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He was, however, the only unanimous first team All-Big Ten selection. Illinois's Keaton Wagler appeared on the first team in 15 of the 16 ballots.

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Lendeborg also took home Big Ten Newcomer of the Year, ahead of Wagler, while Michigan's Aday Mara was voted Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg edged Michigan'sDusty Mayfor Big Ten Coach of the Year.

TheBig Ten Tournamentbegins Tuesday in Chicago.

Here are the All-Big Ten first and second teams and postseason awards as voted on by USA TODAY Network reporters who cover the conference.

2026 All-Big Ten basketball first, second teams

* denotes unanimous selection

• Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan*

• Keaton Wagler, Illinois

• Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State

• Braden Smith, Purdue

• Bennett Stirtz, Iowa

SECOND TEAM

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• Bruce Thornton, Ohio State

• Pryce Sandfort, Nebraska

• Nick Boyd, Wisconsin

• Nick Martinelli, Northwestern

• Lamar Wilkerson, Indiana

Also receiving votes:Hannes Steinbach (Washington), Morez Johnson Jr. (Michigan), Tyler Bildeau (UCLA), David Mirkovic (Illinois), John Blackwell (Wisconsin), Fletcher Loyer (Purdue), Jaxon Kohler (Michigan State).

2026 Big Ten basketball Player of the Year

Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg was a near unanimous pick for Big Ten Player of the Year. The UAB transfer didn't post monster numbers (14.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 3.2 apg), but he's the best player on the conference's best team.

"If he's not Big Ten Player of the Year, then I'll be shocked," Wolverines coach Dusty May said Monday.

Well Dusty, all is right in the world.

Iowa's Bennett Stirtz and Purdue's Braden Smith received the other two votes.

2026 Big Ten basketball Coach of the Year

This was the closest vote as Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg edged Michigan's Dusty May by three votes.

The Cornhuskers (26-5, 15-5) werepredicted to finish 15th in the Big Ten preseason rankingsand will enter the conference tournament as the No. 2 seed.

Nebraska is the only Power conference team to never win a game in the NCAA Tournament, but it looks like Hoiberg's group may be the one to break that duck.

Wisconsin's Greg Gard also received a vote.

2026 Big Ten basketball Newcomer of the Year

Yaxel Lendeborg wins this one, too, though Illinois freshman Keaton Wagler received a decent amount of consideration. Lendeborg arrived via the transfer portal after winning back-to-back American Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors and consecutive first-team all-league picks.

2026 Big Ten basketball Defensive Player of the Year

Michigan's Aday Mara won the vote for Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, with Nebraska's Sam Hoiberg and Mara's Michigan teammates Morez Johnson Jr. and Yaxel Lendeborg also receiving votes.

Mara averaged a Big Ten-best 2.6 blocks per game, tied for fifth-best in the nation, and added 6.9 rebounds per game.

Voters for Big Ten postseason awards included:Tony Garcia (Detroit Free Press), Chris Solari (Detroit Free Press), Sam King (Lafayette Journal & Courier), Adam Jardy (Columbus Dispatch), Zach Osterman (IndyStar), Nathan Baird (IndyStar), Tyler Tachman (Des Moines Register), Chad Leistikow (Des Moines Register), John Steppe (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), Graham Couch (Lansing State Journal), Connor Earegood (Detroit News), James Hawkins (Detroit News), Michael Niziolek (Bloomington Herald-Times),Chris Hansen (Eugene Register Guard),Austin Curtright (USA TODAY Network), John Leuzzi (USA TODAY Network).

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:2026 All-Big Ten basketball first, second teams, player, coach of year

"Last night I was able to tell five women from the Iranian Women's Soccer team that they are welcome to stay in Australia, to be safe and have a home here," Australia's Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Monday on X.

Burke posted images of him signing a piece of paper alongside the Iranian athletes.

The Department of Home Affairs did not immediately respond to a CBS News request to confirm that the five had applied for or been granted asylum.

The soccer players had been staying in a safe location after fleeing their hotel, Iranian opposition figure and exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi said Sunday.

It was unclear where the players would go next following Burke's announcement.

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In a Monday post on Truth Social,President Trump wrote, "I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women's Soccer Team. He's on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way. Some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don't return."

He added that Albanese "is doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation. God bless Australia!"

Before Burke's announcement, Mr. Trump had criticized Australia and accused the country of "making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman's Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed."

In an earlierTruth Social poston Monday morning, he called on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to grant them asylum, adding, "The U.S. will take them if you won't."

Why did Iranian soccer players seek asylum in Australia?

