NCAA

TEMPE, Ariz. – Randy Bennett, who has led one of the top midmajor programs for years, is set to become the next head coach at Arizona State, a source briefed on the situation confirmed to the Athletic.

The Big Ten won big in the second round of the NCAA Tournament while not actually winning much of anything.

PULLMAN – The first dominoes appear to be falling at Washington State.

The greatest weekend in sports is winding down.

PORTLAND – Mark Few was still processing

St. John’s is finally headed back to the Sweet 16, thanks to Central Valley’s Dylan Darling.

Teams started punching their tickets to the Sweet 16 on Sunday.

If you ever needed a reason to stay off social media, take this as Exhibit A.

The best came last in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32 action on Saturday.

Sean Miller kept pushing the right coaching buttons, starting with a momentum-changing sequence late in the first half.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Sure, the dunks are great.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Record-breaking temperatures outside Carver-Hawkeye Arena turned Iowa’s basketball home into a sauna Saturday afternoon, and the second-seeded Hawkeyes nearly melted down in the oppressive heat.

The third-seeded Zags learned it took an eight-point lead in the first half but failed to come up with the stops they needed in the second half of a 74-68 season-ending loss at the Moda Center.

Of the many hundred dunks Graham Ike has slammed in his career, this one seemed special. Exclamatory. Defiant. And extraordinarily timely. Maybe even career-defining.

Players and coaches may spend the next six months lamenting how junior forward Camden Heide got open for a back-breaking 3-pointer with 14 seconds remaining at the Moda Center.

The end of the line in the NCAA Tournament comes swiftly and often cruelly, especially when a winnable game isn’t decided until the closing seconds. And so it was for Gonzaga, which saw its hopes of advancing to the Sweet 16 fade away when Camden Heide hit his only shot of the game with just under 15 seconds left to seal the Texas Longhorns’ 74-68 upset victory.

Texas only made five 3-pointers, but they came at opportune times. Jordan Pope, an Oregon State transfer, hit late triples with 5:30 and 2:36 remaining, the latter extending the Longhorns lead to 69-64.

NORMAN, Okla. – Arthur Moreira recalled a turning point for women’s basketball at Idaho. The Vandals had just lost to Montana State by 33 points, a game Moreira said he’ll never forget because “it was awful and we got our butts kicked.”

PORTLAND – It would take extensive research to compile a full list of the coaches who’ve faced Gonzaga at three different schools, but Texas’ Sean Miller is joining what’s presumed to be a very small club when his 11th-seeded Longhorns take on the third-seeded Zags on Saturday in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32.