Alabama's 89-87 win over North Carolina in the Sweet 16 of the men's NCAA Tournament averaged a 4.2 rating with 7.8 million viewers on CBS.

The number was a 27% viewership increase from last year's UCLA-Gonzaga matchup.

Thursday's regional semifinals averaged 10.24 million viewers per window across CBS, TBS, and TruTV.

The Bucks-Pelicans matchup on NBA TV averaged 285,000 viewers.

Duquesne has promoted Dru Joyce to become head coach, replacing the recently retired Keith Dambrot.

"Dru exhibited a clear vision for our program going forward and understands the challenge of keeping our recent success a possibility in the years ahead," Duquesne athletic director Dave Harper said in a statement. "It's now imperative that we support him, his staff and the program with all that is needed to continue to be successful."

"I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to continue to make an impact with the student-athletes, coaches and staff to make our program one that Duquesne and the surrounding region can be proud of," Joyce said.

Joyce is a lifelong friend and former high school teammate of LeBron James. 

John Calipari will return as the head coach of Kentucky for his 16th season, confirmed athletic director Mitch Barnhart.

"As we normally do at the end of every season, Coach Calipari and I have had conversations about the direction of our men’s basketball program and I can confirm that he will return for his 16th season as our head coach," wrote Barnhart on X.

The Wildcats lost in the first round of the NCAA men's tournament to Oakland last week.

Calipari won a national title with the school in 2012.

Kentucky will have three players in ESPN's top 25 prospects coming in next season. 

The second-round matchup between Iowa and West Virginia in the NCAA women's basketball tournament averaged 4.9 million viewers with a 2.7 rating on ESPN.

The number represents the largest audience ever for a NCAA women's tournament game prior to the Final Four.

The game peaked with 6.4 million viewers.

Iowa won the matchup 64-54, with Caitlin Clark finishing with 32 points.

Iowa's first-round game averaged 3.23 million viewers on ABC.

Vanderbilt has hired Mark Byington as head coach to replace Jerry Stackhouse.

Byington led James Madisonto a program-record 32 wins and the program's first NCAA tournament win since 1983. 

"From our first conversations, Coach Byington impressed me with his competitiveness, his intensity, his passion for developing young men on and off the court, his love for the game, and his plan to elevate Vanderbilt men's basketball to new levels of success," Vanderbilt AD Candice Storey Lee said. "I was struck by the shared passion that we have for what this basketball program can be and for all that is possible at this great institution."

Byington has been the coach at James Madison for four seasons, winning a share of the CAA regular-season title in 2021 and leading the Dukes from the CAA to the Sun Belt in 2023. In his four seasons with the Dukes, he went 82-36 overall.

Washington State's Kyle Smith has been hired as the new head coach at Stanford, it was announced Monday.

"The opportunity to serve as the head men's basketball coach at Stanford is a dream come true," Smith said in a statement.

Smith, the 2024 Pac-12 Coach of the Year, just engineered one of the best seasons in program history, leading the Cougars to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2008.

The Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament is set with all eight No. 1 and No. 2 seeds reaching this stage where they are two wins away from the Final Four in Arizona.

Here's a list of all the former players of the schools in the Sweet 16 who are currently in the NBA. Duke leads with 24 former players in the NBA, followed by North Carolina and Gonzaga with 10 apiece. 

Thursday

West:

• No. 2 Arizona (9) vs. No. 6 Clemson (3)

Arizona: Deandre Ayton, Aaron Gordon, Josh Green, Lauri Markkanen, Bennedict Mathurin, T.J. McConnell, Zeke Nnaji, Dalen Terry, Brandon Williams

Clemson: Trey Jemison, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Hunter Tyson

• No. 1 North Carolina (10) vs. No. 4 Alabama (9)

North Carolina: Cole Anthony, Harrison Barnes, Leaky Black, Reggie Bullock, Cameron Johnson, Walker Kessler, Nassir Little, Pete Nance, Day’Ron Sharpe, Coby White

Alabama: Noah Clowney, J.D. Davison, Keon Ellis, Herb Jones, Braxton Key, Kira Lewis Jr., Brandon Miller, Joshua Primo, Collin Sexton

East:

