Sports Illustrated

The NC State Wolfpack entered the fray at the ACC tournament this week as a 10-seed, needing to win the conference title to punch its ticket to March Madness.

And all the Wolfpack did was win five games in five consecutive nights, culminating with an 84–76 victory over No. 1 seed North Carolina on Saturday night in Washington D.C..

With the win, NC State captured its first ACC title since 1987.

Wolfpack guard DJ Horne finished with 29 points and four rebounds, while forward DJ Burns Jr added 20 points, seven assists and four rebounds of his own.

All-American guard R.J. Davis scored 30 points for the Tar Heels in defeat.

With the loss, North Carolina is in danger of falling off the one-seed line in the NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels will learn their fate in that regard on Sunday.

As for NC State, the win punches its ticket into the field, shrinks the bubble and certainly takes pressure off head coach Kevin Keatts—whose seat was warming after a disappointing regular season. 

Instead, NC State is playing its best basketball of the season entering the Big Dance, and will make its second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

Is there such a thing as a scandalous Cinderella? If so, the Temple Owls are auditioning for the part.

In the kind of bizarre development that seems almost routine in college sports these days, Temple is threatening to wreak chaos upon the NCAA men’s tournament. With a victory Sunday, the Owls would become one of the most controversial participants in the 85-year history of the beloved sporting event. It has been a wild 10 days for the Philadelphia school.

On March 7, Temple lost a home game to the UAB Blazers by 28 points. Earlier in the day, the gambling watchdog firm U.S. Integrity issued an alert about unusual wagering activity on the game, and some sportsbooks stopped taking bets on the contest. The line jumped from UAB being favored by 1.5 points to 8 that afternoon before settling at 7.

An investigation into the game is ongoing. A source from the sports wagering space tells Sports Illustrated that betting patterns on other Temple games were being analyzed as well.

After the UAB blowout, Temple was 11–19 and its season seemed dead in the water. Since then, the Owls are 5–0—all of them upsets—and on Sunday, they will play the same UAB team for the American Athletic Conference championship and an automatic bid to the Big Dance.

[ 2024 March Madness: Latest News & Analysis ] 

Already, Temple has knocked at least one team out of the NCAA field. By shocking the NCAA-lock Florida Atlantic Owls on Saturday night in the semifinals as a 14.5-point underdog, Temple assured that the AAC title will be won by a team that wasn’t going to get an at-large spot. We will have a bid thief in Fort Worth on Sunday, either the Owls or the Blazers.

How will that team feel Sunday about being booted from the bracket by a program that is the focus of a gambling inquiry? Stay tuned.

Given what is known thus far, it’s impossible to say whether anyone involved with the Temple program was influencing the outcome of games. Nothing has come to light to point a finger at a player or group of players. The investigation might be inconclusive or it might exonerate the Owls. Nobody knows.

The athletic department issued a statement the night of March 8, saying, “We are aware of the social media posts regarding last night’s men’s basketball game. We will review the reports thoroughly in accordance with university and NCAA policies. While we can’t comment any further at this time, we take this matter very seriously.”

Whatever investigative activity has occurred since then is unknown. The NCAA doesn’t comment on current, potential or pending investigations. None of the key Temple players has missed any games since the UAB loss. Everything appears to simply be business as usual, despite the highly unusual context around the program.

Chris Jones/USA TODAY Sports

Coach Adam Fisher was asked about the situation after Temple’s first of four wins in the AAC tourney. He didn’t have much to say.

“I know our university has put out a statement,” Fisher said Wednesday. “My focus is on my players. I love my guys. We’ve been just trying to prepare for each game and just making sure we do exactly what we’ve done to prepare for each one.”

Against that backdrop, Temple has become a strangely hot lightning rod. Just two days after the UAB defeat, the Owls beat the UTSA Roadrunners by two points as a 4.5-point underdog. Then there was another matchup with UTSA on Wednesday to open the AAC tourney, which Temple won by three as a 2.5-point dog. That was followed by a 15-point win over an SMU Mustangs team that was favored by 11.5 points and a four-point win over the 5.5-point favorite Charlotte 49ers in the quarterfinals.

Rallying from a double-digit deficit to beat FAU, which made the Final Four last season, was Temple’s biggest and most improbable victory of this stretch. It was its fourth win in four days, and now the Owls will go for five in five.

That would put them in the Big Dance with a 17–19 record, one of the most improbable tourney teams of all-time—and that’s even without factoring in the wagering cloud hovering over Temple.

The college football season ended with a program facing two NCAA infractions investigations hoisting the College Football Playoff trophy. If Temple beats UAB and gets in the Big Dance, it isn’t going to win it all come April—but the Owls certainly will be a point of heated contention and discussion for as long as they are in the field.

