D’Angelo Russell had season highs of 30 points and 12 assists, Karl-Anthony Towns scored 29 points, and the Minnesota Timberwolves held off the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers 129-124.

The Pac-12 can make a case as the most successful conference in collegiate athletics, amassing more than 500 NCAA championships while leading the nation in titles 56 of the past 62 years.

Conference realignment in college sports has been going on since 1984, when the Supreme Court invalidated the NCAA’s national television contract for football.

The Big Ten has voted to add Southern California and UCLA as conference members beginning in 2024.

Oregon knocked off a top-five team for the second time in two games, beating No. 5 Southern California 79-69 behind Will Richardson’s career-high 28 points.

Harrison Ingram and Spencer Jones scored 21 points apiece and Stanford beat No. 5 Southern California 75-69 for its first win over a top five team in nearly 15 years.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)INDIANAPOLIS – Southern California coach Andy Enfield is taking another program back to the Sweet 16. Marcus Garrett had 15 points for Kansas (21-9), which had never lost an NCAA tourney game by more than 16 points. AdMobley's four first-half 3s, doubling his career best for an entire game, staked the Trojans to a 40-21 lead at the break. Kansas trimmed its deficit to 16 early in the second half, but Enfield immediately called timeout and the momentum was over. BIG PICTURESouthern California continued a banner tournament for the Pac-12, which is now 9-1 with four of its five teams reaching the Sweet 16.

(AP Photo/Gregory Payan, File)Many of the nation’s brightest prospects in the most recent recruiting class didn’t necessarily select the most obvious schools. In the meantime, four of the top seven players chose Oklahoma State, Southern California, Stanford and Florida State. Jerry Meyer, the director of basketball scouting at 247Sports, says he noticed this trend starting in 2015. Barnes is ranked seventh in the 247Sports Composite and played high school basketball at Montverde (Florida) Academy. He was named the California male athlete of the year and the California basketball player of the year by USA Today.