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Self to return: Bill Self, who was considering stepping away from coaching after undergoing multiple heart procedures in the past few years, has decided to return to Kansas this fall for his 24th season with the Jayhawks.
️ France reclaims top spot: Les Bleus ended the March international break atop FIFA's world rankings, marking their first time back in the No. 1 spot since September 2018. Rounding out the top five: Spain, Argentina, England and Portugal. The USMNT fell one spot to No. 16.
NFL star enters rehab: Rams WR Puka Nacua has voluntarily entered a holistic care facility after a series of off-field allegations. Nacua was sued by a woman earlier this month over an alleged antisemitic comment and biting allegation.
NBA Europe gaining steam: The NBA touted "significant interest from a range of prospective teams and investors" and "enormous enthusiasm" for its planned league in Europe, which is expected to field teams in 12 markets including London, Paris and Rome.
️ ABS walk-off: The Orioles beat the Rangers, 8-3, on the first-ever walk-off ABS challenge. With two outs and a 1-2 count in the top of the ninth, catcher Samuel Basallo tapped his head to challenge what had just been called ball two. The result? Overturned. Strike three. Game over.
See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.
(Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports)
The NBA has become a hotbed of international talent, with foreign-born players winning each of the last seven MVP awards. Now, the college game is following the NBA's lead — a trend that will be on full display this weekend in Indianapolis.
By the numbers: 23 of the 62 players (37%) on the Final Four rosters have a foreign country listed as their hometown. Five are starters and five others are in their team's regular rotation.
Global game: It's not just the Final Four. There were 888 international men's D-I basketball players last season, according to the NCAA's latest available data. That's more than twice as many as there were in 2010 (406), and a 557% increase compared to the first reported numbers in 1993 (135).
Tomislav Ivišić (13) and David Mirković (0) with teammates Keaton Wagler and Ben Humrichous during Illinois' second-round win over VCU. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
What's driving this? NIL has changed the calculus for elite international prospects, particularly those in Europe who would have otherwise played professionally close to home. But now that they can make money in college, I mean, would you rather play for Crvena zvezda… or Arizona?
The broker: One man has played an outsized role in the NCAA's boom of international talent. Serbian agent Miško Ražnatović — whose most famous client is three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić — represents 26 men's college basketball players, including four of the Illini's "Balkan Five." He's been supplying the NCAA with talent since 2023, and shows no signs of slowing anytime soon.
"I'm really trying to, when I speak with teams, convince them to have at least two guys," Ražnatović told Front Office Sports. "If you have two, you have someone to adjust with and they perform much better. Next season, I think you'll see more package deals."
Looking ahead: As more foreign-born players come to the states, NCAA teams have also increasingly played games abroad in recent years. That footprint is set to expand as soon as this fall, with games planned in Croatia and Serbia as part of a proposed international series launched by Intersport and Rochelle Management Group.
Zoom out: While the influx of international talent is more prominent in the men's game, the women's side has its fair share, too. Every team in the Final Four (UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, Texas) has at least two foreigners on its roster, representing eight countries: Canada, Kenya, France, Egypt, Ireland, Ecuador, Sweden and Croatia.
(Lev Akabas/Sportico)
The 50 highest-paid athletes of all-time have earned a combined $56.2 billion when adjusted for inflation through the end of 2025, per Sportico.
Breakdown: They represent 10 different sports and 17 countries. NBA players lead the way with 13 entries, and Americans make up 32 of the 50 athletes.
(Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
It's here. The moment the sport of golf — its players, its executives, its sponsors — has dreaded for nearly three decades. It's time to face a world without Tiger Woods.
Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports:
Like a dreamer in a warm bed hitting snooze again and again, the entire sport of golf has pushed off this moment of reckoning. And why not? Woods transformed his sport like almost no other single athlete in history.
He transformed a niche sport into a mainstream one. He added zeroes to the bank accounts of everyone involved in the game. He embodied a relentless dominance that singlehandedly reshaped golf from its pleats-and-plaid image into aspirational cool. And clearly, it all came at terrible personal cost to Woods himself.
