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March Madness arrives with a waiting game for the Tar Heels and Longhorns on Selection Sunday

For bubble teams North Carolina and Texas, Selection Sunday will feel like the longest day of the year. For top seeds in waiting like Duke and Auburn, making it into the NCAA Tournament isn’t a matter of if — only when and where. Most of the drama when the March Madness brackets are revealed will revolve around the Tar Heels and Longhorns, who are on the bubble but saw their chances of making the field of 68 shrink thanks to Colorado State’s surprise run through the Mountain West Conference tournament.

Proctor, Knueppel carry No. 1 Duke past No. 13 Louisville 73-62 for 2nd ACC title in 3 years

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Tyrese Proctor scored 19 points on six 3-pointers, Kon Knueppel added 18 points and No. 1 Duke defeated 13th-ranked Louisville 73-62 on Saturday night to clinch its second Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship in three seasons under Jon Scheyer. It was Duke’s 23rd ACC title overall, the most of any team in conference history. Sion James added 15 points for Duke, which played its final two tournament games without ACC player of the year Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown due to injuries. Terrence Edwards Jr. scored 29 points on five 3s for Louisville, which was playing in its first ACC final since joining the league in 2014.

No. 6 St. John’s beats Creighton 82-66 for 1st Big East Tournament crown in 25 years

NEW YORK (AP) — RJ Luis Jr. scored all but two of his 29 points after halftime and No. 6 St. John’s made 14 straight shots from the field in the second half to beat Creighton 82-66 for its first Big East Tournament title in 25 years. Zuby Ejiofor added 20 points for the top-seeded Red Storm, who reached 30 wins for the third time in program history. They earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, making 72-year-old Hall of Famer Rick Pitino the first coach to take six schools to the Big Dance. Pitino also became the first coach to win the Big East Tournament at two schools. Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 15 for Creighton.

Alex Ovechkin scores 887th goal to move within 8 of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 887th career goal Saturday to move within eight of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record. Ovechkin deflected a shot from Martin Fehervary past Georgi Romanov with 9:06 remaining in the third period. Romanov is the NHL-record 182nd goalie that Ovechkin has scored on. The 39-year-old Russian star has 34 goals on the season. He remains on pace before the end of this season to pass Gretzky’s mark of 894 that long seemed unapproachable before the end of this season.

From Nomo to Ichiro to Ohtani: Japan’s baseball rise in MLB hits high point in Dodgers-Cubs series

TOKYO (AP) — Nearly 25 years after Ichiro Suzuki embarked on a Hall of Fame career for the Seattle Mariners, the impact of Japanese players in Major League Baseball is at a high point. The defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers will face the Chicago Cubs in two regular-season games in Tokyo, and Japanese players will be the centerpiece of the experience. Two-way Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is widely considered the best player in the world while teammates Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki are important parts of the pitching staff. Over on the Cubs, Seiya Suzuki is one of the best hitters in the lineup, while Shota Imanaga is the ace pitcher. He’ll face Yamamoto on Tuesday in the first all-Japanese starting pitcher duel in MLB history.

McLaren’s Lando Norris wins wet and wild Australian Grand Prix. Hamilton finishes 10th

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — McLaren’s Lando Norris has won a chaotic rain-affected Australian Grand Prix, his first victory at Albert Park, with the British driver just managing to stay ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen following a third safety car late in the race. Mercedes’ George Russell closed out the top-three. Lewis Hamilton had a miserable Ferrari debut. The seven-time champion finished 10th and was annoyed by constant radio messages from his pit team. The Melbourne race had a thrilling start with Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar out on the formation lap, and Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Williams’ Carlos Sainz crashing on the opening lap.

Clayton scores 22 as No. 4 Florida beats No. 5 Alabama 104-82 in SEC semis

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Walter Clayton Jr. scored 22 points, and No. 4 Florida pulled away from No. 5 Alabama for a 104-82 victory in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals. Alijah Martin and Will Richard each had 16 points for the 29-4 Gators in their fifth consecutive win. Next up for Florida is Sunday’s SEC championship game against No. 8 Tennessee, which beat No. 3 Auburn 70-65 in the first semifinal. The second-seeded Gators led the Crimson Tide 47-45 after a first half that featured 10 lead changes. But Clayton and company really turned up their play down the stretch. Chris Youngblood had 14 points for third-seeded Alabama.

Frustrating start for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari at F1 Australian Grand Prix

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Lewis Hamilton’s relationship with his new Ferrari team was pressure tested in Australia, where he finished a disappointing 10th on debut, and was frustrated by a bad strategy that cost him a potential victory, and constant radio chatter throughout the difficult race won by McLaren’s Lando Norris. Hamilton started eighth, and spent the first third of it behind the rear wing of Williams’ Alex Albon. But, while the seven-time world champion hit the lead on lap 46 after those ahead pitted for fresh intermediate tires, Hamilton angrily stated over team radio that “we missed a big opportunity” after subsequent traffic and a late stop dropped him back to ninth. Dropping a further place to tenth after Oscar Piastri overtook the Brit in the final lap did little to lighten Hamilton’s mood.

J.J. Spaun takes the lead at The Players Championship on windy day that wrecked rounds

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — J.J. Spaun survived a wild, windy and round-wrecking Saturday at The Players Championship. His 25-foot par putt swirled all the way around the cup on the 18th hole for a 70 and a one-shot lead over Bud Cauley. Lucas Glover was three shots behind and his final hour about summed up the day. He went double bogey, eagle, double bogey. Trouble was everywhere on the TPC Sawgrass with 25 mph wind. Rory McIlroy was four behind after a birdie on the final hole. Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler bogeyed two of his last three holes and was seven shots behind.

Dodgers’ Mookie Betts still struggling with illness, status for opening day in doubt

TOKYO (AP) — Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts is still struggling to recover from an illness, with manager Dave Roberts pessimistic that the eight-time All-Star will be ready for opening day against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday in Japan. Betts was able to go through a light workout on Sunday, but became tired quickly. Roberts said the shortstop would need to show substantial improvement on Monday to be considered for the opening day start.