MON SIX

Burning scraps of plastic and cardboard in a large tin can outside his family's tent in a southernGazagraveyard, Raed Abu Ouda prepares a meal for his children, remembering a time when they didn't have to live this way.

"We used to live in palaces, but now we live in graves," Abu Ouda, 42, who said he was injured in February when a shell struck his home despite the ongoing ceasefire, told NBC News this week. His family's tent is one of several built in an area used as a cemetery outside the Jordanian field hospital inKhan Younis.

The graveyard, he said, was the best shelter his family could find, with thousands of Palestinians still blocked from returning to their homes, or at least what's left of them, because they sit behind the"yellow line"— a boundary delineating territory still occupied by Israeli forces, comprising roughly half of Gaza.

"We have become people living in unnatural conditions," said Abu Ouda, who lost his work as a farmer after the conflict in Gaza began. Describing the daily struggle to get food, water and the most basic supplies for survival in the Palestinian enclave, five months into the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, he questioned how he was supposed to support his family of seven, including his youngest child, 1-year-old Arwa.

"I can't even provide a single jerrycan of water for them," he said.

Hopes that the ceasefire, brokered in part by President Donald Trump, would advance — and that the process of rebuilding Gaza might begin after more than two years of war — swelled after Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushnerunveiled plansfor the enclave's future, marked by gleaming high-rise towers and beaches packed with tourists. Kushner had outlined a timetable of a few years for the reconstruction despite the ongoing strikes in Gaza, but large-scale work is yet to begin.

Now, a wider war consumes the region after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran last month, triggering retaliatory attacks from Tehran and its proxies. Palestinians in the battered enclave fear they have been forgotten, with progress on advancing the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas largely sidelined by the latest hostilities. Key obstacles include the futuredisarmament of Hamasand thewithdrawal of Israeli troopsfrom areas that are still occupied.

"The war involving Iran has had a major impact on Gaza," Doaa Basam, a 26-year-old pharmacist displaced from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza to Khan Younis, told NBC News on Wednesday.

Basam noted a continued "shortage of many essential supplies," including adequate food and medicine.

The Kerem Shalom crossing is currently the only functioning route in and out of Gaza. Israel closed the Rafah crossing with Egypt "until further notice" as the Iran conflict broke out, citing security fears, just weeks afterit was reopened under the ceasefire deal.

Meanwhile, fears have grown for future access to aid in the enclave after dozens of humanitarian organizations, including Oxfam and Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, were barred by Israel from operating in the Palestinian territories over their refusal to cooperate with newvetting rulesthat would have forced them to provide lists of their staff, as well as their personal information.

The Israeli government said the rules were implemented on security grounds, to rule out any links to terrorism among humanitarian workers.

Israel's top court issued a temporary injunction to allow the organizations to continue most of their activities while it weighs a petition from 17 aid groups challenging the government ban, but a decision on the case has yet to be made.

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Speaking at a news briefing Wednesday, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said "ongoing restrictions on aid operations" were "worsening an already critical humanitarian situation."

Between Feb. 27 and March 5, just more than 3,400 pallets of aid administered by the U.N. and partners were offloaded at Gaza's crossings, according to an update published March 6 by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. That works out to around 485 pallets per day, with around 70% of them containing food supplies, according to OCHA.

The figures are a significant decrease from the average over the period since the ceasefire came into effect, with an average of 2,240 pallets a day delivered across the period between Oct. 10 and March 5. Those figures only pertain to aid administered by the U.N. and its partners, however.

OCHA warned a week ago that, even before the crossing closures and challenges posed by the Iran conflict, additional food supplies were "urgently needed to ensure that partners have sufficient stocks to maintain distributions," with its partners' operations covering "only 50 percent of minimum caloric needs" for 1.2 million of Gaza's 2 million residents.

OCHA also noted thatmedical evacuationsout of Gaza were also on hold amid the Iran war, while only "a limited number of commercial supplies have been permitted to enter," with delays causing fuel shortages, driving up prices and increasing reliance on humanitarian aid.

Asked about when the other crossings into Gaza might reopen and how much aid overall was getting into Gaza since the ceasefire began and since the Iran war started, COGAT, the Israeli military's liaison with the Palestinians, did not respond.

COGAT earlier this month said it was continuing to facilitate the entry of aid into Gaza in line with its "commitments and subject to the necessary security restrictions stemming from the security situation."

