LIVERPOOL, England -- It is a testament to Manchester City's achievements under Pep Guardiola that making history has become so routine that it barely seems to register. But after beating Everton 2-0 at Goodison Park on Saturday to seal a place in the FA Cup semifinals, City are as good as three victories from another domestic treble.

They left it late against Carlo Ancelotti's team, with Ilkay Gundogan's 84th-minute header breaking the deadlock before substitute Kevin De Bruyne doubled the advantage six minutes later, but the end result was what we have come to expect from this City team: a win.

In cup competitions this season, City have won 15 and drawn one of their 16 ties, with the draw coming in a meaningless Champions League group game against FC Porto. And in recent months, they have won 25 of their past 26 games in all competitions, with the only blip coming in a 2-0 defeat against Manchester United this month.

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The loss at home to United at least showed that City can be beaten on an off-day, but those days tend to come around as rarely as Halley's Comet, so we might be waiting a while for the next one. That's why there is now a sense of inevitability about their pursuit of all three domestic trophies. When City won all three -- Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup -- in 2019, it was the first time it had been done in English football history and it was quite rightly lauded as a unique achievement. But here we are, two years later, and they are odds-on to do it again.

With City still alive in the Champions League and set to face Borussia Dortmund in the quarterfinals next month, they might even go one better and pull off a quadruple, which would permanently eclipse United's historic Champions League-Premier League-FA Cup Treble in 1999. But while the route to Champions League glory is blocked by the formidable presence of Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain in the semifinals, the path to domestic glory is less hazardous.

With a 14-point lead over second-place United (who have played a game fewer) in the Premier League, it will take an unprecedented collapse by City for Guardiola's men to miss out on a third title in four seasons, so that success is all but guaranteed. In the Carabao Cup, Jose Mourinho's Tottenham Hotspur could shock City in the final next month, but not if recent form is anything to go by. And in the FA Cup, although Chelsea, United and Leicester City could yet thwart City, the reality is that Guardiola's team would be favourites to beat all of them if they faced them in the semis or final. Southampton, who beat Bournemouth on Saturday to qualify for the semifinals, would not be expected to halt City's charge either.

It was the manner of City's win at Everton that was the most ominous warning to those clubs still left standing in the FA Cup, though.

Ancelotti's team, desperately attempting to win the club's first major trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 1995, pushed City all the way at Goodison. They stood firm at the back, with third-choice keeper Joao Virginia and centre-back Ben Godfrey particularly impressive. In midfield, Allan enjoyed a bruising tussle with Fernandinho while Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison made life difficult for City centre-backs Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte. But despite their efforts, Everton could not test City keeper Zack Steffen, deputising for first-choice Ederson, sufficiently to score on a day when Guardiola's players lacked their usual fluency.

City's depth of quality is why they are closing in on a repeat of the treble. With the game heading to extra-time, Guardiola was able to call on De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez from the bench and Everton eventually succumbed when Gundogan scored the opener after Laporte's shot had been tipped onto the bar by Virginia. When De Bruyne made it 2-0 shortly afterward, it ensured a scoreline that did not reflect the balance of the game, but that is a measure of City's ability in that they were able to soak up pressure and win the tie late on.

"It was a really tough game," Guardiola said. "We saw the commitment from Everton, how focused they were and they defended really aggressively, but we conceded nothing, we were patient. It was one of the toughest games we've played in the last four months."

Guardiola is right, it was a hugely difficult game for City, but despite the challenge, they still overcome it to win. That's what this City team does, week after week after week, so it is becoming impossible to see anyone stopping them in England.

Bayern or PSG might prove to be immovable objects in the Champions League, but City have won six of the past nine domestic trophies contested, and right now there looks to be only one winner in England, in every competition, and that is Manchester City.

Big picture

For the first time in 18 months, Test cricket returns to the Caribbean. Even aside from this whole pandemic thing, plenty has happened in the interim. Sri Lanka have switched coaches (as is annual tradition). Kyle Mayers has become a sensation on the back of his 210 in Bangladesh. And, most recently, Kraigg Brathwaite has replaced Jason Holder as West Indies Test captain.

Brathwaite's rise to leadership, and the demotion for Holder that that move had to entail, has been among the less disruptive captaincy switches in recent years. No one was dropped from the team, nor maligned in the media.

West Indies' chief selector Roger Harper has even come out and emphasised how big a role Holder continues to play for West Indies, while laying out why Brathwaite was given the captaincy: "Kraigg was able to motivate his players to play to a very high level and create the culture we are looking to establish where the team showed a collective determination to fight and a real hunger for success." (These happen to be similar to the reasons why Dimuth Karunaratne - another un-flashy opener - was given the job for Sri Lanka.) Nevertheless, West Indies are tiptoeing into a new era. And although we sort of know what to expect from Brathwaite's captaincy (he's led the team in seven Tests already), he will be desperate for his first assignment as permanent leader to go well.

