Gonzaga and Baylor top the rankings
Right-hander Harvey pitched for the Royals in 2020 season
Gonzaga and Baylor have played like the nation’s best teams all year. The committee that will ultimately select the field of 68 for the NCAA Tournament sees it that way, too.
The Bulldogs were the No. 1 overall seed followed by the Bears in rankings released Saturday by the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee. It was part of a snapshot of the top 16 seeds with a month to go before Selection Sunday, starting with the teams that have been 1-2 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll all season and remain unbeaten.
“No mystery here,” Kentucky athletics director and committee chairman Mitch Barnhart said. “There’s two teams that have been amazing all year.”
Third-ranked Michigan and fourthranked Ohio State followed as the other two No. 1 seeds, while fellow Big Ten team Illinois was the top No. 2 seed and fifth overall.
Buckeyes roll: One game removed from a scoreless outing that didn’t prevent No. 4 Ohio State from winning at Maryland on Monday night, Justice Sueing came out attacking Saturday afternoon against Indiana.
And when the Buckeyes finished off their biggest win against the Hoosiers in nearly a decade, Sueing’s double-double had plenty to do with a 78-59 win at Value City Arena. Sueing finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, sophomore E.J. Liddell led the team with 19 points and Ohio State (17-4, 11-4 Big Ten) held at least a two-possession lead for the final 33:56.
Cunningham leads Cowboys: Cade Cunningham, the freshman who leads the Big 12 Conference in scoring, had 15 points to help No. 23 Oklahoma State top Kansas State 67-60 on Saturday. Rondel Walker scored 10 points in his first start of the season and Bryce Williams added 10 for the Cowboys (13-6, 6-6 Big 12).
Sooners top Mountaineers in double overtime:
Austin Reaves helped No. 12 Oklahoma pull off an impressive win on the road. Reaves scored four of his 28 points in the final minute of the second overtime and the Sooners held off No. 14 West Virginia 91-90 on Saturday.
Oklahoma (13-5, 8-4 Big 12) squeaked out a win 1,000 miles from home after losing three of its last four games on the road.
“Just a heck of a ballgame,” coach Lon Kruger said. “There wasn’t much margin either way throughout. Guys on both teams were fighting like crazy, making big-time plays, big-time stops.”
LSU pulls away late: Cam Thomas scored 25 points, JaVonte Smart added 20 and LSU beat No. 16 Tennessee 78-65 on Saturday. The Volunteers (14-5, 7-5 Southeastern Conference) trailed for most of the game but were within 50-46 nearly midway through the second half. Tennessee made just six field goals over the final 12 minutes, though, and the Tigers stretched their lead as big as 17.
Arkansas upsets Missouri: Justin Smith scored 19 points to lead Arkansas to an 86-81 overtime victory over 10th-ranked Missouri on Saturday.
Smith, who had missed the Razorbacks’ loss to Missouri last month with an injury, led a balanced attack. Moses Moody scored 15 and Jalen Tate added 14 for Arkansas (16-5, 8-4 Southeastern Conference).
Wieskamp helps rescue Garza: Luka Garza had his worst game offensively in two-plus years and No. 15 Iowa still had enough to rout Michigan State 88-58 on Saturday.
The Hawkeyes (15-6, 9-5 Big Ten) had three players score in double figures and Garza wasn’t one of them. Joe Wieskamp was, finishing with 21 to lead the way.
Jordan Spieth holed out from 160 yards for eagle on the 16th hole at Pebble Beach, the start of a stunning turnaround that took him from two shots behind to a two-shot lead Saturday in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
These moments used to happen when Spieth was winning all the time. This was the second time this week he holed out from the fairway, and now he is on the cusp of ending more than three years without a victory.
He shot 1-under 71 as he goes for a second victory at Pebble Beach in the last five years.
A pedestrian round that included bogeys on two of the par 5s left Spieth two shots out of the lead with three holes to play. And then it all changed. His hard draw to a left pin on the 16th landed about 8 feet right of the hole and took the slope all the way to the bottom of the cup.