The internet can be a cruel, cruel place most days, and NBA fans don’t need to look much further than Saturday night’s broadcast between the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards.

Bulls play-by-play announcer Adam Amin and color commentator Stacey King fell for a fake report that former Bulls star, and current Memphis Grizzlies reserve, Derrick Rose, was retiring from the NBA after 15 seasons.

King brought the “report” up from the broadcast, that ended up being a fake account impersonating ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski.

“It is out on the internet. Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that Derrick Rose is retiring after 15 seasons,” King said.

“How about that?” Amin responded. 

Welp. The Bulls broadcast on NBC Sports Chicago fell for a fake Adrian Wojnarowski tweet that Derrick Rose has retired.

Stacey King and Adam Amin on the call. 🏀🎙️😬pic.twitter.com/Pj7aEznY09

While the 35-year-old Rose is certainly closer to the end of his career than the beginning, there is no truth to him retiring from the NBA in the middle of the season.

Perhaps this is a news story to acknowledge later on, but for now, Rose is still an active player for the Grizzlies, and is not retiring.

This week, Kent State had all the makings of a potential Cinderella story.

The Golden Flashes played giant killer on Thursday and Friday in the MAC men’s tournament in Cleveland, taking out highly touted Toledo and Bowling Green teams to reach the final. Against Akron Saturday, they took a 61-60 lead in the closing seconds.

Then, everything unraveled.

As Zips guard Greg Tribble wove up the court, Kent State guard Julius Rollins—seemingly forgetting his team led by one—fouled him with five seconds to play.

ESPN cameras captured Golden Flashes coach Rob Senderoff almost on the verge of tears as Tribble stepped to the line for a one-and-one.

mental mistake for Kent State fouling after taking the lead, that's a tough one pic.twitter.com/XylUjzFJSb

Tribble stepped to the line and nailed both free throws, and after Kent State guard Jalen Sullinger missed a late shot, Akron advanced to the NCAA tournament.

To add insult to injury, the Golden Flashes and Zips—longtime rivals—are separated by about 10 miles. It seems safe to say Kent State fans will be hearing it from Akron fans for the foreseeable future.

The center of the men’s college basketball conference tournament week universe is Las Vegas. Five tournaments call Sin City home, with essentially the entire West Coast converging on the city for a week of wall-to-wall college hoops.

This year’s trip to the desert was a bittersweet one. Conference realignment’s biggest victim is the presence of a so-called power conference out West, with the Pac-12 dissolving in what can best be described as a consolidation of power at the top of college sports. This week’s action marked the final Pac-12 men’s tournament before its schools split off for good.

But the vibe of the week wasn’t one of mourning. Instead, it was a changing of the guard. While the Pac-12 played its tournament in glitzy T-Mobile Arena on the Strip, equipped with a fan fest and signage everywhere, the attention of many in college basketball was all on the Mountain West tournament, played at the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV. Odds are strong that the Mountain West will double up the Pac-12 in NCAA men’s tournament berths this season, and the quality of the product on display all week backed that up. The Pac-12 may outpace the Mountain West in budgets, TV deals or the other measuring sticks that have now taken over college sports boardrooms, but the on-court results are telling a different story.

“The Mountain West Conference has been so good throughout my 11 years in it, but it’s never been at the level it’s been this year,” Nevada Wolf Pack coach Steve Alford said Thursday. “This is the best it’s ever been.”

[ 2024 March Madness: Latest News & Analysis ]

Mountain West hoops have been on an upward trajectory since the 2020 season, when the league added a second team to the field with a buzzer-beating three by the Utah State Aggies’ Sam Merrill in the tournament championship game. The league had two at-large–caliber teams in ’21 and sent four teams dancing in both ’22 and ’23, big steps forward. But this season brought a breakthrough even its most optimistic supporters might have found unrealistic: six teams, more than half of the conference, going dancing. That’s more overall bids than the Pac-12 and ACC and could well be more than the Big East, which has three teams as bubbly as they come heading into Selection Sunday. Even the mighty Big Ten, among the new “Power 2” leagues, seems likely to also get just six teams in.

The six-bid dream has felt like a possibility since mid-January after the league did strong work in the nonconference. The league’s official account started tweeting the hashtag #SixBidMW in mid-January, and the chorus of hope has crescendoed to perhaps the league’s most prominent talking point throughout February and into March. The video board beneath the scorer’s table all week featured messages like “Best in the West,” flexing stats about the league’s 24–7 record against Pac-12 and WCC teams. Media members were handed a sheet with #SixBidMW across the top, detailing the tournament cases for all six teams in tournament contention.

“When we started campaigning for it, we thought it was a possibility. Today, I feel strongly it’s deserving,” Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez says. “We wouldn’t have done that if we didn’t have the stats to back it up. It wasn’t aspirational, it was backed by performance.”

