Category: Sport

LIVIGNO, Italy — The United States set a new American record for gold medals won at a Winter Olympics on Saturday. And it came from a discipline where Team USA hadn’t had any success earlier in the Games.

After disappointing performances in the individual aerials events, the mixed team of Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran and Chris Lillis got to take home some hardware, defending the gold medal Team USA won in this event four years ago in Beijing.

Advertisement

It was the 11th gold of these Games for the U.S., topping its previous Winter Olympics record set in Salt Lake City 24 years ago.

“We’ve had a lot of success with (this event), and I think the fact a lot of U.S. athletes come from team sports and just using each other as motivation really helps us, especially in aerials skiing,” said Lillis, who was the only holdover from the 2022 team and thus became the most decorated aerials skier in Team USA history. “It can feel kind of lonely up there, but if you watched our team at any point in the day, we literally vibe off each other so much and each person that puts down a great jump just motivates the next person.”

After none of the Americans hit the podium during the individual competition — they all seemed to struggle with takeoff speeds in changing wind conditions — it was unclear who would actually be chosen to compete in the team event.

Advertisement

Lillis, 27, was obvious given his track record, and the 22-year old Kuhn won the gold medal at last year’s world championships. The third spot went to Curran, a 21-year old, first-time Olympian from Cincinnati, who said he found out at roughly 6:30 p.m. Friday night he was getting the call.

“Connor says he was nervous, and I’m sure he was, but I wasn’t nervous for him,” Lillis said. “When you get into that moment and you’ve got the right people on the team you just know you’re going to have success.”

It turned out to be a brilliant call, as the Americans landed six straight clean runs across the two rounds of the finals to claim the gold.

As Lillis stuck a clean landing on the final jump of the competition — a back double-full-full-full jump — he pumped his fist, knowing he had certainly done enough to secure the top spot on the podium.

“I think we all walked away from our individual competitions pretty crushed,” Kuhn said. “None of us really performed at our highest degree that we could have, and we know that we could bounce back for this event so we used it as motivation and it worked out in our favor.”

Advertisement

On a day with a light, but steady snow and very little wind, the conditions were far more favorable for the American men — “Connor and I are both pretty tall, lanky jumpers, which made it a little bit easier,” Lillis said — but what really made the difference was coming out strong right away and staying consistent throughout.

Starting with Kuhn, who landed a nice back-full-full-full to get things started, the U.S. was on top of the leaderboard right out of the gate and amassed a combined score of 351.23 in the first round — significantly more than the other three teams (China, Australia and Switzerland) who made the cut to the second round of the finals.

Though scores reset after the first final round, the U.S. had earned the advantage of going last, which meant they could adjust their strategy based on what other teams were doing. That turned out to be crucial because China, which dominated the individual events and won four of the six medals, did not get clean runs out of its two male skiers.

Wang Xindi, the men’s gold medalist, attempted a double full-double full-full jump that would have earned a high score based on degree of difficulty if he landed it on China’s second run. But he didn’t quite measure the landing correctly, leaving the door open for the Americans to take control.

Advertisement

That allowed Curran to dial back a bit for his jump, landing a back full-double full-full to put the U.S. in front with a combined score of 208.16, nearly 24 points ahead of China.

“Team China is always the team to beat,” Lillis said. “They helped us out a bit today”

On the third run, China’s Li Tianma landed short and dislodged his skis, meaning Lillis only needed to score 89 points to secure gold. Though nothing is assured in an event where you’re jumping 50 feet in the air and trying to land on skis, it allowed him to perform a pretty standard trick with a lot of margin for error as long as he avoided disaster.

Though it took nearly two long minutes for the judges to actually announce the score after Lillis’ clean landing, there wasn’t much suspense. Lillis’ 117.19 was plenty good enough to beat Switzerland by nearly 30 points. China took the bronze.

Advertisement

“In aerial skiing, I’d say the average jumper crashes on 50 percent of their jumps,” Lillis said. “So for three different people to put down two rounds, it’s extremely difficult. Though (my performance) in the individual events doesn’t get redeemed by the team event, it’s so great to get Olympic gold with my teammates and to do it for them and them doing it for me and I can’t describe how special it is to bring home a gold medal for the U.S.”

