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Duke's win against Michigan has propelled the Blue Devils to a familiar perch: No. 1 inThe Associated Press men's college basketball poll.

Syracuse Duke Basketball

The Blue Devils climbed two spots to top Monday's poll, marking the 148th appearance at No. 1 to add to what was already the record for any program. Duke (25-2) claimed 56 of 61 first-place votes to supplant Michigan (25-2) afterSaturday's 68-63 win against the Wolverinesin Washington.

That win came in a matchup of the top two teams inthe NCAA men's selection committee's preliminary top 16 seedsfor March Madness, released hours before the game. The Blue Devils enter this week with a national-best 12 Quadrant 1 wins, along with nine wins against AP Top 25 teams.

And now the latest such win has pushed the Blue Devils back to a No. 1 ranking for the second straight season under fourth-year coach Jon Scheyer. Last year's Final Four team sat atop the last two polls entering the NCAA Tournament, the first time Duke had reached No. 1 since Scheyer took over for retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski in 2022.

Arizona rose two spots to No. 2 afterbeating BYUandwinning at Houston, and secured the other five first-place votes. Michigan fell to No. 3 as its first appearance at No. 1 since January 2013 turned into a one-week stay, followed by a pair of Big 12 teams in Iowa State and Houston.

The top tier

UConn fell one spot to No. 6 after a week that includeda home loss to Creighton, while reigning national champion Florida leapt five spots to No. 7 to return to the top 10 for the first time since late November. The Gators were ranked No. 3 in the preseason and spent a week among the unranked in early January. They have won seven straight and 12 of 13.

Purdue, Gonzaga and Illinois rounded out the top 10.

NCAA selection committee vs. AP Top 25

The selection committee had Michigan, Duke, Arizona and Iowa State as the No. 1 seeds in Saturday's reveal of the preliminary top 16 seeds. The Cyclones edged UConn and Houston for the fourth 1-seed, with the Huskies' loss to Creighton and then Iowa State'shead-to-head win against Houston to start last weekswinging the vote to T.J. Otzelberger's squad.

Monday's poll largely aligns with the committee's reveal, starting with the same four teams at the top in a shuffled order — with Iowa State moving up two spots even afterSaturday's loss at now-No. 19 BYU.

In addition, the AP Top 25 and committee align on 15 teams being ranked among those top 16 seeds. The outlier is St. John's at No. 15 in the AP poll, taking a slot that went to Vanderbilt — with the Commodores seeded 15th overall by the committee Saturday but sliding to No. 25 in Monday's poll.

Rising

Alabama had the week's biggest jump, rising eight spots to No. 17 after a thrilling double-overtime home winagainst Arkansasand awin at LSUpushed the Crimson Tide's win streak to six games.

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Florida had the week's second-biggest gain, while BYU rose four spots after the Arizona loss and Iowa State win.

In all, 11 teams moved up from last week's ranking.

Sliding

No. 14 Kansas joined Vanderbilt with the week's biggest slide of six spots. The Jayhawks are coming offa 16-point home lossto a Cincinnati team that was reeling in early February but has won four straight.

The Commodores lostat Missouriandat home to Tennesseelast week, falling to 5-6 since a 16-0 start that carried them to a No. 10 ranking as of mid-January.

Saint Louis tumbled five spots to No. 23 afterlast week's loss at Rhode Islandended an 18-game winning streak, while 11 teams fell from last week but remained in the poll.

Status quo

Illinois and No. 20 Arkansas were the only two teams to hold their position from last week.

Coming and going

Tennessee was the lone new addition at No. 22, with the Volunteers beatingOklahomaand Vanderbilt last week to push its winning streak to four games. This starts a third stint in the poll for Rick Barnes' Volunteers, who fell out for two weeks in mid-January, returned for a week at No. 25 to start February, then were unranked again for the past two weeks.

The Vols replaced Wisconsin, which fell out from No. 24after last week's loss at Ohio State.

Conference watch

The Big 12 led all conferences with six ranked teams, while the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference each had five. The Atlantic Coast Conference was next with four, followed by the Big East with two.

The West Coast Conference, Mid-American Conference and Atlantic 10 each had one ranked team.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign uphereandhere(AP mobile app). AP college basketball:https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-pollandhttps://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

One of the bigger storylines thismen's college basketball seasonhas been the health status ofKansas basketballguard Darryn Peterson, one of the sport's top players.

In an interviewwith ESPN's Myron Medcalf,Peterson spoke out on the current narrative, which has been sparked by social media, regarding his availability for games or coming out of them as he continues to deal with the numerous injuries he has sustained this season.

"Everybody's got an opinion on it," Petersonrecently told ESPN."But basketball is my life. If I could have been out there every game this year, I would have. If you would have asked me last year, what were my goals for this year, I would never mention missing games. So all this stuff kind of just happened, but I've got to deal with it."

