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Another year, another abysmal performance by ol’ SwampSwami in the CBS Sports March Madness predictions. Though I played high school basketball, I remain “O-for-Life” at predicting the men’s March Madness champion. My chances for victory crashed last Thursday after the University of Houston lost to Illinois in the Sweet Sixteen round. The same failed outcome happened for my pick (LSU) in the women’s bracket. Kim Mulkey’s Tigers lost to Duke on a last second 3-pointer in the Sweet 16 to sink my battleship in that competition. CBSSports.com showed my men’s picks currently ranked a pitiful 1,138,732 (which must be somewhere near the bottom). My women’s selections have been slightly less embarrassing, but I am still ranked at a microscopic 477,876th overall. Go ahead and laugh. I’m used to it. Since my personal top selections are now vaporized, let’s take a closer look at the upcoming weekend of March Madness games. But first… I wanted to take a moment to agree with legendary UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma about some issues which he expressed concern about last week. Beginning in 2023, the NCAA found a way to screw-up the women’s second weekend of Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games. In the second weekend of men’s play, there are four regionals (East, South, Midwest, and West). Each region features four teams. By contrast, the women’s second weekend featured just two regions with eight teams assigned to each site to play the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games. Why did the NCAA do that to the women’s tournament? (Hint – $$$) Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma rightfully complained about logistics issues created by lumping eight teams together. His team was one of the eight assigned to “Region 1” in Fort Worth, Texas. The other eight teams in “Region 2” played in Sacramento, California. In both cases, the city’s arena is needed to host two tournament games per day. That leaves the eight participating teams with odd practice times and inconsistent media times for the players and coaches. Some practices were conducted at the crack of dawn. Others happened in evening hours after the second game of the day concluded. Coach Geno Auriemma told the assembled press last week, “You know what time our shoot-around was yesterday? 6:20 AM for just half an hour. Does anybody who makes these decisions ever ask the coaches and the players?” The UConn coach then rolled off the poor 3-point shooting statistics for every team participating in last week’s 8-team Fort Worth regional. He added, “They bring in new baskets and new basketballs right out of the box. We’ve got people dribbling the ball off their feet, missing layups all over the place! How many arenas are we going to sell out with that BS!” He was blunt and made several valid points. The eight teams teams in each of the two women’s regions had very little time to get familiar with the arena surroundings prior to playing in last Friday and Saturday’s games. The only plausible reason for doing this is a cost savings decision by the NCAA. It is cheaper to lease two arenas than four like the men are utilizing during the tournament’s second weekend. The television production costs for ESPN are also lower with only two sites to broadcast from. It’s doubtful that the NCAA home office in Indianapolis gave much (if any) thought to the logistical difficulties caused by bringing eight teams together to play over two days in the same facility. One report indicated that the NCAA will keep this format for another two years. Good grief. How cheap can you get? Now that we have that out of the way. Let’s review the women’s Final Four! This year’s women’s semifinal and final games are being played in Phoenix. The same four finalists from last year (UConn, South Carolina, Texas, and UCLA) will return and try to win the title currently held by Connecticut. This elite quartet won an incredible 95% of their games this season with a combined record of 143-7. Semifinal #1 – 6PM CDT Friday on ESPN – Connecticut (38-0) vs. South Carolina (35-3) Get your popcorn ready for this epic battle! This is the women’s basketball version of pitting King Kong vs. Godzilla. These two teams have captured three of the last four national titles. UConn defeated South Carolina 82-59 in last year’s championship game, so the Gamecocks want payback. Carolina has five players averaging in double figures led by All-American forward Joyce Edwards. She scores nearly 20 points per game. Connecticut counters with two of the best players in the country. Forward Sarah Strong and guard Azzi Fudd are responsible for nearly 40 points per game this season for the Huskies. Semifinal #2 – 8:30PM CDT Friday on ESPN – Texas (35-3) vs. UCLA (35-1) Texas features ten players getting more than ten minutes of playing time every game. Forward Madison Book

