Sports
Arizona beats Purdue to make first Final Four since 2001
SAN JOSE, Calif. — For the first time since 2001, the Arizona Wildcats are headed to the Final Four.
The top-seeded Wildcats punched their ticket with a 79-64 win against No. 2 Purdue, setting the school record for wins in a season (36) in the process. The previous wins record had stood since 1988, when Arizona reached the first of its four Final Fours — including the national title in 1997 — under legendary coach Lute Olson.
Shortly after the game ended, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd held a microphone and spoke to the jubilant, heavily pro-Arizona crowd at the SAP Center.
“I know this,” he said. “There’s a good-looking guy with white hair looking down on us right that happy.”
The reference to Olson, who died in 2020, brought even more cheers from Arizona fans.
“Lute’s given me a great life,” Lloyd said. “He and I shook hands only a few times, kind of in a handshake line or something at a game. … His legacy in Tucson is so powerful that he’s the guy, there’s others before him, but he’s the main catalyst to make our program the center of the community.”
But this year’s team, in Lloyd’s fifth season in Tucson, has a chance to surpass all its predecessors as the best in school history. The Wildcats will take a 13-game winning streak to Indianapolis, where they will play the winner of Sunday’s game between Michigan and Tennessee.
Lloyd’s impact at Arizona has been historic. The longtime Gonzaga assistant’s 148 wins over the past five seasons are an NCAA record for most wins by a coach in their first five seasons, eclipsing the record set by Brad Stevens at Butler. He guided the Wildcats to 33 wins in his first year and had three trips to the Sweet 16 in his first four seasons. But the Final Four had remained elusive — until Saturday.
Against a veteran Purdue team, Arizona was led by its talented freshmen. The Wildcats’ three freshmen starters — Brayden Burries (14), Ivan Kharchenkov (18) and Koa Peat (20) — combined for 52 points and were unphased by the biggest stage of their young careers. Senior guard Jaden Bradley added 14 points.
Arizona jumped out to a 19-12 lead at the 12:37 mark of the first half and looked like it might be ready to put the Boilermakers to bed early. But even after Purdue star Trey Kaufman-Renn picked up an early second foul, Purdue started to claw its way back.
One key change came when coach Matt Painter inserted sophomore big man Daniel Jacobsen into the game just as Arizona’s lead stretched to seven. The 7-foot-4 Jacobsen had played just four combined minutes in the previous two games and had mostly been out of the rotation this month, but his size was needed against Arizona, and his presence helped shift the tide. But it didn’t last.
Inside the locker room at halftime, Lloyd addressed the team before leaving them with a parting message.
“I said, ‘Guys, the coaching staff and I are going to leave right now. You guys got a few minutes to talk amongst yourselves and kind of figure this deal out and let’s go kick their ass in the second half,”‘ Lloyd said.
Arizona needed just over five minutes in the second half to reclaim the lead and slowly pulled away.
“I was literally a spectator just like you guys were in that second half,” Lloyd said. “That’s what it felt like.”
Purdue (30-9) falls short of its second Final Four in three seasons, and the loss spells the end of one of the great careers in college basketball history in Braden Smith, who broke Bobby Hurley’s career assist record earlier this season and finishes with 1,103. Smith led Purdue with 13 points but was just 4-of-15 from the field.
During Purdue’s last possession, with the game’s outcome having long been decided, Smith looked at Painter as if to ask whether to dribble it out or keep playing. Painter told him to play and what followed was a final assist to Fletcher Loyer, who added to his Purdue record with one final 3.
“Braden was [a great player] for us for four years,” Painter said. “Very, very consistent, very competitive, good guy.”
SYDNEY: As Twenty20 cricket competitions explode around the world, Australia’s Big Bash League is struggling to chart a vision for the future, after plans to privatise its franchises stalled.
Cricket Australia chief Todd Greenberg is adamant that outside investment is necessary to shore up the game’s financial future and keep pace with a boom in other well-funded leagues played in a similar time slot.
They include the UAE’s ILT20, South Africa’s SA20, and New Zealand’s privately-backed NZ20 scheduled to start in December 2027, all bidding for the best local and overseas players.
“If those salary caps (of other leagues) are significantly higher than ours over the coming years, and players can earn more in those areas, then players will follow those. That’s a real risk to us,” Greenberg told local media.
“I want to make sure that for Australian cricket, our ambition is to have a league that runs at the key part of the year for us, which is the December-January window, and it’s the best T20 league in the world at that moment in time.
“To do that, we have to have a significant amount of money in our salary caps to attract not only the best players from overseas, but to retain and attract our own best players.”
He added: “The concept of bringing private capital to cricket is inevitable at some point.”
While not a direct competitor as it runs in a different window, the benchmark Indian Premier League has seen massive success thanks to wealthy benefactors, with England’s The Hundred also on a roll after an influx of private capital.
But it is a thorny issue in Australia with an initial proposal to sell stakes in each of BBL’s eight teams stalling last month amid concerns about a loss of control for the game’s local custodians.
While the Victorian, Western Australian and Tasmanian cricket associations voiced support and South Australia said it was open to the idea, New South Wales and Queensland rejected the move.
