NCAA Tournament women's bubble watch: Power 4 schools wait as mid-majors look to steal bids
Virginia Tech, Washington and Arizona have done all they can to impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
Now they'll have to wait until Sunday to find out their tournament fate.
Those schools will have their eyes on the Ivy Tournament this weekend as that league potentially could have two or three teams in the NCAA Tournament. The league has had two schools earn at-large bids over its history, including Columbia last season.
The Lions won the Ivy League regular season title outright for the first time in school history Saturday. They have a NET rating of 41. Harvard is at 37 and Princeton 48.
Bubble watch
Princeton vs. Harvard, Friday. The two Ivy teams meet in the semifinals of the conference tournament. The winner will most likely put itself in a really good spot to earn an NCAA bid.
Key ratings
Fairfield: The school suffered its first loss in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 42 games Saturday, falling to Quinnipiac. The Stags are 25-4 and have a 52 NET rating. A loss in the conference tournament final could cause some agita for one of the bubble teams.
UNLV: The Lady Rebels are the top seed in the Mountain West Tournament this week and have a Net rating of 46. They are 24-6 on the season and a trip to the conference final potentially could secure another NCAA bid for the school. UNLV has played in the NCAA Tournament the past three seasons.
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Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Riley Gaines says Simone Biles 'sold out' young female athletes in heated debate over transgender sports
Former 12-time NCAA all-American swimmer Riley Gaines is speaking out about her 'X' feud with Olympic gymnast Simone Biles over transgender athletes competing in women's sports. The social media argument began on Friday after Gaines called out a Minnesota high school, whose softball team won a state championship after playing with a transgender pitcher. Gaines, who noted that she was not surprised comments were turned off on the high school's post, said, "to be expected when your star player is a boy." Simone Biles rebuked Gaines, saying she was "truly sick" and a "sore loser" for her comment, suggesting she should be "uplifting" transgender athletes. Biles also said Gaines should "bully someone (her) own size, which would ironically be a male." Simone Biles Doesn't Realize What She's Admitting About Trans Women In Her Posts, Riley Gaines Says "Friday afternoon, I get a notification on my phone," Gaines told "The Will Cain Show" on Monday. "It says, 'Simone Biles tagged you in something on X.' I was overwhelmed with excitement. Like, this is someone I've looked up to. She's a role model for me. [I] was so excited about this until I clicked on the notification and, of course, I had to read it like five times... make sure it wasn't a fake profile. ... It has been the talk of X, really all social platforms, TikTok, Instagram, every article that has been posted. … I believe she truthfully incinerated her legacy with just two tweets this past weekend." The swimmer says that while Biles' comments on her appearance did not hurt her feelings, she felt heartbroken thinking of young gymnasts, like her teen sister, who has looked up to the Olympic champion. Read On The Fox News App "That's the people who look up to Simone. That's the platform that she's built and curated and developed. Those people love her," she said. "They admire her and suddenly, again, in one tweet, and I would imagine an aim to be virtuous and inclusive and kind and compassionate, she sold out people like my younger sister. That's how I felt. That's what made me feel heartbroken." Several of Simone Biles' teammates have reached out to Gaines amid the 'X' debate to share their personal support for the swimmer's stance, she shared with Fox News. "They believe the intention behind this is that Simone has a new docu-series coming out on Netflix," Gaines told Fox News. "They believe it's an attempt to put her name, her profile, her face, her image back in the public sphere, but again, I think this ultimately backfired on her." Ultimately, Gaines says standing up for women's sports is not a divisive issue among everyday Americans. "This isn't a polarizing issue if you can remove yourself from the opinions of the elite. The people who are on the private jets, if you remove yourself from the opinion of Hollywood or elected representation, this truthfully is not a polarizing, divisive issue. It's a unifying issue."Original article source: Riley Gaines says Simone Biles 'sold out' young female athletes in heated debate over transgender sports
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
'I always expect to be in the NCAA Tournament': Texas A&M coach previews season ahead
