🏀 Penn’s got the Power | Sports Daily Newsletter

The Ivy League tournament championship in Ithaca, N.Y., turned out to be the definition of March Madness, thanks to the efforts of TJ Power.

Power poured in 44 points Sunday as Penn reached the NCAA Tournament in Fran McCaffery’s first season as coach with an 88-84 overtime upset of Yale.

Down the stretch in regulation, Power pulled off the stuff of legend. The 6-foot-8 forward made two straight three-pointers in the last seven seconds to keep the Quakers alive.

“I was feeling good,” Power said of his final shot in regulation. “I thought I was going to catch and they were [going] to foul. They didn’t. They kept backing up, so I just kept pushing it down the floor. And, Casey [Simmons], he’s a good shot blocker, so I put a little extra [arc] on it.”

This was the coolest moment for Philadelphia basketball in a long time, Mike Sielski writes.

The Quakers (18-11) will play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 when they face third-seeded Illinois (24-8) in the South Regional on Thursday in Greenville, S.C. (9:25 p.m., TNT).

Villanova, the team we knew would make the NCAA Tournament, wound up with a No. 8 seed in the West Regional. The Wildcats (24-8) will play ninth-seeded Utah State (28-6) on Friday in San Diego (4:10 p.m., TNT).

— Jim Swan, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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It took a while to work out a deal, but Dallas Goedert will return for his ninth season with the Eagles. The 31-year-old tight end agreed to terms on a one-year contract, a league source confirmed to The Inquirer on Sunday. Goedert, 31, scored a team-high 11 touchdowns last season.

Alec Bohm endured trade rumors this winter for the second straight offseason, and the third baseman will reach free agency at the end of 2026. As he gears up for this important season with the Phillies, Bohm is making an adjustment at the plate: He’s pulling the ball more.

So far, the results are promising. Bohm has hit four homers this spring, including one in an exhibition against Canada. “We thought we would explore it,” hitting coach Kevin Long says of the tweak at the plate, “and it’s been very, very good so far.”

Fresh off an appearance with Mexico in the World Baseball Classic, Taijuan Walker shut out the Braves for five innings Sunday.

Let it be said, here and now and every day of his 15th major league season, that Bryce Harper needs to win the World Series more than any player in baseball.

Not much he can do about that until October.

Right now, though, there’s another prize dangling in front of the Phillies star. It’s as close as can be, too, after the most talented roster of Americans ever assembled eked out a 2-1 nail-biter Sunday night against the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic semifinal.

Denise Dillon’s Villanova team got a rude awakening in a blowout loss to No. 1 UConn in the Big East final, but the NCAA Tournament offers a chance for the Wildcats to start fresh.

Seeded 10th in the Sacramento Regional, Villanova will face seventh-seeded Texas Tech (25-7) on Friday in Baton Rouge, La. (8:30 p.m., ESPNU)

Beset by injuries, the Sixers are trying to keep the wheels from falling off as they endeavor to remain in playoff position. Philly’s own Justin Edwards is doing his part.

Edwards has been in and out of the rotation throughout his second NBA season, but the shorthanded Sixers need him to step up during this stretch run. He delivered Saturday with 19 points in a victory against the Brooklyn Nets.

“At the end of the day, this is my dream job,” Edwards says. “And it’s something that I want to do for a long time. [The opportunity] always comes back around, so I’ve got to stay ready, stay patient.”

Edwards delivered again on Sunday with 21 points during the Sixers’ 109-103 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

According to MoneyPuck’s latest NHL playoff odds, the Flyers have a 5.1% chance of making the postseason, but they still have hope.

“I think every guy in the room is one-track minded, still on getting in, there’s no ifs, ands, or buts,” defenseman Jamie Drysdale said Saturday after a 2-1 shootout loss to Columbus. “Was this an important game to get two points? Absolutely. In saying that, I think we’re not out till we’re out.”

Jackie Spiegel provides the rundown on the Flyers’ playoff chances.

March 16, 1968: Wilt Chamberlain racked up 35 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists as the Sixers thumped the Bulls, 144-122, in Chicago. Chet Walker scored 25 points and Hal Greer added 24 for the Sixers.

There are now three NFL games each Thanksgiving and three games each Christmas, and we already have Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football and Thursday Night Football, and there are always a couple of games on the last Saturday before Christmas, and the Eagles and Chicago Bears even played on Black Friday last year. So it’s only a matter of time before the league forms the Tuesday Night Football Club, with Sheryl Crow performing at halftime.

And all this will unfold, of course, without putting the men who play an already brutal sport at any greater risk for their immediate and long-term health, without diluting the product to the point that the games grow as sloppy and unwatchable as a high school JV team’s first practice, without ruining the best thing that pro football has going for it. When everything is available to everyone instantaneously all the time, scarcity is a precious commodity, maybe the most precious. The NFL seems bent on testing that truth. … More from Mike Sielski.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Mike Sielski, Sean McKeown, Jeff Neiburg, Katie Lewis, Olivia Reiner, Scott Lauber, Lochlahn March, Jackie Spiegel, Gina Mizell, Gabriela Carroll, Devin Jackson, Jonathan Tannenwald, and Greg Finberg.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks for reading and happy Monday. I’ll see you in Tuesday’s Sports Daily. — Jim