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🏀 Five things to know Tuesday
- Tiger Woods might play the Masters. The first major PGA tournament of the year is just two weeks away — and it’s a tournament that might include Tiger Woods playing at Augusta National. Recent seasons have proven that picking a winner is sometimes a fairly easy experiment. Still, we have a breakdown of what to expect as the Masters approaches.
- Preparing for the Sweet 16. March Madness has delivered plenty of action through two rounds, and now it’s time to look ahead to the Sweet 16. We have re-ranked the 16 remaining teams in the tournament, as well as putting together the “All-First Weekend Team after two rounds of action.
- Seattle inks extension with Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Smith-Njigba has proven to be one of the elite wide receivers in the NFL, and the Seahawks have paid up to keep him with the team for the foreseeable future. Smith-Njigba signed a four-year, $168.6 million extension, with the $42.15 million average annual value topping the previous high set by Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase by nearly $2 million.
- What went wrong for Iowa in the women’s tournament? Iowa suffered the biggest upset of this year’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament when the No. 2 seed fell to No. 10 Virginia. Ice-cold shooting was one of the reasons the Hawkeyes are heading home in the second round for a second consecutive season, as explained by Jack Maloney.
- UEFA Women’s Champions League continues on Tuesday. The women take center stage with a pair of UEFA Women’s Champions League matches on Tuesday, both of which stream on Paramount+. We have a look at the action to come as the battle for spots in the semifinals continues Tuesday. On the men’s side, keep up with the action with an updated Champions League power rankings.
🏈 Do not miss this: Pete Prisco’s NFL mock draft 1.0
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CBS Sports senior NFL writer Pete Prisco is ready for the NFL Draft … or, at least, he’s ready to take a first shot at how things will shake out come April 23. There are still plenty of things that could change over the next month, but who the No. 1 overall pick will be is not going to be one of them. It’s as close to a guarantee as you can get that the Raiders will take reigning Heisman Trophy and national champion quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the first pick of the draft.
From there, things get interesting. As Prisco said in his 1.0 mock draft, “This is a draft that features a small group of elite players, but a giant group of good players.”
We have plenty more to look at ahead of the draft, including which position every NFL team most needs to address, and the seven most intriguing additions during this year’s free agency period.
⚾ Is a Dodgers three-peat inevitable?
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MLB Opening Day is tomorrow, and we’re hoping the season can continue with the same momentum as another thrilling World Baseball Classic. Looking ahead to the season, it seems clear the Dodgers are the favorites to win the World Series and take down a third consecutive championship in the process.
The Dodgers are the obvious favorites to win the NL West in the CBS Sports expert picks for division winners, while the Mariners seem to be the consensus pick for the best team in the American League. We also have a look at the expected win totals for every MLB team, along with best bets for the Cubs, Phillies, Red Sox and others.
In our final MLB Power Rankings before opening day, the Dodgers are obviously holding the No. 1 spot, but as Matt Snyder said, that doesn’t make them a lock to win the World Series.
- Snyder: “The Dodgers are, of course, the most likely team to win the World Series, but that doesn’t mean they are likely. It might sound as funny as when I say first base is the easiest defensive position, but it’s not easy. We’re all smart enough to grasp the concept, right? The Dodgers have the best chances to win the World Series, but it’s a 26.9% chance per FanGraphs odds. Even if you think that’s too low and it’s like 35% — it’s way lower than that, but I’m trying to humor some people — that means there’s a 65% chance they don’t win it all.”
👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest
- Basketball legend Diana Taurasi said she “couldn’t think of anyone better” than Caitlin Clark to wear her old number 12 for Team USA.
- Aaron Rodgers‘ future is still up in the air as the veteran quarterback is still looking for a landing spot to continue his career.
- Prior to last night’s tough loss in Detroit, the Lakers had won nine straight, and they’re doing it with LeBron James functioning as the most overqualified role player in NBA history.
- The college basketball coaching carousel continues to turn, with Greg McDermott retiring as Creighton‘s coach and Cincinnati hiring Utah State‘s Jerrod Calhoun. You can keep up with all the coaching moves with our college basketball coaching carousel tracker.
- The Braves will start the upcoming season with five starting pitchers on the injured list, with the latest news that Spencer Strider has an oblique strain.
- There is an “outside chance” Caleb Foster could return for Duke‘s Sweet 16 game against St. John’s.
- After a second-round exit to UConn, UCLA coach Mick Cronin was blunt about what the school needs for NCAA Tournament success moving forward: more NIL money.
- The Patriots are planning to release backup quarterback Josh Dobbs after failing to manifest a trade.
- He may not get selected in the upcoming NFL Draft, but kicker Jaffer Murphy put on a wild Pro Day performance, hitting a 70-yard field goal, running a 4.5-second 40-yard dash and achieving a 45-inch vertical jump, which would have ranked as the second-highest of any player at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine.
- Teenage boxer Isis Sio was placed in a medically induced coma after she suffered a knockout loss on Saturday.
- Top Mets prospect Carson Benge will make his MLB debut on opening day, as he earned the starting right fielder spot coming out of Spring Training.
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📺 What we’re watching Tuesday
⚽ UEFA Women’s Champions League: OL Lyonnes at Wolfsburg, 1:45 p.m. on Paramount+
⚽ UEFA Women’s Champions League: Chelsea at Arsenal, 4 p.m. on Paramount+
⛳ TGL Finals, 7 p.m. on ESPN
🏒 Wild at Lightning, 7:30 p.m. on TNT
🏀 Magic at Cavaliers, 8 p.m. on NBC
🏀 Nuggets at Suns, 11 p.m. on NBC