#2025-ncaa-national-championship

#2025-ncaa-national-championship

Dan Hurley’s first f-bomb came at the 55-second mark. That’s when he looked at a member of the three-man officiating crew and asked, very loudly, 'What the f--- was that?!'.

You'd have to catch me off the record to answer that question. The implication was clear: Now that every school can pay players -- either through direct revenue share or name, image and likeness dollars -- Big Ten schools are no longer disadvantaged in recruiting by everything from booster bag men to shoe company AAU connections.

Extreme flexibility will be required this championship season. Participating schools should expect 100% screening, catering for flights over three hours, and assigned departure date and times based on game date and aircraft efficiency, for the first week of the tournament.

Oscar Cluff scored 21 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 20 and No. 18 Purdue topped No. 3 Michigan 80-72 on Sunday for the Big Ten tournament championship. Braden Smith had 14 points, 11 assists and three steals as Purdue (27-8) added to an impressive turnaround after closing the regular season with four losses in six games.

Texas dominated Michigan from start to finish in the Fort Worth Regional 3. Junior Madison Booker led the way with 19 points and was named the regional's most outstanding player.

"You play, what, 36 games, and you try to put yourself in this situation as often as you can. I think every team that's here knows that this weekend is probably the biggest weekend of the year."

UConn was selected as the Fort Worth 1 Region champion by all 22 voters. No other team was a unanimous Final Four pick, but the 1-seeds received a clear majority. South Carolina received 21 votes, Texas had 19 and UCLA 15.