'I always expect to be in the NCAA Tournament': Texas A&M coach previews season ahead After a tremendous kickstart to the Bucky McMillan era at Texas A&M, the first-year head coach sat down with college basketball insider Jon Rothstein to talk some ball this afternoon. McMillan comes to Bryan-College Station, Texas, after leading Samford to historic success over the last few years, including the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000. Now, he is looking to lead the Aggies' men's basketball program to new heights with no signs of slowing down his preparations anytime soon. Here is everything McMillan said on Rothstein's podcast on the CBS Sports College Basketball YouTube channel: Q: How did Henry Ward McMillan III become Bucky? "I was called that since birth, my dad's name was Bucky. I don't know why it's not on my birth certificate because they knew they were going to call me that. My dad was called that so I don't know. If it wasn't so hard to get a name change, I might do it. My dad was named after a baseball player named Bucky Harris back in the day so there you go." Q: Does life feel like a movie right now for Bucky McMillan? "It's gone so fast, I haven't had time to really think, but I mean, basketball is basketball. Someone asked me that the other day. Coaching at Texas A&M is awesome, but still the same feeling I had coaching JV basketball in terms of treating every job like that's your group, that's your team and let's go. I know when I coach JV basketball, this is the world I live in and this is the most important thing in my sports world. Now, the SEC is the most important thing in my world and Texas A&M being my focus." Q: If your life were a movie, who would play Bucky McMillan? "The guy from Punk'D. Ashton Kutcher that guy." Q: What was it like connecting being the Samford head coach, to then getting offered the job at Texas A&M? "There's a lot of similarities in Texas to the Alabama people, like real chill, down-to-earth people. I love College Station. It's just an easy town to kind of acclamate to. People are welcoming and it's great being undefeated. When you're undefeated everybody loves you. I haven't had to pay for a dinner yet so I need to push this season back as long as possible. It's a great place and I think it's got everything it takes to win in every sport here and have success in every sport. The new era of college athletics, I don't think every university is going to be able to do that. They're going to have to pick and choose. This place can compete for championships in every sport in the SEC I believe." Q: When the job opened, did you say to yourself I think this is one I am going to have a chance at? "You never know. In the South, you never know how the dominoes will fall. I know it's one that I would have to take and I'd want. I talked to our athletic director, obviously the coaching carousel moves and there's opportunities you're involved with. My athletic director at Samford, a guy named Martin Newton, who's a big guy in my life. There's been jobs I've asked him about he said besides the money, I don't know about that one for you. When we talked about Texas A&M, he was like, I don't want to see you go, but man... that's a place you could go and I think you'd be really, really successful there. When he kind of gave me the go-ahead that would be a place where I'd fit and it fit me, I was all-in to being out here." Q: What exactly is "Bucky Ball"? "When I was coaching high school basketball in Alabama back in the day, all the coaches in the suburban schools they played in the 30s and 40s. Really slow, ran the flex, no shot clock, shoot it after a minute and I was committed to, if I coached, I would never do that. We were going to trap until they shot the ball, shoot as quickly as possible, take a lot of threes and so a lot of old-school coaches in the area use to say that as a negative. Like it wasn't disciplined if you played fast and shoot threes. We started winning a lot and it became known as a positive in the community where I lived in. Basically, up-tempo basketball and shoot a lot of threes. You see more and more of it today, but 15 years ago some people thought a three-point shot would be a bad shot. We've always been a high-volume three-point shooting team, up-tempo team. Q: What coaches did Bucky McMillan study to learn his own offensive system? "I played for a great college coach in Duane Reboul who was the coach of Birmingham-Southern, they were in the Big South at the time. He won two NAI National Championships before that. He was kind of the same way, early three-point shooting before that was popular, spacing the floor and so I studied him a lot. There's some college coaches now that are my competitors, I can't say too much about. I can't hurt myself in the recruiting game, but there's some guys that I'm friends with in the business, one of them had a similar route to me. Nate (Oats) at Alabama, I'll go ahead and say it. I've watched them analytically and we're kind of into the anayltics before the analytics were the analytics." Q: What are the impressions of the roster you've put together at Texas A&M? "We did as good as we could possibly do when we got hired. Our staff, when we got everybody in place, supporting us and the way we had to go about this. I am not saying that this will be the best team we will ever assemble, but I will say is I am very proud of what we were able to do based on when you're looking at the supply and demand chain at the time we got hired." Q: What most excites you about the talent you've assembled in College Station? "That we're a good shooting team. That's what I see when I watch them. 