A Sports Filled Weekend It Was

How’s that NCAA Tournament bracket of yours? Busted? Welcome to the club.

Upsets broke out everywhere on Saturday and Sunday in the men’s tournament. Goodbye, Villanova. The overall No. 1 seed won’t be playing for a second consecutive title. Goodbye, Louisville. Goodbye, Duke.

Say hello to your new surprise contenders – Wisconsin, which knocked off Villanova; Michigan, which stunned Louisville, and South Carolina, which took out Duke.

The best story so far is Michigan. The Wolverines weren’t even expected to contend at the Big Ten Tournament. And, after their plane skidded off a runway, they were given the option by their coach of not going at all. But they took the trip, won four games in four days and now have knocked off Oklahoma State and the Cardinals in the big dance.

The Sweet Sixteen begins on Thursday. Can hardly wait.

Golf: Marc Leishman made a 50-foot putt for eagle and parred the final two holes for a 1-shot victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando. Leishman was ranked 62nd in the world but this victory puts him in the top 60 and earns him an invitation to play in the Masters next month…The LPGA Tour began with the Bank of Hope Founders Cup in Phoenix, where temperatures were an unseasonably warm 96 on Sunday. No problem for Anna Nordqvist. She played collegiately at Arizona State and was right at home. Her 4-under 68 in the final round contributed to a 25-under 263, two shots off the LPGA record.

NASCAR: Ryan Newman won the Camping World 500 in Avondale, Arizona, finishing ahead of Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. The win was the first for Richard Childress Racing since 2013. Newman snapped a streak of 127 races without a victory.

Elsewhere: Middleweight Gennady Golovkin kept his title belts and his unbeaten record (now 37-0) by winning a unanimous decision on Saturday night in New York against Daniel Jacobs…Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim received a contract extension as his top assistant (and coach-in-waiting) Mike Hopkins left for the vacant job at the University of Washington…Former San Francisco 49ers receiver Dwight Clark, on the receiving end of “The Catch” in 1982, announced in a blog post that he has ALS.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman