Sports
Men’s Big East Bracketology preview: NCAA tournament predictions for every team
Don’t let the low number of annual NCAA tournament bids (4.6) fool you. At only 11 teams, the Big East is the smallest power college basketball conference and is holding its own with more than 40% of its members making the field of 68 over the past four seasons. Thanks first to Jay Wright and recently Danny Hurley, the Big East also historically wins when it goes dancing. UConn’s 12-0 tourney mark in 2023 and 2024 is a big part of the league’s best-in-class NCAA winning percentage. But the tide is turning, and not for good.
Two years ago, the Big East was hurt by excess bid stealers and lost likely NCAA invites for Seton Hall and St. John’s. Last season’s five bids seemed great until no Big East team, not even the 2-seed Red Storm, made it through the first weekend. And this season’s nonconference numbers have taken a dip.
UConn and St. John’s are the only NCAA locks as the Big East begins its conference schedule Dec. 13, and it’s possible the league will receive the fewest tournament bids in its rightfully proud history.
Final Four contenders
UConn has the firepower it takes to capture a third national title in four seasons. Of course, it’s a whole lot easier to type that sentence than to make it come true, especially in a season that figures to present tougher March competition than the Huskies faced in 2023 or 2024.
Likely tournament teams
Before the season, most would have placed St. John’s in the Final Four tier. But the Red Storm have been just regular good — not special — through the first five weeks. They remain a near-lock tournament team, but capturing even a top-four seed is no better than a 50/50 proposition at this point.
Possible tournament teams
Villanova Wildcats
Seton Hall Pirates
Creighton Bluejays
The Big East bubble might be shrinking in the aggregate. Villanova and Seton Hall figure to spend the winter hovering between the “Last Four In” and “First Four Out” categories — i.e., the Nos. 65-72 range. And Creighton needs to get it going quickly to join them.
Sleeper team
The Bulldogs were picked ninth in the preseason Big East poll, but Thad Matta’s guys have other ideas. Early wins over South Carolina and Virginia should hold up, and the middle of the conference should present more wins than expected heading into the season. If Butler can pick up an extra win or two against the top tier, landing on the right side of the bubble is very possible.
Long shots
Providence Friars
Xavier Musketeers
Georgetown Hoyas
Marquette Golden Eagles
DePaul Blue Demons
The first three teams on this list could move into bubble conversations by the time February rolls around. Marquette and DePaul simply don’t have the talent. The problem in counting on real upward mobility is that the Big East could be looking at a serious drop in chances to pad its teams’ Quad 1 resumés.
Key games to watch
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Dec. 23: Villanova at Seton Hall. The Big East’s two most likely bubble teams square off early in conference play.
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Feb. 6: UConn at St. John’s. The first of two huge meetings between the Huskies and Red Storm as the Big East plays a true round-robin.
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Feb. 21: UConn at Villanova. Nova’s 1-5 streak against UConn figures to change under Kevin Willard.
Tottenham are pushing to convince Roberto De Zerbi to become their new manager before the end of the season, sources have told ESPN.
Spurs are looking for their third manager of the season after parting ways with Igor Tudor on Sunday.
Tudor, who replaced Thomas Frank last month, won just one of his seven games in charge as Spurs slipped closer to the Premier League relegation zone.
Tottenham currently sit 17th — just one point and one place above the bottom three — and sources say they are confident of appointing a successor to Tudor in good time before Spurs’ next game, a league clash at Sunderland on April 12.
Sources told ESPN that De Zerbi and USMNT boss Mauricio Pochettino are at the top of the club’s shortlist. However, Pochettino is committed to leading the USMNT into this summer’s World Cup while De Zerbi is out of work after leaving Marseille.
Initial talks had taken place between Spurs and De Zerbi with the Italian indicating he was open to joining the club at the end of the season if they stayed in the Premier League.
However, Tudor’s departure and Tottenham’s current malaise — they have not won a league game since Dec. 28 — have accelerated their need for a new head coach, and they are hoping to convince De Zerbi to join now.
Sources say the club’s preference is for a permanent appointment, but it remains to be seen whether the 46-year-old — who spent two years at Brighton up to 2024 — will agree to join Tottenham in their perilous state.
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– Igor Tudor joins list of shortest managerial reigns in Premier League era
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Alternatives include former Monaco boss Adi Hutter but sources have suggested Spurs would ideally like to appoint someone with Premier League experience.
Former Spurs managers Harry Redknapp, Tim Sherwood and Glenn Hoddle have all been linked with the role, as has ex-Tottenham striker Robbie Keane (who’s currently at Ferencvaros) and ex-Nottingham Forest, Burnley and Everton manager Sean Dyche.
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San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch did his best to shut down the buzz around the theory that an electrical substation near Levi’s Stadium could be the catalyst for the spate of injuries that team has suffered over the last few years.
The theory popped up on social media during the 2025 season, though the 49ers have played at Levi’s Stadium since 2014 and used the practice facility that is also near the substation since 1989.
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San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center on Feb. 24, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
49ers star George Kittle said in February he didn’t believe the rumors were true, but also wanted a definitive answer.
Lynch provided one Sunday as NFL owners began to meet in Phoenix, Arizona. He said the organization had a scientist come to the facility to see if there was anything awry.
“It basically was a big nothing burger,” Lynch told reporters, via ESPN. “We’re in a safe place of work. … It’s a normal place of work. It’s a normal gym. We are safe, we’re healthy, and we feel really good about that.
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) is carted off the field after an injury during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles in an NFC Wild Card Round game at Lincoln Financial Field on Jan. 11, 2026. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
“That was important to us, not just to turn a blind eye, but to look into it because it’s our players’ wellness. It’s not only our players’ wellness, it’s coaches, it’s staff, all that. And it’s encouraging.”
According to the 49ers, the scientist learned that players and staff were being exposed to an electromagnetic environment similar to that of a gym or average workplace.
Still, the injury bug is something that the 49ers will have to figure out as the seasons go on.
General Manager and President of Football Operations, John Lynch watches players work out during the school’s NFL football pro day, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Athens, Georgia. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
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San Francisco was 12-5 in 2025, but players like Kittle, Brock Purdy, Ricky Pearsall and Mykell Williams each missed several games with injuries.
For now, it appears the substation theory has been shut down.
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Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley used a segment about UConn Huskies star Alex Karaban to go on a political rant during CBS’ broadcast of March Madness on Sunday.
CBS featured Karaban in a piece about his family. His mother, Olga, came to Massachusetts from Ukraine with her parents and grandparents in 1996. His father, Alexei, immigrated to the U.S. from Belarus on a work visa in 2001.
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UConn forward Alex Karaban speaks during a press conference ahead of a game against Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
After the segment aired, Barkley lamented the alleged treatment of legal immigrants.
“I want to be careful with my words right now because this is a really touchy subject for me,” he said. “I love that kid and his family, but the way some of these other immigrants are getting treated in our country right now is a travesty and a disgrace. I think there’s a difference between amazing immigrants and criminal immigrants. I think what’s going on in our country, what we’re doing to some of these amazing immigrants, is really unfortunate and it’s really sad.
“And that’s a great immigrant story. We have a lot of great immigrant stories out there that their stories need to be told, but some of the stuff that’s happening to immigrants in our country right now is really unfortunate, and it’s really unfair. But immigrants built this country, and we should admire them and respect them.”
Charles Barkley during a pro-am prior to Arnold Palmer Invitational at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge on March 4, 2026, in Orlando, Florida. (Tracy Wilcox/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
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Barkley didn’t cite any example of legal immigrants being treated poorly in the U.S.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has routinely announced arrests of criminal illegal immigrants who have been accused of heinous crimes in the U.S.
Still, DHS and agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) routinely come under fire for their tactics in arresting illegal immigrants.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani offered fresh criticism of ICE ahead of a “No Kings” rally.
“We’re making clear that no one is above the law in this city, that everyone has to follow the rule of law,” Mamdani said. “I have made clear to the president, both in our private conversations and our public conversations, about the fact that I believe that ICE is a rogue agency.”
Protesters hold up a “Stop ICE” sign after being removed from the building by police during a bill-signing event with Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
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Mamdani added that he believes ICE is “reckless” and “delivers nothing toward the furthering of the cause of public safety.”
Fox News’ Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
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