Between 31 automatic bids and shoo-ins from the powerhouse conferences like South Carolina, LSU, USC and N.C. State, much of the 68-team field for the NCAA tournament is already set.

There are still spots to be had, though, and two weeks for teams living on the bubble to make their case to the selection committee that they deserve one of them.

In no particular order, here’s a look at some of the teams the committee might be looking at for those last few spots in the NCAA tournament:

Virginia Tech (17-10 overall, 8-8 in the ACC)

The Hokies play in a tough conference, and their wins over Louisville and Georgia Tech help their case. Especially that Georgia Tech one, coming in double overtime and on the road.

But the home losses to Stanford and Syracuse hurt, and Virginia Tech could use a win or two in the ACC Tournament to solidify a spot.

Nebraska (18-10, 9-8 in Big Ten)

The Cornhuskers were considered a lock at one point, with a 20-point road walloping of then-No. 17 Maryland their most impressive win. But their losses to other ranked teams haven’t been close and a bad loss at home to Washington last weekend raises questions.

Washington (17-12, 8-9 in Big Ten)

The Huskies are one of the bubbliest of the bubble teams, with wins over Minnesota and Nebraska and single-digit losses to USC, Oregon and Maryland. Beating Oregon in the regular-season finale and winning a game or two in the Big Ten tournament would go a long way in getting them off the bubble and securely into the tournament.

Saint Joseph’s (21-7, 12-5 in Atlantic 10)

Already teetering on the edge, Saint Joseph’s might have sealed its fate with a 74-65 loss to Dayton on Thursday night. It had convincing wins over George Mason and a ‘good” loss to Utah but also lost to VCU, which doesn’t have a winning record overall or in the A-10.

Colorado (18-10, 9-8 in Big 12)

Buffs have wins over West Virginia and Kansas State, and six of their 10 losses have been to ranked teams or teams receiving votes. But most of those losses have not been close, and the availability of leading scorer Frida Formann (stress fracture in foot) remains uncertain.

Iowa State (20-10, 11-6 in Big 12)

The Cyclones get credit for a tough non-conference schedule, playing UConn, South Carolina and Iowa. But beating Colorado by 30 at home is the closest they have to a signature win – unless they can knock off K-State this weekend.

Quinnipiac (22-3, 14-2 in MAAC)

Very much an outsider; is the committee really going to give the MAAC two teams? If it does, Quinnipiac deserves consideration. One of its three losses was in OT at Miami, and another was to MAAC leader Fairfield.

Princeton (18-6, 9-2 in Ivy)

Hard to see the committee taking three Ivy teams, and Harvard is likely in because of the strength of its schedule while Columbia currently leads the league. Best chance the Tigers have is to beat Harvard on Friday, then hope Harvard wins the Ivy League tournament.

The NCAA recorded nearly $1.4 billion in revenue for its 2024 fiscal year, the association’s new audited financial statement shows. Even adjusting for inflation, that total is the association’s best in at least two decades, and it represents a nearly $91 million increase over the revenue total it reported for 2023.

The new statement, obtained Thursday by USA TODAY Sports, is the first that reflects the NCAA’s anticipated liability of nearly $2.8 billion from the damages portion of the proposed settlement of three athlete-compensation antitrust cases against the association what had been the Power Five conferences.

The NCAA’s latest fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2024. The proposed settlement was reached in July 2024 and received preliminary approval from U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in October. In notes to the new financial statement, the association’s outside auditors wrote: “The NCAA anticipates the Court will enter final approval of the settlement in fiscal year 2024-25.”

As such, while the proposed deal provides for the damages payments to occur over 10 years, an expense of $2.7 billion in fiscal 2024. As a result, for accounting purposes, as of Aug. 31, 2024, the NCAA’s net assets were shown as being a negative number: minus-nearly-$2 billion.

