How AI could help win a March Madness bracket
As many are placing their March Madness bets, 4C Predictions is using AI to create a man vs AI machine challenge. NBC News' George Solis speaks to the 4C Predictions CEO about the challenge and to the sports gambler who is taking on the machine.
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NBC News
9 hours ago
- NBC News
From NBA All-Star to Shaolin monk: Victor Wembanyama goes on a China retreat
HONG KONG — On the basketball court, NBA star Victor Wembanyama plays forward-center, but in China it seems he has temporarily taken up the position of a Shaolin monk. The towering 7-foot-3 player from France has been touring around China and appears to have taken a spiritual detour at Shaolin Temple in a picture widely shared on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. With a shaved head and wearing a gray robe, Wembanyama can be seen sitting in front of statues of Buddha in a picture posted Monday by the NBA's official Weibo page, which said the player had 'reportedly' begun a 10-day retreat at the temple in central Henan province. 'Deepening his spiritual journey!' the post read. Wembanyama is in 'closed-door martial arts training,' an employee at the Songshan Shaolin Scenic Area, which includes the temple, told NBC News on Wednesday. 'No one can see him. He deliberately stays out of public view,' said the employee, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Wembanyama's team, the Texas-based San Antonio Spurs, posted a video on Instagram last week of Wembanyama exploring the Great Wall of China — while he still had his hair. ' @wemby exploring China!' the post said. One of the user comments underneath said: 'looks like a regular sized bridge when Wemby on it.' The 2024-25 NBA season ended early for Wembanyama, 21, due to deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, for which he underwent surgery in March, not long after his first appearance in the NBA All-Star Game. At the time, he was averaging 24.3 points, 11 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. The 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, Wembanyama entered the NBA as arguably the greatest basketball prospect since LeBron James in 2003. Besides the Spurs posting his video, Wembanyama has kept his China trip rather low-key, not posting anything about it on his own social media accounts. Retreats at Shaolin Temple have become increasingly popular in recent years with celebrities visiting China. Visits there usually combine meditation, kung fu martial arts and Zen Buddhist practices.
NBC News
11 hours ago
- NBC News
The U.S. men's national team has a major opportunity hosting the next World Cup. Is it ready?
Tony Meola knows the pressure of competing in front of his home fans. Back in 1994, when the United States hosted the FIFA World Cup, Meola, the national team's starting goalkeeper, and his teammates had not one but two jobs: beat the competition and help grow the game. 'It was relentless,' he told NBC News. 'Twenty-four hours a day for a year leading into the World Cup. Promotion of the game, events. We never stopped.' His team did its part off the field — the event shattered attendance records even though soccer wasn't the most popular sport at the time — and it made it out of the group stage before it lost 1-0 to eventual champion Brazil. Though it wasn't the result it wanted, that squad is credited for helping generate major interest and participation in the sport stateside. Meola had dreams of one day seeing the U.S. men's national team become perennial contenders. But more than 30 years later, with the country (along with Canada and Mexico) hosting the 2026 World Cup next June, he says there's still as much up in the air as there was two decades ago. 'I don't feel like we're ready right now,' Meola, now an analyst for CBS Sports Golazo Network, said of the current U.S. team. 'I want to see progression over the next year and go into [the World Cup] with as few question marks as possible, not going in there sort of fearing what's going to happen.' Meola is far from the only former USMNT player to share some skepticism one year out. His co-hosts on the soccer podcast 'Call It What You Want,' Charlie Davies and Jimmy Conrad, also expressed concern. So did Fox Sports, MLS and Apple commentator Maurice Edu. Taylor Twellman, the lead soccer analyst for Apple TV, put it more bluntly. When he was asked how the United States stacks up right now with the top countries in the world, he told NBC News: 'They're not in the conversation with any of them. ... They don't see themselves as a contender.' When North America was awarded the rights to the 2026 World Cup in June 2018, Carlos Cordeiro, then the president of U.S. Soccer, called it a 'rare and important moment to demonstrate that we are all truly united through sport.' It also guaranteed more eyeballs on the host countries. According to FIFA, the average global live audience