PORTLAND, OR — Do you know that feeling when trying on clothes and physically, it fits, but really it doesn’t? There’s just something off. Maybe it doesn’t look good. Maybe it’s not the right style.

Two years ago, Ben McCollum was the head coach and Bennett Stirtz was the star player for an institution known as Northwest Missouri State. It’s a Division II program so lacking in self-consciousness ...

March Madness is built on chaos, and every year a handful of double-digit seeds crash the party. The formula is familiar: experienced guards, defensive identity, and momentum entering the tournament.

In the past two years, teams seeded No. 13-to-16 are winless. The downturn coincides with the new era of player movement and compensation.