The American Athletic Conference announced an agreement Friday with Cincinnati, Houston and UCF that paves the way for the schools to join the Big 12 in 2023.
The three schools announced in September they had accepted invitations to join the Big 12, which moved quickly to a rebuild its membership after Texas and Oklahoma revealed they planned to join the Southeastern Conference in 2025.
This year's Final Four is either unprecedented or pretty close.
In one corner, North Carolina is making a record 21st appearance in the Final Four. Its semifinal opponent, Duke, is waiting with the sport's winningest coach.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell tour is headed to his record-setting 13th Final Four after Duke overwhelmed Arkansas 78-69 on Saturday night in the Blue Devils’ most complete performance of this NCAA Tournament run.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Houston is out of the NCAA Tournament, yet the Cougars look built to stay around as a power program for a long time.
Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson has already promised as much.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Villanova coach Jay Wright has won national championships with well-balanced and fundamentally sound teams, yet even he knew staying in contention for another title was going to take a rugged and exhaustive effort.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Taze Moore was a player Houston coach Kelvin Sampson didn't even know. Jamal Shead was too young and inexperienced to be expected to make such an impact.
Now they are part of a completely revamped starting lineup that is trying to get the Cougars (32-5) into consecutive Final Fours for the first time since 1982-84 in the Phi Slama Jama era, long before any of the current players were born.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Houston coach Kelvin Sampson gritted his teeth and raised his arms before emphatically pounding his right fist into his left hand 11 times while celebrating with ecstatic Cougars fans who were not too far from home.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — JD Notae scored 21 points despite missing 20 shots and fourth-seeded Arkansas made Gonzaga miserable on both ends of the floor, bouncing the top overall seed from the NCAA Tournament with a 74-68 win on Thursday night.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Collin Gillespie, Jermaine Samuels and Villanova are back in the city of the Alamo for the first time since winning the national championship there four years ago. Even the opponent is the same, though in a different arena for this somewhat unexpected Sweet 16 matchup against Michigan.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Arizona point guard Kerr Kriisa is colorful, a bit wild and more than a handful.
Not just for opponents, but sometimes for the top-seeded Wildcats, too.
The Estonian sophomore is the cocky and feisty sort who can drive opponents crazy, taunt their fans and question game officials.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Once back in their locker room, Houston's players emptied their water bottles on coach Kelvin Sampson, who peeled off his shirt for the celebratory dousing.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — As Houston's players went through pregame warmups before discarding UAB without much trouble in their first-round South Region matchup, Cougars senior Kyler Edwards had the look of someone who had been here before.
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Duke began retiring Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski’s final NCAA Tournament with minimal stress, beating Cal State Fullerton 78-61 on Friday night.
Freshman Paolo Banchero scored 17 points to lead the Blue Devils (29-6), who jumped to a double-digit lead in the first 4 1/2 minutes and remained in control throughout.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Houston looks like a problem again.
A Final Four team a year ago, the Cougars played like a group capable of making another deep run this March as they opened the NCAA Tournament with an 82-68 win over UAB on Friday night.
HOUSTON (AP) — When veteran coach Kelvin Sampson took over at Houston in 2014, the Cougars had made the NCAA Tournament just once since 1992.
“There was no success. There was no hope. There was no aspirations,” Sampson said Tuesday, recalling the culture he inherited.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Fabian White Jr. and No. 18 Houston were a lock for the NCAA Tournament long before they clinched an automatic berth.
Memphis didn’t have to wait long to find out it was going to the school’s first NCAA tourney since 2014, even after losing 71-53 to the Cougars in the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game Sunday.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Keegan Murray had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 24 Iowa beat No. 9 Purdue 75-66 to win its first Big Ten Tournament championship since 2006.
The sixth-seeded Hawkeyes (26-9) became the fourth team in conference history to claim the title by winning four games in four days.
NEW YORK (AP) — Hunter Cattoor scored a career-high 31 points and seventh-seeded Virginia Tech won the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament for the first time, beating Duke 82-67 on Saturday night to deny Mike Krzyzewski a league title in his final season.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Kyler Edwards put more emphasis on what he needed to do for 18th-ranked Houston with standout forward Fabian White hurting. J'Wan Roberts was the player who actually had to replace the big man on the floor.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tyrece Radford scored 19 points and Quenton Jackson made five throws in the final minute Friday as Texas A&M beat fourth-ranked Auburn 67-62 in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, a loss that could wind up costing the Tigers a No.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Houston looked more like itself in the second half, with the 18th-ranked Cougars counting on big man Fabian White Jr. to finish off their American Athletic Conference tournament opener.
IRVING, Texas (AP) — SMU senior guard Kendric Davis is the American Athletic Conference player of the year, as selected by the league's 11 head coaches.
Davis, who leads the conference with 19.5 points a game and is third with 4.6 assists, was the only unanimous pick on the All-AAC first team released Wednesday.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Tyler Harris scored 15 points and Landers Nolley and Lester Quinones added 11 each to lead Memphis to a 75-61 victory over No. 14 Houston on Sunday.
HOUSTON (AP) — Fabian White Jr. had 26 points and six rebounds and No. 14 Houston scored the first 15 points in an 84-46 victory over Temple on Thursday night.
White was 11 of 18 from the field to help the Cougars (26-4, 15-2 American Athletic) win their sixth straight.
HOUSTON (AP) — Fabian White Jr. had a career-high 28 points and 10 rebounds as No. 14 Houston beat Cincinnati 71-53 on Tuesday night and clinched the American Athletic Conference regular-season title.
HOUSTON (AP) — Fabian White Jr. had 21 points and nine rebounds and Josh Carlton added 19 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 14 Houston to a 75-61 win over SMU on Sunday.