Setting aside the amount recorded in conjunction with the proposed settlement, the NCAA ran a surplus of nearly $166 million in fiscal 2024. Like the revenue total, that also is one the association’s best outcomes in at least the past two decades.

According to data collected by USA TODAY Sports dating from the 2005 fiscal year, the NCAA’s previous best annual surplus, adjusted for inflation, was just over $140 million in 2021.

The 2024 revenue of $1.377 billion is the NCAA’s best, on an inflation-adjusted basis – just ahead of the $1.372 billion in 2019.  

And the notes to the settlement show that the ongoing 2025 fiscal year shapes up to be even better from a revenue perspective.

Its revenue from the multimedia and marketing rights to the Division I men’s basketball tournament are set to be $955 million — a $122 million increase over the 2024 total, as the association goes through the first year of the eight-year extension to the contract it negotiated in March 2016 with CBS and Turner Broadcasting (now known as Warner Bros. Discovery).

In addition, the NCAA’s multi-sport package with ESPN that features the Division I women’s basketball tournament and was extended for eight years in January 2024 is set to produce nearly $53 million more in fiscal 2025 than it did in fiscal 2024.

Future increases in the revenue from those agreements will be more gradual the ones occurring in 2025.

In addition to the multi-media and marketing rights revenue, the NCAA’s other primary revenue sources are from championships outside the College Football Playoff, including from ticket sales, and from investments. For business purposes, the CFP operates independently from the NCAA.

In fiscal 2024, the NCAA reported just over $263 million in championships revenue and just over $120 million in net investment gains.

NCAA senior vice president of administration and chief financial officer, Mario Morris, said in a statement given to USA TODAY Sports that the association anticipates becoming debt-free during the 2025 fiscal year. According to the NCAA, this will come from the association making its final payment connected to its acquistion of the NIT basketball competition in 2005.

The NCAA “continues to provide its membership with sound fiscal operations and its student-athletes with quality benefits and an unmatched championship experience,” Morris said in the statement.  “ … moving forward, revenue generation is top of mind and efforts to reduce costs are a priority.”

INDIANAPOLIS – Several feet to his left was Travis Hunter. The same distance to his right was Will Johnson. In between, at the podiums for the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine on Thursday morning, was Cobee Bryant. 

Hunter and Johnson may be better cornerbacks and will definitely be selected higher at the draft in April. Neither, however, have much on Bryant when it comes to trash talking. 

“Just getting in people’s heads,” Bryant said. “That’s one of my games. I kind of (model) my game off Jalen Ramsey, because he does a lot of trash talk as well.” 

Ramsey, the fifth overall pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016 and three-time All-Pro who’s also played for the Los Angeles Rams and Miami Dolphins, messaged Bryant on Instagram this week. Bryant has been watching Ramsey highlights since high school. Ramsey finally followed him back on the platform recently and was complimentary of Bryant’s game, which was a thrill for him.

The posturing isn’t limited to a game setting. Bryant is a self-described “social-media guy” and often disseminated his thoughts there during his time with the Kansas Jayhawks and offered perspective on opponents. He and Kansas State Wildcats quarterback Avery Johnson had an offseason war of words on X, formerly Twitter, a year ago.

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But the most high-profile trash talk from Bryant came ahead of the Jayhawks’ game against Colorado last season. 

“I’m not going to lie, I have been waiting,” Bryant said at the time. “I already marked this on my notes… I’ve been waiting on this game all season. This is gonna be the game.” 

Later on social media, he posted, “Now I’m piss (sic) hurry tf (sic) up Saturday I meant that … bet.”

Kansas won 37-21 despite Hunter’s eight catches, two touchdowns and 125 receiving yards. Bryant did have two pass breakups though, and Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders messaged him during the week before the week to play man coverage so he could test him with his arm. The matchup against the Buffaloes was his signature trash-talking performance, Bryant said.

Bryant sees comments online and isn’t afraid to dive deep on the internet. 

