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🏀 Five things to know Wednesday
- The NCAA Tournament fields are on the cusp of expanding to 76 teams. It is not expected to be official until next month, but our Matt Norlander and Gary Parrish have said that both the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments are about to grow to 76 teams starting in 2027. If adopted, the proposed format would turn the “First Four” into an “opening round” where 24 teams would complete for 12 slots on Tuesday and Wednesday prior to the traditional Round of 64 action. More teams would get to play, but that could also result in some higher seeds having to lace ’em up prior to the traditional Thursday-Friday start. Meanwhile, our David Cobb imagines what the men’s 2026 tournament would’ve looked like if it had a 76-team field.
- Phillies fire manager Rob Thomson. At one point just a few weeks back, Philadelphia was supposed to be one of those NL East contenders, but entering last night they (along with the Mets) had the worst record in baseball at 9-19. So out goes Thomson, and enter bench coach turned interim manager Don Mattingly, who was the beneficiary of the Phillies’ 7-0 win over the Giants last night.
- Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich played an exhilarating semifinal game. I do not use the word exhilarating lightly — in fact I rarely use the word at all — but trust when I say PSG’s 5-4 first-leg victory over Bayern Munich was exhilarating, it absolutely qualifies as the proper usage. It was the highest-scoring Champions League semifinal ever, and we ranked all nine goals. And in a few hours the first leg of the second semifinal, Atletico Madrid and Arsenal, will begin. Gunners captain Martin Odegaard has a great chance to make history. The action begins at 3 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+.
- Sixers force Game 6, Knicks take 3-2 lead, Spurs finish Blazers. From my vantage point, we got one surprise, one toss-up and one predictable result last night. I’m happy for Joel Embiid, but the 76ers big man putting 33 points on the Celtics in Boston was not on my bingo card. The Sixers’ victory forces a Game 6 back in Philly, while the Knicks handled business with Jalen Brunson going for 39 points in the rout of the Hawks to take a 3-2 lead in that series. In the nightcap, we predictably saw the Spurs have their way with the Trail Blazers en route to San Antonio moving on to the next round and Portland having to figure some things out, both on and off the floor. Here are our winners and losers on the night.
- Texas Tech QB’s future cloud amid NCAA gambling probe. Brendan Sorsby, a five-star transfer, is facing an active NCAA investigation for allegedly making thousands of online bets through gambling app. The Texas Tech quarterback is taking an indefinite leave from the program to get inpatient treatment for gambling addiction. The investigation could significantly impact Sorsby’s NFL future as well as his ability to play for Texas Tech in 2026 and beyond.
🏈 Do not miss this: How the NFL Draft’s most shocking pick came together
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By all accounts, Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson rocketing up to become the 13th pick and then jumping up to grab a Rams cap was the most surprising sequence of events during last weekend’s NFL Draft. It certainly left more than a few pundits scratching their heads, but now, a few days removed from the selection, our John Breech has put together a behind-the-scenes account as to how we got here. It includes a secret meeting with the Rams coach.
- Breech: “When it comes to the NFL Draft, the Rams are one of the most secretive teams in the NFL. Head coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead DON’T attend the combine (They haven’t been to Indianapolis for the event since 2020). One other unique thing about the Rams is that they don’t do top-30 visits. When a team has a prospect in for a visit, they have to report it to the NFL and that information eventually becomes public, but if you don’t invite anyone in for a visit, then there’s nothing to report.
“Although the Rams don’t invite players to their facility, they do travel to visit with players they’re interested in. The difference between that and a top-30 visit is that it doesn’t have to be reported to the NFL, so the team can keep it a secret. At some point during the draft process, that’s what happened with McVay and Simpson.”
Naturally, team brass could have a tightrope to walk if MVP quarterback Matthew Stafford gets in his feelings on the matter, but that’ll be the Rams’ issue to sort out as they head into camp.
🏀 Could this be the draft plan that squashes NBA tanking issues?
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The NBA is floating a new fix to its draft lottery system, known as the “3-2-1” proposal due to the revised way in which lottery balls would be distributed. Sam Quinn explains that the lottery field would actually grow from 14 teams to 16 teams, comprised of the 10 teams that miss the postseason entirely, the Nos. 9 and 10 seeds in both conferences, and the losers of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 Play-In Tournament games.
In this new format, the organizations with the three worst records would fall into what is being called the relegation zone. They would each get two lottery balls. The seven other teams that also miss the postseason entirely would receive three lottery balls. The No. 9 and No. 10 seeds would receive two, and the losers of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 games would get one. So clearly there is an incentive to not fall all the way to the floor, but ultimately the real question is will it stop tanking, and for that we turn back to Sam.
- Quinn: “Though we can’t actually predict the decisions teams will make in the real world, we can evaluate the incentive structure in place. In some ways, this new system will discourage tanking. Under this system, it would be less advantageous than ever to have one of the worst records in the NBA. It would, in fact, incentivize bad teams to do everything in their power to win late in the year in order to avoid the bottom three in the standings. And with no distinction drawn between slots No. 4 and No. 10, there would be no reason for teams that aren’t making the postseason to jockey for position within that group.”
If nothing else, the proposal would seem to create both more of a desire to win if you’re at the bottom of the pecking order as well as tension and drama for some late-season contests that could otherwise very much have that nothing-to-play-for vibe — and finally finding a remedy for that can only be a good thing.
👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest
📺 What we’re watching Wednesday
⚽ UCL semifinal 1st leg: Arsenal at Atletico Madrid, 3 p.m. on CBS/Paramount+
⚾ Red Sox at Blue Jays, 3:07 p.m. on ESPN Unlimited
⚾ Giants at Phillies, 6:40 p.m. on MLB Network
🏀 Magic at Pistons, Game 5, 7 p.m. on Prime
🏒 Canadiens at Lightning, Game 5, 7 p.m. on ESPN2
🏀 Raptors at Cavaliers, Game 5, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏒 Penguins at Flyers, Game 6, 7:30 p.m. on TNT/truTV/HBO Max
🏀 Lakers at Rockets, Game 5, 10 p.m. on ESPN
🏒 Mammoth at Golden Knights, Game 5, 10 p.m. on TNT/truTV/HBO Max
⚽ San Diego Wave at Portland Thorns, 10 p.m. on CBSSN