Meanwhile, deadly Israeli airstrikes have continued with more than 650 people killed in Gaza since the ceasefire began, according to the Health Ministry in the enclave, while most of the population is still internally displaced and living in makeshift shelters.

"People are still languishing in tents (almost) six months after this so-called ceasefire was established," Diana Buttu, a Palestinian lawyer and former adviser to Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, said in a phone interview Wednesday.

She added: "Ceasefire has become a new term for continuing to kill, and everybody's attention is focused elsewhere, on Iran."

"God willing, the war will end," said Abu Ouda, the father living with his family in the cemetery in Khan Younis. Until then, he said, his family would continue to "suffer unimaginably."

"Suffering to find water, suffering to find something to drink, something to eat, something to wear," he said.

"Everything is suffering."

As deadly tornadoestore through the Midwest and Plainslast weekend, state and local search-and-rescue crews rushed to the devastated areas to look for survivors. It wasn't until the teams deployed that they realized they were operating without a critical tornado-tracking tool typically provided by FEMA.

That left responders with a less precise picture of where to search first, two sources familiar with the situation told CNN.

The mapping tool pinpoints a tornado's path of destruction within minutes of touchdown, helping responders focus on the hardest-hit neighborhoods as quickly as possible. Even in storms where FEMA itself doesn't respond, state and local rescuers rely on the mapping tool, which is provided to them through the agency.

But it wasn't available this time, because FEMA's roughly $200,000 contract with the company that provides the data expired in February, and the agency's request to renew it is still moving through Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's strict spending-approval process, according to the two sources and internal documents reviewed by CNN.

"Rescuers were flying blind, having to drive around or use news reports to figure out where the impacts were," one of the sources told CNN. "And when a tornado hits in the middle of the night, every moment counts."

The disruption echoesproblems FEMA facedduring last July's deadly floods in Texas, when the same approval processes implemented by Noem – including a rule that all spending over $100,000 receive her personal signoff – slowed the agency's ability to pre-position search-and-rescue teams, left call centers understaffed and delayed the sharing of data with state partners.

Billions of dollars in contracts and grants have stalled at the agency in recent months pending approval by Noem and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, as the Trump administration seeks to rein in wasteful spending and shift more responsibility for disaster response to states.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

FEMA insiders have been warning that Noem's policies are hampering operations and their ability to respond to disasters.

Noem is scheduled to leave her position atop DHS at the end of March. Trump has tapped Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, to replace her. For now, her team continues to oversee FEMA's operations.

Over the past week, dozens of tornadoes have been reported from Texas to Michigan, part of a wave of severe storms that have killed at least 11 people.

As the storms spread, officials from several states started contacting FEMA, asking why they couldn't access the tornado tracking data. By early this week, they were reaching out to FEMA's acting chief, Karen Evans – appointed by Noem and the Trump administration – urging her to get the contract approved, especially with more tornadoes in the forecast.

Inside FEMA, leaders pressed Evans and DHS to let them restore the mapping tool, which search-and-rescue teams across the country can access when they need it most.

This wasn't the first time they had made the request. FEMA staff wrote to DHS back in January, asking officials to renew the contract and ensure the potentially life-saving technology would be readily available, especially heading into the spring, when tornadoes are most common, according to two sources with knowledge of the request.

Thousands of FEMA spending requests have made their way to the desks of Evans and Noem, sources and documents show. Many have been slashed; others have sat for months.

As of earlier this week, the tornado mapping contract still had not been renewed, the two sources said.

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"We've been told to get out of the way and empower the states, but the reality of what that looks like is not even providing these basic enabling technologies to our state and local partners," one of the sources said.

Shutdown: 'Sitting around with nothing to do'

When DHS partially shut down last month, Noem directed FEMA to scale back to "bare-minimum, life-saving operations only." In a follow-up email to the agency's regional leaders, Karen Evans wrote that "all activities at FEMA need to cease."

The email, which CNN obtained, carved out four exceptions: work tied to President Trump's State of the Union address, immediate response to the recent winter storms, meetings connected to the World Cup and Olympics and "Nuclear activities."

The directives were unusual, officials inside the agency said, as much of FEMA's work typically continues uninterrupted during government shutdowns because it's funded through the Disaster Relief Fund – a separate pot of money Congress provides for disasters and emergencies.

Nonetheless, work stopped immediately for some workers, seven FEMA officials in various parts of the country told CNN.

While some teams and regions directed workers to continue operating as usual, or close to it, others told staff to stand down from a wide range of projects that help communities recover from past disasters and prepare for the next.

