Florida gets No. 1 seed in West Region, will open March Madness against Norfolk State

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Florida gets No. 1 seed in West Region, will open March Madness against Norfolk State

2025-03-17 07:50 Last Updated At：08:02

Florida is the No. 1 team in the West Region in its bid to erase last year's early NCAA Tournament exit.

The Gators (30-4) will open against No. 16 Norfolk State in Raleigh, North Carolina, with a potential matchup against two-time reigning national champion UConn in the second round. The eighth-seeded Huskies open against No. 9 seed Oklahoma in a West Region that concludes in San Francisco.

Florida lost to Colorado in the first round last season, coach Todd Golden’s second in Gainesville. The fourth-ranked Gators have been one of the nation's most well-rounded teams this year, ranking No. 1 in the KenPom offensive efficiency ratings and 10 on defense.

Florida took down No. 21 Missouri, No. 5 Alabama and No. 8 Tennessee in consecutive days to win the SEC tournament for the first time since 2014.

“When we are playing like this, I think we are the best team in America,” Golden said after the Gators beat the Vols 86-77 in Sunday's SEC title game.

The West Region also includes second-seeded St. John's, fresh off its first Big East tournament title since 2000, No. 3 Texas Tech, No. 4 Maryland and No. 7 Kansas.

St. John’s had been mired in mediocrity, earning trips to the NCAA Tournament every four or five years before exiting early.

Rick Pitino, the master of rebuilds, turned the Johnnies around in typical fashion.

Fresh off an NCAA Tournament bid at Iona, Pitino led St. John’s to 20 wins last season and upped the ante with a 30-win season this year that earned the Red Storm (30-4) the No. 2 seed in the West Region.

“Coach P is the mastermind behind all of this,” St. John’s swingman RJ Lewis Jr. said after the Red Storm’s 82-66 win over Creighton in the Big East title game. “I mean, it’s truly special.”

And not surprising.

Pitino has worked magic at every stop of a career that started in Hawaii in 1975. He's the first coach to lead six different teams to the NCAA Tournament, taking the Johnnies dancing after doing the same at Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona.

St. John's opens the West Region against No. 15 seed Omaha in Providence, Rhode Island, with a potential matchup against No. 7 Kansas and coach Bill Self or John Calipari's No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks.

UConn became the first team since Florida in 2006-07 to win consecutive national championships.

The Huskies' have had a a bumpy ride in their bid for a threepeat.

Ranked No. 3 in the preseason AP Top 25, UConn got the season off to a shaky start with three straight losses at the Maui Invitational. The Huskies struggled with injuries all season and dropped out of the poll for the first time in two years on Feb. 10.

But don't count Dan Hurley and the Huskies out. UConn (23-10) is finally healthy and playing some of its best basketball of the season, reaching the Big East tournament semifinals before losing to Creighton 71-62.

“The last two years we were just trying to keep our team sharp and confident," Hurley said. “We were excellent at both ends of the court. We were deep, and we knew who was playing when. Now, we are still searching a little bit. We are still trying to find a better version of ourselves. We are trying to play a complete game."

The matchup between No. 6 seed Missouri and No. 11 Drake in Wichita, Kansas, will be a contrast in styles.

The 21st-ranked Tigers (22-11) like to play fast and are one of the nation's highest-scoring teams at 84.5 points per game. They'll be tested by one of the nation's best defensive teams.

The Bulldogs (27-3) lead the nation in points allowed per game at 58.4 and joined Southern Illinois (1993-94-95) as the only teams to win three straight Missouri Valley Conference tournament titles after stifling Bradley 63-48 in the championship game.

The West Region's opening-round games in Seattle will feature No. 5 Memphis against No. 12 Colorado State and No. 4 Maryland against No. 13 Grand Canyon, making its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance under coach Bryce Drew.