Troy Babbitt/USA TODAY Sports

Five teams from the league entered the week comfortably in the field: the defending national runner-up San Diego State Aztecs, Utah State, Nevada, Boise State Broncos and Colorado State Rams. The New Mexico Lobos were the league’s question mark after a brutal home loss to the Air Force Falcons in February, but the Lobos roared to life in Las Vegas. Even before upsetting San Diego State in the title game to clinch an automatic bid, New Mexico added a pair of Quad 1 wins over Boise State and Colorado State in consecutive days to bolster its résumé, and UNM came into Saturday in the top 25 nationally in both the NET and KenPom. Its performance in Vegas not only ensures that the Lobos dance, but they’ll avoid the First Four in Dayton … as should all five other tournament teams. That’s particularly notable since one of the league’s four bids has been sent to Dayton each of the past two years.

The Lobos might be the poster child for what makes the Mountain West such a compelling product today. They play home games at the famous Pit in Albuquerque, which sold out its 15,411-person capacity several times this season and ranked in the top 15 nationally in attendance a season ago. Lobo fans travel, too, out-representing pretty much any other fan base in Vegas this week other than perhaps the Arizona Wildcats, a borderline blue blood.

They’re coached by Rick Pitino’s son, Richard, who has pulled off a remarkable three-year turnaround to reverse the fortunes of a program decimated during the pandemic. The Lobos’ roster is loaded, with sophomore Donovan Dent and freshman JT Toppin on NBA radars and veterans like Jaelen House and Jamal Mashburn Jr. who each could have easily moved on to power conference schools last spring in the transfer portal. They play at a breakneck pace, with House the head of the snake. His showing in Vegas barking at the crowd and making bold proclamations in postgame television interviews gave off shades of Ole Miss Rebels legend Marshall Henderson. If the team that won four games in four days this weekend shows up, no one in the country will want to see them in the Big Dance.

Meanwhile, San Diego State and Utah State each stake their claim to owning the best homecourt advantage out West, with electric home atmospheres widely recognized as some of the sport’s best. The Aztecs have been among the sport’s most consistent programs at any level for the better part of two decades. Utah State is on its third coach in four years and will have gone dancing with all of them. There’s parity league-wide, especially this season, where four games separated first and seventh in the conference standings and every team lost four or more times.

“It’s a great year for the league and three years in a row now, and I hope we can keep that in a momentum [that] goes because it’s a lot of fun,” Colorado State coach Niko Medved said Thursday. “It’s not fun to coach every night in the league, but it’s sure as heck a lot of fun to compete in it.”

With the Pac-12 vanishing, now there’s no competition for the crown of college basketball’s West Coast epicenter. And the league having this type of breakthrough in the face of all the headwinds that challenge the “have-not” programs of modern college sports is a very positive sign for the future. It may not quite be the Big East in terms of its cultural significance or March track record, but why can’t it be the Western equivalent? Getting people to care about Pac-12 basketball in major metros like Seattle, the Bay Area and even Los Angeles has been a chore; the Mountain West runs into no such problems in Albuquerque, San Diego and college towns like Logan, Utah, and Fort Collins, Colo.

“A lot of our schools are the only show in town and just generate that kind of commitment,” Nevarez says. “I’ve worked a lot of basketball tournaments and I’ve been at sellout crowds, but [nothing like] this atmosphere that’s being contributed by five, six, seven schools bring.”

There was no question which atmosphere was better this week between the Pac-12 and Mountain West. The basketball on display wasn’t a close fight either. Mountain West games felt bigger, more important, more competitive. The league’s impending big Selection Sunday will mark a true passing of the torch.

West Coast college basketball officially runs through the Mountain West. 

An NFL offseason plan tends to come together in stages, leaving us to ride the roller coaster of common sense alongside a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers, awaiting the moment when all is revealed.

Trading for Russell Wilson on its own, despite the incredible monetary value of a quarterback at that caliber playing for the veteran’s minimum? Yikes.

Trading away Kenny Pickett, leaving Wilson as the unquestioned leader of that Steelers team and locker room? Even more yikes.

Trading for Justin Fields, and basically getting him for the same price the Jaguars spent for Mac Jones, allowing the franchise to evaluate him and Wilson for a year, and potentially keep Fields on the roster beyond 2024 on his fifth-year option? Now we’re talking.

For a moment, we all forgot who the Steelers fundamentally are. Their entire organizational milieu is such that it would take a global catastrophe for the team to be bad enough to, A. make a selection in the top five of an NFL draft and, B. not spend that pick on an outside linebacker. As long as Mike Tomlin is the coach, the Steelers will never be able to fully start over. So, this is what starting over at the quarterback position looks like when tanking, or even accidental mediocrity, isn’t on the table.

