INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA on Friday named the 2026-27 chairs of the NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball committees and a plan to announce the top 16 seeds for the women's tournament the day before Selection Sunday.
Samford athletic director Martin Newton will head the men's committee and BYU senior associate athletic director Liz Darger will lead the women's.
Newton will serve as vice chair for the coming season, supporting Sun Belt Conference commissioner and 2025-26 chair Keith Gill. Newton played basketball for Samford in the early 1980s and has served on the Division I Council and the Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee.
Darger, the women's vice chair this year, will take over for Milwaukee athletic director and chair Amanda Braun. Darger was an assistant coach at Utah Valley for six years before going into sports administration at BYU in 2015.
The NCAA said announcing the top 16 seeds on the day before Selection Sunday would allow host sites more time to set up its tournament operations. The top 16 will be provided in alphabetical order.
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FILE - A basketball with a March Madness logo is seen going through a net prior to a second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament between Notre Dame and Michigan, March 23, 2025, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/John Mersits, File)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Dave Giusti, a reliable reliever who spent 15 years in the majors and helped the Pittsburgh Pirates win the 1971 World Series title, has died. He was 86.
The club, citing Giusti's family, said he died on Sunday.
The right-hander went 100-93 with a 3.60 ERA in 668 career appearances for five clubs from 1962-77. He began his career as a starter in Houston but had his greatest success with the Pirates, who acquired him from St. Louis in October 1969 and then moved him to the bullpen full-time.
Giusti led the National League with 30 saves in 1971, then added 10 2/3 scoreless innings in the playoffs as the Pirates beat the Giants in the NLCS and then the Baltimore Orioles in seven games in the World Series.
Giusti made his lone All-Star appearance in 1973. He played seven seasons for Pittsburgh, registering 133 saves, which ranks third in franchise history. He split time between Oakland and the Chicago Cubs in 1977 before retiring.
A native of Seneca Falls, New York, Giusti played collegiately at Syracuse before being signed by Houston, then an expansion team known as the Colt .45s, as an amateur free agent. He appeared in 22 games as a rookie in 1962, spent all of 1963 in the minors before returning to the majors for good after being called up during the 1964 season.
Giusti is survived by his wife, two daughters and four grandchildren.
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FILE - Pitcher Dave Giusti, a member of the 1971 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates, takes part in a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the championship season before of a baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Mets in Pittsburgh, July 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