• No. 1 Connecticut (4) vs. No. 5 San Diego State (3)

Connecticut: Andre Drummond, Jordan Hawkins, Andre Jackson Jr., Adama Sanogo

SDSU: Malachi Flynn, Kawhi Leonard, Jalen McDaniels

• No. 2 Iowa State (3) vs. No. 3 Illinois (3)

Iowa State: Tyrese Haliburton, Talen Horton-Tucker, Monte Morris, Georges Niang

Illinois: Ayo Dosunmu, Malcolm Hill, Brandin Podziemski

Friday

South:

• No. 2 Marquette (7) vs. No. 11 NC State (7)

NC State: Caleb Martin, Cody Martin, Dereon Seabron, Dennis Smith, Terquavion Smith, T.J. Warren, Omer Yurtseven

Marquette: Jimmy Butler, Jamal Cain, D.J. Carton, Jae Crowder, Sam Hauser, Wesley Matthews, Olivier-Maxence Prosper

• No. 1 Houston (5) vs. No. 4 Duke (24)

Houston: Quentin Grimes, Nathaniel Hinton, DeJon Jarreau, Marcus Sasser, Jarace Walker

Duke: Grayson Allen, Marvin Bagley III, Paolo Banchero, R.J. Barrett, Marques Bolden, Wendell Carter Jr., Seth Curry, Harry Giles, A.J. Griffin Jr., Brandon Ingram, Kyrie Irving, Jalen Johnson, Tre Jones, Tyus Jones, Luke Kennard, Dereck Lively II, Wendell Moore Jr., Mason Plumlee, Cam Reddish, Jayson Tatum, Gary Trent Jr., Dariq Whitehead, Mark Williams, Zion Williamson

Midwest:

• No. 1 Purdue (1) vs. No. 5 Gonzaga (10)

Purdue: Jaden Ivey

Gonzaga: Brandon Clarke, Zach Collins, Rui Hachimura, Chet Holmgren, Corey Kispert, Andrew Nembhard, Kelly Olynyk, Domantas Sabonis, Julian Strawther, Jalen Suggs

• No. 2 Tennessee (7) vs. No. 3 Creighton (1)

Tennessee: Tobias Harris, Keon Johnson, Julian Phillips, Josh Richardson, Admiral Schofield, Jaden Springer, Grant Williams

Creighton: Doug McDermott

West Virginia is finalizing a deal to hire Darian DeVries as their next head men's basketball coach. DeVries is leaving Drake University to lead the Mountaineers program.

DeVries has been Drake's head coach for the last six seasons. During that time, he's compiled a 150-55 record and led the Bulldogs to three NCAA Tournament appearances. 

Dusty May is set to leave Florida Atlantic University to take over as the head coach at the University of Michigan. The deal is expected to be finalized this weekend.

May has been the coach at Florida Atlantic for six seasons. He's compiled a record of 126-69, with six consecutive winning seasons.

In 2023, May led the Owls to the Final Four and record of 35-4. This season, Florida Atlantic went 25-9 and was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan parted ways with Juwan Howard after five seasons. After making the NCAA Tournament in 2021 and 2022, Howard went 18-16 last season. This season, the Wolverines fell to 8-24.

The NBA has announced that the NBA G League Ignite will cease operations after the current season. The league said that "the decision to end the program comes amid the changing basketball landscape, including the NCAA’s Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) policy and the advent of collectives and the transfer portal."

Nine Ignite veterans are currently in the NBA, including key contributors Dyson Daniels (New Orleans Pelicans), Jalen Green (Houston Rockets), Scoot Henderson (Portland Trail Blazers) and 2022 NBA champion Jonathan Kuminga (Golden State Warriors).

“Four years ago, we started Ignite to fill a void in the basketball landscape, and I’m proud of the contributions we were able to make to that ecosystem,” said Sharif Abdur-Rahim.  “With the changing environment across youth and collegiate basketball, now is the right time to take this step.  I want to extend my sincere gratitude to general manager Anthony McClish, head coach Jason Hart and their staff and to each player who wore an Ignite jersey.  As ever, the G League’s commitment to developing top NBA talent and helping players achieve their NBA dreams is unwavering.”