HOUSTON — The party was long over at Daikin Park, with a sellout crowd having long gone home Monday night, but inside the privacy of their own clubhouse, Team USA decided to have their own get-together.

They sat around for about two hours after their 5-3 victory over Mexico, told stories, talked about life, and reminded each other that they still need four more victories to go where they ultimately want to go in the World Baseball Classic.

It was old-school bonding, just like back in the day, when players routinely hung around the clubhouse long after games and talked ball, without rushing back to their hotel rooms to play video games.

This USA team has been together for only a week, but they feel like they’ve known each other for years.

And, oh yeah, they can play a little ball too.

Paul Skenes pitched like the guy who is the greatest young pitcher in baseball. Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., making two spectacular plays, looked like the best young player in the game.

Roman Anthony looked like a guy who will one day be the face of the Boston Red Sox franchise.

And, yes, there is Aaron Judge, showing just why he’ll be going to the Hall of Fame one day.

The sellout crowd of 41,678 at Daikin Park watched him all but guarantee the U.S. a berth in the quarterfinals Friday night in Houston.

Buy World Baseball Classic tickets!

Team USA now stands atop Pool B play with a 3-0 record, and can clinch the top seed with a victory Tuesday night over Team Italy. They would then have two full days off before they play again at Daikin Field against Puerto Rico, Cuba or Canada.

And plenty of time for everyone to continue to extol the greatness of Judge, who has put this USA team on his back this tournament, with his teammates in awe the more they’re around him.

“Obviously, one of the best players to have played this game,’ USA third baseman Alex Bregman said.

Judge’s heroics began in the third inning when Mexico threatened USA starter Paul Skenes for the only time in his four-inning outing. They had Joey Ortiz on first base after second baseman Brice Turang’s error, and Jarren Duran hit a hard liner to right field, with Ortiz trying to advance to third.

Judge had other ideas.

While Ortiz raced towards third base, Judge snagged the ball on one hop, and threw a 92-mph laser to third baseman Alex Bregman, who tagged Ortiz for the inning-ending out.

“I mean, unbelievable throw to nail him at third,’ Bregman said.

Said Skenes: “One of the best throws I’ve seen.’

Judge barely had time to acknowledge the cheers from his teammates when he stepped to the plate with Bryrce Harper on first base. He belted a 2-and-1 slider from reliever Jesus Cruz the opposite way into the right-field seats.

Judge started his home run trot, pointed and gestured towards the USA bench as he circled the benches. The blast kick-started the USA offense, and by the time the inning ended, they had a 5-0 lead after 21-year-old Roman Anthony’s three-run homer, becoming youngest American to homer in the WBC.

“It was big time just to get that momentum,’ Bregman said late Monday night, “and capitalize on it offensively was huge.’

It turned out that the USA would need every bit of that offensive outburst with Mexico refusing to go away. Duran of the Boston Red Sox hit two home runs to provide late-game drama at the lightening round of the night. They threatened again in the ninth on Joey Maneses’ leadoff single, but Garrett Whitlock closed out the game with three consecutive strikeouts.

The Air Force Academy duo of Skenes and Griffin Jax kept Mexico’s offense in check during their two stints, delighting the Air Force Academy baseball team, who was invited to stay an extra day in Texas after playing Baylor over the weekend. 

Skenes, who spent two years at the Air Force Academy before transferring to LSU, gave up just one hit in four shutout innings, striking out seven batters. The former cadet was so fired up that he threw 21 pitches registering at least 97-mph on the radar gun the first two innings. And Jax, the first Air Force Academy graduate to reach the major leagues, shut down Mexico’s last rally in the eighth by coming in and inducing Alejandro Kirk into an inning-ending double play.

“Nice to feel like I’m doing something,’ Skenes said after his first WBC start, “rather than just taking up a hotel room and eating all the free meals. Good to go out there and do my job.’

And if it wasn’t the AFA duo shutting down Mexico, there was USA shortstop Bobby Witt to snuff it out, making two you-got-to-see-it-to-believe-it plays with throws from his knees.

“Bobby’s two plays,’ Bregman said, “were spectacular.’

Judge was so euphoric that when Witt came into the dugout after throwing out Nick Gonzales in the fifth innig, he got into his face, and yelled, “Are you kidding me?”