REQUIRED READING:Who is rising, falling in latest March Madness bracket prediction?

Peterson's comments to Medcalf are some of his first public remarks this season, as he has not spoken in many availabilities this season.

The Jayhawks 6-foot-6 freshman guard has missed 11 games this season, including Kansas' loss to Duke in the Champions Classic andits win over then-No. 1 Arizona on Feb. 9, with the majority of those being due to a lingering hamstring injury. He has also not been able to finish games due to cramps from that hamstring injury.

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However, in the 16 games that Peterson has played in, he has lived up to the hype and expectations that surrounded his name heading into the season. He scored 32 points in an overtime win over TCU, scored 26 points on 11-of-13 shooting against Baylor, and 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting against Oklahoma State before exiting due to injury.

Ahead of Kansas' eventual 84-68 loss to Cincinnati on Feb. 21, the Jayhawks' second loss at home this season,Bill Self told reporters that he wasn't buying into the false narrativesurrounding Peterson's ongoing injuries. He doubled down on that following Kansas' 16-point loss to the Bearcats, theirthird-worst home loss in Self's tenure.

"There is a way to change the narrative — play, finish,"Self said on Feb. 20."Now, if his body allows him to, fantastic. If it doesn't allow him to, then they'll say something again the next game. But that's the way to get people to quit talking.

"It's not me saying it's not fair, I don't think that really keeps anybody from having an opinion at a national level or on this level or any level to be quite candid, but I do think it's easy for everybody to say what's happening within a situation that really doesn't know the situation."

Is Darryn Peterson playing tonight for Kansas basketball vs Houston?

All signs point to a "yes" for Peterson's status against Houston on Monday. The Jayhawks enter Monday's critical Big 12 game with a 40-0 record on "Big Monday" games at Allen Fieldhouse under Self.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast.Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Kansas basketball guard Darryn Peterson answers back on injury narrative

One of the top players in the2026 free agent classmay not reach the open market.

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TheAtlanta Falconsplan to place the franchise tag on tight endKyle Pitts, permultiplereports. The second-team All-Pro played out the fifth year of his rookie contract in 2025 and was set to hit free agency this spring.

By placing the franchise tag on him, Atlanta can keep him from signing elsewhere in 2026. But that will come at the cost of paying a fully guaranteed contract to him for the coming season.

By Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said on Monday that the state had filed a lawsuit against the ‌Trump administration to halt construction of a new federal immigration detention center ‌in the state.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has federal oversight of immigration, spent more than $100 ​million on a 54-acre square-foot warehouse in Maryland's Washington County to convert into a detention center capable of holding 1,500 people at a time, Brown said.

The Trump administration, according to Maryland's attorney general and government, purchased the property without conducting an environmental ‌review or receiving public input.

However, ⁠according to Washington County last month, the federal government did not need to seek local zoning approval for the project. As ⁠a result, it said, the county could not legally restrict the Trump administration's ability to proceed with the detention center.

"Our people must be heard when the federal government makes ​decisions that ​affect their health, their safety, and their ​communities," said Maryland Governor Wes ‌Moore, a Democrat.

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He added: "The State of Maryland is filing this lawsuit because DHS must be held to the same legal standard as every other federal agency."

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The department plans to spend more than $38 billion in 2026 on detention centers as the Republican Trump administration seeks to ramp ‌up its already aggressive immigration agenda. This would ​increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) total bed capacity ​to 92,600 at its detention ​centers.

There are currently more than 200 federal immigration detention centers in ‌the United States.

The move to increase ​detention centers in states ​across the U.S. states has been met with some bipartisan criticism.

Amid the criticism, four Democratic members of Congress on Monday announced a plan to ​introduce a bill requiring DHS ‌to seek written approval from state and local officials before constructing, acquiring ​or operating any ICE processing facility or detention center.

(Reporting by Jasper ​Ward in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell)

TORONTO (AP) — Canada announced Monday that it is working on an aid package for Cuba as it faces blackouts and severe fuel shortages worsened bya U.S oil embargo.

Canada Mexico Alert

Foreign Minister Anita Anand declined to give details beyond that.

"We are preparing a plan to assist. We are not prepared at this point to provide any details of the announcement," Anand said.

Cuba is facing anincreasingly dire energy crisisthat has heightened in recent weeks after oil shipments from Venezuela, its main oil supplier, were halted when the U.S. attacked the South American country in early January andarrested its leader. Mexico, another major supplier, then alsosuspended oil shipmentsunder U.S. pressure.

Air Canada and other airlines havecanceled flightsto the Caribbean island because of a shortage of aviation fuel on the island.

Canadian tourism is vital to Cuba's economy. Global Affairs Canada, a governmental office, has said Canada is Cuba's second-largest source of direct investment to the island, particularly in the mining and tourism sectors.