"People are being told not to even open their computers," a high-ranking FEMA official said about their regional office, one of several across the country. "It's the most appalling experience of my professional life."

For those left with little to do, some are playing video games or cards to pass the time; others are watching TV at their desk. Some staffers have been told to stop communicating with state and local partners.

"We're sitting around with nothing to do," a high-ranking FEMA official in a separate region said. "I literally had someone next to me fall asleep at his desk the other day. Next week we're planning a cookout at the office."

Others are "making up work" for staffers "like case studies, reviews of plans, and inventory," another regional official told CNN.

FEMA insiders say, at this time of year, they should be focused on preparing for hurricane season, spring tornadoes and a severe drought that could fuel wildfires in the coming months.

"It's a huge waste of time and taxpayer money for no reason, just to make the impact of the shutdown more significant," another FEMA official said.

Noem and the Trump administration haveblamed Democratsfor the budgetary impasse at DHS, which they say is hampering disaster response work and holding up relief. Democrats support standalone funding for several key agencies, including FEMA, but Republicans have opposed such a piecemeal approach.

Noem has been one of FEMA's fiercest critics over the past year, calling it bloated, partisan and ineffective, and at times calling for it to be eliminated altogether.

All this comes as a task force assembled by President Trump to help reform FEMA is set to present its final list of recommendations in the coming weeks.

CNN's Brandon Miller contributed to this report.

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March 13 (Reuters) - A trial directly comparing Eliquis and Xarelto - two commonly used blood-thinning drugs from the same class of medicines - found that Eliquis carries a clearly lower risk of dangerous bleeding in patients with clots deep in the body, ‌researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.

A pharmacist holds a bottle of the drug Eliquis, made by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, at a pharmacy in Provo

Eliquis, known chemically as apixaban, is sold by Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer, while ‌Xarelto (rivaroxaban) is sold by Bayer and Johnson & Johnson.

The drugs, given to prevent recurrent blood clots that can lead to strokes, can sometimes also cause serious bleeding episodes.

"This trial provides ​highly anticipated evidence for physicians and should bring real peace of mind to venous thrombosis patients, who often live with the dual fear of blood clot recurrence and bleeding," study leader Dr. Lana Castellucci of The Ottawa Hospital in Canada said in a statement.

The researchers enrolled 2,760 patients with a venous thrombosis - blood clots in the veins - in the legs or lungs and randomly assigned them to treatment with one of the two anticoagulants.

After three months – the ‌standard course of treatment - 7.1% of participants taking ⁠Xarelto had experienced clinically relevant bleeding, compared to 3.3% of participants who received Eliquis.

There did not appear to be a difference in the risk of recurrent blood clots, suggesting both drugs work for their intended purpose, although there ⁠weren't enough study participants to allow reliable detection of a true effect, researchers said.

The study involved mainly white patients with healthy kidneys and livers and without cancer or obesity, so the results may not be applicable to everyone, the researchers acknowledged.

"Despite these limitations, the trial provides vital evidence for the treatment of venous ​thromboembolism," ​Dr. Lisa Moores of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in ​Bethesda, Maryland, wrote in an NEJM editorial. "Apixaban is a safer ‌first-line option than rivaroxaban for minimizing the risk of bleeding without compromising the prevention of recurrent thrombosis."

THE AGING GUT CAN IMPAIR THE AGING BRAIN

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Changes in the intestines with aging can contribute to cognitive declines, a study in mice suggests.

The aging gastrointestinal tract produces molecules that blunt the activity of the vagus nerve, a key pathway for communication between the gut and the brain, researchers reported in Nature.

In particular, a microbe called Parabacteroides goldsteinii, which produces molecules called medium-chain fatty acids, or MCFAs, becomes more abundant with age.

High levels of MCFAs activate immune cells in the gut to ‌produce inflammatory signaling molecules. One of these, IL-1beta, impairs the function of the vagus ​nerve, which plays a critical role in communication between the intestines and the hippocampus ​of the brain, where memories are formed.

In mice with cognitive decline, ​administering a bacterial virus that inhibits the activity of P. goldsteinii resulted in lower MCFA levels and improved memory, ‌the researchers found.

Furthermore, stimulating the vagus nerve by administering ​either the hormone cholecystokinin that regulates digestion, ​or the GLP-1 drug Saxenda from Novo Nordisk, reversed age-related memory deficits in the mice, they also found.