Matt Marton/USA TODAY Sports

Liking the move isn’t about the idea that Fields could one day supplant Wilson, who I’m not necessarily bullish on. It’s about amassing as many quality candidates for the job at a minimal price tag as possible. Clearly, the rest of the NFL wasn’t as high on Fields as the general public. I, too, thought Fields would probably fetch a pick at least equal to the compensatory value he’d produce for the Bears should they have kept him and let him walk a year from now. That’s why I’d advocated for keeping him. 

But the Steelers did their homework, and secured a player who seemed to be putting together a more complete repertoire after heavily relying on his escapability early in his career, for next to nothing. They did the same with Wilson, believing that they could extract the default benefits of a Super Bowl-winning quarterback with experience leading the locker room, and discard the totality of Wilson’s self-branding efforts and internal politics, which had the tendency to rankle former teammates and coaches.

They may not be the two players you or I would choose to start a season with, but the ceiling for Pittsburgh’s offense is incalculably higher. That is a win.

Related: Mailbag: Why the Vikings Won’t Let Go of Justin Jefferson Anytime Soon

Another win? The Steelers have moved away from the coddling of their franchise quarterbacks. Ben Roethlisberger was allowed to exist so long after his prime that he was beginning to grow mold. Pickett threw 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in two years, with a play-by-play success rate far below 50. It would have taken a Jordan Belfort-like performance to sell Steelers fans on the idea of bringing him back as the unquestioned starter for 2024.

And so, we have this tiny moment of growth folded in with the standard mentality that inevitably accompanies a coach who has never had a losing season while in the NFL.

It is impossible to know whether this works out, though we do know that Wilson has coexisted comfortably with promising, high-upside backups before, such as his replacement in Seattle, Geno Smith. We also know that Fields is coming to Pittsburgh understanding that, for now, he has to sit behind Wilson, which is probably a little more palatable than the idea of sitting behind Caleb Williams, which Fields would have done in Chicago.

We also know that the Steelers received a third-round pick and two seventh-round picks in exchange for Pickett and a fourth-round pick, and have only—for now—spent a sixth-round pick on Fields. So, they have brought in more on the asset front than they have expended on this project.

Because of this, their plan no longer seems desperate, cringeworthy or inexplicable. It makes sense. It took time for us to arrive here, but now the future looks much brighter than it did just a week ago. 

Ohio State is targeting interim coach Jake Diebler as its next head men’s basketball coach, according to a report from Jeff Goodman of Field of 64.

Diebler took over for Chris Holtmann, who was dismissed in February. Since stepping into the interim position, Diebler led the Buckeyes to a 6–2 record down the stretch of the regular season, which included an upset victory over No. 2 Purdue in his first game in the role.

Ohio State lost in Friday’s Big Ten tournament quarterfinal to No. 13 Illinois. It is unclear if the Buckeyes will play in the NIT or CBI, but the program will likely miss the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season.

The Ohio State job would be Diebler’s first head-coaching gig. The 37-year-old has been an assistant coach since his playing career at Valparaiso ended in 2009. He was hired onto Holtmann’s staff ahead of the 2019-20 season.

When quarterback Russell Wilson signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, it was reasonable to think the Steelers were done adding veteran signal-callers to their roster in 2024.

Just five days later, Pittsburgh brought in another.

The Steelers acquired quarterback Justin Fields from the Chicago Bears in exchange for a conditional 2025 sixth-round draft pick, the team announced Saturday.

Shortly after the news was first reported, Fields thanked and bid farewell to Bears fans on social media. Wilson followed it up by welcoming Fields to his new team.

“Let’s get it @justnfields,” Wilson wrote on social media Saturday evening. “QB room bout to be (fire emojis).”

Let’s get it @justnfields!
QB room bout to be 🔥 🔥 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Vz4R7ZFArO

Wilson added a picture of Fields and him shaking hands after the Denver Broncos’ 31–28 win over the Bears on Oct. 1.

The quarterbacks have a few things in common. Both are former baseball players, both have Big Ten pedigrees, both raised their games after transferring in college, and both are looking to rebound from lackluster stints with their old teams.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Xander Schauffele has seven wins on his resume, eight if you include the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, but entering Sunday’s final round of the Players Championship Schauffele is on the cusp of perhaps his most prestigious title since joining the Tour in 2016.

After a bogey-free third-round 65, which matched his score in Thursday’s opening round, the 30-year-old sits on top of leaderboard at a TPC Sawgrass course where he has previously struggled. He had missed three consecutive cuts here before a T19 finish last year.

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He erased a four-shot deficit to Wyndham Clark and leads by one, thanks to a textbook four-birdie performance on the front nine and what Schauffele called a bit of a grind on the back nine. But he found ways to keep the bogey-free round intact.

“I only hit two fairways on the back nine,” Schauffele said. “I was just told that on radio. Don't feel bad for me. When you make 58-footers, you kind of get up-and-down on holes like 18 from the front rough, it takes a little bit of stress off certain parts of your game.”

