Free Republic

Perhaps the most exciting NCAA men’s basketball championship game ever played was also one of the biggest upsets. The 1983 North Carolina State University Wolfpack, despite being heavy underdogs to the University of Houston, managed to sink a last-second basket to win 54-52 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The iconic nature of NC State’s victory has played well to audiences in the 41 years since, and the NCAA has used images of the game and its players in publicizing its highly popular tournament. That a heavy underdog NC State team made this year’s basketball Final Four only added to the 1983...

Vice President Nick Saban?The long and winding road to the presidential election took another twist on Sunday, when President Joe Biden announced that he would not accept the Democratic Nomination for President, choosing instead to focus on the remainder of his term in office. President Biden immediately endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the nomination, ahead of the party’s convention in August. The move led to immediate speculation over whether Vice President Harris would indeed be the party’s nominee and if so, who her running mate would be. The early focus has been on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Arizona Senator...

Harris delivered her trademark laugh — often described by detractors as a cackle — while pausing at the event honoring the men’s and women’s NCAA championship teams.

The proposed deal with a Luxembourg-based firm would bring a massive influx of cash to the league Big 12 members are considering a first-of-its kind private equity investment to ensure the league's long-term financial and competitive security, multiple sources tell CBS Sports. On the table is a possible cash infusion of $800 million to $1 billion from Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners in exchange for a 15% to 20% stake in the league, those sources said. A portion of the money would go directly to the 16 conference members, and the partnership would give the conference access to CVC's investment services...

Over 4,000 female athletes have called upon the NCAA Board of Governors to protect women’s sports by barring male athletes from competing. The advocacy group Our Bodies, Our Sports reportedly delivered a “coalition letter signed by its 12 member organizations from across the political aisle demanding the NCAA take immediate action to repeal its discriminatory policy that allows male athletes to compete in women’s sports — taking trophies, roster sports, playing time, resources, and opportunities to compete from women,” according to the Independent Women’s Forum. The coalition of letters were delivered before the NCAA Board of Governors could meet on...

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill Thursday that will allow universities in the state to pay athletes directly for NIL endorsements. Before putting his signature on the bill, Youngkin said HB 1505, which won't take effect until July 1, helps Virginia schools be competitive in athletics and provides a level of added oversight: ESPN's Dan Murphy noted it's the first piece of legislation by a state that would nullify the NCAA's rules regarding how athletes are compensated for NIL deals. Rather than schools paying student-athletes NIL money directly, they've often leaned on independent collectives in which major boosters and...

Reduxx has learned that a feminine male has been participating in elite women’s collegiate sports in California after his biological sex was reportedly withheld from his teammates and his opponents. Blaire Fleming, born Brayden, is currently playing women’s Division I volleyball for San Jose State University in the reputable Mountain West Conference. Speaking to Reduxx, the mother of an opposing player revealed that her suspicions were first raised during the 2022-2023 season. “I first watched my daughter play Blaire via live stream and then in person for a second match,” the mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “My daughter...

ABC's telecast of South Carolina's win over Iowa is the most watched basketball game, college or pro, since 2019.For the third time in seven days, the NCAA women’s basketball tournament drew its largest audience ever.Some 18.7 million people watched South Carolina cap an undefeated season by beating Iowa, 87-75, in Sunday’s championship game, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings (which may edge up when final numbers come in early Tuesday). The audience is the largest ever for a women’s basketball game in the United States — and among the biggest for any women’s team sporting event.Sunday’s broadcast on ABC and ESPN...

Today, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics approved an unprecedented ban on the participation of transgender women, in a move that could pressure other major governing bodies of athletics, including the National Collegiate Athletics Association, to follow suit. According to the official press release, “Only NAIA student-athletes whose biological sex is female may participate in NAIA-sponsored female sports.” The policy does not specify how it defines biological sex, nor does it clarify its implications for intersex athletes. It also excludes athletes who have begun “any masculinizing hormone therapy.” This ban comes amid increased scrutiny over trans bodies in sport and...

Amid some already-historic changes around college football that include major conference realignment and an expanded playoff format, some interested parties are proposing another structural change to the sport: a so-called "Super League," according to The Athletic. The group calls itself College Sports Tomorrow. Composed of sports executives, university presidents, and at least one NFL official, it has a plan: Take the 70 most important programs in college football, including every Power Five school and Notre Dame, and name them as permanent members of a national league.

