Women's March Madness snubs: BYU leads teams left out of NCAA tournament

The madness of March officially started with the women'sSelection Sundayshow.

Many women's college basketball teams across the country were glued to their televisions, waiting to learn their fate for the2026 NCAA Tournament. In total, 68 programs were selected to go dancing for a chance at a national championship.

NCAA Tournament action officially starts with the First Four on Wednesday, March 18, and Thursday, March 19, and continues with the first and second rounds on March 20-23. Unfortunately, for some teams, the dream ended Sunday when they weren't selected for the NCAA Tournament.

Here are five team who were snubbed from March Madness:

1. BYU Cougars (22-11)

The Cougars were a bubble team before March Madness. There was some hope the team would go dancing, but it was still a long shot. Unfortunately, a five-game win streak at the end of the season, which culminated in a Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals appearance, wasn't enough to send BYU deeper into the postseason.

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2.Mississippi State Bulldogs(18-13)

Mississippi State did itself no favors leading up to Selection Sunday. The Bulldogs lost seven of their last nine matchups to end the season, including five straight games. Three of those losses came to ranked teams: South Carolina, LSU and Texas.

3. North Dakota State Bison (28-4)

NDSU also needed some help to get into the NCAA Tournament, but losing in the Summit League conference championship likely didn't help its case. After a magical run to the title game, the Bision lost 64-51 heartbreakingly. NDSU had turnover issues, including five during the final stretch of the matchup against South Dakota State, and didn't score at all in the final 90 seconds of regulation.

4. Texas A&M Aggies (14-12)

Despite winning six of their final seven games of the regular season, the Aggies also found themselves on the outside looking in. Unfortunately, Texas A&M had a brutal stretch to open SEC play at the start of the year, losing eight of its first conference games. Six of those losses came to ranked teams, including Oklahoma (twice), Vanderbilt, LSU, Texas and South Carolina.

5. Utah Utes (19-12)

For the first time in five seasons, Utah will not be in the NCAA Tournament. Late-season losses proved to be really costly for the program. Utah went 3-5 in the last month of the regular season, dropping multiple Big 12 matchups, including two games to BYU, who was also bounced from March Madness.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Women's NCAA Tournament snubs: These teams were left off 2026 bracket

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March 16, 2026

Women's March Madness snubs: BYU leads teams left out of NCAA tournament

The madness of March officially started with the women'sSelection Sundayshow. Many women's c...

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Denny Hamlin Breaks Tie, Claims Tenth on NASCAR Cup Series' All-Time Win List with Las Vegas Victory

Denny Hamlin backed up his win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Fall of 2025 with a win in this year's Spring race, Sunday Afternoon. Last year's win tied him for tenth on the all-time win list with two-time Cup Champion Kevin Harvick; this win grants him sole ownership of the spot and moves him past his own goal of 60.

Hamlin's win last fall was emotional for many reasons beyond matching Harvick's record. It locked Hamlin into the Championship Four for the first time since 2020, in what looked to be his best chance at his first championship. It surpassed the number of wins he thought he would achieve, and it turned out to be the last win his father saw in person or on TV before he passed this off-season.

His father was not well enough to travel to Phoenix a few weeks later, where Hamlin ultimately fell just short of the championship, and Hamlin was upfront about the fact that he didn't expect his dad to see another championship run. His dad died in December, unexpectedly in a house fire; his mother, who was in the same fire, was able to celebrate with Hamlin on the front stretch along with his partner Jordan Fish, two daughters, and newborn son.

With everything going on in Hamlin's life away from the track, rebounding from the lost championship, the loss of his dad, and 23XI Racing's legal victory, Hamlin was candid that it took him a moment to get into the rhythm and enjoy the sport again.

"I know it took a few weeks to feel like driving and over the last couple of weeks regained my love," Hamlin told NASCAR on FOX.

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"It's great that Mom gets to see this. I know that Dad is still saying, 'That's my boy.' Hamlin choked up at his first mention of his father post-win.