for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was 175 million viewers. The final between Argentina and France drew 1.5 billion viewers, dramatically more than the most recent Super Bowl (127.7 million). And with the 2026 World Cup final taking place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, this was the perfect time to showcase just how far the U.S. men's team has come. Especially with the 'Golden Generation' of players entering their prime. That term — attached to rising stars like Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Sergiño Dest, Gio Reyna, Timothy Weah, Antonee Robinson, Matt Turner and Tyler Adams — recognizes what was expected to be the best core in program history. They showed glimpses of brilliance during the 2022 World Cup, a run that ended in the Round of 16, but they were all young. Now, four years older, with experience both internationally and for European clubs, they are expected to help lead a deep World Cup run. But some remain hesitant to say this group can pull it off. To this point, it lacks a true signature win and has come up short in recent competitions. In last summer's Copa América, which the United States hosted, the USMNT failed to get out of the group stage after losses to Uruguay and Panama. The result raised questions about whether this roster was talented enough to get over the hump. 'You can't be a 'Golden Generation' until you do something that hasn't been done before,' Davies told NBC News. Edu said: 'I felt like the 'Golden Generation' tag was coined based on the potential. And now some of these guys are coming into their prime, so that potential has to be realized. Everything, to me, now revolves around what happens next summer.' To help them reach their potential, the program moved on from longtime coach Gregg Berhalter and replaced him with Mauricio Pochettino. His hiring was seen as a huge deal, as Pochettino, who is Argentine, has managed on some of the biggest stages of world soccer: Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea. So far, the results have been mixed. He has five wins and four losses in nine games, but the team disappointed in March with two losses in the CONCACAF Nations League Finals. The team has also dropped four games in a row — including a 4-0 loss to Switzerland on Tuesday — though the lineups were far from full strength, with certain stars, like Pulisic, not playing. U.S. Soccer Sporting Director Matt Crocker said Pochettino's 'reputation stands for itself.' It's far too early in the process to critique the job he's done. 'We have a great generation of young players that we want to turn potential into performance, and we couldn't have had and asked for a better coach to come in and have the ability to do that,' Crocker said. 'Now, he just needs to have the time with the players and the games and the experiences to hopefully be ready for next summer, which is our objective.' One year away from the biggest tournament in sports, the USMNT's on-field product is still far from sorted. The most important position to be decided may be goalkeeper. Turner, who started in the 2022 World Cup, is once again expected to have that role. But after a year when he played sparingly as a backup for Crystal Palace, some wonder whether his lack of playing time will have him fit for next summer. Reports this week say Turner has agreed to join the French squad Lyon. Nobody knows goalie play better than Meola, who said, 'There are a lot of questions.' 'In general, we've gone into World Cups either knowing who our No. 1 is or two or three guys battling for the position. That's been the rotation since 1990. This particular group, I think we're unsettled in that position,' he said. If Turner gets consistent action at Lyon, he should be that guy again in 2026. Patrick Schulte, Zack Steffen and Matt Freese are the likeliest next options. Meola's other position group to watch is center back. Out wide, Robinson and Dest are near locks, but the middle of the field is still anyone's guess. Candidates include Chris Richards, Tim Ream, Mark McKenzie, Miles Robinson or Cameron Carter-Vickers. 'There's just too many question marks in the middle of the field at the moment,' Meola said. 'If I'm going to focus on one, that would be it.' Edu and Davies said they want to see how the next 12 months play out at center forward. The USMNT won a hard-fought battle with England to get Monaco's Folarin Balogun (who has dual citizenship), but after him there are many names to consider in Ricardo Pepi, Patrick Agyemang, Haji Wright, Damion Downs and Josh Sargent. 'Even if there's question marks in other positions, if we feel good about the No. 9 position, I think that gives us a hell of a chance,' Edu said. Conrad is similarly focused on the middle of the field, this time at center midfield. Pochettino could go with McKennie, Yunus Musah, Johnny Cardoso, Tanner Tessman, Diego Luna or Malik Tillman. He had one prediction that might shock fans. 