Good morning to everyone but especially to...
North Carolina, squarely on the bubble, needs to improve its resume. The final chance to do that is in the ACC Tournament, and the Tar Heels made sure to avoid their first potential pitfall, crushing Boston College, 85-61, behind four double-digit scorers. Caleb Love had 22 points to lead the way.
- The Tar Heels entered the night in Jerry Palm's First Four Out, and a win over the lowly Golden Eagles doesn't change much.
- North Carolina is one of two ACC teams on the bubble along with Clemson. Jerry wrote about what the Tar Heels must do to make it here.
North Carolina faces No. 13 Virginia in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals tonight, and -- spoiler alert -- the Tar Heels likely need this one, too, to avoid becoming the first preseason No. 1 team to miss the NCAA Tournament since it expanded in 1985. Virginia represents North Carolina's lone Quad 1 win this season. The Tar Heels are a dismal 1-9 in that department.
When you're a bubble team -- whether you're a small-conference squad or a legendary program like North Carolina -- all you can ask for is opportunities. That's what the Tar Heels have tonight.
Honorable mentions
- Colgate (Patriot), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Southland) and Montana State (Big Sky) are all going dancing.
And not such a good morning for...
MARK ADAMS AND THE TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS
The Mark Adams era at Texas Tech has ended abruptly. Adams resigned as the Red Raiders' head coach amid his suspension for making an "inappropriate, unacceptable, and racially insensitive" comment last week.
- Per a statement from Texas Tech on Sunday, Adams "was encouraging the student-athlete to be more receptive to coaching and referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves serving their masters." According to the statement, Adams apologized immediately.
- According to a report, however, Adams did not apologize to the player, and Adams defended his words on the basis of its religious context.
- Adams also allegedly spit on a player earlier this season. Adams said he accidentally slobbered while dealing with a bad cough.
Adams did not coach in Wednesday's Big 12 Tournament loss to West Virginia, as he was suspended during the program's investigation. After going 27-10 and reaching the Sweet 16 in Adams' first season, the Red Raiders went 16-16 this season.
According to our Matt Norlander, Oral Roberts' Paul Mills and North Texas' Grant McCasland are leading candidates for the job.
Not so honorable mentions
- Tiger Woods' ex-girlfriend, Erica Herman, is suing him over a domestic dispute and a nondisclosure agreement.
- Kevin Durant slipped during warmups and missed Wednesday night's game.
- Ja Morant avoided criminal charges after a police investigation of him showing off a gun inside a nightclub, but he will miss at least four more games.
- Zion Williamson (hamstring) is out at least two more weeks.
- UCLA standout Jaylen Clark -- the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year -- is out for the season.
Jim Boeheim, after 47 seasons, is done at Syracuse 🏀
Forty-seven years, 1,015 wins, one national championship and one Hall of Fame induction later, Jim Boeheim's time as Syracuse's head coach is over. The Orange announced Wednesday that their iconic coach will not return next season, ending a remarkable career.
Boeheim will pass the baton to a former player of his: Adrian Autry played for the Orange from 1990-94, appearing in 121 games and making three NCAA Tournaments. He has been an assistant at Syracuse since 2011-12.
- Boeheim, 78, won five Big East Tournaments, 10 Big East regular-season titles, the 2003 national championship, made five Final Fours in his career and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.
- Only Mike Krzyzewski and Herb Magee have more wins in NCAA history, and only Jim Phelan spent more seasons as a coach at one school.
- His exit came shortly after the Orange fell to Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament. The Orange will miss the NCAA Tournament for consecutive seasons, only the third time that's happened under Boeheim's watch.
- Boeheim's departure marks the third straight season a legendary coach is leaving the sport (Roy Williams in 2021 and Krzyzewski and Jay Wright last year).
Boeheim -- always prickly -- became increasingly frustrated with the state of college basketball of late and even accused three ACC programs of "buying" their teams earlier this season, a statement he later retracted.
Regardless, Boeheim is an institution not only at Syracuse, but in college basketball. The court at the JMA Dome is named after him. The 1-3-1 zone defense might as well be, too. Yes, he's most closely associated with the "old" Big East of course, but he helped guide Syracuse's transition to the ACC as well, reaching No. 1 in the AP Poll in his first year in the new league and making a Final Four in his third.
Champions League: PSG and Tottenham crash out, plus introducing CBS Sports Golazo Network ⚽
Is this the beginning of the end of PSG as we know it? The French giants lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League Round-of-16 matchup after losing the first leg 1-0.
- For PSG, Neymar was out with an ankle injury while Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe were nearly invisible, earning underwhelming marks in our player grades.
- With Messi linked to MLS and Neymar's health uncertain, it's time to build around Mbappe, writes our Jonathan Johnson. CBS Sports studio analyst Jamie Carragher, on the other hand, says Mbappe needs to leave after another disappointment.
- As for the winners, Bayern got goals from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Serge Gnabry, a goal-line clearance from Matthijs de Ligt and a big save from Yann Sommer. The Bavarians have been inconsistent in league play, but they're absolutely a contender for Champions League glory, writes our Chuck Booth.
In the other second leg, Tottenham's attacking struggles continued in a 0-0 draw to AC Milan, which won the first leg 1-0. Heung-Min Son's decline was on full display, writes our James Benge.
Finally, if you've been enjoying the great soccer of the last half-year -- or if you're just looking to get into the sport -- we have you covered. The CBS Sports Golazo Network is launching April 11! This new channel...
- Is free.
- Airs 24/7.
- Is available on CBSSports.com, the CBS Sports app, Pluto TV and Paramount+.
- Features the morning studio show "Morning Footy," as well as live matches, documentaries and more.
Here are all the details. Get hyped.
Shawn Kemp held in connection with alleged drive-by shooting 🏀
Shawn Kemp, the six-time NBA All-Star who played for four teams -- most notably the SuperSonics -- from 1989-2003, has been booked in a Washington jail in relation to an investigation of a drive-by shooting.
- According to a Tacoma Police Department tweet: "At 1:58 pm, an altercation between the occupants of two cars led to shots being fired at a parking lot in the 4500 block of S. Steele St. One car fled. No injuries were reported. A gun was recovered. A 53-year-old male was booked for Drive-By Shooting. The investigation is ongoing."
- The tweet does not name Kemp specifically, but his name appears on the Pierce County Corrections Booking website with the drive-by shooting listed as the charge.
You can see more details here.
Expert picks, predictions for Players Championship ⛳
Golf's "fifth major" is here. The Players Championship begins today (here's how to watch), and based on how this PGA Tour season has started, it should be a great one. We've already seen Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa (twice) and Jon Rahm (twice) win this season.
Our Kyle Porter narrowed the field down to nine players who could win this event, and all four of those guys are among them. But there can only be one winner, of course, and you can see all of our experts' picks and predictions here.
We also have tee times and pairings as well as stats on the famous/infamous 17th hole.
What we're watching Thursday 📺
🏀 We're watching college basketball all day (and all night) long. Here's the schedule.
🏀 Warriors at Grizzlies, 7:30 p.m. on TNT
🏀 Knicks at Kings, 10 p.m. on TNT