Hamlin dominated the race with laps led but lost the stages to Christopher Bell and William Byron. In the final stage, he had to hold off Chase Elliott, who was making inroads into his lead in the closing laps, but couldn't get within the final half-second to challenge for Hendrick's first win of 2026.

This was Hamlin's and Joe Gibbs Racing's first win of the season, with the opening three rounds going to Owner-Hamlin's 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick and last week's first short oval win going to Penske's Ryan Blaney.

Toyota dominated the top ten with all four JGR drivers,Hamlin, Bell, Ty Gibbs, and Chase Briscoe finishing in the top ten, along with 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace.

The Hendrick Chevrolets of Elliott and Byron, and Kyle Larson finished second and third and Seventh to put a wedge in the Toyota dominance, and Chris Buescher was the only Ford in the top ten, finishing sixth.

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March Madness bracket hot takes, from upset picks to Final Four predictions

Madnessawaits.

Good luck as you try to spot the perfect 12 vs. 5 upset pick, so you can lord yourCinderella-spotting skills over your buddies. If you'll allow me a word of advice as you fill out your brackets: I like the upset potential of the 11-seeds this year much better than the 12-seeds.

While we await the games, here are eight burning thoughts and predictions off thisNCAA Tournament bracket.

March Madness region breakdown:South|East|Midwest|West

Dukeis No. 1 team, butArizonais frontrunner after good region draw

The selection committee did Duke dirty.

The Blue Devils earned the No. 1 overall seed, but big whoop. Their prize? Getting placed into a region that includes an all-star cast of coaches.

Lined up in Duke's way are Dan Hurley, Tom Izzo, Bill Self and Rick Pitino. That's some kind of reward for the tournament's top seed.

As if Duke hadn't absorbed enough bad luck already with the recentinjury to point guard Caleb Foster, now it's got to solve a who's who list of coaches.

The true seeding affirms Duke's East Region has the best collection of Nos. 1 through 4 seeds. Duke already played and beat Michigan State and Kansas in the regular season. That doesn't mean it would relish a rematch.

Even Duke's second-round game, potentially against No. 8 Ohio State, brews a recipe for trouble. The Buckeyes are hot, and they can hang with premier teams. They recently beat Purdue, and they gave Michigan a 40-minute fight in the Big Ten tournament.

In fact, Duke might prefer to teleport into the West Region, where Arizona is the No. 1 seed.

With Duke facing the region of doom, Arizona should be viewed as tournament frontrunners. Arizona already emerged on top of the nation's best conference. Now, the Wildcats must exorcise some postseason demons. They last reached the Final Four in 2001, with a bundle of flops since then.

Better to face old demons, though, than face the teams in Duke's way of the Final Four.

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Miami Ohio deserved its NCAA Tournament bid

Mid-majors give the NCAA Tournament its irresistible flavor, and the committee got it right by awarding at-large bids to 10th-seeded Santa Clara and 11th-seeded Miami (Ohio).

Santa Clara twice beat Saint Mary's, a 7-seed in this bracket. Sure, Santa Clara went 0-3 in games against Gonzaga, but the Broncos played the Zags closer each time thanKentuckydid when it got routed by Mark Few's crew. Now, Santa Clara gets its own crack at UK in a 7 vs. 10 game.

The committee directed the RedHawks to a First Four game. That's fine, consideringtheir poor strength of schedule. Kicking Miami out of the bracket entirely, though,based on a single loss, would have been too heavy-handed. This is an instance of the First Four providing some real value. Let a game in Dayton, Ohio, determine whether 31-win Miami is worthy of the first round.

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Nobody got snubbed, and March Madness expansion unnecessary

If we needed more proof that the NCAA Tournament does not need to expand, we got it. The first two teams left out of the field were Oklahoma (19-15) and Auburn (17-16).

When we're spotlighting a 15-loss team with barely a top-50 NET ranking as thebiggest "snub,"that means there were no snubs.