And now, the rest of the World Baseball Classic are uttering the same refrain about Team USA.

They are supremely talented. They play well together. And, yes, as Monday evening’s late get-together showed, they have morphed into a close-knit family, too.

“This team,’ DeRosa said, “is different. It’s special. And I’m proud to be part of it.’

U.S. men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino will be in the building on Tuesday, March 10, as his former club Tottenham visits Atlético Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie.

In footage released by talkSPORT on Tuesday, Pochettino is seen on a flight to Madrid along with several Spurs fans who serenade the Argentine and ask him to come back to the club.

Pochettino’s visit to Madrid comes amid intense speculation over the 54-year-old’s future.

The Argentine’s contract with the USMNT is up after the World Cup and most observers expect the two sides to go their separate ways when the tournament in North America is over.

Pochettino has made no secret of his desire to return to the Premier League at some point.

‘Yeah, I watch a lot,’ the Argentinian manager said in a December interview with the BBC. ‘The Premier League is the best in the world. Of course I miss it.

‘I am so happy in the USA, but I am always thinking about returning one day. It is the most competitive league, and of course I would love to come back again.’

Pochettino is the most successful manager in Tottenham’s recent history, leading the club to runner-up finishes in both the Premier League and Champions League during his tenure from 2014 to 2019.

Spurs are now at a low ebb, batting relegation in the Premier League with Igor Tudor in charge on an interim basis after Thomas Frank was sacked last month.

Why is Mauricio Pochettino in Madrid?

Pochettino’s trip to Madrid could have multiple purposes.

Though he’s going to Tuesday’s match as a guest of Atlético, he will also have the chance to catch up with Tottenham leadership and potentially chat about the club’s soon-to-be-vacant coaching position.

Pochettino hasn’t been known to scout many European-based USMNT players in person, but should have the opportunity to watch Atlético Madrid midfielder Johnny Cardoso in action.

Cardoso has been improving lately for Los Rojiblancos and appears to be on the bubble for Pochettino’s World Cup roster.

There is also the matter of Atlético’s crosstown rival Real Madrid, which is also reportedly eyeing Pochettino for next season.

According to ESPN, Pochettino is on the shortlist for Los Blancos as they eye a permanent replacement for Álvaro Arbeloa. Could Pochettino’s visit to Madrid also include a trip to Real?

Pochettino will be back in the United States by next week as he gathers his roster for two upcoming friendlies in Atlanta. The USMNT will face Belgium on March 28 and Portugal on March 31.

College basketball is well into postseason mode with the remaining high-major conference tournaments getting underway around the country this week.

It’s a time of the year that makes or breaks a head coach’s career at their respective school. Look at the handful of universities that ‘part ways’ with head coaches each March after disappointing postseason runs.

But it’s also one that can make a name for a young head coach as they lead their respective team on a March Madness run. A recent example of this is Dusty May, who leveraged a Florida Atlantic Final Four run into becoming the head coach at Michigan, which won the outright Big Ten regular season championship this season.

The 2026 men’s NCAA Tournament is expected to be flooded with some of the top coaching talent in the country, both young and experienced. There’s Dan Hurley, who’s looking for his third national title in the last four years at Connecticut. There’s also Jon Scheyer at Duke, who is looking to bring the first national championship to Durham, North Carolina since Mike Krzyzewski retired.

There are also veteran coaches such as Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Arkansas’ John Calipari and Kansas’ Bill Self, who have all proven they can rip off a deep run in March at any time. But who are the top coaches in the sport heading into the heart of this year’s conference tournaments and March Madness?

Here’s a look at the top coaches, ranked, in men’s college basketball heading into March:

Ranking top 10 coaches in men’s college basketball

1. Dan Hurley, UConn

When Hurley took over the program in 2018, the Huskies had not made the NCAA tournament in back-to-back years since 2011-12. The program lacked the physicality and toughness that it once had under Jim Calhoun. He has since built UConn back into a national powerhouse, famously warning the entire country about this after a loss at Villanova in 2020 that the Huskies were ‘coming’ after all.