"I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today," he wrote in his first public statement since a Friday wreck and arrest, his fourth major traffic incident involving the police.
"I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery."
While the statement doesn't exactly help Woods' fight against DUI charges — it's not an admission of guilt, but it certainly suggests there's more at work than simply distracted driving — this was a necessary step for Woods to try to salvage what he can professionally from the disaster that is now his personal life.
He's gone from the game now, and who knows for how long? "A period of time" could mean he's coming back to play later this year, or it could literally mean we'll never see him again.
If he does come back, though, it's all but impossible to imagine that Woods will have any kind of significant competitive impact on the course ever again. He'll remain at 15 majors, three behind Jack Nicklaus.
Whenever Woods does return, there will be the requisite stories, profiles, social media banners. But it's clear now that it's all cheap heat, a pale reflection of a Woods that burned out and vanished a long time ago.
Tiger Woods can't give, or be, everything to golf. Not anymore.
Update: Woods has already informed the PGA of America that he won't captain the 2027 U.S. Ryder Cup team.
See that guy on the right trying to defend Rioux? He's 6-foot-9. (Chris Watkins/AP Photo)
7-foot-9
Florida center Olivier Rioux, who at 7-foot-9 is the tallest player in NCAA basketball history, is entering the transfer portal after playing just 1.5 minutes per game this season as a redshirt freshman in Gainesville. I think I speak for us all when I say I hope he goes to a team where he'll get legit playing time. The people want to see him hoop!
Rioux's NBA counterparts: The tallest active NBA player is Victor Wembanyama (7-foot-4), while the tallest NBA players ever are Gheorghe Mureșan and Manute Bol (both 7-foot-7). Can Rioux, 20, improve enough during his college career to reach the league and topple that record?
️ 8th player
Diamondbacks rookie Jose Fernandez mashed two home runs in Tuesday's comeback win over the Tigers, becoming the eighth player in MLB history to hit multiple homers in his regular-season debut (and second this year after Chase DeLauter did so last week).
The other seven: DeLauter (March 2026), Trevor Story (April 2016), J.P. Arencibia (August 2010), Mark Quinn (Sept. 1999), Bert Campaneris (July 1964), Bob Nieman (Sept. 1951) and Charlie Reilly (Oct. 1889).
Sabalenka and Gauff after battling in last week's Miami Open final. (Mauricio Paiz/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
7,000 points
For the first time in 13 years, the top four players in the WTA rankings each have at least 7,000 points: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (11,025), No. 2 Elena Rybakina (8,108), No. 3 Coco Gauff (7,278), No. 4 Iga Świątek (7,263). In other words, the women's game is extremely deep right now.
Then vs. now: In a rather eerie coincidence, the current quartet has the same national composition as the one from March 2013: American No. 1 Serena Williams (Gauff), Russian No. 2 Maria Sharapova (Rybakina is Russian-born), Belarusian No. 3 Victoria Azarenka (Sabalenka) and Polish No. 4 Agnieszka Radwańska (Świątek).
️ 93 pitches
Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara threw the first shutout of the 2026 season on Wednesday in a 10-0 win over the White Sox. And since he threw just 93 pitches, it also marks his second career "Maddux" — a complete-game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches, so named for Greg Maddux, who accomplished the feat a record 13 times.
A lost art: Complete games are harder and harder to come by in modern baseball, but this was the 13th of Alcantara's career, trailing only Justin Verlander (26) and Chris Sale (16) among active pitchers. Shutouts are (obviously) even rarer, and this was his fifth, tied for second among active pitchers behind Verlander (9).
(Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
Lakers at Thunder
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Dončić — two of the top three MVP candidates — square off tonight in Oklahoma City, where the first-place Thunder host the third-place Lakers (7pm ET, Prime).
Tale of the tape: SGA, the league's second-leading scorer at 31.6 ppg, remains the favorite to win his second straight MVP (-350 at BetMGM) ahead of Victor Wembanyama (+250). But Luka (+3000) is surging, with three straight 40-point games and an NBA-best 33.8 ppg.
