SPORTS LINE
March Madness.
Basketball playoff season is in full swing. One of the biggest surprises of the tournament this past weekend was St. John’s win over Kansas. Dylan Darling hadn’t made a shot all day when he got the ball at midcourt for St. John’s with 3.9 seconds left in a tied March Madness thriller. St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said Dylan Darling wanted to run a play that would put him in a position to make the game-winning shot against Kansas. The Red Storm’s tenacious point guard ran the play he had called for himself moments earlier — attacking the basket, banking in a perfectly weighted shot and sending himself headlong into St. John’s history. After fouling St. John’s four times — and not running enough time off the clock in the process — the Red Storm had the ball at mid-court with 3.9 seconds left for an inbounds play.
Darling hit a layup as time expired to give the No. 5 Red Storm a 67-65 win over No. 4 Kansas and send the school to its first Sweet 16 since 1999. Darling also made NCAA tournament history with his basket. He became the first player to hit a game-winning buzzer-beater without scoring a single point before the shot. His layup was also just the sixth game-winning buzzer-beater in the last decade since Villanova’s Kris Jenkins made one of the most famous shots in NCAA tournament history in his game-winner against North Carolina in the national title game.
The Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks won for just the third time in 12 games. The Bucks moved the ball more and turned it over less than they did against the Jazz, resulting in a much more polished performance. Ryan Rollins led the Bucks in scoring with 26 points and 10 rebounds, Kyle Kuzma scored 20 before leaving with an injury, and the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns 108-105 on Saturday night. Rollins made a tough floater in the lane with 23.8 seconds to push the Bucks up 107-104 and added a free throw with 9.7 seconds left to seal the win. He shot 10 of 19 from the field and added seven assists. Kuzma left in the third quarter because of tightness in his right Achilles tendon.
The Suns took an 82-81 lead after three quarters, and the game stayed tight throughout the fourth. Ousmane Dieng’s short jumper pushed the Bucks ahead 102-97 with 2:21 left. Milwaukee — playing without injured star Giannis Antetokounmpo — trailed for much of the first half, but used a 42-point second quarter to take a 57-52 halftime lead. Kuzma led the Bucks with 17 points before the break while Green had 15 for the Suns.
The Green Bay Packers.
The Green Bay Packers have finalized their coaching staff while announcing the hires for the next season. Packers coach Matt LaFleur announced the moves Thursday. Daniel Bullocks has joined new Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s coaching staff. He will be Green Bay’s cornerbacks coach, replacing Ryan Downard, who moved on to Miami.
Bullocks began his coaching career at Northern Iowa in 2012, working with defensive backs for three seasons. He moved on to coach cornerbacks at Eastern Michigan in 2015 and then broke into the NFL in 2016 as an assistant defensive backs coach with Jacksonville. The Lions drafted Bullocks in the second round with the No. 40 overall pick in 2006. His four years in Detroit were riddled with injury, though.
As a rookie in 2006, Bullocks played in 15 games with seven starts, recording 75 total tackles. But during the 2007 preseason, he tore an ACL in his knee and missed the entire year. He came back in 2008 to play in 16 games with 15 starts, racking up 94 tackles, but another knee injury in the summer of 2009 landed him on injured reserve again and effectively ended his playing career.