The 58-footer came on the par-4 14th, where Clark was inside the leather and no doubt mentally writing down a three before Schauffele’s bomb gave him the lead for the first time.

Clark badly mishit his tee shot on the island green 17th hole and when it splashed 15 yards short, Schauffele regained the lead he had lost the hole before. He would hold on with a clutch up-and-down par at 18.

“I'd say it was kind of more how I carried myself,” Schauffele said. “At times in the past I'll get a bit ahead of myself and lose a little bit of confidence when I shouldn't. Today I tried to stay in my own little box there with (his caddy) Austin and not look at too many leaderboards when I didn't have to, just because it's Saturday, there's no need to do that. I heard roars all around the property and I really just kind of stayed in my lane.”

A positive vibe can only go so far, and after hitting only two fairways on the back nine, Schauffele hit the range after the round.

“I think there's still a few things I'm not super comfortable with,” Schauffele said of his work with Chris Como, his new swing coach. “We talk about it all the time. But a steady drip carves a stone and we both believe that's the case, and that's what we're going to do.”

The stone to carve on Sunday won’t be easy. He’s had seven career 54-hole lead or co-leads in individual stroke-play events. He’s converted two of them into victory.

“It could be low tomorrow, but for the most part I'm going to try and enjoy myself and stay in my lane,” Schauffele said.

The Chicago Bears traded quarterback Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday afternoon, ending the quarterback’s tenure in Chicago and signaling the franchise’s direction in drafting a new starter next month.

In the wake of the trade, Fields issued a statement thanking the Bears for the opportunity over the past three seasons.

“Can’t say thank you enough to the city of Chicago for taking me in and embracing me,” Fields wrote on social media. “Thank you to the entire Bears organization and ownership for allowing me the opportunity to be part of such a historic franchise. But most of all thank you to my (sic) all my brothers that I played with. You all were the reason I attacked each day the way I did. I can’t thank you all enough for what y’all have meant to me over the last 3 years through the ups and downs. I wish each one of you nothing but success. 

“Ready for this next chapter!”

Can’t say thank you enough to the city of Chicago for taking me in and embracing me. Thank you to the entire Bears organization and ownership for allowing me the opportunity to be part of such a historic franchise. But most of all thank you to my all my brothers that I played… pic.twitter.com/fT1dORwFU5

Fields is expected to begin the season as the backup to new starting quarterback Russell Wilson, sources told Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer, who also reported that Fields is open to a fresh start in Pittsburgh.

The next step in Fields’s journey allows him to learn from a Super Bowl champion quarterback in Wilson, play for another iconic franchise in Pittsburgh, and suit up for a likely future Pro Football Hall of Fame coach in Mike Tomlin.

While Fields may not be a starter again in the near future, there’s plenty left to be written in the quarterback’s NFL story.

Isaiah Thomas is back in the NBA.

The former All-Star point guard has signed a 10-day contract with the Phoenix Suns, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Saturday. 

Thomas, who last played an NBA game in April 2022 for the Charlotte Hornets, signed a G League contract in early March with hopes that he could do enough to get another shot in the NBA. 

In three games with the G League’s Salt Lake City Stars, Thomas averaged 32.0 points and 5.7 assists on 37.9% shooting from the floor and 40.9% shooting from three-point range.

Thomas, a second-round pick by the Sacramento Kings in 2011, played for 10 teams from ‘11 to ‘22, including the Suns for 46 games in 2014-15.

Thomas enjoyed the best years of his career with the Boston Celtics, where he averaged 25.5 points and 6.1 assists over 158 games from 2015 to ’17. Thomas represented Boston in the All-Star Game in 2016 and ’17, and was named second-team All-NBA in ’17 before being sent to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the summer blockbuster trade that landed Boston Kyrie Irving.

The 35-year-old now joins the Suns’ backcourt featuring Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and Eric Gordon, and will provide depth off the bench as he tries to land himself a deal for the rest of the season.

Thomas has a chance to make his Suns debut Sunday when Phoenix visits the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Wyndham Clark picked a poor time to hit his worst shot of the tournament. But he picked a great time to hit one of his best.

Moments after chunking an ugly wedge shot into the water and well short of the green at the famous par-3 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, Clark stepped up to the same shot and knocked it to 7 feet, then made the putt for a bogey.

The first pump as the ball went into the hole said it all for Clark, who saw a four-shot lead at the start of the round turn into a one-shot deficit to Xander Schauffele at the Players Championship.

“Yeah, it's massive,’’ Clark said after finishing with a 70. “It's unfortunate on a hole that's so iconic and has a bunch of trouble to have kind of your worst swing of the day. But I followed it with a great swing and a great putt. I'm in the final group tomorrow, which is huge.

