Last week, after Michigan became one of four Big Ten teams to reach the men’s Elite Eight, coach Dusty May was asked how recent rule changes around compensation in college athletics had helped league teams have such success.

“You’d have to catch me off the record to answer that question,” May said with a smile.

The implication was clear: Now that every school can pay players — either through direct revenue share or via name, image and likeness dollars — Big Ten schools are no longer disadvantaged in recruiting by everything from booster bag men to shoe company AAU connections.

This narrative, of course, ignores many past scandals in the league, let alone that the Big Ten has produced plenty of contenders through the years. It just hasn’t won it all since Michigan State in 2000.

The overall sentiment is somewhat fair, however. While violations certainly occurred in the Big Ten, they generally weren’t as extreme as in other places.

Now though, it’s an open game and an open checkbook. That means game on.

Big Ten schools have already won the past three national titles in football (Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana), and with two teams in the men’s Final Four — Illinois joins Michigan — it has a chance to break that 26-year hoops title drought.

“I think now that the playing field has been leveled out as far as finances and things like that, the environments in the Big Ten are second to none,” May said.

It’s more than just legalized cheating, if you will.

The money allows Big Ten programs to take different strategies to construct rosters.

For decades, league schools seemed to battle each other over many of the same Midwestern recruits — effectively kneecapping each other over a point guard from Flint or a swingman from Indiana. In the end, many of the very best went to other conferences, anyway: Anthony Davis, Derrick Rose, Shane Battier, Antoine Walker, Jalen Brunson, Dwyane Wade and so on.

Last year, the two best high school recruits with Midwestern hometowns were Darryn Peterson (Canton, Ohio) and Darius Acuff Jr. (Detroit). They chose Kansas and Arkansas, respectively.

No matter. May, for example, has constructed arguably the best team in Michigan history without a roster full of area high school stars.

Instead, armed with exceptional scouting and plenty of money, he hit the transfer portal and brought in Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB), Aday Mara (UCLA), Morez Johnson Jr. (Illinois) and Elliot Cadeau (North Carolina).

Those four alone make up 65% of the Wolverines’ scoring, 66.2% of their rebounding and 74.2% of their assists. U of M is 35-3 and won each of its tournament games by double digits.

Then there is Illinois coach Brad Underwood, whose program, based on proximity to Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis, should be a historic powerhouse. Yet the Illini have only occasionally gotten the best local recruits.

That’s one reason Underwood has put an emphasis on targeting European talent by using newly legal money to sign players who would have otherwise chosen to play professionally over there.

Illinois is powered by David Mirkovic of Montenegro, twin brothers Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic of Croatia, and Andrej Stojakovic, who spent part of his childhood in Thessaloniki, Greece, before moving to California where his father, Peja, played in the NBA.

Add in some Americans, including unheralded-recruit-turned-superstar Keaton Wagler, and the Illini are making their first Final Four appearance since 2005.

“NIL has opened it up so we can actually get the really, really good [European players],” Underwood said. “Dribble, pass, shoot guys. They’ve been extremely well coached. They are fundamentally very sound.

“We’ve had ones before, but maybe not the top-quality guys,” he continued.

Maybe under the old rules, May is two years into building a program and still trying to make recruiting connections while Illinois is stuck in its good but rarely great history.

Not anymore. The entire league is awash with talent, with six teams reaching the Sweet 16. And while Nebraska basketball couldn’t do the impossible that Indiana football pulled off, the Cornhuskers’ first ever NCAA tournament victory (and then a second) is proof enough that a new day is here.

Even a title this weekend wouldn’t give the Big Ten basketball dominance to go with the football variety, but here in the new era of college sports, it would suggest another step in its revival, if not arrival, as a true behemoth.

ATLANTA — On the day before the United States men’s national team’s 2-0 loss to Portugal, head coach Mauricio Pochettino mentioned that he might elect to make some tactical tweaks to help star attacker Christian Pulisic end a long scoring drought and build back some lost confidence.