Could Oklahoma or Auburn have won an NCAA Tournament game? Yes, they might have won a game or possibly even two, if selected. Or, either could've been routed in its opener. Bottom line: Neither played with enough consistency to earn a ticket, and nobody with Elite Eight potential got omitted from this 68-team bracket.

As rumblings of a 72- or 76-team bracket persist,expansion remains quite obviously unnecessary. It would only prop up the dregs of the Power conferences.

First-round upset special: No. 10 Santa Clara beats No. 7 Kentucky

It must have been painful for Big Blue Nation watching John Calipari and Arkansas win the SEC tournament. Well, that'll be nothing compared to the outrage that'll radiate from Kentucky if Mark Pope falls in the first round to cap his second season.

Santa Clara can pile up points, and Kentucky specializes in falling behind, before trying to mount furious rallies.

Santa Clara finished as the West Coast Conference's runner-up. In Kentucky's last taste of the WCC, it lost to Gonzaga by 35 points in December.

First-round upset special, Part II: No. 11 VCU beats No. 6 North Carolina

The Tar Heels' Final Four potential absorbed a gut punch when top scorerCaleb Wilson suffered a season-ending injuryearlier this month. That's reflected in North Carolina's seeding. If Wilson was healthy, UNC probably would be more in the vicinity of a 4-seed.

VCU is hot, winners of 16 of its past 17 games. Its credentials include a November rout of Virginia Tech, a 19-win team from the ACC.

A frequent NCAA qualifier, VCU last sprang a first-round upset a decade ago. Dust off the glass slipper.

Second-round game I'm dying to see

If chalk holds in the first-round games in Portland, Oregon, then No. 3 Gonzaga would face No. 6 Brigham Young in the second round. That's an opportunity to see one of the nation's best pure scorers, BYU's AJ Dybantsa, go against one of the nation's best defensive teams, Gonzaga.

Some NBA Draft experts expect Dybantsa to be selected with the No. 1 pick. Before that, enjoy his college curtain call this March Madness.

Big 12, Big Ten represent in Final Four

Last year, all four 1-seeds reached the Final Four. Surely, that won't repeat … right? Right.

The SEC earned the most bids, but the Big 12 is the nation's best conference, and I expect it to represent 'til the end, with No. 1 Arizona and No. 2 Houston reaching the Final Four. I've also got No. 1 Michigan and No. 3 Michigan State in the Final Four.

Arizona starts a lineup full of double-digit scorers. Houston has an excellent blend of proven veterans and premier freshmen. Michigan plays the nation's best defense and scores plenty, too. As for Michigan State, trust March Madness virtuoso Izzo inside the rough-and-tumble East Region.

National championship pick: Arizona beats Houston

The past 25 years were filled with NCAA Tournament heartbreak for Arizona. It's time to end that madness.

In the year of the freshman, Arizona starts three really good ones, including top scorer Brayden Burries. But, as the saying goes, old guards win in March. I'm all-in on Arizona because of its do-it-all senior point guard Jaden Bradley, the Big 12 player of the year and the soul of this team.

Blake Toppmeyeris a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him atBToppmeyer@gannett.comand follow him on X@btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:NCAA Tournament hot takes: Is this Arizona's year? Bluebloods beware

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March 16, 2026

March Madness bracket hot takes, from upset picks to Final Four predictions

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Aaron Judge proclaims World Baseball Classic has surpassed World Series in importance

MIAMI (AP) — On a night when All-Stars and future Hall of Famers thrilled fans and each other until the final out, Aaron Judge proclaimed the World Baseball Classic had grown into the sport's biggest event.

WBC USA Dominican Republic Baseball

"It's bigger and better than the World Series," the U.S. captain said after a2-1 semifinal win over the Dominican Republicthat came down to Sunday night'sfinal pitch. "The passion that these fans have, representing their country, representing some of their favorite players, there's nothing like it."

American tradition emphasizing understatement on a team led by Judge and Bryce Harper was showcased against Latin flair on a side featuring Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. When Junior Caminero homered against Paul Skenes to put the Dominicans ahead in the second inning, he celebrated with an overhand bat flip.

