With three Iowa teams in the N-C-A-A basketball tournament, it’s a good bet there are a lot more people interested in tournament pools this year. The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals oversees the tourney pools and spokesman David Werning confirms they have been a hot topic since the selection show Sunday. “March is a very strenuous time for our staff because they are constantly answering phone calls from people who want to participate in office pools, who want to show their support for the teams — this year in particular — and also win a little cash on the side. So, it’s a heavy month for us,” Werning says. If you are wondering about your office pool or the tournament pool with your friends and neighbors — Werning says it’s okay.

“In general, Iowa law permits individuals to bet on the tournaments. This means office pools can be organized, other activities associated with the tournament, are all fine,” according to Werning. But, there is a limit on how much cash can be in the pool. “No one can win or lose more then 50 dollars in any 24-hour period. The individuals participating have to be individuals as such, no one can act as an agent for another person, so there is no bookmaking,” Wering says. “The game has to be conducted in a fair and honest manner. And finally — as far as the individual pool activity — anyone can participate, there’s no age limit.” Those rules change however if you want to get into a pool at your local watering hole.

“The establishment has to have a two-year social gambling license. The pool itself can only be conducted per game, so you can’t actually fill out brackets, it can only have a pool for each individual game, it has to be done in a grid format,” Werning explains. “The restrictions on the cost: no participant can wager more than five dollars and no individual can win more than 500 dollars on a single pool.” Unlike individual pools, you must be 21 or older to participate in a pool at a bar or other type of establishment. When it comes to individual pools, the enforcement of them is a little like fireworks — they aren’t going to come after you unless there is a complaint.

“This isn’t something that we really take a lot of interest in as far as doing investigations, recognizing that offices pools are pretty much a way of life during the month of March. If someone does call in and complain, that would be referred to the Division of Criminal Investigation for them to take a look at it. They are our investigatory arm in these cases,” Werning says. With the Panthers, Cyclones and Hawkeyes all in the tournment, Iowans are going to have to decide if they are really in it for the money, or if they are going to fill out those brackets based on their hearts and team loyalty.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa State women will make their ninth-straight N-C-A-A tournament appearance. The 10th-seeded Cyclones will face 7th seeded Dayton in the first round Friday at 11 am in Lexington, Kentucky. Cyclone Coach Bill Fennelly has led the Cyclones to each of their tournament appearances. “You know to get nine in a row in this environment, to be one of ten schools now that can say that….that says a lot about a lot of people, so we’re very proud of it,” Fennelly says.

He says it also says a lot about the university. Playing in Lexington means they will not be that far away from the mens’ team which plays in Louisville on Thursday. “The very first text message I got was from Fred (Hoiberg), who said ‘let’s go take over Kentucky,’ so it’ll be fun. Obviously there might be a few people who get to get over there from Louisville, so that’s exciting,” Fennelly says. He says he doesn’t remember the first selection show, but says each is different.

“You’re always excited, you are always humbled by it, you feel honored that you were selected, now you’ve got to go play,” Fennelly says. “There’s one thing to be in the N-C-Double-A Tournament, there’s another thing to play in the N-C-Double-A Tournament. So now you want to be a part of the greatest sporting event in our country in three weeks, so now let’s go play and see what happens.”

This will be the first meeting between the two schools. Fennelly says he doesn’t know much about Dayton, though he saw them once this year. He says they saw them when they played Iowa earlier in the year and says he doesn’t remember much about them because he was scouting Iowa at the time. He says it was a high-scoring game with the Hawkeyes and they will score a lot.

The winning team will advance to play the winner of the other game, second seeded Kentucky versus 15th seed Tennessee State on Sunday. The Cyclones are one of four teams nationally to make the N-C-A-A Tournament in both men’s and women’s basketball in each of the last four seasons.

(Radio Iowa)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The Panthers have announced they’ve signed former Kansas City Chiefs safety Kurt Coleman to a two-year contract. Financial terms of the deal Monday were not released. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Coleman has started 32 games during his five-year NFL career, including three last season with the Chiefs registering 37 tackles and three interceptions. He was a regular starter for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011 and 2012. He has 258 career tackles and 10 interceptions for his career.

The 26-year-old Coleman is expected to challenge veteran safety Roman Harper for a starting job. Coleman’s best statistical season came in 2011 with the Eagles when he had 78 tackles and a career-high five interceptions. Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman previously said upgrading the secondary was one of team’s priorities this offseason.

UNDATED (AP) – The Big 12 again has seven teams in the NCAA Tournament. Regular-season champion Kansas is a No. 2 seed, and the No. 3 seeds in three of the four regions are from the Big 12 – tournament champion Iowa State, Oklahoma and Baylor. The league also has the nation’s top cumulative RPI and five top-20 teams in this season’s final AP poll. “We’re arguably the best conference in the country,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said Monday. “Still, we need to validate that with some tournament wins and some teams advancing.”

This is the second year in a row with seven NCAA teams, making the Big 12 the only league that can boast 14 bids in that span. But only Baylor and Iowa State made it past the opening weekend of the tournament last March, then both lost in the Sweet 16.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) – John Lackey pitched three perfect innings in his spring training debut, outpitching David Price in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Monday.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny let the 36-year-old Lackey set his own pace during camp and it has paid off. The right-hander struck out four and needed only 37 pitches.

In his third outing of the spring, David Price was nearly as efficient as Lackey, throwing four scoreless innings of one hit ball while striking out five and walking one. Yoenis Cespedes returned to the Tigers lineup after missing a couple games with a quadriceps injury, and showed little sign of rust. He sent a pitch from Lackey to the right field warning track in the second inning and doubled off Carlos Villanueva in the fifth. Pete Kozma had an RBI single.