Latest news with #Cinderellas
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
NCAA basketball tournament expansion growing more unlikely for 2025-26 season due to 'logistics'
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Any expansion of the NCAA basketball tournaments is growing more unlikely for this upcoming season, according to executives in the sport. During a speaking engagement at the National Press Club on Thursday, NCAA president Charlie Baker confirmed comments earlier this week from ACC commissioner Jim Phillips that any expansion of the men's and women's tournaments would be 'tough' to do for 2025-26. 'I think that's a reasonable statement,' Baker said. He pointed to the "logistics" involved with any expansion. The NCAA basketball selection committees — responsible, along with the basketball oversight committees, for making any expansion decision — met earlier this month where committee members learned that expansion, if approved, would most likely start in 2026-27, multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting told Yahoo Sports. The comments from Baker and Phillips further advance that notion. However, during an hour-long address to the National Press Club, Baker continued to speak in favor of expanding the tournament to 72 or 76 teams to grant access to more worthy participants, such as those left on the bubble. 'There are every year some really good teams that don't get to the tournament for a bunch of reasons,' Baker told the crowd. 'One of the reasons is we have 32 automatic qualifiers (for conference champions). I love that and think it's great and never want that to change, but that means there's only 36 slots left for everybody else. 'I don't buy the idea that some of the teams that currently get left out aren't good. I think they are. And I think that sucks,' he continued. For more than a year now, college administrators have been seriously exploring adding four or eight teams to the 68-team field, a move that likely requires the addition of another 'First Four' site. Baker pushed back against suggestions that additional revenue from TV partners is behind the NCAA and conferences' desire to expand. It is not a 'big moneymaker,' he said, and the association would only want to cover the costs of expansion with any additional revenue. The NCAA has been in negotiations with the networks, Warner Bros. Discovery and CBS, for months now. Last month, Baker told Yahoo Sports that the organization has held 'good conversations' with those partners and that any decisions for 2025-26 would need to be made by 'the middle of August.' 'The big challenge is the logistical one,' Baker said Thursday from D.C. 'The tournament has to start after conference championships are over and the selection (show) happens like two hours after the last championship ends. And (the tournament) has to finish by the Tuesday before the Masters. There's not a lot of room there.' That hasn't slowed his support for expansion. In fact, Baker mentioned recent bubble teams left out of the field like St. John's and Indiana State. 'They should have been in,' he said. Expansion is 'a way to preserve the AQs and real Cinderellas, but it's also to make sure some of the 65 best teams in the country who get left out because of the 32 AQs find their way in,' he said. Baker addressed another looming issue: athlete eligibility standards. On Thursday, as he spoke to the press club, the NCAA announced a proposed legislation change to Division II eligibility rules. The proposal would grant athletes five years to play five seasons (five-in-five) instead of the current four seasons-over-five years standard. Such a change in Division I is on the 'backburner' while the NCAA adopts a new governance model, something expected next month from the NCAA DI Board of Directors. 'I would assume at some point (five-in-five) will come up again. I don't know if we'll land there or not,' Baker said of the five-in-five eligibility proposal for Division I.
Irish Independent
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Families embrace fairytale setting of Wicklow gardens on enchanting day of story and song
The event is one of the highlights of the Killruddery programme, and is an enchanting and heartfelt celebration of family, creativity and connection with nature. Young and old embraced the theme and arrived suitably dressed as knights and woodland sprites, Cinderellas and handsome young princes, making it a memorable and imaginative adventure. The gardens and woodlands were transformed into a wonderful setting for storytelling, creativity and playful magic, that included 'The Garden of Hidden Things' mural illustrations with Me + the Moon, 'Fireside Tales' from master storytellers Shane Ibbs and Helena Byrne in the Yarn story tent and 'Musical Moments' with musicians from the Irish Baroque Orchestra in the open air. There were also woodland sculptures to admire by artist Peter Sheehan and for those brave souls, a spot of potion-making. The day ended with the annual procession through the gardens, culminating in a feast of music for the 'Musical Circle' event, with musician Nico Brown. For those who missed out, fear not, but do mark your diaries for the quintessential pirate tale Treasure Island, which takes place in the grounds on Thursday and Friday, August 14 and 15, at 7pm. To book your tickets, go to
New York Post
23-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
A Thunder dynasty is the NBA's nightmare scenario
Normally, it'd be sacrilege to root for the Pacers — especially an Indiana team that eliminated the Knicks in consecutive years. But these circumstances compelled treachery from New York to every city outside of a small pocket in the southwest. Nobody expected the Pacers to get to the NBA Finals, let alone reach Game 7. They were Cinderellas, and then they were flirting with a new Disney movie script after Tyrese Haliburton's Achilles exploded in Sunday night's first half. But their magic ran out in the second half of the Thunder's crowning victory, 103-91. The Pacers hung around longer than most thought possible, taking a one-point lead into the break and riding, appropriately, their bulldog backup, TJ McConnell, in a spirited third quarter. McConnell is the embodiment of an underdog. He's small, he went undrafted, he has never even dunked in the NBA. And in Game 7 of the Finals, McConnell stepped into Haliburton's spot and dropped all of his 16 points in the third quarter.
