Yahoo Sports AM is our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it every weekday morning.
🚨 Headlines
🏀 Historic blowout: No. 23 Kansas fell to BYU, 91-57, for their worst-ever loss as a ranked team vs. an unranked team. The preseason No. 1 Jayhawks will soon be unranked for just the second time since February 2009.
🏒 Huge number: Saturday’s USA vs. Canada game averaged 10.1 million North American viewers (4.4M in the U.S. and 5.7 million in Canada), which tops every non-Stanley Cup Final game since 2014. Needless to say, tomorrow’s rematch should draw even more.
⚽️ Champions League playoffs: Feyenoord (Netherlands), Club Brugge (Belgium), Benfica (Portugal) and Bayern Munich (Germany) advanced to the Round of 16.
🏀 Kyrie switching allegiances: Kyrie Irving, who was born in Melbourne, plans to represent Australia at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The 32-year-old hasn’t played for Team USA since the 2016 Rio Games.
⚾️ Buck is back: Joe Buck will call the Brewers and Yankees’ Opening Day game for ESPN, marking his first national MLB broadcast since 2021. Buck, 55, called a record 24 World Series for Fox.
🏈 The 12-team CFP era may already be coming to an end
SEC and Big Ten athletic directors will meet today in New Orleans to discuss a plan to expand the College Football Playoff to 14 or 16 teams and assign multiple automatic qualifiers per league — with as many as four each for themselves.
How we got here, via Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger:
Last spring, during intense negotiations over the future of the College Football Playoff, leaders of the Big Ten and SEC threatened to create their own postseason system if they were not granted a majority of CFP revenue and full authority over the playoff format.
In the end, executives of the 10 FBS leagues and Notre Dame signed a memorandum of understanding handing control over to college football’s two richest conferences. Soon, they are expected to exercise that control.
Details: The 14-team format is being described as a 4-4-2-2-1+1 model, which would give four automatic qualifiers each to the Big Ten and SEC and two each to the ACC and Big 12. The highest-ranked Group of Five team would get the last automatic berth.
-
There would also be one at-large spot — or three, if the format expands to 16 teams — that would automatically go to Notre Dame if they finish ranked inside the top 14.
-
These changes would likely trigger the four power leagues to overhaul conference championship weekend. After all, one title game doesn’t do much when there are two (or four) automatic bids up for grabs.
What they’re saying: Unsurprisingly, most outside of the Big Ten and SEC aren’t thrilled about this. “It needs to be a true championship … not an invitational,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told Yahoo Sports. “You are going to alienate part of the country,” added an ESPN executive.
Expansion, expansion, expansion: While college football’s power brokers discuss CFP expansion, college basketball’s leaders are reportedly inching closer to a 76-team NCAA Tournament (up from 68) as soon as next year. These two money grabs had Pat Forde in full-blown rant mode on the latest episode of Yahoo Sports’ College Football Enquirer Podcast:
“This is further greed. This is unchecked power-mongering. There’s no leadership. We have strong men and grifters who are running college athletics. They don’t give a damn about the whole, they don’t give a damn about any other sports. All they want is more money and more control.”
🏀 The old guys powering the nation’s best team
The top-ranked Auburn Tigers, who earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA’s early bracket reveal, are extremely good.* They’re also extremely old.
Old men on campus: The average age of Auburn’s starting five (23.2) is nearly the same as the average age of the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder (24.1).
-
Chad Baker-Mazara: 25 (Super Senior)
-
Denver Jones: 24 (Super Senior)
-
Dylan Cardwell: 23 (Super Senior)
-
Johni Broome: 22 (Super Senior)
-
Miles Kelly: 22 (Senior)
Consider this: Seven of the nine players averaging 10+ minutes per game for No. 1 Auburn are seniors (or super seniors). That’s two more than No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Duke have in their rotations, combined.
The big picture: Auburn’s roster reflects the current state of college basketball, where unlimited transfers and NIL money have allowed programs to build experienced rosters on the strength of veteran talent.
-
Sure, some powerhouses still rely on one-and-done players, but countering that youth with maturity is a new recipe for success, and teams can recruit new upperclassmen each year in what is essentially free agency.