A New Jersey youth wrestling coach who was the first openly gay wrestler on the NCCA has been sentenced to seven years in prison for disturbing child pornography. Alec Donovan was sentenced on Thursday to serve 87 months in federal prison after he was found guilty of distributing child porn. U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi also sentenced Donovan to 30 years of supervised release.

The NCAA announced Wednesday it will lobby state gambling boards to ban player proposition bets in an effort to curb harassment against individual student athletes. As March Madness tournaments get underway, the college athletics organization said prop bets — those made on the specific stat lines of players, like how many points, rebounds or turnovers they make in a game — are harmful to the sport. “Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity of competition and leading to student-athletes and professional athletes getting harassed,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said...

https://apnews.com/article/ncaa-transfer-portal-22ef447ad67826138724cec3cd6ab581

Prior to Saturday night, only five wrestlers had ever won four national titles. By Saturday’s end, the list had grown to seven. Aaron Brooks and Carter Starocci won their fourth national titles only three matches apart from one another. The two cemented themselves in history since they were also the first set of teammates to win four NCAA titles in the same year. Starocci was the first to achieve four titles by a matter of minutes, knocking off Ohio State’s Rocco Welsh 2-0. Brooks quickly followed suit with a 6-1 decision over NC State’s Trent Hidlay. Starocci and Brooks, who...

A former high school girls’ volleyball player who was injured in a game by an opponent identifying as transgender is calling out a Democrat congresswoman who claims that having transgender athletes in female sports doesn’t hurt anyone. Payton McNabb, a 19-year-old from North Carolina, was struck in the face by a male who identifies as transgender in her varsity high school volleyball match in September 2022. The male knocked Ms. McNabb unconscious in a spike—a move intended to hit the ball in the game.The incident forced Ms. McNabb to spend months recovering from headaches and concentration problems. She also missed...

This really is March Madness! Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan posted her office pool brackets for the NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournaments on social media – to let everyone know she picked the winners based on which states offer legal abortion. “I filled out my brackets based on whether those schools are located in a state that protects access to abortion care,” the Democrat posted on X Thursday. “By this measurement, it’s only fair that Minnesota didn’t make the tournament because they’d have been a favorite for the title.”

Penn State wrestling has done it again. Cael Sanderson and the Nittany Lions secured the program’s 11th NCAA championship since Sanderson was hired in 2009 and Penn State’s 12th NCAA championship overall. The program’s first title came in 1953 and, under Sanderson as coach, Penn State has become one of the top dynasties in sports. The Nittany Lions, winners of the Big Ten championship and the Big Ten regular-season crown, entered T Mobile Center in Kansas City as the heavy favorites to secure a third consecutive team title and, while the three-day event concludes Saturday night, PSU has already blown...

Over a dozen female athletes are suing the National Collegiate Athletics Association for letting transgender athletes compete against them and use female locker rooms in college sports. At the center of the class-action lawsuit is Lia Thomas, the trans athlete who dominated the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships while a student at the University of Pennsylvania. The suit states that both the NCAA and Georgia Tech, which hosted the event, knowingly violated Title IX, the federal statute that guarantees equal opportunity for men and women in college education and sports. The lawsuit, the first federal action of its kind, seeks to...

Positioned all by herself at the free-throw line, Caitlin Clark with her foul shots made her way to the top of the NCAA Division 1 scoring board. Her team, No. 6 Iowa, won against No. 2 Ohio State with a score of 93-83, all thanks to her two free throws on a technical penalty. Clark undoubtedly surpassed the previous 54-year-old record held by Pete Maravich. Clark needed to score eighteen points to beat Maravich’s record of 3,667 points, which the player accumulated in a total of 83 games. She made history by gaining 3,685 points in her 130 games. Caitlin...

The Iowa star holds the record in both men's and women's Division I basketball.University of Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark has reached another milestone in her college career, breaking the NCAA all-time scoring record, a record untouched for more than 50 years -- until now. Clark broke the all-time scoring record Sunday against Ohio State, hitting 18 points in the game with a technical free throw at the end of the second quarter. The 22-year-old now holds 3,668 points and counting, surpassing "Pistol" Pete Maravich, who scored 3,667 points while playing at Louisiana State University in 1970. Clark broke...