“I'm hoping that's a huge point in the tournament and we look back after tomorrow and look at that hole and say, hey, that was maybe the shot and the putt that meant it all.’’

David Yeazell/USA TODAY Sports

The hole measured just 123 yards on Saturday meaning Clark had no more than a gap wedge. But he said he tried to take a bit off of it, and hit a poor shot, hitting well behind the ball, which came more than 20 yards short of the green.

Then Clark made the somewhat unusual decision to hit from the same spot rather than go to the drop area, which is some 50 yards closer.

“Fortunately I went first and I had some time to think about it,’’ said Clark, whose tee shot was one of just six in the water at the 17th on Saturday. “I asked my caddie, and he's like, it's just too close for us to be able to hit it—the easier shot was just redoing it.

“We had a good club. Honestly, I made a bad swing and chunked it, and if we went closer, I think it made it a tougher shot.’’

Clark made a more aggressive swing and knocked it onto the green, seeing it roll back to 7 feet. Schauffele, who shot 65, had knocked his approach on and two-putted for par to take his first lead of the day.

The two played together in the final round together last year at the Wells Fargo Championship, where Clark won his first PGA Tour event. He has since gone on to win the U.S. Open and earlier this year won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

He was second last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. A victory Sunday would make him the first player in 2024 to win twice on the PGA Tour.

“I think everyone kind of has one round where they have to really grind it out and make those par putts and bogey putts or whatever it is,’’ Clark said. “I felt like that was today. I'm hoping tomorrow I'll wake up laser locked-in focused and can go have an awesome round and hopefully have a great finish here.’’

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Don’t look now, but Monday could mark the cornerstone of an agreement between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia.

On Friday it was rumored and then first reported by Golfweek that Yasir Al-Rumayyan from PIF will meet PGA Tour player board members. They may not necessarily reach the agreement that has been in negotiations since the middle of last year, but it’s a chance for both sides to meet for the first time and take measure of each other.

Last year PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan met with PIF and Al-Rumayyan in Venice, San Francisco and New York for several days of discussions before getting comfortable with a potential investment from Saudi Arabia.

IMAGO / Pro Sports Images

When the framework agreement was announced on June 6 both sides described it as a first step toward a definitive agreement and one global entity for golf.

“There’s a lot of work to be done. There’s a strong spirit of partnership,” Monahan said in a June 6 CNBC interview. “But ultimately, the world needs to know that the PGA Tour, PIF and DP World Tour have come together and the tension’s gone, and these are things that we’re going to solve together.”

At the time it was unknown how much money PIF would inject into the new entity. A $3 billion investment from the Strategic Sports Group, which was announced earlier this year, wasn't contemplated last summer.

Monahan probably didn’t foresee significant pushback from player members. Some would reportedly call for him to resign.

Monday will mark 287 days since the CNBC interview, and while the negotiations have advanced beyond initial stages, it doesn’t appear a final agreement is much closer than it was on that Tuesday in June.

Since last fall, Masters champion Jon Rahm, DP World Tour player of the year Adrian Meronk and World top-20 player Tyrrell Hatton jumped to LIV. So much for that unwritten non-poaching agreement between the groups.

PIF maintains unlimited financial resources to continue to grow LIV’s footprint. On the other side, the PGA Tour has a new for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises, that is newly capitalized and in a much better financial situation than last summer.

That is the backdrop for the Monday meeting.

Adam Scott, a newly added PGA Tour board member, would not confirm the meeting, but was willing to outline an approach for when a meeting does occur, which Scott called necessary.

“I think it is important that we've all met and no matter what anyone's feelings are, I think when you're voting on these things, you can't be completely blind and need to have all the knowledge and input possible to make the best decisions,” Scott said. “So, I think we're going to follow a similar process to how it went with SSG from this point on, although it hasn't been like that. Strictly so far, but from now on, I think that's kind of how it's been explained to me. “

So, if the meeting takes place on Monday as reported, not all board members will attend, as some plan to travel to Tampa for next week’s PGA Tour event. Also, Tiger Woods is not competing at the Players this week, and it’s unclear if he will make a trip to North Florida.

But it seems most of the board will be in attendance and will get their first real look at the man who has forced the PGA Tour to change the way it does business.

At the same time, Al-Rumayyan will finally get a meeting with an influential group of PGA Tour players and try to convince them that neither he nor his country are monsters, and that PIF is just interested in working together to grow the game.

It seems like a low bar to clear, but feelings and emotions are still running high from pre-framework days. If Monday is successful it could be the beginning of path that leads to a definitive agreement and a new era in golf.