Before their first game of the tournament in Australia, against South Korea on March 2, the players declined to sing or salute their country's national anthem, prompting calls for harsh punishment from conservatives back inside Iran. The Islamic Republic's state television network branded them "traitors" and accused them of "the pinnacle of dishonor."

In their two subsequent matches, the team sang and saluted their anthem. Alireza Mohebbi, a correspondent in Australia for the opposition Iran International news network, told Australian networkABCthe players would not have done so by choice.

"It's completely obvious that the Islamic Republic's regime, and the security team which is with the players in Australia, forced them to sing the anthem," he said. "In the first match with South Korea, they didn't do it, but now with all the pressure and media spreading the news around the world, it's completely obvious the regime pushed them not just to sing the anthem but to do the military salute. There is no doubt."

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Australian authorities were urged to help the women following their exit from the Asian Cup on Sunday, over fears of what might happen to them if they fly back home as scheduled amid the ongoingU.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

The office of Pahlavi, whose father, the Western-backed Shah, was ousted during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, said onsocial mediathat the "courageous athletes" announced that "they have joined Iran's national Lion and Sun Revolution" — a reference to the pre-Islamic Revolution flag of Iran — and naming them in the post.

After the game that sealed the team's exit from the tournament on Sunday, Iranian fans, many carrying the flag of Iran's pre-Islamic Republic monarchy, surrounded the team's bus as it left the Gold Coast stadium, chanting "let them go" and banging on the side of the vehicle, according toThe Guardian.

After 15 minutes blocking the bus, local police intervened to corral the crowd of 200 or so people so the bus could depart.

Others banners seen among the protesters read: "Stay Safe in Australia. Talk to Police" and "If your home is not safe — mine is."

Some of the players inside the vehicle smiled and waved, others filmed — but at least one closed the curtains as the bus began the 15-minute drive back to their hotel.

The five Iranian players made a break from the rest of their team and its handlers in the Gold Coast area, sources in the Iranian-Australian community told the Morning Herald, adding that the women were "receiving support."

"We all have very reasonable and serious concerns for their safety," Craig Foster, a former captain of the Australian men's soccer team and a human rights advocate, told CBS News partner networkBBC News.

"When any team participates in a Fifa-regulated tournament, whether Asian Football Confederation or any other confederation, they must have the right to safety and external support to express any concerns they have around their safety now or in future."

A group of Iranian community and civil society groups had contacted Burke outlining their "grave concerns" for the players.

"They've been held hostage by the Iranian team management in their hotel and they've been denied the opportunity to speak to external community members, friends, family or any support networks, be that lawyers or anyone else," Foster, who helped the Afghan women's team flee the Taliban in 2021, told the BBC. "Some may have concerns, others may not — but what we know is most of them have families back home, some of them have children back home, and even if offered the right to remain in Australia, if they feel unsafe, many of them may not accept that opportunity."

"What's most important is that that offer is made," he added.

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What did the presidents and chancellors of theBig TenandSEClearn fromlast week's clown show of a presidential roundtable?

It's time to go.

Time to pull up stakes, say it was good knowing and competing with everyone else in FBS and FCS, but we're taking our multibillion dollar product and starting — in the words of Mr. Toothpaste Back In The Tube himself — our own big, beautiful association.

That's 34 schools from Seattle to Gainesville, Piscataway to Los Angeles, Minneapolis to Austin — and all points between. A true blue national association of the best collegiate sports has to offer.

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An association where they'll make the rules, run the show and make (more) billions doing it.

Hey, when the rubber meets the road, financial sovereignty makes strange bedfellows. Even two superconferences who can't agree on anything of late.

Speaking Monday on the SEC Network with Paul Finebaum, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was asked if the SEC would go it alone.

"How do we work with colleagues to solve problems? Can we do that collectively?" Sankey said. "If there's a point at which we cannot do so, I think the conversation that informs the question that you ask, 'Is there something you'd do alone?' I think that that starts to generate more and more interest."

It's not as difficult as you'd think.

The Big Ten and SEC could collectively bargain with players and player representatives, and have stringent player movement rules because they'll have real player contracts. They'll have a salary cap, and strict rules against private NIL supplementing player procurement.

The days of he with the most money wins will be long gone.

The first time a school uses illegal private NIL to secure a player, they're eliminated from the postseason for two years. The second time: They're out the association.

This is no time to fool around with those who flout rules or push the envelope. This is a multibillion dollar business with more than 100 other schools begging for their ticket to the show.

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It's much easier to kick out a school for blatant disregard of association rules than it is because they're fortunate enough to have been part of the SEC or Big Ten when they were formed.

This won't be just a football move. The SEC and Big Ten can play each other exclusively in all sports, from football to basketball and baseball, and all Olympic sports. No more creampuffs, no more guarantee games.