'Gio Reyna ... I'll throw him in there, but at this moment I don't expect him to make the team. That's my big shock,' Conrad said. 'I'll put my flag in the ground and say he's got a lot of work to do to get into this team for 2026, which would probably be a surprise to many, but I just think there's other players that are playing well and could fit the system a little bit better at this current moment.' Even though questions abound in the middle, Conrad said he feels great outside. 'I would put our outside backs internationally against anybody,' he said. 'Our strength, in terms of our starters, is Antonee Robinson, Sergiño Dest and then into Christian Pulisic and Timothy Weah. I feel confident going up against any nation with our outside players.' This summer, the USMNT has CONCACAF Gold Cup matches followed by friendlies in September, October and November. Players will then compete for their clubs, either in Major League Soccer or abroad, and then return for more friendlies before the World Cup. The final roster, capped at 26 players, will be set 10 days before the tournament. Nobody is more important in that decision than Crocker, the technical director. Previously with English club Southampton and the England national team, he's focused on getting the best product possible on the field by next June. He said questions around particular positions don't really matter because nobody is truly locked in at this point. 'I don't think that exists 12 months out from a World Cup,' he said. 'You're trying to build depth in the squad but also continue to monitor players' performances. We need to know who the best three players are at every position. In the build-up to a major tournament, there will always be a player that hits form; there might be a player that gets an injury. So you've got to be ready.' Twellman, a forward on the national team from 2002 to 2008, said his concerns aren't based solely on the talent level in specific position groups. It comes down to results, and the team simply hasn't gotten enough of them for him to be confident heading into a World Cup. 'There's just a sense of apathy around the United States men's program,' he said. 'And I don't think that's a hot take.' Crocker said he has heard some of the negative discourse around the program but 'can't control the outside noise.' 'Our job, both as staff and as players, is to almost sort of look within ourselves, to continue to work as hard as we possibly can, continue to try and improve in training every day to put the performances in that we need to every day,' he said. 'We would love everybody to be great supporters and start to talk positively about the team, but we'd also know that we have a responsibility through our performances to control that narrative, as well.'
Reuters
21 hours ago
- Reuters
Study shows less online abuse of athletes during March Madness
June 11 - The NCAA recently released a study that indicated a decrease in social media abuse targeting student-athletes, including from sports bettors, during March Madness. According to the study, athletes were targeted in 15 percent of March Madness-related abusive posts and comments flagged by data science firm Signify Group during the 2025 men's and women's tournaments. That was a significant drop from the previous year's tournaments, when 42 percent of March Madness-spawned abusive posts and comments were directed at student-athletes. Per the NCAA's report, Signify Group gleaned this year's data by using its "Threat Matrix" technology to monitor the social-media accounts of 2,042 players, 346 coaches, 136 teams and 269 game officials and selection committee members. More than 1 million posts and comments directed at these groups on X, TikTok and Instagram were logged and analyzed by Signify's artificial intelligence. That led to 54,096 posts and comments being flagged for potential abuse or threat. Of those, Signify's human analysts confirmed 3,161 as "abusive or threatening." Signify investigated 103 social media accounts for their malicious activity and referred 10 of them to law enforcement. "By supporting the NCAA in demonstrating that abusers can be identified and will be reported to law enforcement -- where criminal thresholds are broken -- it is possible to see a deterrent effect in play," Jonathan Hirshler, Signify Group's CEO, said in a statement. Other findings from the study: Abuse stemming from sports bettors decreased by 23 percent, all abuse directed at those on the women's March Madness side dropped approximately 83 percent and all abuse directed at those on the men's side increased by 140 percent. While the 140 percent increase in men's tournament total abuse and the significant drop in abuse directed at student-athletes overall might not appear to jibe, the difference is in the sharp increase of this year's abuse being directed at adults -- such as coaches and the NCAA Tournament selection committee chaired by North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham. --Field Level Media