-
To wit, eight of the 15 players who’ve suited up for Auburn are upperclassmen transfers, and the Tigers aren’t alone. No. 4 Alabama, their SEC rival, has six such players. No. 9 St. John’s, enjoying their best season in decades, has seven.
Looking ahead: The Tigers are the favorites to cut down the nets in April (+325 at BetMGM). If they do, nearly the entire team will be able to legally celebrate with a champagne shower.
*Just how good has Auburn been? The Tigers’ only two losses came against No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Duke, and they have 14 Quad 1 wins, which is six more than any other team.
📸 Photo day: New faces in new places
Fort Myers, Florida — Alex Bregman was a Gold Glove third baseman in Houston, but Rafael Devers doesn’t want to change positions. Let’s see how this plays out!
Tampa, Florida — Former Brewer Devin Williams was rocking more than just some 5 o’clock shadow on Tuesday. You can’t do that! The Yankees don’t allow beards! Straight to jail for you, sir! (Dumbest rule in sports.)
Mesa, Arizona — Kyle Tucked played on the October stage in each of the past six seasons with the Astros. Can he lead the Cubs back to the playoffs for the first time since 2020?
Glendale, Arizona — Japanese phenom Rōki Sasaki is already turning heads in Dodgers camp. “Oh my gosh,” Austin Barnes exclaimed after catching his splitter.
🏀 NBA playoff picture: Title odds
The NBA returns from the All-Star break tonight, kicking off a two-month sprint to the postseason.
Title favorites: The defending champion Celtics and West-leading Thunder are co-title favorites (+225 at BetMGM), followed by the East-leading Cavaliers (+800).
Contenders: The Knicks (+1300), Nuggets (+1400), Lakers (+1400), Grizzlies (+2500), Bucks (+3000), Clippers (+3500), Mavericks (+4000) and Warriors (+4000) are the only other teams with better than 50-to-1 odds.
📺 Watchlist: Madrid vs. Man City
Real Madrid hosts Manchester City today (3pm ET, Paramount+) in the second leg of their Champions League playoff, with Madrid holding a 3-2 lead coming in. Which European giant will advance to the Round of 16?
Elsewhere: Dortmund (3-0) hosts Sporting (12:45pm, CBSSN) in Germany, PSV (1-2) hosts Juventus (3pm, Paramount+) in the Netherlands, and PSG (3-0) hosts Brest (3pm, Paramount+) in France.
More to watch:
-
🏀 NBA: Hornets at Lakers (10pm, League Pass) … The only game of the night.
-
🏀 NCAAM: Arkansas at No. 1 Auburn (9pm, ESPN); No. 4 Alabama at No. 15 Missouri (9pm, SEC) … The SEC gauntlet is so real. No easy wins.
-
🏀 NCAAW: No. 22 Michigan State at No. 4 USC (9:30pm, Peacock) … Trojans superstar JuJu Watkins ranks fourth in scoring (24.2 ppg).
-
⚽️ Premier League: Aston Villa vs. Liverpool (2:30pm, USA) … The Reds look to extend their lead atop the table.
-
⚽️ Champions Cup: Sporting KC vs. Inter Miami (8pm, FS2) … Could this be the coldest soccer game ever?*
-
🏒 PWHL: Toronto at New York (7pm, YouTube) … The last-place Sirens host the fourth-place Sceptres.
*Bundle up: The forecasted wind chill in Kansas City is -9 degrees at kickoff and could fall to -11. It will be colder than any game in MLS history and perhaps one of the coldest soccer games ever recorded, anywhere.
🏀 NBA trivia
Question: As the NBA returns from the break, can you name the current league leaders in scoring, rebounding and assists per game?
Hint: Two West, one East.
Answer at the bottom.
🏀 This is awesome
Illinois botched Terrence Shannon Jr.’s jersey retirement on Saturday when they hung his uniform upside down. He’s making the most of it, dropping a new shirt that reads:
“When life has you upside down, turn it around!”
The best part? All proceeds from the shirt, which features the upside-down jersey on the front, will benefit the local Boys & Girls Club.
Trivia answer: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32.5 points), Domantas Sabonis (14.6 rebounds), Trae Young (11.5 assists)
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.