The Pittsburgh Steelers acquired quarterback Justin Fields from the Chicago Bears on Saturday, setting up Chicago to draft a new franchise quarterback with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

As for Pittsburgh, the franchise’s latest move concludes a busy week that has reshaped the team’s quarterback room. Super Bowl champion quarterback Russell Wilson was signed to a one-year deal to begin the week, and incumbent starter Kenny Pickett was shipped out of town to the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday.

So, will Fields enter the fold and push Wilson in the quarterback room for the starting job?

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was upfront with Fields, and told him that Wilson is the starter, sources told Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer. Breer added that Fields told people around him that he’s excited for the new beginning in Pittsburgh.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was upfront with Justin Fields—told him that Russell Wilson is the starter, and Fields will work from there. Fields has told people he’s excited for the new beginning.

Tomlin’s connections at Ohio State run deep, so that didn’t hurt.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero heard the same, as a source told him that, “Russ is the starter.”

While Wilson will at least enter training camp as the starting quarterback, don’t expect Tomlin to hesitate if he believes Fields can enter the game and spark the offense. After all, having a backup with plenty of starting experience is a good problem to have.

It will be interesting to see it all unfold in Pittsburgh next season, with the offense expected to look much different.

One of this NFL offseason’s most compelling sagas is reportedly over.

The Chicago Bears are trading quarterback Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional 2025 draft pick, according to multiple reports Saturday.

When the trade becomes official, it will bring an end to the debate that had captivated the Windy City since January: Should the Bears roll with Fields in 2024, or should they draft a quarterback with the No. 1 pick in April?

It would appear Chicago is in line to do the latter. Meanwhile, the Steelers have given their quarterback room a complete makeover.

The NFL world had a number of thoughts on these developments. Bears wide receiver DJ Moore was terse. 

Business is Business

Another former Bears teammate—running back Khalil Herbert—mustered just one emoji in his post shortly after the news broke.

🫠

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell pointed out how quickly Pittsburgh had altered its entire outlook for the future.

This was nine months ago! Now the Steelers have Justin Fields and Russell Wilson at quarterback. League moves fast, man. pic.twitter.com/KNF21ugROw

Many Chicago fans expressed gratitude to Fields, who never quite clicked with the Bears but never bottomed out either.

The night Fields was drafted here was genuinely one of the happiest moments of my Bears fandom. Just screaming and jumping up and down in pure elation.

Wasn’t meant to be here in Chicago but I’m always going to rooting for him. Dude showed nothing but absolute class even though… pic.twitter.com/lCzX00MlN7

Meanwhile, ex-USC quarterback Caleb Williams came into focus as a potential Chicago target.

Caleb Williams accepting his fate as a Bears QB after the Justin Fields trade
pic.twitter.com/W7ZNTiPDjU

Fans and analysts—including ESPN’s Mike Greenberg—ladled out praise to the Steelers for their savvy moves.

In six days, the #Steelers made the two shrewdest QB moves the NFL has seen in years.

Almost zero risk, enormous potential reward. Times two.

Plus, willing to admit a mistake and cut losses with a first round pick.

That’s elite franchise management, across the board.

Some had fun with the considerable age difference between Fields and new teammate Russell Wilson.

Justin Fields snatching the Steelers QB1 job from Russell Wilson

pic.twitter.com/qx28onLbEK

Last but not least, both sides of the Fields-Williams debate fired their final shots.

finally bears fans don’t have to pretend like there was ever a debate between caleb williams and justin fields

had to respect staying committed to the bit though

This dude Caleb Williams better be good, dawg…

The Chicago Fire picked up their first win of the 2024 MLS season on Saturday, defeating CF Montreal 4–3 at Soldier Field.

The ending to that game must be seen to be believed.

With the match tied 3–3 in stoppage time, Fire midfielder Kellyn Acosta launched a lob pass deep down the field into Montreal territory from just beyond midfield. On a windy day in Chicago, the ball somehow curled toward the goal, continued to carry and ultimately got past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois, sending the crowd into an absolute frenzy.

Here’s a replay of the ridiculous go-ahead goal:

THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE WINDY CITY

Stoppage-time scenes in Chicago! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/8vZQppXIHL

The Fire moved to 1-1-2 on the season, while Montreal fell to 2-1-1. Chicago faces New England next Saturday, while Montreal is off until March 30 when the club takes on D.C. United. 

Seeing wide receiver Keenan Allen on a new team will undoubtedly be a shock to NFL fans in 2024.

After all, Allen had spent his entire 11-year career with the Chargers—following the franchise’s move from San Diego to Los Angeles. He developed into one of the most dependable wide receivers in football, making six Pro Bowls and bridging the tenures of quarterbacks Philip Rivers and Justin Herbert.

Now, Allen is on the Chicago Bears after a Thursday trade. On Saturday, Allen detailed the events that led up to his exit from Los Angeles.

“There were a couple teams that they would allow me, I guess, to say where I wanted to go,” Allen said. “I only had like two teams.”

