Will this be the team that gets Arizona back to the Final Four for the first time in 25 years, and maybe go further? Who knows. But one thing is for certain, no Wildcats squad has had a better regular season than this one.
Colorado
Avalanche-Jets Game 4 Quick Hits: Casey Mittelstadt is the new Nazem Kadri, and the Avs might hoist another Stanley Cup because of it
Instant reaction from the Avalanche’s 5-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 4 of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series.
Goin’ crazy for Casey: The hole left behind by Nazem Kadri has officially been filled, and his name is Casey Mittelstadt. Acquired from the Buffalo Sabres just before the trade deadline in March, the second-line center has been nothing short of spectacular working alongside Zach Parise and Artturi Lehkonen in these playoffs. Case in point: His work along the end boards to set up Lehkonen’s first-period goal. The backhanded pass alone — perfectly slid along the ice through a pair of defenders — would’ve been good enough. But the stick work just to get that puck to the other side of the net before that? Chef’s kiss. A lack of depth scoring ultimately undid last year’s Stanley Cup defense. With Mittelstadt & Co. rolling, it appears that’s no longer an issue.
Work of Art-turi: Speaking of postseason performers (and trade deadline wins), should the Avs just tell Artturi Lehkonen it’s a playoff game every time he takes the ice? Few Avs up their level of play in the postseason better than the 2022 deadline acquisition. The Finnish winger now has 27 points in 31 postseason games with Colorado after notching one goal and one assist in Sunday’s win. While Casey Mittelstadt and Zach Parise were responsible for the lion’s share of the dirty work to set up his one-timer in the first period, it was Lehkonen who got greasy in the second period. Setting up shop in front of the crease, as is so often his wont, Lehkonen served up Valeri Nichushkin’s second of three goals on a platter, collecting a loose puck in front of the crease and flicking it over to Val for an easy score.
A series flipped in seven days: What a difference a week makes. Just seven days ago, Avs fans and prognosticators alike were burning goaltender Alexandar Georgiev in effigy after he gave up seven goals in a 7-6 Game 1 defeat — Colorado’s fourth straight loss against Winnipeg this season. Three games later? It’s safe to say this series has flipped. Completely. Now it’s the great Connor Hellebuyck who’s getting lit up like a pinball machine (to be fair, the Avs toasted him in Game 1, too), and pulled after Cale Makar made him look silly with a wrister over his right shoulder. Whatever mastery the Jets had over the Avs is gone. The shots on goal tally through four games is now 153-103 in Colorado’s favor. The series is 3-1, Avs. And the only mystery left is whether Colorado closes this out in Manitoba or back at Ball Arena.
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Early Sunday morning, Colorado rescue crews found the body of a missing skier who was killed in a recent avalanche.
The skier was reported missing in the Boss Basin area in the upper portion of Resolution Creek on March 7.
Summit County Rescue Group, Vail Mountain Rescue and the Summit and Eagle County Sheriff’s Offices began searching the area and discovered the site of the avalanche. They noticed that nearby ski and snowmobile tracks led up to where it occurred.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center says Flight for Life helped with the search. They found the body of the missing skier in the avalanche debris on Sunday, around sunrise.
CAIC staff said the avalanche started near the treeline on a northeast-facing slope and was about two feet deep. The slope angles ranged from 33 to 36 degrees.
According to CAIC data, this is the first person killed in an avalanche during the 2025-2026 ski season.
Avalanche danger in some parts of the high country is considerable, particularly on north- and east-facing slopes and on large open slopes just below ridgelines.
The CAIC Forecast for Sunday says:
“The avalanche danger will stay at CONSIDERABLE (3of5) on Sunday for the places that picked up the most snow in this last storm (Elk and Sawatch Ranges). Areas that received less than 8 inches will go back to MODERATE danger, but this may vary significantly from drainage to drainage and with elevation. Assume a higher danger if you find a foot or more of new snow. Across the region, wind-drifted slopes will remain the most dangerous regardless of the danger. In the shallower areas (Elks and Sawatch), we’re more concerned about avalanches in motion breaking deeper, failing in buried facet layers.
On Sunday, as the sun pops out, remember that a strong spring sun can make sunny slopes unstable rather quickly. Keep an eye out for roller balls as an indication of a forthcoming shed cycle of loose avalanches.”