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"It's a great league to be in because of what you said. You're goal is to get in the NCAA Tournament and you're goal is to win the NCAA Tournament. If you can compete at a high level in the SEC, which was the best league in college basketball last year and arguably the best league ever assembled, you got a chance certaintly when the majority of the teams are making it to the tournament. If you're in this league, iron sharpens iron. If you can compete at a high level in this league it's special, but if you get in the tournament after being in this league, you're going to be tournament ready." Q: What crumbs can Buck McMillan share on Texas A&M's non-conference schedule for the 2025-2026 season? "We're going with the 8-5 model, so we will play five Power Five teams total and eight non-power fives." Q: Based on the personnel that you've assembled after one shooting workout, is making the NCAA Tournament a realistic goal for the Aggies coming up here in 2026? "Yeah I certaintly think it is. People forget sometimes, A&M was playing for an SEC Championship and in the championship game. Like you said 14 of the 16 teams got in, and this year it's just going to be about this team coming together. I always expect to be in the NCAA Tournament. When I was in mid-major I was expecting to be in the NCAA Tournament. I dang sure to be in it at Texas A&M and I expect when we get there, to win there. I think all these guys we recruited expect the same way." The finishing touches on the Texas A&M men's basketball schedule are yet to be implemented, but the newly transformed roster is geared up and raring to hit the court in Reed Arena. Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Dylan on X: @dylanmflippo.
Fox News
3 hours ago
- Fox News
Riley Gaines talks public's reaction to Simone Biles' personal attack: 'Almost feel bad for her'
Riley Gaines suggested on Monday in a radio interview that she was stunned by the public's response to Simone Biles' personal attack against her. The Olympic great launched into Gaines with a post responding to the former NCAA swimmer criticizing Minnesota softball officials for turning comments off of a post celebrating a high school's state championship win with a transgender player on the team. Biles called Gaines "truly sick" among other things. But the social media reaction didn't appear to get behind the gold medalist. "To acknowledge how the public has shifted to this, look at Simone Biles' comments section, go on Instagram, go on Twitter, go on any article that's being posted, go on TikTok and she is getting absolutely demolished to the point where I almost feel bad for her, like I really do," Gaines said on "Clay & Buck." "I have read these comments, I'm like, 'oh my gosh.' I was prepared when I got that notification on my phone for that onslaught of hatred to come towards me. I was like, 'Oh gosh, she's gonna send all of her little minion people who follow her over to my page.' That is not at all what is happening. I haven't heard a single negative comment about myself following this interaction." Gaines pointed out the recent spate of transgender athletes winning championships in girls' sports across the country. "Minnesota, California, Washington, Oregon and Maine, where boys stole state qualifying spots, state championships or podium spots from deserving, hard-working girls," the OutKick contributor added. "So, the whole 'it doesn't really happen' argument, it can't stand at all when it continues to happen. "But that's the classic progression. It never really happened — that was step one. Then it slowly shifts to, 'OK, well, it is happening, but it's not happening a lot, therefore we shouldn't be concerned.' Then it progresses to, 'OK, well, it's happening, and here's why it's a good thing.' And then the final stage of it is, 'it's happening, it's a good thing, and you're going to accept it — or else." Gaines revealed the support her stance on transgender athletes in women's and girls' sports received in various comments' sections during an episode of the "Gaines for Girls" podcast. Biles has not reacted since her first post toward Gaines on Friday. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