Springtime means a return of increasingly warm temperatures (ugh), pollen galore (yuck), and a very eventful initial weekend of sports. Major League Baseball’s 2026 season opened as all 32 teams began tied for first place with a 0-0 record After this past weekend of opening games, it should come as no surprise that the homeless “Athletics” are off to an 0-3 start. Voodoo dolls in Oakland seem to be having their desired effect on this wandering baseball franchise! The former Oakland Athletics vacated the Bay Area last year and temporarily moved into a minor league baseball stadium in Sacramento. This team is simply known as the “Athletics” today. They will remain in Sacto for 2026 and 2027. A new indoor baseball stadium is under construction in Las Vegas and is expected to become home for this downtrodden franchise starting in 2028. The UFL returned, too. It’s a good thing St. Louis still has their team! Spring professional football’s UFL began its third year with four games played over the weekend. The St. Louis Battlehawks attracted more than 31,000 fans to watch its 16-10 win over the defending champion DC Defenders on Saturday in the Battledome. Three other UFL home teams failed to attract even 15,000 patrons for Game #1. The new Louisville Kings franchise were welcomed by 14,000 fans in their inaugural game being played in Kentucky. They watched the Birmingham Stallions rally to score the game-winning touchdown with two minutes left in a 15-13 victory over the hometown Kings Friday night. A Sunday night gathering of 11,000 cheered as Orlando “Stormed” to a 23-16 victory over the Columbus Aviators. The Dallas Renegades pulled a quaint crowd of less than 9,000 fans to its debut game in Frisco, Texas on Saturday. As stated in my league preview last week, the UFL continued to have problems getting most of its teams to score points. Only two of the eight teams in Week #1 tallied 20 or more points. Are the NFL referees going on strike soon? An under-the-radar story this weekend involved the growing tension between the NFL and its referees union. The NFL Referees Association may be recommending a strike soon. The current collective bargaining agreement between the refs and the league is set to expire on May 31. NFL owners have angered the referee union by wanting to raise the probationary period from three years to five and make playoff assignments based on performance rather than seniority. As you might expect, the referees union looks at those issues differently. A referee strike last occurred in 2012 and lasted three games into the NFL’s regular season. After several botched calls during the opening weeks of the regular season, the owners and referees finally reached an agreement in late September, 2012. This weekend’s news indicated that the NFL owners are preparing to move forward if there isn’t a new deal soon. They are compiling a list of possible replacement referee candidates from the ranks of college football. If a new deal with the NFL referees’ union is not reached by May 1, the football league may be planning to hire and train a set of new referees for the upcoming football season. Golf – first, let’s have some good news! PGA golfer Gary Woodland’s last professional victory came at the 2019 US Open. About three years ago, the golfer underwent a very delicate surgery to remove a lesion from his brain. Just two weeks ago, Woodland told the media that he had developed PTSD during his difficult recovery from brain surgery. Sunday’s final round saw Gary Woodland holding a one-shot lead starting the final 18 holes at the Texas Children’s Hospital Houston Open. He raced out to a 4-under par 31 on the front nine in posting a final round 67 to win the event by five shots. The Houston crowd chanted, “Gary…Gary…Gary!” on the closing holes as Woodland tried to remain focused on the task at hand. Woodland once played on both the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team and on college golf team. He wisely chose to play professional golf for his post-college career. Now 41, Gary Woodland picked-up his fifth career PGA win in Houston and a paycheck for nearly $1.8 million. His emotional win in Houston also came with an invitation to play in The Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia in just ten days. Golf – Tiger Woods flipped his SUV and earned a DUI charge in Florida Now 50 years of age, Tiger Woods captured the spotlight once again on Friday. Golf’s biggest name since Jack Nicklaus was placed under arrest near his home in central Florida after flipping his Land Rover vehicle at a high rate of speed. Tiger Woods’ SUV quickly came upon a truck which was slowing to turn into a driveway. Woods lost control of his vehicle. The SUV flipped onto its side and Woods safely crawled out of the passenger-side window. Fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic around when the accident occurred. Woods agreed to a breathalyzer test for alc

