Virginia gets top billing for March Madness

From the top seed in the NCAA Tournament — Virginia — to those that barely made it into the bracket — Arizona State and Syracuse — it feels as though everyone involved in March Madness is on the bubble this year.

College basketball is in trouble.

The brackets came out Sunday, replete with the usual fanfare that accompanies America’s biggest office pool. Villanova, Kansas and Xavier joined Virginia as No. 1 seeds, but they, along with the other 64 contenders, will play against the backdrop of an investigation-riddled season in which bribes and payoffs made bigger headlines than 3s and layups.

The tournament begins Tuesday with opening-round games featuring a matchup of bubble teams UCLA and St. Bonaventure, then kicks into full swing Thursday and Friday at eight sites around the U.S. REGINA Team Canada’s Brad Gushue has won the Tim Hortons Brier for the second year in a row.

Gushue beat Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher 6-4 on Sunday to win the Canadian men’s curling championship.

Bottcher downed Ontario’s John Epping 6-4 earlier in the day in the tournament semifinal to meet Gushue.

Gushue advanced to the championship draw by toppling Epping 6-2 in Saturday’s playoff game between the top two seeds.

Gushue, third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker won the Brier last year in Gushue’s hometown of St. John’s, N.L.

The foursome is the first back-toback Brier winners since Alberta’s Kevin Martin achieved the feat in 2008 and 2009.