“Maybe we help a little bit to [get him] a little bit more closer to the goal,” he said.

The coach was speaking literally. Pulisic started up front as a center forward on Tuesday and found familiar cohorts in Weston McKennie and Tim Weah feeding him the ball. He received more passes than any other U.S. attacker in the first half and attempted seven ground duels, the most on the team. But he won only one of those duels, and although he forced a couple of saves from Portugal keeper José Sá, he was indeed held scoreless once again.

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It was Pulisic’s eighth consecutive national team match without a goal, the longest drought of his career, and by the time he gets another opportunity, at least 18 months will have gone by since his last U.S. goal. Increasingly frustrated as the first half went on, the AC Milan star committed a couple of fouls and received a yellow card before halftime. He was subbed out after 45 minutes.

“We were able to create chances, which if I finish chances, which I know I’m going to, then things are going to be a bit different,” Pulisic said after the game.

Pulisic’s struggles — plus a 37th-minute Portugal goal after a turnover by McKennie and a perfect passing sequence from Vitinha to Bruno Fernandes to Francisco Trincão — overshadowed another solid first-half performance in which the U.S. attempted eight shots to Portugal’s three and generated 0.45 xG to Portugal’s 0.26. The U.S. had seen more touches in the box, too.

Neither team had started its entire first-choice lineup, but in the second half Portugal’s extreme depth advantage showed. While Patrick Agyemang (Derby County), Tanner Tessmann (Lyon) and Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew) subbed on for the U.S., Portugal coach Roberto Martinez was able to bring in Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain), Matheus Nunes (Manchester City), João Félix (Al Nassr), and Francisco Conceição (Juventus), among others.

Mendes, one of the best left backs in the world, was quickly able to test Alex Freeman down the Americans’ right side and, after Freeman conceded a corner, a wide-open João Félix slammed in Portugal’s second goal — both assisted by Fernandes — in the 59th minute. At that point, the match was effectively over.

The March international window before a World Cup is a particularly odd one. The U.S. scheduled a couple of heavyweights in Belgium and Portugal, knowing that the results would hold massive weight on perceptions and narratives heading into the summer. It’s safe to say that two losses by a combined 7-2 will certainly define discussions over the next few weeks.

At the same time, there’s a reason Portugal boss Martinez called team assessments in March “worthless” earlier in the week. With a number of prospective World Cup starters still out with minor injuries and a number of roster spots still up for grabs, however, Pochettino needed further impressions from a lot of the 24 players who saw the field over the two matches. What did he see?

• Malik Tillman created five chances in 138 minutes while splitting time in a central attacking midfield role (against Belgium) and on the left wing (against Portugal). He created only two shot attempts for himself, however, putting one on goal.

• McKennie scored from a set piece against Belgium and found another great chance early against Portugal, sending it wide. He wasn’t as sharp in the second match, and his turnover near midfield sent Portugal off toward their first goal.

• Defender Auston Trusty played almost the entire match against Portugal and won five of seven duels. He was mostly stable out of possession, though you could make the case that he dropped back far too low on Portugal’s first goal, giving Trincão space to fire off an open shot.

• After struggling at right back against Jérémy Doku and Belgium, Weah was the team’s most dangerous attacker against Portugal, making six progressive carries (the most on the team) and sending in a pair of dangerous crosses.

• Aidan Morris and Sebastian Berhalter were given massive opportunities, starting against a dynamite Portuguese midfield. Morris, one of the best duel winners in the player pool, won a pair of duels and made seven defensive interventions, and each player completed four progressive passes.

• Freeman played 79 minutes on Tuesday and won four of seven duels, though he very much had his hands full with Nunes in the second half.

• Agyemang was mostly quiet against Portugal but was a lone bright spot against Belgium, scoring late.

For now, however, the biggest impression comes from Pulisic. The 27-year-old has now gone 14 matches for club and country without a goal, his longest drought since 2022.