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They'll have their own football playoff, basketball tournaments and baseball and softball playoffs. And make an absolute financial killing.

A television and streaming rights bonanza the likes of which collegiate sports has never seen. If you think college sports could get 50% more by pooling its media rights among all 10 FBS conferences — that's the projection by those pushing the idea — imagine what a Big Ten/SEC association will fetch.

This is where we are, OK? It doesn't matter how we got here, or that the Big Ten and SEC are as much at fault as anyone for college sports unraveling into a financial and player movement free-for-all.

This is about money.

It's not about player movement (though that's a critical component), orexorbitant coaching buyoutsor a lack of rules enforcement. Andit's certainly not about academics.

This is about staying ahead of two massively mistaken moves made by two conferences that should've known better. Two moves that led to generational instability in collegiate sports, and now have the President of the United States and Congress involved in their business.

The irony of it all is this: The presidents and chancellors of the Big Ten and SEC made expansion moves five years ago based on a cash-grab philosophy. Now they're fighting to not give it away.

In a perfect world where the leaders of academia spoke and wanted the best for all, the SEC presidents and chancellors would've reached out to their counterparts at the Big Ten when Texas and Oklahoma decided they wanted to leave the Big 12.

In a perfect world, one (or preferably more) of those then 28 presidents and chancellors of the Big Ten and SEC would've had the foresight to see a chain reaction of expansion moves dangerous to the health and welfare of the collective. You know, like the last one a mere decade earlier thateliminatedthe Big East.

Someone, anyone, saying we're on the verge of eating another power conference ― so neither the SEC nor the Big Ten are taking Texas and Oklahoma, thank you. Or we're standing on the precipice of paradigm change so drastic, we won't recognize what we've done until we're sitting at the White House and the leader of the free world's answer to the madness we've created by our own sins and souls is, "let's go back to the old way."

Now the only answer is to break away and form their own association.

Because these two titans of collegiate sports, these two money-making machines, aren't going to supplement the rest of college sports. No matter how you look at pooled revenue sharing — even if it guarantees the SEC and Big Ten won't lose money — it's still watering down their products by eliminating some (not all) of their prime Saturday TV windows.

And, of course, eliminating any chance of individual financial growth.

The Big Ten and SEC see this differently than others. They've built their brands, they've done the heavy lifting. Why share the benefits now?

It's time to go.

If you don't think the SEC and Big Ten will make such a drastic move, you're the same person trying to shove the toothpaste back in the tube.

Matt Hayesis the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at@MattHayesCFB.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:SEC, Big Ten should break away from NCAA, form own super league

Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national also known as Asif Raza Merchant, was found guilty of murder for hire and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries.

Merchant, 47, was trained by Iran's global terrorist force, theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which he admitted at trial dispatched him to the United States to steal documents and arrange for political assassinations. According to a Justice Department complaintfiled in 2024, Merchant told a source the targets would be people hurting Pakistan and the Muslim world, "not normal people."

However, the plot was foiled by law enforcement before any attack could be carried out.

A satellite image shows black smoke rising and heavy damage at Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's compound, following strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran, in Tehran, Iran February 28, 2026. Khamenei was killed in the joint strikes with Israel on Iran, an Israeli source confirmed to USA TODAY.

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See inside White House and Mar-a-Lago as US leaders monitor attack on Iran

A satellite image shows black smoke rising and heavy damage at Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's compound,following strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran, in Tehran, Iran February 28, 2026. Khameneiwas killed in the joint strikes with Israel on Iran, an Israeli source confirmed to USA TODAY.

"Iran's terrorist regime sent Asif Merchant here to sow mayhem and murder," saidJoseph Nocella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a U.S. Justice Departmentnews release.  "Thanks to the vigilance of our law enforcement partners, his scheme ended in failure. Today, with Merchant's conviction, that failure is complete."

In a statement released at the time, then-FBI Director Christopher Wraycalled the plot"straight out of the Iranian playbook."

Merchant, who faces up to life in prison, came to the U.S. in April 2024 and met two months later in New York with undercover law enforcement officers posing as hitmen. He was arrested before leaving the country in July 2024.

"This man landed on American soil hoping to killPresident Trump," said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. "Instead, he was met with the might of American law enforcement."

As set forth in trial exhibits and testimony, including the defendant's own testimony, Merchant began working for the Revolutionary Guard Corp in Pakistan in late 2022 or early 2023, receiving training in tradecraft, including countersurveillance. Later in 2023, he was sent to the U.S. to seek out potential corps recruits.