"The degree of reversibility of age-related cognitive decline in the animals just by altering gut-brain communication was a surprise," study leader Christoph Thaiss of Stanford Medicine said ​in a statement.

"We tend to think of memory ‌decline as a brain-intrinsic process. But this study indicates that we can enhance memory formation and brain activity by changing the ​composition of the gastrointestinal tract — a kind of remote control for the brain."

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(Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

KLEINFELTERSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A few dozen birdwatchers gathered in the predawn darkness to wait for the moment when thousands of migrating snow geese stopped honking and preening to suddenly take flight from a Pennsylvania reservoir.

Snow Geese

The mesmerizing display, about an hour after sunrise, was over almost as soon as it began. The birds circled a few times and then headed out to neighboring farm fields, seeking unharvested grains and other sustenance on their epicannual spring flightnorthward into New York state and Quebec.

The Pennsylvania reservoir was built a half-century ago to attract waterfowl and over the years the gaggle has grown. Pennsylvania Game Commission environmental education specialist Payton Miller described it as a raucous bird tornado that lifts off the water.

"All it takes is for me to come out here on a really nice morning where there's a huge morning flight and I'm kind of reminded how awesome it is to see such a large number of such a beautiful bird," Miller said. "I never get sick of it."

Among those taking it all in was Adrian Binns, a safari guide from Paoli, Pennsylvania, who went to the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area for "the whole enjoyment of seeing something you don't see every day."

Snow geese have been arriving in growing numbers at the 6,300-acre (25 square kilometers) Middle Creek property since the late 1990s. At this time of year, they have just spent months along the Atlantic coast, from New Jersey south to the Carolinas, with many of them overwintering on the Delmarva Peninsula that forms the Chesapeake Bay.

They don't stay long at Middle Creek — it's just a way station on their journey to summer breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic and western Greenland. But for a few short weeks they are the main attraction at Middle Creek, which draws about 150,000 visitors annually — including about a thousand hunters.

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The Pennsylvania Game Commission, which owns Middle Creek, says about 100,000 snow geese were roosting there on the busiest day last year, on par with recent peak activity but below the single-day record of about 200,000 on Feb. 21, 2018.

Snow geese are doing well, but their large numbers have come with a cost. According to a 2017 study published by Springer Nature, greater snow geese grew in population from about 3,000 in the early 20th century to some 700,000 by the 1990s. By some estimates, there are about a million of the birds now — along with maybe 10 million of lesser snow geese, which are smaller — that also breed in the Arctic.

The number of migrating tundra swans at Middle Creek, while far lower, has also increased over time, from a dozen or so in the mid-1970s to 5,000 or more in recent years. Middle Creek birders have also identified more than 280 bird species on the site, among them bald eagles, northern harriers, ospreys and owls.

As snow geese numbers have boomed in recent decades, wildlife officials in the U.S. and Canada have navigated abalancing actinvolving hunting regulations, concerns about crop damage, shifts in snow geese migration and changes to overwintering patterns. Environmental damage from overgrazing in the Arctic has led experts to conclude the birds are overabundant.

David M. Bird, a McGill University wildlife biology professor, described the population as "probably one of the biggest conservation problems facing wildlife biologists in North America today." Snow geese feed by pulling up plants by the roots, which damages habitats for themselves, various birds and other kinds of wildlife.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission reported recently thatavian influenza viruses, present in the state since 2022, continue to circulate among the state's wild birds. The game agency asked for the public's help in reporting sick or dead wild birds and reported that about 2,000 wild bird carcasses — mostly snow geese — had to be removed from a quarry a few miles north of Bethlehem in December and January.

Bird said that for nature lovers, snow geese can be a delight but for farmers, they're a pest. For hunters, they're food but for animal rights advocates, they're a species that needs protection, he said.

"But if you are a paid professional wildlife manager at a municipal, state or federal level whose challenging job is to try to please all of the aforementioned parties, then you will undoubtedly experience many sleepless nights in the fall when the geese arrive," Bird said.

March 13 (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the ‌U.S. Senate Commerce ‌aviation subcommittee on Friday called ​for a government investigation into two recent incidents of the government's use ‌of a ⁠laser-based anti-drone system in Texas.