Since then, he led the Huskies to back-to-back national championships in 2023 and 2024 and has his program back to being a national championship contender after not meeting expectations last season with a second-round exit in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

2. Jon Scheyer, Duke

Taking over for the legendary Krzyzewski can be a daunting task. Jon Scheyer, however, has made it look seamless, as the Blue Devils have retained their status as one of the top programs (with the help of players such as Cooper Flagg and Cameron Boozer). He’s once again in the mix for national coach of the year with the Blue Devils sitting at 29-2 overall on the season and in line for their second consecutive ACC tournament title.

But Scheyer’s resume is still missing a national championship, and that’s what has him under Hurley on the list. That title very much could be in store for him this season, though, given how dominant the Blue Devils have been.

3. Tommy Lloyd, Arizona

Speaking of former assistants who have thrived as head coaches, Tommy Lloyd is right up there with Scheyer. The former Gonzaga assistant under Mark Few is 140-35 in his five seasons with Arizona, and has passed Brad Stevens for the most wins in the first five seasons.

Lloyd hasn’t made it past the Sweet 16, however, and has a first-round loss to No. 15 seed Princeton in 2023.

4. Dusty May, Michigan

Everyone remembers the Owls’ Final Four in 2023 that helped May land the Michigan job, and a 19-win improvement in his first season that finished with a trip to the Sweet 16.

He bought into the transfer portal over the offseason to build a national championship contender that’s in line for its fourth NCAA tournament 1-seed in program history. Their NCAA tournament resume features 14 Quad 1 wins — highlighted by their 3-0 record at the Players Era Festival Championship over San Diego State, Auburn and Gonzaga — and five top-25 wins in Big Ten play over Southern California, Nebraska, Purdue, Michigan State and Illinois.

5. Todd Golden, Florida

In Year 3 at Florida last season, Golden, then 39 years old, became the youngest coach to lead a team to a national championship since Jim Valvano did so at North Carolina State in 1983. It’s a national championship that brought the Gators back into national contention for the first time since the Billy Donovan Era in Gainesville, putting him in the class of elite young coaches in the country.

This season, Golden has done a fantastic job of turning around the Gators’ season after they went 5-4 in the first month and 0-3 against top five opponents in Arizona, Duke and UConn. Since then, the Gators are 19-2 and are knocking at the door of the 1-seed line.

6. Tom Izzo, Michigan State

It’s March, so don’t count out Izzo. The 71-year-old coach has won 59 games in the NCAA tournament, which he’ll be leading the Spartans to for the 28th consecutive season this year. He might not have his best national contending roster this year, but the Spartans can still do some damage in the NCAA tournament.

7. Kelvin Sampson, Houston

8. John Calipari, Arkansas

There aren’t many active coaches who have a national title and multiple Final Four appearances on their resumes outside of John Calipari. He led the Razorbacks to a Sweet 16 appearance in Year 1 at Arkansas, where they nearly made the Elite Eight.

His Xs and Os may not be what they were during the prime of his tenure at Kentucky, but he can still recruit like no other, develop NBA talent and still coach. Any form of Coach Cal is better than no Coach Cal.

9. Bill Self, Kansas

Kansas’ 2025-26 season hasn’t necessarily gone exactly as planned with a 22-9 record and Darryn Peterson drawing attention for his limited minutes usage. Yet, the Jayhawks still find themselves between the 3- and 5-seed line. It’s a true testament to Self’s coaching and adaptability.

10. Rick Pitino, St. John’s

Rick Pitino led St. John’s on a magical run last season, where it won its first Big East Tournament crown since 2000 and earned a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Basketball Hall of Fame coach, who won his 900th career on-court game earlier this season, reloaded his roster through the transfer portal and has the Johnnies once again atop the conference with UConn.

The Johnnies sometimes lack production from their front court outside of Zuby Ejiofor, but their defense is what makes them a headache for teams to scout. Just look at their statement win at Madison Square Garden vs. the Huskies.

Honorable Mentions

Here’s a list, in no particular order, of coaches that just missed the top 10 cut line:

Mark Few, Gonzaga
Matt Painter, Purdue
T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State
Brad Underwood, Illinois

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

Wrexham is chasing a fourth straight promotion as the EFL Championship season enters its home stretch.

