MON SIX

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Michael Jordan calls Denny Hamlin the "mastermind" behind their 23XI NASCAR racing team. Hamlin calls their co-ownership a "perfect partnership."

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The team has been nothing shy of perfect behind driver Tyler Reddick so far early in 2026.

Reddick became the first driver in Cup Series history towin the first three racesof the season Sunday. He started the first road course race of the year from pole position, then held off hard-charging Shane van Gisbergen for the victory at the Circuit of the Americas

When Reddick's Toyota zoomed across the finish line, Jordan was celebrating with the pit crew as the basketball Hall of Famer and six-time NBA champion exchanged high-fives and hugs.

Reddick has been seeing a lot of postrace smiles from Jordan — after hewon the Daytona 500and thenagain in Atlanta. Reddick said Jordan reminded him last week that he "does things in threes," referring to Jordan's NBA championships clusters with the Chicago Bulls.

"I was really glad to live up to that standard," Reddick said.

Jordan's having so much fun, he now wants to go for four.

"I'm going to Phoenix," Jordan said, noting the next race on the calendar.

And why not? The team is having a lot of fun on its march through NASCAR history.

Jordan and Hamlin took on NASCAR witha federal antitrust lawsuit. The settlement in December was considered a major legal victory that secured a permanent franchise-style model and ensured the team would remain in business for the long-term.

Jordan gives Hamlin the credit for building the race-winning team on the track, specifically noting Hamlin's pursuit of Reddick as a driver.

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"He's the mastermind," Jordan said. "I just put up the money. Denny's done an incredible job building this team."

Hamlin gave the compliment right back.

"It's a perfect partnership," Hamlin said. "This doesn't work out if he doesn't give me a lot of autonomy."

Hamlin, who also drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, said he wanted to be as hands-on as possible when building the team.

"I wanted to make sure if it failed it was because of something I did," Hamlin said. "This team had three employees working at. We had zero. We didn't buy a team, we just built it."

Bringing in Reddick has proven almost priceless.

The 30-year-old driver raced to his first win with 23XI at COTA in 2023. He was second at Daytona in 2025, but a season that started with such promise ended winless.

Now he seems unbeatable.

"What a dream start for those guys," Hamlin said.

AP auto racing:https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

As the calendar turns to March andSelection Sundaylooms tantalizingly close, the annual heated discussion around theNCAA men's basketball tournamentbubble has once again commenced.

But for all the debate that surrounds who should be in and out of the 68-team field, dozens of other teams across the country that are safely in will be spending the final two weeks of the 2025-26 regular season jockeying for position on the bracket.

At this pivotal time of year, some teams are hitting their stride and looking poised for a deep tournament run. Others, meanwhile, are watching their once-bright hopes fade with loss after loss.

A March Madness prelude:Basketball conference tournament schedule

What teams are surging inMarch Madnessprojections? And which ones are starting to stumble?

Here's a look at the latest list of rising and falling teams for the 2026 NCAA Tournament:

Projected seeds are based on the bracketology update from USA TODAY Sports on Feb. 27

Rising

Florida

Current projected seed: No. 2

The reigning national champions once again look like one of the favorites to cut down the nets with "One Shining Moment" playing in the background. The Gators got off to an inauspicious 5-4 start, but have gone 18-2 since. Their once-struggling backcourt of Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland is starting to round into form while its frontcourt remains arguably the best in the sport.

Floridalooks like the clear favorite in the SEC and if its run keeps going, it just might be able to join Duke, Michigan and Arizona as No. 1 seeds.

UConn

Current projected seed: No. 1

If the Gators aren't able to gobble up that final No. 1 seed, it will likely be because of another recent national champion. The Huskies haven't been on quite the same run that Florida has — they're 5-2 in their past seven games after starting the season 22-1 — but one of their recent wins was as impressive a victory as anyone has had this season: a 72-40 beatdown of St. John's on Feb. 25.

The win helped solidify UConn's standing as the fourth No. 1 seed, a status aided in part by a Dec. 9 victory at Madison Square Garden against the Florida team that's chasing it.

Alabama

Current projected seed: No. 4

One month ago, the Crimson Tide were 14-7, coming off a 23-point loss at Florida and were mired in former G League player Charles Bediako's contentious eligibility fight. Quite a bit has changed since then. Coach Nate Oats' team has reeled off eight consecutive victories, including against ranked Tennessee and Arkansas teams, and is up to No. 15 in the NCAA's NET rankings.

