No. 1s Michigan, Arizona anticipate real tournament test

INDIANAPOLIS -- On the weekend the Fab Five is reunited and Michigan celebrates the anniversary of its only men's basketball national title in 1989, Dusty May can't help but feel momentum moving the Wolverines closer to tipoff in the Final Four.

The former Indiana University manager for Bob Knight has Michigan (35-3) hitting a peak at the right time with only Arizona (36-2) between the Wolverines and their eighth national championship game appearance.

"It's really cool just to be back here in a full-circle moment," May said Friday, roughly 36 hours before Michigan takes the court at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Wolverines waltzed through the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region in Chicago, taking the regional final from Tennessee in a landslide, 95-62. Michigan's trail of victims all allowed 90-plus points, 25-plus field goals, 19-plus assists and 10-plus 3-pointers with Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg (21.0 points per game) leading six Wolverines averaging double figures during the NCAA Tournament.

"He's obviously an elite talent," Lloyd said of Lendeborg. "You put the skill with those physical tools, and looks like to me he's got that alpha dog in him. Dusty has done an incredible job just putting him in positions to utilize all his skills. There's probably not one way to guard him. ... I'm sure that guy, that's going to be a household name in basketball for a long time."

Lloyd said Friday he plans to be a household name in Tucson for a long time. He signed a contract extension through 2031 in the wake of interest from another college basketball powerhouse -- this time North Carolina, last year Villanova -- with a coaching vacancy.

Arizona set a single-season program record with 36 wins. The Wildcats won the Big 12 and, like Big Ten regular-season champ Michigan, haven't had to sweat much in the NCAA Tournament with an average margin of victory of 20.5. This is the first matchup since the NCAA Tournament became a 64-team field in 1985 in which Final Four opponents won four prior games by at least 10 points.

"I feel like we've been tested," Arizona senior point guard Jaden Bradley said. "Big 12 play, Big 12 tournament. I think it's going to go down to the wire. It's definitely going to be a full 40 (minutes)."

Illinois, Arizona and Michigan have been in the top six in offensive efficiency rating all season.

The Wildcats are making their fifth Final Four appearance -- their first since 2001 -- and are back near the site of their 1997 national title celebration at the RCA Dome.

Freshman forward Koa Peat was named West Region Most Outstanding Player, averaging 20.5 points, 5.0 rebounds 2.5 assists in wins over Arkansas and Purdue last week. In a Final Four dominated by transfers and international talent searches, Peat is an anomaly Lloyd applauds.

"Koa is special," Lloyd said. "And I know you guys hear it, but you got to hear it again. Four state championships at the same high school. Didn't go to a prep school. Four gold medals with USA Basketball. No one in FIBA history has ever done that. And helped lead Arizona to a Final Four."

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Classmate Brayden Burries scored 23 points against Arkansas in the Sweet 16, the second-most points scored by an Arizona freshman in an NCAA Tournament game. The pair combined for 1,105 points this season.

The player most responsible for carrying the Arizona flag on the roster is Bradley, who was named Big 12 Player of the Year. He was a third-team All-American and a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award.

Bradley's matchup with Michigan's backcourt brings intrigue in a game where most of the Xs and Os are fixed on big men. He'll likely get plenty of time against Michigan point guard Elliot Cadeau, who has three consecutive games with seven-plus assists and overcame an allergic reaction and late departure from Ann Arbor to practice Friday.

But Arizona takes pride in its team defense.

"I think their physicality stands out and the way that they play and they sustain physicality for 40 minutes," Michigan freshman guard Trey McKenney said of Arizona.

The Wildcats are not the typical college offense, a point made by Michigan's 7-foot-4 center Aday Mara this week.

They typically are aiming to shoot a higher volume of free throws, not 3-pointers. The Wildcats have attempted only 53 total 3-pointers in four NCAA Tournament games and shot 43.4%; Arizona made an average of 19.7 free throws per game this season. Michigan made 27 free throws in the Midwest Region final win.

Arizona's defense gave Big 12 foes fits all season with 7-foot-2 Motiejus Krivas roaming between the blocks. But Lloyd views Lendeborg as a unicorn. Not because of just his scoring, but because of his unselfish play.

