Florida

Auburn, Duke, Houston, Florida Earn NCAA Tournament No. 1 Seeds

Published

1 month ago

March 16, 2025

Auburn, Duke, Houston, Florida Earn NCAA Tournament No. 1 Seeds

Auburn player of the year candidate Johni Broome and the Tigers are the No. 1 overall seed in the … [+] NCAA tournament. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Duke and Auburn topped the national rankings the last two weeks, and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament selection committee saw no reason to stray.

Auburn (28-5) was given the No. 1 overall seed in the 68-team field despite losing to Tennessee in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament, based on its body of work. Auburn has 16 Quad 1 wins, three more than any other team in Division I, while playing the second most difficult schedule.

Duke (31-3), Houston (30-4) and Florida (30-4) are the other No. 1 seeds. All won their conference tournaments — Duke in the Atlantic Coast, Houston in the Big 12 and Florida in the SEC.

Duke enters the NCAA tournament with uncertainty around star freshman and likely NBA 2025 No. 1 draft choice Cooper Flagg, who suffered a left ankle injury in a quarterfinal victory over Georgia Tech and did not play against North Carolina or Louisville.

Cooper Flagg’s left ankle injury did not prevent Duke from winning the ACC tournament. (Photo by … [+] John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

“It’s full speed ahead,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “Our goal is for Friday (return), and it is his goal as well.”

It did not seem to matter. Duke fellow freshman Kon Knueppel had 63 points in the three ACC tournament games.

Duke earned its 15th No. 1 seed, tying Kansas for second-most overall. North Carolina, the last at-large team in the field according to the selection committee, has been a top seed 18 times.

Auburn and Michigan State are the 1-2 seeds in the South Regional, Duke and Alabama are 1-2 in the East, Houston and Tennessee are 1-2 in the Midwest and Florida and St. John’s are 1-2 in the West.

The East and the Midwest regional winners meet in the national semifinals, as do the South and West winners. The Final Four is in San Antonio, Texas, on April 5 and 7.

The SEC Makes a Statement

Auburn and Florida headlined an SEC assault — a tournament-record 14 SEC teams made the field, shattering the previous record of 11 set by the Big East in 2011, the first year field was expanded to 68 teams.

Florida rolled through the stacked SEC tournament field to win the postseason tournament. (AP … [+] Photo/George Walker IV)

The SEC received four of the top eight seeds, and it seems fair. The SEC is ranked No. 1 in both the NCAA RPI rankings and the analytic site Kenpom. Auburn was No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for seven weeks and Tennessee was No. 1 for five. Florida and Alabama reached as high as No. 2, each blocked by Auburn.

The other SEC seeds: Kentucky (3) Texas A&M (4), Ole Miss (6), Missouri (6), Mississippi State (8), Georgia (9), Oklahoma (9), Arkansas (10), Vanderbilt (10), Texas (11). Texas has a playin game against Xavier on Wednesday

Four SEC teams have eight or fewer losses despite playing in the toughest league in Division I.N o other conference can boast that season-long success. The conference has 16 members, and 14 of them had at least 19 wins.

The Big Ten, led by No. 2 seed Michigan State, has eight teams in the field. The Big 12 has seven and the Big East has five. While Duke is seeded on the top line, there are only four ACC teams in the field. The Mountain West also had four.

No. 1 Seed Tournament History

Seeded on the top line does not guarantee success, but it is a good place to start. No. 1 seeds have won six of the last seven tournaments and nine of the last 12.

UConn, the top seed in the tournament in 2024, beat Purdue for its second consecutive championship after winning it all as a No. 4 seed in 2023. The Huskies were the eighth team to win back-to-back titles, and they were the first overall No. 1 seed to win it since Rick Pitino took Louisville to the 2023 title, although that was later vacated because of NCAA violations.

Kansas, Baylor, Virginia, Villanova and North Carolina were No. 1 seeds when they won the championship from 2017-22. The 2020 tournament was cancelled because of COVID.

No. 1 seeds have meet in the championship game three times since 2017. UConn and Purdue were No. 1 seeds a year ago. Baylor beat fellow No. 1 Gonzaga in 2021 and North Carolina beat the Zags in 2017.

What Does KenPom Say?

Analytics guru Ken Pomeroy, a former U.S. government meteorologist, revolutionized the use of statistics as a predictor of success in the NCAA tournament in the early 2000s, and his rankings are recognized as the industry standard.