American Press
14-06-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Scooter Hobbs column: LSU, Arkansas playing for CWS title early?
OMAHA, Neb. — One of the many wonderful quirks of the College World Series is that it doesn't get in a hurry. It meanders along at its own pace. Sometimes it seems like it takes a month to decide a champion, but in truth it never cracked the two-week mark, though it's always been full of ups and downs and soap opera turns of the plot. It's baseball at its best — no clock, as LSU coach Jay Johnson likes to remind us (and few coaches seem more intent on dragging games into four-hour territory than he does, with pride, no less, and few apologies). The CWS has squeezed it in some this year, condensed the road to the finals to better position the championship round for weekend television. Never mind that. This year things are going to happen quickly. No need to settle in. Ignore the silly jello-shot challenge across the street from Charles Schwab Stadium. Just watch LSU and Arkansas tonight. It's the final game of the opening round, both teams' first appearance. And, it says here with no false modesty, the winner of the Hogs and Tigers is — or will be — your national champion. They'll play out the rest of both converging brackets and go through the motions of the championship series. But the national championship is up for grabs tonight. And why not? LSU and Arkansas might not be the two best teams in the country, but they're the two best teams in Omaha. Also in their bracket, playing straight men to the main attractions, are UCLA and Murray State, the latter this year's heartwarming Cinderella story. It famously gets dark late in Omaha, but midnight tends to come early for aspiring Cinderellas up here. But thanks for playing, Racers. Over in the other bracket, Louisville, Oregon State Arizona and the rare Cinderella success story, Coastal Carolina in 2016, will do their own jostling. None seem capable of scaring Hogs or Tigers. It would be perfect if the bracketologists had set up Arkansas and LSU for the championship round. But the bracket is what it is, and those intruders beat good teams to get here. No need to re-seed just because some favorites were tripped up. One thing for sure, it will have a championship-game electricity with maybe the country's two best baseball fan bases filling the place up. The Hog Hats had the easier drive north, but LSU is famous for taking over Geauxmaha and will have their loyal Cornfield Alumni to even things out. Maybe Arkansas is due. LSU has seven national championships and the most exhilarating moment in CWS history with the Warren Morris deal. Arkansas is the best program with zero championships and surely has the most excruciating loss in the championship's history. The Hogs had a routine foul ball there for the catching that would have ingnited a 2018 championship pig-pile but instead was dropped and opened the door for an Oregon State comeback. Otherwise, the SEC would have won the last seven titles instead of just the last five. If Arkansas is the next champ up, it will make six different SEC to win the last six titles. Either team could win it all. One of them should . And one of them will get a leg up in the key game of the CWS. Yes, we're moving the so-called 'marble game' up in the rotation. It's the game Skip Bertman anointed as the key game. Normally, you recall, it's the second game that leaves you the last unbeaten in the bracket and makes somebody have to beat you twice. Tonight's CWS-opening winner is going to be hard to beat. Johnson begs to differ, though he doesn't argue the benefits. He's been to the championship best two-of-three twice, once with Arizona (where he lost to Coastal Carolina), again two years ago in leading LSU to its seventh title. 'The two times I've been in the finals,' he noted, 'we've lost one of the first two games. 'So to me it's not a death sentence if you don't win the first two.' But, he added, 'I would love to try the deal through the winners' bracket one time just to see how it feels.' For that matter, the previous time LSU was in the finals, under Paul Mainieri in 2017, the Tigers lost the second game and came to beat No.1 seed Oregon State twice. There could be complications. Baseball is screwy like that, where the best teams don't always win. But it's the tried and true path. And neither LSU or Arkansas would like to be in the pickle of having to beat the other guy two in a row. Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics for the Lake Charles American Press. You can contact him at shobbs@
