College Sports | featured news

The four teams left in the men’s N.C.A.A. tournament are an odd mix: a national player of the year candidate, Trey Burke of Michigan; a No. 1 seed, Louisville; an old-guard Big East team, Syracuse; and an outlier, Wichita State.

Davidson's near-upset against Marquette caused a common sigh to percolate through the room. For the Wildcats, there will always be that What If? This isn't the first season we've witnessed the heartbreak.

The new Big East officially has its core members, its television deal and a lease to play its conference tournament where the old Big East played it. All that came with the expected announcement Wednesday that Butler, Creighton and Xavier joined seven basketball-playing Catholic schools starting their own league this summer, a conference that has a 12-year deal with Fox Sports and assumes the lease on Madison Square Garden for its championship tournament.

President Barack Obama is picking Indiana to go all the way in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. ESPN revealed Wednesday that Obama picked the Hoosiers to win it all in his 2013 bracket. He predicted Louisville, Ohio State and Florida would round out the Final Four.

Do you know the mascot for South Dakota State? Can you come up with the all-time record for No. 16 seeds? How about the starting backcourt for the Michigan Wolverines? No? Well, to prepare you for Selection Sunday and the three weeks of March Madness, here is an A to Z primer on the NCAA Tournament that will cap a wildly unpredictable season in college basketball.

Some of the nation's power conferences will be defined by parity this fall. The Big Ten likely won't be one of them. Ohio State, coming off a sanction-shortened undefeated campaign in coach Urban Meyer's debut season, is the overwhelming favorite to reach Pasadena -- either on Jan. 1 or Jan. 6. Only a couple of teams have enough overall talent to challenge the Buckeyes, archrival Michigan chief among them.

Rick Pitino doesn't expect Gorgui Dieng back next season. Louisville's head coach said that his 6-foot-11 junior big man is "98 percent gone" and will participate in Senior Day festivities on Saturday when the Cardinals close out their home slate against Notre Dame.

The family of the former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno issued its own review, challenging claims that he helped conceal child sex abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky.

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo fell in love with Manti Te'o and said all his energy went into pretending to be the woman the Notre Dame linebacker came to know as Lennay Kekua. Tuiasosopo, the 22-year-old mastermind of the elaborate hoax that embarrassed Te'o and left him looking gullible, spoke publicly for the first time in an interview with Dr. Phil McGraw for the "Dr. Phil Show," the first part of which aired Thursday.

Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky's bid for a new trial on child sex abuse charges was rejected by a Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday.