As warmups took place at Earl Wenger Field in Fredericksburg on Monday evening in the PIAA semifinals, a little girl walked the concourse at the storied complex.

It wasn’t easy to make out exactly what pun had been crafted onto the sign, but one word was abundantly clear, bedazzled with glitter and in the largest font; “Price”.

A young boy lunged from the top row of the stands, reaching over the railing to shout out, “Nice sign!”.

At roughly the same time, 12 members of the “Junior Colts” program lined the fence against the bullpen, getting a glimpse of Price warming up before taking the mound in the state semifinals.

That’s the way the community at Cedar Cliff has rallied around the 16-year-old sophomore through the PIAA playoffs and now into the state championship against North Penn. They trust him, embrace him and celebrate him.

“Even in the regular season, it was like a different feeling this year,” Price said of how this community has supported him and the team. “We have a younger group, and it honestly seems like it didn’t matter at all. It was a really fun year in the regular season. Then, you get to districts, we hosted two rounds of districts and a round of states, and those atmospheres were great.”

Cedar Cliff’s first round game in the PIAA tournament against Pennsbury was at home, and three and a half hours beforehand, Price had no idea whether he’d be able to pitch the game or not.

He had surgery 10 days prior to the game, and game day was also the appointment to get his stitches out and determine what his status would look like for the game later that afternoon.

“I knew I definitely wanted to,” said Price. “But, it was kind of questionable, knowing the risk that was involved.”

That’s where the sophomore’s maturity comes in, an impressive quality in a 16-year-old who’s been at the center of a lot going on around him, and a lot of attention that has followed it.

“You can’t ask for any better of a player,” said Cedar Cliff head coach Justin Secrest after their first round win. “The fact that he’s only a sophomore, too. I mean, he’s matured so much this year, and, you know, just to want the ball and want to be there for his teammates.”

The sophomore went on to have six strikeouts in 5 ⅔ innings of a pitcher’s duel game against the Falcons, a 1-0 result that entered the Colts into the state quarterfinals against Seneca Valley.

Price got roped into another pitcher’s duel game in the state semifinals on Monday, where every pitch seemed to matter in a game that the Colts led, 3-2, late.

On a 2-2 count pitch to Liberty’s Willy Cruz, Price took an extra moment to reset himself, and in doing so, separated his hands. It’s a minute adjustment, but enough for the home plate umpire to call a balk, making it a full count.

The Colts fanbase, which showed up in masses, were outraged. It’s a big call with one out and nobody on the last inning and a lot on the line, and an atypical call that doesn’t happen every game.

Immediately, Justin Secrest walked out and gestured to the fans to settle down, and had a discussion with the umpire. After, Price started to take steps forward towards the umpire.

Lots of kids his age would be hot. Caught up in the emotions, it’s not easy for a professional to take a breath in that situation, let alone someone not even close to old enough to vote for president yet.

Price turned to Secrest, said “I’m just asking,” and talked briefly with the umpire. And then it was over, and he struck out the batter, and the next one to head to a state championship game. And everyone forgot about the balk call that they disagreed with.

“That’s his composure,” said Secrest. “I mean, he doesn’t really let things really affect him, so the fact that he’s able to calm down and get the strikeout, you can’t ask for anything more from the kid.”

“Usually a player would be mad after that, and I’m not saying I wasn’t,” said Price. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t arguing, I just wanted to make sure I was asking, so I knew.”

It could have been the story of this game. One offsetting call could have derailed the season, but Secrest and Price made sure it didn’t.

“I just had to flush it because this game was a lot bigger than just one balk call,” Price went on to say. “And this team and the state championship … it’s a lot bigger than just one little call. So I just kind of had to flush it and move on.”

Surely, the college offers will start to come in for Price, who’s now posted a 10-1 record, 0.65 ERA and 86 strikeouts on the season. But for now, it’s just about having fun with a group of guys who’ve earned their way to the state’s ultimate test, and seeing if it’s possible to earn the school’s first state championship.

On Friday, it’ll be North Penn’s turn to “come on down.”

Follow Luke Brown on Twitter/X: @lukebrownsports

The best players in the sport are on clay this week at Roland-Garros, or the French Open, for one of tennis’ four majors. But, some have lost first round matches in surprising upsets that have left some of the best and brightest in the sport stunned.

Like Daniil Medvedev, the eleventh best player in the world, who lost to Britain’s Cameron Norrie in a five-set thriller. Medvedev, the Russian star, has had notable issues on Roland-Garros’ iconic clay surface. He said in his post-match press conference, “Honestly man, I might skip the clay-court season next year. F*** clay.”

Medvedev has had on the court issues with traction on the surface. Personally, he just hates dirt. The locker rooms are dirty for his liking, you must clap your shoes out to get rid of the dirt, your car gets dirty. He does not like dealing with it.

It was Norrie’s first win over Medvedev in their five total meetings, dating back to 2019. Medvedev actually won 166 points in the match to Norrie’s 159, but it was a timely 7-5 win in the final set that did the trick. Medvedev goes home, and Norrie goes on to face Federico Gomez on Thursday.

Taylor Fritz, a 27-year-old American, also lost in round one play. He lost a first set 7-5, and responded by tying the match with 6-3 win. Daniel Altmaier went on to win 6-3 and 6-1 to beat Fritz in four sets.

Unlike Medvedev’s loss, Fritz was outscored. But, a statistic that stands out is the ace category, which Fritz won 14-7. Altmaier also double-faulted four times to Fritz’s zero.

Fritz is fourth in the world as of now, and holds a 17-9 singles record this year. He also made the US Open final, a three-set loss to World #1 Jannik Sinner, in 2024. At the time, Fritz was World #12 and it was quite a surprise he had made it that far in that Grand Slam event.

Fritz has been battling right oblique issues for months, but said to reporters he was “100-percent” before the tournament started. He was then asked about that comment after the loss, and plainly said ““My movement on court is really bad. I don’t know what’s going on. A lot of times when I’m sliding, I’m off balance, I’m not timing it correctly. I don’t know. I’m getting wrong-footed a lot, slipping a lot.”

Emma Navarro was dominated in her first, and only, round at Roland-Garros. She took 6-0 and 6-1 losses to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. She lost in points, 56-30. She double-faulted four times. She gave up 11 straight games to Maneiro, a staggering amount from Navarro, who is #9 globally.

It comes in what has been an up-and-down year for Navarro, who hasn’t reached the quarterfinals of any tournament in almost two months, since her quarterfinal round appearance in the Credit One Charleston Open, and holds a 17-12 record in 2025. The 24-year-old is still in search for her first Grand Slam title.

While Medvedev’s loss may be the most surprising of the top-player knockouts, Navarro’s might be the most defeating. It’s how she lost, and what she’s done to this point that put her future in question after Monday’s loss.

Navarro made the semifinal at the 2024 US Open, a loss to World #2 Aryna Sabalenka. It was a breakout moment for Navarro, who was 23-years-old at the time. Since then, she’s 21-15 in the singles play, and people are expecting more.

The next few months will be telling for Navarro, especially a key mark of Wimbledon, which starts on June 30.

The most complex of the losses was Naomi Osaka’s. Osaka is 42nd in the World Tennis Ranking, is unseeded in the tournament, but yet, it feels her loss to #10 Paula Badosa is still an upset. For some, Osaka is one of the few names in the field that they know.