Since 2001, 95.7 percent of the NCAA tournament champions have ranked in the top 22 in the KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency and 91.3 percent have ranked in the top 32 in adjusted defensive efficiency.

Nine teams are in both camps entering the tournament, including all four No. 1 seeds Duke, Auburn, Houston and Florida. The others are Alabama, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

Duke has the best combined marks — third on offense and fourth on defense. Houston and Florida are the only other teams in the top 10 in both. Florida ranks first in offense and 10th on defense. Houston is 10th on defense and second on offense.

Who Was Squeezed Out

North Carolina (22-13) was an often-problematic 1-12 in Quad 1 games. A team is credited with Quad 1 win for a home victory against a team ranked 1-30, a neutral site win against a team ranked 1-50 and a road win against a team ranked 1-75.

West Virginia (19-13) was 6-10 in Quad 1 games, with wins over NCAA tournament teams Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Iowa State. Indiana (19-13) was 4-13 in Quad 1 wins, including wins over Michigan State and Purdue.

The Tar Heels’ lone Quad 1 win was against UCLA, but the committee cited its 8-0 record in Quad 2 games. North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham was the chairman of the selection committee, but he recused himself when the Tar Heels were discussed.

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Florida

Panthers rally late in 3rd to defeat Lightning in Game 4 of Eastern 1st Round | NHL.com

Published

16 hours ago

April 29, 2025

Press Room

Panthers rally late in 3rd to defeat Lightning in Game 4 of Eastern 1st Round | NHL.com

The Panthers trailed 2-1 before scoring twice to take a 3-2 lead with 3:36 remaining in the game.

Florida leads the best-of-7 series 3-1. Game 5 will be in Tampa on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, SCRIPPS, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN360).

“We finished well, and it’s nice to give our fans that win,” said Jones, who gave Florida the late lead. “We’re up 3-1 and understand the job is not finished. Both teams played hard tonight, and there were a lot of ups and downs. They scored two back to back, and we stuck with it pretty well and got the win at the end of the day.’’

Anton Lundell had a goal and an assist, and Carter Verhaeghe also scored for the Panthers, the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division. Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves.

“We haven’t had a lot of these this year,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “They have been grinders. It has been tough. We had key guys out of the lineup … so, we don’t have the history of the comeback and that’s a little tougher. It was really important mentally to come back.’’

Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak each scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves for the Lightning, the No. 2 seed from the Atlantic.

Tampa Bay was trying to match the Panthers by winning each of its first two road playoff games in this series.

“It was tough losing the first two at home, so, we have massive challenges ahead of us,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, whose team beat the Panthers 5-1 in Game 3 on Saturday afternoon. “For 115 minutes, we passed every test possible. We just had a tough 11 seconds there at the end of the game. It’s unfortunate. We played well enough to win both games, and came up a little short.’’

Ekblad tied the score 2-2 at 16:13 by getting to a Sam Reinhart rebound in the slot and beating Vasilevskiy over his glove.

Florida then took a 3-2 lead at 16:24 when Jones’ point shot went off Ryan McDonagh’s skate and under Vasilevskiy’s right arm before bouncing over the goal line.

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1 dead, multiple injured after boat hits ferry in Florida

Published

1 day ago

April 28, 2025

Press Room

1 dead, multiple injured after boat hits ferry in Florida

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Amazon rocket launch, Atlas V from Cape Canaveral, Florida, may be seen in Fort Myers, Cape Coral

Published

2 days ago

April 27, 2025

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Amazon rocket launch, Atlas V from Cape Canaveral, Florida, may be seen in Fort Myers, Cape Coral

What time is United Launch Alliance Atlas V, Amazon rocket launch? Liftoff will potentially be April 28, 2025, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

When the Amazon rocket launch lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, there’s a chance it’ll be visible in Fort Myers.

Not only that, when United Launch Alliance sends its Atlas V rocket to space, there’s a chance people beyond Florida − like in other states as far as New York or Indiana − could possibly see it light up the sky.

Visibility from most of Florida is possible, according to ULA.

What’s on board the ULA Atlas V? Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is launching Project Kuiper, a global network of satellites, to compete with SpaceX CEO-billionaire Elon Musk and Starlink satellites. It begins with the first-ever launch of the Amazon Project Kuiper production satellites, courtesy of the ULA Atlas V rocket. Online, the mission has been called the “Amazon rocket launch” or “the Amazon rocket launch from Florida.”