“That kind of motivates me a lot, seeing bad comments people say,” he said. “It kind of gets me going.

“I try to take the comments onto the field and translate it to the game. Now the person can’t say anything no more in the comments.” 

Not letting it affect him once the whistle blows is essential, Bryant said. 

“Really just locking in on the small things,” he said. 

At the East-West Shrine Bowl, ESPN NFL draft analyst Matt Miller referred to Bryant as a “Trash Talk Team All American.” 

“I always try to prove a point to people: I’m really like that,” Bryant said ahead of the showcase.Fellow Jayhawks cornerback Mello Dotson was Bryant’s roommate the night before home and away games. Sometimes, Dotson would sleep in the living room so he could actually rest.

Even off the field, Bryant is always talking. 

“All day long,” Dotson said Thursday. “Before games, I didn’t want to listen to that. 

“He thrives off of talking trash.” 

Bryant launched “The Kickin’ it with Cobee Podcast” in 2024, although only five episodes exist on YouTube and none published in the last four months. 

On Thursday, Hunter within earshot, Bryant didn’t take the bait at the combine. 

“He’s explosive. He’s a good player,” Bryant said. 

Hunter’s college coach, Deion Sanders, was Bryant’s inspiration. His father was a fan of Sanders and talked to him after the teams played. When they met – two like-minded people with the gift of gab – Bryant became shy. 

The Evergreen, Alabama native – a town about halfway between Mobile and Montgomery – became the first Kansas player to be named first-team all-Big 12 in three straight seasons. 

Bryant had 13 interceptions in four seasons at Kansas, with four apiece in his final two years. 

“I know how to react to the ball. My reaction time’s pretty good. That’s how I catch a lot of picks.” 

But he is most proud of his tackling ability despite his size. Bryant is 6-foot but weighed 171 pounds at the East-West Shrine Bowl. He expects to check in at 180 pounds at the combine and knows to have success at the next level, he’ll have to put on weight. In the NFL, he wants to tackle big running backs and mentioned the Philadelphia Eagles’ Saquon Barkley by name. 

To those who insist he lacks the size to succeed in the NFL, Bryant does something uncharacteristic: he lets the film speak for itself. 

“I want to show the world that I’m one of the best in the country,” he said. “That’s my mindset.”The combination of having something to prove and that he “can do something to somebody” is why he loves the game. 

“It’s fun hitting anybody on the football field,” Bryant said. “In football, you can do a lot of things that you can’t experience outside of football.” 

Over four seasons in college, Kansas head coach Lance Leipold became like a father to him, Bryant said. Bryant wasn’t the type of person who always listened to authority, but Leipold was “on my butt about that a lot.” Bryant can get in his own head occasionally and this week he reached out to Leipold and asked whether he was prepared for the showcase that is the combine. 

“I know you’re ready for this moment,” was Leipold’s response, Bryant said.   

And yes, even though his first name is spelled differently, his namesake is the late Kobe Bryant. 

At Kansas, “HawkMamba” became his nickname after a team broadcaster said it on the air once.  

Living up to the hype of the Los Angeles Lakers legend is important to Bryant, who would be the second NFL player with the name along with the Seattle Seahawks safety Coby Bryant, but doesn’t mean everything. 

“I don’t want to be like Kobe Bryant. I want to be myself,” Cobee Bryant said. “But really, just living up to the name, because Kobe Bryant was a legend. I want to show the world, and I want to leave football a Hall of Famer. That’s what I’m aiming for right now.”

INDIANAPOLIS – Colston Loveland looked like he’d been in a rodeo accident.

Perhaps somewhere in the multiverse, he was?

Loveland, an All-Big Ten tight end who played for Michigan the past three seasons and projects as a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft, met with reporters at the scouting combine Thursday morning with his right arm in a heavy sling (no, he won’t be running the 40-yard dash).