And it was a significant gold medal, indeed. After a bit of a slow start to the Olympics for the action sports – including zero gold medals in snowboarding – Alex Ferreira’s freeski halfpipe gold on Friday and this effort by the aerials team made this the most golden Winter Olympics ever for the U.S.

Advertisement

“It hasn’t been easy and we’ve all had our falls,” Kuhn said. “For us to put things down when it really, truly matters. … I wanted to walk away with a medal. I let myself be upset (about the individual event) for a couple hours but then I knew I had to switch gears and I wasn’t going to let that beat me down for too long. I let it motivate me for my job today.”

Hall of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski died at the age of 89, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced on Saturday. He passed away on Friday, according to the team.

Mazeroski is best known for arguably the most legendary home run in baseball history, hitting a walk-off home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series against the New York Yankees. Leading off the ninth inning, the homer came off reliever Ralph Terry, breaking a 9-9 tie, at Forbes Field.

Advertisement

As Mazeroski rounded the bases, fans ran out of the stands to congratulate Mazeroski and round the bases with him in celebration. He was 24 years old at the time, in his fifth year with Pittsburgh. No other player has ended a World Series with a Game 7 home run.

Responsible for an iconic moment in the sport, Mazeroski was remarkably modest about his accomplishment.

“I didn’t expect that much attention, just hitting a home run to win a game,” he continued. “I don’t know. I just kind of wish maybe somebody else had hit it, or explained it better than I did. I just never came up with a good way.”

Mazeroski later explained that he wasn’t certain that he hit a home run because the left-field wall at Forbes Field was 406 feet away from home plate in the alley.

“I don’t know it’s out. I don’t know it’s a home run. But I know I’m going to end up on third if he misplays that ball off the wall,” Mazeroski said in 2015, via MLB.com. “So I’m busting my tail getting around there, and by the time I hit second base, I looked down the line and the fans went crazy. From second base, I didn’t touch the ground all the way in.”

Mazeroski won two World Series titles with the Pirates, also playing on the 1971 champions that defeated the Baltimore Orioles in seven games. The team retired his No. 9 in 1987 and honored him with a 14-foot bronze statue outside PNC Park, unveiled in 2010.

“Maz was one of a kind — a true Pirates legend, a National Baseball Hall of Famer and one of the finest defensive second basemen the game has ever seen,” said Pirates chairman Bob Nutting in a statement.

“His name will always be tied to the biggest home run in baseball history and the 1960 World Series championship,” he added. “But I will remember him most for the person he was: humble, gracious and proud to be a Pirate.”

Advertisement

Despite being associated with one of baseball’s most famous home runs, Mazeroski became a Hall of Famer because of his defense at second base. He was awarded eight Gold Gloves during his career.

“I think defense belongs in the Hall of Fame,” Mazeroski said during his Hall of Fame induction speech. “Defense deserves as much credit as pitching and hitting, and I’m proud and honored to be going into the Hall of Fame on the defensive side and mostly for my defensive abilities.”

In his 17 seasons with the Pirates, Mazeroski compiled a career average of .260/.299/.367 with 294 doubles, 138 home runs and 853 RBI. In addition to his two World Series championships, Mazeroski was an 10-time All-Star. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, elected by the Veterans Committee.

The Los Angeles Clippers have 26 games remaining on their regular-season schedule, in addition to two possible postseason games if they qualify for the NBA play-in tournament. Contrary to Kawhi Leonard’s belief that the team is not a contender to advance in the playoffs, head coach Tyronn Lue says the team will try to keep winning.

At 27-29 following Friday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Clippers currently hold the ninth spot in the Western Conference standings, just a half-game ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers.

“Man, we’re playing to win,” Lue told reporters afterwards, including ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I don’t care if it’s young, old, toddlers… Whoever’s on the floor, we’re trying to win. I mean, we’re trying to win. There’s no other reason to play.”

Lue’s remarks appeared to be a response to Leonard saying earlier in the day that the Clippers’ status as contenders was finished.

“I think it’s over now,” he said. “It’s, the second half, like a fourth of the season left. But every day is a day to grow. A day to learn and get better. So just got to keep looking over time and see in two weeks if we’re getting better and see what happens from there.”

Leonard’s outlook follows the Clippers sending James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers before the NBA trade deadline. The team received Darius Garland, Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, two first-round picks and two second-rounders in those deals. But those aren’t the kinds of trades a playoff contender makes in hopes of boosting championship chances.