It’s official! Former LSU men’s basketball coach Will Wade is returning to Baton Rouge to coach the Tigers again next season. The 43-year old Wade coached the LSU basketball team from 2017-2022 until he was fired following an NCAA probe into improper payments being offered to certain LSU basketball recruits. Back then, the NCAA did not allow schools to pay their players. Yet. Ironically, Will Wade’s dismissal by LSU in 2022 happened right as the NCAA’s new rules (such as they are) were being implemented to allow college athletes to receive compensation for their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Wade was simply ahead of his time. LSU was slapped with five NCAA sanctions and sent the basketball coach to the unemployment line. Will Wade re-emerged at McNeese State University in Lake Charles a year later in 2023. He led the Cowboys into their first-ever NCAA March Madness tournament in 2024 and, again, in 2025. Wade was then hired to become the head coach at North Carolina State this past season. His NC State Wolfpack team was selected to participate in the NCAA “First Four” round. They lost to Texas in that game to finish the year at 20-14. While that was happening in the life of Will Wade, LSU’s then-Athletics Director Scott Woodward hired former Murray State basketball coach Matt McMahon to run the men’s program in the spring of 2022. The Murray State Racers qualified for the NCAA March Madness tournament three times in five seasons under Coach McMahon before he left for LSU. Four years later, coach Matt McMahon’s LSU teams had won only 17 SEC games against 55 conference losses (23.6%). This season’s Tigers finished dead last in the league with a woeful 3-15 record. Matt McMahon was dismissed this week, but he won’t go away empty handed The ex-LSU basketball coach will receive nearly $8 million as part of his contract buyout provisions. He joined a growing number of former LSU sports leaders who were fired in recent years but received lucrative going-away presents upon their exit. Former LSU head football coaches Brian Kelly ($54 million – 2025) and Ed Orgeron ($17 million – 2021) along with former AD Scott Woodward ($6 million – 2025) have been paid handsomely to hit the road. When added to Matt McMahon’s $8 million buyout, that is $85 million which LSU’s wealthiest athletics backers have been asked to cover. In exchange, the school’s financial backers demand winners (sooner than later) in return for being asked to pay for so many expensive changes in Baton Rouge. Speaking of money, basketball coach Will Wade’s former school at North Carolina State will receive $4 million as compensation after his abrupt exit following season #1 in Raleigh. NC State Athletic Director Boo Corrigan was understandably miffed at coach Will Wade’s decision to leave his program after just one year. “As far as the resignation letter, it was an email that we received from his agent,” said Corrigan. “I’m disappointed at how it went down.” Is the LSU basketball job actually better than North Carolina State? LSU has zero NCAA men’s basketball tournament titles. Long-time coach and fan favorite Dale Brown’s Tigers played in two Final Four appearances (1981 and 1986), but his teams lost in the national semifinals both years. Brown’s successor, John Brady, led LSU to another Final Four appearance in 2006. Same result. Over the past twenty years, LSU was selected for the NCAA post-season tournament just five times. Three of those occurred during coach Will Wade’s five seasons with the Tigers (2019, 2021, and 2022). After being fired by LSU, Will Wade rebuilt his credibility by turning the McNeese State Cowboys of the Southland Conference into a basketball powerhouse during his two years in Lake Charles. The Pokes went 30-4 and 28-7, won the Southland Conference title both years, and made two consecutive March Madness post-season appearances. Wade left after two seasons to take the job at North Carolina State of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Wolfpack already had two national championship trophies in Raleigh. Coach Norm Sloan’s 1973-74 team featured dynamic high-flying forward David Thompson, 7’4” center Tom Burleson and diminutive 5’7” point guard Monty Towe. NC State defeated legendary coach John Wooden’s mighty UCLA Bruins in overtime in the semifinals and then polished-off Marquette to win the school’s first basketball title. Coach Jim Valvano’s 1983 North Carolina State team won the ACC Tournament and barely qualified for the NCAA March Madness field as a lowly #6 regional seed. His “Cardiac Pack” thrilled the nation by defeating a series of top teams on their way to the title game against heavily favored Houston. Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Houston’s Phi Slamma Jamma team lost to NC State on a stunning last second put-back for the Wolfpack’s seco