He’s recovering from shoulder surgery and won’t be cleared to participate in full-contact drills for a few more months. However ESPN reported that Loveland’s surgeon wrote a letter to all 32 NFL teams in a bid to assure them that the former Wolverines star should be ready to roll for rookie minicamp in May and that he’d be a full participant whenever his future team’s training camp opens.

“It’s doing good, yeah, it feels great,” Loveland said when asked about his arm.

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“Surgery went great, got some X-rays – they look really good. Just taking it day by day.”

Loveland suffered the injury early last season and, though he often played through it, was limited to 10 games and couldn’t post against the hated Ohio State Buckeyes or in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Alabama. He still managed 56 receptions and five touchdowns – personal bests during his time at Ann Arbor.

But a 20-year-old who grew up in Gooding, Idaho, nearly strayed from his football path as a teenager … because of the allure of rodeo.

“I got like into rodeo because of my cousin,” beamed Loveland, “he was big into it – all my cousins were. And I kinda started getting into it, and I was loving it. But it’s a lot – you’ve got to get horses, trailers, saddles – you’ve got to get the whole deal. And I was still playing football and basketball at the time.

“And I did talk about it with my family, but I was like, ‘I’m just gonna play basketball and football, keep it at that, and I’ll just hang around my cousins and do it with them.’ It’s fun, the rodeo stuff.”

And indicative of how Loveland’s Idaho roots have shaped him.

“I just love just like being out there, like every time I go home,” he said, “the land, it’s just open. All my family, my cousins, everyone’s out there.”

He cites Gooding’s small-town values and the blue-collar work ethic he consistently witnessed as positive influences on his football trajectory, saying, “That definitely had an impact on me.”

Yet he did enjoy occasionally missing school when it was time to brand his uncle calves ever year.

“That was always a good time,” said Loveland.

Asked if rodeo translated at all to football, he cited the toughness required and need to convert every time you get opportunities to be in the spotlight.

And though he won’t be riding Broncos, Loveland might be playing for them – relatively close to home – next season after meeting with Denver officials this week. Sean Payton is admittedly seeking a “Joker” type player for his offense and, coincidentally, Loveland tries to model his game after Jimmy Graham, who filled that role sublimely for Payton when he was coaching the New Orleans Saints.

“I would say I’m one of the best route-runners in this draft, I truly believe that. Think I’ve got great hands,” said Loveland.

“Feel like I’m pretty polished.”

If still a bit banged up as football is apparently a more dangerous endeavor for Loveland than rodeos ever were – given his answer when asked if he was ever hurt during one.

“No, I actually never did (get injured), which I was lucky enough not to,” he said.

“This is really the first kind of injury I’ve ever really had.”

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CLEARWATER, Fla. — They are greatness on a treadmill, undeniably taking steps forward – from 87 to 90 to 95 wins – even as the forces of October seem to blow them back.

Yes, digressing from World Series runner-up to NLCS loser to NLDS sucker-punch can create undeniable appearances of regression, at least externally. For the Philadelphia Phillies, though, channeling those increasingly early playoff failures into something, anything constructive come next autumn is imperative.

“You always gain knowledge from years past,” says Kyle Schwarber, their designated hitter and often leadoff man. “And we’ve had a lot of really good things we can look back on and grab from that.

“And we can also look at the failure part and be very good self-evaluators and evaluate, ‘OK, that didn’t go right.’ And pull from that and try to be better going forward.

“It’s been the majority of the same group the last two or three years. All that experience now culminates in this year and seeing if we can perform, be healthy, find a way into the postseason format and see what we can do.”

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And suddenly, time could be running short.

The raucous gang that’s turned Citizens Bank Ballpark into the loudest postseason joint in the big leagues – punctuated by unmatched clubhouse bacchanalia when they prevail – is entering something of a collective walk year.

Schwarber and catcher J.T. Realmuto are both entering the final year of their contracts, with Realmuto’s five-year, $115 million deal potentially marking the end of a Philly run that began with a trade from Miami before the 2019 campaign.

