NCAA Tournament Latest: BYU Bloodied, Bumming Early – News18

The Latest on the primary full day of the NCAA Tournament:

Just about every thing has gone unsuitable for sixth-seeded BYU within the first half.

Lead guard Dallin Hall has tissues shoved up each of his nostrils to plug his bloody nostril, Richie Saunders was doubled over after taking an elbow to his midsection and Spencer Johnson even misplaced a shoe whereas making an attempt to play some protection.

Not the sort of begin the Cougars envisioned as they attempt to snap a 4-recreation NCAA tourney dropping streak. They trailed 17-10 halfway via the primary half in Omaha, Nebraska.

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Tom Izzo and Michigan State eked into March Madness however look good to this point. Tyson Walker has a pair 3-pointers and the ninth-seeded Spartans lead eighth-seeded Mississippi State 20-8 simply earlier than the halfway level of the primary quarter.

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Tracking the modifications upending school sports activities might be as frenetic as flipping between all of the video games taking place over the primary week of March Madness. Ultimately, these modifications may influence what America’s favourite basketball match appears to be like like sooner or later — or whether or not it exists in any respect.

News about athlete compensation, participant unions and realignment dominate discussions. Everything in school sports activities is open for dialogue, interpretation and adjustment. That contains the trade’s most hallowed custom, the NCAA basketball tournaments, which start this week and can stretch from coast to coast.

The backside line behind all of it is cash.

Read extra about how modifications to school sports activities are impacting March Madness.

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BYU ahead Aly Khalifa will play towards Duquesne on Thursday with out having any meals or drink after dawn as he observes Ramadan in the course of the NCAA Tournament.

The native of Alexandria, Egypt, in all probability may have taken an exception to one of many Five Pillars of Islam due to journey concerned within the school basketball match. But as a substitute, he selected to work with the BYU sports activities science and medication employees to make sure he may play whereas observing the quick.

Khalifa deliberate to get up at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday to eat and pray, then head to the sector for an 11:40 a.m. tipoff.

Read extra: BYU’s Aly Khalifa.

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March Madness saved Tom Izzo sleepless for greater than 24 hours earlier than he heard and noticed Michigan State made it right into a twenty sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament.

The Hall of Fame coach stated he had one of the vital anxious days of his profession on Sunday, sensing his report-breaking streak would possibly get snapped after the Spartans began No. 4 within the AP Top 25 preseason ballot and completed an uneven season with 5 losses in seven video games.

Izzo was in a position to exhale — and get some a lot-wanted sleep — as a result of Michigan State (19-14) was positioned within the West Region as a No. 9 seed and matched up with No. 8 seed Mississippi State (21-13) on Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Read extra about Tom Izzo’s twenty sixth March Madness bid.

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Bill Self feels fairly good about Hunter Dickinson’s availability for the NCAA Tournament. The Kansas coach frankly has no concept what to anticipate of his different All-America candidate, Kevin McCullar Jr.

And he’s not the one one fretting the well being of their groups. Whether it’s Marquette star Tyler Kolek’s indirect harm or Houston huge man J’Wan Roberts coping with some leg soreness, accidents may play a giant position in what transpires over the following three weeks.

Read extra about what accidents may influence this 12 months’s match.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and protection: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)