In the sixth tournament of an event that started in 2006, the game featured starting lineups featuring 17 All-Stars totaling 56 selections among the 20 starters. They had won five MVP awards, one Cy Young, five Rookies of the Year and three batting titles.

Before a crowd of 36,337 at IoanDepot park, the U.S. overcame the deficit on fourth-inning home runs by Gunnar Henderson off Luis Severino and Roman Anthony against Gregory Soto.

Anthony, at 21 the youngest American player, had bought a ticket for the 2023 WBC final in Miami and watched from the seats asJapan beat the U.S. 3-2.

"Coming to the WBC here, you dream of representing this country and being here the next time around," Anthony said.

American relievers allowed two hits over 4 2/3 scoreless innings, capped by Mason Miller topping 100 mph with 13 of 22 pitches. Miller's last appeared to be low for ball four to Geraldo Perdomo but plate umpire Cory Blaser emphatically signaled strike three.

"Just a game we'll remember forever, right?" U.S. manager Mark DeRosa said. "We understood this was going to be a talked-about game, probably one of the most watched games of all time."

Dynamic defense was commonplace.

With the U.S. trailing by a run in the third, Judge threw a 95.7 mph strike from right field to third base to cut down Fernando Tatis Jr. for the inning's final out. Judge then made a diving backland catch to rob Soto, his former New York Yankees teammate, in the fourth.

Julio Rodríguez denied Judge a home run with a leaping catch at the center-field wall in the fifth, 407 feet from the plate.

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"I was like, OK, maybe we got a shot here," Judge recalled. "But hit it to a guy like J-Rod, who's one of the best if not the best center fielder in the game, he's going make exciting plays like that in big moments."

Shortstop Bobby Witt ranged to the right field side of the infield to snag Soto's slow bouncer in the fifth, scrambled to back to touch second base and made an off-balance throw to first for an inning-ending double play. One inning later, Witt threw out Manny Machado at first from the outfield grass.

Pitching moments were memorable, too.

Dominican starter Luis Severino stranded runners at second and third in the third inning when he struck out Judge and Kyle Schwarber, and Skenes escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth when Austin Wells flied out.

Wells doubled with one out in the seventh and the relatively slow-footed catcher was held at third on Perdomo's single to Crow-Armstrong in center. David Bednar then struck out Tatis Jr. and Ketel Marte on breaking balls below the strike zone.

Before Miller got the strike three call in the ninth, Perdomo had fouled off a pair of full-count pitches.

"The whole world saw in two teams some of the best players in the game," said Dominican manager Albert Pujols, a likely future Hall of Famer.

Rosters included 18 of the 41 players who received MVP votes last year.

Judge gave a postgame speech to teammates, looking ahead to Tuesday's championship against Venezuela or Italy. He had perceived a special night Sunday from the start.

"You get chills standing there on the line, hearing them announce all the names," he said. "It was like an All-Star team they got over there."

AP MLB:https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

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March 16, 2026

Aaron Judge proclaims World Baseball Classic has surpassed World Series in importance

MIAMI (AP) — On a night when All-Stars and future Hall of Famers thrilled fans and each other until the final out, Aaron ...

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Trump demands other countries help secure vital Strait of Hormuz as Iran vows defiance

By Maya Gebeily, Emily Rose and Jarrett Renshaw

DUBAI/JERUSALEM/PALM BEACH, Florida, March 15 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Sunday his administration is talking to seven countries about helping to secure the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, calling on them to help protect ships in the vital waterway that Tehran has mostly blocked to oil tanker traffic.

With the conflict creating turmoil across the Middle ‌East and shaking up global energy markets in its third week, Trump insisted that nations relying heavily on oil from the Gulf have a responsibility to protect the strait.

"I'm demanding that these countries come in ‌and protect their own territory because it is their territory," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way from Florida to Washington. "It's the place from which they get their energy."

Though he declined to identify the seven governments that his administration has contacted, Trump said this weekend that he ​expected many countries would send warships to allow shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 20% of the world's oil.