Advertisement

Additionally, the Clippers benched veteran point guard Chris Paul before sending him home and eventually traded him to the Toronto Raptors. Paul, 40, was subsequently released by the Raptors and announced his retirement. He signed a one-year deal before the season, presumably to be a veteran leader but reportedly clashed with Lue.

Lue acknowledged that the Clippers team Leonard originally signed with in 2019 is much different now.

“I thought he was just saying far as contender when he first got here, you have PG [Paul George], Kawhi, you have James, you have Russ [Russell Westbrook], you have Zu,” Lue told ESPN. “And so now, having a younger team, we got to play different. We got to do things different, we got to do things better.”

Advertisement

The Clippers being in the play-in mix with a chance to make the playoffs as the eventual No. 8 seed is the result of an impressive turnaround. The team began the season as one of the league’s biggest disappointments, compiling a 6-21 record. Yet a 21-8 run in December put a .500 record and postseason berth within reach.

Up next for the Clippers is a matchup with the Orlando Magic (29-25) on Sunday, followed by a Thursday contest versus the Minnesota Timberwolves (35-22).

A sneaker company is suing Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and quarterback Patrick Mahomes for trademark infringement, according to a Friday report from ESPN, which cited court records.

The company, 1587 Sneakers, reportedly alleges in the suit that the name of the Kansas City steakhouse Kelce and Mahomes own, 1587 Prime, infringes its usage of the identical number combination and, as a result, is causing damage.

Advertisement

Along with business partner Noble 33, Kelce and Mahomes opened the restaurant last year. Its name derives from the stars’ jersey numbers — Mahomes’ No. 15 and Kelce’s No. 87 — whereas the sneaker company’s name is inspired by the year 1587, per its website, which explains that the year marks the first recorded presence of Asians in America. At that time, Filipino sailors initially arrived in what became the United States, it says.

“We are the first sneaker brand in the U.S. that is owned, designed and inspired by Asian American culture — empowering Asian Americans to be unapologetically themselves,” the site reads.

The sneaker company, which appeared on “Shark Tank” and was founded by Adam King and Sam Hyun, started selling its shoes in April 2023, per the suit, ESPN reported.

That’s before Kelce and Mahomes announced their plans to open their steakhouse, according to The Kansas City Star.

Advertisement

Trademark attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben IP, who doesn’t represent either company, told ESPN that the suit boils down to the unregistered rights that the sneaker company claimed before it filed its trademark applications in 2025.

More specifically, that application didn’t come until October of last year. It’s still being reviewed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, per ESPN.

Yet because the sneaker company launched its business before the steakhouse, the suit reportedly alleges the sneaker company has first use of “1587.” It’s important to note, though, that Kelce’s and Mahomes’ restaurant applied for the trademark “1587 Prime” in December 2023, according to ESPN, which also reported that the “1587 Prime” trademark is in the bar and restaurant category, whereas the sneaker company’s “1587” trademark application is in the clothing category.

Advertisement

“I think it’s a tough case for the sneaker company,” Gerben told ESPN. “Trademarks can coexist in different industries. … Given that the marks are essentially identical here, is a restaurant and a shoe company too close? Are consumers likely to be confused in thinking they are affiliated with one another?”

The sneaker company is alleging that confusion is in fact happening and is requesting Kelce and Mahomes’ restaurant no longer use the name “1587 Prime,” in addition to stop selling apparel merchandise with the name on it. The steakhouse currently sells caps and a shirt on its website.

“The company was understandably concerned that such a high-profile project choosing a brand name virtually identical to that of its own would overshadow it and cause irreparable damage,” the suit reads, according to The Kansas City Star.

“It did. And continues to do so up to this very present day, forcing the AAPI-company towards the cliff of collapse.”

King said in a written statement that 1587 Sneakers continues “to hope to resolve this matter amicably,” per ESPN.

That said, the sneaker company is reportedly seeking unspecified damages.

Austrian bobsledder Jakob Mandlbauer was hospitalized following his team’s crash during the second heat of Saturday’s 4-man bobsled competition.

Mandlbauer, 27, was the driver of the Austrian bobsled, making a left turn on Curve 7 when the sled tipped onto its side and lost control on the track. Teammates Daniel Bertschler, Sebastian Mitterer and Daiyehan Nichols-Bardi ducked into the bobsled to protect their heads.