The Red Dragons are aiming to reach the Premier League to complete a remarkable rise up the English pyramid.

Actors Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds purchased Wrexham in late 2020, and since then the team has gained worldwide notoriety through the FX series ‘Welcome to Wrexham.’

Wrexham has also been on an incredible upward trajectory that started in the fifth-tier National League. Here’s the team’s history since the Hollywood takeover:

2020-21: 8th place, National League
2021-22: 2nd place, National League (lost playoff to Grimsby Town)
2022-23: 1st place, National League (promoted to League Two)
2023-24: 2nd place, League Two (promoted to League One)
2024-25: 2nd place, League One (promoted to EFL Championship)

Now Wrexham is chasing the ultimate goal of a place in the English top flight. Here’s where the Red Dragons currently stand.

Wrexham standings: EFL Championship table

*Standings as of March 10

The EFL Championship season comprises 46 league games per team. The top two finishers at the end of the season will earn automatic promotion to the Premier League.

The teams that finish in third, fourth, fifth and sixth place will go into a playoff, with one more place in the English top flight on the line.

Here are the full Championship standings.

How to watch Wrexham vs Hull City

Wrexham has a massive game on Tuesday, March 10, when it faces Hull City, which sits one place ahead in the table. Here’s all you need to know.

When: Tuesday, March 10
Where: Racecource Ground (Wrexham, Wales)
Time: 3:45 p.m. ET
Channel/streaming: Paramount+ (WATCH HERE)

Wrexham vs. Hull City game odds

Ilona Löwen, the wife of St. Louis City star Eduard Löwen, died of brain cancer on Monday, March 9, the MLS club announced.

Per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Löwen was 28 years old.

St. Louis City released a statement on Monday, saying: ‘After a two-year battle with cancer, Ilona Löwen passed away this morning, March 9, 2026.

‘We grieve alongside Edu and all those impacted by this loss and ask the City community to keep them in your prayers during this difficult time. Ilona was a beautiful example of love, humility, and kindness and will be deeply missed.’

The club also shared a message from the family’s pastor, Marc Sikma, which read: ‘Edu and Ilona built their life on faith in Christ, and we find comfort in knowing Ilona’s suffering is over and that she is now in the eternal presence of her Savior.’

Löwen announced his wife’s cancer diagnosis in 2024 after he had taken some time away from the team.

The German midfielder again took a leave of absence last year before returning for the second half of the campaign. He has not played for St. Louis in the club’s first three games of 2026.

‘We’re heartbroken to hear of Ilona Löwen’s passing, and we send our deepest condolences and love to Eduard Löwen, his family, and the entire St. Louis City community,’ MLS said in a statement.

Löwen signed with St. Louis City as a Designated Player in 2022 after spending his entire career in his native Germany.

The 29-year-old has 17 goals and nine assists across 71 regular-season matches in MLS.

A North Carolina man prosecutors say had a ‘leadership role’ in a massive college basketball point shaving scheme has pleaded guilty to bribery, wire fraud and firearms charges.

Jalen Smith, 30, of Charlotte, was the first of 26 defendants to admit criminal wrongdoing, entering his plea on Monday, March 9, at a hearing in Philadelphia. 

Smith was a ‘fixer’ who recruited players ‘to underperform and help ensure their team failed to cover the spread in games during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 NCAA men’s basketball seasons,’ federal prosecutors said in a statement.

Smith was one of the primary figures in the operation, responsible for ‘recruiting, managing, and paying players for their roles,’ according to the statement.

The operation involved 39 players on more than 17 Division I teams from 2022-2025, with bettors wagering millions of dollars on at least 29 different games, according to the original indictment in January. Payments to players ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 per game.

The fraud charges carry a maximum sentence of up to 20 years. The bribery charges have a maximum sentence of five years. Smith also pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm.

The best story of this World Baseball Classic is not the baseball overdogs, the absurdly talented Team USA or Dominican Republic squads that mix next-level baseball talent with bloodless execution.

Nor is it – at least not yet – Shohei Ohtani, who blasted a pair of home runs as Japan quietly prevailed in its pool in Tokyo. And never mind the goofy upstarts from countries we weren’t sure played baseball – though Italy may make its biggest WBC mark yet.

