NCAA

Johnny Manziel wants to go back to where it all started ... telling TMZ Sports he'd love to return to the Texas A&M football program in some capacity.

Manziel was nothing short of a legend at College Station in 2012 and 2013 ... winning the Heisman trophy and becoming a household name with his highlight plays and unapologetic attitude.

Johnny -- who is set to suit up for Fan Controlled Football this season -- tells us he misses the sport ... and while a return to the NFL is out of the question, he wants to find another way to stay involved.

"I don't think I'm the same player I used to be," Johnny tells us. "I think I still have flashes, but I'm looking at what's next in my life and I want sports and football to be something that is gonna be a mainstay in my life for a long time."

"Now, it's figuring out where exactly that's gonna be -- whether its continuing to work with the FCF or something I'm really interested in as well is going back to Texas A&M and being a part of my school, or the program or whatever it is."

Johnny -- who brought up the idea of coaching while in the FCF -- tells us he wants to get back in on the action at A&M ... and the possibilities are endless.

"I miss my school, I miss College Station, I miss the feeling of those great times that I got to have when I was in college, and our new athletic director at Texas A&M, Ross Bjork, is a beauty of an individual and an awesome person."

Manziel says he wants to help A&M win championships and take the program to new heights ... and thinks the school is already on its way to making that happen.

It ain't exactly David vs. Goliath, but #11 seed Michigan is an underdog in their Sweet 16 matchup with Villanova ... but Chris Webber says that doesn't mean a thing 'cause the Wolverines are winning, and it really won't be that competitive.

TMZ Sports talked to the University of Michigan legend the night before Michigan squares off with Jay Wright's Nova squad, and asked Webber about the matchup.

"Villanova is a great team, great coach, but we have a lot of heart. I tell you what, in the bracket, I picked Houston to win just filling out things before the tournament started but after the way we've been playing since game one, I got us going all the way."

If Michigan advances, they'd play the winner of the Arizona (#1 seed) and Houston (#5 seed) game on Saturday with a trip to the Final 4 on the line.

Chris even told us how many points Michigan is going to win by.

"We're gonna win by 7. That's my prediction."

The teams followed a different path to the Sweet 16. Nova blew out #15 seed Delaware by 20 points in the first round of the tourney. They then handled #7 seed Ohio State in round two.

Michigan had a more challenging run to the Sweet 16. They beat #6 seed Colorado State by 12 in the first round, and then upset #3 seed Tennessee in the second round.

UM isn't your traditional #11 seed. They have a lot of talent and started the season ranked in the top 5 in the national polls. However, the season didn't go according to plan, and Juwan Howard's squad squeaked in as a low seed.

There's more. Chris also told us about his new partnership with Coinllectibles ... where he'll serve as president, tasked with introducing innovative sports and entertainment NFTs.

In fact, C-Webb and the company are releasing an NFT around his incredible career at Michigan on March 28.

Of course, Webber starred at Michigan between 1991 and 1993 as a member of the famed Fab Five. Chris was so good coming out of Ann Arbor that he was the 1st overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft.

Arizona Wildcats hoops star Bennedict Mathurin says he has been trying to apologize to a TCU dancer this week ... after he appeared to accidentally touch her chest following a game this weekend.

The alleged moment happened after the Wildcats' 85-80 win over the Horned Frogs in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday ... when the 6'6" Canadian baller -- the 2022 Pac-12 Player of the Year -- took a bow in front of fans and spread his arms as he was headed to the locker room.

From one angle, Mathurin's hand appeared to make contact with the dancer's chest ... but a different clip shows he actually might have avoided touching her.

Either way, the 19-year-old said he is actively trying to reach out to the student to personally apologize.

"I actually sent an email trying to reach out to the cheerleader," Mathurin said.

"Through the TCU athletic department, I reached out to her and that is it."

Dave Heeke, Arizona's athletic director, backed Mathurin's words ... saying the hooper did reach out to TCU to try to resolve the situation.

"While he does not recall any contact, he has attempted to reach out to the TCU student through their Athletic Department to apologize."

The 1-seed Wildcats and Mathurin will face the 5-seed Houston Cougars on Thursday in Sweet 16.

Caitlyn Jenner is teeing off on transgender athlete Lia Thomas' recent NCAA championship ... claiming the Penn swimmer's accomplishment should NOT be counted.

As we previously reported, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation declaring runner-up and Sarasota native Emma Weyant the "rightful winner" of the women's 500-yard freestyle race ... after the Olympic silver medalist lost to Thomas by 1.75 seconds.

Jenner is siding with DeSantis ... saying Weyant is clearly deserving of the #1 spot, and anyone who agrees isn't a bigot -- they're just using their brain.

"It's not transphobic or anti-trans, it's COMMON SENSE!" Jenner tweeted on Tuesday.