Advertisement

Unfortunately, Mandlbauer didn’t avoid injury and was quickly attended to by medical personnel as the race was delayed by 20 minutes. The driver was feeling neck pain, according to the Austrian team.

Mandlbauer was taken from the course on a stretcher and rushed to a hospital. However, he is apparently OK after being checked as a precaution, according to Austrian officials.

“Jakob is on his way to hospital,” Austrian team press attaché Christoph Iglhauser told The Athletic. “He’s not so bad. It’s just a check. Everyone else is fine.”

Austrian news outlet Krone reported that Mandlbauer showed movement in his legs, arms and head.

The Austrian team was not the only one to tip over during the race. Bobsleds for France and Trinidad and Tobago also tipped over as they attempted to navigate Curve 7, a U-shaped turn on the course.

Advertisement

U.S. bobsledder Frank Del Duca crashed during a training run, though his accident occurred at Curve 4, The Athletic reported. Teammate Charlie Volker suffered a concussion in that crash and subsequently retired from competition.

Neither the French team nor the Trinidad and Tobago team suffered any apparent injuries, with their athletes able to walk away from their respective accidents. But all three teams that crashed were not able to cross the finish line and were thus listed as “Did Not Finish” in the final results. Germany took all three top spots in Heat 2.

The Canadian women’s curling team scored three in the sixth and eighth ends and held on to win 10-7 in the 10th during the bronze-medal game against the United States on Saturday during the Milan Cortina Olympics.

The American women fell just short of their first medal in the event.

Advertisement

Team USA staked itself to a 1-0 lead in the first end, but Canada answered right back to start what became a back-and-forth affair in Cortina.

The U.S. recorded singles in the first, third and fifth ends, entering a pivotal sixth with a 3-2 advantage.

But that’s when Canada capitalized on a pair of costly American mistakes. Tara Peterson sent a shot through the house, and her sister, Tabitha, didn’t create enough momentum to take a Canadian stone out of the paint, enabling the Canadians to score three in the end and take a 5-3 lead.

Fortunately for the U.S., it bounced back in the seventh end to tie the game.

Advertisement

After Canada’s Rachel Homan threw a great freeze, Tabitha, the Americans’ skip, split a pair of stones with a draw that ultimately tapped off a Canadian rock and rested in the button, awarding the Americans a much-needed multiple.

Any relief the U.S. felt was short-lived, though. The Americans left Team Canada another chance for three in the eighth end, and Homan — a three-time world champion who was in search of her first Olympic medal — seized the opportunity, making it an 8-5 game.

Team USA wasn’t going away lightly. It made the most of the ensuing hammer, as Peterson’s final throw of the ninth end knocked a Canadian stone out of the four foot and nestled next to another American rock for two.

Advertisement

Down 8-7, the Americans needed a steal in the 10th end. They couldn’t conjure a last bit of Olympic magic to make it happen.

Peterson’s final throw didn’t squeak past Canada’s guard, and the Canadians rejoiced to the tune of their 10-7 victory.

After going 6-3 in round-robin play, the U.S. women made the Olympic playoffs for the first time since 2002.

As was the case in Salt Lake City 24 years ago, the Americans fell to Switzerland in the semifinals. Also like the 2002 Games, Canada defeated the U.S. in the bronze-medal game.

Team Canada got off to an uncharacteristically rough start to this year’s Games, winning just one of its first four games in round-robin competition. During that span, the American women notched their first Olympic win over a Canadian team that previously had their number in a sport that was introduced to the Games in 1998.

Advertisement

Led by Homan, though, the Canadians still found their way into the four-team playoff field.

After winning five consecutive medals upon women’s curling’s Olympic debut, notably two golds, Canada finished just sixth in the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and fifth in the 2022 Beijing Games, missing the playoffs both times, including once with Homan as skip.

In this year’s Games, however, Homan and Team Canada persevered for bronze.

Still, the United States’ run to the semifinals is encouraging. Earlier in this year’s Games, Cory Thiesse became the first American woman curler to win a medal, earning silver in the mixed doubles.

Advertisement

On Saturday, Thiesse eclipsed 190 ends played in these Games, the most anyone has ever played in one Olympics. Taylor Anderson-Heide swept her heart out, and the Peterson sisters gave it their all.