Ah, yes. Springtime means the return of your favorite eight United Football League (UFL) spring football teams for a third consecutive season. Except for the San Antonio Brahmas, Michigan Panthers, and Memphis Showboats, that is! Those three UFL teams were vaporized last summer to become a part of league history. The UFL moving trucks have been busy during the off-season United Football League team locations in San Antonio, Detroit, and Memphis were replaced with new franchises in the states of Florida, Ohio, and Kentucky. The Orlando Storm, Columbus Aviators, and Louisville Kings will join the Birmingham Stallions, DC Defenders, Houston Gamblers, and St. Louis Battlehawks in 2026. In addition, the former Arlington Renegades moved across town to morph into the Dallas Renegades. But even the name “Dallas” is a bit misleading. The Renegades will play this season in Toyota Stadium – a 24,000 seat soccer stadium in fast-growing Frisco. That city is 25 miles north of downtown Dallas. The UFL has smartly downsized its stadiums and cut more costs this season. All eight UFL teams still practice at the same facility in Arlington, Texas on weekdays and then fly to play games on weekends in each team’s respective home market. All but two of the eight spring football franchises will play in smaller soccer venues beginning this season. The new stadiums generally have a seating capacity of no more than 25,000. The Houston Gamblers vamoosed from the 40,000 seat football stadium at the University of Houston in favor of a more “right sized” environment at the downtown home of the Houston Dynamo soccer franchise. Wisely, the UFL owners have learned that the optics of showing thousands of empty seats on nationally televised football games is a very bad look for TV. The high costs of leasing a traditional football stadium was another big factor in making that switch, too. The St. Louis Battlehawks (which led the UFL in home attendance with more than 30,000 fans per home game) will continue to play in the 60,000 seat Dome at America’s Center. Locally known as the “BattleDome”, the indoor football stadium was the former home of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams prior to the team moving to Los Angeles. Birmingham will continue to play in UAB’s state of the art 47,000 seat football stadium. The league smartly cordoned off the upper deck last season, so the actual seating capacity for Stallions home games is about 25,000. When is the first UFL football game this year? The 2026 UFL season picked a bad time to get started (again). This weekend’s season openers will have stiff competition from the men’s and women’s NCAA March Madness college basketball tournament. Game #1 of the new UFL season is this Friday night (March 27) at 7PM CDT on FOX. The Birmingham Stallions visit Kentucky to play in the first-ever home game for the Louisville Kings. Saturday, March 28 will feature an afternoon doubleheader. The opening game will start at 11AM CDT on ESPN as 2025 champion DC Defenders invade the St. Louis Battlehawks. The second game (3PM CDT on FOX) has the Houston Gamblers riding up I-45 to play their intrastate rival, the Dallas Renegades. Sunday’s final opening weekend game will pit two new entries taking the field for the first time. The Columbus Aviators take flight to central Florida to play the Orlando Storm at 7PM CDT on ESPN. The UFL added a giant source of cash as billionaire Mike Repole joined the ownership team Who is Mike Repole, you ask? If you have heard of beverage brands such as VitaminWater and BodyArmor, it was entrepreneur Mike Repole who built and sold those companies to Coca-Cola for a cool $12 billion. That means that the UFL just added another financial partner with deep pockets. Mike Repole is about to learn that the UFL and every other prior spring football iteration has been a gigantic money pit. Last season’s UFL was owned by former WWE wrestling legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his ex-wife Dany Garcia along with Fox Sports, Disney (ESPN), and private equity investor Redbird Capital Partners. The privately-held United Football League is not required to publish annual financial reports. They are quite tight-lipped about the league’s finances. It’s not a secret that the UFL has posted annual losses into the tens of millions of dollars. A lot of cash is required to pay stadium leases, players, and other significant costs One source reported that Ford Field in Detroit (former home to the now-deceased Michigan Panthers franchise) cost the league $500,000 per home game. That’s a cool $2.5 million per season for just one stadium’s rental fees. Last year’s Michigan Panthers averaged less than 12,000 fans per home game. Their average ticket price in 2025 was about $25. That generated about $300,000 in ticket revenue per home game for a season-ending total of about $1.5 million. Ouch. But wait, there’s more. Each team had 45 active players

