NBA All-Star Game delivers another dud; William Byron wins Daytona 500; No. 1 Auburn defeats No. 2 Alabama

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Good morning to all, but especially to …

WILLIAM BYRON

It ain’t over ’til it’s over, and the Daytona 500 tends to get wild right before it’s over. Sunday night was no exception. William Byron avoided a massive wreck on the final lap of overtime to become the fifth driver to win The Great American Race back-to-back.

• Austin Cindric led to start the final lap, but Denny Hamlin made a quick move outside to take a momentary lead.
• Cole Custer then took things three wide, but things got too crowded. Cars went every which way, but Byron — ninth at the start of the final lap — scooted by on the high side and held off Tyler Reddick for the checkered flag. Cindric led just nine laps all race.
• It’s the sixth time in eight years the race has gone to overtime.
• There was also a weather delay, President Donald Trump in “The Beast” pre-race and a wild crash in the closing laps that sent Ryan Preece airborne.

Honorable mentions

• Shohei Ohtani hit 94 mph in his first bullpen session of spring training as he nears a return to pitching
• Here’s where Alex Bregman should play on the Red Sox‘ infield.
• Bryan DeArdo says the 2024 Eagles are the best Super Bowl champion of this millennium.
• Jalyx Hunt is turning his Super Bowl fine into a donation with the help of Eagles fans.
• Ohio State leads the way with 15 NFL Combine invites.
• Al Golden won the Broyles Award.
• Napheesa Collier won the Unrivaled 1-on-1 Tournament.
• These are the best college football transfer classes.
• Ludvig Åberg won the Genesis Invitational, the biggest win of his burgeoning career.

It’s not such a good morning for …

THE NBA ALL-STAR GAME

Another year, another format, another dud of an NBA All-Star Game. Team Shaq — aka the OGs — defeated Chuck’s Global Stars in the final of the mini tournament.

There were moments of effort, perhaps even better effort than we’ve seen in a while. Stephen Curry hit some wild 3s and won MVP. Victor Wembanyama said he’d try, and he followed through. Maybe he and other youngsters can lead a better future for a game that has fallen off a cliff, Bill Reiter says. The new format showed promise of eventually working.

But overall, it stunk. There were gimmicks galore, random huge pauses for odd skits/unfunny commentary. The final score of the championship game was 41-25 after Alperen Sengun subbed in and immediately allowed an uncontested Jayson Tatum dunk. Wembanyama seemed somewhat upset. Most guys — even the winners — just shrugged and were happy it was over. After all, there was a 15-minute in-game pause to honor Inside the NBA, a show that will continue to air after its run with TNT ends at the conclusion of the season.

Even if the games were somewhat improved, a brutal broadcast made it a difficult watch. There was so little basketball. Three games with a target score of 40 meant about 30-35 minutes of game action stretched across a broadcast that ran for about three hours. (When we’re asking for more half-hearted basketball, you know the non-basketball parts were bad.)

This issue is not unique to the NBA. The NFL has scrapped the Pro Bowl for skill contests and a flag football game. The NBA can keep trying. I’m sure it will. But the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The night before, Mac McClung became the first three-peat Slam Dunk Contest champion, scoring a perfect 50 on all four of his dunks. He jumped over a car. He jumped over people. He dunked two basketballs at once. It was jaw-dropping, and Colin Ward-Henninger says McClung proved the event doesn’t need stars to keep it alive.

• Henninger: “McClung has creativity, charisma and — most of all — an unbridled passion for dunking. By his own admission, he spent ‘eight or nine months’ working on the dunks that we all ogled on Saturday night. Part of that, presumably, is because he’s not saddled with the demands of being an NBA superstar.”

What he does need, however, is competition. Sam Quinn proposed ways the event can be improved.

There was other action, too:

• Tyler Herro won the 3-Point Contest.
• Wembanyama and Chris Paul got disqualified from the Skills Competition for “cheating.” Team Cavs (Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley) won.
• Team Mullin won Rising Stars.
• Stephen Curry wants public information on how officials are graded.
• Draymond Green had plenty to say: The NBA is “very boring,” and the Warriors are going to win the championship.
• Adam Silver denied Luka Doncic trade conspiracy theories and said the NBA should look at trade rules after the Mark Williams deal got negated.
• Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Sue Bird and Maya Moore headline the finalists for the 2025 Hall of Fame
• The NBA created the Africa Dikembe Mutombo Global Humanitarian Award, and James Herbert has a great story on Mutombo’s impact.

Not so honorable mentions

• Aaron Rodgers reportedly “pleaded” with the Jets to remain their quarterback.
• You can cross Brad Stevens off the list of candidates to be Indiana‘s next coach.
• World No. 1 men’s tennis player Jannik Sinner received a three-month ban for a positive doping test.

College basketball recap: No. 1 Auburn wins at No. 2 Alabama

The biggest Iron Bowl of basketball did not disappoint, but it certainly left a lot of home fans disappointed. No. 1 Auburn made a resounding statement with a 94-85 win at No. 2 Alabama, the Tigers’ nation-leading third win over an AP top-five team.

• Auburn got double-digit points from six players — three starters, three subs — with Johni Broome (19 points, 14 rebounds, six assists) leading the way despite appearing to re-aggravate his ankle injury.
• Fearless freshman Tahaad Pettiford had 13 points, 11 in the second half.
• Despite the high score, Auburn flexed its defensive muscle, too, limiting Alabama to 5 for 26 (19%) from 3. The Eagles own the SEC’s best 3-point defense this season.

This Auburn team could be a historically great, Matt Norlander writes

• Norlander: “At 23-2, one month from Selection Sunday, something special is starting to come into view here. Auburn is already shaping up as a great team in the context of this season. But if this continues, we’re going to have a whole new level of domination in play. Bruce Pearl‘s team is well on its way to having the best NCAA résumé of the NET era (which dates back seven seasons). Auburn needs four more Quad 1 wins to break Kansas‘ record of 17 (from 2022-23), a record that seems destined to be broken.”

As for past title winners, two-time reigning-champ UConn blew five-point leads late in regulation and overtime in a 69-68 loss to Seton Hall. The Pirates had last nine straight and were at the bottom of the Big East standings entering the game. The Huskies, unsurprisingly, landed among the “losers” of our weekend winners and losers.

The reigning champs on the women’s side didn’t fare much better: No. 4 South Carolina got blown out by No. 7 UConn, 87-58. It ended the Gamecocks’ 71-game home winning streak and was their largest home loss since 2008, Dawn Staley‘s first year with South Carolina. All this comes after then-No. 4 Texas beat South Carolina last week, ending the Gamecocks’ 57-game SEC winning streak.

• UConn went 13 for 28 (46%) from 3. The Gamecocks went 3 for 17 (18%).
• The Huskies also grabbed 15 offensive rebounds.
• Azzi Fudd scored 18 points in the third quarter and finished with 28, continuing her strong play of late. That’s a good sign for both the Huskies and her own WNBA aspirations, Jack Maloney writes.

Here’s more:

• Cooper Flagg scored 19 points as No. 3 Duke thumped Stanford. Did he tease a return next year? (Probably not.)
• No. 6 Houston rallied past No. 13 Arizona 62-58 to maintain control of the Big 12 race.
• Tom Izzo passed Bob Knight for most Big Ten wins as No. 11 Michigan State beat Illinois. Making matters worse for the Illini, they retired Terrence Shannon Jr.‘s jersey … upside down.
• John Calipari called his Arkansas team “a little fragile” after losing to No. 8 Texas A&M.
• Kyle Boone predicted what today’s AP Top 25 will look like.
• On the women’s side, No. 3 Texas beat No. 5 LSU, 65-58, to take the SEC lead.
• Mikayla Blakes scored a freshman-record 55 points in Vanderbilt‘s overtime win over Auburn.

USA hockey tops Canada after three fights in opening seconds

They fought and fought and fought again.

And then the USA took it to Canada on the ice, notching an impressive 3-1 win in 4 Nations Face-Off round robin play to guarantee a spot in Thursday’s final in Boston.

• When the puck dropped, the gloves dropped, too. Two seconds in, Matthew Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel. One second later, Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett went at it. Six seconds after that, it was JT Miller and Colton Parayko.
• Connor McDavid gave the hosts the early lead with a nifty flip past Connor Hellebuyck, but Jake Guentzel tied it up, beating Jordan Binnington through the five hole.
• Dylan Larkin ripped a shot past Binnington in the second period, and Guentzel’s late empty netter ended things.

The USA’s biggest strength — in net — was on clear display. So, too, was a reignited rivalry, Austin Nivison writes.

• Nivison: “These rivals hadn’t played a true best-on-best game in nine years, and it took no time to get the juices flowing again. … There was a frenzied pace, offensive skill, lockdown defense and exceptional goaltending. The fact that hockey fans didn’t get to see this matchup for nearly a decade is criminal because the diehard fans will tune in every time, and casual fans will be drawn in by the big names and intensity of the rivalry.”

Canada plays Finland this afternoon, and Sweden plays the USA tonight to conclude what should be an exciting day of round-robin play. There’s a three-way tie for second, but a regulation win between Canada and Finland will advance to face the United States in the championship. If the early game reaches overtime, Sweden can advance if it can notch a win in regulation in the nightcap.

Seven more massage therapists accuse Justin Tucker of sexual misconduct

Seven more massage therapists allege that Justin Tucker engaged in sexual misconduct, per a report from The Baltimore Banner. This brings the total number of accusers to 16, spanning eight different spas. The alleged behavior took place from 2012 to 2016.

• Six women initially accused Tucker of inappropriate behavior Jan. 30. Three more came forward Feb. 1.
• Among the allegations are that Tucker exposed himself and touched therapists inappropriately.
• Tucker denied the allegations, calling them “unequivocally false” and “desperate tabloid fodder.”

What we’re watching Monday

Iowa at No. 9 Ohio State (W), noon on Fox
 4 Nations Face-Off: Canada vs. Finland, 1 p.m. on TNT/truTV
No. 14 Kansas State at No. 18 West Virginia (W), 2 p.m. on Fox
No. 13 Duke at No. 2 Notre Dame (W), 6 p.m. on ESPN
Michigan at No. 17 Maryland (W), 6 p.m. on BTN
No. 3 Duke at Virginia (M), 8 p.m. on ESPN
 4 Nations Face-Off: Sweden vs. USA, 8 p.m. on TNT/truTV
No. 13 Arizona at Baylor (M), 10 p.m. on ESPN