Roundup: USC rallies back, coaching carousel in full swing in Pac-12

Great start to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for the Pac-12, as USC rallied from 17 down to beat Providence 75-71 in the First Four in large thanks to a 24-point performance from Bennie Boatwright (AP recap). Up next for the Trojans is No. 6 seed SMU Friday in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Cuonzo Martin has accepted the head coaching job at Missouri, the school announced Wednesday. According to ESPN, Martin’s deal is for seven years and about $21 million.

Washington fired men’s basketball coach Lorenzo Romar on Wednesday. Romar was the head coach at UW for 15 years, building the Huskies into a contender and earning a reputation as a class act. Best of luck to Romar in his future endeavors.

Oregon volleyball coach Jim Moore is stepping down because “his coaching style is mismatched with the standards of the University of Oregon athletic department,” per the Wednesday university release. Kudos to Jonathan Hawthorne of the Daily Emerald for being on this story from the jump.

They’re at it again – Stanford women’s swimming broke the NCAA and American record in the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 6:45.91 at the NCAA Championships on Wednesday. Props to Simone Manuel, Lia Neal, Ella Eastin and Katie Ledecky.

Arizona State freshman 174-pound wrestler Zahid Valencia is undefeated heading into the NCAA Championships at 33-0 (Jeff Metcalfe on the story). Valencia, the top seed in his weight class, begins his quest for an NCAA title Thursday.

Gina Mizell tells the story of how Oregon State women’s basketball guard Gabby Hanson developed into the best defensive player in the Pac-12. She has long been known for her prowess on that end of the floor and held Kelsey Plum to 8-of-23 shooting in a game earlier this season.

Colorado men’s basketball lost to UCF 79-74 in an NIT first-round game Wednesday in Orlando, ending the Buffs’ 2016-17 campaign. Bonus nugget from a former employee of the man- Golden Knights head coach Johnny Dawkins is now a perfect 6-0 in postseason tournament openers including his time at Stanford (2009 CBI, 2012 NIT, 2013 NIT, 2014 NCAA, 2015 NIT, 2017 NIT).

This is pretty solid – NBA impersonator Brandon Armstrong gives us his Lonzo and LaVar Ball impressions, Lonzo on the court and LaVar on the mic.

Ya know, I’ve kinda been incorrectly categorizing these LaVar Ball links over the course of this season, as his name should really be next to a Cougar logo. With that said, let’s look back at LaVar Ball’s stat line from his 1987-88 season at Washington State (Sports Reference), where he averaged 2.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists over the course of 26 games. And with that in mind, Charles Barkley has challenged LaVar Ball to a game of one-on-one (The Washington Post). I would pay to see this.

Quoted in this Sports 360 AZ article, our Matt Muehlebach thinks that Arizona’s Lauri Markkanen is the best seven-foot shooter in college basketball history. Tough to argue that. Don’t let the headline deceive you, because the question “Arizona’s Markkanen Greatest College Big Man Ever?” shouldn’t be asked and isn’t what Muehlebach tried to answer (no disrespect to Lauri or the author, of course).

Utah gymnast MyKayla Skinner talks about her perfect 10 on Senior Day in this “Sports Report” preview for Thursday night’s show.