And it still seems like yesterday Schwarber, who turns 32 on March 5, parachuted into Clearwater in March 2022, shortly after the lockout-delayed spring training began, his four-year, $79 million deal soon followed by a $100 million outlay for Nick Castellanos to lengthen the Phillies’ lineup.

The investments have paid off tenfold.

Those Phillies parlayed 87 wins into a wild-card berth and rode it all the way to Game 6 of the ’22 World Series, where the Houston Astros finally turned them back. But the October backslides – beginning with blowing a 3-1 lead in the 2023 NLCS to the Arizona Diamondbacks and bottoming out with a 3-1 loss to the New York Mets in the ’24 NLDS – take some of the starch out of the good.

The Phillies enter this season as defending NL East champions for the first time since 2012. Yet that flag was won largely before the weather turned crisp.

Cruel autumn

It’d be trite to term the Phillies’ season a “tale of two halves,” but it would also be painfully accurate. They sent a franchise-record eight players to the All-Star Game, by which time they’d posted a 62-34 record and amassed an 8 ½ game division lead.

And while that lead never dipped below five games, their performance went south in the 66 games after the break – in almost every respect.

First half: A .756 OPS, .331 OBP, 113+ adjusted OPS.

Second half: .741, .316, 107.

On the pitching side? A first-half 3.42 ERA, .657 OPS against and 3.41 strikeout-walk ratio devolved to 4.49, .767 and 2.97.

“It’s really hard, as good as we were in the first half, to replicate that in the second half,” says Realmuto. “To have two halves that dominant. For me it’s about playing our best baseball at the right time.”

The team never played so poorly as to provoke panic, and the malaise could be at least partially attributed to the perpetually comfortable division cushion. Yet before they could flip a switch, the Mets flattened them, their once-stout bullpen suddenly unsteady and manager Rob Thomson juggling the lineup and benching All-Star third baseman Alec Bohm.

With six players locked into nine-figure contracts, this winter was not the time for a revamp, not that one was necessarily needed.

Instead, club president Dave Dombrowski made significant but not sweeping changes: Left fielder Max Kepler’s bat will be a big improvement over Johan Rojas, closer Jordan Romano should backfill the ninth inning after Carlos Estévez and Jeff Hoffman departed, and the trade for lefty Jesús Luzardo is insurance against rotation regression, and a bridge to top prospect Andrew Painter’s arrival.

“I’m really excited about the pieces that Dave and John did bring in and add to the group we had last year,” says Realmuto. “If the core group of guys here just do our part and get a little better and continue to work, we’re going to be in a good spot at the end of the year.”

That core remains almost peerless. Ace Zack Wheeler nearly won the Cy Young Award, and he and Aaron Nola combined to throw 399 innings. Perpetual MVP threat Bryce Harper’s .898 OPS ranked fourth in the NL, and he, Wheeler, second baseman Bryson Stott and outfielder Brandon Marsh were all Gold Glove finalists.

Yet right fielder Nick Castellanos was simply league average in his production, and Bohm epitomized the club’s softer second half numbers, with a .268 OBP and four homers in his final 37 games before a playoff benching.

“If you were to look at the team on paper, it’s really good,” says Schwarber. “We showed that at points last year, how great of a team we can be and are. We won the division and obviously had an early exit, right?

“It comes down to us to execute in the postseason. There’s no surprises to our roster. People are going to look at our lineup, our starters and bullpen and know everyone. I think that’s the beauty of it – it comes down to us to perform and figure out a way to be the last team standing.”

Yet it’s not like the club can simply set an egg timer for mid-September to ensure they roust themselves from the second-half doldrums, right?

“Definitely not. You gotta work,” says Realmuto. “And by the time September hits, you gotta know what you’re doing well and not doing well and capitalize on those things you’re doing well.