The Americans just fell short.

MILAN — Mia Manganello narrowly missed the 2010 Olympics. She won bronze eight years later in Pyeongchang. And in her final Olympic race, she’s a bronze medalist again.

It came in the women’s mass start — the most chaotic, unpredictable race in speedskating.

Advertisement

“It means everything. It means a journey for my parents, sacrificing everything, my loved ones, relationships, friends, coaches, teammates,” she said. “This is the ultimate goal. Any color, honestly.”

Manganello is one of the handful of U.S. speedskaters who got their start inline skating before finding her way to the ice. But after coming up short of qualifying for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Manganello hung up her skates, hopped on a bike and became a professional cyclist.

In 2016, she returned to the skates, qualified for the 2018 Games, where she took bronze in team pursuit. Four years ago in Beijing, she took fourth in the mass start — missing the podium by a little more than a second.

Saturday, in the final race of her Olympic career, the 36-year-old won her first individual medal.

Advertisement

For most of the 16-lap race, where 16 racers are on the ice at the same time, the pack remained in tact, unlike in the men’s race moments earlier. It wasn’t until the bell lap that the race really began.

Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands and Manganello were first to sprint out, followed tightly by Canada’s Ivanie Blondin. From there, it was a three-woman race for gold. Groenewoud pulled ahead of Manganello, then Blondin caught the American — beating Manganello to the line by .30.

Groenewoud took gold with a time of 8:34.70, just ahead of Blondin (8:35.09) and Manganello (8:35.39).

After crossing the line, Manganello raised her arms in triumph. Sixteen years after her first attempt at the Olympics ended before she ever got there, she’s won a second bronze on her way out.

Advertisement

“Did you see me cross the line? I screamed so loud. I started bawling; there was no other emotion but disbelief. It’s the most surreal moment of my life. It’s something that I envisioned every single day since I’ve been here.

“It seemed so far-fetched. We discussed impostor syndrome a bit (before), not quite believing that I could be there. So to cross the line was a little bit of disbelief, even on the back stretch when I was in second, thinking to myself, ‘Hold it together, hold it together’.

“To cross the line, the emotion just escaped me.”

MILAN — The final race of Jordan Stolz’s Olympics did not play out the way he hoped it would.

It wasn’t even just that Stolz came up empty in his bid for a fourth medal at these Olympics. The American speedskating phenom never even really had the chance to race for gold in the mass start — the most chaotic, unpredictable race in speed skating.

Advertisement

Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands took gold and Viktor Hald Thorup of Denmark grabbed silver after they broke away from the rest of the pack early in the 16-lap race. They extended their lead to as much as 20 seconds, taking advantage of the other skaters trying to conserve energy for a furious finish.

By the time Stolz attacked with less than three laps to go, the gap between him and the leaders was so massive that he was essentially racing for third place. Bergsma clocked a winning time of 7:55.50, nearly five seconds ahead of Thorup. Italy’s Andrea Giovannini outsprinted Stolz for third, both of them finishing about nine seconds after Bergsma.

When asked why he didn’t attack sooner, Stolz explained, “If I would have done that, I would have had no legs left at the end of the race.”

Stolz spent much of the middle third of the race idling near the front of the chase group, waiting for others to help pursue the leaders. When other medal contenders didn’t take the initiative to accelerate and pass him, he felt as though they were trying to neutralize his explosive finishing kick and were unwilling to share in the work.

Advertisement

“I actually didn’t expect this to happen,” Stolz said. “I felt like the gold-medal favorites in the mass start were going to be more hungry to get a medal, but they all were just expecting me to go for it.

“If they’re all sitting behind me at four laps to go and I’m not really building the pace and the two guys in front just keep getting further and further ahead, that’s clear to me that they were just kind of settling for third.”

Had he won Saturday’s mass start event, Stolz would have become the first man since Norway’s Johann Olav Koss 32 years ago to leave an Olympics with three long-track speedskating gold medals. Entering the mass start, Stolz had already taken gold in the 500 and 1,000 meters before settling for silver in the 1,500.

Advertisement

Whereas long-track speedskaters are accustomed to racing against the clock, unencumbered by other competitors in their lane, the mass start is the outlier. The 16 athletes who qualified for Sunday’s men’s final started shoulder-to-shoulder and raced head-to-head for 16 laps around Milan’s 400-meter oval.