Osaka advanced to the third round in 2016, 2018 and 2019 at Roland-Garros, and has won four Grand Slam events in her career. She’s also a very emotional person and has taken time away from the sport in the past. It’s been a roller coaster ride of a career, and right now, Osaka is feeling a low.

“I feel like as time goes on, I should be doing better,” Osaka said post-match. “But also … I hate dissapoiting people.” Seconds later, Osaka walked off in tears after what was certainly a dissapointing result in what seems to be uphill climbing for her.

After a win over Patricia Maria Tig in round one of the 2021 French Open, Osaka withdrew from the tournament, allowing Ana Bogdan a forfeit win. Osaka didn’t return to action until the 2020 Olympics1 in August, and returned to regular tennis action two weeks after that. Osaka also took a maternity leave in 2023. She will also surely have the spotlight on her for a multitude of reasons going forward to try and restore what was once an unbeliavably promising career.

Luke Brown is a rising sophomore at Rowan University, studying Sports Communcation & Media. He’s an up-and-coming sportswriter, and contributes to newspapers including PennLive, NJ.com and The Sentinel. Please consider subscribing to support Luke’s work.

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LANCASTER – Around the fourth inning of Camp Hill’s 3-1 win over Halifax in the District 3 2A Baseball final, Jonathan Drawbaugh’s mind began to gravitate towards history. The Wildcats had been shut down, 1-2-3 innings, four times in a row. Dayton Bittner, who drew a walk and was caught stealing, was the only baserunner, back in the second.

Ironically, Bittner was the guy that broke up Drawbaugh’s no-hit bid with two outs in the fifth inning. But, in the end, the pitcher’s duel that saw 26 total strikeouts, went in Camp Hill’s way for a third straight District 3 Championship, in their seventh straight appearance.

“I mean, I just threw one bad pitch, not the right pitch in that scenario, but I tried not to think about it,” Drawbaugh said in regards to the chance of a no-hitter.

That’s because Hayden Ziegler knocked in two runs off of a single into center field, breaking up the shutout for either side, scoring Noah Doi and Drew Branstetter, two fellow senior classmates.

Even with a no-hitter being interrupted in the bottom of the fifth, Drawbaugh stayed consistent, making it 1-2-3-4 inning and continuing to shut down the Wildcats.

The sixth is when Halifax, the top seed in Class 2A, really got going. Ryder Tobias led off the inning with a pitch that hit his back and put him aboard on first. Two batters later, leadoff hitter Brayden Midile drove Tobias in on an RBI single, making it 2-1. Midile later found himself on third with Branden Schell on first.

That’s when Camp Hill manager Matt Spiegel decided to bring the infield in for a discussion. There was no thought from either side to take the ball from Drawbaugh, just a refocusing pep talk about the last out and go to the seventh.

But, Drawbaugh wouldn’t need to throw a pitch to do so. Schell took off from first to second, and a seemingly flustered Drawbaugh convinced Midile that he may be able to score and tie the game, 2-2. Drawbaugh threw right over to third basemen Ty Kirchhoff for a huge third out, an unexpected one, but a burst of momentum into the final inning.

The final inning would be led off by Ethan Shamash, the fastest player on the team, who didn’t need to use it on a walk. Didn’t need to use it, yet, that is.

During Noah Doi’s at-bat, Shamash stole second base, and his momentum barred him from stopping there, so he went for three as well. Shamash tried to avoid the tag and get to third safely, which the umpires ruled that he did.

Halifax manager Frank Nietz came out of the dugout at Penn Medicine Park, furious for two reasons. First, he thought Shamash simply did get tagged by Halifax’s third basemen. Secondly, he thought Shamash was out of the baseline when he avoided the tag. Neither complaint was met with a reversal, and Shamash went on to score the third run off of a Drew Branstetter sacrifice fly into right.

The Wildcats went three up, three down for the fifth time in the seventh, giving the Lions their ninth District 3 Championship, and a win in their seventh straight appearance. It’s also a District Threepeat, with back-to-back wins over Trinity in Class 3A, and now a win in Class 2A.

Halifax’s loss ends their season, with no PIAA play-in game, like Camp Hill got when they lost to Delone Catholic in 2022’s Class 2A District Championship.

Camp Hill will go on to face the winner between South Williamsport and Montgomery, which is the winner of the District 4 2A championship, held at Historic Bowman Field on May 27. South Williamsport upset the top seed in that bracket, Southern Columbia, with a 7-4 win on Tuesday night.

Since 1921, ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson was banned from baseball. 70 years later, in 1991, the National Baseball Hall of Fame deemed that anyone on MLB’s permanently ineligible list would also be ineligible from admission to the game’s Hall of Fame. Now, a historic decision has been made, directly impacting the legacy of some of baseball’s most complicated figures.

Full list of players off MLB’s Banned List

• Joe Jackson (1919 Black Sox Scandal)

• Buck Weaver, Eddie Cicotte, Lefty Williams, Happy Felsch, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Chick Gandil (1919 Black Sox Scandal)

• Joe Gedeon (Had “guilty knowledge” of gambling activity in 1919

• Gene Paulette (Associated with gamblers, banned in 1920)

• Benny Kauff (Banned in 1921 despite acquittal on auto theft charge)

• Lee Magee (Banned in 1921 over disputed back salary elicited of his gambling involvement)

• Shufflin’ Phil Douglas (threatened manager)

• Jimmy O’Connell (offered bribe to another player)

• Cozy Dolan (Giants coach involved in Jimmy O’Connell incident)

• William Cox (Phillies owner, banned and forced to sell team in 1943 after gambling on baseball)

• Pete Rose (gambled on baseball)

Every single one of these people have passed away, most recently Pete Rose, who died on September 30, 2024, and is baseball’s all-time hits leader after a 24-year career and 4,256 hits in 14,053 at-bats.

He will almost surely be a Hall of Famer, as he predicted he would be once he died.

‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson is the other super notable name on the list, famous for being the most prominent player involved in the “Chicago Black Sox” scandal of the 1919 World Series between Chicago and Cincinnati Reds.

Stories say that eight members of the Chicago White Sox intentionally lost the series to the Reds in exchange for payment from gamblers, who made money off betting the Reds big time, knowing that the Sox would lose.

Regardless, ‘Shoeless’ Joe hit .375 in the series, the highest between either team. He also had 12 hits in the series, a World Series record that stood for almost 50 seasons, 6 RBI’s, and accounted for 11 of Chicago’s 20 runs. He also had the only home run between either team in the series, and didn’t commit a single error in the field.

He will almost surely be a Hall of Famer, 74 years after he died.

In the likely event that both Jackson and Rose do earn baseball’s top achievement, it won’t be through the same process that almost every inductee goes through. A normal inductee like Derek Jeter or Mickey Mantle were voted in by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). If a player does not get considered by the BBWAA, they can still be voted in by the “Era Committees,” which will be the case for any of the now-exempt players off the ban list.

The Era Committees have two different sectors, the Contemporary Baseball Era, consisting of the period from 1980 to present day, and the Classic Baseball Era, consisting of the period prior to 1980 and including Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues stars. Both Jackson and Rose fall under the Classic Baseball Era. The Era Committees is comprised of 183 individuals, a combination of 117 major leaguers, 33 executives, 23 managers and 10 umpires.

A Classic Era ballot will not be released until December 2027.

The obvious question also lies in the room, now that it’s more possible and likely than ever that Jackson and Rose will see the Hall of Fame: What does this mean for the steroid era players?