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Senator Tammy ⁠Duckworth in a letter seen by Reuters asked ​the inspector ​generals ​for the ‌Transporation, Homeland Security and Defense departments to jointly investigate the government's use of counter drone high-energy ‌laser weapons. She ​the Texas ​events ​near the Mexican ‌border "raise serious questions regarding ​interagency ​coordination, notification procedures, aviation safety protocol, and ​compliance ‌with federal law."

(Reporting by ​David Shepardson; Editing by ​Toby Chopra)

Rhett & Link are celebrating their milestone 3,000th episode on their hit YouTube channel Good Mythical Morning

NEED TO KNOW

• The YouTube duo first started uploading videos to YouTube back in 2006 and launched Good Mythical Morning in 2012

• "Hitting this milestone is incredibly special to us and the Mythical crew," the pair told PEOPLE. "Not just because of the number, but because of the community that's grown around the show"

Rhett & Linkare looking back as their YouTube careers hit an impressive milestone.

On March 13, the content creation duo — known for nearly two decades of comedic videos — released the 3,000th episode of their flagship web series,Good Mythical Morning.

"When we started Good Mythical Morning back in 2012, we knew it would be a long-term project. But this long term? We could have never imagined we would get to 3000 episodes," the pair tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement.

"Hitting this milestone is incredibly special to us and the Mythical crew," they continue. "Not just because of the number, but because of the community that's grown around the show. The Mythical Beasts have been with us every step of the way, and this episode is really a celebration of them as much as it is of us."

The internet personalities, whose full names are Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, first started uploading videos to YouTube back in 2006, but it wasn't until 2012 that they launched Good Mythical Morning, where they complete silly taste tests among other out-of-the-box content.

Today, Good Mythical Morning has close to 20 million subscribers, and the pair have a host of other media properties under their entertainment studio, including the YouTube channel Mythical Kitchen, podcastsEar BiscuitsandA Hot Dog is a Sandwichand the food outlet Sporked.

Speaking to PEOPLE in June, thepair notedhow rare it is to see the kind of career longevity they've managed to cultivate on the internet.

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"Almost everybody who started at the beginning of YouTube when we were getting going is not still experiencing the traction that we are," Link said. "A lot of that is owed to the success of Good Mythical Morning, which wasn't the first thing we did. We started it as a side project, not knowing that it was gonna be our lifeline to our audience."

Rhett added that, while other content creators tried to chase viral trends for short-term success, they dug into a consistent show format to slowly build a reliable audience.

The pair have also not been shy when it comes to setting boundaries with their audience — even amid the rise of influencers who make a living sharing intimate details about their personal lives.

"If you get into a place where you're letting your audience lead you or you're just sitting there, cowering to them, to do the thing that they want from you, you're going to shrivel up creatively and personally," Rhett told PEOPLE. "Understanding how that relationship actually works has been a key to our longevity."

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

As they looked to the future, the Rhett said that they want to continue to build out the Mythical brand, creating new properties that "shepherd from a distance" and can "develop a life of their own."

And as for Great Mythical Morning, though Link acknowledged it can be a "challenge to keep it fresh," he added that "the challenge is part of why it works."

Read the original article onPeople

On the Friday, March 13, 2026, episode of The Excerpt podcast:Bracket season is almost here. With conference tournaments underway and Selection Sunday looming, which teams look ready to make a deep run and which powerhouses might miss the field entirely? USA TODAY College Sports Reporter Paul Myerberg joins The Excerpt to break down the tournament picture, including Florida's title defense, potential Cinderella teams and the NBA prospects who could steal the spotlight.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it.This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Podcasts:True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here

Dana Taylor:

March Madness is just around the corner, and that means brackets, buzzer beaters, and the annual scramble to figure out which teams are contenders and which ones might bust your bracket. Can the defending Champion Florida Gators men's basketball make another title run? Which powerhouse programs might be on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday, and which NBA prospects could turn the tournament into their breakout moment?

Hello, and welcome to USA TODAY's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Friday, March 13th, 2026. Joining me to preview the men's NCAA tournament is USA TODAY College Sports Reporter Paul Myerberg. Thanks for coming on The Excerpt, Paul.

Paul Myerberg:

Oh, thank you so much for having me.

Dana Taylor:

Paul, let's zoom out first. What kind of March Madness are we heading into this year? Is there a clear favorite or does this feel like a wide open field?

Paul Myerberg:

Yeah, it kind of feels like both, and I know that's hedging my answer, but at the same time you have clear favorites, you have maybe at least four, maybe six, if you're being optimistic, maybe eight teams. And within that, there's a very wide open competition for who you think is the best team of the country or who you think can win the national championship. Those eight teams, I would say, are kind of sitting in first class. And then you have another 60 teams, 75 teams, just way back in coach. That's the separation that we're seeing now.