"It took him a while," May said of Lendeborg reaching his current comfort zone. "And I think our guys have constantly reminded him. He's so unselfish. He's so -- I don't know how to say it. He wants to be one of the guys. They've encouraged him to be more aggressive, to shoot more, to hunt some more individual accolades all year, and he simply refused because he didn't care about any of those things.

"It's allowed us to have a real selfless group, and it's improved our environment because he's been so unselfish but he still has no idea how good he is."

A grad student who had 150 career games under his belt before joining the Wolverines, Lendeborg spent two seasons at Arizona Western College and two at UAB. He's also a unique talent because of range -- 10 3-pointers in the past three games -- and length (7-foot-4 wingspan).

If the Wildcats control the lane and force Michigan to launch from deep, they expect positive results. Opponents are shooting 27.9% from 3-point range against Arizona in the NCAA Tournament.

--Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media

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April 03, 2026

No. 1s Michigan, Arizona anticipate real tournament test

INDIANAPOLIS -- On the weekend the Fab Five is reunited and Michigan celebrates the anniversary of its only men's ...

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Travon Walker agrees to four-year, $110 million contract extension with Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars locked in one of the integral pieces of their young defense.

Defensive end Travon Walker agreed to a four-year, $110 million contract extension, his representation announced on X. The deal includes $77 million in total guarantees and $50 million fully guaranteed at signing, per Elite Loyalty Sports.

Walker now ranks 12th among edge rushers in his contract's average annual value.

Walker is coming off a 3 1/2-sack season in 2025, but he registered double-digit totals the previous two years.

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The No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Georgia has long been compared to fellow edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who went No. 2 overall to the Detroit Lions. Hutchinson, who has been selected to two Pro Bowls, has been the more productive pass rusher of the two and signed a four-year, $180 million extension last October. Walker, however, has emerged as a key disruptor for the Jaguars' opportunistic defense, which ranked second in the NFL with 31 takeaways last season.

"The thing that I really appreciate in watching Travon move is how much he loves this place, how much he loves his teammates," Jaguars general manager James Gladstone said in January. "That just seeps out of his soul. Those are the type of people you want to align yourself with. It's the type of players that we want to make sure that are still in our building moving forward."

Walker had been set to play in 2026 on his fifth-year option for $15.2 million.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Travon Walker contract details: Jaguars DE agrees to hefty extension

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April 03, 2026

Travon Walker agrees to four-year, $110 million contract extension with Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars locked in one of the integral pieces of their young defense. Defensive end Tr...

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Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo lay their foundations in the WNBA expansion draft

Portland, which is welcoming aWNBAteam back to the city after 24 years, selected veteran forward Bridget Carleton with the first pick in Friday's expansion draft.

WNBA Expansion Draft Basketball

Guard Julie Allemand, who played last season for the Los Angeles Sparks, was selected by the Toronto Tempo with its first pick.

The Tempo won a coin flip and opted to take the sixth pick in the college draft on April 13 over the top pick in the expansion draft. So Portland went first on Friday and will have the seventh pick in the college draft.

Carleton, who played last season for the Minnesota Lynx and averaged 6.5 points a game, was an unrestricted free agent.

"Once we finalized our process, and zoomed in on Bridget, and knew we had our first expansion pick, it was obvious we did not want to have Toronto hold our destiny in their hands," Portland general manger Vanja Cernivec said.

Allemand averaged 5.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5 assists in 34 games last season.

The league's teams protected five players apiece ahead of the expansion draft but those lists were not made public, leading to speculation about which players were available.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Sky announced trades with the Tempo and the Fire, which prevented the expansion teams from selecting Sky players. In exchange, the Fire got the No. 17 pick in the college draft and the No. 26 pick went to the Tempo.

The expansion draft had two rounds, with up to six picks for each team in each round. The teams alternated picks, with the Tempo picking first in the second round after the Fire got the first overall selection.

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Teams could only lose two players to the expansion draft. If a player was taken in the first round, a second player from that same franchise couldn't be taken until the second round.

Following Allemand, the Tempo selected center Nyara Sabally from the Liberty, guard Marina Mabrey from the Sun, forward Aaliya Nye from the Aces, guard Lexi Held from the Mercury, and forward Maria Conde from the Valkyries.

In the second round the Tempo selected forward Maria Kliundikova from the Lynx, center Adja Kane from the Liberty, center Nikolina Milic from the Sun, guard Kitija Laksa from the Mercury, and guard Kristy Wallace from the Fever.