Queensland Cricket, which controls the Brisbane Heat, said it was worried about player payments skyrocketing to unsustainable levels, and that private owners may not be as invested in the grassroots game.
Cricket NSW, which operates the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder, was similarly concerned that it could be detrimental to how the sport is governed and how local players are produced.
‘Sugar hit’
There are also fears about an Indian takeover, with the most likely buyers seen as the rich IPL team owners who have invested in other short-form competitions around the globe.
Former Australian captain Greg Chappell is in the “No” camp, arguing that the BBL belongs to the states and communities that have built it into a successful and well-attended product.
While acknowledging the commercial realities, he said selling it off was not the answer.
“The moment you introduce private ownership at scale, you introduce a set of priorities that may not always align with the long-term health of the game,” he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Private investors, however well-intentioned, answer to shareholders, not to Australian cricket.”
Andrew Jones, a former head of strategy at Cricket Australia who was instrumental in the launch of the BBL, is similarly unconvinced.
“A one-off sale is a sugar hit, not a solution,” he said in The Australian newspaper, arguing that revenues can be better grown through sponsorships, wagering, ticketing, and more focus on commercialising the women’s game.
Despite scepticism, Greenberg remains confident and is now eyeing a hybrid ownership model.
This would allow the BBL franchises keen to sell stakes to do so while allowing those against to maintain complete ownership.
“If we end up not going together at the same time, can we still extract the same level of revenue, and can we extract the same level of value?” he said.
“I think we can, but I’ve got to do the work to satisfy a recommendation that would ultimately go to the members and our board.”
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The New York Knicks took a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday as the franchise eyes its first NBA Finals berth since 1999.
Jalen Brunson scored 30 points to lead New York to a 121-108 win over Cleveland, while Mikal Bridges added 22 as the Knicks never trailed in Game 3.
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The New York Knicks bench reacts during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game three of the Eastern Conference finals at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 23, 2026. (David Richard/Imagn Images)
New York is the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 10 straight during a postseason run. The last team to do it was the Boston Celtics, who also went on a 10-game run on their way to the 2024 title.
All but one of the Knicks’ wins have been by double digits, with an average margin of victory of 22.5 points.
Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell finished with 23 points in 38 minutes, while teammate James Harden added 21. Cleveland shot 12 of 41 from 3-point range and 12 of 19 from the foul line.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) drives to the basket against New York Knicks guard Landry Shamet (44) during the first quarter in Game Three of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Rocket Arena on May 23, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Cleveland rallied and tied it at 50-all on a jumper by Harden before the Knicks countered with a 10-1 run. They went into halftime with a 60-54 advantage.
Music superstar Taylor Swift was courtside for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night alongside fiancé and Ohio native Travis Kelce.
Swift and Kelce, who recently signed a three-year, $54 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, took their seats in Rocket Arena shortly before the opening tip.
Singer Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce attend Game Three of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 23, 2026. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
With the Cavs trailing 91-82 at the end of the third quarter, Kelce and Swift were shown on the arena’s giant scoreboard. Fans cheered wildly as Kelce showed off his team cap and wine-and-gold shirt.
Game 4 is set for Monday night at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. The series will return to Madison Square Garden for Game 5 on Wednesday, if necessary.
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Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs will host the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 on Sunday night. Oklahoma City enters the matchup with a 2-1 series lead.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sports
NASCAR’s Truck Series and O’Reilly Autoparts Series honor Kyle Busch with moments of silence at Charlotte
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The NASCAR world is paying tribute to Kyle Busch this weekend, and that includes some classy ones from two series in which the late driver had a lot of success.
While Busch — who passed away Thursday after “severe pneumonia [that] progressed into sepsis” — had been a full-time driver in NASCAR’s top series, the Cup Series, for more than 20 years, he still competed occasionally in both the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the Craftsman Truck Series.
He was especially known for his dominance in the Truck Series, winning 69 of his 184 races, and at one point owned a team. In fact, the final win of Busch’s career came just under a week before his death in a Truck Series race at Dover.
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Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, is introduced before the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 1, 2026. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)
On Friday, the Truck Series was in Charlotte as part of the Coca-Cola 600 weekend for a race that Busch was supposed to take part in.
NASCAR, RACING WORLD REACTS TO KYLE BUSCH’S SHOCKING DEATH AT 41: ‘CANNOT COMPREHEND THIS NEWS’
Corey Day was in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, the truck in which Busch took his final win, and it was set to start on pole after Friday’s qualifying was rained out.
Kyle Busch celebrates the final win of his NASCAR career at Dover Motor Speedway. (Photo by David Hahn/Icon Sportswire)
Before the race was set to begin on Friday evening, teams and fans held a moment of silence for Busch.
Unfortunately, the race never got underway and was postponed until Saturday morning and then again to Saturday night.
The O’Reilly Autoparts Series, which Busch raced in many times and won many times during his career, also took a moment to remember him before their race at Charlotte on Saturday.
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That race was also suspended due to rain.
There will be some heavy hearts on Sunday when the Coca-Cola 600, the NASCAR Cup Series’ longest race of the year, gets started at 6 p.m. ET.
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