Sri Lanka's concerns, meanwhile, are widespread. Their batting has been excellent in some innings, but terrible in others over the last four Tests since December. Their bowling has been a little more consistent, in that it has been neither awful nor awesome, but every time the quicks take the field, you worry for their wellbeing, so rampant have injuries been.

To some extent, it's difficult to predict what to expect from this Sri Lanka team, aside from inconsistent performances. Partly this is because the team is in such flux (e.g. Karunaratne and Dhananjaya de Silva coming into this team to boost the batting, but Angelo Mathews leaving the XI and weakening it). That this tour has been condensed for Covid reasons, giving Sri Lanka only a few days to prepare for the Tests following a hectic limited-overs schedule, also makes things trickier for the visitors.

Form guide

West Indies: WWLLL

Sri Lanka: : LLLLD

In the spotlight

Although Kraigg Brathwaite's leadership has had plenty of positive attention since the 2-0 win over Bangladesh, analyses of his batting have not been quite so upbeat. He did hit a 76 and a 47 in that last series, but the general trend has been downwards. In 2020 he averaged 23.10, in 2019 he averaged 16.81, and in 2018 he averaged 24.43. On top of which his batting average as captain is 20.64, compared to 34.16 when he is not. The West Indies selectors said they hoped Holder would now have more time to hone his batting and bowling now that he's been relieved of captaincy. They'll hope Brathwaite breaks properly out of his rut as well.

Dushmantha Chameera made his Test debut in 2015. For reasons largely to do with injury, he's played only nine Tests since. On this tour, he has been relied on heavily - to bowl fast and provide breakthroughs in the limited-overs legs, which happen to be his job description in the Tests as well, with the much slower Suranga Lakmal and Vishwa Fernando likely to make up the remainder of the pace attack. Chameera is not usually a merchant of swing of seam, but it is possible that the Dukes ball will envenom him. Either way, Sri Lanka probably need Chameera to be fit and efficient through the series if they want to stay competitive.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch is expected to be seam-bowler friendly for the first day, before slowing down. The weather is expected to be largely good for the duration of the Tests, with temperatures in the mid 20s.

Team news

West Indies may leave out Jomel Warrican and have to pick between Darren Bravo and Nkrumah Bonner.

West Indies (possible): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (c), 2 John Campbell, 3 Darren Bravo/Nkrumah Bonner, 4 Kyle Mayer, 5 Jermaine Blackwood, 6 Joshua da Silva (wk), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Rahkeem Cornwall, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Shannon Gabriel

Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt.), 2 Lahiru Thirimanne, 3 Oshada Fernando, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Pathum Nissanka, 6 Dhananjaya de Silva, 7 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 8 Suranga Lakmal, 9 Lasith Embuldeniya, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Vishwa Fernando

Stats and trivia

• West Indies have won only two of the seven matches they've played under Brathwaite, though those are the two most recent games, in Bangladesh.
• Of the 20 Tests these teams have played, Sri Lanka has won nine and lost only four of them. All four losses and only two of those wins came in games in the Caribbean.
• Although Holder's batting fared slightly worse when he was leader, he was a better bowler as captain, averaging 26.76 when he averaged 35.37 when not leading the side.

Before the deciding fifth T20I against England on Saturday, Virat Kohli had opened the innings in T20Is only seven times in 83 innings, and only once since 2018. However, the India captain is looking at a longer stay up the order, for both the national team as well as the Royal Challengers Bangalore, his IPL franchise, in the lead up to the T20 World Cup in October in India.

Kohli's partnership with Rohit Sharma at the top of the innings paid off spectacularly for India, with Sharma teeing off to smash 64 off 34, and Kohli playing anchor to bat through the innings and end up with 80* off 52 in a mammoth Indian total of 224 for 2. Kohli hopes to replicate that, while also revealing that India are likely to play a few more T20Is just before the World Cup.

"Yes. I am going to open in the IPL as well," Kohli told Star Sports at the presentation after India sealed a 36-run win to take the series 3-2. "Look, I've batted at different positions in the past, but I feel like we do have a very solid middle order now, and now it's about your two best players getting the maximum number of balls in T20 cricket. So I would definitely like to partner Rohit at the top. As I rightly said, if we have a partnership and we both are set, then you know that one of us is going to cause some serious damage. That's exactly what we want. And the other guys feel much more confident when one of us is still in and set, they know that they can play more freely. It augurs well for the team and I would like this to continue, and hopefully continue that form through to the World Cup."