NIT Semifinals
Itching for some college hoops during this pre-Final Four lull? The NIT semifinals tip off tonight in Indianapolis, with New Mexico taking on Tulsa in the first game (7pm, ESPN) and Illinois State taking on Auburn in the second (9:30pm, ESPN).
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas: We also have quarterfinal action in the second annual College Basketball Crown, which features a $500,000 NIL prize pool. Tonight, it's Stanford vs. West Virginia (8pm, FS1) and Rutgers vs. Creighton (10:30pm, FS1).
More to watch:
Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!
(Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
Bill Self, who will return to Kansas next season, is one of three active D-I men's basketball coaches with multiple national championships.
Question: Who are the other two?
Hint: One did it with two different schools.
Answer at the bottom.
(FIFA)
This is what the biggest World Cup ever looks like. Can't wait.
Trivia answer: Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley
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.
Continue reading...
HEADLINES
Self to return: Bill Self, who was considering stepping away from coaching after undergoing multiple heart procedures in the past few years, has decided to return to Kansas this fall for his 24th season with the Jayhawks.
️ France reclaims top spot: Les Bleus ended the March international break atop FIFA's world rankings, marking their first time back in the No. 1 spot since September 2018. Rounding out the top five: Spain, Argentina, England and Portugal. The USMNT fell one spot to No. 16.NFL star enters rehab: Rams WR Puka Nacua has voluntarily entered a holistic care facility after a series of off-field allegations. Nacua was sued by a woman earlier this month over an alleged antisemitic comment and biting allegation.
NBA Europe gaining steam: The NBA touted "significant interest from a range of prospective teams and investors" and "enormous enthusiasm" for its planned league in Europe, which is expected to field teams in 12 markets including London, Paris and Rome.
️ ABS walk-off: The Orioles beat the Rangers, 8-3, on the first-ever walk-off ABS challenge. With two outs and a 1-2 count in the top of the ninth, catcher Samuel Basallo tapped his head to challenge what had just been called ball two. The result? Overturned. Strike three. Game over.See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.
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COLLEGE HOOPS GOES GLOBAL
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(Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports)
The NBA has become a hotbed of international talent, with foreign-born players winning each of the last seven MVP awards. Now, the college game is following the NBA's lead — a trend that will be on full display this weekend in Indianapolis.
By the numbers: 23 of the 62 players (37%) on the Final Four rosters have a foreign country listed as their hometown. Five are starters and five others are in their team's regular rotation.
- Arizona (8): Ivan Kharchenkov (Germany) and Motiejus Krivas (Lithuania) are starters; Anthony Dell'Orso (Australia) and Dwayne Aristode (Netherlands) are in the rotation; Sidi Gueye (Senegal), Jackson Cook (England) and Sven Djopmo (France) see occasional minutes; Mabil Mawut (South Sudan) is redshirting.
- Illinois (7): Tomislav Ivišić (Croatia) and David Mirković (Montenegro) are starters; Andrej Stojaković (Greece) — yes, that's Peja’s son — is the key sixth man; Zvonimir Ivišić (Croatia) is in the rotation; Mihailo Petrović (Serbia) and Brandon Lee (Puerto Rico) see occasional minutes; Toni Bilić (Croatia) is redshirting.
- UConn (5): Eric Reibe (Germany) is in the rotation; Uroš Paunovic (Serbia), Rrezon Elezaj (Kosovo), Jacob Furphy (Tasmania) and Dwayne Koroma (Germany) see occasional minutes.
- Michigan (3): Aday Mara (Spain) is a starter; Oscar Goodman (New Zealand) and Malick Kordel (Germany) see occasional minutes.
Global game: It's not just the Final Four. There were 888 international men's D-I basketball players last season, according to the NCAA's latest available data. That's more than twice as many as there were in 2010 (406), and a 557% increase compared to the first reported numbers in 1993 (135).