“Physically I feel really good, feel really sharp and I’m doing a lot of good things,” Pulisic said. “I have to help my team to create assists and score goals and create chances. Obviously when I don’t do that it’s frustrating, but I feel like I’m close and I feel good things are coming.”

He will now return to Milan as they attempt to push up from second place in Serie A.

That’s two teams counting on his return to form.

Karachi Kings captain David Warner expressed satisfaction with his team’s recent performances in the Pakistan Super League, crediting their spin attack and improved momentum in crucial phases of the game.

Reflecting on a recent run chase, Warner said, “the last game chasing a smaller total I was a little bit nervous, but the guys have been playing very well and I think the spinners specifically performed brilliantly,the last two games have been outstanding, they have been able to bring the momentum back our way in the middle overs and that’s been able to win us both games I feel.”

Speaking about the match against Lahore Qalandars, he emphasized the importance of securing the result. “For us it was about winning the game first and foremost and making sure we got the job done. When you’re chasing low totals it can be difficult, we sort of got it down to the wire and thankfully Mohammad Abbas came out, in his first game this year and he hit two boundaries to win the game for us.”

When asked about standout performers, Warner highlighted Saad Baig. “it’s Hard to say one, – I think Saad baig has come back a very good player from last year, he looked like  more positive, good intent, last year he was finding his feet inside the team and this year I think he’s impressed me from what I’ve seen so far ”

Warner also spoke about playing in empty stadiums. “Look I think, you know In unprecedented times, we’ve played before in that environment and you know for us its about putting smiles on peoples faces and helping others out by entertaining on tv, so for us without the crowds clearly their energy, it brings a different energy to you and being in front of crowds is what you want but if they are coming back which I think they are, it would be exciting for everyone”

He praised Salman Ali Agha for his support on the field. “Salman Ali Aga is very good player , he’s helping me a lot on the field, he understands a lot of the players which I think is very helpful for me and I think having an experienced player like himself there as someone who knows other players from the other teams as well very well, its a bit of an advantage.”

On the presence of Australian players in the PSL, Warner said, “it makes everything comforting here, there’s a lot of downtime we are in the hotel a lot, we can’t go out much at all. So for us it’s about having coffee together, gelling each other and yeah trying to help a lot of young Pakistani players.”

Looking ahead, Warner made the team’s ambitions clear. “every time you’re playing in these tournaments you’re aiming for the final, irrelevant to where you come the year before. We are just going to try and keep playing better and smarter cricket.”

He also shared lighter moments from the tour. “after many requests they’ve given us one request that’s been done, so we enjoyed it, hopefully when we request some more we can go out and hopefully we can play golf at raya as well.”

Speaking about his stay, Warner added, “I  haven’t tried any Pakistans food since I’ve been here but now my good friend Usman khawaja is here, I will be going down there with him”

On the league’s quality, he said, “I  don’t like comparing other leagues around the world, I think each league is unique in their own way. I think what I can say is that the talent here in Pakistan, specifically you look at fast bowling, there’s a lot of guys that bowl high 140’s which I think is exceptional and they’re working on their skills and I think overall the competition is fantastic.”

Discussing his own performance, Warner remained ambitious. “hopefully I will try and score a 100 every time I go out there. If I can, I will.”

On his favourite left-handed batters, he said, “there’s a few Fakhar zaman is one.Saim ayob , is quicker on the pull shot as well so its probably similar to me.”

When asked about challenging bowlers, Warner responded, “Its hard to ask me as a batsman, because I don’t find any bowler difficult. I think one guy who is very skilful, I would say is shaheen shah Afridi but on our team we have got three very, very good skilful bowlers, Hasan Ali  I’ve faced in the big bash this year, his skills are exceptional and obviously Mir hamza with the new ball is very difficult because he would swing the ball back into the left handers and Abbas Afridi change ups are very good.”

On his future, Warner said, “Im commentating at the moment,” before joking, “I’m thinking about making a come back in to international cricket, I think Australia needs me. I’m joking, I’ll coach, I’ll probably coach down the line but at the moment I’ve got no interest.”