In India's original international schedule, these five T20Is against England were the last in the format for them before the T20 World Cup, but Kohli revealed there might now be more games added into the calendar after India's Test series in England which is scheduled to end on September 14. That could give the pairing of Kohli and Sharma more time together at the top too.

"I just found out that we might have some more [games before the T20 World Cup], after the Test series against England," Kohli said. "Yeah, more or less sorted [in terms of who will make the squad]. We are very very confident. Very happy with how things have panned out. We just want to keep moving forward with more positivity and fearlessness."

Kohli's opening partner and vice-captain Sharma, however, preferred to take a more pragmatic view of what the combination at the top would be, pointing out that the T20 World Cup was several months away, and things could change.

Kohli had said before the series that India's preferred opening combination would be KL Rahul and Sharma. However, Rahul was left out of the XI for the final T20I after meagre returns of 15 runs in four matches, at a strike rate of 48.38. Sharma, however, said leaving out Rahul was purely a tactical call made for one specific match, in which current form played a part.

"It's still a long time for the World Cup. Early days to talk about what the batting line up will be looking like," Sharma said at the post-match press conference. "We'll just have to analyse and think about what suits the team most. Today was, I guess, a tactical move because we wanted an extra bowler to play. We wanted to leave one batsman out, and unfortunately, it was KL, which was very tough.

"KL, we know, he has been one of our key players in the limited-overs format, especially in this format. But looking at the current form, the team management decided to go with the best XI. Having said that, it doesn't send any signal that KL will not be considered or anything like that. This was just for one particular game.

"Things might change as and when we get closer to the World Cup. We do understand his ability, we do understand his contribution at the top, what he's done for us. So I'm not going to rule out anything and neither am I going to say that this is the preferred batting line-up for the World Cup, because it's still early days. We've got a good amount of time, there's the IPL in between and I'm hearing there will be a few T20s as well before the World Cup."

Stressing the distance that remained, time-wise, between now and the T20 World Cup and that there was a lot of T20 cricket to be played with the IPL and the newly scheduled T20Is Kohli spoke of, Sharma said any calls could only be made closer to the event.

"Sometimes you might feel that you need to have six bowlers in your playing XI, which means you might have to sacrifice a batsman," he said. "As and when we get closer to the World Cup we need to see the opposition that we are playing, the grounds we are playing at. It plays a huge role depending on the opposition and the conditions out there.

"I'm sure we need to sit and analyse and recollect our thoughts, think about what will be the right thing to do for the team. If it means he has to open with me, so be it. Whatever we as a team feel is right, we will go ahead with that no matter what is happening outside. But again like I said, the World Cup is too far ahead.

"We just finished the T20I series so I don't think Virat will open in the ODIs (laughs). So let's talk about what is next for us and try and move from this wonderful series that we played as a team. Everyone contributed towards success, which was good to see. Complete team effort."

Eoin Morgan has revealed that he expects to be without the services of England's multi-format players throughout their home T20I series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan next summer.

England have been at full strength for both of their two most recent T20I series - the 3-0 win in South Africa in late 2020 and this month's 3-2 defeat in India - and several players were given periods of rest during the Test series in Sri Lanka and India in order to ensure that Morgan had a first-choice XI at his disposal.

The rest-and-rotation policy has led to suggestions that England are prioritising T20I results ahead of Tests, but Morgan said after their 36-run defeat in the fifth T20I that he expects their all-format players to be unavailable for the home series this summer, despite the imminent T20 World Cup in India.

The specifics of players' availability will depend in part on logistical factors. England operated in a series of biosecure bubbles last summer due to the pandemic, meaning there was minimal overlap in the personnel available to Morgan and to Joe Root in the Test squad, but with restrictions easing in the UK, it may be feasible for players to play in several different formats.

However, with an away Ashes series immediately after the T20 World Cup and a home schedule involving two Tests against New Zealand and five against India, player welfare will remain an important consideration. As a result, it appears highly unlikely that Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood will play any part in the T20I series, while Sam Curran and Jonny Bairstow may also be rested if they are included in Test squads.

"I would imagine all of the multi-format guys [will miss those series]," Morgan said. "It's just too much to ask, given the winter guys have had as well, around being in a bubble. A lot of it will be dependent on how flexible it is to come in and out of the biosecure environment that we'll have during our summer, and whether they can see their families or not.

"We've been lucky with injuries so far but we can't always have our fast bowlers as fit as we would like them. What we will have throughout the summer is opportunities for guys to stake their claim."

