicago White Sox, and he starts with his grandfather. Pedro Antonio Grifol, who emigrated from Cuba, delivered newspapers in the early mornings and worked all day as a high school janitor in Miami. But his day really began, he would […]

March Madness has come to Denver. Those unable, or unwilling, to purchase pricey tickets to the first two rounds of NCAA Tournament on Friday and Sunday at Ball Arena can still catch a glimpse of the teams Thursday at practice sessions open to the public. All eight teams participating in the first-round games in downtown Denver will hold practices between […]

As children, the twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson adopted their father’s favorite sports teams. That made them Cleveland Cavaliers fans, then Miami Heat fans, then Cavs fans again as they followed LeBron James’s journey through the N.B.A. But when it came to men’s college basketball, there was no wandering around. They rooted for Kentucky. When they were 12, they […]

Joe Pepitone, who won three Gold Gloves at first base and played in two World Series for the Yankees but who may be best remembered for his hair and his high jinks, has died at his home in Kansas City, Mo. He was 82. His son Bill confirmed the death. He said his sister, Cara Pepitone, who had lived with […]

Gregg Berhalter, the men’s national soccer team coach at last year’s World Cup, is eligible to return for the next World Cup cycle after investigators looking into his personal conduct cleared him to remain a candidate for the job, the U.S. Soccer Federation said on Monday. “There is no basis to conclude that employing Mr. Berhalter would create legal risks […]

Dick Fosbury, a gangly civil engineering student who shocked his peers, delighted sports fans and started a revolution in competitive high jumping with his backward leaps, died on Sunday. He was 76. The cause was lymphoma, a spokesman announced on Instagram. He did not say where Fosbury died. Fosbury’s claim to fame was a signature jumping style: the “Fosbury Flop.” […]

Alabama celebrates winning the SEC Tournament title game. Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images Alabama earned the program's first-ever No. 1 overall seed when the men's NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed on Sunday night. Houston, Kansas and Purdue earned the other three No. 1 seeds. South Region (Louisville): 1. Alabama, 2. Arizona, 3. Baylor, 4. Virginia, 5. San Diego St., 6. Creighton, […]

When the N.C.A.A. Division I men’s basketball tournament committee members hunkered down in Indianapolis over the weekend, they pored over spreadsheets, stared at a bank of televisions, sharpened their pencils and massaged their temples to figure out how to best seed the 68-team tournament field. They might have saved themselves all that time — and anguish — by picking names […]