Equipped with five side-mounted rocket boosters, the reason why it could be visible from Florida to New York, the Atlas V will lift the $10 billion internet constellation’s first set of 27 satellites into low-Earth orbit.

ULA’s Atlas V rocket should be visible outside of Florida pending weather and clouds. Below is information on ULA’s powerful rocket, the Atlas V, how to watch the launch, and a list of which cities and states that could potentially see the ULA Atlas V rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

What time is the Amazon rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida? When does United Launch Alliance Atlas V liftoff?

A two-hour Amazon rocket launch window is scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT Monday, April 28, 2025, from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. An initial attempt April 9, 2025, was scrubbed due to weather. USA TODAY Network’s Space Team will provide live coverage of the Amazon rocket launch from Cape Canaveral two hours before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.

Which cities can see ULA Atlas V rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida? Can I watch Amazon rocket launch from Florida?

ULA provided a helpful graphic (see above) that shows the Atlas V launch of Kuiper 1 for Amazon and its intended flight path and launch visibility. Note: Cities in the Space Coast of Florida, which is in Brevard County and measures 72 miles of coast, include Titusville, Mims, Port St. John, Merritt Island, Cocoa, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, West Melbourne, Palm Bay, Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, Indialantic, Melbourne Beach, Grant-Valkaria and Sebastian.

Launch, Space Coast, east Orlando, near University of Central Florida, Bithlo, the northern part of the Treasure Coast, Indian River County, Sebastian, Vero Beach, parts of Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach and Oak Hill

1: Launch + 30 seconds, Space Coast, Orlando, the Treasure Coast, Indian River County, Sebastian, Vero Beach, Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach and Oak Hill, Volusia County, St. Augustine, Ocala, Lakeland area

2: Launch + 90 seconds, which includes PLF Jettison or separation and jettison of the payload fairing: Space Coast, Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Oak Hill, Port Orange, Volusia County, Treasure Coast, Indian River County, Martin County, St. Lucie County, Orlando, Sanford, Kissimmee, Central Florida, Ocala, Lakeland, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Beach

3: Launch + 150 seconds, which includes solid rocket booster jettison, visibility extends to Sebring, Winter Haven, Palatka, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Sarasota, Manatee County, Sarasota County, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples, Collier County, Lee County, Clearwater, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Wellington, Jupiter, Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, southern Georgia, Savannah, Georgia, parts of the Caribbean, the Bahamas

4: Launch + 210 seconds, which includes booster separation, Tallahassee, Panama City, Panhandle, Big Bend area of Florida; visibility extends beyond Florida to Georgia, South Carolina, parts of North Carolina

5: Launch + 270 seconds, ULA Atlas V rocket launch visibility extends beyond Florida to these other states and cities:

Georgia; Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; Columbus, Georgia
Alabama; Dothan, Alabama; just outside Birmingham, Alabama
Tennessee; Knoxville, Tennessee; just outside Huntsville, Tennessee; just outside Nashville, Tennessee
Kentucky
South Carolina; Spartanburg, South Carolina
North Carolina; High Point, North Carolina; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Wilmington, North Carolina
Virginia; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Richmond, Virginia
West Virginia; Charleston, West Virginia
Maryland; Washington, Maryland
Delaware; Annapolis, Delaware; Dover, Delaware

6: Launch + 330 seconds, ULA Atlas V rocket launch visibility extends beyond Florida to these other states and cities:

New Jersey: Trenton, New Jersey; New York, New Jersey
Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Erie, Pennsylvania
Ohio: Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio; Toledo, Ohio
Indiana: just outside Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Wayne, Indiana
Michigan: Detroit, Michigan
Kentucky: just outside Louisville, Kentucky
Rhode Island: Providence, Rhode Island
Connecticut: Hartford, Connecticut
Massachusetts: Boston, Massachusetts
New York: Binghamton, New York; Albany, New York

7: Launch + 390 seconds, visibility of Atlas V rocket may be possible in these states:

Alabama
Tennessee
Kentucky
Georgia
South Carolina
North Carolina
Virginia
West Virginia
Ohio
Indiana
Michigan
Delaware
Maryland
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
New York
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Vermont
Maine
Toronto, Canada

The above guidelines are estimates based on the graphic provided by ULA.

Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.

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