England played the same team in four of the five T20Is in India, with Tom Curran replacing Mark Wood due to a bruised heel in the second fixture, but Morgan stressed that "nobody is nailed on" to play the first game of the World Cup and said that he expects players who missed out in this series, like Moeen Ali and Sam Billings, to be given further chances to impress before the tournament.

"If any player, including myself, looks that far ahead and thinks 'my position is nailed down' then they're mistaken," Morgan said. "[For players outside the team] the message has always been the same: to go to tournaments and try and be the best player at the tournament. If that's always your goal, even if you fall short, you're continually improving and exposing yourself in conditions that aren't necessarily easy to bat or bowl in.

"That's one of the really good sides of not having your best players available the whole time - you tend to grow as a squad, and we're lucky that we do have a lot of talented guys who don't have opportunities that often that have been in and around sides.

"We looked at it last summer with guys like Tom Banton, Sam Billings, and Moeen Ali [who has] taken on great responsibility when he's had the opportunity. We've had Phil Salt in, we've had a number of players that have come in and definitely impressed. The talent is there and there will be more opportunity throughout our summer to see players that have real international ability."

On the eve of the fourth T20I of this series, Mark Wood was asked how big a statement it would be for England to convert their 2-1 lead into a series win against India. After sliding to a 3-2 loss, the question might be flipped on its head: how worried should England be about their series defeat?

It's important to keep things in perspective. This was England's first defeat in a T20I series since 2018 - also against India - and their two victories were dominant eight-wicket wins. They will have learned plenty from their three defeats, and from the opportunity to play a five-match series in the T20 World Cup's host country.

But equally, this result should provide England with a reality check. They have been at full strength throughout, after players were rested during the Test series earlier this winter to ensure Eoin Morgan would have a first-choice side at his disposal, and fielded the same XI throughout the series (with the exception of one injury-enforced change in the second game).

"There are a huge amount of positives," Eoin Morgan said after their 36-run defeat in the series decider. "In four out of the five games we've produced some of our best powerplay bowling that we have in the last couple of years. [There are] learnings from the back end of the games we've lost: our middle order weren't as sharp as they normally are. One of our strengths is how quickly guys get in and adapt to surfaces, [but that] didn't necessarily happen, and in a similar period of the game with our bowlers as well."

England backed their playing first-choice side, reasoning that it was crucial to give them as much exposure as possible to the conditions, but were beaten by an India attack missing its spearhead in Jasprit Bumrah - not to mention the absences of Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami. And while India rotated to give opportunities to their fringe players, England turned down the chance to do the same with Sam Billings and Moeen Ali.

Their failure to get home in run chases in their final two games may also be a frustration. They have been superb in run chases over the last year, chasing down eight targets out of nine including the first two games of the series, but their failure to extend that record will mean teams are less intimidated by them heading into the World Cup. As Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur showed, their six-hitters can be vulnerable against pace-off options in the second half of an innings, particularly on pitches offering grip.

Their poor start with the ball also undid some of the strides they had taken earlier in the series. Having seemingly addressed their problems in the powerplay in the first four games, England leaked 60 runs inside the first six overs on Saturday night, with their three best bowlers - Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid and Wood - all bowling two each. In the middle overs, their hard-length plan to Hardik Pandya backfired - though he did ride his luck at times - and at the death, Wood and Chris Jordan were both expensive.

Perhaps more than anything, England will have been disappointed that they were not exposed to the sort of sharply-spinning pitches that they may face in the World Cup itself. In the 2016 edition of the tournament, there were several low-scoring games - particularly in Nagpur, but also in Delhi and Kolkata - but England's draw saw them play most of their games at high-scoring venues that suited their blitzkrieg style much better.

Coming into the series, Morgan had highlighted his desire to play on pitches that prepared England for low-scoring games against the turning ball, but the surfaces in Ahmedabad were generally flat, to the extent that England fielded a solitary spinner in Rashid throughout the series.

"Coming here wanting to be challenged for us means playing on turning pitches that are completely alien to us, simply because we don't have opportunities to play on them very often," Morgan said. "The ball has barely turned, and given the pitches that we've played on, bar two, they've been really good to play on. I would have loved a couple of really low-scoring games."

England's next six T20Is are all in home conditions, with three scheduled against both Sri Lanka and Pakistan in June and July respectively. As a result, Morgan highlighted the importance of performances in the IPL for England's preparation, with 12 players staying in India for the tournament after the ODI series.

