PHOENIX (AP) — NCAA President Charlie Baker says Michigan won the national championship fair and square. He also defended his decision to inform the school and the Big Ten during the season that the NCAA was investigating a potential scouting and sign-stealing scheme. The second half of Michigan's perfect season was shadowed by the investigation and led to the Big Ten’s three-game suspension of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. Baker says the investigation was prompted by evidence from a third party and the work could take months.
PHOENIX (AP) — NCAA President Charlie Baker has given his first state of college sports address since taking over the the job in March. At the NCAA convention, Baker laid out goals for growing the college sports fanbase, dealing with issues related to the rise of legal wagering and continuing the conversation he started with a proposal to create a new tier of Division I where athletes would be paid by their schools. The speech came a little more than a month after he sent a letter to D-I member schools with a potentially ground-breaking idea for a new subdivision at the top of college sports.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Caitlin Clark had 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and No. 3 Iowa made 15 3-pointers, routing Purdue 96-71. It was Clark's fourth trpile-double this season and the 15th of her career. Iowa has won 13 straight since a November loss to Kansas State. Purdue was led by Abbey Ellis with 15 points as the Boilermakers' three-game winning streak ended. Iowa has won eight straight in the series, this one with relative ease. Five different Iowa players combined for seven 3s in the first quarter to give the Hawkeyes a 29-18 lead. Purdue never recovered.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Max Klesmit scored all of his 18 points in the second half as No. 15 Wisconsin won their fifth straight, rallying to beat Ohio State 71-60. A 3-pointer from Klesmit put Wisconsin up by a point with a 5:16 left. The defense kept the clamps on Ohio State as Klesmit kept shooting, scoring nine of the last 14 points for the Badgers (12-3, 4-0 Big Ten). Wisconsin is only team to still be undefeated in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes (12-4, 2-3) have lost two straight.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Mackenzie Holmes had 21 points and 13 rebounds, Sydney Parrish added 20 points, and Indiana extended its winning streak to 13 games with a 75-67 victory over Penn State. The Hoosiers trailed by five at halftime but outscored the Lady Lions 41-28 in the second half. Leading 55-51 heading to the fourth quarter, Holmes scored seven points and Parrish added five as Indiana pushed its lead to 66-56 with 5 1/2 minutes left. Makenna Marisa hit a jumper for Penn State with 45 seconds left and Leilani Kapinus made a layup with 21 seconds to go. Both buckets got the Lady Lions within six but both times Indiana followed with a pair of free throws to seal the win.
UNDATED (AP) — Kentucky has been crowned the all-time No. 1 team after a review of 75 years of AP Top 25 polls for men's college basketball. The Associated Press began ranking teams in January 1949 with Saint Louis at No. 1, though the Wildcats would soon take over the top spot. Teams were awarded points based on where they landed on each ballot. Kentucky had 17,852 points and North Carolina had 17,268. Duke, Kansas and UCLA rounded out the top five. Louisville was sixth, Arizona seventh and Indiana, Syracuse and Michigan State made up the top 10.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (AP) — Brooks Barnhizer scored a career-high 23 points, Boo Buie had 17 points and eight assists and Northwestern beat Penn State 76-72 on Wednesday night for its first win in the series since the 2019-20 season. Northwestern (12-3, 3-1 Big Ten), which snapped a five-game losing streak in the series, won at Penn State for the first time since Dec. 27, 2016. Barnhizer made a reverse layup to give Northwestern a 72-65 lead with 1:50 remaining, but Kanye Clary answered with a 3-pointer at the other end. Ryan Langborg went 1 of 2 at the stripe to extend Northwestern’s lead to 75-72. Nick Kern missed the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, but he was whistled for a lane violation. Barnhizer sealed it with a free throw.
UNDATED (AP) — The AP Top 25 is celebrating its 75th anniversary. A data-driven compilation of every poll over the years found that Kentucky is the all-time No. 1 program. But plenty of teams can lay claim to being the best of the best. Among them are the 1955-56 San Francisco team of Bill Russell, the three unbeaten UCLA teams led by John Wooden in the 1960s and '70s, and the 1975-76 team led by Bob Knight at Indiana that remains the last to finish off an undefeated season.