“And the things you’re not doing well, do those less often.”

Always in it to win it

The NL East stakes were raised with Juan Soto’s $765 million deal with the Mets, who came tantalizingly close to a World Series trip. Yet in what figures to be a three-team race, the Phillies should offer greater pitching certainty than the Mets or Atlanta Braves.

And should Painter be ready for a summer promotion, he could provide a second-half gust at their backs that was missing last year.

That would be a welcome youth infusion for a club not getting any younger. Realmuto, who turns 34 in March, missed five weeks after undergoing meniscus repair on his right knee in June, and didn’t have his legs under him for a while after.

He’d welcome a return in 2026, better yet if it dovetails with the Phillies’ prosperity.

“My mindset’s kind of the same every year: If what I want happens, then everybody’s happy at the end of the year,” says Realmuto, who re-signed on a five-year, $115.5 million deal two months after hitting free agency in 2021. “If we win, if the Phillies win, win the division, win the World Series, the contract stuff will take care of itself. My free agency will all take care of itself.”  

Schwarber is in a similar situation. The Philles could be primed for a more significant reset after 2026, when Castellanos comes off the books and prospects like shortstop Aidan Miller and Justin Crawford are closer to contributing.

Still, Schwarber’s elite power and on-base ability – he’s averaged 44 homers and a .344 OBP in his three seasons – bring plenty of upside, even as his positional limitations, particularly with Harper ensconced at first base, limit roster flexibility.

Time flies when you’re having fun.

“It’s been a quick four years, going into the fourth year of it,” says Schwarber, who was non-tendered by the Chicago Cubs in 2020 and played for Washington and Boston in 2021. “But it’s been great. For me, it’s kind of like I’ve got that first chance where you feel you can settle in, get to know a group and kind of keep blossoming into who you are as a person, a player.

“It’s been such a great time and all you can ask for – walking into a spring training clubhouse and you’ve got an opportunity to win. That’s been my biggest thing – I love being on winning teams. We’re not playing to get through a 162-game season. We’re playing for more.”

And still well-positioned to finish the job.

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If you want to have a miserable time watching sports these days, tune in to a college basketball game with about a 10-point margin and four minutes to go. There’s a good chance you’ll get your wish. 

Vanderbilt’s 86-84 road win Wednesday night at Texas A&M was a disgrace to the sport, an eyesore of the highest order and a cry for help in a sport that too often doesn’t have a clue about how tedious it can become.

From the time the ball was inbounded with 3:33 remaining and Vanderbilt leading 70-60, it took more than 40 minutes of real time to complete the game. Why? In a game where officials blew the whistle for 52 total fouls, 14 were called in the final minutes, leading to 28 free throws. Toss in a couple of instant replay reviews, injury stoppages, timeouts and endless offense-defense substitutions by both coaches and you have the most unwatchable finish possible to a game that had the potential to be dramatic. 

Would anyone in their right mind find that entertaining? These bungled end-of-game scenarios are absolutely killing the momentum of what has been an otherwise fantastic season in college hoops. 

And what happened in College Station isn’t a one-off or just an SEC problem. Last Saturday, for instance, it took more than 30 minutes of actual time to play the last three of NC State’s 85-73 win over Wake Forest for similar reasons: Constant fouling, subbing and the compulsion of college referees these days to go to the monitor every time they’re unsure late in a game whose fingertip a ball nicked before it went out of bounds. 

Who wants this? 

In calls and texts to some administrators on Thursday morning, there is broad agreement that games are taking too long, officials are too reliant on the replay monitor and endless parades to the foul line suck the absolute life out of the game. For every great college basketball finish that comes down to a final possession, you will have at least one or two that gets pulled into a slog. 

There is no reason for these games to so regularly overshoot the two-hour television windows. By the time Vanderbilt-Texas A&M was off the air Thursday, the ensuing Kentucky-Oklahoma game on SEC Network had fewer than eight minutes remaining in the first half. 