As David Schoenfield writes for ESPN.com, “it’s worth noting that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro were included on the eight-player Contrmporary Era ballot in 2023.” From my understanding, the case for Bonds, Clemens, and anyone that is being kept from the hall due to steroid usage, is up to the perception and thoughts of those voting them in, which would be the Era Committees.

So, the grand question, is this good?

Frankly, I do think so. Rose and ‘Shoeless’ Joe have complicated legacies, and everyone knows that. It’s absolutely undeniable. But, Rose only ever bet on his team to win, and while it’s consensus that he shouldn’t have been gambling, he could’ve been doing a lot worse.

Same to Joe Jackson, who, as I wrote previously, had one heck of a World Series regardless of his involvement with the fix. Some say Jackson was against the fix, some say he was a willing and active participant. If his stats suggest anything, I’m not sure he was first in line to throw away a World Series title to make good money from some gamblers.

Obviously, you don’t want to set the precedent that anyone who does anything wrong can be exempt from being a Hall of Famer, but it’s important to note that it’s still very hard to earn your way. You can’t get away with anything, it’s still a tough crowd on the other end of things, judging whether you deserve to live, or live a legacy, in baseball lore.

Maybe it’s simply punishment, and hopefully a deterrent, enough that Pete Rose, or ‘Shoeless’ Joe, or anyone on that list, will never step to the microphone in Cooperstown on induction day. Depending on what you believe, they will never even know of their greatest accomplishment, because they won’t be around long enough to see it. Is that punishment enough? What about the stained reputation? Complicated legacy? It’s hard to say.

It’s a good topic to revisit in two years, when the day might come for Pete Rose’s family, who’ve pushed heavily for this very reversal of the rules. They believe the punishment has been paid, and it’s time to move on. We’ll see if baseball agrees.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have built an absolute powerhouse team for the 2025 season. Their pitching rotation consists of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki. Pretty good when the fifth pitcher in your lineup has been in conversation to be the best pitching prospect ever.

It doesn’t stop with pitching. Four players in last year’s top-20 for NL MVP voting play in Dodger Blue, including the World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, who delivered a towering blast in game one of the World Series to walk-off a home run and gain the momentum upper hand that helped them win it all.

LA made 11 moves in the offseason, including signing Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell for five years, Tanner Scott for four years, Hyeseong Kim for three years, Kirby Yates for a year, Michael Conforto for a year, re-signing Blake Treinan for two years, Kike Hernandez for a year, Teoscar Herandez for three years and Clayton Kershaw for a year.

That’s a ton of additions. And, they lost just three players in Walker Buehler, Jack Flaherty and Gavin Lux.

A ton of money is being thrown around by the team, but they’ve found a way to make it work, by deferring contract money until the player’s career is over.

For example, Shohei Ohtani’s contract is worth $700 million, but $680 million of it is deferred. Same with $50 million of Will Smith $140 million contact, $57 million of Freddie Freeman’s $162 million, and so on.

It’s the same case for the Mets when they signed Bobby Bonilla in 2000, and are still paying the 61-year-old $1.19 million on July 1st, and will until 2035. Granted, this wasn’t the Mets plan, since they thought they’d be able to pay him quicker because of the profit they belived they’d make with investments with Bernie Madoff. That’s neither here nor there.

Ken Griffey Jr. also notably was receiving payments of $3.5 million on this past July 1st from the Cincinnati Reds.

So, fresh off of a five-game World Series win, and 11 added players, it was only fair for much of baseball to call the Dodgers the new villains of the game, dethrowning the Houston Astros. The Astros cheated their way to the 2017 against the Dodgers, and perhaps even more than just that season. Many sympathized with the Dodgers, because they had the materials to lift the Comissioner’s Trophy that season, but now that symapthy from baseball fans has turned into a resentment from their domination.

And domination is the right word.

LA started their season with 4-1 and 6-3 wins on March 18 and 19 against the Cubs in a back-to-back played in Tokyo, Japan before every other team.

Ohtani, Tommy Edman, and Kike Hernandez hit home runs in the second of the back-to-back, and LA began the season outscoring Chicago, 10-4.

Then, the real season began in the states with a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers last week at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers also handled the Braves in three straight games still in ‘Cali.

The Dodgers’ start certainly isn’t to the level of 1884 St. Louis Maroons, who started 20-0, but it’s a start, and one of the better starts in recent history.

But, the road ahead is not quite as easy, as the ballclub will hit a road trip from this Friday until Wednesday, April 9, playing three games in Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Roki Sasaki and Phillies ace Aaron Nola are set to face each other on Saturday afternoon.

LA is set to pitch Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Sasaki, and Tyler Glasnow in Philly, their first, fourth and fifth options against a powerful Philly offense. If the Dodgers can get by with three wins in Philly, then it even further proves what everyone already knows: this team is by far the World Series favorite, and any other team winning would be a surprise.

Not sure anyone expected to ever hear something along those lines in April.

SOUTH: 8 Louisville vs. 9 Creighton

THURSDAY AT 12:15 PM on CBS (LOU -2.5)

This is a great matchup to kick off two days of round one madness, an ACC vs. Big East battle. Creighton pulled off a nine-point win over UConn in the Big East tournament before losing, 82-66, to red-hot St. John’s for what would’ve been Creighton’s first ever Big East tournament title. Instead, they lost their program’s fifth Big East title game. Creighton did beat St. John’s earlier in the year, in addition to wins over Kansas, Marquette and a regular season win at UConn. Louisville also went to their conference title game, losing to Duke, but beating tournament five-seed Clemson in the ACC semifinals. The Cardinals are top-30 in both offensive and defensive effeciancy, which is impressive for an eight-seed. Chucky Hepburn is their 6-2 guard, who scores 16.2 points per game, and adds 5.8 assist per game, which is top 25 in the country. He’s definitely a weapon in his first year at Louisville, after scoring 1,000+ points in three years at Wisconsin. Terrence Edwards Jr. adds 16.6 PPG for Louisville. This one could be a real thriller to kick off March Madness.

MIDWEST: 13 High Point vs. 4 Purdue

THURSDAY AT 12:40 PM on truTV (PUR -7.5)

Purdue has made the NCAA tournament every year since 2014-15, but it hasn’t been quite that simple. In 2023, they were the second team ever to be upset by a 16-seed, Fairleigh Dickinson. In 2021, they were upset by 13-seed, North Texas. In 2016: 12-seed Little Rock. They have not had the best of luck in these types of scenarios, and this is not going to be an easy game for the Boilermakers. High Point won the Big South regular season and tournament championship, and have really strong momentum going into this matchup. Purdue has had some really strong points of the season, most of all tournament two-seed Alabama early in the year. They’ve also lost to Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana, all in Big Ten play, and all teams that aren’t dancing this March. HPU hasn’t dropped a single game since January 16 to Longwood on the road. They beat Gardner-Webb, Radford and Winthrop en route to the Big South championship. There’s a lot to like about this being a potential 13 over 4 scenario in the first round.

