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MADISON (WITI) — Governors Scott Walker and Steve Beshear offered up a friendly wager on Friday, April 3rd in anticipation of the NCAA Final Four men’s basketball game on Saturday. Governor Walker bet an assortment of Wisconsin cheese and sausage, and root beer, that the Wisconsin Badgers will win, while Governor Beshear wagered Kentucky bourbon for a University of Kentucky Wildcats victory. In a news release, Gov. Walker said the following: “The Badgers have had an incredible season thus far and have represented Wisconsin admirably both on and off the court. As we face the Kentucky Wildcats in the Final...

What’s the worst thing that could happen when your Windows update takes longer than expected? Ask the Paderborn Finke Baskets, a German pro basketball team who got relegated thanks to Windows’ sluggish performance. The Spiralling Progress Indicator of Doom spelled the end of the team’s run in Division Two of the Basketball Bundesliga. As the home team in a match against Chemnitz, the Finke Baskets were responsible for the large score display screen. The laptop controlling the screen crashed right before the start of the game and upon re-start insisted on installing automatic Windows updates. The game was supposed to...

The Mid-American Conference announced it won't hold championships or meetings in Indiana in response to the state's recent signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, ESPN reported Tuesday. Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said the league would continue to avoid conducting business in the Hoosier state until, "the current matter is brought to a sensible and appropriate conclusion."

Rod Hundley, basketball’s irrepressible Hot Rod, who parlayed showmanship on the court with flair at the microphone to become a fan favorite for more than half a century, died on Friday at his home near Phoenix. He was 80. Hundley was an electrifying presence at West Virginia University, played for the Lakers and stamped his persona on broadcasting, mostly for the New Orleans Jazz. “Nobody did the things I did on the court and nobody has done them since,” Hundley said of his collegiate exploits in “Hot Rod Hundley: You Gotta Love It Baby!” (2012), written with Tom McEachin. “I’d...

The late North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith said thank you to all of his former players one last time in his will. About 180 former Tar Heels will get $200 checks from the accountant who administers his trust. The checks contain the notation "Dinner out."

On Thursday, University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari reacted to his team’s performance or lack thereof in his halftime interview during Kentucky’s game against Hampton, an inferior opponent.

One team President Barack Obama didn’t have the opportunity to pick when he joined ESPN this week to fill out his NCAA March Madness bracket was Oregon State, which has yet to recover from a disastrous six years under the guidance of his brother-in-law, Craig Robinson. Robinson, Michelle Obama’s brother, was fired by Oregon State after six straight disappointing seasons as head coach—the team went 39–69 in the Pac 12 and never made the NCAA Tournament or the NIT. Not only did Robinson fail to get results at Oregon State, he also left a mess for new coach Wayne Tinkle....

Like Las Vegas oddsmakers and nearly half the people making picks in ESPN's Tournament Challenge, President Barack Obama likes Kentucky to win the NCAA men's basketball championship. Obama, a die-hard basketball fan who has filled out a bracket for ESPN since he became president in 2009, picked Kentucky to beat Villanova in the title game. His complete bracket was revealed Wednesday morning.

The Southwestern Athletic Conference has suspended seven Southern women’s basketball players and eight Texas Southern players for their role in a chaotic on-court brawl Saturday night, the Advocate is reporting. The conference also announced that the game will count as a loss for both teams, meaning Texas Southern earned the SWAC regular season title at 16-2 while Southern fell to 15-3. However, Texas Southern announced it will not participate in the SWAC tournament because it will not have enough players to field a five-person lineup. Southern will have six available players for its game against Grambling on Wednesday in the...

Basketball is in the headlines, but football is the great corrupter in college sports. Headlines, even in sports, can be deceptive. But it’s hard getting around the contrast in last weekend’s banners regarding two universities that are involved in one of the greatest (though temporarily suspended) rivalries in college basketball. On one side is Syracuse. Having already removed themselves from postseason play due to self-reported academic infractions, the Orange were hit by the NCAA with more severe penalties: five years’ probation, twelve forfeited scholarships over the next four years, and the vacating of 108 wins accumulated with the efforts of...