You must be registered for see images attach
Tomislav Ivišić (13) and David Mirković (0) with teammates Keaton Wagler and Ben Humrichous during Illinois' second-round win over VCU. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
What's driving this? NIL has changed the calculus for elite international prospects, particularly those in Europe who would have otherwise played professionally close to home. But now that they can make money in college, I mean, would you rather play for Crvena zvezda… or Arizona?
The broker: One man has played an outsized role in the NCAA's boom of international talent. Serbian agent Miško Ražnatović — whose most famous client is three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić — represents 26 men's college basketball players, including four of the Illini's "Balkan Five." He's been supplying the NCAA with talent since 2023, and shows no signs of slowing anytime soon.
"I'm really trying to, when I speak with teams, convince them to have at least two guys," Ražnatović told Front Office Sports. "If you have two, you have someone to adjust with and they perform much better. Next season, I think you'll see more package deals."
Looking ahead: As more foreign-born players come to the states, NCAA teams have also increasingly played games abroad in recent years. That footprint is set to expand as soon as this fall, with games planned in Croatia and Serbia as part of a proposed international series launched by Intersport and Rochelle Management Group.
Zoom out: While the influx of international talent is more prominent in the men's game, the women's side has its fair share, too. Every team in the Final Four (UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, Texas) has at least two foreigners on its roster, representing eight countries: Canada, Kenya, France, Egypt, Ireland, Ecuador, Sweden and Croatia.
CHARTED: HIGHEST-PAID ATHLETES
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(Lev Akabas/Sportico)
The 50 highest-paid athletes of all-time have earned a combined $56.2 billion when adjusted for inflation through the end of 2025, per Sportico.
Breakdown: They represent 10 different sports and 17 countries. NBA players lead the way with 13 entries, and Americans make up 32 of the 50 athletes.
️ GOLF'S POST-TIGER ERA HAS ARRIVED
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(Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
It's here. The moment the sport of golf — its players, its executives, its sponsors — has dreaded for nearly three decades. It's time to face a world without Tiger Woods.
Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports:
Like a dreamer in a warm bed hitting snooze again and again, the entire sport of golf has pushed off this moment of reckoning. And why not? Woods transformed his sport like almost no other single athlete in history.
He transformed a niche sport into a mainstream one. He added zeroes to the bank accounts of everyone involved in the game. He embodied a relentless dominance that singlehandedly reshaped golf from its pleats-and-plaid image into aspirational cool. And clearly, it all came at terrible personal cost to Woods himself.
"I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today," he wrote in his first public statement since a Friday wreck and arrest, his fourth major traffic incident involving the police.
"I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery."
While the statement doesn't exactly help Woods' fight against DUI charges — it's not an admission of guilt, but it certainly suggests there's more at work than simply distracted driving — this was a necessary step for Woods to try to salvage what he can professionally from the disaster that is now his personal life.
He's gone from the game now, and who knows for how long? "A period of time" could mean he's coming back to play later this year, or it could literally mean we'll never see him again.
If he does come back, though, it's all but impossible to imagine that Woods will have any kind of significant competitive impact on the course ever again. He'll remain at 15 majors, three behind Jack Nicklaus.
Whenever Woods does return, there will be the requisite stories, profiles, social media banners. But it's clear now that it's all cheap heat, a pale reflection of a Woods that burned out and vanished a long time ago.
Tiger Woods can't give, or be, everything to golf. Not anymore.
Update: Woods has already informed the PGA of America that he won't captain the 2027 U.S. Ryder Cup team.
BIG NUMBERS
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See that guy on the right trying to defend Rioux? He's 6-foot-9. (Chris Watkins/AP Photo)
7-foot-9
Florida center Olivier Rioux, who at 7-foot-9 is the tallest player in NCAA basketball history, is entering the transfer portal after playing just 1.5 minutes per game this season as a redshirt freshman in Gainesville. I think I speak for us all when I say I hope he goes to a team where he'll get legit playing time. The people want to see him hoop!
Rioux's NBA counterparts: The tallest active NBA player is Victor Wembanyama (7-foot-4), while the tallest NBA players ever are Gheorghe Mureșan and Manute Bol (both 7-foot-7). Can Rioux, 20, improve enough during his college career to reach the league and topple that record?