No, the most remarkable group once again hails from an island of 3.2 million, a fraction of the population in the Dominican or Cuba and a miniscule slice of humanity relative to the global superpowers that count their citizens in the hundreds of millions.

For the sixth time in as many iterations of the WBC, Puerto Rico is on to the quarterfinals. That’s a claim the Dominicans can’t make, having once failed to escape group play. And it may seem ho-hum, given the island of Clemente and Beltran and many Molinas established its hardball bona fides several generations ago.

Yet the baseball-mad territory has been dealt setback after setback going on decades, be it subjugation to the Major League Baseball draft, to a series of hurricanes pounding the island to now, this strange situation involving insurance coverage and the terrible misfortune that it just so happened to befall nearly a dozen Puerto Rican ballplayers, thinning a strong yet already compromised talent pool.

Certainly, you’ve heard about the holy trinity of Puerto Rican shortstops, that Francisco Lindor was denied insurance (he’d end up fracturing a hamate bone, anyway), and the actuaries wouldn’t come near Carlos Correa’s medical charts, and that Javy Baez was sidelined for a years-ago marijuana violation that wouldn’t have cost him any games in Major League Baseball.

But the insurance monster wouldn’t stop until ace Jose Berríos was knocked out, along with useful reliever Alexis Diaz and, perhaps most importantly, switch-hitting catcher Victor Caratini.

All this coming on an island that hasn’t been the same after it was ravaged for eight days in 2017 by Hurricane Maria, dealing long-term setbacks to its infrastructure while its leader tossed paper towels at the problem.

It’s been nearly a decade since Maria. Perhaps you tuned into the Super Bowl halftime show and appreciated the Puerto Rican struggle.

If not, Puerto Rico manager Yadier Molina can fill you in on the baseball end of that equation.

“Here in Puerto Rico, there are a lot of parks that haven’t been repaired since Maria,” says Molina, the former St. Louis Cardinals great and youngest of the Molina catcher troika, before the team’s colossal pool play showdown against Cuba. “We need to give a little TLC to the sport. Everyone talks about education and health, but we need to talk about the sports, also.

“We need to help it, and we need to move it forward.”

Yet help or no help, the Puerto Ricans always seem to move it forward.

Minus Caratini, the Boricua once again summoned 39-year-old Martín Maldonado to put on the gear and squat behind the plate. One of the major leagues’ most respected backstops, Maldonado might have played his final MLB game, and besides, he was just a .204 career hitter, anyway.

Yet you don’t last 15 years in the major leagues without something special. And so when Puerto Rico trailed by a run, bottom of the ninth against Panama in a March 7 game that could have jeopardized its hopes, Maldonado simply rolled an opposite-field single to right field that keyed the tying rally.

An inning later, Darell Hernaiz hit a walk-off home run that generated roars in San Juan that probably endured through the team’s off day.

Against Cuba, it was Maldonado’s spot that came up in a scoreless game, second inning, bases loaded. And the .204 hitter smoked a first-pitch slider into the left field corner. Three runs scored.

Maldonado handled the five-pitcher relay with aplomb; Puerto Rico held Cuba to two hits. The 4-1 victory ensured their spot in the quarterfinals.

Logic would suggest this is where the Boricua get in over their heads. Yet history suggests otherwise: Puerto Rico advanced to the championship game in both 2013 and 2017 – as many WBC finals appearances as Team USA, and one more than the Dominicans. Sure, the Puerto Ricans haven’t yet won it all, but they’ve nonetheless punched above their weight significantly.

It’s easy to laugh off the immaculate vibes that always surround this squad. Team Rubio and all that, and court jester Kiké Hernández – another injury casualty this time around – keeping it all loose.

Yet the 20,000 fans who jam Estadio Hiram Bithorn and the many thousands more watching elsewhere create an expectation for the squad.

“We as Puerto Ricans take that very serious,” veteran catcher Christian Vazquez said before the Cuba matchup. “We see there’s a lot of children looking up to us, and they’re going to step into our shoes when there’s another Classic, and we’re going to have to keep on being a role model.

“So, it has a weight, and we do take that very seriously.”

Consider the tradition upheld. Even if the odds seem to get longer every single time.