After Carleton, the Portland Fire selected guard Carla Leite from the Valkyries, center Luisa Geiselsoder from the Stars, forward Emily Engstler from the Mystics, guard Maya Caldwell from the Dream and forward Chloe Bibby from the Fever.

In the second round Portland took guard Haley Jones from the Wings, forward Nyadiew Puoch from the Dream, guard Sara Ashlee Barker from the Sparks, guard Sug Sutton from the Mystics and guard Nika Muhl from the Storm.

Mabry was also an unrestricted free agent. Each team was allowed to pick only one unrestricted free agent.

Portland previously had a WNBA team, also called the Fire, that played from 2000 to 2002.

AP WNBA:https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

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April 03, 2026

Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo lay their foundations in the WNBA expansion draft

Portland, which is welcoming aWNBAteam back to the city after 24 years, selected veteran forward Bridget Carleton with th...

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Forced from their homes by Israeli bombing, displaced Lebanese face uncertainty and sectarian tensions

ZOUK MOSBEH, Lebanon — Almost made homeless duringIsraeli bombingthat badly damaged her home in Tyre, southern Lebanon, two years ago, Rose El Khoury salvaged what she could and rebuilt.

Two years later, the home in Tyre that she shared with her husband and three children is a pile of rubble.

"In 2024, it was livable, even though we didn't have the money to fix it," El Khoury, a housewife in her 30s whose husband is serving with the Lebanese army, told NBC News in a telephone interview earlier this week. Today, she said, "my house is on the ground. So there is no hope to return."

El Khoury and her children are among more than 1 million people who have beenforcibly displaced from their homes in Lebanon, mainly in the south, amid a sweeping aerial and ground assault by Israeli forces as Israel looks toestablish a "security zone"there.

'No place to go back'

Israel began its invasion after Iranian proxy group Hezbollah launched strikes on the country from Lebanon in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has escalated into a wider regional conflict.

In the weeks since,fears of a long-term occupation of southern Lebanonhave grown, with Israel moving to establish a buffer zone in the area, leveling homes and destroying bridges over the Litani River, which connects the south to the rest of Lebanon, while taking control of what crossings remain.

Israel says the buffer zone is necessary to keep the threat of Hezbollah's rockets away from its border, and its Defense Minister Israel Katz has warned that the hundreds of thousands of families displaced from the south will not be able to return to their homes, or what is left of them, until the safety of the residents of northern Israel can be guaranteed.

More than 1,300 people have been killed across Lebanon and over 4,000 injured since the current war began, according to the Lebanese government.

"It is devastating," said El Khoury, who is now living in a single room at a temporary shelter in Sehayleh in the Keserwan District, northeast of Beirut, with her three children, ages 8, 6 and 4. She says they have struggled to get access to enough food and basic supplies.

"There is no place to go back."

Dire circumstances

Humanitarian workers on the ground have described dire circumstances for hundreds of thousands of people displaced across the country, with many sleeping on city streets and in cars in and around the country's capital, Beirut, as aid groups call for more funding to prepare for the possibility of "long-term displacement."

"Even if there was some sort of ceasefire, we already know that there are some regions in the south that have been taken over," Dr. Tania Baban, the Lebanon country director for the Chicago-based nonprofit MedGlobal, told NBC News in a phone interview Friday.

"So, now you have the concern of people who will not be able to — I hope not — but possibly ever go back to their land," she said.

Abbas Bazoun, 46, said he, his wife and their four children have been living out of their van for weeks now after being displaced from their home in Deir Aames in southern Lebanon.

He said they were barred from bringing their family dog into shelters and, refusing to abandon their pet, had little choice but to sleep in their vehicle.

"My dog is very dear to me, and I cannot give him away," said Bazoun. He said his family still had yet to learn whether their home remained intact, but that his small shop selling fruits and vegetables had been destroyed in Israel's offensive.

He said his wife has been left traumatized and suffered a "nervous breakdown" from living through the Israeli fire. "We faced a lot of bombing before we left," he said.

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Sectarian tensions 'brewing'

Meanwhile, humanitarian groups have also warned of growing sectarian tensions, with displaced people being turned away from communities they have sought refuge in over fears they could potentially be Hezbollah members.

Multiple groups, including the United Nations and MedGlobal, previously told NBC News that they had heard of local municipalities seeking to discourage residents from renting homes to displaced people coming from the south over fears they could be targeted if suspected Hezbollah members were among them.

