The NCAA Tournament’s Final Four will take place Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The first national semifinal features two Texas teams as Baylor faces Houston at 5:14 p.m. Eastern. The Baylor Bears are a number one seed and are coached by Butler graduate and former Valparaiso coach Scott Drew. The number two seed Houston Cougars are led by former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson. In the night cap, number one overall seed Gonzaga will face off with number 11 seed UCLA. The Bulldogs are 30-0 and are aiming to be the first undefeated D1 men’s team since IU went 32-0 in 1976. The winners will play for the national championship Monday night.
The Indiana Pacers take on the Charlotte Hornets Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Blue and Gold have lost seven of eight at home after giving up a fourth quarter lead Wednesday night against the Miami Heat. The Hornets have been a pleasant surprise and are fourth in the Eastern Conference at 24-23. Former Butler star and Brownsburg native Gordon Hayward averages just under 20 points per game in his first season with the Hornets. The two teams split a pair of games in Charlotte in late January. Indiana is favored by four points for Friday night’s 8 p.m. tip off.
The Indiana high school boys basketball State Finals will take place Saturday in Indianapolis. The four championship games were delayed by one week to allow for NCAA Tournament games to be played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse last weekend. In class 1A, Kouts will take on Barr Reeve at 10 a.m. The class 2A championship pits Fort Wayne Blackhawk against Parke Heritage at 1:30. Silver Creek looks to defend its crown in 3A against Leo at 5. The state’s largest class sees a battle of Metropolitan Conference teams at 8:30, as reigning champion Carmel will square off with Lawrence North.
The Indianapolis Colts signed two free agents and officially re-signed defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad Thursday. The Colts are bringing in safety Sean Davis and guard Chris Reed. The 27-year-old Davis has played five NFL seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played in all 16 games last season with one start and compiled 10 tackles, one pass defended and a fumble recovery. Reed started 14 games at left guard last season for the Carolina Panthers. In six NFL seasons, Reed has played in 47 games with 23 starts for three different teams.
The Major League Baseball season opened Thursday with Opening Day. The St. Louis Cardinals put up six runs in the first inning and defeated the Cincinnati Reds 11-6 at Great American Ballpark. In Chicago, former Indianapolis Indians star Ke’Bryan Hayes clubbed a two-run home run in the top of the first and the Pittsburgh Pirates went on to beat the Chicago Cubs 5-3. With snow falling in Detroit, Miguel Cabrera homered in the first, and the Tigers held on to beat Cleveland 3-2. The Los Angeles Angels scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and won 4-3 over the Chicago White Sox.