While 72-year-old Jenner has fully supported Thomas' decision to be her true self, the 1976 Olympic gold medalist has been critical of her participation in women's sports in the past.

Jenner's stance is women's sports need to be protected ... and when trans athletes like Thomas compete against biological women, it's creating an unfair advantage.

As for the NCAA, the org. decided transgender athlete participation would be determined on a sport-by-sport approach ... which means the national governing bodies for each sport are in charge of creating their own set of rules on the matter.

Thomas started at Penn on the men's team in 2017 ... and had some of the fastest times in the country. She started undergoing hormone replacement therapy in early 2019, and publicly came out as trans later that year.

Governor Ron DeSantis is denouncing transgender swimmer Lia Thomas' NCAA championship win ... saying Florida native Emma Weyant, who came in second, is the "rightful winner."

Thomas became the first openly trans athlete to win a Div. I championship in NCAA history on March 17 after beating out Weyant -- an Olympic silver medalist at the 2020 Games -- in the 500-yard freestyle.

The controversial win has had the sports world buzzing ... with many debating whether Thomas should even be allowed to compete against biological women.

The Florida gov. made his stance crystal clear on Tuesday ... issuing a proclamation to declare Weyant the true victor.

"By allowing men to compete in women's sports, the NCAA is destroying opportunities for women, making a mockery of its championships, and perpetuating a fraud," DeSantis tweeted.

"In Florida, we reject these lies and recognize Sarasota's Emma Weyant as the best women's swimmer in the 500y freestyle."

Weyant -- who won silver in the 400m IM in Tokyo -- grew up in Sarasota, FL before choosing to compete at Virginia in college.

Thomas joined the Penn men's swimming team in 2017 ... posting some of the fastest times in the nation. She started hormone replacement therapy in early 2019, and came out as trans later that year.

Thomas competed on the men's team a total of three years before being eligible to compete against women.

Thomas joined the women's team this past season after undergoing testosterone suppression treatment for more than one year ... winning the 500-yard freestyle, finishing fifth in the 200 free and eighth in the 100.

Miami Hurricanes head coach Jim Larrañaga not only saved the world from a shirtless Charles Barkley ... but then clowned Chuck during his post-game presser.

Yes, not all heroes wear capes.

It all started when Barkley, known for his larger-than-life personality as a commentator, joked he would take off his shirt if his alma mater, Auburn, beat the Hurricanes last night.

Jim got wind of Chuck's comments, and after knocking off Barkley's old school, had a hilarious reaction to it.

“I listened to Charles Barkley tell the CBS crew that if Auburn won, he’d take off his shirt. And, I thought to myself, no one wants to see that, Chuck," Larrañaga said.

Of course, Barkley has ties to Auburn -- he played for the Tigers for three years averaging 14.1 points per game -- so, it's safe to say he was a bit biased in his prediction.

But, Auburn was 7.5 point favorite over Miami, so Barkley, like most people, was stunned when the Hurricanes easily handled Auburn.

Miami dominated the Tigers, 79-61, to advance to the Sweet 16 ... and it seems coach Larrañaga and his team played with extra motivation thanks to Chuck.

After the game, Barkley was a good sport about Larrañaga's pot shot ... and even heaped praise on Jim for the way the Hurricanes beat up on his Tigers.

We also got video of the Hurricanes arriving back in Florida thanks to our intern, Ryan, and the scene on the ground in Miami was pretty incredible.

A group of passionate fans was there to greet coach as early as 2:15 AM ... and coach spent time high-fiving students as they chanted "It's great to be a Miami Hurricane."

"Shark Tank" star Daymond John is having a hard time enjoying this year's NCAA Tournament ... saying he believes it's "horrible," and is actually "modern-day slavery."

The 53-year-old businessman spelled out his beef with March Madness to Harvey and Charles on "TMZ Live" on Friday ... explaining he thinks the players are getting a raw deal in the huge event.

John said there's a ton of people making millions -- if not billions -- off the tourney ... yet players aren't seeing much of the pie at all.

"The players make nothing! Zero off of all that," John said. "I think this is modern-day slavery and they're just giving them a little bit of a crumb."

John acknowledged that players do get scholarships and do now have the ability to get paid from NIL deals -- but he insisted that's nowhere near enough.

"These players are bringing in billions of dollars and making absolutely zero," he said. "It is really, I think, what business model do you know that makes billions of dollars and pays their employees zero?"

UFC fighter Eryk Anders suffered a super GNARLY injury this week ... when he was chopping trees down with a chainsaw, and SAWED INTO HIS OWN FOOT!!

And, it's just as gross as it sounds.

TMZ Sports talked to 34-year-old Anders just days after he was forced to seek emergency treatment at a local hospital for the chainsaw injury.