The New York Times separately reported this week that the Israeli military has told leaders of Christian and Druze communities in southern Lebanon that they can remain in evacuation zones, but has pressed them to force out any Lebanese from neighboring Shia Muslim communities seeking refuge in their communities.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News on the allegations.

"I think there's a lot of anxiety. There's a lot of concern," Imran Riza, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, said in a phone interview on Friday.

"Compared to 2024, there is much more of a sense of insecurity and tension amongst both the host populations and the displaced population," he said.

Dany Makhlouf, a social activist from Achrafieh, a Christian neighborhood in Beirut, said people there did not want shelters set up in the area after past "issues" during previous rounds of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He said in some instances, displaced people had "put Hezbollah flags in the schools, which created tensions among the residents."

"Remember, we belong to different political parties, and to us, Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into this war and previous wars," he said.

Israel occupied southern Lebanon until 2000 and has frequently launched attacks on the area in recent decades, striking out at Hezbollah, which was first founded in the 1980s when Israel occupied southern Lebanon following attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israeli military. Hezbollah has long supported the destruction of Israel.

The Lebanese government vowed in 2024 to disarm the militant group as part of a U.N.-brokered effort to bring the previous conflict to an end, but there has been little progress in doing so since.

Bechara Gholam, the mayor of Rmeil, a Beirut neighborhood in the area of Achrafieh, said there were no shelters for displaced people there.

Gholam said that if displaced people do seek to rent apartments in the area, their names are sent to the government for confirmation that they are not known to be involved in "any activity related to Hezbollah." If they are cleared, Gholam said, "we don't have any problem."

"The security of our neighborhood is a priority to us," the mayor said.

Baban said she was growing increasingly concerned about the "local tension that is brewing" and by reports of Israel trying "to ignite that type of sectarian tension."

Meanwhile, she worried what would happen to displaced families if Israel does press on with a longer-term occupation of southern Lebanon.

"To be honest, we're all hoping for a miracle," she said.

byNeo

in

April 03, 2026

Forced from their homes by Israeli bombing, displaced Lebanese face uncertainty and sectarian tensions

ZOUK MOSBEH, Lebanon — Almost made homeless duringIsraeli bombingthat badly damaged her home in Tyre, southern Lebanon, t...

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5.8 magnitude quake hits Afghanistan and Pakistan, killing 8 in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 rattled parts of northern and eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan late Friday, killing at least eight people in Afghanistan, authorities said.

The region ishighly seismically active,and quakes have caused thousands of deaths in recent years. Friday's earthquake had an epicenter in the Hindu Kush mountain range, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) east of the Afghan city of Kunduz, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Hafizullah Basharat, a spokesman for the Kabul governor, said eight people were killed and a child was injured when a house collapsed on the outskirts of the capital. He said all were members of the same family.

Kabul is roughly 290 kilometers (180 miles) southwest of the epicenter. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from areas closer to the epicenter. The area is remote, and it can often take several hours before local authorities can relay information back to Kabul.

With the epicenter at a depth of over 180 kilometers, the quake jolted a wide swath of Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Pakistan, it was felt in the cities and towns of Islamabad, Peshawar, Chitral, Swat and Shangla, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in Pakistan.

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Afghanistan's Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said Kabul and provincial health authorities had been put on alert.

Last August,a 6.0 earthquakethat struck a remote, mountainous part of eastern Afghanistan killed more than 2,200 people, leveling villages and trapping people under rubble. Most casualties were in Kunar province, where people typically live in wood and mud-brick houses along steep valleys.

In November,a 6.3 earthquakestruck Samangan province in northern Afghanistan, killing at last 27 people and injuring more than 950. It also damaged historical sites, including Afghanistan's famed Blue Mosque in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, and the Bagh-e-Jahan Nama Palace in Khulm.

On Oct. 7, 2023,a 6.3 quakefollowed by strong aftershocks in western Afghanistan killed thousands of people.

Impoverished Afghanistanoften faces difficulty in responding to natural disasters, especially in remote regions. Many homes in rural and outlying areas are made from mud bricks and wood, with many poorly built.

byNeo

in

April 03, 2026

5.8 magnitude quake hits Afghanistan and Pakistan, killing 8 in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 rattled parts of northern and eastern Afghani...

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