Jul 16, 2023 By Ap 4 min read

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA is exploring ways to promote the growth of women’s college basketball, including possible expansion of the 68-team tournament that determines the sport’s national champion each season. While there are no imminent plans to increase the number of schools included in March Madness, the Division I women’s basketball committee does want to build on the success of the tournament, which is growing in popularity. Talks this week during the committee’s summer meeting in Savannah, Georgia, follow the announcement in January of the creation of a 32-team postseason invitation tournament for women’s basketball starting in 2024.

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Mark Adams is returning to the sideline as an assistant at East Carolina, less than a year after resigning as Texas Tech’s head coach for making racially insensitive comments toward one of his players. East Carolina announced Friday that Adams will join Michael Schwartz’s staff. Adams made a name for himself as a defensive mastermind while helping Texas Tech reach the 2019 national championship game as associate head coach on Chris Beard’s staff. Adams was elevated to head coach when Beard left for Texas in 2021 and led the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 his first season.

UNDATED (AP) — The legal headaches could only be starting for ex-Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald and West Virginia’s Bob Huggins. Fitzgerald was fired this week following hazing allegations in the program. He originally was suspended for two weeks before the school changed course. West Virginia considers Huggins to have resigned after a drunken-driving arrest last month. Huggins says he never formally stepped down and wants to keep coaching basketball. Industry experts are puzzled by what happened. Marty Greenberg is an attorney specializing in coaching contracts. He says if Fitzgerald and Huggins fight back, it would be in everyone’s best interests for a quick resolution.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kansas State is the defending Big 12 champion even though it was TCU that went to the national title game last season. The Wildcats beat then-undefeated TCU in overtime in the Big 12 championship game. K-State coach Chris Klieman says that was a big win that let his players know they are doing things the right way. He spoke at the league’s media days on the same field where they won the title seven months ago. West Virginia is picked last in the 14-team league. Coach Neal Brown says they won’t finish there.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The only new coaches in the Big 12 are the coaches of the conference’s four new teams. Gus Malzahn is back in a Power Five league with UCF getting ready to play in the Big 12. Houston’s Dana Holgorsen is leading a team into the league for the second time. He was West Virginia’s coach when it joined the Big 12 in 2012. BYU coach Kalani Sitake is taking his alma mater out of its football independence. Scott Sattefield’s first season with Cincinnati for its Big 12 debut comes after his four seasons in the AAC as Louisville’s coach.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Brett Yormark says the Big 12 being open for business was about more than just potential expansion of the conference. A year into being the Big 12 commissioner, Yormark says that statement last year was also about exploring ways to grow revenue, diversify the conference and do things that had never been done. He said at the start of football media days that there is a plan for expansion. The Big 12 is already bigger. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF officially became members July 1. There will be 14 teams this season before Texas and Oklahoma leave for the SEC next summer.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Oklahoma State has had plenty of turnover in the transfer portal. The Cowboys lost at least eight starters among 18 players who went into the transfer portal since last season. They also added 14 players from the portal. Five of the Cowboys that left went to other Big 12 schools. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy attributes the movement to the times in college football. Also at Big 12 media days, the league said its championship game will stay at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas through at least the 2030 game.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The NCAA has found 175 infractions of its sports-betting policy since 2018, and there are 17 active investigations. That is according to a letter from NCAA President Charlie Baker that was obtained by The Associated Press. The NCAA says less than 0.25% of its approximately 13,000 sporting events are flagged for suspicious betting patterns and far fewer actually have “actionable information.”