EAST: 14 Montana vs 3 Wisconsin

THURSDAY AT 1:30 PM on TNT (WIS -16.5)

The Wisconsin Badgers lost by six points to Michigan in the Big Ten final. Down the stretch of the regular season, they dropped their final game to Penn State, but really proved themselves in the Big Ten tournament, beating Northwestern, UCLA, and tournament two-seed Michigan State by three points to play for a B10 championship. 6-5 Senior Guard John Tonje is the star, averaging 19.2 PPG at his third school. He spent his first four years at Colorado State, last year at Missouri before leaving for Madison. 6-11 Sophomore Nolan Winter provides a huge prescence down low, hauling in 5.9 rebounds a game which leads the Badgers, and 9.5 points a game. Montana has been to the tournament 12 times, most recently in 2019, as a 15-seed against 2-seed Michigan. But, the Grizzlies have not won since 2006, as a 12-seed over 5 Nevada. They lost on March 1, a 79-76 overtime loss to Portland State. They’ve won four straight since that, including three against Northern Arizona, Idaho and Northern Colorado to a Big Sky Conference title.

MIDWEST: 16 SIUE vs. 1 Houston

THURSDAY AT 2 on TBS (HOU -28.5)

Statistically, Houston is the second-best defensive team in the country. They are also top-ten in the offensive category. But, they played in the Big 12, which is not the SEC, and not nearly the same competition level. The Cougars dropped a couple games early in the season to Auburn, Alabama and San Diego State, all teams who heard their name called on Selection Sunday. But, Houston’s four total losses on the year have all been five points or less, and all but the Auburn loss were in overtime. I don’t expect overtime against SIUE, or Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, who turned a second-place finish in the Ohio Valley Conference into a conference tournament win. Southeast Missouri State beat SIUE twice in the regular season, but the SIUE Cougars got their revenge in the OVC final with a 69-48 win. Ray’Sean Taylor is the bucket-getter for SIUE, scoring 19.3 PPG, which is tied for 33rd in the nation. The only postseason the SIUE program has seen has been in NCAA Division II. The program became D-1 in 2008, and are in the dance for the first time ever, so this one means a good deal for the community in Southeast Illinois, win or lose.

SOUTH: 16 Alabama State vs. 1 Auburn

THURSDAY AT 2:50 PM on CBS (AUB -32.5

It takes just under an hour to get from Auburn University to Alabama State University in Birmingham, so these two institutions are plenty familiar with each other. While the game will take place in Lexington, Kentucky, the state of Alabama will be feeling the atmosphere between the two. That said, Auburn is obviously the much stronger team, and have experience on their side. The average of the Tigers? 23 years old. 22-year old Johni Broome is the centerpiece of the Tigers, the only competitor of Cooper Flagg’s for the Naismith Player of the Year. 25-year old Chad Baker-Mazara is the sidekick, but needs to control his emotions in tournament play to keep Auburn in the running to cut down the nets. He was ejected from the Tigers’ season finale against Alabama which it lost, similar to last year’s first-round Auburn loss to Yale, a 13 over 4 upset that is fueling a revenge run for Auburn. Alabama State created the first highlight of the tournament in the first four, a football style pass to defeat St. Francis (PA), 70-68, to earn their way into the bracket. Both teams were sloppy in that game, and Alabama State was out-rebounded 30-23. They will not be able to play as sloppy and only turn the ball over six times against a team like Auburn, if they intend to keep things close.

MIDWEST: 12 McNeese State vs. Clemson

THURSDAY AT 3:15 PM on truTV (CLEM -7.5)

McNeese, more specifically their viral manager Amir Khan, has already won the hearts over of a lot of people in the country. The Cowboys are coached well by Will Wade, who announced Wednesday that this is his last run with the team, he’ll be NC State’s coach next year. They kept an eight-point game with Alabama early in the year, a three-point game against Mississippi State, and won the Southland Conference regular season and tournament titles. They are in a great spot, except they’re still dealing with a major issue that proved costly for them last year: their matchup. The Cowboys were seeded 12th in last year’s bracket, but couldn’t compete with five-seed Gonzaga in the first round. It’s reasonable to expect the same thing this year against Clemson, because the Tigers are good. The ACC was unusually weak this year, but Clemson proved themself with a win against Duke on February 8, the only loss for Duke in ACC regular season play this year. Clemson’s only two really good out-of-conference matchups were Kentucky and Memphis, beating KU and losing to Memphis earlier in the year. I, along with seemingly everyone outside of Clemson, SC, would love to see McNeese win their first-ever tournament game after 2024 heartbreak. Will they? It won’t be that simple.

EAST: 11 VCU vs. 6 BYU

THURSDAY AT 4:05 PM on TNT (BYU -2.5)

In 2011, current Marquette head coach Shaka Smart took VCU to the Final Four. The Rams have been back in the bracket nine times since then, and are ready for another miracle run through the big dance, but they’ve got a really tough team to beat in round one. BYU’s program is on the upward trajectory since the school’s move from the West Coast Conference to the Big 12. They will have the nation’s top recruit, AJ Dybantsa, next year after forking over around $7 million in NIL revenue. For now, their top scorer is Richie Saunders, a sharpshooter. VCU’s coach, Ryan Odom, was the head coach for the first-ever 16 seed to beat a one-seed, when 2016 UMBC beat Virginia handedly. He looks to pull off another upset of smaller portions on Thursday.

MIDWEST: 9 Georgia vs 8 Gonzaga

THURSDAY AT 4:35 PM on TBS (GONZ -6.5)

Georgia is one of 14 SEC teams in the bracket, the most teams from any conference into the tournament ever. Because of that, Oklahoma had a top 15 strength of schedule in the country, and are going to play yet another tough team for their first-round matchup. Gonzaga has built a stereotype on themself that they can’t pull through in March. They’ve come in with some really incredible teams, but they’ve never won a NCAA championship in program history, and it didn’t seem this was going to be the year. It would still be a longshot for them to win the championship, but coming into their West Coast Conference tournament as a two-seed behind St. Mary’s was not a great starting spot. The Zags took over that WCC bracket, and won by eight over St. Mary’s to take home the trophy. Towering Drew Timme is long gone, but a new giant, 6-9 Graham Ike, is filling in nicely. Ike scores 17.1 points a game, and adds 7.5 rebounds per game. Ryan Nembhard is one of the country’s top guards for Gonzaga, scoring 10.8 PPG, and adding 9.8 assists per game, which leads the nation. Georgia finished 9th in the SEC regular season standings, beating St. John’s, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Florida, Texas, and Vanderbilt, who are all in the field.

MIDWEST: 15 Wofford vs. 2 Tennessee

THURSDAY AT 6:50 PM on TNT (TENN -18.5)

Electric is the best way to describe Wofford’s conference tournament championship against Furman. The Terriers had just lost to Furman nine days earlier to conclude regular season play, and won the SoCon title game, 92-85, to enter into the field. Wofford was the sixth of ten seeds in the SoCon tournament, but got a few strokes of luck with matchups, and only had to beat conference three, seven and five seeds en route to the conference title. They may have a bit of imposter syndrome after a 19-15 record this year, playing on national TV, and that could be costly against a Tennessee team that is anything but undeserving. The Vols beat tournament one-seed Auburn in the SEC semifinals and lost to another tournament one-seed Florida in that game. Tennessee played 22 games from New Year’s Eve up to this point. 21 of their opponents are in the field. They are 15-6 in those games. That’s a tough schedule.