"Taking advantage of the upcoming IPL is going to be huge," he said. "As a team and as individuals we don't want to stand still, we want to continue to move forward. Any opportunity guys get at the IPL, you want to try and make the most of it, because we're going to be playing at home for our summer and then we go to Bangladesh and Pakistan but there is limited opportunity to get our best XI [playing] in those games. The experience over the next couple of months is the most valuable."

The upshot is that England finish this series with as many questions as answers. They are clearly a talented side, but with lingering doubts remaining about their adaptability to Indian conditions and the positions of several players. Losing a series in which they had the significant advantage of winning four tosses out of five against a team missing its best bowler should serve a reminder that there is still plenty of work to be done.

As the BCCI gets ready to host a second successive edition of the IPL during the Covid-19 pandemic, the board has informed all teams that they will not be vaccinated during the tournament. Anyone testing positive for the virus will need to isolate for a minimum of 10 days and clear the testing process before reintegrating into the bio-secure environment, which will be tightly monitored by 'bubble integrity managers' whose sole job will be to report any breach. The 14th edition of the IPL, which will be played at six venues in India behind closed doors to begin with, is scheduled between April 9 and May 30.

These guidelines have been listed in the standard operating procedures' document titled 'Health & Safety Protocols' distributed by the IPL to all the stakeholders including the eight teams on Saturday. The bio-secure environment will comprise 12 bubbles, including eight dedicated to the teams, two for the match officials and the match management team, and two for the broadcasting crew.

Seven-day mandatory quarantine to enter the bubble

As per the guidelines, anyone operating out of the bubble will need to first undergo a compulsory week-long quarantine inside the hotel room. There will be in-room testing done on days two, five and seven, and only once all three results are returned negative can the person come out of the quarantine. Unless they clear the testing process, team members are not allowed to interact in person.

Post-quarantine, every individual within the bubble "will be tested twice a week during the second week and thereafter every fifth day for the entire duration of IPL 2021 season," the guidelines stated.

No quarantine for players from India-England series

As per the protocol, players moving between the bubbles from the ongoing India-England series directly to the IPL will not need to undergo the week-long quarantine as well as the three initial tests, subject to them taking a charter flight or a direct team bus to the respective team hotels.

"Players coming directly from the bubble created for the India vs England series, may be permitted to join the franchise squad without serving the mandatory quarantine period, provided they satisfy the following criteria: After conclusion of the India vs England series, the players are moved directly to the franchise team hotel either in the team bus or on a chartered flight," the IPL said in the document.

"If the travel arrangements are to the satisfaction of the BCCI Chief Medical Officer, then such players will directly enter the franchise team bubble without the need to serve a quarantine period or undergo an RT-PCR test."

The same will be applicable to the overseas players coming from bilateral series' bubbles. In cases where the players coming out of bubbles do not conform to the IPL travelling norms, they will need to undergo the week-long quarantine and clear the three tests.

In the case of members joining "at a later date" after their teams have entered their respective bubbles, they "will have to serve their mandatory quarantine period" but "outside the bubble zone on a different floor/wing."

Ten-day isolation for testing positive

As per the medical protocol, anyone testing positive within the bubble would need to be isolated for a minimum of 10 days at a pre-designated facility inside the bubble.

"During the 10-days isolation, the individual will be tested on day nine and day 10. Two consecutive negative RT-PCR test results taken 24 hours apart, full resolution of symptoms, no fresh symptoms for more than 24 hours and no use of medications for more than 24 hours are mandatory for re-entry into the bio-secure environment. To account for any false positive tests due to historical infections, serology tests and repeat RT-PCR tests may be conducted."

In case the individual is found to be asymptomatic, "or has mild symptoms", the person would need to spend a minimum of 10 days in a "designated area outside" the bubble. Once the person clears the two tests on days nine and ten, he can re-enter the bubble. According to the guidelines, all those who have tested positive or are asymptomatic have to undergo a cardiac screening before resuming training.

No vaccination

The IPL has told the franchises that they will not be vaccinating team members because the Indian government has not yet given any special dispensation to athletes.

"In India, the first group to get vaccinated against COVID-19 included healthcare and frontline workers. The second group to receive COVID-19 vaccine will be persons over 60 years of age and persons between 45 and 59 years with comorbid conditions. The Government of India is yet to announce the schedule for vaccination of other groups of people including elite athletes."

The IPL has also clarified that even if a person has got a vaccine before entering the bubble, the individual would still need to adhere to the quarantine and testing procedures laid out for the tournament.

The bubble eye is watching you

Last year, Suresh Raina made a controversial exit from the Chennai Super Kings bubble in Dubai just before the start of the 2020 edition, which was held in the UAE. Although both the player and the Super Kings said it was owing to "personal reasons", unconfirmed reports suggested Raina had breached the bubble rules.