Taze Moore chipped in 11 points, and Jamal Shead finished with 10 points and 11 assists for Houston (24-4, 13-2 American Athletic Conference).
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Kyler Edwards and the 14th-ranked Houston Cougars are showing the type of resilience and stamina that coach Kelvin Sampson is gratified to see as the postseason nears.
Edwards scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half as No.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — J’Wan Roberts’ dunk with 1.3 seconds remaining in double overtime gave No. 14 Houston a stirring 76-74 victory over Wichita State on Sunday.
It was Roberts’ only basket of the game and followed Wichita State’s Craig Porter hitting a tying 3-point shot with 5.4 seconds remaining in the second overtime.
HOUSTON (AP) — Taze Moore had 14 points and seven rebounds, Fabian White Jr. added 12 points, and No. 14 Houston snapped a two-game losing streak with a 70-52 win over Central Florida on Thursday night.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Drew Peterson had his first double-double of the season with a career-high 27 points and 12 rebounds, leading No. 21 Southern California to a 67-64 win over No. 12 UCLA on Saturday night.
HOUSTON (AP) — Landers Nolley II scored 20 points and Jalen Duren had 14 points and 11 rebounds as Memphis rallied past No. 6 Houston 69-59 on Saturday and snapped the Cougars’ 37-game home winning streak.
DALLAS (AP) — Kendric Davis scored 22 points and Marcus Weathers added 20 as SMU rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half to stun No. 6 Houston 85-83 on Wednesday night.
Davis sank two free throws with 40.6 seconds remaining to break an 81-all tie.
DALLAS (AP) — Kendric Davis scored 22 points and Marcus Weathers added 20 as SMU rallied from a 15-point second half deficit to stun No. 6 Houston 85-83 on Wednesday night.
Davis sank two free throws with 40.6 seconds remaining to break an 81-all tie.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Fabian White Jr. scored a career-high 22 points, Jamal Shead had 17 points and No. 6 Houston won its 12th straight game by beating Cincinnati 80-58 on Sunday night.
Taze Moore scored 13 points and Reggie Chaney added 10 for Houston (20-2, 9-0 American Athletic Conference), which hasn't lost since Dec.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Fabian White Jr. scored 22 points, Jamal Shead had 17 points and No. 6 Houston won its 12th straight game by beating Cincinnati 80-58 on Sunday night.
Taze Moore scored 13 points and Reggie Chaney added 10 for Houston (20-2, 9-0 American Athletic Conference), which hasn’t lost since Dec.
HOUSTON (AP) — Fabian White Jr. scored 16 of his career high-tying 21 points in the first half and No. 6 Houston beat Tulane 73-62 on Wednesday night for its 11th straight victory.
White, a fifth-year graduate senior, also surpassed 1,000 points in his career at Houston (19-2, 8-0 American) and finished with eight rebounds.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Houston Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson said the thing that separates his team from many others is the squad’s willingness to defend at a high level even when shots aren’t falling.
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Walker Kessler scored 19 points and K.D. Johnson added 17, helping No. 2 Auburn keep its hot streak alive with an 80-71 victory over No. 12 Kentucky on Saturday.
The Tigers (18-1, 7-0 Southeastern Conference) rallied from a 10-point deficit to win their 15th straight in likely the biggest home game since Auburn Arena opened in 2010.
HOUSTON (AP) — Kyler Edwards had 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists and No. 10 Houston used a big first half to rout East Carolina, 79-36, on Saturday night.
Edwards scored 17 first half points as the Cougars (17-2, 6-0 American) built a 44-14 halftime lead.
HOUSTON (AP) — Kyler Edwards had 23 points and seven rebounds, Fabian White Jr. added 16 points and five rebounds, and No. 10 Houston won its eighth straight by beating South Florida 74-55 on Tuesday night.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Despite a rash of injuries the likes of which coach Kelvin Sampson says he has never experienced, No. 11 Houston keeps finding a way to win.
Tulsa continues to play each opponent tough, only to falter at the end.
HOUSTON (AP) — Josh Carlton had 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 12 Houston over Wichita State 76-66 on Saturday.
Carlton, who scored a career-high 30 points to go with 11 rebounds in a win Wednesday at South Florida, was eight of 12 from the field.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Josh Carlton had a career-high 30 points with 11 rebounds and No. 12 Houston beat South Florida 83-66 on Wednesday night.
Carlton's previous best scoring performance was 21 points while with UConn on March 7, 2019, against Temple.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ramon Walker Jr. was first buried on the depth chart and then sidelined with a hand injury, unable to find the playing time he wanted with a Houston team coming off of a Final Four appearance.
HOUSTON (AP) — Josh Carlton scored a season-high 20 points, Kyler Edwards added 14 and No. 13 Houston defeated Texas State 80-47 on Wednesday night.
Marcus Sasser had 13 points and Jamal Shead finished with 12 points and 10 assists for Houston (11-2).
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Jamal Shead scored 18 points, Fabian White had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 14 Houston beat Oklahoma State 72-61 on Saturday in the lone game of the scheduled Hoop Hype XL College Basketball Showcase doubleheader.
HOUSTON (AP) — Josh Carlton had 17 points and nine rebounds, Jamal Shead added 16 points and No. 14 Houston beat Louisiana-Lafayette 71-56 on Tuesday night.
Taze Moore had 14 points and 10 rebounds, Fabian White Jr.
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — AJ Griffin scored 19 points and No. 2 Duke cruised past South Carolina State 103-62 on Tuesday night.
In 21 minutes off the bench, Griffin shot 7 of 8 with four rebounds and four assists.