He said in a social media post he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would participate.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, Trump ratcheted up pressure on European allies to help protect the strait, warning that NATO faces a "very bad" future if its members fail to come to Washington's aid.

Trump also said Washington is in contact with Iran but expressed doubt that Tehran is prepared for serious negotiations to end the conflict.

U.S. officials responding to economic uncertainty over high oil prices predicted on Sunday that the war on Iran would end within weeks and that a drop in energy costs would follow, despite ‌Iran's assertion that it remains "stable and strong" and ready to defend itself.

Trump had threatened ⁠more strikes on Iran's main oil export hub Kharg Island over the weekend and said he was not ready to reach a deal to end the war which has shut off the vital Strait of Hormuz.

The Trump administration plans to announce as early as this week that multiple countries have agreed to form a coalition to escort ships through the narrow waterway but ⁠they are still discussing whether those operations would begin before or after hostilities end, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials.

Trump offered few specifics about the kind of assistance he wanted from other countries to open up the strait, except to say some have minesweepers and "a certain type of boat that could help us."

Asian markets were in a wary mood on Monday as the Gulf hostilities kept oil prices elevated. Brent rose 0.1% to $103.27 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 0.7% to $97.99.

IRAN DENIES TRUMP CLAIM ON NEGOTIATIONS

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Trump, who ​on ​Friday said the U.S. Navy would "soon" start escorting oil tankers, has said previously that Iran wants to negotiate, but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas ​Araqchi earlier on Sunday disputed that claim.

"We have never asked for a ceasefire, and we ‌have never asked even for negotiations," Araqchi told CBS' "Face the Nation" program. "We are ready to defend ourselves for as long as it takes."

With crude oil prices hovering around $100 a barrel, Trump administration officials insisted that all signs point to a relatively quick end to the conflict.

"This conflict will certainly come to the end in the next few weeks — could be sooner than that," U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC's "This Week" program.

Trump on Sunday did not put a timeframe on concluding the war but said oil prices "are going to come tumbling down as soon as it's over, and it's going to be over pretty quick."

But the U.S. president said he saw no reason to declare victory yet.

"I think I just say they're decimated." Trump told reporters. "If we left right now, it would take them 10 years or more to rebuild, but I'm still not declaring it over."

Meanwhile, Araqchi sought to project an image of strength and resilience despite waves of U.S. and Israeli air ‌strikes that have killed a number of Iranian leaders, sunk much of the Islamic Republic's navy and devastated its missile arsenal.

"It's not ​a war of survival. We are stable and strong enough," Araqchi told CBS. "We don't see any reason why we should talk with Americans, because ​we were talking with them when they decided to attack us, and that was for the second time."

KHARG ISLAND

Trump ​said on Saturday that U.S. strikes had "totally demolished" much of Kharg Island and warned of more, telling NBC News on Saturday, "We may hit it a few more times just for fun."

The ‌comments marked a sharp escalation from Trump, who had previously said the U.S. was targeting ​only military sites on Kharg, and dealt a blow to diplomatic ​efforts to end a war that has spread across the Middle East and killed more than 2,000 people, most in Iran and Lebanon.

With global air transport heavily disrupted and no clear end in sight, Iran's ability to choke off traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, has emerged as a decisive threat to the global economy.

Although some Iranian vessels have continued to pass ​and a few ships from other countries have successfully made the crossing, the passage ‌has been effectively closed for most of the world's tanker traffic since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 at the start of an intensive bombing campaign that has hit thousands ​of targets across the country.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily in Dubai, Emily Rose in Jerusalem and Jarrett Renshaw in Palm Beach, Florida; Additional reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by James Mackenzie, David Morgan and Matt ​Spetalnick; Editing by Sergio Non, Chizu Nomiyama, William Mallard, Gareth Jones, Andrew Heavens, Deepa Babington, Diane Craft and Michael Perry)

byNeo

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March 16, 2026

Trump demands other countries help secure vital Strait of Hormuz as Iran vows defiance

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