Yeah, there are really talented teams who are not on the bubble, but maybe back off the top one or two seeds who could come up and win this national championship, but we're really hyper-focused on these specific handful, handful-plus of teams. And the odds are at this point that the national champion will come from this very small group.

Dana Taylor:

The Florida Gators are coming in as the defending national champions. How realistic is it for them to repeat and what would have to go right for that to happen?

Paul Myerberg:

It's a really interesting team and it's a team that has evolved in a really interesting way. If you think back to last March and last early April, for your listeners to remember the tournament, this was a team that was led by a very singular talent named Walter Clayton. And Walter Clayton was maybe six feet in sneakers. He was not the biggest guy on the court, but he was someone who every time Florida was in trouble, they needed someone to make a play to provide a spark, he really carried that team and was the MVP of the Final Four and had a historic NCAA tournament. And it took Florida some time to find themselves and discover who they were.

So if you had asked me this question maybe a month to a month and a half ago, I think the answer would've been no, because Florida was not playing like a national championship team. They had a lot of holes and I don't think they knew who they were yet, but this group has really rallied. They're on an extended winning streak right now. Players like Alex Condon have grown into leadership roles. Rueben Chinyelu, who's their big man in the middle, is a veteran, experienced guy who's extremely physical. At this point, Florida's in that small group of teams that I mentioned, those six to eight teams when you think you win a national championship. And we'll see how they do in the SCC, that conference tournament. But as of right now, the arrow is really pointing up on Florida.

And it's funny, there was a time for about two decades where very few teams even competed to go back to back. It was seen as one of the great challenges in college sports. We had UConn do it in '23, '24. I think Florida's got a really excellent chance at this point to repeat. And considering where they were in maybe January into early February, it would be really an incredible achievement for this specific team to follow in last year's footsteps and cut down the nuts again in Indianapolis.

Dana Taylor:

Paul, Duke is always a school mentioned during March Madness and they're a number one seed. Are there any other blue bloods you are watching ahead of the tournament?

Paul Myerberg:

Yeah, Duke is the number one seed very likely this year. They might even be the top overall seed. They're extremely good. I'm looking at blue bloods who are kind of on the opposite end of the spectrum. These are three teams who are historic powers who are not going to be one seeds. They'll be in the tournament, but it's just up in the air how they're going to do. And that's North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky. North Carolina has had injury problems. When they are healthy, they're extremely good, and I think they're going to be healthy come March or come March Madness. So they're a team to watch. Kansas is hit or miss, very talented. We'll talk about one of their players later on as a draft prospect named Darryn Peterson.

Kentucky is someone that I'm really watching because they are so hit or miss. Supposedly, and we don't know these numbers because they're impossible to access, but supposedly Kentucky has the most expensive roster. Nowadays with NIL, you can essentially pay for players. Kentucky has done that, and it's become a bit of a cautionary tale because Kentucky went out and developed and purchased a roster that resembles, in some respects, an all-star roster of established players mixed with five-star recruits, and Kentucky doesn't really know who they are or what they can be. So that's a team that I'm watching. If it clicks, and there's no reason to think that it will, but if it clicks, Kentucky is a team that could be very, very dangerous.

At the same time, like I said, we're waiting for it to click. And if they get ejected in the opening round as a seven seed or an eight seed, it's going to be a difficult off-season for the Wildcats and for Coach Mark Pope.

Dana Taylor:

Who are the teams that look built to make a deep run this year? What separates those programs from the rest of the field?

Paul Myerberg:

That's a really great question. And I think just to tackle the second part, what separates a great regular season team, there are a lot of really good regular season teams from a great tournament team is coaching, it's experience, and its execution. And it's not really so much depth. You don't really need to go nine players deep in the tournament. Very rarely do teams do that. A lot of times teams that win a national championship just go seven deep or eight deep. So the teams that I'm looking at are teams that are really strong through your sixth, your seventh guy, have made recent tournament runs, they know what it takes, and are well coached and they know who they are and they have an identity.

