South Carolina’s No. 1 run in women’s Top 25 hits 35 weeks Arizona State stuns No. 7 Arizona 89-88 on Cambridge’s heave In NIL-era first, NCAA gives Miami probation for violation Kermit Davis is out as Ole Miss men’s basketball coach Utah projected as No. 1 seed in women’s NCAA Tournament Michigan trails early, pulls away from Rutgers for 58-45 win

South Carolina endured one of the toughest tests of the season and remained No. 1 in the Associated Press poll of women’s college basketball released Monday.

The Gamecocks (27-0) beat Mississippi in overtime on Sunday to win their 33rd straight game and top the poll for the 35th consecutive week. This is the third longest run in the poll, with UConn (51 weeks) and Louisiana Tech (36) having longer streaks in first place. The Gamecocks broke the tie with UConn and took third place.

South Carolina received 27 of the 28 first-place votes from the national media group. This was the first time this season that a team was not unanimously selected as number 1.

Indiana got another first place and stayed second in the poll. The Hoosiers have won 14 games in a row and have gone 9-0 this season against the top 25 teams in the AP – the most wins against ranked opponents of any team in the country. The Hoosiers won at least part of their first Big Ten title since 1983 with a win over Purdue on Sunday.

“It doesn’t mean anything against South Carolina, but the Big Ten are incredibly strong this season and Indiana has had a tighter conference schedule,” voter Mitchell Northam said. “While the Gamecocks needed OTs to take down Ole Miss, last week the Hoosiers handily beat ranked teams in Ohio and Michigan states. I wanted to reward them for this. Indiana also has five wins over the top 10 teams this season, the most in the country, and hasn’t lost since Grace Berger was healthy.”

Stanford, UConn and LSU round out the top five teams.

Iowa, which hosts Indiana on Sunday, finished in sixth place. The Hawkeyes were followed by Maryland, Utah, Virginia Tech, and Notre Dame. Utes dropped four places after taking the then-place. 18 Arizona. The Wildcats moved up four places to 14th.

LOGIN AGAIN

Middle Tennessee and Illinois re-entered the poll, finishing 25th. The Blue Raiders and Illini spent some time in the AP top 25 before being eliminated. They replaced USC, which moved games to Stanford and California over the weekend.

FIGHT SEC

The conference features two of the top five teams in South Carolina and LSU, but no other school is ranked. With three polls left in the season, the SEC risks being left without at least three teams in the final AP top 25 for the first time since the 1980-81 season, when there were only two in the conference.

TUCSON, Arizona. Arizona State’s final loss to the rivalry seemed inevitable even after a late rally when all that was left was desperate.

Desmond Cambridge Jr. cashed it out by swinging the McKale miracle to keep the Sun Devils’ NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

Cambridge Jr. landed a 60-foot blow to the buzzer and Arizona State rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat No. 7 Arizona 89-88 on Saturday.

“I didn’t think this shot would hit the target,” Cambridge said after scoring 19 points. “I just wanted to miss well so that everyone in the crowd went, “Oooh!” As soon as he came in, I literally could only scream because I couldn’t understand it.”

The Wildcats (24–5, 13–5, Pak-12) led by 10 and then went over six minutes without a field goal, with Arizona State taking a lead by one.

The Sun Devils (20-9, 11-7) went up 86-85 with a layup by Warren Washington with just a minute left, but Pelle Larsson again took Arizona out of a layup with 29 seconds left.

Arizona State’s DJ Horn missed with a jumper with four seconds left and the Sun Devils had a last shot after Umar Ballo hit 1 of 2 free throws.

Catching the ball with 2.4 seconds left, Cambridge stunned the McKale Center fans with a shot from outside the half court that caused his teammates to throw themselves to the floor in celebration.

“We had pocket aces, and that happens sometimes,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said.

Cedric Henderson Jr. led Arizona with 19 points while Azuulas Tubelis added 17.

In the first meeting, Arizona State made a big push to open the second half, but Lloyd didn’t take a timeout, allowing his team to weather the rough patch. In response, the Wildcats got ahead of their own to win 69–60 on an evening when neither team shot better than 37%.

The rematch was all about attack.

The Sun Devils hit as many 3-pointers in the first eight minutes as they did in the entirety of Game 1 and 20 of 34 field shots in a 46–45 lead.

The Wildcats landed 16 of 27 shots, including 3 from Henderson, but 7 of 14 came from free throws.

Good shooting only subsided a little to start the second half.

