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    Houston is playing in its fifth Sweet 16 in a row, its best March Madness run since making three consecutive Final Four appearances in the Phi Slama Jam era four decades ago. The Cougars were Big 12 regular-season champions this season after making the move into that power conference. They play blueblood Duke on Friday night at the home of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, about 250 miles from the Houston campus. Another Atlantic Coast Conference team, No. 11 seed North Carolina State, takes on second-seeded Marquette and former Texas coach Shaka Smart in the first Dallas game.

      North Carlina State's Sweet 16 game against Stanford in the women's NCAA Tournament is bit of a harbinger of what's to come. That's because next season the perennially talented Cardinal are headed to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Second-seeded Stanford plays No. 3 seed N.C. State on Friday night in the Portland 4 Region, before top-seeded Texas plays No. 4 seed Gonzaga. Stanford is among five Pac-12 teams — most of any conference — that have advanced to the Sweet 16 as the league's days dwindle due to conference reallignment.

        South Carolina comes into its Sweet 16 matchup with No. 4 seed Indiana in Albany on Friday four wins from becoming just the 10th team in NCAA women's basketball history to put up a perfect season. South Carolina would join UConn (which has done it six times), Tennessee (1997-98), Baylor(2011-12) and Texas (1985-86). The Gamecocks (34-0) are 105-3 over the last three seasons and 21-1 against ranked opponents over that time. Defense is expected to be the focus in other half of the Albany 1 regional where Notre Dame faces Oregon State on Friday. The Irish (28-6) have been giving up an average of 57.5 points during their current 10-game winning streak. Oregon State (26-7) is allowing opponents just 59.3 points this season.

          The NCAA transfer portal not only challenges college basketball programs to find the right players to fill roster vacancies but also keep that vast talent pool from becoming deeper with their own players. Smaller schools from lower-profile conferences face an even tougher task in convincing players to stay as bigger schools offer greener pastures -- with name, image and likeness (NIL) endorsement opportunities sweetening the pot in a way they can't. Programs such as Morehead State and Montana State have made it work on the men's side. Drake and top-ranked South Carolina have done so on the women's side.

            Games: The Quad City Storm (30-21-1-0, 61 points) have a big weekend on tap as they host I-74 rival Peoria (35-12-1-4, 75 points) in a weekend SPHL twinbill at Vibrant Arena at The Mark. Puck drop both evenings is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

              For most teams, facing a 7-foot-4, 300-pound force of nature like Zach Edey is uncharted territory. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, for the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Edey is no mystery to them. Twice over the past 16 months, the Zags have faced Edey and Purdue, and twice they have lost by double digits. Gonzaga's third try at toppling the big man comes Friday in the Sweet 16. The winner will face either Creighton or Tennessee with a trip to the Final Four at stake.

              LEXINGTON, Ky. — The track record of major college basketball and football coaches who have “lost” their team’s fan bases — which seems now the case for John Calipari at Kentucky — going on to recover and produce a positive ending is not great. Yet it is not impossible. Former UK football coach Rich Brooks went from a “dead coach walking” midway through the 2006 season to lead Kentucky to four ...

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              Games: The Quad City Storm (30-21-1-0, 61 points) have a big weekend on tap as they host I-74 rival Peoria (35-12-1-4, 75 points) in a weekend SPHL twinbill at Vibrant Arena at The Mark. Puck drop both evenings is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

              As a gambler, Mathew Bowyer bet big, often unsuccessfully, listing nearly half a million dollars in losses to two Las Vegas casinos in his 2011 bankruptcy. As bookmaker, the Orange County man wagered that a client’s relationship with baseball phenom Shohei Ohtani would pay off by boosting Bowyer’s reputation in the gambling world. Bowyer, who turns 49 next week, instead, ended up at the center ...

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