On March 3, 1845 congress overrode a presidential veto for the first time. Congress reined in President John Tyler’s zealous use of the presidential veto. Congress is finally asserting itself over Obama but he says he will be too busy to be any part of it. I wonder how he will spend the day? Thoughts

K-State stuns KU as fans storm court Have you seen this video? This is going to get worse. I think it is time to put an end to storming the court except for championship games.

Dean Smith, who coached North Carolina to two men's basketball national titles, died Saturday night at the age of 83. North Carolina announced Smith's death Sunday morning. "Coach Dean Smith passed away peacefully the evening of February 7 at his home in Chapel Hill, and surrounded by his wife and five children," Smith's family said in a statement. "We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as arrangements are made available to the public. Thank you."

Two students were shot this evening outside Frederick High School near the gymnasium, police said. Officers were called shortly after 8 p.m. The assailants, described as four black males dressed in black, are at large, said Officer First Class M. Cox. A SWAT team was searching the area. Two students were wounded, and all other students and staff in the building are safe, according to an email alert from Frederick County Public Schools. Lt. Bruce DeGrange said the students’ injuries were not considered life-threatening. Police did not release the victims’ names because they are under 18. A junior varsity boys...

The Russian billionaire who owns the Brooklyn Nets has decided to sell the NBA team amid concerns about its financial losses and performance on court, according to reports. Mikhail Prokhorov, 49, has apparently retained investment adviser Evercore Partners to sell his share of the basketball franchise, which he bought for a staggering $223million in May 2010. The businessman, who is worth an estimated $11.1billion, currently holds 80 per cent of the Nets, as well as 45 per cent of the Barclays Center, the club's two-and-a-half-year-old arena in New York. Of these, only the team is for sale, two sources close...

One of the most gifted and ultimately tragic talents in NBA history has died. Former Dallas Mavericks big man Roy Tarpley, a terrific scorer and rebounder whose career was derailed by drug and alcohol abuse, died in a Dallas hospital Friday at 50 years old.

In the years since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hung up his playing shoes, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer has collected a host of titles, including filmmaker, author and cultural ambassador. He’s been a vocal advocate for African-Americans, and this weekend penned an essay for Time Magazine on the shooting deaths of two NYPD officers on Saturday. Some have linked the shooting to the protests that sprung up after grand juries failed to prosecute the officers who killed Eric Garner and Michael Brown. Abdul-Jabbar disagrees, saying the suggestion the killer was acting in solidarity with the protests is false and a danger to...

The Lakers each had the T-shirts on their chairs in their dressing room before the game. Every player except backup center Robert Sacre wore the shirts. "I think it's us supporting that movement and supporting each other as well as athletes," Bryant said after the game. "I think the beauty of our country lies in its democracy. I think if we ever lose the courage to be able to speak up for the things that we believe in, I think we really lose the value that our country stands for.

Rick Pitino says Louisville didn’t run up the score against Savannah State: ‘We played four white guys and an Egyptian’ Louisville beat Savannah State by 61 points Monday night, 87-26. With five minutes to go in the first half, the No. 6 Cardinals led 29-0 ... “I tried everything. We played four white guys and an Egyptian ..." [coach Rick Pitino]

Dwight Howard is under criminal investigation for child abuse ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ. We've learned the Cobb County PD in Georgia now has an active criminal investigation into allegations he beat his 6-year-old son Braylon with a belt buckle. TMZ Sports broke the story ... the Dept. of Children and Families in Florida (DCF) determined there wasn't enough evidence of child abuse to go forward, but it turns out the incident occurred in Georgia. Howard admits he hit his kid with a belt, but says he didn't know it was wrong because he was hit as a kid.