Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: Team Messi’s new home, NCAA Final 4s, Fish, tennis, more
GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (MARCH 29): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US THIS WEEK: Opening week as Messi and Inter Miami christen new stadium, men’s NCAA Tournament to Final Four and women in Elite Eight, budget-ball Marlins seek opening sweep, Miami Open championship weekend, Heat, Panthers, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady and more. Welcome back to the 142nd edition of HB10, bringing you what’s on our minds from a Miami lens and accentuating stuff that’s big, weird, damnable, funny or worth needling as sports week past pivots to the week ahead:
1. INTER MIAMI: It’s opening Week for new Miami Freedom Park: All four Inter Miami a.k.a. Team Messi solidly survived an MLS season-opening five-game road trip at 3-1-1 and now awaits this coming Saturday’s home debut -- the lonnng-awaited christening of new Miami Freedom Park vs. Austin. (Team is calling it Nu Stadium, for a sponsorship with Nubank, a Brazilian digital financial services platform, but we’ll stick with Miami Freedom Park, thanks. The new stadium includes a ‘Leo Messi Stand.’ I like it.) MLS schedule will pause three weeks for the summer World Cup beginning May 25.
2. COLLEGE BASKETBALL-MEN: Arizona, Illinois first to Final Four; two others today: NCAA Tournament No. 1 regional seed Arizona rode a big second half to a 79-64 win over 2-Purdue Saturday and 3-Illinois beat 9-Iowa 71-59 to move the Wildcats and Illini on to the men’s April 4 Final Four in Indianapolis. ‘Zona is in its sixth FF but first since 2005; Illinois is in its fifth and first since 2001. Two more teams will reach the Four today as the Elite Eight wraps with No. 1 Michigan vs. 6-Tennessee (winner vs. Arizona) and 1-Duke vs. 2-UConn (winner to face Illinois.)
3. COLLEGE BASKETBALL-WOMEN: All four No. 1s alive and favored in Elite Eight: The women’s NCAA Tournament reaches its Final Four today/Sunday and Monday with a pair of Elite Eight games each day. And it’s chalky -- with all four regional No. 1 seeds alive and favored by double-digits to meet in the FF. Today it’s reigning champ 1-UConn vs. 6-Notre Dame and 1-UCLA vs. 3-Duke. Sunday delivers 1-Texas vs. 2-Michigan and 1-South Carolina vs. 3-TCU.
4. TENNIS: Sabalenka wins Miami Open; Sinner a big fave today: Some call the Miami Open tennis’ “fifth major,” and the cream is rising on the event’s championship weekend at Hard Rock Stadium. Saturday’s women’s final saw No. 1 seed and four-time major winner Aryna Sabalenka handle 4-seed Coco Gauff of South Florida’s Delray Beach though it took three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. In Sunday’s men’s final No. 2 seed and four-time major winner Jannik Sinner is an enormous favorite over little-known upstart and surprise finalist No. 21 Jiri Lehecka.
5. MARLINS: Fish seek opening sweep as another year of budget-ball begins: The Marlins are 2-0! (Vs. the god-awful Colorado Rockies, yeah, but still.) Sandy Alcantara pitched a gem in the opener and Eury Perez was good enough Saturday as crowd fell predictably from around 32,000 to the typical 10K. The second-cheapest roster in MLB at $93 million is back on the yard today -- in throwback teal -- vs. Rockies then welcomes White Sox in before hitting the road for three at Yankee Stadium.
6. HEAT: Miami trying to dodge nightmare scenario as current 10th seed: Heat is 39-35 and the 10th East seed -- last in the play-in -- with eight games left in regular season after Friday’s loss in Cleveland made it a 1-6 skid. If standings ended as is Miami would face two straight must-win play-in road games for the dubious right to then face the top-seed, almost certainly Detroit, in the first round. Heat is back on the wood today/Sunday at Indiana.
7. PANTHERS: Blown-lead loss to Isles has Cats on brink of elimination: Florida is technically still alive in the NHL playoff hunt but not realistically -- with Saturday’s 5-2 loss at the Islanders close to a death knell. Injury-wracked Panthers led 2-0 on a pair of Matthew Tkachuk goals before collapsing. Cats are now 35-37 and 13 points off the final wild-card spot with 10 games left entering Sunday’s game back in New York at the Rangers.
8. GOLF: Brilliant, checkered life of Tiger takes latest wrong turn: 15-time major champion Tiger Woods, 50, was arrested on a DUI charge Friday after a car wreck near his home on Florida’s Jupiter Island. Police say Woods’ Land Rover swerved and flipped on its side, and that he climbed out of the passenger window, appearing unhurt -- the latest in a litany of off-course mishaps as he was booked on suspicion of DUI and refusal to submit to a lawful test. Woods last competed on PGA Tour in July 2024 and has missed much of past six years to various injuries. He’d been weighing whether to compete in The Masters starting April 9.
9. HURRICANES: Big spring for Mario’s national runnersup: After a 13-3 season and national championship-game loss, offseason work continues through UM’s April 18 Spring Game, after which the April 23-25 NFL Draft also figures as a bounty for Canes football. Three first-round picks are all but certain; now a fourth, cornerback Keionte Scott, looms after his blur-fast 40 at Pro Day. (Although Scott’s age, 24, may give pause to some teams.) Meantime Miami is a big early betting pick to reign in ACC next season at -135 odds, with SMU next at 7-1.
10. NFL: Football just saved Tom Brady from himself: Much in sports is overblown. Your Friend the Media will do that. But Tom Brady looking into a comeback at age 49 has gotten too little attention. Brady (49 next August) told CNBC he explored coming out of retirement and returning to the NFL but that the NFL “did not like that idea very much.” Brady last played in 2022 and now is a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, with league rules stating he’d need to divest his ownership stake to pursue a comeback as a player. Dear Tom: You have seven Super Bowl rings. Enjoy your retirement.
THE LIST: MARLINS OPENING-DAY PITCHERS: The Marlins have had 18 different pitchers start in the franchise’s 34 Opening Days. The most by any pitcher:
No. Pitcher Years
6 Sandy Alcantara 2020-23, ‘25-26
3 Josh Johnson 2010-12
3 Josh Beckett 2003-05
2 each: Jose Urena 2018-19; Ricky Nolasco 2009, ‘13; Dontrelle Willis 2006-07; Ryan Dempster 2001-02; Alex Fernandez 1999-2000; Kevin Brown 1996-97; and Charlie Hough 1993-94
1 each: Jesus Luzardo, Edinson Volquez, Wei-Yin Chin, Henderson Alvarez, Jose Fernandez, Mark Hendrickson, Livan Hernandez and John Burkett
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This story was originally published March 29, 2026 at 10:32 AM.