Saint Mary's

Current projected seed: No. 8

The Gaels are coming off their most emphatic, and certainly sweetest, win of the season, a 70-59 victory on Feb. 28 against then-No. 9 Gonzaga in the final regular-season meeting between the rivals as West Coast Conference members. Saint Mary's won its final eight-season games and is 18-2 since Dec. 15.

With another win against the Bulldogs in a potential WCC championship matchup, the Gaels could maybe manage avoiding a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in a possible second-round NCAA tournament game.

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Virginia

Current projected seed: No. 4

Yes, the Cavaliers are coming off a 26-point humbling at the hands of Duke, but there have been few teams better than them nationally since the calendar flipped to 2026. Since a triple-overtime loss at Virginia Tech on New Year's Eve, Virginia is 14-2, with wins against NC State (twice), at Louisville and against Miami.

Ryan Odom has engineered one of the more impressive one-year turnarounds in recent memory in the sport. It's the least he could do after upsetting the No. 1 seed Hoos back in 2018 when he was the coach at UMBC.

REQUIRED READING:March Madness predictions: 13 teams who can win men's tournament

Falling

Current projected seed: No. 6

What was set up to be a magical season for the Cougars with potential No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick AJ Dybantsa has started to unravel in recent weeks. Since starting the season 16-1, BYU is just 4-8 in its past 12 games. While some of that is the unavoidable rigor of a Big 12 schedule, it has also suffered losses against the likes of Oklahoma State and West Virginia, neither of which is projected to make the NCAA tournament. Since Jan. 17, the Cougars are only the No. 60 team nationally, according to Bart Torvik.

A season-ending injury to Richie Saunders on Feb. 14 certainly didn't help matters, but even before that, BYU was already sliding, with a 2-5 mark in its seven most recent games.

Purdue

Current projected seed: No. 2

A Boilermakers team that was 17-1 and No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll just six weeks ago has been decidedly more mortal the past month and change, going 5-6 in its past 11 games. More recently, it has lost three of its past four games, including an 82-74 loss on Sunday at an Ohio State team desperately fighting for its NCAA tournament life.

Purdue still has one of the best players in the sport in guard Braden Smith, but nearing the end of the regular season, the preseason No. 1 team has fallen comfortably short of expectations.

Houston

Current projected seed: No. 2

"Falling" is a relative term when you're dealing with a program that's been as dominant as Houston has the past five years, but the Cougars are 1-3 in their past four games after a 23-2 start. That skid included the program's first three-game losing streak since all the way back in 2017.

Coach Kelvin Sampson's team ultimately may not be that hurt by the recent slip-ups. Whether it's as a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed, the Cougars may end up getting to play Sweet 16 and potentially Elite Eight games in Houston.

Texas A&M

Current projected seed: No. 9

Bucky Ball, the intensely fast-paced system implemented by first-year Aggies head coach Bucky McMillan has encountered its share of speed bumps lately. Texas A&M has dropped six of its past eight games after starting the season 17-4, with three of those losses coming by at least 13 points. Thankfully for the Aggies, there's a chance for a high-profile rebound, with a home game Tuesday against Kentucky.

Louisville

Current projected seed: No. 6

The Cardinals have quietly been one of the more disappointing teams in the sport this season, going just 13-9 since a 7-0 start that vaulted them as high as No. 6 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. Some of that could be attributed to an extended injury absence from five-star freshman guard Mikel Brown, who Louisville went 4-4 without, but even with Brown and every other rotation piece, it has lost three of its past four games.

Coach Pat Kelsey's team is increasingly looking like a squad that will be fortunate to advance past the first week of the tournament, rather than the Final Four or national championship contender it was viewed as in the preseason.

NC State

Current projected seed: No. 7

Will Wade likely has the Wolfpack headed back to the NCAA tournament in his first season at the helm, but they're currently limping on their way there. NC State has lost four of its past five after an 18-6 start. The losses are bad enough, but the way they've come is even more concerning. It was drubbed by 41 at Louisville and 29 at Virginia, and most recently, it lost on the road to a 13-16 Notre Dame team that had lost 12 of its previous 14 games.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:NCAA Tournament teams rising, falling for March Madness

Most NFL teams discourage prospects from ending up in jail, but Fernando Mendoza revealed that one team was telling him to try and end up behind bars.

The end goal?

Allowing him to drop a bit in the draft, presumably so that the team could take Mendoza.

The Indiana quarterback is projected to go No. 1 overall after helping to lead the Hoosiers to a national championship this past season, and plenty of NFL teams would do just about anything for the chance to draft Mendoza.