Taking that episode as a learning, the IPL has decided to appoint "up to four security staff" as the "designated bubble integrity managers". These managers would be part of each franchise bubble and travel with the team for the entire tournament. Their solitary job would be to "report any bio-secure environment protocol breaches" to the BCCI's chief medical officer.

HOUSTON -- Lawyer Tony Buzbee said in an Instagram post Saturday that he will submit affidavits and evidence from several women alleging inappropriate conduct and sexual assault by quarterback Deshaun Watson to the Houston Police Department and the Houston District Attorney on Monday morning.

Buzbee also said he will request a grand jury to consider the evidence he provides.

The district attorney would decide whether to grant Buzbee's request for a grand jury. If granted, the grand jury then would decide, through witness testimony closed to the public, if there is enough evidence to succeed at trial and in turn determine whether charges should be brought against Watson by the state of Texas.

This past week, Buzbee filed seven lawsuits against Watson on behalf of women alleging the inappropriate conduct and sexual assault by the star Houston Texans quarterback. In addition, Buzbee said in a news conference Friday that he will file an additional five lawsuits against him "in due course." Buzbee added that his law firm has spoken to "more than 10 additional women" who have come forward with reports about similar conduct from the QB.

On Friday, Buzbee said his office has been in contact with police and that he would provide information to them about the women who intend to sue Watson. The Houston PD said it was unaware of any contact it had with Buzbee regarding the allegations or the filings of any incident reports, and the lawyer later clarified on social media that the contact he referenced earlier was with a detective he knows who reached out to him. Buzbee also said Friday that he is not aware of any police reports filed before the civil suits.

On Thursday, NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said "the matter is under review" of the league's personal conduct policy, and the Texans said in a statement that they would stay in close contact with the NFL during the league's investigation.

INDIANAPOLIS -- After guiding Iona to the men's NCAA tournament in his first season as coach, Rick Pitino has no plans to leave.

Pitino on Saturday said he wants "no part of the so-called big time anymore," as the Gaels' season concluded with a 68-55 loss to No. 2 seed Alabama in the first round of the tournament at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Iona, a No. 15 seed in the East Region, overcame a lengthy pause to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament under Pitino, who has made 22 NCAA tournament appearances with five different programs.

He returned to college basketball this season after coaching in the EuroLeague for Greek club Panathinaikos.

Pitino coached Louisville from 2001 to 2017, winning a national title and reaching three Final Fours and six Elite Eights. He was fired in October 2017 amid a federal investigation into fraud and corruption in college basketball. Pitino seemed to reference his departure Saturday, saying, "I'm not turned off by the big programs, I'm turned off about what happened to me."

"It's no longer about me trying to move up any ladders, make more money," he added. "I'm at a great place in my life. I can coach six, seven more years, God willing, just try to make young men better, try to make the program reach heights it's never reached. That's all I have planned. It's a great place to be. There's some things that suck about being 68. The great thing about it is being at Iona, being able to teach with nobody bothering you, just make the players better."

Prior to Louisville, Pitino spent eight seasons at Kentucky, winning a national title in 1996 and making three Final Fours and four Elite Eight appearances.

"I want to take a smaller school, like a Providence, like an Iona, a small school and try to make it big," said Pitino, who made his first Final Four as Providence's coach in 1987. "But I wanted no part of any of that other, I had enough of that. It turned me off, to be quite honest with you, in a lot of different areas. I now don't have to look over my shoulder and see who I'm going to trust, who I'm not going to trust.

"I'm in heaven right now, and where I need to be."

Pitino is looking forward to building more success at Iona, saying the team would be "much better" in his second season. He noted several young players and an improved schedule that he thinks could make the Gaels a contender for an at-large NCAA tournament berth in future years. Pitino listed future home games against Seton Hall and BYU at Madison Square Garden, and challenged his son, Richard, the new coach at New Mexico, to face "the mighty Gaels" next season.

"We just got to improve the program, take the next step," he said. "We will take the next step. There's no doubt in my mind that Iona is going to be a force to be reckoned with down the road."

Saturday's first-round NCAA men's basketball tournament game between No. 7 seed Oregon and No. 10 seed VCU in Indianapolis was declared a no-contest due to what the Rams said were multiple positive COVID-19 tests within their program.

Oregon automatically advances to the second round, where it will play No. 2 seed Iowa.

The Rams received multiple positive tests within the past 48 hours, coach Mike Rhoades said in a statement.

The NCAA said the decision to postpone the game was made "in consultation with the Marion County Public Health Department."

