UNDATED (AP) — A targeting penalty will no longer automatically take a player off the field for the following game. The Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee has approved a one-year trial rule that gives a player a break for his first targeting penalty. For 2026, a player disqualified for targeting for the first time in the season may play the following game. The trial rule will apply regardless of which half the targeting penalty is called. Before 2026, players disqualified for targeting in the second half of a game have had to sit out the first half of the following game.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Matas Vokietaitis had 23 points and 16 rebounds, and No. 11 seed Texas knocked off sixth-seeded BYU 79-71 on Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, overcoming 35 points from Cougars forward AJ Dybantsa. Dybantsa played every minute of the game but it wasn’t enough as BYU (23-12) had its season — and perhaps his college career — come to an end. Dybantsa was two points shy of tying BYU’s NCAA Tournament record for points in a game, held by Danny Ainge and Jimmer Fredette. Texas won its First Four matchup with N.C. State on Tuesday night.
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Xavier Edmonds converted a layup to beat the shot clock with 4.3 seconds left, and No. 9 seed TCU held off a furious second-half rally by eighth-seeded Ohio State for a 66-64 victory to open the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Bruce Thornton’s half-court heave at the buzzer hit all backboard for the Buckeyes. Micah Robinson scored 18 points for TCU, Edmonds finished with 16 and David Punch had 16 points and 13 rebounds. John Mobley Jr. scored 15 points to lead Ohio State. The Horned Frogs move on to face top-seeded Duke, which survived a scare from 16th-seeded Siena to advance.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Kymora Johnson scored 17 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 30.6 seconds remaining, and Virginia beat Arizona State 57-55 in the First Four for its first NCAA Tournament win since 2018. Virginia (20-11), the No. 10 seed, will face seventh-seeded and 24th-ranked Georgia in the first round on Saturday. The Cavaliers are making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2018 and first under coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. Johnson’s key 3-pointer — Virginia’s first of the second half in 10 attempts — made it 54-51. Johnson went 1 of 2 from the free-throw line with 5.3 seconds left to cap the scoring and Arizona State guard Jyah LoVett lost control of the ball in the paint at the other end as the clock ran out.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — No school located anywhere close to the West Coast has won an NCAA men’s basketball championship since Arizona did it in 1997. The top-seeded Wildcats have another powerhouse team this March, and their quest to end the Western drought begins Friday morning in San Diego. Their first task out here on the edge of the Pacific is avoiding the Sharks. Jaden Bradley and the blue-blood Wildcats (30-2) open the NCAA Tournament against Long Island University, a No. 16 seed that has every hallmark of the scrappy small schools that annually rocket to national prominence by taking a bite out of March Madness.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Iowa State may have its best chance in years to finally get back to the Final Four, a place the Cyclones have only visited once 82 years ago. They are the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region and open against No. 15 seed Tennessee State on Friday. There are plenty of other teams in their region with something to prove. Texas Tech is trying to show it can win without injured starter JT Toppin, and Alabama is trying likewise to win without suspended guard Aden Holloway. Then there is Miami of Ohio, which had to win a First Four game despite going 30-0 in the regular season.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — St. John's has won the last two Big East regular-season titles and conference tournaments. The NCAA Tournament still belongs to Big East rival UConn. Coach Dan Hurley has already won two national championships with the Huskies. His road toward a third starts Friday when the second-seeded Huskies play Furman. St. John's thumped UConn last week in the Big East Tournament title game. The Huskies and the Red Storm could meet in the Elite Eight in the East Region.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — TCU is hosting women's NCAA Tournament games for the second year in a row, and trying to extend its 42-game home winning streak. The 29-5 and third-seeded Horned Frogs play UC San Diego on Friday. Washington takes on South Dakota State in the other first-round game in Fort Worth. TCU's home winning streak has come under third-year coach Mark Campbell, and with three distinctly rosters. No players remain from his first season, and there are only two returners who played last season when the Frogs made it to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time after winning two NCAA games at home.
