NCAA

The demand for tickets to the NCAA championship game is soaring through the roof ... and TMZ Sports has learned that one fan even dropped over $17,000 for a single seat to watch the UConn Huskies and Michigan Wolverines duke it out in person.

We're told the ticket sold via the popular ticket buying and selling platform, SeatGeek ... a massive price to witness the action Monday night at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

That single ticket was $17,022.96 ... and Max Meyer, SeatGeeks' Senior Content Analyst, told us the demand is up by 20% compared to last year's NCAA title game.

The Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team is gunning to return to the championship game for the first time since losing to Villanova back in 2018 ... and Trey Burke has a message for the squad ahead of their showdown with Arizona in just a few hours!

"Staying in the moment," Burke told TMZ Sports. "It's easy to think about what could happen, win or lose, you know, get caught up just in the festivities and just realizing you're actually here."

"I think the biggest thing is staying in the moment, really enjoying the moment and getting lost in the game. It is one of those games that you can't really go back in time and redo."

Robbie Avila -- the goggle-wearing big man who went viral as “College Jokic” for his throwback game and elite passing -- isn’t just cooking on the court … he’s racking up an all-time nickname collection.

Before March Madness truly tips off, TMZ Sports caught up with the Saint Louis star to run through the internet’s best monikers -- and one stood out above the rest: “Cream Abdul-Jabbar.”

“That’s the most creative nickname I’ve ever heard,” Avila said. “It’s hilarious, I love it.”

The specs and old-school style make it hit even harder for the 6-foot-10 sensation who has the Billikens dancing into the NCAA Tournament with a 28-5 record.

Stumped filling out your March Madness bracket?! Dan Dakich is here to help ... giving us his picks ahead of the NCAA Tourney tip-off -- just don't expect a whole bunch of upsets, or Cinderella runs!

TMZ Sports caught up with the longtime college hoops coach turned host of Outkick's Don't @ Me podcast, who says the tournament feels top-heavy with only a handful of teams that can actually win it all -- and he’s riding with the big dogs.

“I’ll take my chances with Duke and Michigan,” Dakich said, adding Florida’s right there, too. “I think one of those teams wins it.”

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee screwed St. John's, but it doesn't make a bit of difference, according to former SJU star Metta World Peace ... who tells TMZ Sports the hoopers from Jamaica, Queens will soon be cutting down the nets!

"It makes no sense. I don't know how we were a 5 seed," World Peace told Babcock on Monday. "I thought St. John's was going to be a one-seed."

Many college basketball fans were shocked when the Johnnies were named a 5-seed on Sunday ... a day after running UCONN, a 2-seed, out of Madison Square Garden the day before in the Big East Championship game.

A parachutist at the Armed Forces Bowl ended up with an unexpected touchdown prior to the game ... or, perhaps "crash-down" is a more apt term -- since he went down hard after catching on the field goal net.

The wild moment went down before the college football game in Fort Worth, Texas Friday ... when a few parachutists leapt from planes during the flyover to land on the field -- all pretty standard fare for big-time matchups like this one.

While four of the jumpers landed safe and sound, one got a little too close to the net behind the goal post which keeps balls from landing in the crowd ... stopping his momentum and sending him plummeting to the earth.

Nyier Daniels -- an offensive lineman with the University of Georgia football team -- has been arrested and booked on a slew of charges.

The redshirt freshman was arrested Sunday after he allegedly tried to flee from police in Commerce, GA -- a city about 20 miles from Athens where his university is located.

Authorities arrested him on three felony counts ... two counts of second-degree cruelty to children and one count of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco might have a few haters on their big day, including one big-time celebrity ... the feisty Oregon Duck!

Here's the deal ... the University of Oregon is facing off against Penn State University Saturday afternoon in Happy Valley, PA with kickoff set to take place at 4:30 PM PT.

However, attendees got an early start on the festivities because the popular college football pregame show "College Gameday" set up on PSU's campus to preview the exciting matchup ... and The Oregon Duck whipped out a sign while in the crowd.

Loyola University's got plenty of fans out there, and we're thinking Sister Jean's got to be one of the Ramblers' most loyal supporters.

The chaplain of the school's basketball team announced her retirement in September 2025 -- not long after she turned 106 years old.

We're going to take a look back at what the Sister Jean accomplished during her time with the Ramblers and see what led up to her eventual retirement from the school's official activities.

