SI:AM | The Bubble Is Getting Closer to Bursting for Some Big Names

Plus, how the Kings rejoined the NBA’s elite.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I promise tomorrow’s newsletter won’t be about the Fordham-LaSalle A-10 quarterfinal game I’m attending tonight.

In today’s SI:AM:

🔮 The latest on the NCAA tournament bubble

👑 Inside the Kings’ rapid rise

🍊 Jim Boeheim walks away

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Bubble watch

It’s getting to be do-or-die time in men’s college basketball. As conference tournaments progress, teams still have a chance to play themselves off the NCAA tournament bubble—in either direction. Let’s look at a few teams that have their March Madness fates decided by what happens this weekend.

North Carolina

The defending champions are the bubble team everyone wants to talk about. The Tar Heels are listed fourth among Kevin Sweeney’s “first four out” in his latest projected bracket. They beat Boston College in their opening game of the ACC tournament last night, but that won’t be nearly enough to get them off the bubble. UNC’s tournament résumé is pretty weak—weak enough, in fact, that it might take winning the conference tournament and earning an automatic bid to make the field of 68. Sweeney writes he’s “not convinced North Carolina is quite auto-bid-or-bust, but the Heels need to make a deep run in the ACC tournament to have any real hope of getting in.”

Taking care of business against BC set up a quarterfinal matchup against Virginia tonight. If UNC manages to upset the Cavaliers, then Sweeney believes the Tar Heels would “at least enter the conversation” for an at-large bid before a semifinal collision with either Clemson or NC State.

Wisconsin

The Badgers are probably toast after losing to Ohio State in the first round of the Big Ten tournament yesterday. Sweeney had them as the first team out before that, and now they won’t have an opportunity for any more résumé-building wins. After getting off to an 11–2 start and rising as high as No. 14 in the AP poll, Wisconsin wilted in conference play and now appears set to miss the NCAA tournament for just the second time since 1999.

Rutgers

The Scarlet Knights are another Big Ten team on the bubble. Sweeney has them among the last four teams in. They’ll face Michigan in the second round of the conference tournament today at 12 p.m. ET. The Wolverines are on the wrong side of the bubble for now, so a loss would have to make Rutgers fans pretty nervous. If the Scarlet Knights can get past Michigan, though, they’d face regular-season champion Purdue with a chance to solidify their spot in the field.

The mid-majors

Sweeney has two Mountain West teams on the bubble: Nevada and Utah State, both among the last four in. “Things have gotten dicey in a hurry for Nevada,” Sweeney wrote this week, adding that the Wolf Pack “desperately need to beat San Jose State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament to avoid falling out of the field.” That game is today at 5:30 p.m. ET. As for the Aggies, they face New Mexico tonight at 11:30 p.m. ET.

North Texas is another mid-major in an interesting spot. The Mean Green are ranked No. 42 in NET, No. 50 in KenPom and have a 25–6 overall record, but don’t have any signature wins. They’re 4–4 in Quad 1 and 2 games and 19–2 in Quad 3 and 4 games. An at-large bid seems highly unlikely (Sweeney has them as the fourth team in his next four out), but winning the Conference USA tournament would avoid that issue. UNT is the No. 2 seed and will face Louisiana Tech today at 8 p.m. ET in the quarterfinals. If the Mean Green can win the conference tournament, they’d likely steal a bid from one of the teams on the bubble since C-USA regular-season champ Florida Atlantic has a strong enough body of work (No. 15 in NET) to deserve an at-large.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• For today’s Daily Cover story, Chris Herring covers how the Kings are lighting up the NBA.
• Albert Breer took a crack at what a potential Jets trade package for Aaron Rodgers could look like.
• Pat Forde reflects on Jim Boeheim’s career at Syracuse, which came to an end yesterday after 47 years.
• Forde was also at Alabama’s press conference, where Brandon Miller made his first public comments since the shooting death of Jamea Jonae Harris.
• Michael Rosenberg argues that, while it may make sense that NFL owners would collude against Lamar Jackson, there are better explanations for why he can’t seem to get a fully guaranteed contract.
• Jonathan Wilson writes that PSG’s loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16 “was a desperately limp display, disjointed and, frankly, lacking in heart.”
• Kevin Durant rolled his ankle in warmups and missed what was supposed to be his home debut with the Suns.
• Former Sonics star Shawn Kemp was arrested on felony charges related to a drive-by shooting.
• WWE is reportedly lobbying lawmakers in two states to allow gambling on its scripted matches.

The top five...

… plays from yesterday’s conference tournament action:

5. This ankle-breaker by Ohio State’s Sean McNeil.

4. This ankle-breaker by Colgate’s Oliver Lynch-Daniels.

3. Wake Forest guard Daivien Williamson’s last-second shot to beat Syracuse.

2. Cherita Daugherty’s buzzer beater for Southern Utah in the WAC women’s quarterfinals.

1. The frantic finish to DePaul vs. Seton Hall, capped by Nick Ongenda’s block at the buzzer that gave the Blue Demons the win.

SIQ

Former Warriors center Adonal Foyle, who was born on this day in 1975, is the only NBA player ever born in which country?

• Aruba
• St. Vincent and the Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Dominica

Yesterday’s SIQ: Which celebrity was ringside as a photographer for Life magazine when Joe Frazier handed Muhammad Ali the first loss of his pro career in their 1971 fight at Madison Square Garden?

• Frank Sinatra
• Cher
• Dustin Hoffman
• Mickey Mantle

Answer: Frank Sinatra. One of the photos he took that night was featured on the March 19 cover of Life.

Ali-Frazier was the hottest ticket in town and one of the hottest tickets in sports history. Ali had only recently returned to action after being barred from the sport over his refusal to submit to the draft for the Vietnam War and being stripped of his world heavyweight title. The fight against Frazier, who had won the title in Ali’s absence, would be Ali’s third since returning. With both men having legitimate claims to the championship, the bout was billed as The Fight of the Century.

The best seats in the house were especially hard to come by, but somehow Sinatra ended up with a spot right up front. According to a 2015 Vice article, how Sinatra secured it is still a subject of controversy. Some say he struck a deal with Life to sit ringside while taking photos that would surely help sell magazines. Life managing editor Ralph Graves said, though, that Sinatra was already slated to be sitting there and had brought his camera. Graves said he had a Life staff writer convince Sinatra to let the magazine’s photo editors look at his film.

Regardless of how Sinatra came to photograph the fight, one of his pictures earned the coveted cover spot on the next week’s issue of Life. It wasn’t the greatest photo. It shows Frazier missing with a left hook as Ali is pushed against the ropes. Compare that to Tony Triolo’s photo of the fight that ran on the cover of Sports Illustrated. It shows a powerful-looking Frazier knocking Ali off balance—a good summation of the fight. A few weeks later, former Life photographer Robert Kelley wrote a letter to the editor ripping the magazine for putting Sinatra’s photo on the cover.

“Sirs: I’m so mad I could chew nails and spit tacks,” he wrote. “I’ve been a professional news photographer 34 years (about 18 on Life’s staff) and what irks me is your cover. It was obviously selected because Frank Sinatra took it, rather for any photographic excellence. In fact, it was a bad picture. What millions of Life readers wanted to see was Frazier’s fist firmly implanted against Muhammad Ali’s mouth.”