Maryland's March Madness hopes rest with the 'Crab Five'

SEATTLE (AP) — The cuteness of the “Crab Five” nickname belies the resiliency of Maryland's starters.

The five all average in double figures and they have started every game since Nov. 19, avoiding injuries while building cohesiveness.

So there's reason to expect more of the same when the fourth-seeded Terrapins (25-8) play No. 13 Grand Canyon (26-7) in their NCAA Tournament opener on Friday.

Seattle also hosts fifth-seeded Memphis' game against No. 12 seed Colorado State in the West Region. The region's other Friday games are in Raleigh, North Carolina, with top-seeded Florida playing No. 16 Norfolk State and No. 8 UConn facing No. 9 Arizona.

The Crab Five moniker harkens back to the Fab Five at Michigan from over three decades ago, with a twist to honor Maryland's favorite food.

Seven times this season, every member of Maryland's starting group scored in double figures, tied for best in the nation with Arkansas. In an 83-75 victory at Nebraska on Feb. 13, the starters scored every point.

Maryland earned an at-large bid to the tournament after falling 81-80 to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. The Terps are led by Derik Queen, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, who is averaging 16.3 points and nine rebounds.

"We're all really good players but also unselfish and like to see each other playing well and succeeding," said Ja'Kobi Gillespie, who is averaging 14.7 points.

Grand Canyon beat Utah Valley to win the Western Athletic Conference Tournament title and an automatic berth. It is the Lopes' third straight year in the tournament. They beat St. Mary's in the opening round last year before falling to Alabama.

“It was a big moment for not only our team but just the school as well. Being able to get that done was a big accomplishment. We were all proud of it,” senior guard Ray Harrison said. “But this year we’re looking to do more.”

Norfolk State is a 28-1/2 point underdog, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, and its players feel that to have any chance of upsetting No. 1 Florida, they must slow down All-American Walter Clayton Jr., who comes in averaging 17.4 points and 4.3 assists per game.

Norfolk State’s Christian Ings called Clayton a “microwave scorer” and said the Spartans need to get to his body to stop him.

“He scores fast and heats up quick,” Ings said. “He does use his mental game a lot more than his physical, making sure that, if you bite on a move, he’ll make you pay for it every time. He has a very elite jump shot, very quick trigger.”

Added Norfolk State’s Brian Moore Jr.: “He’s the head of the snake for Florida. He’s what makes them go.”

Clayton said Florida’s balance is what makes the No. 1 seed and Southeastern Conference Tournament champion so tough.

“The fact that we’ve got multiple guys that can do multiple things,” Clayton said.

Colorado State's Ethan Morton has been to five NCAA Tournaments, but this is his first time with the Rams.

Morton spent four years as a reserve with Purdue — including last season's team that reached the NCAA title game but fell to UConn. He averaged 1.8 points in 132 games with the Boilermakers.

For the Rams (25-9), Morton had a career-high 11 points in a 69-56 victory over Boise State in the Mountain West Conference Tournament title game. It was the first time he scored in double figures since he had 10 for Purdue against Ohio State in January 2023.

In addition to Morton, Jalen Lake has been to three NCAA Tournaments. Those veterans are leading by example.

“I don’t think it’s talking about it so much, it’s just the way that those guys go about their business,” Rams coach Niko Medved said.

Memphis (29-5) will likely be without Tyrese Hunter, who was injured in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament against Tulane and didn't play in the final against UAB. He was wearing a boot on the eve of Friday's game.

Dante Harris, who has been sidelined with an ankle injury since March 4, also watched the rest of the Tigers practice on Thursday.

UConn (23-10) has won the last two national championships in dominant fashion, winning all 12 NCAA Tournament games by double digits.

However, this year has been a struggle for the Huskies, who are an eight seed following a 10-loss season and play ninth-seeded Oklahoma on Friday night.

Coach Dan Hurley said the decreased expectations might not be a bad thing for this UConn team.

“In a weird way it’s a little pressure off of us going into the tournament where we can just go out and let it rip right now,” Hurley said. “We don’t have this huge pressure of expectations. A lot of people don’t think we’re going to win the first game."

Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said the Sooners (20-13) have plenty of respect for UConn, but added that playing in the ultra-competitive SEC, which sent 14 teams to the tournament, has left his team battle-tested.

”We’re not a stranger to playing a top team in the country," Moser said. “Each time we go into it, we call it a confident respect. You have confidence in our ability to come in there and win the game. You respect their strengths. And UConn obviously has a lot of those strengths.”

AP Sports Writer Steve Reed in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

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Colorado State players celebrate after defeating Boise State in an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Mountain West Conference tournament Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. applications for jobless benefits held steady last week as layoffs remain low despite uncertainty over how President Donald Trump’s tariffs will impact the economy.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid was unchanged at 229,000 for the week ending May 10, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s in line with the 230,000 new applications analysts forecast.

Weekly applications for jobless benefits are seen as representative of U.S. layoffs and have mostly bounced around a healthy range between 200,000 and 250,000 since COVID-19 ravaged the economy and wiped out millions of jobs five years ago.

Even though Trump has paused or rolled back many of his tariff threats, concerns remain about a global economic slowdown that could upend the U.S. labor market, which has been a pillar of the American economy for years.

Last week, the Federal Reserve held its benchmark lending rate at 4.3% for the third straight meeting after cutting it three straight times at the end of last year.

Fed chair Jerome Powell said the risks of both higher unemployment and inflation have risen, an unusual combination that complicates the central bank’s dual mandate of controlling prices and keeping unemployment low.

Powell said that tariffs have dampened consumer and business sentiment but that data has not yet shown significant harm to the economy.

Also on Thursday, the government reported that inflation at the wholesale level fell unexpectedly in April for the first time in more than a year. However, new retail sales data showed that Americans pulled back their spending in April after stocking up on goods the month before to get ahead of expected price increases due to tariffs.

On Monday, the U.S. and China agreed to a 90-day pause in their trade war, giving financial markets a boost and at least temporarily relieving some of the anxiety over the impact of tariffs on the U.S. economy.

Trump is attempting to reshape the global economy by dramatically increasing import taxes to rejuvenate the U.S. manufacturing sector.

Contraction has already begun in the U.S., where the economy shrank at a 0.3% annual pace from January through March as Trump’s trade wars disrupted business. First-quarter growth was slowed by a surge in imports as companies in the U.S. tried to bring in foreign goods before Trump’s massive tariffs went into effect.

Trump has also promised to drastically downsize the federal government workforce, which occupied much of the initial weeks of his second term.

It’s not clear when the job cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency — or “DOGE,” spearheaded by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk — will surface in the weekly layoffs data. Many of the cuts are being challenged in the courts, though the federal government staff reductions are already being felt, even outside of the Washington, D.C. area.

Despite showing some signs of weakening during the past year, the labor market remains robust, with plentiful jobs and relatively few layoffs.

Earlier this month, the government reported that U.S. employers added a surprisingly strong 177,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate held at a historically healthy 4.2%.

Many economists still anticipate that a negative impact from trade wars will materialize this year for American workers.

On Tuesday, Microsoft began laying off about 6,000 workers, nearly 3% of its workforce and its largest job cuts in more than two years as the company spends heavily on artificial intelligence.

Other companies that have announced job cuts this year include Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and Facebook parent company Meta.

The Labor Department's report Thursday said that the four-week average of claims, which softens some of the week-to-week fluctuations, rose by 3,250 to 230,500.

The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of May 3 rose by 9,000 to 1.88 million.

FILE - A hiring sign is displayed at a grocery store in Northbrook, Ill., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)