How can anyone defend that? And guess what: In the upcoming NCAA tournament, where the TV networks squeeze in even longer commercial breaks, it will probably be worse. 

The good news is, this can all be fixed — if college administrators and the NCAA men’s basketball oversight committee have the stomach to fix it. 

Traditionally, men’s college basketball is glacially slow to change any rules. And the sport’s establishment gets especially offended by any suggestion that it should modify its game to look more like the NBA. 

But a crisis like this demands some fresh thinking. And it has to start with one simple admission: It should never, ever, under any circumstance, take 40 minutes to play fewer than four minutes of game time the way Texas A&M and Vanderbilt fans suffered through on Wednesday. 

So how do you fix it? 

The most obvious and easiest change is to go from two halves of 20 minutes to four quarters of 10 minutes each. This is a no-brainer. Every other form of the sport plays four quarters except for men’s college basketball. Not only is it asinine, it’s actively harmful to the game. 

Everyone in the sport knows that playing halves slows the game down because the moment a team commits a seventh foul, every subsequent foul results in a trip to the free-throw line for the rest of the half. If officials are calling the game tightly, that threshold can be crossed pretty quick. 

In every other league, including women’s college basketball, the fouls reset every quarter and there is less time being spent in the bonus after a team commits its fifth foul. Again, there is absolutely no logical reason why men’s college basketball does not conform to this system. 

The second easy fix is to get rid of the current instant replay system, where the officials look at pretty much every close out-of-bounds call in the final two minutes of a game, and go to a coaches-challenge system like the NBA employs. 

Though even the NBA approach to instant replay has its detractors, and its officials too can get a little too monitor-happy in certain situations, college basketball simply cannot continue on its current course. It’s now relatively common to see officials make a call and then immediately signal for a review, second-guessing their own work. It takes too long, it brings the game to a halt, it happens with far too much frequency and it shouldn’t be acceptable.  

Finding the right line between acceptable human error and the integrity of the game is always a tricky conversation. You want to get the close calls right, especially when there’s so much on the line, but nitpicking every loose-ball scramble or carom off a fingertip is a crutch for bad officiating and a road to nowhere. 

Just give coaches a challenge they can use at any point in the game or keep in their back pocket to deploy when it really counts, whether it’s an out-of-bounds call or a controversial foul, like the one Arizona got called for with 3.2 seconds left last Saturday to give BYU a 96-95 victory. Think Tommy Lloyd would have liked to have veteran official Tony Padilla take a second look at that one?

That’s what replay should be used for. Otherwise? You gotta live with human error. It’s a better way than what college basketball currently has, and it would almost certainly prevent some unnecessary stoppages in the final few minutes. 

The next two suggestions are in the more radical category but should be up for discussion. 

The first is to adopt a 24-second shot clock. A lot of college coaches would not like this because they enjoy the ability to set up the offense in the half court and call plays from the sideline. There is also a longstanding argument that the majority of college players aren’t skilled enough to operate in a 24-second shot clock environment and it would make the game uglier and more frantic. 

But the other side of that argument is that ultimately, players would adapt, it would help their long-term development for pro basketball and it would cut down on some of the foul-o-rama tactics at the end of games. It’s simply a math equation: When a team is trailing in the final few minutes, it’s often a better bet to play defense and try to get a stop when the shot clock is 24 seconds as opposed to 30. 

The final suggestion is the most controversial. The NBA G League has for several years now used a one-free-throw rule, which means a player who gets fouled goes to the line for one shot only that is worth the corresponding number of points until the final two minutes of the game. In other words, if you’re fouled shooting a three, you get one shot worth three points. If you’re fouled shooting a layup, you get one shot worth two points. 

It eliminates a lot of wasted time at the foul line and moves things along. It’s worth looking at because, let’s face it, free throws are the least-entertaining part of the sport. 