WEST: 10 Arkansas vs. 7 Kansas

THURSDAY AT 7:10 PM on CBS (KU -4.5)

This is a coaching battle between Bill Self and John Calipari, 1,709 wins between the two. Furthermore, the treat is probably going to be another coaching giant in Rick Pitino if his Johnnies can beat 15-seed Omaha. Arkansas is led by two guys that followed Calipari after he left Kentucky following last season, Adou Thiero and DJ Wagner. Thiero averages 15.6 points a game, and adds six rebounds a game. DJ Wagner puts up 3.5 assists a game, leading the Razorbacks, in addition to 11.1 PPG. Kansas is led by veteran center Hunter Dickinson, who scores 17.6 points per game and is 11th in the nation in rebounding with his ten rebounds a game. Dickinson has had double-digit points every year of his career, which includes three at Michigan and the last two at Kansas. Dickinson has played in seven tournament games in his career, but has never made a final four. They’ll have a tough one to start with this 10-7 matchup.

SOUTH: 13 Yale vs. 4 Texas A&M

THURSDAY AT 7:25 PM on TBS (TA&M -7.5)

This has been a commonly picked 13 over 4 upset for many, and I absolutely see why. Yale was in this same situation last season, just having four-seed Auburn on the other end rather than the Aggies. Texas A&M has been given a lot of credit all year, capped off by a potentially high four seed for them from the selection committee. They dropped four in a row in mid-February to Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Florida, all tournament teams. The Aggies bounced back in the fifth game, beating (at the time) top team in the country, Auburn, followed by a win at LSU. The roller coaster continued with an SEC tournament loss to Texas, a bubble team at the time. Yale, on the other end, has been better this year than last year’s team. They beat Princeton in a thrilling Ivy League semifinal by two, 59-57. The next day, Selection Sunday, they beat Cornell, 90-84, for a second-straight Ivy League trophy. Yale Guard John Poulakidas is top-35 in the country in scoring, and he’s sunk 83 three-pointers both this year and last year. The upset potential is mighty in this one.

WEST: 11 Drake vs. 6 Missouri

THURSDAY AT 7:35 PM on truTV (MIZ -6.5)

Drake is another team on the train of potential upsets, after a tremendous season capped off by a Missouri Valley Conference tournament win, or ‘Arch Madness’, hosted in St. Louis. Missouri is another SEC gauntlet survivor. This game has all the makings to be a really strong matchup. It’s easy to pat an SEC team on the back for surviving their schedule, and it’s fair, but Missouri is still 32nd in strength in schedule, the second lowest on that list for SEC squads, as Vanderbilt trails them just one spot below. Drake does not have star forward Robbie Avila from last season, who stole the show in the tournament, but they do have 6-4 junior Bennett Stirtz, who scores 19.1 points a game, top 45 in the nation. Stirtz shoots nearly 50% from the field, and almost 80% at the line. Definitely a team to keep an eye on for a run in March.

MIDWEST: 10 Utah State vs. 7 UCLA

THURSDAY AT 9:25 PM on TNT (UCLA -4.5)

It’s the third game in a row tomorrow night that seem like they could pull off a win over a power five school. The Aggies finished third in the Mountain West regular season, and went on to see Colorado State in the MW Championship game, which it lost, 83-72. There is definite reason to question teams from the Mountain West after a 95-68 smackdown of San Diego State from UNC on Tuesday’s first four game. It’s less-so that Utah State is really good, and more-so that UCLA is not the UCLA of the past right now under the leadership of Mick Cronin. Cronin has dealt with many issues this year, including the intense travel for a team in Los Angeles to travel consistently to the Mid-West, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland this season in the revamped Big Ten. He’s dealt with lack of energy and effort out of his players. He’s being rumored in job openings at Villanova. His team ran head first into Wisconsin in their first Big Ten tournament game, a 16-point loss for the Bruins. It does not seem like UCLA has any momentum coming into this meeting, and Utah State might be able to walk right through the door into round two.

MIDWEST: 15 Omaha vs. 2 St. John’s

THURSDAY AT 9:45 PM on CBS (SJU -18.5)

By now, everyone has heard the stat. Rick Pitino is the only coach in college basketball history to lead six different schools to the NCAA tournament. It’s as impressive as it sounds, but when you dive in, you may see some similarities. Pitino’s 2011-12 Louisville team shot only 31.8% from three, but made the Final Four. His team next season, 2012-13, shot 33.3% from three, but won the national championship. This St. John’s team shoots 30.4% from deep, but they have the best defense in the nation. Omaha finished as the top team in the Summit League, and were the first team to qualify for the tournament. They punched their ticket to the dance after their win in the Summit League semifinals, because their championship game opponent, St. Thomas, is in the D-2 to D-1 transition, ruling them ineligible for postseason play. Omaha beat St. Thomas anyways, and we don’t have a what could’ve been scenario here. The Mavericks’ postgame celebration involves beating up a trashcan, but I see all trashcans staying intact after this 15-2 matchup.

MIDWEST: 12 UC-San Diego vs. 5 Michigan

THURSDAY AT 10 PM on TBS (MICH -2.5)

Some see an upset. But, Michigan is riding high with new head coach Dusty May after three straight wins in the Big Ten tournament to win the championship and earn an auto-bid on Selection Sunday. It was a nice rebound for the Wolverines after dropping three straight to conclude the regular season, falling to Illinois, Maryland and Michigan State, all tournament teams. It’s Dusty May’s first season in power five basketball, but he knows how to win in March, as he did in 2023, taking a nine-seed in Florida Atlantic University to wins over Memphis, Fairleigh Dickinson, Tennessee and Kansas State before losing to San Diego State in the Final Four. UCSD did not have a strong strength of schedule, only seeing two tournament teams, San Diego State and Utah State, all year. But, the Tritons do have one of the best mascots and logos in the field.

MIDWEST: 14 UNC-Wilmington vs. 3 Texas Tech

THURSDAY AT 10:10 PM on truTV (TTU -14.5)

UNCW were the dreamstoppers in the CAA tournament, beating Delaware in the Coastal Athletic Association championship. The Blue Hens were the 12th and last seed and had a chance to make the tournament, allbeit as a 16-seed, and shock their conference. Now, the Seahawks have a chance to be the spoilers for Texas Tech, and I must say, I don’t hate their chances. The Red Raiders are 6th in offensive effeciancy, but their defense is lacking and their strength of schedule is nowhere close to the likes of anyone in SEC basketball. Tech took a loss to Arizona in the Big 12 semifinals, missing the opportunity to get a third crack at tournament one seed Houston, after splitting the pair of games with UH this season. Their February 1 overtime win over Houston, is definitely their shining spot of the season. UNCW finished the year on a six-game heater, and they look to make it seven in what would be a shocker in Wichita. After all, they’ll be in the land of the Wichita State “Shockers”.

