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Iowa will replace Carver-Hawkeye floor with court used in NCAA regional in Houston

By The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Hawkeyes now own a keepsake from their 2025-26 run to the Elite Eight — the basketball court they played on in Houston.

The athletic department announced Friday it purchased the NCAA Houston Regional court at Toyota Center and will use it to replace the floor at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The price was not disclosed.

The current Carver-Hawkeye court was installed in 2016 and was due for replacement.

For the first time since the arena opened in 1983, the parquet layout will be replaced with a single-surface design featuring a few new elements. Installation will begin next week.

The new maple court was manufactured by Connor Sports, a longtime provider of flooring for NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

NCAA bans ex-Abilene Christian basketball player Airion Simmons for alleged role in throwing games

By The Associated Press
A former Abilene Christian men's basketball player was permanently banned by the NCAA on Friday for allegedly helping rig basketball games for sports bettors. According to the NCAA's Division I Committee on Infractions, Airion Simmons — who played at Abilene Christian from 2019-2024— colluded with a teammate and agreed with a bettor to throw a March 2024 game for money. In a December 2025 interview, Simmons told NCAA investigators he was also contacted by a second bettor about losing the game for money. In January, Simmons and the two bettors were included in a sprawling indictment by federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania on various charges, including bribery, fraud and conspiracy. The point-shaving scheme generally revolved around gamblers who placed bets and recruited players with the promise of a big payment in exchange for purposefully underperforming during a game, prosecutors said. Those fixers would then bet against the players’ teams in those games, defrauding sportsbooks and other bettors, authorities said.
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