The opening weekend of the men’s March Madness concluded late Sunday night. The women’s first two rounds of their tournament are ending today (Monday) with eight games being played. As widely expected, the majority of the top 16 seeds in the women’s bracket have remained intact through Sunday evening. Not so in the men’s division after the second round. Down went #1 East seed and defending men’s champion Florida! The Gators were chomped by 9th seed Iowa 73-72 on Sunday in Round 2. Iowa’s Hawkeyes (now 23-12) lost four of its last five games coming into the NCAA tournament. Iowa finished in 9th place in the Big Ten Conference this season with a mediocre 10-10 record. Obviously, something has clicked for the Hawkeyes. Iowa’s new basketball coach brought a long track record of success to Iowa City Ben McCollum isn’t a household name among men’s college basketball coaches – yet. The 44-year old head coach at Iowa had won four national titles at the NCAA Division II level over his 15 years at Northwest Missouri State University in rural Maryville, Missouri. That success translated into job offer for McCollum at Drake University in Des Moines last season. The coach took the Division 1 Bulldogs into the second round of the NCAA March Madness tournament last year and finished with an amazing 31-4 record. Afterwards, the state’s largest public university in Ben McCollum’s birthplace of Iowa City made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. The Iowa Hawkeyes had fired Fran McCaffery in March, 2025 after 15 seasons at the school. Though Coach McCaffery’s teams made the NCAA tournament field on seven occasions, the Hawkeyes never advanced beyond the second round. Until this year – under new head coach Ben McCollum. Iowa defeated defending national champion Florida 73-72 on a three-point shot with less than five seconds to play. The gritty Hawkeyes are advancing to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1999. They will face another Big Ten upstart in the University of Nebraska. Cornhuskers coach Fred Hoiberg had the loudest fans this weekend Oklahoma City is 430 miles south of Lincoln, Nebraska. You would never have guessed the arena wasn’t transported from Oklahoma to Nebraska over the weekend. OKC’s basketball arena just hosted the first two rounds of the South Region. If you watched either game involving the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the 18,000-seat arena sounded like those contests were being played in a major Nebraska city. Coach Fred Hoiberg’s Nebraska Cornhuskers are now 26-8. They claimed the school’s first ever March Madness men’s basketball victory on Thursday with a convincing 76-47 win over Sunbelt champion Troy. Big Red basketball fans then returned in even larger numbers Saturday for the team’s second round match-up against SEC tournament runner-up, Vanderbilt. In one of the most dramatic game of this year’s very exciting NCAA tournament, Nebraska’s loud and proud fans pushed Big Red to grab a two point lead on a basket with 2.2 seconds remaining. Then, Vanderbilt’s talented freshman guard Tyler Tanner lofted a desperation half-court shot which could have won the game at the buzzer. The ball was online the entire way. It hit the backboard, bounded inside of the rim, but somehow bounced back out again. Nebraska survived 74-72 and advanced into the Sweet Sixteen round this week in Houston against fellow Big Ten Conference rival, Iowa. Cornhuskers coach Fred Hoiberg and Iowa men’s coach Ben McCollum have something unique in common – other than playing in the Big Ten Conference. These two successful basketball coaches were Finance majors in college. Today’s NIL-driven college sports teams require coaches who can manage a payroll as well as they teach a pick and roll. This weekend’s games may end the coaching careers for other top basketball coaches! University of Kansas basketball coach Bill Self is 63 years old. He accepted the Jayhawks top job 23 years ago at age 40. Coach Self has won two national championships while at Kansas (2008 and 2022). His Jayhawks have participated in the NCAA March Madness post-season tournament in each of his 23 years at the school. That’s amazing! Coach Self’s Kansas Jayhawks were just bounced out of the NCAA tournament on Sunday by a spunky, quirky St. John’s team 67-65. KU finished the season 24-11. The Kansas Jayhawks simply failed to launch this season. They invested (quite literally) much of the team’s capital into signing a prima donna 5-star basketball recruit named Darryn Peterson. Coach Self already knew that Peterson would be another “one and done” freshman player looking to impress NBA scouts in this June’s annual college draft. Peterson played well at times and will, no doubt, become a high draft selection in the “We rarely play defense” NBA. He seems quite ready for his future role. Darryn Peters