So let's just name a few. Duke, we touched on. Arizona, they were the last unbeaten major conference program. UConn won two of the last three national championships. Michigan, Iowa State, and Houston. I think those are the six teams that I look at right now. And Florida, obviously, six or seven teams I look at right now and I say, "Okay, these are the teams that are go deep into March." And what they all have in common is, like I said, recent postseason success, singular talents who can carry a team on an off night, and a coach who knows what he is doing, knows how to press the right buttons. So as I said in the start, if I had to put my chips on the table and say it's either one of these teams or the field, I don't sweat it. It's one of those teams to me that'll win the national championship.

Dana Taylor:

Some conferences look especially strong this season. Are there leagues that could end up dominating the bracket or sending a surprising number of teams into the Sweet 16?

Paul Myerberg:

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There are a few conferences who I think are going to make noise, and I think they're going to make noise for different reasons. There's the Big 12, and the Big 12 is not as deep as other leagues, but they're really top-heavy. That's because they have Arizona, they have Houston, they have Iowa State. And those are three teams, like I said, who could win it all. And that's a really good top three. You could see all three of those teams in the elite eight. I mean, you could conceivably see two of those teams in the final four, maybe get all three depending on how the seating and the brackets shake out. That's one league that is very top-heavy.

Two leagues that are deeper but don't have that really thick upper crust would be theBig 10and the SEC. I think both of those leagues will challenge to have the most teams in the bracket. SEC last year had 14. They're not going to get there this year, probably more like nine or 10, similarly with the Big 10. The Big 10 and the SEC have teams at the top. They have an Alabama, they have a Florida, they have a Michigan, they have a Michigan State, but that's more about the depth. So if you look at the Sweet 16, I wouldn't be surprised if the Big 10, the SEC make up half of that, maybe make up nine of the 16 teams with another few from the Big 12. So I would focus on those three leagues.

One league on just quickly on the other end of the spectrum, a couple years ago, the Big East was dominating this tournament. They had a budget teams, the elite eight. Obviously UConn went on to win the whole thing. This year, the Big East might get three teams in the bracket unless you have an upset in the conference tournament. That's UConn, that's St. John's, and Villanova. So it has a different feel. You might see two of those teams get to the elite eight, but the Big East doesn't have that kind of depth that we're used to seeing from the conference in the recent pass.

Dana Taylor:

Every year we see a few big name programs sweating it out on Selection Sunday. Which name teams are in real danger of missing the tournament this year?

Paul Myerberg:

There are two big names that could miss the tournament. If I had to guess, at least one of them definitely will, probably both of them will down the line. That's Indiana and Auburn. We might know Indiana now is a football school, amazingly, because they just won 16 and 0 and won the national championship back in January. Indiana basketball is historically one of the flag bearers for this sport. They're really bad. They're really, really bad and it's causing a lot of hand wringing in Bloomington waiting for September to roll around. So, Indiana, I think is on the outside looking in now. As it stands, they've probably got to win two games in the Big 10 tournament to make the field. It feels really unlikely.

Auburn, similarly, they have played a really tough schedule, but just the wins aren't there. They're hovering around 500 right now. They've got a terrible record against teams that are at the very top of the SEC and in the top 25. So they're going to be sweating it out. Both those teams, like I said, I would guess that neither of them make it, and instead they're watching someone like Santa Clara play in their place. And that's going to be difficult for Indiana and their fan base, for example, to swallow.

Dana Taylor:

Well, how much did these conference tournaments actually change the bracket picture? Can a team still play its way in or out at this stage?

Paul Myerberg:

Definitely. And it's interesting to think about how individual conferences are impacted by their tournament. For example, like I mentioned the Big Ten and the SEC. Teams in that conference by and large are playing in the conference tournament for bragging rights and for a banner, but also for where their seating will be in the tournament because most of them are officially in the field. There's a chance that Ole Miss might come up and win the conference tournament and steal a bid from somewhere else. It just feels unlikely, just like in the Big 10. Why people love these conference tournaments and why they're just so caught up and wrapped up in them is because the unpredictability and because there are so many leagues where it's one and done, meaning that the only team that's getting in is your conference champion. And there are a lot of leagues. There are more leagues that are like that than not basically in division one.

So for me, for example, I live in Brooklyn, New York. Down the street for me is Long Island University. Long Island University is not making the NCAA tournament as an at large bid, meeting as a team that doesn't win their conference tournament. So they're playing in the Northeastern Conference Tournament. Every game matters. Every possession matters. Every shot matters. Every defensive stop matters because if you lose to whomever on whatever night, the season's over. Pack your bags, clean out your locker, go to class, and we'll see you in a couple months. And that's just so dramatic to me. And it's why people love March Madness. So when you watch conference tournaments, Big Ten and SEC, it's a lot of fun. The competition's at a high level, the level of play is excellent, but I love watching The MAC, and the MEAC, and the Southern Conference because it's live or die. Every single moment matters. So yeah, for those leagues, the conference tournament is absolutely everything. It's just everything.