Race strategy during the mass start is most similar to a cycling track or road race. Athletes conserve energy early in the race and draft off each other to reduce wind resistance, but they must be prepared to unleash a lethal finishing sprint over the final lap or two to have any hope of winning a medal.

When asked to look ahead to the mass start earlier this week, Stolz acknowledged the threat of getting taken out by another competitor jockeying for position around a turn. He said he hoped to “try and defend myself in the group” because “there will be a lot of shoving.”

Winning three medals on an Olympic stage is Stolz’s most remarkable accomplishment yet on a journey that began with watching the charismatic Apolo Anton Ohno at the Vancouver Games 16 years ago. Stolz has chased Olympic glory ever since, going from learning to skate on his family’s backyard pond at age 5, to winning his first U.S. title at 16, to snapping at the heels of the world’s fastest speedskaters soon after that.

Advertisement

Is Stolz happy with his Olympics despite falling short of his goal of four medals? He considers it to be “pretty successful.”

“There’s things that could have gone better,” Stolz said, “but two golds and a silver? You’ve gotta be pretty happy with that.”

LIVIGNO, Italy — The freeski women’s halfpipe, which was set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Eastern, has been postponed until Sunday after a continuous snowstorm extended into the evening, making the halfpipe unsafe for competition.

The event is now slated to take place Sunday at 4:40 a.m. ET.

Advertisement

The event is the last chance for Eileen Gu, the American-born freeskier who represents China, to leave the Milan Cortina Olympics with a gold medal. She won silver in both slopestyle and big air, but the halfpipe — where she won gold in Beijing for years ago — is her favorite event.

The 12-person field for the finals includes two Americans, Kate Gray and Svea Irving, but ironically one of the top contenders to beat Gu is another American-born athlete who represents another country.

Zoe Atkin, who was born in Massachusetts while her parents (one from Malaysia, one from England) were working in the U.S., competes for Great Britain. She won the gold medal at the world championships last year and, like Gu, attends Stanford.

Saturday’s matchup between No. 1 Michigan and No. 3 Duke in men’s college basketball carries even more significance with the Wolverines and Blue Devils named as the top two seeds among the 16 teams in the bracket preview released by the NCAA men’s tournament selection committee.

Houston and Arizona also face each other on Saturday in a clash that could affect the top tournament seeds.

Advertisement

The teams with the largest objection to these preliminary rankings might be UConn and Houston, but this week’s results surely played a factor in the rankings. The Cougars were the No. 2 team in this week’s AP Top 25, but they lost to No. 6 Iowa State on Monday. Meanwhile, No. 5 UConn was upset by Creighton on Wednesday.

Committee chair (and Sun Belt commissioner) Keith Gill acknowledged on CBS’s bracket preview show that the Huskies’ loss knocked them out of the top four. Yet in his view, “UConn’s three best wins are better than Houston’s best three wins.”

Before losing to Creighton, Gill said UConn was under consideration for the No. 1 seed, along with Iowa State and Houston.

Arizona getting the third No. 1 seed after losing to Kansas and Texas Tech might also raise some eyebrows. Star freshman Koa Peat will also miss time with a muscle strain in his lower left leg. However, the fourth-ranked Wildcats rebounded with a win over No. 23 BYU this week.

Advertisement

Texas Tech dropped to the No. 19 overall seed — or the fourth line — when star forward JT Toppin suffered a season-ending torn ACL injury on Tuesday, according to Gill.

The top 16 seeds in the NCAA tournament selection committee’s bracket preview line up as follows:

1. Michigan (25-1)
2. Duke (23-3)
3. Arizona (24-2)
4. Iowa State (23-3)
5. UConn (24-3)
6. Houston (23-3)
7. Illinois (22-5)
8, Purdue (22-5)
9. Florida (20-6)
10. Kansas (20-6)
11. Nebraska (22-4)
12. Gonzaga (26-2)
13. Texas Tech (19-7)
14. Michigan State (21-5)
15. Vanderbilt (21-5)
16. Virginia (22-3)

Saturday’s bracket preview will be the last reveal from the selection committee until the official NCAA tournament seedings are announced on Selection Sunday, March 15.