Allen later revealed the two teams interested in acquiring him as the Houston Texans and New York Jets.

He also told reporters the Chargers had asked him to take a pay cut, and he refused.

“It really was no emotion. It was ‘I’m not doing it,’” Allen said. “I’m not doing it. I just came off my best season, so it’s not happening.”

Allen averaged 95.6 receiving yards per game in 2023, the highest total of his career.

After months of speculation, quarterback Justin Fields finally has a new home.

The Chicago Bears traded Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Saturday. 

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the Bears received a conditional 2025 sixth-round pick in exchange for Fields. The sixth-round pick can become a fourth-round selection if Fields plays at least 51% of the Steelers’ offensive snaps in 2024.

The Bears selected Fields with the No. 11 pick of the 2021 NFL draft to become their franchise quarterback. Fields struggled at times but flashed plenty of potential over three seasons, throwing for 40 touchdowns and 30 interceptions with an 82.3 passer rating in 40 career games (38 starts).

In 2023, Fields threw for a career-high 2,562 yards, 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions with an 86.3 passer rating across 13 contests. The Bears finished third in the NFC North with a 7–10 record.

Fields’s future in Chicago became cloudy once the Bears landed the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft, which they acquired in a blockbuster trade last March when the Carolina Panthers traded up to select quarterback Bryce Young with the top pick.

• 2024 NFL Free-Agency Tracker: Grading Every Major Move

With Fields now in Pittsburgh, Chicago now is expected to draft a quarterback with the No. 1 pick. USC star Caleb Williams is the consensus front-runner to be selected first, although North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels also are intriguing prospects at the position.

Fields joins a new-look quarterback room in Pittsburgh. The Steelers signed veteran Russell Wilson to a one-year contract earlier this week and traded former first-round pick Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday.

Fields likely will serve as Wilson’s backup in 2024. He is entering the final season of his rookie contract and has a fifth-year option worth $25.7 million for the 2025 campaign.

There’s no denying Purdue center Zach Edey’s greatness, given his status as the reigning AP Player of the Year and his high likelihood of winning the award again this year.

There is, however, often objection by Edey’s opponents to the way his game is officiated.

Edey’s aggressive, antiquated post assaults make him a frequent magnet for foul calls—and the numbers back up that notion. He entered the No. 3 Boilermakers’ Big Ten tournament semifinal against Wisconsin on Saturday with 351 free-throw attempts on the year, 42 more than anyone else in Division I.

During Purdue’s thrilling 76–75 overtime loss to the Badgers, Wisconsin fans cried foul at one particular call—a blocking infraction on forward Tyler Wahl on a play where Edey appeared to clearly truck his opponent.

This was called a foul on Tyler Wahl pic.twitter.com/ajPNZ6IBck

With emotions running high after the game, Boilermakers coach Matt Painter lashed out at Edey’s critics.

“I’ve never seen somebody so good get so much s--- for no reason,” Painter said. “It blows my mind.”

Matt Painter on Zach Edey, "I've never seen somebody so good get so much shit for no reason. It blows my mind."

Purdue will learn its NCAA tournament destination Sunday afternoon, while the Badgers will meet either Nebraska or Illinois for the Big Ten tournament title on Sunday at Target Center.

The NWSL’s Kansas City Current and its ownership group—headlined by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany—had a Saturday to remember.

The Current opened the 2024 season on Saturday in the brand-new CPKC Stadium, a soccer field with a capacity of 11,500 fans that is the first stadium built specifically to host women’s professional sports in the United States.

Kansas City came out firing, grabbing a 5–2 lead over the Portland Thorns and hanging on for a 5–4 victory to earn three points in the standings.

The Mahomes family, watching from a suite, were loving every minute of it.

The Mahomes’ are loving this start! pic.twitter.com/RjqZzOAYP9

“It’s been remarkable to be in this stadium and see the fans. I feel like I’m at Arrowhead,” Patrick Mahomes said before the game, via ESPN. “That’s the type of vibe I’m having here.”

Brittany Mahomes, who played collegiate soccer at the University of Texas at Tyler, bought a stake in the franchise along with Angie and Chris Long in December 2020. Patrick Mahomes joined the ownership group himself in 2023.

“I’ve seen the talent that they showcase every single game,” Patrick Mahomes told ESPN. “We wanted to build a stadium to match that talent. To have it here in Kansas City as the first women’s-specific, women’s only stadium, I think it’s the start of something that will take off throughout the rest of the world.”

Bia Zaneratto, Vanessa DiBernardo, Ellie Wheeler, Kristen Hamilton and Alexandra Pfeiffer scored goals for Kansas City. Pfeiffer became the youngest goal scorer in NWSL history at 16 years and four months old.

The Current return to the pitch March 23 to battle the San Diego Wave at Snapdragon Stadium.