ACC

The Favorite: Duke

Duke is ranked as the top team in the country after Auburn, the previous longstanding top team, lost to rival Alabama in a Saturday thriller. Cooper Flagg has exceeded all of the expectations as a freshman and a possible JohnWooden Award winner for the best player in the country, contending only with Johni Broome of Auburn. Duke dug themselves out of trouble at North Carolina, pulling away late for an 82-69 win. Kon Knueppel led the way in scoring, with 17, and he’s been the Robin to Flagg’s Batman all season, averaging just over 13 PPG through the year. Duke will receive a bye through the first and second rounds and will face the winner between Georgia Tech and Virginia on Thursday at noon. Duke’s only loss in the ACC was an early February visit to Clemson, and they’ve beaten Auburn and Arizona among other notables. Plus, they showed off in a neutral site game against Illinois at Madison Square Garden on February 22, a 110-67 win that headlined the back part of their season. - LB

Sleeper: Clemson

The Tigers enter the ACC Tournament as a three-seed, but they have shown they can beat anyone in the conference. Sixth-year senior guard Chase Hunter has been a key piece for Clemson over the past couple of years, however after P.J. Hall graduated following last season he took a jump and became the Tigers' main offensive weapon in 2025. In addition to Hunter, former Cincinnati transfer Viktor Lakhin has become one of the ACC’s most impactful players. Lakhin averages over eleven points and six rebounds along with a block and a steal per game. Senior forward Ian Schieffelin has shown he can break out for twenty points on any given night as well, helping give Clemson a great balance of offensive and defensive skill. The Tigers' best win came about a month ago when they upset then #2 Duke at home. Since that win, Clemson has not lost a game since. The Tigers head into the postseason riding an eight-game win streak and have their eyes set on a top-three seed on Selection Sunday. - MK

Luke’s Pick: Duke over Clemson

Mason’s Pick: Clemson over Duke

SEC

The Favorite: Auburn

The Tigers have been the clear number-one team throughout most of conference play. Fifth-year forward Johni Broome leads the charge for the nation’s number one offense. Auburn is scoring 85 points a game and has one of the best resumes in the sport. Road wins over Alabama and Kentucky and a neutral site win over Houston highlights the Tigers' impressive track record. Auburn travels to Nashville following a crushing home overtime loss to Alabama, leaving the Tigers with a chip on their shoulder. Senior guard Chad Baker-Mazara will be the x-factor for Auburn in the postseason. Baker-Mazara averages 13 points per game, shooting 40% from beyond the arc, however, he has let his emotions get the best of him multiple times in crucial moments. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year, Baker-Mazara was ejected from the game after receiving a Flagrant 2 foul three minutes into the contest. This past Saturday against the Tide, Baker-Mazara was ejected again after receiving another Flagrant 2 foul with ten minutes left in regulation. Auburn ended up falling in both games. The Tigers have the talent on their roster to run the table the rest of the way, however, they must control themselves in the biggest moments. - MK

Sleeper: Missouri

The Tigers ended the season with three straight losses to Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Kentucky. They enter as the seventh seed in the SEC tournament and play the winner between Wednesday’s meeting between Mississippi State and LSU. The SEC bracket will be the hardest by far of any conference in the country, and it seems perfectly reasonable that a team will add some spice to the mix. Plus, Alabama and Florida are certainly a stretch to be “sleepers.” The top four teams, who all received double-byes, will be difficult, but Florida seems to be the most vulnerable of the four, especially against the Tigers. Mizzou beat the Gators on January 14, 83-82. Caleb Grill scored 22 points off the bench in that meeting for Missouri, and he’s led a strong season for the Tigers up to this point, scoring 14.2 PPG. Eight-seed Ole Miss is a solid contender to give Auburn a good game in the quarterfinal, but Missouri has the most probable road to making the SEC Championship. - LB

Luke’s Pick: Alabama over Auburn

Mason’s Pick: Tennessee over Missouri

BIG EAST

The Favorite: St. John’s

It’s hard to overstate the season St. John’s has had under second-year head coach Rick Pitino. Pitino has been coaching since 1974, and he has rejuvenated the program into the esteem they haven’t had since the late great Louie Carnesseca. They are most recently coming off a signature win on a buzzer-beater in overtime against Marquette. Their four losses this season have come against Baylor, Georgia, Creighton, and Villanova. The Red Storm beat UConn twice, the second time being a dominating 89-75 win at Madison Square Garden. They turned around and lost, 73-71, at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion. The ‘Johnnies’ are the third-best team in the country in defensive efficiency, allowing just 89.1 points per 100 defensive possessions, just behind Tennessee and Houston and better than top-ranked Duke. Pitino’s teams are always some of the most well-conditioned teams in the country, and this year is no different, which has led them to be the team to beat in the Big East. - LB

Sleeper: Villanova

It has been a roller coaster ride for Wildcats fans this season. Villanova started the year 3-4 with losses that included Columbia and Saint Joe’s. However, they won eight of their next nine including wins over then #14 ranked Cincinnati and #9 Connecticut. Those wins have not aged well for Kyle Neptune’s crew and the team has been mediocre in Big East play, but the wins the Cats have had are against the conference’s top teams. Villanova has beaten top-ranked St. Johns along with Marquette in the last month. Eric Dixon is the nation’s leading scorer averaging over 23 points per night. When Dixon does not get any help offensively, the Cats look like one of the worst power conference teams in the country, however, players like Wooga Poplar and Jordan Longino have picked it up in recent weeks. Poplar has scored 12 or more points in eight of his last ten games and Longino is averaging 15.5 points in his last two. Dixon won’t want his illustrious college career to end in “The College Basketball Crown”. If Villanova gets hot, they can compete with any team in the Big East and make a run at an NCAA Tournament auto bid. -MK

Luke’s Pick: St. John’s over UConn

Mason’s Pick: St. John’s over Creighton

BIG 12

The Favorite: Houston

Every year it seems like Kelvin Sampson has his squad in the top five when March rolls around and it’s no different this year for the Cougars. Once more, Houston has one of the top-ranked defenses in the country led by Terrance Arceneaux and Joseph Tuglar, two of the best defenders in the country according to EvanMiya. It was pure dominance in Big 12 play for Houston, going 19-1 with their only loss being by one point in overtime to Texas Tech on February 1. The Big 12 might not have been as strong as in previous years, but it still has been an impressive regular season for the Cougars. Houston’s path to winning the Big 12 Tournament is very winnable. The Cougars' senior guards can score against anyone and if their suffocating full-court defense can continue, Houston will leave Kansas City with a trophy and a guaranteed one-seed in hand. - MK

Sleeper: Baylor

Baylor competed with one of the top teams in the country, Houston, on Saturday in their last game of the regular season. 15-seed Arizona State or 10-seed Kansas State will see the Bears in the first round, a particularly light matchup for Baylor. Texas Tech is not the hardest team to beat, but they will be tough. If Baylor can play the game they played against Houston, it won’t be an issue to beat the Red Raiders in the quarterfinals. Houston is far and away the top team in the conference tournament, but Baylor isn’t that far off if Baylor can continue to compete. - LB

Luke’s Pick: Houston over Arizona

Mason’s Pick: Houston over Texas Tech

BIG TEN

The Favorite: Michigan State

Michigan State’s path to the Big Ten final is favorable, as they’ll see either Indiana or Oregon in their first game, the quarterfinal round. They get to avoid Maryland and Michigan, as both teams got placed in the bottom half of the bracket. Tom Izzo has done a tremendous job with this squad, headlined by Jaden Akins and Jase Richardson. Besides Duke in the ACC, I think the Spartans are the most favorable of the conference's top seeds to get the job done and earn an auto-bid. - LB

Sleeper: Indiana

“Maybe I’m leaving too soon, I don’t know”. That’s what outgoing Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said after his team clinched a bye in the Big Ten tournament last Saturday. The turnover for the Hoosiers has been fun to watch over the past month. Once Mike Woodson announced he would be stepping down as Indiana’s head coach in early February, the Hoosiers upset Michigan State in East Lansing and Purdue at home. Even though the Hoosiers have ultimately underperformed this season, Indiana has enough talent on the roster to make a run. Indiana will have a tough matchup against Oregon to begin the Big Ten tournament, but a win against the Ducks sets them up for a win-and-your-in matchup against top-ranked Michigan State. As a bubble team, Indiana will have to make some noise in their conference tournament to feel confident when watching the bracket reveal show on Selection Sunday. - MK