All of these suggestions and more should be on the table if college basketball is serious about cleaning up its act and presenting a more fan-friendly product. And if you can’t admit that 40 minutes is way too long to play the final 213 seconds of a basketball game, you shouldn’t have any role in the future of the sport to begin with. 

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich announced that he will not return to the sidelines this season, months after he suffered a mild stroke, but expressed his desire to eventually return to coaching.

‘I’ve decided not to return to the sidelines this season,’ Popovich said Thursday in a statement released through the team. ‘(Acting coach) Mitch Johnson and his staff have done a wonderful job and the resolve and professionalism the players have shown, sticking together during a challenging season, has been outstanding. I will continue to focus on my health with the hope that I can return to coaching in the future.’

Prior to issuing the statement, Popovich addressed the Spurs in person for the first time since he suffered the mild stroke Nov. 2. During the meeting, Popovich updated the team about his recovery and let them know that he would miss the remainder of the season.

This follows a report from ESPN Saturday, indicating that it was expected Popovich would not be returning to coach this season.

Popovich, 76, has missed all but five of San Antonio’s games this season. Assistant coach Mitch Johnson has been serving as the acting head coach in Popovich’s abscence.

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The Spurs were two games over .500 after upsetting the Denver Nuggets Jan. 3, but have since stumbled, going 6-17 since then. The team did acquire point guard De’Aaron Fox earlier this month in a trade with the Sacramento Kings, hoping that pairing him with second-year phenom Victor Wembanyama would elevate the team’s play.

Wembanyama, however, was diagnosed on Feb. 20 with deep vein thrombosis, or a type of blood clot, in his right shoulder, following the All-Star Game. The team announced that Wembanyama would miss the rest of the season, undoubtedly slowing San Antonio’s ambitions to contend under this rebuild.

The Spurs are currently in a four-game losing streak and are 24-33, in 13th place in the Western Conference.

Johnson’s performance with the Spurs is counting towards Popovich’s career coaching stats; that means Popovich — as of Thursday afternoon — has recorded 1,412 career victories in the NBA, most of all-time.

Is tight end Travis Kelce returning to play for the Chiefs in 2025? The answer, for now, is still not totally clear.

Kelce has not yet made an official announcement on his intentions to continue playing football next season as rumors of his potential retirement continue to swirl. But in the meantime, several comments from NFL personnel and media members have indicated that a return is more likely than not.

On Tuesday, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach told NFL Network, ‘We anticipate Travis being back … and that’s how we’re operating this offseason.’

Veach also expressed that they believe Kelce can still contribute at a high level both on and off the field for the Chiefs. The veteran tight end’s poor performance in Kansas City’s Super Bowl loss to the Eagles, Veach said, could be explained in part by an illness that Kelce was battling that week.

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Two days later, ESPN host Pat McAfee shared that his ‘source(s)’ told him that Kelce is ‘coming back for sure.’

McAfee’s source, who ostensibly is Kelce himself, said, ‘[I’ve] got a real bad taste in my mouth with how I played in that last game, and how I got the guys ready for battle. I can’t go out like that!!!!’

To reiterate, Kelce still has not made any official public comment himself, so any speculation about his return thus far should be taken with a grain of salt. If he returns, the 35-year-old would be entering his 13th season in the NFL, a career length that would match his brother, former Eagles center Jason Kelce.

Travis is coming off of the least productive season of his career outside of a rookie season that featured only one snap. He finished 2024 with career-low marks in yards (823) and touchdowns (3) on 133 targets and 97 receptions.

Still, the tight end has been a crucial part of the Chiefs’ offense since his first year healthy in 2014.

Kelce was named to his 10th straight Pro Bowl this past season and is a seven-time All-Pro, with four appearances on the first team and three on the second team. He is also a three-time Super Bowl champion and the holder of five Chiefs franchise records, including career receptions (1,004), receiving yards (12,151) and receiving touchdowns (77).