"The NCAA and the committee regret that VCU's student-athletes and coaching staff will not be able to play in a tournament in which they earned the right to participate," the NCAA said in a statement announcing the no-contest, which came about three hours before the scheduled tipoff.

VCU athletic director Ed McLaughlin said the Rams found out around 6:25 p.m. ET that the game was off.

"We knew about the positives being confirmed today, and we were hoping through contact tracing we would still be able to play tonight, but obviously that did not happen," McLaughlin said during a videoconference with reporters. "This has all happened pretty quickly, in terms of the positives that we've had ... The feeling that the committee, from what was communicated to me, given how we had a few happen within the short period of time right now, there was certainly concern, not only for the rest of our team and for opponents and anyone else who would be part of the game going forward."

The Rams arrived in Indianapolis on Sunday after playing in the Atlantic 10 tournament game against St. Bonaventure, and hadn't had any positive tests until later in the week.

"I want to make sure it's clear. This isn't something where our team broke protocol and did the wrong thing," McLaughlin said. "We don't know how this happened, but it certainly wasn't bad behavior on our side whatsoever."

In order to get into the NCAA tournament's controlled environment in Indianapolis, teams had to show seven consecutive days of negative COVID-19 tests. Once in Indianapolis, teams would undergo daily testing.

NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said before the NCAA tournament that a team could continue playing in the tournament as long as it had five "eligible and healthy" players. The NCAA tournament's contact tracing and other COVID-19 protocols were expected to prevent a team from needing to withdraw due to one or two positive tests.

Because of that policy, both McLaughlin and Rhoades thought VCU would be able to play Saturday night despite the positive tests.

"We thought we were still going to have enough to play, but the county, the health department and the NCAA, the medical committee made a decision that we weren't playing, that it was a no-contest and Oregon was going to move on and we were done," Rhoades said.

"I felt pretty good because we had enough guys, right? As long as you have five guys you can play," Rhoades later added. "I was going up and down the hallway and saying, we're like a wounded animal, we're like a wounded animal. You don't want to go against a wounded animal. ... You could tell, even though we were missing some dudes, the guys wanted to play."

VCU didn't specify if the positive tests came from players or other team personnel.

This is the second year in a row VCU has seen its season end shortly before tipoff. Last season, the Atlantic 10 tournament was canceled minutes before the Rams were set to face UMass in the first round.

"It just stinks," Rhoades said. "I can't sugarcoat it."

This marks the first NCAA tournament game canceled or declared a no-contest due to COVID-19 issues. The NCAA made Tuesday night its deadline for replacement teams to enter the field; no teams had issues at that time.

The Rams were forced to stop practicing or playing on Jan. 2 because of a positive COVID-19 test within their program, forcing a game against Davidson to be postponed. They resumed practice two days later and made it through the rest of the season without further problems.

Led by Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Bones Hyland, VCU finished second in the conference in the regular season and lost to St. Bonaventure in the A-10 title game. But its body of work, which included a season-opening win over Utah State, was enough to earn Rhoades' team an at-large berth to the tournament.

VCU entered the tournament as a 600-1 long shot at Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill. Bets on the Oregon-VCU game were being refunded, but futures bets on the Rams, including the odds to win the tournament, remained in action at most sportsbooks.

Oregon head coach Dana Altman congratulated VCU "on an outstanding season" in a statement Saturday.

"We hate to see a team's season end this way after all the hard work these student-athletes have put in," Altman said. "This isn't the way we wanted to advance, but we are excited to be moving on and we will start our preparation for Monday's game."

ESPN's David Purdum and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ready for another day of March Madness? How's your bracket? The first round of the 2021 NCAA tournament continues Saturday.

Friday's first-round games were not kind to the Big Ten. The league lost two top-four seeds (Ohio State and Purdue). According to ESPN Stats & Information, that was the first time that had happened to the league since the tournament expanded in 1985.

The day wasn't kind to the ACC either. The league had four teams lose (Clemson, UNC, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech) on the same day in the NCAA tournament for the first time in conference history. But, Buddy Buckets and Syracuse went off.

Here's a look at the best stuff from Saturday's NCAA tournament action:

Down go the defending champs!

For the second time in three NCAA tournaments, the Virginia Cavaliers have been upset in the first round. This time, the loss came at the hands of the 13th-seeded Ohio Bobcats. The Cavs are the fourth reigning champ to be eliminated in round of 64 (UConn 2012, UCLA 1996 and Indiana 1988), per ESPN Stats & Information.

Ohio dethrones the defending champs! ?@OhioMBasketball | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/N1Sy6a8zcw

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 21, 2021

The game wasn't without its nerves for Bobcats fans, though.

