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A16 SPORTS
Tuesday 21 March 2023

The maddest March ever? Underdogs head to the Sweet 16

By JOHN MARSHALL Picked last in the Big 12,
AP Basketball Writer the Wildcats and under-
We know you’re upset. Un- sized but undeterred guard
derdogs have blown up ev- Markquis Nowell shoved
ery bracket in the country. aside Montana State and
An upside of the upsets: wore down Kentucky for
perhaps the maddest their first Sweet 16 since
March ever. 2018.
Defending national cham- MIDWEST REGION
pion Kansas and fellow No. Tang said the Wildcats
1 seed Purdue are gone won because they’ve “got
the Boilermakers with a slice dudes.” Houston has a few
of unwanted history. The of its own.
Sweet 16 won’t have blue The Midwest’s No. 1 seed,
bloods Kentucky, Duke or the Cougars have played
North Carolina for only the the lockdown defense that
second time since 1979. made them a Final Four
In are upstarts like Prince- favorite at the start of the
ton, Florida Atlantic and a season, holding Northern
team picked to finish last in Kentucky to 52 points and
the Big 12 Conference. Auburn to 64.
And, this being March, of The Cougars’ bid to play
course there’s Tom Izzo. The Florida Atlantic bench celebrates in the second half of a second-round college basketball the Final Four at home now
The bracket has been near- game against Fairleigh Dickinson in the men’s NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, Sunday, heads to Kansas City, Mis-
ly devoid of the buzzer- March 19, 2023. Florida Atlantic defeated Fairleigh Dickinson 78-70. Associated Press souri, where they will face
beaters that college hoops Miami.
fans have been accus- San Diego State. The fifth- brenner are in the Sweet 16 pushing around Duke af- The speedy, fifth-seeded
tomed to, but the games seeded Aztecs are old and for the second time in three ter grinding out a win over Hurricanes hit Indiana with
have been close. There love to knock around op- seasons after bouncing No. Louisiana. a gale force of offensive re-
have been four games ponents just ask College of 3 seed Baylor. Sharing the Garden mar- bounds, scoring 29 second-
decided by one point, the Charleston and Furman. EAST REGION quee will be Michigan chance points to reach the
most since there were six The second game marks Florida Atlantic won the State and Kansas State. Sweet 16 for the second
in 2017 and three short of Princeton’s first Sweet 16 in battle of bracket darlings The Spartans are at their straight season under Jim
the record last matched in 56 years. The No. 15 seed by knocking off Fairleigh best in March under coach Larrañaga.
1998. Tigers had the first major Dickinson, the second No. Izzo, who won his record Another Texas team is still in
SOUTH REGION March upset by knock- 16 seed ever to beat a No. 16th NCAA Tournament the mix to reach the Final
Alabama has looked every ing off No. 2 Arizona and 1, taking down Purdue. game as a lower seed by Four in its home state the
bit the No. 1 overall seed, proved it was no fluke by The Owls better be ready bouncing No. 2 seed Mar- one from Austin.
blowing out Texas A&M- taking down Missouri. for some bruises against quette. No. 2 seed Texas overcame
Corpus Christi and Mary- They face Creighton, one Tennessee at Madison Jerome Tang is taking un- the midseason firing of
land despite turmoil swirling of three Big East teams to Square Garden in their first derdog Kansas State from coach Chris Beard to play
around the program. get this far. Inconsistent Sweet 16. The third-seed- one Manhattan to another some outstanding basket-
Waiting for Alabama in early, the bombing Bluejays ed Vols bullied their way in his first season in the Little ball under interim coach
Louisville, Kentucky, will be and big man Ryan Kalk- through the first two rounds, Apple. Rodney Terry. q

Shiffrin tops season-record $1M in ski World Cup prize money

OBERHOFEN, Switzerland son set a men’s record whose 338,000 Swiss francs
(AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin with 941,200 Swiss francs ($365,000) was boosted by
earned another piece of ($1,017,000). five wins in downhill.
World Cup history the first Shiffrin’s previous best After Odermatt, the
Alpine skier with $1 million prize total was 886,000 next best men’s earner
to top the season-ending Swiss francs ($958,000) in with 623,000 Swiss francs
race prize money list con- the 2018-19 season, when ($673,000) was Aleksander
firmed Monday. she also won the women’s Aamodt Kilde, Shiffrin’s
Shiffrin’s win in a giant sla- overall World Cup title. She partner. Kilde’s eight World
lom Sunday was her 13th won her fifth title this season. Cup race wins included
World Cup victory since Her historic World Cup sea- the most lucrative race of
October and lifted her to- son ends with the 28-year- the season, a downhill at
tal prize money total race old American extending Kitzbuehel, Austria. It pays
organizers to 964,200 Swiss her all-time career wins to- 100,000 euros ($107,000)
francs ($1.04 million). tal to 88 and setting a new to the winner. Odermatt’s
That set the all-time Alpine women’s career mark of 21 total topped the previous
Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, left, and United States’ Mikaela World Cup record and giant slalom wins. men’s record of 670,000
Shiffrin celebrate on the podium with their alpine ski, World Cup moved her earnings above Her prize money total was Swiss francs ($724,000) set
overall leader’s trophies, in Soldeu, Andorra, Sunday, March 19, Marco Odermatt, whose almost three times more by Marcel Hirscher in his
2023. giant slalom win Saturday than the next highest earn- overall title-winning season
Associated Press in his last race of the sea- ing woman, Sofia Goggia, of 2017-18.q