Former UNC star Devontez Walker's got no issues with Bill Belichick's relationship with Jordon Hudson ... in fact, the ex-Tar Heels wideout tells TMZ Sports he's all for it!

The 24-year-old, who now plays for the Baltimore Ravens, chatted with us this week about how Belichick's doing at his alma mater ... and when the topic of the head coach's young girlfriend came up, he said he's a fan.

He did admit Belichick and Hudson's nearly 50-year age gap is "a little crazy" ... but he added the spark between the two is apparent to him.

Breathe easy, Longhorns fans ... Brett Favre says despite Arch Manning's early-season struggles -- he's just sure the Texas quarterback is going to be fine.

TMZ Sports chatted with the Hall of Famer following Manning's up-and-down start to the 2025-26 season ... and he told us, despite some hiccups, UT supporters will be loving what they see out of Arch in no time.

Favre explained opening the season on the road against Ohio State -- the defending national champions -- is a brutal way for any player to start, let alone one entering his first year as QB1.

A day after the NCAA announced it permanently revoked the eligibility of three players due to their involvement in a gambling scheme ... the organization announced it is now looking into 13 players from six different schools for alleged sports betting violations.

The NCAA shared the news in a press release on Thursday, saying that while each situation between the players varies -- the allegations range from betting on and against their respective teams, point shaving and game manipulation.

No identities were given by the NCAA ... but they said it involves players formerly associated with Temple, Arizona State, Eastern Michigan, North Carolina A&T and Mississippi Valley.

Master P wants the smoke with Shaquille O'Neal ... telling TMZ Sports he's hoping to set up a college basketball matchup between their two schools -- University of New Orleans and Sacramento State!!

We spoke with Miller while he was busy hosting the "TMZ After Dark" tour over the weekend ... and during a brief pause in all the fun, the rap legend -- and new president of basketball operations at UNO -- explained how he's trying to set up a competition with the Hornets, as the Big Aristotle is their GM and his son Shaqir is on the roster.

"If y'all want to see that, y'all need to call the NCAA and say, 'Look, man, at least let us scrimmage each other this year,'" P said. "I think that'll be big for the culture in New Orleans. Shaq and Master P at the University of New Orleans and University of Sacramento."

There's been plenty of iconic nicknames associated with football players over the years ... and it looks like Dylan Raiola might be remembered as "Baby Mahomes" in his future!

The college football player's received a lot of attention for his similarity to Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes -- and they're both aware of the comparison, too!

We're going to check out how the quarterbacks ended up being linked and see how they've managed to take the whole situation in stride.

Dylan's on the University of Nebraska's football squad, where he plays quarterback.

The athlete had actually been committed to both Ohio State University and the University of Georgia before he ended up at Nebraska. He started playing for the Cornhuskers during their 2024 season.

Dylan's first season with the Cornhuskers saw the team go through various ups and downs, and they finished with a 7-6 record.

Oh, and by the way, the guy's got football in his genes, because his father Dominic spent 14 years playing center for the Detroit Lions -- and L.A. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is his godfather!

Dylan started being compared to Patrick at the beginning of his collegiate career -- and in all fairness, the guys don't exactly look too dissimilar.

The connection between the two only became more pronounced when the college athlete began imitating the NFL star's warmup ritual at Nebraska's games.

Nebraska's coach Matt Rhule is well aware of the comparisons between the athletes, seeing the similarity as a positive, and he claimed Dylan is "a winner, just like Patrick" on an episode of "The Rich Eisen Show."

Even the Chiefs star has commented about the similarity between their styles of play, and he referred to the Cornhuskers quarterback as his "lil cuzzo" in a post shared on his X account in August 2024.

Patrick's spoken openly about the comparison between himself and Dylan, and he totally understands why a college-level player might want to take after an NFL star.

Mahomes recalled emulating Alex Rodriguez as he played baseball growing up, and said modeling his game after the former shortstop "helped me become the athlete that I am," according to ESPN.

Mahomes also spoke highly of Dylan's football skills and predicted the Cornhuskers quarterback was "going to make his own stamp on the game" over the years.

College football season just kicked off, folks, and we wanna know if you can guess who this proud sports dad is!

Although this celeb might not have had time on the gridiron like his brothers Peyton or Eli, he's still been involved in the world of football as a pre-game host on "Fox NFL Kickoff," where he's been a contributor for almost a decade.