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Canada would join Mexico in providing aid.

Two Mexican Navy ships laden with humanitarian aid docked inCubaearlier this month, two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to the island, deepening an already severe economic andenergy crisisin the Caribbean nation. The ships brought about 800 tons of goods, and another 1,500 tons of powdered milk and beans.

The economic crisis gripping Cuba since 2020 has been compounded by intensified U.S. sanctions aimed at forcing a change in the island's political model. These pressures led tocritical shortages and severe blackoutsthat peaked in early 2026.

Because Cuba produces only 40% of its required fuel, it remains highly vulnerable to external blockades. While strong allies like Russia and China have condemned the U.S. measures, their support has remained largely symbolic thus far.

Follow AP's Latin America coverage athttps://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Frustrated European officials pushed Monday for clarification on how U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration of a15% global taxon imports would affect thetrade dealthey struck with Trump this summer as EU legislators hit pause on the deal's ratification until they get clarity.

US-Supreme-Court-Tariffs-World

The European Parliament's trade committee postponed a committee vote on ratification after Trump said he would impose the new tariff, after the U.S. Supreme Courtstruck downhis use of an emergency powers law to set new import taxes. Trump thenturned to another sectionof trade law to justify his imposition of the 15% global rate, which take effect Tuesday.

The EU position is expressed in five words: "A deal is a deal," said commission spokesman Olof Gill. "So now we are simply saying to the US, it is up to you to clearly show to us what path you are taking to honor the agreement."

The US-EU deal called for a 15% cap on tariffs on most European goods imports, while tariffs on US industrial goods would be lowered to zero. While the deal burdened consumers and businesses with a tariff increase from the previous average of 4.8%, it also gave businesses certainty so they could plan - a factor credited with helping Europe avoid a recession last year.

Since the new 15% rate announced Saturday would be applied on top of the previous tariffs, it would break the agreed ceiling on tariffs, said Bernd Lange, chair of the parliament's trade committee. Legislators postponed a committee vote on the agreement scheduled for Tuesday.

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Questions surrounded other trade deals done with individual countries including Brazil, India and Britain. For instance, Britain agreed a 10% maximum tariff with the US, while India settled on 18% and Vietnam accepted 20%. Although the Supreme Court decision did not directly affect bilateral deals, they were negotiated using threats of imposing the now-invalidated tariffs as leverage. However re-opening those deals could backfire because Trump has made clear he will pursue tariffs under other laws than the one the Supreme Court said he could not apply.

US Trade Representative Jamison Greer said Sunday on US network CBS' "Face the Nation" program that the administration had made clear to negotiating partners that Trump was intent on tariffs whether the Supreme Court ruled against him or not, that "whether we won or lost, there were going to be tariffs."

He said that the bilateral deals "are good deals, we expect to stand by them, we expect our partners to stand by them."

Moving from country-specific tariffs to the flat 15% global tariff "will have considerable implications elsewhere," said Atakan Bakiskan, US economist at Berenberg bank. The new tariff means a reduced rate for some countries, for example Brazil, which faces a reduction of nearly 15 percentage points and China, which sees a reduction of nearly 10 percentage points.

Under the law Trump relied on, these latest tariffs are in effect for only 150 days unless Congress votes to extend them. Trump could use that time to search for other legal provisions that would support his actions.

While uncertainty hits European companies, it puts pressure on the U.S. economy as well, where consumers and companies pay the tariffs on goods purchased from abroad. "Uncertainty around trade policy appears here to stay - putting continued pressure on the US economy," Bakiskan said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Kash Patel joined the American men's hockey players in the locker room Sunday for a rowdy celebration ofwinning the gold medalin the Winter Olympics.

Trump-Election Conspiracists

While he was in Milan, the U.S. Secret Serviceshot and killed an armed manwho had driven into Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's resort in Florida. Hours later, around the time the game against Canada was headed into overtime, Patel posted on X that the FBI was "dedicating all necessary resources in the investigation."

Videos shared on social media showed a pumped-up Patel drinking beer from a bottle and spraying the rest around the locker room. After one of the players draped his gold medal around Patel's neck, he joined the players as they jumped up and down.

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"There was a threat at the president's residence at MAL, Americans in Mexico are facing major threats by cartel members, Nancy Guthrie is still missing, and our FBI Director thinks he's a frat bro?!," Xochitl Hinojosa, the spokeswoman for former Attorney General Merrick Garland said on X.

Patel responded to the criticism by posting that he was "extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys."

The FBI director had defended his official trip to Italy by saying he was going to meet with Italian law enforcement officials and Americans helping to provide security at the Olympics. He posted pictures this week of his visit to the Milan Joint Operations Center, which he said was charged with protecting the security of American athletes and all those who traveled to Milan for the Winter Games. He also posted a photo of his meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Italy.