John Wooden
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Longtime NCAA executive Tom Jernstedt helped create a path for the men’s college basketball tournament to go from just a national championship event into a March Madness megaevent.
Joe Williams, who coached Artis Gilmore and tiny Jacksonville University to the 1970 NCAA Tournament championship game against mighty UCLA, died Saturday. He was 88.
Mike Krzyzewski would pass famed UCLA coach John Wooden for most Final Four appearances if No. 2 seed Duke can beat fourth-seeded Arkansas in the West Region final in San Francisco.
The Sweet 16 at the East region features one game between UCLA and North Carolina and another between Purdue and underdog Saint Peter’s.
Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell tour was thisclose to over.

Duke trailed Michigan State 70-65 with 5:10 left to play Sunday and there was next to nothing he could do about it.
Duke has jumped to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll after its win against Gonzaga. The Blue Devils earned 51 of 61 first-place votes.
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) — Jay Wright left for Japan on July 2 as a two-time national champion at Villanova and winner of enough coach of the year awards and Big East titles to fill several trophy cases.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Expectations are nothing new at UCLA. John Wooden’s success made sure of that.

They accompany the start of every basketball season at the school that owns a record 11 NCAA titles.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nan Wooden, the daughter of late UCLA basketball coach John Wooden and a fixture at the Bruins games for years, died Tuesday. She was 87.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Saint Joseph’s will play Southern California and Georgetown will take on San Diego State in the Wooden Legacy on Thanksgiving weekend.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The names UCLA and Michigan can’t help but conjure up some of the most memorable images of March.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mick Cronin lay in bed and watched UCLA basketball games for years, pondering how he would coach the Bruins if he ever got the chance.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Chris Beard of Texas Tech had a cheering, boisterous audience as he took stage Thursday to accept the trophy as The Associated Press men’s college basketball coach of the year — his players and family filling the front row to celebrate his success as their own.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Duke remained firmly entrenched at No. 1 for a fourth straight week in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, which was enough to give its Hall of Fame coach another record.
Valorie Kondos Field nearly quit while she was behind. Nearly.

Her first year as the women’s gymnastics coach at UCLA in 1991 didn’t go as planned.
When it mattered, Cretin-Derham Hall leaned on the one thing Eden Prairie couldn’t account for: Daniel Oturu.
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been a best-selling author, civil-rights activist, actor, historian and one of the greatest basketball players who ever lived.