Joining Missouri and Drake in Wichita will be No. 3 seed Texas Tech against No. 14 UNC-Wilmington, which won its record seventh Coastal Athletic Association tournament title since 1982-83.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

Kirsty Coventry elected IOC president and is first woman, first African to lead global Olympic body

2025-03-20 23:57 Last Updated At：03-21 00:01

COSTA NAVARINO, Greece (AP) — Kirsty Coventry has been elected president of the International Olympic Committee and become the first woman and first African to get perhaps the biggest job in global sports.

The Zimbabwe sports minister and two-time Olympic swimming gold medalist got a stunning first-round win in the seven-candidate contest after voting by 97 IOC member on Thursday.

She gets an eight-year mandate into 2033 aged just 41 — youthful by the historical standards of the IOC.

It was the most open and hard-to-call IOC presidential election in decades with no clear front-runner before the vote. Many predicted an absolute majority could take several rounds of votes but she got the exact total of 49 needed.

Coventry’s win also was a victory for outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach, who has long been seen as promoting her as his successor. He did not use his right to vote.

“I will make all of you very, very proud and hopefully extremely confident in the decision you have taken,” Coventry said in her acceptance speech. “Now we have got some work together.”

Walking to the podium, she was congratulated and kissed on both cheeks by Juan Antonio Samaranch, her expected closest rival who got 28 votes. Third-placed Sebastian Coe got just eight.

Also in the race were four presidents of sports governing bodies: Track and field's Sebastian Coe, skiing's Johan Eliasch, cycling’s David Lappartient, and gymnastics' Morinari Watanabe. Also contending was Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan.

Coventry will formally replace her mentor Bach on June 23 — officially Olympic Day — as the 10th IOC president in its 131-year history. Bach reached the maximum 12 years in office.

Key challenges for the 41-year-old Coventry will be steering the Olympic movement through political and sporting issues toward the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, including engaging in diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Coventry’s IOC will also need to find a host for the 2036 Summer Games which could go to India or the Middle East.

The strongest candidates in a five-month campaign with tightly controlled rules drafted by the Bach-led IOC seemed to be Coventry — who gave birth to her second child — IOC vice president Samaranch and Coe.

Samaranch tried to follow his father, also Juan Antonio Samaranch, who was the IOC’s seventh president from 1980 to 2001.

Coe aimed to add to a remarkable career of Olympic triumphs: A two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1,500 meters, he led a bidding team for the 2012 London Olympics, then worked for the next seven years to head the organizing team of those widely praised Games.

It has been a stellar week for Bach, who greeted Coventry and shared warm smiles after her acceptance speech.

Bach was feted on Wednesday in an emotional start to the IOC annual meeting, getting lavish praise and the title of honorary president for life.

His hands-on executive-style presidency will deliver over a financially secure IOC, on track to earn more than $8 billion in revenue through the 2028 LA Olympics, and with a slate of future hosts through 2034: in Italy, the United States, France, Australia and finally the U.S. again, when the Winter Games return to Salt Lake City.

A signature Bach policy also has been gender parity, with equal quotas of men and women athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics and giving a better balance of female members of the IOC and the executive board he chairs, which now has seven women among its 15 members, including Coventry.

Her win on Thursday will only add to Bach's legacy for promoting women.

Coventry won back-to-back titles in 200-meters backstroke at the 2004 Athens Olympics and Beijing four years later. She joined the IOC in 2013, almost one year after a disputed athlete election at the London Olympics. Her place among the four athletes elected was eventually awarded after Court of Arbitration for Sport rulings against two opponents.

The next president can oversee the IOC making a statement choice for its host for the 2036 Summer Games.

“There is one and one only,” Samaranch said on Wednesday when asked about challenges ahead. “We must concentrate (on) successful and relevant Olympic Games. The rest comes with success in the Games.”

The voters in the exclusive invited club of IOC members include royal family members, former lawmakers and diplomats, business leaders, sports officials and Olympic athletes. Even an Oscar-winning actress, Michelle Yeoh.

Members voted without hearing further presentations from the candidates in an election that swung on a discreet network of friendships and alliances largely forged out of sight.

AP Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games