Second-ranked Arizona rallied from down 11 late in the first half to win 89-79 at Colorado on Saturday night, putting the finishing touches on its first Big 12 title. The 29 victories are the most in school history during the regular season, breaking a mark done four previous times including in 2021-22 in Tommy Lloyd’s first year running the program.
Brayden Burries had a career-high 31 points, 22 coming in the second half, while Koa Peat scored 19 of his 25 in the first half. The freshmen combined to make 21 of 31 shots and Burries added an 11-of-12 performance at the foul line, and Burries added seven rebounds, five steals and an assist.
Tobe Awaka, Ivan Kharchenkov and Motiejus Krivas each had 10 for Arizona, which shot 70.4 percent in the second half and 55.9 percent for the game. The Wildcats had a 54-26 edge on points in the paint and finished plus-5 on the boards after being down four at the half.
Jaden Bradley went scoreless for the first time this season, missing all three of his shots, but he made up for it with six of the UA’s 22 assists.
Colorado (17-14) got 28 points from Isaiah Johnson, who set the school freshman season scoring record. The Buffaloes shot 40.6 percent and made 7 of 22 from 3 but only hit one triple after halftime.
The UA trailed 38-36 at halftime, only the fourth time this season it has been down after 20 minutes, after being down 11 late in the first half. A Burries 3 tied it at 44, thenKharchenkov gave the Wildcats their first lead at 48-46 with 16:59 remaining.
Arizona got the lead up to five before Colorado fought back. Six straight by Bangot Dak put the Buffaloes ahead 54-52 but then Dak picked up his fourth foul and had to sit.
That began a 4-minute stretch with 10 lead changes before Arizona got a stop and Burries drained a 3 on the other end to put the UA up 66-62 with 9:17 left. The Wildcats made six straight shots, including back-to-back baskets inside byAwaka to make it 73-64 with 7:15 remaining.
A 3 from Kharchenkov put Arizona up 10 with 5:48 to go. The Buffaloes got within six before Peat dunked through a zone defense, and a Burries layup again got the lead to double digits.
Peat had 12 of Arizona’s first 14 points in the first seven minutes, but none put the Wildcats in the lead. The Buffaloes never trailed in the first half, jumping out to an 8-point edge with 8:08 left before halftime and extending that to 36-25 with 4:21 to go in the half, both on 3s by Johnson.
Colorado hit six 3-pointers in the first half, three by Johnson, while Arizona was 0 for 6 from deep
A 9-0 run, capped by a 3-point play by Burries, got the UA within two in the final minute, setting the stage for the second half.
Arizona now gets a few days off before heading to the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. As the No. 1 seed it has a double bye into Thursday’s quarterfinals, where it will face either No. 8 UCF, No. 9 Cincinnati or No. 16 Utah. They beat those teams this season by seven, 26 and 19 points, respectively.
2026 Big 12 Tournament schedule
No. 12 ASU (16-15) vs. No. 13 Baylor (16-15), 9:30 a.m. (ESPN+)
No. 9 Cincinnati (17-14) vs. No. 16 Utah (10-21), 12 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 10 BYU (21-10) vs. No. 15 Kansas State (12-19), 4 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 11 Colorado (17-14) vs. No. 14 Oklahoma State (18-13), 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
ASU/Baylor winner vs. No. 5 Iowa State (25-6), 9:30 a.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Cincinnati/Utah winner vs. No. 8 UCF (20-10), 12 p.m. (ESPNU)
BYU/Kansas State winner vs. No. 7 West Virginia (18-13), 4 p.m. (ESPNU)
Colorado/Oklahoma State winner vs. No. 6 TCU (21-10), 6:30 p.m. (ESPN2/ESPNU)
ASU/Baylor-Iowa State winner vs. No. 4 Texas Tech (22-9), 9:30 a.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Cincinnati/Utah-UCF winner vs. No. 1 Arizona (29-2), 12 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
BYU/Kansas State-West Virginia winner vs. No. 2 Houston (26-5), 4 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Colorado/Oklahoma State-TCU winner vs. No. 3 Kansas (22-9), 6:30 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Quarterfinal 1 winner vs. Quarterfinal 2 winner, 4 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Quarterfinal 3 winner vs. Quarterfinal 4 winner, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Semifinal winners, 3 p.m. (ESPN)
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