This is the week of conference tournaments in college basketball, but the most unexpected result involved a tournament that had never before existed.

The Ivy League announced Thursday that it’s becoming a little more like every other conference in college sports with a four-team tournament to determine its automatic entry into the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament. Read More »

Serena Williams said Maria Sharapova “showed courage and heart” for taking responsibility for a failed drug test at this year’s Australian Open.

Sharapova said in a news conference on Monday that she took meldonium, a drug that was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency this year. Read More »

It’s a sad state of the Los Angeles Lakers when fans and pundits alike are totally stunned by their winning, but it’s true: Sunday’s win over the Golden State Warriors will rate as one of the biggest upsets of all-time, considering where the Lakers have been all season. They’ve struggled desperately to be competitive while giving Kobe Bryant a proper sendoff, but the future might be in sight.

The Lakers had lost nearly as many games as the Warriors had won, which says it all about how futile they’ve been in their post-championship era. But because the Warriors were off their game — Saturday nights in Los Angeles can leave you worn out on Sunday—the Lakers were able to run, taking advantage of Golden State’s rare leaden feel for the ball as they made fewer 3-pointers than they ever have under coach Steve Kerr. The final result as a blowout, another mark against Golden State’s hopes of surpassing the 95-96 Chicago Bulls’ 72-10 record. (They currently sit at 55-6.) Read More »

Serena Williams is excited to do something she hasn’t done in more than a month: play a tennis match. The 34-year-old Williams, ranked No. 1 in the world, will face friend and former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in an exhibition at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Tuesday evening.

It will be Williams’s first appearance on a tennis court since she lost the Australian Open final (she recently withdrew from two tournaments because of the flu). “This is a great opportunity for me to see how I’m feeling physically,” Williams said in a conference call on Thursday. Read More »

Olympic officials have identified 43 candidates for a team of refugee athletes who will compete in this year’s Summer Games in Rio De Janeiro. No details were given on where the team members come from, or which sports they would compete in. Read More »

The controversy that refuses to die will get another day in court Thursday, as the NFL takes its appeal in the so-called “Deflategate” case to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New York.

Lawyers for both the NFL and the Players Association are expected to make their arguments without the two stars of the case — Commissioner Roger Goodell and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who was suspected of conspiring with team staff to deflate balls before the 2015 AFC Championship game. Read More »

Tiger Woods is nowhere near a return to competitive golf, but his outlook isn’t as bleak as it appeared late last year.

The former world No. 1 said Wednesday that he has been chipping and putting outside his Jupiter, Fla., home and recently began hitting 9-irons. He still says he has no idea when he might be able to play again. But in a news conference in Montgomery, Texas, Woods was upbeat and moved without any evident discomfort.

It was a stark contrast from a December news conference in which a dour Woods spoke as if his career might be over, coming off three back surgeries in less than two years. Read More »

The Chicago Cubs have turned a predilection for losing into their own mythology, reveling in the misery of their non-success as some marker of character. But following a surprise trip to the playoffs, the Cubs have made enough offseason splashes to poise themselves as World Series favorites—assuming the tyranny of expectation doesn’t lead to a new type of heartbreak.

Last week, the Cubs announce the unexpected re-signing of Dexter Fowler, a key member of their outfield who was widely figured to be on his way out. Reports emerged late in the week that Fowler was set to sign with the Baltimore Orioles, another team with championship hopes and money to burn. But owing to some miscommunication, and some sticking points about the number of guaranteed years, Fowler popped up at the Cubs training camp, surprising even his teammates. It turned out the Orioles were willing to pay more, but he decided to remain with the Cubs. Fowler joined impact players Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist, and John Lackey in shoring up a roster that won 97 games last year despite not being picked to sniff the playoffs. Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci points out that Fowler, Heyward, Zobrist, and Lackey all turned down more money in order to join the Cubs. “Let that roll around your mind a bit,” he writes. “The franchise that hasn’t won the World Series since 1908 and established itself as the geographical graveyard of hope now has players forsaking millions of dollars just to grab a precious seat on the bandwagon.” Read More »

Lightweight Felix Verdejo took the next step toward a world title shot with a 10-round unanimous decision over Willian Silva on Saturday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

The 22-year-old Verdejo (20-0, 14 KOs) landed 106 of 421 punches (25.2%) compared with Silva (23-1, 14 KOs), who connected on 45 of 325 punches (13.8%), according to CompuBox punch statistics.

“I felt very good during the fight,” Verdejo said. “My opponent moved a lot, but I did what I had to do and got the win.” Read More »

After weeks of rising concern about the impact of the Zika virus on this summer’s Rio Olympics, the Centers for Disease Control has warned pregnant women to consider not traveling to the Games. Scientists are still trying to determine whether Zika has caused birth defects for the babies of women who are infected. Read More »