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Women's College World Series: Oklahoma's five-peat chances, which teams can challenge and how to watch the tournament
One of the most fun weekends of the collegiate sports calendar starts on Thursday: the Women's College World Series. Taking place in Oklahoma City, this year's tournament will feature longstanding softball powers, outstanding pitchers, and a few hitters who can change the course of the game with one swing. Here's what you need to know as the race to crown NCAA softball's best reaches its conclusion. Who is playing? After Texas A&M, the No. 1 seed, was knocked out in the regional round, the final eight is led by Oklahoma, the defending champions. The other seven teams are Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Oregon and UCLA. With this field, the SEC has five teams, the Big Ten two, and one for the Big 12. How does the tournament work? The tournament starts with a classic double-elimination bracket. ( Find the full bracket here .) The double-elimination means that a team can still win the title after a loss, but their road is much tougher. Then, when there are two teams left standing, they will play in a best-of-three series starting on June 4 to decide the national champion. It's an incredibly tough gauntlet, and it makes Cinderellas a little less likely. But it also ensures good teams aren't knocked out for one bad game. NiJaree Canady has starred for Texas Tech, leading the Raiders to their first Women's College World Series appearance. (AP Photo/Colin E Braley) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) Who is the favorite to win? With Texas A&M out, it's Oklahoma. Even if Texas A&M had made it to the WCWS, it still might have been Oklahoma. The Sooners won the last four championships, and they have the ability to hit and hit and hit again. Playing Alabama in the super regional, Oklahoma shut out the Crimson Tide on Friday 3-0, then run-ruled them on Saturday, 13-2. The Sooners rank second in the NCAA in home runs per game, averaging 2.02 in the regular season. With hitters like Gabbie Garcia leading the way, if Oklahoma plays in Oklahoma City as well as they played in their regionals and super regionals, the Sooners will be celebrating their fifth consecutive title. Can anyone knock Oklahoma off the throne? The tough thing for the Sooners is that they will be challenged from the second they step on the field. Tennessee, led by Karlyn Pickens, has the lowest earned run average in the country. Their lights-out pitching knocked out Nebraska in the super regional and could cause problems for Oklahoma. A second-round match-up for the Sooners could be a game with Florida. The Gators can hit the long ball, and won the series when the two matched up in the regular season. Players to watch Nijaree Canady, Texas Tech: When you tune in to watch Texas Tech play Ole Miss on Thursday night, you'll likely see Canady in the circle as she leads the NCAA with an ERA of 0.89, or you'll see her hitting reliably and driving runs in. What you won't see is how consequential Canady is off the field. After two seasons at Stanford, Canady accepted a million-dollar NIL deal from Texas Tech and transferred. After just one season, she's led the Red Raiders to the WCWS for the first time in the school's history. Advertisement Karlyn Pickens, Tennessee: During Tennessee's super regional games against Nebraska, Pickens was asked again and again to pitch her way out of jams, or strike out hitters like Jordy Bahl. Pickens did it with a steely determination and a fastball that broke records. Seriously — her 79.4 mph pitch against Nebraska in Game 2 of the super regional is the fastest clocked pitch in NCAA softball history. Savannah Pola, UCLA: The Bruins had a thrilling run to the WCWS, and Pola is a big reason they're heading to Oklahoma City instead of cleaning out their lockers. They lost their first game to South Carolina in the Super Regional, then won by walk-off in the second game. That momentum carried through as UCLA shut out the Gamecocks for a 5-0 win. The Bruins knew they could count on Pola's three hits in that last game, as she's hitting .440 over the season. How do I watch the Women's College World Series?