Do you have your emotional support buddy, @OhioMBasketball fans? pic.twitter.com/XJGEWf0sRn

— March Madness TV (@MarchMadnessTV) March 21, 2021

Big 3s and clutch free throws helped send the Bobcats to the next round. It was the team's third straight opening-round victory in the NCAA tournament.

pic.twitter.com/VZi6iqEqVy

— Ohio Basketball (@OhioMBasketball) March 21, 2021

The win was a reminder that another team from the state of Ohio deserves respect.

THE. OHIO. UNIVERSITY. ?#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/46EEBJvQ3T

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 21, 2021

The Jabari Walker show

Colorado absolutely dusted Georgetown. It was the Buffaloes' biggest NCAA tournament win, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Freshman Jabari Walker had a career-high 24 points and was 5-of-5 from the 3-point line, his most 3s in a game in his career and a Colorado NCAA tournament single-game record. Walker hadn't even attempted four 3s in a game before Saturday. Teammate D'Shawn Schwartz also hit 5 threes Saturday and now shares that record with Walker.

McKinley Wright IV had 13 assists, a CU tournament record. That included 8 assists in the first half alone. In the previous six NCAA tournaments, only one player had at least 13 assists in a game: Murray State's Ja Morant in 2019 (16).

Socially distant Madness

Unprecedented times call for new solutions. The Gonzaga Kennel Club found a unique way to bring the game to the fans.

March Madness in Covid times. @ZagKennelClub is hosting an outdoor watch party here on campus where students were able to register in groups of 6 for socially distant pods to catch the game on a 27' outdoor screen. pic.twitter.com/TddvB9GXtP

— Austin Getz (@AustinGetzTV) March 21, 2021

Garden State pride

It's no question who the New Jersey Devils are rooting for after seeing UConn junior R.J. Cole's shoulder, especially after Rutgers already advanced on Friday.

We feel the love, @rjuice_.#MarchMadness | #JerseyPride pic.twitter.com/zIwSYR72lu

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) March 21, 2021

Boom-er Sooner

Oklahoma controlling both ends ✋@OU_MBBall | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/skWvgFOtDa

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2021

Big-time jams!

MILES NORRIS THROWING IT DOWN ?@UCSBbasketball | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/CXamN6U1kS

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2021

BISHOP REVERSE ?@BluejayMBB |#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/ZywVkvRTPO

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2021

Michigan's Isaiah Livers' sideline fashion statement

Isaiah Livers in the #NotNCAAProperty shirt FTW pic.twitter.com/IkTBBrKOFr

— Tammi Gaw (@tammigaw) March 20, 2021

Eastern Washington's burgeoning cult heroes

No. 14 seed EWU put up a fight against No. 3 seed Kansas. That was in large part thanks to the Groves brothers. Tanner (the bearded star of Saturday) had 35 points and Jacob had 23.

The Groves bros are filling it up for EWU! ?@EWUMBB | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/jGIvSyw5XD

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2021

2nd 16:55 | More great ball movement by the Eags leads to a Tanner Groves triple! He's got all seven for Eastern so far in the second half!

? 51
? 17#GoEags #BigSkyinBoise pic.twitter.com/vyazWD76BG

— EWU MBB (@EWUMBB) March 13, 2021

Early top plays

Florida State hates rims ?@FSUHoops | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/x9rVaHB7cS

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2021

The Buffs drained 11 threes in the first half ?@CUBuffsMBB | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/HOA1NY6Dha

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2021

WHOLE SQUAD HYPED! ???@CUBuffsMBB #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/qtz3O2jYYJ

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2021

Michigan's managers doing work

They don't call them our managers THE LEADERS & BEST for nothing! #GoBlue 〽️?#MarchMadness#ForCompetitorsOnly pic.twitter.com/ZVIGJUAYxj

— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) March 20, 2021

We are all this drummer today

#MarchMadness energy right here pic.twitter.com/Ka8Hak7ogb

— Kansas Jayhawks (@KUAthletics) March 20, 2021

Football shoutouts

Wishing @CoachEwing33 and the Hoyas good luck in the Tournament! #HoyaSaxa x #MarchMadness https://t.co/sW8ZqqUOP5 pic.twitter.com/iEUECWLqKu

— Washington Football Team (@WashingtonNFL) March 20, 2021

Time to dance, @FSUHoops & @fsuwbb!!#NoleFamily | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/08EitIY6Ro

— FSU Football (@FSUFootball) March 20, 2021

Here's what else you missed on Friday:

16 Games.
3 OTs.

What a day. ? #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/4Lc16RCUvf

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2021