TERRENCE HENDERSON
Pick Six: Veterans to watch as NCAA Tournament begins
(AP Photo/Chase Stevens)INDIANAPOLIS – There has never been a better time to have senior leadership in the NCAA Tournament than this season. AdVirginia intends to play after withdrawing from the ACC Tournament because of COVID-19 protocols, which means fans will get to say Sam Hauser running the show. Dru Smith is their leading scorer and Jeremiah Tilmon finally reached his potential this season, and both aim to help Missouri snap a four-game NCAA Tournament skid. Herb Jones is an All-American candidate and Jaden Shackelford is Alabama's leading scorer, but John Petty Jr. makes the SEC Tournament champs go. Then there's Tennessee forward John Fulkerson, who sustained facial fractures in an SEC Tournament win over Florida and underwent surgery Sunday.
Baylor headlines South Region bracket with first No. 1 seed
Second-ranked Baylor (22-2) headlines the South Region and opens against 16th-seeded Hartford, the America East Conference champion. 2 seed in the South after losing in overtime to Illinois in Sunday’s Big Ten Tournament final. The Raiders (14-1) won the Patriot League title and entered Selection Sunday averaging 86.3 points, led by Jordan Burns' 17-point average. When his eighth-seeded Tar Heels (18-10) face ninth-seeded Wisconsin, Williams will look to improve to 30-0 in first-round NCAA Tournament games. CONFERENCE WATCHThe Big 12, Big Ten and Southeastern Conference combined to take six of the top seven seeds in the South bracket.
Vintage Super Mario Bros. video game sells for $114,000
DALLAS An unopened copy of a vintage Super Mario Bros. video game has been sold for $114,000 in an auction that underscored the enduring popularity of entertainment created decades ago. A bidder who wished to remain anonymous snapped up an early version of the pioneering Super Mario Bros. game released in 1985 for Nintendo's NES console during an auction conducted Friday by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. The $114,000 price eclipsed Heritage Auctions' previous record amount for a video game, which was a $100,150 bid made early last year for an unopened copy of the same game. The Super Mario Bros. copy that sold for a new record was part of a collection of video games from the 1980s and 1990s that sold to various buyers for nearly $700,000, which was well above Heritage Auctions initial target of about $500,000. Other titles auctioned off included Mike Tysons Punch-Out! a 1987 video game based on the former former heavyweight boxing champion, that sold for $50,400.
Memorial Day tempts Americans outdoors, raising virus fears
Many Memorial Day commemorations have been canceled or downsized, including concerts and fireworks shows. I know I am.In Virginia Beach, Virginia, the famed 40-block boardwalk and sandy shoreline reopened, but with spacing guidelines and groups limited to 10. For the hard-hit tourism and hospitality industry, there is modest hope Memorial Day will mark the start of something resembling recovery. Data and consulting firm Tourism Economics projects travelers will spend $4.2 billion on Memorial Day weekend, compared with $12.3 billion last year. Oklahoma resident Seth Rott this week boarded a plane for the first time since the pandemic to visit a friend in Washington for Memorial Day.