"I was cutting down trees, and of course, I was on the last one, and I'm not a professional or nothing. It was a pretty big tree," Anders says, adding, "and I was cutting it and the tree leaned into the blade, so it kinda got stuck. With my other hand I reached up to push the tree, and I thought the chainsaw would keep cutting."

But, that's unfortunately not what happened.

"I guess I didn't have any pressure on the chainsaw to keep it moving in that direction and it kind of skipped off the tree and bounced off my foot."

Ouch.

How much did it hurt? We asked Eryk.

"I didn't even know I did it. Obviously, I felt the weight of the chainsaw land on my foot. I took a second. And, then the tree fell. So, I had to dodge the tree, so it was a big clusterf**k, all in the snap of a finger."

It goes without saying Anders is one tough dude. Not only is he a UFC fighter ... but he used to be a star on the University of Alabama football team, where he won a national championship under Nick Saban.

Thankfully, Anders was patched up by a doctor at the hospital (he needed 20 stitches) and is already back in the gym (maniac).

But, that's likely the end of Anders's logging career.

"I woke up and I realized that I wasn't dreaming. Saint Peter's did just knock off University of Kentucky on primetime TV and it was so, so many emotions running through my body."

That's St. Peter's College basketball legend Keydren Clark -- who twice led all Division 1 player's points scored in a season -- reacting to the shocking upset Thursday night. Clark starred at the school from 2002 to 2006.

Of course, #2 seed University of Kentucky, lead by Coach John Calipari and future NBA players, lost in overtime to the small Catholic school from Jersey City, NJ.

But, clearly, former Seton Hall University star Shaheen Holloway -- turned St. Peter's head coach -- wasn't intimidated ... and his Peacocks won 85-79 in one of the most shocking upsets in NCAA tourney history.

Even Clark could barely believe what he was seeing.

"Last night, I'm watching the game. Halftime, we in the game. I run downstairs, I put my jersey on. My kids supposed to be in bed, they hear me going crazy like 'Daddy what are you doing?' I said this right here is bigger than anything daddy could've ever done, they're on the brink of doing something special."

And, when the final horn sounded ... sending the 18-point favored Wildcats home, Keydren had all the feels.

"It was so many emotions. I was just so happy and it felt right and I was genuinely happy for the team because I watch them, I follow them, I've been up there, I talk to them before the tournament time and it was just an unreal feeling. I couldn't be prouder to be a Saint Peter's alum."

Now, St. Peter's advances to the second round, where they'll face #7 seed Murray State on Saturday with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line, and Clark says he may fly out to Indiana to watch the game in-person.

An Indiana University cheerleader saved the day at an NCAA Tournament game Thursday night -- soaring high above a backboard to retrieve a basketball for players ... and the improbable rebound was EPIC.

The woman, Cassidy Cerny, jumped into action after a ball got stuck during the Hoosiers' opening-round game against St. Mary's.

At the beginning of the second half, a player missed a shot -- and as the ball rattled around the rim, it somehow got caught above the hoop and didn't come down.

Several players and a ref tried to get the thing to shake loose -- using a chair and a broomstick -- but nobody could knock out the ball.

That's when Cassidy sprang into action with Nathan Paris -- using a cheerleading stunt to get up to the top of the hoop. And, eventually, she got the ball down!!

Check out the footage of the fun moment, the crowd went absolutely nuts following her retrieval.

A short time later, she and Paris were interviewed about the heroic effort ... and she was cool as a cucumber about it all.

"That was nothing, really," she said.

Harry Miller's football career is over -- the Ohio State lineman is medically retiring from football ... after revealing his mental health battle was so bad at one point, he contemplated killing himself.

Miller -- who started 7 games at left guard for the Buckeyes in 2020 -- released a lengthy statement to Twitter on Thursday ... addressing why he's walking away from the sport.

“Prior to the season last year, I told Coach [Ryan] Day of my intention to kill myself," Harry wrote.

The junior player said Day took the conversation seriously ... and immediately connected him with medical professionals to provide assistance.

Miller -- a former 5-star recruit -- said he gave football another try several weeks after revealing to coach he wanted to commit suicide ... adding he had scars on his wrists and throat as he played, but no one seemed to notice.

"They are hard to see, and they are easy to hide, but they sure do hurt," he added. "There was a dead man on the television set, but nobody knew it."

Miller expressed gratitude to coach Ryan Day for the resources he put in place at OSU to help guys like him overcome mental struggles like depression and suicide ... and they proved to be valuable.

“I am grateful for the infrastructure Coach Day has put in place at Ohio State, and I am grateful that he is letting me find a new way to help others in the program," Miller said.

"If not for him and the staff, my words would not be a reflection. They would be evidence in a post-mortem."

Miller's career in college football is over ... but the mechanical engineering major wants his story to help those battling similar mental health issues to speak up and seek assistance.