Luke’s Pick: Michigan State over Maryland

Mason’s Pick: Purdue over Michigan State

LITTLE MAN WATCH

Drake - Missouri Valley

The Bulldogs have put together a 30-3 season, capped off with a win in the Missouri Valley Conference final on Sunday in St. Louis. They scheduled tough this season, beating Miami, FAU, Vanderbilt and Kansas State among other notables. They competed in a close game against Belmont in the MVC semifinals but put on the high heat against Bradley in the final on Sunday afternoon. Bennett Stirtz scored 24 points, 15 from three-point land in the final, headlining the group that is currently looking at a nine seed in the tournament. At this point, they are borderline “little man”, but look to take them in a good number of 8/9 matchups if that’s how the bracket shakes out. - LB

McNeese State - Southland

The Cowboys lost by only eight points to a number-two Alabama team in the third game of their season. They are an absolutely legit team with a 25-6 record, and they haven’t even begun conference play yet. They’ll take on the winner between #5 Texas A&M Corpus-Christi and Northwestern State on Tuesday at 6 PM. As of now, the Cowboys are most likely #13 seeds, which would place them up against a #4 seed. Don’t count them out against anyone in the tournament, if they can secure the conference title first. - LB

Omaha - Summit

Omaha secured an 85-75 win over St. Thomas (MN) on Sunday night for the Summit League conference championship, but they were heading to the dance either way as St. Thomas goes through the D-2 to D-1 transition period, ruling them ineligible for the tournament. It capped off a dominant performance in the conference tournament for Omaha, which involved a 100-75 win over South Dakota in the semifinals. The Mavericks beat up a trash can after every win, and that’s happened 22 times this season. The team went through a 2-9 stretch earlier in the year, but have played well when it mattered most, and they’ll look to keep that going. The Mavs are a likely 15 seed, but they could make a close game come down to the wire with any two-seed in their path. - LB

UC San Diego - Big West

The Tritons are having a dream year under head coach Eric Olen in 2025. UCSD is not your average mid-major team. The Tritons are currently 39th in KenPom above some bubble teams like Xavier and Indiana. UCSD enters the Big West Tournament as the top-ranked seed with a chance at a top twelve seed on Selection Sunday. Aniwaniwa Tai-Jones is averaging almost twenty points per game leading the way for the Tritons. Assuming UCSD wins the Big West tourney, expect them to give a higher seed some trouble in the first round. - MK

High Point - Big South

Alan Huss has done an incredible job over the last couple of years after taking the High Point job before the 2023-24 season. Huss is the Big South’s back-to-back Coach of the Year and for good reason. After a major collapse in the Big South tournament last year, the Panthers got their revenge, pulling off a comeback victory over Winthrop. Former Kansas and Eastern Carolina guard Bobby Pettiford exploded for 17 points off the bench in the championship game yesterday. This High Point team is having fun and playing some very good basketball at the most important time of the year. - MK

Yale - Ivy

The Ivy League only has two rounds in their conference tournament making it one of the most unique tournaments in the sport. Yale has been the top team all season long and even though they lost star forward Danny Wolf, yet the Bulldogs haven’t missed a beat. Yale has only lost one game in the year 2025 and is led by senior guard John Paulakidas. The Bulldogs are averaging over 80 points offensively and should cruise through the Ivy League Tournament later in the week. Yale entered the national tournament as a 13 seed last season and was able to upset the red-hot Auburn Tigers in the first round. Yale has a chance to make some more noise here in 2025. - MK

“I tell people all the time, I’m not getting on the bus until Aidan Sallie gets on the bus,” said Bulldogs head coach Jason Grace. “He’s my guy. We’ve had a ton of communication, and non-verbal communication. I think he may have called on his own to me, three or four calls tonight that I didn’t think were the best. But guess what? We ran that call, because I have all the trust in the world with him.”

The shot added three points to make an 8-0 run an 11-0 run, but the impact of the shot, and those leading up to it, were much larger than the scoreboard can reflect. It gave the Bulldogs all the momentum in the world going into the halftime locker room.

Then, the Bulldogs came out blazing once again in the second half. Aidan Sallie scored the first three points of the second half, and the rest of Big Spring’s squad followed suit, putting up an identical 23 points in the third period to the second.

But, it wasn’t always a fast-firing, electric offense on the Bulldogs side. It took four minutes, 48 seconds for Big Spring to put any points on the board, trying to climb back from a 6-0 hole off two three balls from Schuylkill Valley’s Lucas Spotts and Derek Grim.

Little went right for Big Spring until late, when the offense started to come alive. Landon Sallie hit a shot, then two more from beyond the arc. His older brother, Aidan Sallie hit a three. Ayden Martinez hit a shot. All of a sudden, the hole in Big Spring’s offense was filled, and they found themselves leading 13-12 after the first quarter.

“With the energy in the building, it’s hard to come out and make shots and settle in,” said Aidan Sallie. “First three minutes go by, and you’re like ‘Ok, we’re here.’ Then, you start making shots and take it from there.”

Aidan Sallie was once again the headliner throughout the game, registering 21 points, and 14 of which in the third quarter. His freshman brother, Landon Sallie, was also huge, scoring 19 points and starting the momentum for the Bulldogs in the opening eight minutes.

Ayden Martinez, a key piece of last year’s playoff run, scored 17 points, and was the only player on either team to shoot any free throws. He went 1-for-4 from the line, but made up for it with 8 shots finding the net.

The Panthers were led by Cooper Hohenadel, who scored 12 points off four three-pointers. Lucas Spotts also reached double figures with 11 points.

Now, Big Spring and it’s faithful crowd will turn their attention to Eastern York, the #2 seed in 4A and the team that beat them by five points in last year’s District III 4A Championship game. Eastern York beat Big Spring’s rival, Boiling Springs, by three points on a buzzer beater in regulation.

“Honestly, we’ve been trying to build this culture for 12 years,” said Jason Creek, on the loud environment that Newville brings to the table. “Brick by brick, layer by layer. We talked before the game, there’s a lot of players that played for me that never got to play in front of this atmosphere and this crowd. They started this.”

“We’re trying to build a legacy,” said senior Aidan Sallie. “We’re trying to build a program to a point where it’s a normal thing, it’s an expectation. We won last year and it was an expectation to get back there this year.”

The semifinal matchup will be held on Monday, February 24 at Eastern York for a chance to go to the championship at GIANT Center in Hershey. The other semifinal is between top seed Berks Catholic and fifth-seeded Susquehanna Township.

Schuylkill Valley will play Boiling Springs on Monday, in an elimination game. The winner will advance to the fifth place game, another do-or-die scenario. The PIAA 4A tournament is taking the top five finishers from District III.

BIG SPRING 13-23-23-11 - 70

SCHUYLKILL VALLEY 12-15-10-7 - 44

BIG SPRING (70) - Ayden Martinez 17, Aidan Sallie 21, Nathan Baranoski 2, Landon Sallie 19, Alan Walker 4, Brexton Heckendorn 7

SCHUYLKILL VALLEY (44) - Lucas Spotts 11, Ervin Ortiz 2, Derek Grim 5, Tanner Staus 3, Kowen Gerner 4, Cooper Hohenadel 12, Logan Cammaur 4, Chase Keller 3 

Penn State will be without two offensive assets at wide receiver, and one on the defensive side in their 2025 campaign.