Speaking with CBS Sports on Friday, Mendoza said one team jokingly suggested he get himself arrested to fall down the draft board.

"It was, 'hey, maybe you should get arrested,' and I was a little confused, but then I was like, the slide … so you could slide in the draft," Mendoza responded when asked what the strangest question he'd gotten at the NFL combine was.

Mendoza added later: "So, hopefully I don't get arrested."

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The future NFL star didn't reveal what team it was that made the comment, though he did indicate it was not said during a formal interview.

Mendoza received quite the reception while at the combine in Indianapolis.

The Heisman Trophy winner was given a loud cheer from the fans inside Lucas Oil Stadium last Sunday when he showed up in the building.

Mendoza did not participate in any drills at the combine, but he joined the other quarterbacks on the field during the position group's on-field testing.

Mendoza threw for 3,535 yards and 41 touchdowns this past season, while also throwing just six interceptions.

He was part of the first Indiana football team to win a national championship in the program's history.

The draft will take place from April 23-25 in Pittsburgh, with the Raiders, Jets and Cardinals slated to make the first three picks.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) —U.S.-brokered talksbetween Russia and Ukraine expected later this week may take place in Switzerland or Turkey if a planned meeting in Abu Dhabi is not possible due to thewar in the Middle East, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.

He also noted that Western countries have given no indication so far that their delivery to Kyiv of vital air defense missiles could be disrupted by commitments to Middle East defense.

U.S.-led diplomatic effortsto end the war that began withRussia's invasion of Ukrainein February 2022 are continuing. But the American and Israeli attacks on Iran, and the response of Iran and Iranian-backed militias firing missiles at Israel and Arab states, may divert international attention from the 4-year-old conflict in Europe.

"Due to hostilities, as of today we cannot confirm (the talks) will take place in Abu Dhabi," Zelenskyy told reporters in a WhatsApp chat. He said last week that the United Arab Emirates capital would be this week's venue.

Previous Russia-Ukraine talks have been held in Abu Dhabi, Istanbul and Geneva. They have not produced a breakthrough on key issues.

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Zelenskyy said there has been no immediate change in American and European supplies of air defense weapons, especiallyAmerican-made Patriot systems, to Ukraine. However, he noted that the volume of deliveries could fall if the Middle East attacks continue.

Russia's effort toknock out Ukraine's power gridover the winter failed, Zelenskyy said, though it caused much damage. Russian aerial attacks are now turning to other infrastructure, including the water supply, he added.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday that the United Kingdom would bring experts from Ukraine to help Persian Gulf countries shoot down Iranian drones. Ukraine has built expertise in drone operations during the war, as Russia launches daily bombardments withShahed dronesdeveloped in Iran.

But Zelenskyy said he had not received any direct requests either from the United Kingdom or other countries about that possibility.

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine athttps://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense ‌Secretary Pete ‌Hegseth said on ​Monday that military operations against Iran would ‌not ⁠lead to an "endless war" and ⁠that the aim ​was to ​destroy ​Tehran's missiles, ‌Navy and other security infrastructure.

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"We're hitting them surgically, overwhelmingly and ‌unapologetically," Hegseth ​said ​during ​a ‌press conference at ​the ​Pentagon.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, ​Idrees ‌Ali, Doina Chiacu; ​editing by Susan ​Heavey)

LONDON (AP) — Governments scrambled Monday to help travelers get home after theattack on Iranby the United States and Israel shut down flights through the Middle East.

Philippines Iran

Tourists and business travelers found themselves stuck unexpectedly in hotels, airports and on cruise ships, with no word on when many airports would reopen or when flights to and through the Middle East would resume. Governments told stranded citizens to shelter in place.

Shutdown airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha — including Dubai International Airport, one of thebusiest in the world— are important hubs for travel between Europe, Africa and the West to Asia. All three were directly hit by strikes.

Qatar Airways said Monday its flights remain suspended, with its next update planned for Tuesday morning while Jordan announced a partial closure of its airspace.

About 30,000 German tourists are currently stranded on cruise ships, in hotels or at closed airports in the Middle East and cannot get back home because of the conflict.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said late Sunday that a military evacuation was currently not possible because of the closed airspace.

He said that the government was looking into other options to help bring its citizens home and that everyone should follow advice from German travel agencies and local authorities.

The German Travel Association called on tourists to "remain at their booked hotels as a matter of urgency" and not "make their own way to the airport or to a neighboring country."

Other governments made similar recommendations.