Two holes later, Daniel Berger sent his drive well to the right, over the bunkers and onto the cart path.
It settled next to the hedges, and was out-of-bounds by mere inches. Berger called over an official for a linear measurement, but it was out. That led to double bogey and a 72.
MLB: The Diamondbacks have agreed to a $1.75 million, one-year deal with veteran infielder Asdrúbal Cabrera, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press. The agreement was reached on Friday and confirmed to the AP on condition of anonymity Saturday because the deal is pending a physical. Cabrera can earn up to $1.05 million in performance bonuses . ... Matt Harvey will try to revive his career with the Orioles. The 31-year-old right-hander agreed Saturday to a minor league contract with the Orioles. He would get a $1 million, one-year contract if added to the 40-man roster, and would have the chance to earn performance bonuses. ... Outfielder Jay Bruce agreed Saturday to a minor league contract with the Yankees and will try to win a job at big league spring training. The 33-year-old has an opportunity as a left-handed bat in a primarily righthanded lineup . ... The Mets’ pitching staff took a hit before the start of spring training when the team announced Saturday that Seth Lugo needs elbow surgery and will miss the start of the season. An MRI revealed a bone spur in the right-hander’s pitching elbow. Mets medical director Dr. David Altchek will operate Tuesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery.
NHL: Jonathan Marchessault scored the first of Vegas’ three power-play goals and the Golden Knights spoiled the Sharks’ first home game in nearly a year with a 3-1 victory over the Sharks on Saturday. Mark Stone and Chandler Stephenson also scored as the Golden Knights took advantage of its first three opportunities with the man advantage to win for the fourth time in five games. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves
NBA: The anchor of the Knicks’ top-rated defense will be out at least a month. Mitchell Robinson is undergoing surgery on his broken right hand and the reported recovery timetable is 4-to-6 weeks. The 22-yearold suffered the injury in Friday’s victory in Washington and was evaluated back in New York. A six-week recovery would mean Robinson wouldn’t return until late March and miss around 20 games.
The Orioles’ starting pitching mix for spring training added another veteran reclamation project Saturday as the team agreed to a minor league contract with former All-Star right-hander Matt Harvey, according to an industry source.
The deal, which is pending a physical, will be worth $1 million if Harvey makes the major league team, according to a source, similar to the Orioles’ signing of Félix Hernández on a minor league deal last week.
Harvey, 31, joins a group of experienced pitchers including Hernández and Wade LeBlanc, who they’ll bring to camp to supplement a rotation that’s headed by All-Star John Means and could feature rookies Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer but has plenty of question marks elsewhere.
Harvey is several seasons removed from his peak years with the New York Mets. He was an All-Star in 2013 at age 24, pitching to a 2.27 ERA with a 0.931 WHIP in 26 starts for the New York Mets. He missed 2014 after having Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery, but returned for their World Series season in 2015 to pitch to a 2.71 ERA in a full season that year.
His career hasn’t hit those heights since. Harvey has 87 major league appearances (79 starts) to his name in the ensuing five seasons, which were spent with the Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Angels and Kansas City Royals.
He had a 5.82 ERA and a 1.504 WHIP in that span.
Pitching in the shortened 2020 season with the Royals, Harvey had an 11.57 ERA in seven appearances (four starts) with a 2.743 ERA
Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said Friday that he was hoping to add another major league pitcher to the spring training mix, one that’s increasingly crowded when it comes to starting pitching depth after the Orioles brought
Hernández and LeBlanc in as part of a big crop of minor league signings in the last month.
“We’ve got a bunch of young pitchers that are in the mix for that rotation, which is great,” Elias said. “I think a lot of the minor league free agents that we signed this winter that were on this list that we haven’t seen yet are interesting arms and we’re going to get a
look at some of those guys too, and they’re all pretty much length guys or starters. We’ve got the Rule 5 guys [Mac Sceroler and Tyler Wells] that are in the mix. But I think if we’re able to bring in another veteran major league starter in some way into this camp, we’re going to continue to look at that.”
MLB Network first reported the agreement.