Penn State received the great news earlier this week that star tailbacks Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen will return for 2025, but their top two wide receiver targets, Harrison Wallace III and Omari Evans, are hitting the transfer portal.

Additionally, linebacker Kobe King announced right before the deadline that he would enter the 2025 NFL Draft in April.

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As minutes ticked away in the final quarter, fans did begin to head towards the exits as Carlisle showed it was too late to comeback, and finished with a 60-33 win in a surprising domination between the two.

It’s the first win for Carlisle over Cumberland Valley since December 21, 2018, the first year of CV head coach David Vespignani at the helm.

The game started in Cumberland Valley’s favor, holding Carlisle guard Parker Smith to just two points, and leading 15-11 after the first frame. Late in the quarter, JJ Lebo hit back-to-back three-pointers for the Eagles, forcing Carlisle head coach Andre Anderson to call timeout with 1:39 remaining.

After the timeout, Carlisle limited CV to just one point on a Nolan Buzalka foul shot.

Then, things got rolling for the Herd. “Just go,” was Anderson’s message to the team in between the first and second quarter, according to Parker Smith. “It’s your last time playing here, just put it all on the court.”

Carlisle exploded for 15 points in the second quarter, but they held the Eagles to only five points, allowing for a 26-20 lead at halftime. Parker Smith took the advice from his head coach, and scoring ten in the second quarter, bringing his total to 12.

The gap was certainly manageable for Cumberland Valley, but that became the case less-and-less as time went on in the second half, as Carlisle limited CV to five points once again, and scored 18 of their own.

Smith added eight to his night, while Luke Fischer, Masyn McMeekin, Lucas Ream and Tyler Royal combined for ten. Carlisle allowed three points in the quarter from Nolan Buzalka, but that’s where his scoring night would finish, totaling just nine points.

It was key for the Herd to zero in on Buzalka, who scored 26 points in the first meeting between the two. “It was kind of a mentality thing,” said Parker Smith in shutting down Buzalka. “Yesterday in practice, we knew we already played this team once. We kind of knew everything, we just came out and had that dog mentality.”

Carlisle has been searching for a win like this one. They were key contenders late into the season last year, but lost in overtime to Cumberland Valley at home, a crushing loss that sparked struggles in the District 3 6A playoffs.

“It’s about goddamn time,” said Andre Anderson. “Print that.”

Anderson was ecstatic with his team on Tuesday night. They’ve had some tough practices, and some tough games. Chambersburg won 73-46 over the Herd last Friday. They’ve also lost to Hershey, Central Dauphin and Cumberland Valley earlier in the year. Now, they take this win and head back home to host Central Dauphin on Friday night, looking to knock off two top programs in their division and District.

Another meeting with Chambersburg lies ahead.

The road is far from over Carlisle, but Tuesday night’s win is one that can turn a season around. We’ll see what happens next.

Cumberland Valley falls to 13-3, and the road gets no easier for them as well. Chambersburg is their only other loss of the season, and they visit Franklin County and the Trojans on Friday night.

Penn State will have a different look next year as always, but the picture is becoming clearer on what their team will look like. Lots of decisions have been made by personnel in State College on their futures.

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Zach Seyko, the host of Locked…

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If Nick Singleton hadn’t received wise words from his father, Tim Singleton, during his official visit to Notre Dame, he just may be rushing for touchdowns in South Bend, Indiana rather than State College, Pennsylvania.

When Singleton visited Notre Dame officially in June 2021, he was ready to commit to the program and at-the-time head coach Brian Kelly. He made a call to his dad, who was with our recruits’ parents, and preached patience to Nick. The family still had official visits to Texas A&M and Alabama to make, and it was important to see those through.

18 days after that official visit to South Bend, Nick Singleton committed to Penn State in his backyard. The decision came down to the Fighting Irish and Nittany Lions, and it wasn’t easy.

Singleton got to know players at Notre Dame. He spent time at Brian Kelly’s house on the lake. He was told he could be the next running back to take the Fighting Irish to the national championship.

Now, he wants to do anything but put Notre Dame in the national championship.

Currently, Singleton is fourth in rushing yards out of running backs still competing for a national championship. But, he’s one of the best rushers in the country who is sharing handoffs with another powerful back on the team. Singleton shares handoffs with Kaytron Allen, who has 54 more handoffs and 11 more yards than him.

In the college football playoff quarterfinal against Boise State, a game that Penn State underutilized the rush attack, Singleton got 12 handoffs for 87 yards and a score, leading Penn State into the CFP semifinal against the school he nearly chose.

In retrospect, it would’ve been a big loss if Singleton had passed on Penn State. He was the Gatorade National Player of the Year and was clearly going to be an impact player wherever he decided to go.

James Franklin has instituted a slogan that Penn State now lives and dies by in recruiting: The Best in PA, Stay in PA.

At the time, Penn State just missed on Southern Columbia wide receiver Julian Fleming and Warwick offensive tackle Nolan Rucci. They both ended up transfering to PSU from the Big Ten programs they originally chose, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Plus, the idea of having Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton in the same backfield evoked, and continues to evoke fond memories of having Miles Sanders and Saquon Barkley together.

Both Sanders and Barkley were part of the “Best in PA, Stay in PA” deal, as Barkley came from Whitehall High School outside of Allentown and Sanders from Pittsburgh’s Woodland Hills. The two both stamped a great impact on Happy Valley before NFL careers.

The same will happen for Singleton and Allen. However the next two games go, their impact is well-documented and they will both play on Sundays.

Luckily, Penn State doesn’t have to worry about what Singleton looks like in Notre Dame blue and gold.

But, we’ll see him and the Nittany Lions against them on Thursday, with a trip to the national title game on the line.

Penn State is going to the College Football Playoff semifinals after a 31-14 win over Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. The Nittany Lions got out to another 14-0 lead in to begin the game, and once again seemed in control at all points in a win over the Mountain West Champs.

With one bowl win under their belts, they’ll go from Glendale, Arizona to Miami, Florida. The next assignment is the Capital One Orange Bowl, facing the winner between Georgia and Notre Dame. But first, it’s time to reflect on what allowed PSU to get the job done against Boise State in Glendale.

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Catch the thoughts and breakdown from Ben Hoyt and I. Ben is a current junior at Penn State, and broadcaster for The Lion 90.7 FM, Penn State CommRadio and Big Ten Network.

Penn State is 7-0 in Fiesta Bowl games, and now they’ll play in their eighth as part of the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, facing three-seed Boise State and their dynamite running back, Heisman runner-up, Ashton Jeanty. The Nittany Lions, despite their lower seed, is favored -11.5 in a line that continues to move in PSU’s favor. Will they be able to deliver on New Year’s Eve?

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Penn State had white hats on moments after their 38-10 defeat of SMU in the first round of the College Football Playoff, a matchup between two conference runner-ups that was controlled by PSU completely. SMU never led in this game, and it was evident from the first quarter that they may not be ready to handle Beaver Stadium in December.

Those white hats had the word “Fiesta” branded across them, and that’s the next destination for this Nittany Lions team. Penn State is heading to the Fiesta Bowl for the eighth time in program history, the first since 2017, and more importantly, the first time as part of a path to the National Championship game.

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Klubnik won’t need much hosting though, he knows all the good spots in town.

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Ben is a graduate of Garnet Valley High School in Delaware County, and a current junio…

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