UCLA guard Johnny Juzang had to watch his team from the bench as the Bruins survived an overtime thriller to reach the Elite Eight. On Tuesday, the Bruins' star player took advantage of being back in the lineup – scoring 28 points while fighting off an ankle injury – to help carry upstart UCLA past No. 1 seed Michigan 51-49.   The Bruins, […]

Medical personnel attend to referee Bert Smith after he collapsed on the court during the first half of the Elite Eight game between Gonzaga and Southern California. (Photo: Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports) Longtime college basketball referee Bert Smith collapsed to the floor less than four minutes into Tuesday’s Elite Eight game between Gonzaga and Southern Cal in Indianapolis and was […]

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One of the consequences of the NFL's newly confirmed expansion of the regular season to 17 games per team is an alteration to the league's scheduling matrix – one that essentially lays out every club's future opponents in perpetuity. To wit, every team plays its divisional opponents twice annually (home and away), while pairing off against all four teams from another division […]

With the 2021 NFL Scouting Combine operating under a different format this year, pro day workouts are taking on a heightened importance this spring. Alabama, Ohio State and Washington were among the schools that held their pro days on Tuesday, giving some top 2021 NFL Draft prospects a chance to make an impression on scouts and NFL executives. How did […]

After the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the NFL to play its 2020 season in empty or sparsely attended stadiums, the league is hoping for a return to normalcy this fall. Commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday the NFL plans to have capacity crowds in 2021. “All of us in the NFL want to see every one of our fans back," Goodell said in […]

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Mel Kiper has served as an NFL draft analyst for ESPN since 1984. He is a regular contributor on SportsCenter and ESPN Radio and writes weekly for ESPN Insider. Let’s update rankings for the 2021 NFL draft. I’ve made my feelings well known about what I think of pro days, but they are a little more important this year because […]

Two tickets to the 2021 men's Final Four were punched Monday night. The remaining two will be secured Tuesday night as the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight resumes at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. On Monday night, Houston reached the Final Four for the first time since the "Phi Slama Jama" squads of Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon went to three straight […]

Quarterback Justin Fields ran the 40-yard dash in an unofficial time of 4.44 seconds at Ohio State’s pro day Tuesday. The 6-foot-3, 228-pound Fields, widely expected to be a first-round selection in next month’s NFL draft, is working out and will throw for the 31 NFL teams reportedly in attendance. The Los Angeles Rams are the only team not in […]