That’s right! My men’s and women’s March Madness college basketball picks have a perfect record. I have been been wrong on selecting a champion in every previous season for decades during my adult life. Forget about having a perfect bracket. This former high school basketball player is still seeking his first winning team to watch cutting down the nets at the end of March Madness! That makes me “O-for-Life”. Yes, I somehow cannot bring myself select the overall #1 seed to win it all. Why accept the easy way? That’s much too boring. The NCAA March Madness men’s tournament starts on Thursday. The women tip-off on Friday. Thankfully, I am not someone who donates money to local gambling establishments to profit from my annual embarrassment. If you are so inclined, my NCAA March Madness selections have been posted at the CBS Sports website. Feel free to check the entry called “SwampSwamiSports.com”, and we’ll review how well my picks are doing. Let’s face it. I AM overdue for a winner this year, right? Who is SwampSwami ruining the chances for this year? Given that the statistics may (perhaps) work in my favor with my advancing age, I am selecting (drum roll, please) the University of Houston to win the men’s bracket. This would be U of H’s first national championship in men’s basketball. If you had believed that the famous Phi Slamma Jamma teams of the early 1980’s had won at least one title, you are incorrect. It’s time for the Cougars to finally bring home their first national championship to H-town! In the March Madness women’s tournament, let’s crown…(drum roll again) the LSU Tigers – to capture their second national title under Coach Kim Mulkey. LSU needs some breaks along the way and several of its top players to perform well for the next six games to pull the big upset. This team is sneaky-good. You’ve been warned. For fans of both the University of Houston and LSU, I am NOT trying to jinx your favorite teams! I really like both coaches and both programs. I truly WANT them to win. Unfortunately, I tend to select winners based on my emotions every season. That’s why I am “O-for-Life” in picking a team which eventually gets to cut down the nets. My March Madness picks are like watching Charlie Brown running to kick that football just as Lucy picks up the ball and causes ol’ Chuck to fall on his backside. Let’s start with the Women’s March Madness field The top of the women’s college basketball field is filled with several very impressive teams. UConn is 34-0 and the only unbeaten team in this field. The #2 overall seed in the tournament is UCLA. They are no slouch at 31-1 and received a top seed for their region. Don’t forget the SEC’s dynamic duo of South Carolina and the University of Texas. Both of those #1 seeds are 31-3 entering this week’s first games. The #2 seeds for the women’s tournament are also quite good. SEC gives us another two powerful teams. LSU (27-5) and Vanderbilt (27-4) are worthy of a title run. The Big Ten’s Iowa Hawkeyes (26-6) and Michigan Wolverines (25-6) should be in the mix for at least the first two weekends of the women’s tournament. The #3 seeds on the women’s side are very good, but I don’t expect any team below a #2 seed to win it all. I do believe that at least one of the #3 seeds will make a run into the Elite Eight. Duke (24-8), Ohio State (26-7), TCU (29-5), and Louisville (27-7) are all capable of getting to the cusp of the Final Four. Since 2012, women’s college basketball has been ruled by a very small group of teams with elite coaches and extremely talented players. UConn (5 titles), South Carolina (3) and Kim Mulkey (3 – two at Baylor and one after moving to LSU) have ruled the women’s division. Expect nothing less this year. My women’s Final Four is UConn, South Carolina, Texas, and LSU. That makes three SEC teams ganging up on poor ol’ undefeated Connecticut. I’ll take UConn to take down South Carolina in an epic battle in one semifinal game. LSU (fresh off of defeating #1 regional seed UCLA in the Elite Eight) will subdue its SEC rival Texas in the other. LSU wants no part of South Carolina in this tournament. The Gamecocks have won 19 straight games against the Tigers. LSU will (quietly) be pulling for the Huskies against South Carolina. I think UConn will finally crack under the pressure to post an undefeated season. I envision LSU pulling a thrilling upset to win the women’s title for the second time in school history! March Madness – Men’s top tournament teams Unlike the women’s field, the winner in the men’s division could be fairly wide open this year. Beginning in 2012, only UConn (2014, 2023, and 2024) and Villanova (2016 and 2018) have posted multiple titles during that span. Last year’s champion (Florida) is 26-7 an