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The Czech Republic is sending two planes to Egypt and Jordan to bring home Czech nationals, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said. One will pick up 79 Czechs in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh who who want to return from Israel. They are traveling from Israel to Egypt by bus. The other plane will evacuate Czechs from Amman, Jordan. Babiš said there are some 6,700 Czechs in the region.

Four more planes are heading to Muscat and Salalah in Oman to fly home Czech tourists.

In Asia, thousands of travelers were stranded on Indonesia's tourist island of Bali because international flights were cancelled.

Bali's international airport said at least 15 flights, including eight departures and seven arrivals, on routes to Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi were cancelled as of Monday afternoon.

Air France canceled flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh, while carriers from Air India to KLM suspended flights and issued advisories.

Airline data showed 3,197 departing passengers were affected by the disruptions, airport spokesperson Gede Eka Sandi Asmadi said.

U.S. airlines issued travel advisories and upended global transportation roiled the travel sector in financial markets early Monday, including the shares of airlines that fly globally. United, Delta and American all slid 5% to 6% and global hotel chains tumbled. Cruise lines like Carnival fell even harder.

AP writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Karel Janicek in Prague, Sam Magdy in Cairo, and Niniek Karmini in Jakarta contributed to this report.

Tyler Reddick became the first driver to win the first three races of a NASCAR Cup Series season, and he did so Sunday by beating one of the greatest road course racers in modern NASCAR history.

Reddick scored the win at the Circuit of the Americas when he held off Shane van Gisbergen on Sunday. After winning the Daytona 500 and a week ago at Atlanta, Reddick became the sixth driver in NASCAR history and the first since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to win the first two Cup races of a given season.

Now he's got the record all to himself.

"In this day and age of Cup racing, the Daytona 500 is so hard to win. It's so hard to survive at [Atlanta] and we were able to do that," Reddick said. "And to be able to hold off Shane at the end of that race to make it three in a row, yeah, it seems just very fitting that we had to go through the hurdles we did, especially the last two weeks, to pull this off."

Reddick won the Daytona 500 by leading only the last lap of the race as 37 of the race's 41 cars were officially involved in a wreck. Over the last two races, Reddick has led 111 of a possible 366 laps.

He won at Atlanta even though he was missing his entire right-front fender following a crash with less than 50 laps to go. He worked his way back to the front of the field and took the lead with two laps remaining from teammate Bubba Wallace ahead of a green-white-checkered finish after a late caution flag.

Sunday, he started from the pole as van Gisbergen started 13th. The former Australian Supercars champion has been incredibly dominant since moving to NASCAR. He won in his first start at the Chicago road course in 2023 and then won five of the six road course races on the Cup Series schedule in 2025 and many of those victories came in dominating fashion.

The road course race he didn't win? The COTA race that Reddick started from the pole.

As the laps ticked down Sunday, Reddick said he had to remind himself that he didn't need to win by a blowout margin. He simply needed to be ahead of van Gisbergen at the finish line.

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"It's so important to just not make mistakes because who knows, Shane could have been playing games, right? Like back off a bit, see if I burn myself up and I back up to him at the end of the race," Reddick said.

"There's just so much going on there. He's just so good on the road courses. Even when I was pulling way, right, it's like, alright, I just didn't let myself think it was over until it was truly over."

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Reddick entered the season with eight career wins and was tied with Alex Bowman and Kyle Petty on NASCAR's career Cup Series wins list. With the victory at COTA, Reddick now has more wins than drivers like Sterling Marlin, Clint Bowyer and NASCAR Hall of Famer Donnie Allison in just 221 starts.

It's a win percentage that's among the best across all active drivers despite a winless 2025 season. After scoring three wins and making the championship race in 2024, Reddick was one of just two drivers to make the 16-driver playoff field in 2025 without a win.

Yet that lack of a win was an anomaly given Reddick's underlying statistics. And it looks even more out of place now. Only seven drivers had more top-five finishes and a better average finish than Reddick did a season ago and no driver completed more laps.

In 2026, Reddick is piling up wins in a NASCAR era designed for no one to dominate. The current Cup Series car is built with spec parts that every team buys from the same suppliers. The margins for advantages are thinner than they've ever been.

That may make Reddick's streak even more impressive. And it's a streak that his 23XI Racing team co-owner Michael Jordan made clear that he wanted him to continue before Sunday's race. Like he was in Daytona and Atlanta, Jordan was in attendance in Austin on Sunday.

"He reminded me early this week, he does things in threes. He expected no less today," Reddick said of Jordan's two runs of three consecutive NBA Finals wins. "I was really glad to be able to live up to the standards that he has for us and be able to deliver three in a row. That was really cool to share that moment with him."