Good Morning! Here’s what happened in the world of sports on Wednesday, March 12.

BUBBLE WATCH

Congratulations to McNeese State, American University, and Montana on punching their tickets to March Madness. You can track each of the automatic bids here. But let’s check in on those all-important Bubble Teams and see how they started conference championship week:

• Arkansas all but secured a bid with their 72-68 win over South Carolina

• North Carolina kept their hopes alive by destroying Notre Dame 76-56. The Tar Heel victory sets up an incredible clash today against fellow bubble team Wake Forest.

• Texas stayed alive with a 79-72 victory over Vanderbilt. The Longhorns need to keep winning. On the other side, Vanderbilt might start to check a few scores. Just in case.

• So long, Buckeyes… Ohio State was ousted in the Big Ten tournament 77-70 by Iowa, all but ending their chances of making it to March Madness.

• Baylor crushed Kansas State 70-56. One more win would go a long way towards securing their spot in the field.

• And lastly, Oklahoma started the week strong with an 81-75 victory against Georgia.

BRIDGES PUTS UP A THREE… BANG! BANG!

A classic Mike Breen call for an unbelievable finish in Portland:

Elsewhere in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder won a potential finals preview in Boston, taking down the Celtics 118-112. OKC officially clinched a playoff spot with the win. The Celtics, meanwhile, took 63 (!) three-pointers… they only made 20.

INDIAN WELLS QUARTERFINALS

Two takeaways from matches I watched yesterday during day two of an entertaining round of 16:

• Coco Gauff is really struggling. Her forehand is all over the place, she constantly looks frustrated, and her opponents have a clear plan of attack. Credit to Belinda Bencic, who played an exceptional match to take advantage of the opportunity, but Coco is not at her best right now.

• No one hits the ball harder than Aryna Sabalenka. Maybe Carlos Alcaraz or Ben Shelton (only when he’s serving) but Sabalenka is an incredible ball-striker.

The Remix went 9-for-16 in predictions the last few days, with each of my four women’s semifinalists remaining. Let’s see if we can do even better predicting the quarters, which take place this afternoon:

MEN:

• Holger Rune over Tallon Griekspoor, Daniil Medvedev over Arthur Fils

• Jack Draper over Ben Shelton, Carlos Alcaraz over Francisco Cerundolo

WOMEN:

• Aryna Sabalenka over Liudmilla Samsonova, Belinda Bencic over Madison Keys

• Mirra Andreeva over Elina Svitolina, Iga Swiatek over Qinwen Zheng

AROUND THE LEAGUE

A few more NFL free agency signings are trickling in… the Rams released star wide receiver Cooper Kupp… tight end Evan Engram signed with the Denver Broncos… receiver Mike Williams reunited with the Chargers… and cornerback Darius Slay reached a deal with the Steelers.

Another great reminder that every time you watch a baseball game, you’ll see something for the first time:

The matchups are set for the Champions League quarterfinals, and boy do they not disappoint– Real Madrid takes on Arsenal, Barcelona plays Dortmund, Aston Villa is up against PSG, and Bayern Munich faces Inter Milan. Eight of the best clubs in Europe fighting for the greatest soccer trophy on the continent.

Finally, Netflix dropped a pretty awesome trailer for the “The Clubhouse”, an upcoming docu-series that followed the 2024 Boston Red Sox:

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

NBA:

• Lakers @ Bucks, 7:30 PM on TNT/Max

• Kings @ Warriors, 10 PM on TNT/Max

NHL: Capitals @ Kings, 10:30 PM on ESPN+

TENNIS:

• Mirra Andreeva vs Elina Svitolina, 4 PM on Tennis Channel 2

• Belinda Bencic vs Madison Keys, immediately following on Tennis Channel

• Ben Shelton vs Jack Draper, 8 PM on Tennis Channel

GOLF: The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, all day on ESPN+ and Golf Channel

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: bubble teams in italics

• Indiana vs (23) Oregon, Noon on Big Ten Network

• (12) Iowa State vs (17) BYU, 12:30 PM on ESPN2

• Arkansas vs Ole Miss, 1 PM on SEC Network

• Xavier vs (25) Marquette, 2:30 PM on Peacock

• Wake Forest vs North Carolina, 2:30 PM on ESPN

  • The Game of the Day. Two rival bubble teams meet in the ACC quarterfinals, with the season potentially on the line. You know who I’m rooting for…

• Texas vs (14) Texas A&M, 3:30 PM on SEC Network

• Boise State vs San Diego State, 5:30 PM on CBS Sports Network

• Baylor vs (9) Texas Tech, 7 PM on ESPN

• Colorado State vs Nevada, 9 PM on CBS Sports Network

• Oklahoma vs (15) Kentucky, 9:30 PM on SEC Network

• Kansas vs Arizona, 9:30 PM on ESPN

"Disappointing effort. Disappointing outcome. But played true to the pitiful, embarrassing season we've had,” –Providence head coach Kim English after losing in the Big East tournament

“My team, I'm proud of how far we came. What did they have us in the preseason? Maybe 14th or 15th? They thought we were going to be ass. I mean, we were still ass, but we weren't that bad. You know what I'm saying?” –Virginia Tech junior Tobi Lawal after losing in the ACC tournament