️ 8th playerDiamondbacks rookie Jose Fernandez mashed two home runs in Tuesday's comeback win over the Tigers, becoming the eighth player in MLB history to hit multiple homers in his regular-season debut (and second this year after Chase DeLauter did so last week).
The other seven: DeLauter (March 2026), Trevor Story (April 2016), J.P. Arencibia (August 2010), Mark Quinn (Sept. 1999), Bert Campaneris (July 1964), Bob Nieman (Sept. 1951) and Charlie Reilly (Oct. 1889).
You must be registered for see images attach
Sabalenka and Gauff after battling in last week's Miami Open final. (Mauricio Paiz/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
7,000 points
For the first time in 13 years, the top four players in the WTA rankings each have at least 7,000 points: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (11,025), No. 2 Elena Rybakina (8,108), No. 3 Coco Gauff (7,278), No. 4 Iga Świątek (7,263). In other words, the women's game is extremely deep right now.
Then vs. now: In a rather eerie coincidence, the current quartet has the same national composition as the one from March 2013: American No. 1 Serena Williams (Gauff), Russian No. 2 Maria Sharapova (Rybakina is Russian-born), Belarusian No. 3 Victoria Azarenka (Sabalenka) and Polish No. 4 Agnieszka Radwańska (Świątek).
️ 93 pitchesMarlins ace Sandy Alcantara threw the first shutout of the 2026 season on Wednesday in a 10-0 win over the White Sox. And since he threw just 93 pitches, it also marks his second career "Maddux" — a complete-game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches, so named for Greg Maddux, who accomplished the feat a record 13 times.
A lost art: Complete games are harder and harder to come by in modern baseball, but this was the 13th of Alcantara's career, trailing only Justin Verlander (26) and Chris Sale (16) among active pitchers. Shutouts are (obviously) even rarer, and this was his fifth, tied for second among active pitchers behind Verlander (9).
WATCHLIST: THURSDAY, APRIL 2
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(Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
Lakers at Thunder
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Dončić — two of the top three MVP candidates — square off tonight in Oklahoma City, where the first-place Thunder host the third-place Lakers (7pm ET, Prime).
Tale of the tape: SGA, the league's second-leading scorer at 31.6 ppg, remains the favorite to win his second straight MVP (-350 at BetMGM) ahead of Victor Wembanyama (+250). But Luka (+3000) is surging, with three straight 40-point games and an NBA-best 33.8 ppg.
NIT Semifinals
Itching for some college hoops during this pre-Final Four lull? The NIT semifinals tip off tonight in Indianapolis, with New Mexico taking on Tulsa in the first game (7pm, ESPN) and Illinois State taking on Auburn in the second (9:30pm, ESPN).
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas: We also have quarterfinal action in the second annual College Basketball Crown, which features a $500,000 NIL prize pool. Tonight, it's Stanford vs. West Virginia (8pm, FS1) and Rutgers vs. Creighton (10:30pm, FS1).
More to watch:
- ️ MLB: Mets at Giants (9:45pm, MLB) … One of just three games today.
- ️ PGA: Texas Open (8:15am, ESPN+; 4pm, Golf) … TPC San Antonio hosts the final tournament before the Masters.
- ️ LPGA: Aramco Championship (7pm, Golf) … 120 women, including the entire world top 20, head to Las Vegas.
- ️ Augusta National Women's Amateur: Round 2 (8am, Peacock; 1:30pm, Golf) … Maria Jose Marin and Soomin Oh (-7) are tied for the lead after Round 1.
Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!
COLLEGE HOOPS TRIVIA
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(Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
Bill Self, who will return to Kansas next season, is one of three active D-I men's basketball coaches with multiple national championships.
Question: Who are the other two?
Hint: One did it with two different schools.
Answer at the bottom.
️ THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
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(FIFA)
This is what the biggest World Cup ever looks like. Can't wait.
Trivia answer: Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley
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.
Continue reading...