"I am okay."

Deion Sanders is revealing what his left foot looks like following the amputation of two of his toes -- and, warning, it's extremely graphic.

The NFL legend, in continuing to release details of his horrifying foot injury in bits and pieces, showed the mangled body part in a new video posted to his social media page Wednesday.

In the clip, Deion is showing his sons, Shedeur and Shilo, the injury for the first time -- and imploring them to use his bloody wound and the ensuing recovery process as a reminder to always work hard.

"Anytime y'all ever think about giving up anything, y'all think about this," Deion said. "I've fought through all of this for y'all."

Sanders' two sons -- who both play football for Deion at Jackson State -- appeared to be in shock over the injury, with one of them telling the former Dallas Cowboys cornerback in the footage, "You're a good man."

Shilo added in a post on his social media page Thursday, "I still haven't looked straight at it til this day."

The NEC men's hoops championship game on Tuesday night turned ugly ... after a shirtless fan escalated a huge skirmish in the stands by throwing his drink on another man.

The wild scene all went down with just minutes left in the Bryant vs. Wagner tilt in Rhode Island ... when Bryant fans appeared to get into it with Wagner supporters.

Broadcast cameras captured the scuffle in the seats ... and you can see, punches were thrown -- before a fan with no top on chucked the remnants of his drink at another man.

It looked like a couple Wagner players tried to jump into the fracas too -- but fortunately, it seemed they were all held back before they could get physically involved.

The game was delayed roughly half an hour over the melee ... and one Wagner player, guard Will Martinez, was ejected after video replays showed he was trying to race into the stands.

Cooler heads ultimately prevailed ... and Bryant went on to win the game easily, securing the championship and locking down its first-ever trip to this month's NCAA tournament.

Dick Vitale just scored the first win of March Madness -- the legendary college hoops analyst announced that his recent scans came back clean ... meaning he's cancer-free!!!

Dickie V got his positron emission tomography (PET) scans done on Tuesday ... a procedure that detects early signs of cancer and other diseases.

While he waited for his results, Vitale admitted he was nervous ... and asked his fanbase to send thoughts and prayers.

The good vibes certainly helped ... 'cause the 82-year-old revealed the scans showed no signs of cancer!!

"OMG ALL THE PRAYERS many of (you) have sent have been answered as DR Brown who heads my cancer TEAM called & said PET SCAN came back that NO CANCER is showing," Vitale said on Twitter.

This is great news for Dickie V, who has been challenged with two types of cancer recently -- in the last year, he was diagnosed with lymphoma and melanoma.

Dickie V also had vocal cord surgery last month and was ordered to be on voice rest.

Throughout his journey, he's received nothing but support from fans ... getting an emotional standing ovation in December at the Baylor vs. Villanova game.

"I feel like a coach playing for the Final 4 has a PTPer hit a shot at buzzer," Vitale added.

"My MARCH MADNESS starts with a W baby!"

Now, Vitale gets to rest up and recover in time for the 2022-23 season ... and hoops fans will be more than happy to have him back.

The parents of soccer star Katie Meyer say they fear a possible punishment from Stanford could have led to their daughter's suicide earlier this week.

In an interview with NBC's "Today" show on Friday, Steven and Gina Meyer say their daughter was facing potential discipline over an alleged incident involving her and one of her Cardinal teammates.

The two parents say over the last few weeks Katie had been receiving letters from the school over it all ... and in the past few days, she had gotten "kind of the final letter that there was going to be a trial or some kind of something."

Gina speculated it all might have led to the Stanford goalie's death on Tuesday.

"This is the only thing that we can come up with that triggered something," Gina said.

The school declined to comment on the situation ... telling "Today" in a statement, "We are not able to share information about confidential student disciplinary matters."

Gina and Steven said they've been devastated and heartbroken since Katie was found on Tuesday ... explaining, "the last couple days are a parents' worst nightmare."

Katie was just 22 years old.

Stanford women's soccer star Katie Meyer died by suicide, officials in California announced on Thursday.

In a statement released by the County of Santa Clara, officials said "Meyer's death was determined to be self-inflicted." They added no signs of foul play were found.

"The Medical Examiner-Coroner extends sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Katie Meyer," the officials said in a statement.

As we reported, Meyer was tragically found dead on Stanford's campus this week at just 22 years old.

She was the Cardinal's starting goalkeeper and a team captain ... and reps for the university called her "a bright shining light for so many."

Her death rocked her family and friends, Stanford's school and the sports world in general.

"There are no words," Katie's sister, Samantha Meyer, said in a social media post earlier this week. "Thank you for all the kindness extended to my family."

Katie joined the Cardinal in 2018 ... and helped the team win a national championship in 2019. A GoFundMe set up in her honor has already raised nearly $150,000.