Arizona went on a short run to build a six-point lead, and the Sunny Devils began making questionable shots, allowing the Wildcats to extend it to 78–68.

Even as defensive pressure mounted to get back into it, Arizona State seemed to be in decline – until Cambridge came to the rescue, snapping the Sun Devils’ five-game losing streak to Arizona.

“A lot of people jumped ship and thought we weren’t the right team, but we are the right team, and the guys proved it tonight by going head-to-head with a team like the Arizona on their home court at the end of the season.” Arizona said. State coach Bobby Hurley said.

NUNES OUT

Arizona State played without defenseman Austin Nunez, who is on concussion protocol from an injury sustained last week against Utah.

The freshman point guard is averaging 4.5 points, giving the Sunny Devils a boost on the bench.

Free throw problems

Arizona had a huge free throw lead, 12 points ahead of Arizona State from the line.

The Wildcats could use a few more points, finishing 23 of 34.

“You’d like to do another one or two, that probably makes a difference,” Lloyd said.

BIG PICTURE

Arizona State: The Sunny Devils needed to improve their chances of entering the NCAA Tournament. One of the most beautiful finishes in the history of the rivalry should certainly help.

Arizona: The Wildcats were in control before walking off the field at the wrong time. Their seniors will never forget how their last home game ended after the stunning Cambridge.

NEXT

Arizona State: Plays No. 4 at UCLA on Thursday.

Arizona: Playing in Southern California on Thursday.

CORAL GABLES, Florida. Miami was sentenced to one year of probation on a Friday after school, and the NCAA said women’s basketball coaches inadvertently helped orchestrate inappropriate contact between a booster and two Hurricanes-signed players.

This is the first time the NCAA has announced a penalty related to investigating transactions involving names, images, and likenesses—the NIL, as they’re called.

The NCAA was investigating booster John Ruiz, who signed several Miami-based athletes to NIL deals. Among them are basketball players Hayley and Hannah Cavinder, who moved to Miami after meeting Ruiz, although the Cavinders told the NCAA that the meeting had nothing to do with their decision to play for the Hurricanes.

The NCAA and Miami worked on a “negotiation resolution” to end the saga, but the NCAA wanted the Hurricanes to agree to more sanctions than what was ultimately handed down. booster”. The NCAA said the violation was due to Miami coach Cathy Meyer helping arrange a meeting between Cavinders and Ruiz without knowing he was the sponsor.

“Boosters are interacting with prospects and student-athletes in a way that NCAA members have never seen or encountered,” the NCAA said in a statement. “Thus, combating unacceptable booster behavior is critical, and the disconnection penalty represents an effective punishment available to the (violations committee).”

Meyer will no longer have to miss games; she served a three-game suspension to start the season pending an NCAA ruling.

The NCAA never named Ruiz in its Friday ruling, but referred to an April 13 tweet posted by the booster that included a photo of him and two recruits. On this day, Ruiz posted a photo of himself with the Cavinder twins after dinner at his home.

“These girls decided where to go, no one else did it for them,” Ruiz tweeted Friday.

The Cavinders, who have a huge social media following and several NIL deals, signed the letter of intent about a week after dinner. They are not subject to any sanctions. Both are in their first season with the Hurricanes since moving from Fresno State.

“While the parties have argued that a dissociation penalty would be inappropriate due to inappropriate food intake and inappropriate contact, today’s new NIL-related environment represents a new day,” the NCAA said in a statement.

Meyer said Friday in a statement released by the university that she was “in good faith” running the programs and was a “collaborative partner with the NCAA.”

“Collegiate athletics is undergoing change and any unintentional mistake I made was prior to fully understanding the fences put in place and the clarifications issued by the NCAA in May,” Meyer said.

The NCAA said it opened an investigation in May and interviewed Ruiz in June. But the NCAA can’t order Miami to disassociate itself from Ruiz based on a meeting that took place before last year’s rule change.

“(The Violations Committee) will seriously consider dissociation penalties in future cases involving NIL-related behavior,” the NCAA said.

Miami has agreed to various other minor sanctions, such as a small fine—$5,000 plus 1% of the women’s basketball budget, which the school does not allocate as a private institution—and a small reduction in allowed recruiting.

“The sanctions we ultimately agreed to to end this are not (commensurate with) the violation or its intent,” Miami said in a statement. “Coach Meyer is an outstanding coach, role model, teacher…and we fully support her, her program, and our department’s ongoing efforts to ensure compliance.”

The Cavinders have been the stars of the NIL phenomenon since it became available to college athletes on July 1, 2021. Increasing…