Dana Taylor:

March Madness is often where NBA prospects introduce themselves to a national audience. Who are the top NBA Draft prospects we should be watching out for in this tournament?

Paul Myerberg:

Yeah, there are three. And I'll start by saying this. According to draft pundits and prognosticators, this is the deepest NBA Draft in terms of top-level lottery picks in a decade or maybe more, so there's a lot of attention on this year's draft class. There's still no doubt that there are three players who rise above the rest. That's Darryn Peterson at Kansas, Cameron Boozer at Duke, and AJ Dybantsa at Brigham Young. Each in their own way is a special talent. Darryn Peterson, he's had injury issues, but when he's playing and healthy, he's probably a number one overall pick in just an unstoppable score. Cameron Boozer, his father, Carlos Boozer, was an NBA All-Star. A big man for Duke, 20 points, 10 rebounds for assist. If he averages that amount through the end of regular season, he'll be the first freshman to do that since Larry Bird in the late 70s.

And then Dybantsa at Brigham Young, BYU is not a place where five-star basketball recruits go to, just historically. AJ went there and he's been the top scorer in the country. And if he leaves the nation scoring, he'll be the third freshman in the history of the NCAA to do so. So those are three guys that if you're just a casual fan and you flip on CBS or truTV on a Thursday or a Friday in a couple weeks, watch those guys because you'll be watching them on Amazon and on Thursday night on NBC for the next 10 years.

Dana Taylor:

Every year there's at least one Cinderella story, Paul. What kinds of teams tend to make those runs? And do you see any potential bracket busters this year?

Paul Myerberg:

Yeah, so Cinderella, it's a very, very narrow definition. Duke cannot be a Cinderella. We have to agree on that. Duke might think of themselves sometimes as plucky little underdogs. No, you're not Cinderella. You have to be very, very specific. You have to come out of nowhere. You have to have not achieved anything of late. You have to be discounted. And it helps if you have a bunch of guys who look like they shouldn't be sharing the court with Cameron Boozer or Darryn Peterson. Two teams who are really good, who have great records against not elite competition, who I think can bust the bracket for people, that's St. Louis. St. Louis is the top-scoring team in the country, or they have been for most of the year. It's just an electric offensive scheme, very dynamic, ton of break shooters. They could get into a game against a more talented team and just kind of run them off the court because they get hot.

And then Miami of Ohio, not Miami, Florida. We're talking Miami, Ohio. They're unbeaten in the MAC Conference, the Mid-American Conference. They've been in the news recently because people who are at Auburn, or former Auburn coaches, they don't deserve to be in the tournament if they lose a game because they haven't played a great schedule. That to me is like the definition of Cinderella. You have coaches or former coaches in major conferences saying you don't deserve to be there? Yes, put on your glass slipper and hit 18 three pointers in a game and beat Duke by 13. That's the dream for the Cinderella March Madness. So keep your eye on those two. One thing that's for sure, there will be a Cinderella. That is guaranteed. It'll be somebody. Every March has one. It could be a person, it could be a coach, it could be a team, but Cinderella will be there. She's out there waiting right now.

Dana Taylor:

And then any potential bracket busters?

Paul Myerberg:

Yeah, I would say those two teams, a team like I mentioned like Kentucky or North Carolina or Kansas, because they're so talented, they might get a low seed, like a six seed or a seven seed, which doesn't make sense when you look at the name, but just flip the switch. North Carolina with a player like Wilson who's been injured this season, flip the switch, get healthy, and make a run. So those are your bracket busters. They're not Cinderellas, but they are definitely bracket busters.

Dana Taylor:

Follow along with March Madness and all things sports with USA TODAY's Sports Seriously podcast. Paul Myerberg is a college sports reporter with USA TODAY. Paul, it was a pleasure speaking with you. Thank you so much for coming on The Excerpt.

Paul Myerberg:

Of course. Thank you so much for having me.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks to our senior producer, Kaely Monahan for her production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. I'll be back Monday morning with another episode of USA TODAY's The Excerpt.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Which team is built to win March Madness this year | The Excerpt