Merchant said he knew the corps was a designated terrorist organization and repeatedly traveled to Iran to meet with his corps handler. In 2024, court documents said, he was sent back to the U.S. with a new mission – to recruit people to steal documents and arrange for the murder of one of three specified U.S. government officials and politicians.

Merchant then contacted Nadeem Ali, a New York acquaintance he thought could help with the scheme, according to the documents. Instead, Ali reported Merchant to law enforcement and became a confidential source. Nadeem Ali is a pseudonym and not the man's real name.

Merchant laid out the plot to Ali in person in June 2024, the documents continued, saying he had an opportunity for Ali while making a "finger gun" gesture with his hand, signifying a murder. The victims would be "targeted here" in the U.S., he said while asking Ali to arrange meetings with people he could hire to carry out the plot.

At that meeting, the documents said, Merchant used a napkin and other objects to depict various assassination scenarios, quizzing Ali on how a target might be killed in each. He said the murder would take place after he left the U.S. and that he would communicate with Ali from overseas using code words.

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Merchant told Ali his contact back home had ordered him to "finalize" the plan and then leave the U.S., the documents said. He later testified that that contact was his Revolutionary Guard Corps handler.

In June, the documents said, Merchant met with the purported hitmen in New York, saying he sought several services, including document theft, arranging protests at political rallies and assassination of a "political person." He said they would receive instructions as to the target after he had left the country.

Around the same time, according to the documents, Merchant conducted internet searches for political rally locations and reported back to his handler about security protocols at the events.

On June 21, 2024, Merchant met with the undercover officers in New York and paid them $5,000 obtained with help from a person overseas as an advance payment for the assassination.

As detailed in the documents, once Merchant handed over the money, one of the officers said: "Now we're bonded."

When Merchant responded yes, the officer added: "Now we know we're going forward. We're doing this."

"Yes, absolutely," Merchant responded.

Merchant made flight arrangements and planned to depart the U.S. on July 12, 2024. He was arrested before he could leave the country.

"This was not the first attempt by Iran to harm out citizens on U.S. soil," said FBI DirectorKash Patel. "The other efforts also failed. Let this verdict serve as a reminder that the FBI is committed to detecting such threats and preventing acts of violence."

The verdict comes as federal counterterrorism agencies remainon high alertfor potential retaliatory attacks on American soil following strikes on Iran by U.S. and Israeli forces and the assassination of the nation's supreme leader,Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran has already launchedretaliatory strikeson U.S. military bases across the Middle East, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowing "bloodshed and revenge."

The regime has a decades-long history of terrorist plots on U.S. soil and against Americans overseas, including schemes targeting Iranian dissidents and former Trump National Security AdviserJohn Bolton.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Iranian operative convicted in 2024 plot to kill President Trump

FILE PHOTO: Two Haitian police killed when drone accidentally explodes

March 10 (Reuters) - Explosive drone strikes by Haitian security forces targeting gangs have killed over 1,200 people, including 43 adult civilians and 17 children, Human Rights Watch said in a report ‌on Tuesday, adding that operations have ramped up in recent months.

Since last March, Haitian security forces, with ‌support from Vectus Global, have carried out anti-gang operations using quadcopter drones strapped with explosives, often in densely populated parts of the capital ​Port-au-Prince. Vectus Global is a private U.S.-based military company led by Blackwater founder Erik Prince.

Haiti's prime minister's office, defense minister, national police, Vectus, and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. charge d'affaires in Haiti told a Senate committee last month that the State Department had licensed Vectus to export its services to Haiti.

A spokesperson ‌for the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force in ⁠Haiti declined to comment.

HRW's Americas director, Juanita Goebertus, told Reuters that the rights group had documented unlawful use of lethal force, saying Haiti's partners should stop collaborating with its security ⁠forces until they implement safeguards to protect civilians.

"Haitian authorities should urgently rein in the security forces and private contractors working for them before more children die," she said.

Despite Kenyan, U.S. and U.N. support, armed gangs have expanded well beyond the capital and ​security ​forces have yet to capture a major gang leader. The gangs ​have killed thousands, displaced over a million and ‌crippled the economy.

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Drawing from interviews with doctors, victims' relatives, community leaders and videos of the strikes, HRW found drone strikes killed 1,243 people between last March and January 21 of this year.

The strikes also injured 738 people, including 49 alleged civilians, it added, noting that from November to January there were nearly double the number of drone operations compared with the prior three months.

Some local residents told HRW they were afraid to leave their homes due to the ‌drones, which can maneuver between buildings and moving vehicles while their ​controllers track suspects using live video feeds.

Of the child victims, more ​than half were 3-to-12-year-olds killed last September in an ​attack on a sports center where a local gang was distributing gifts, HRW said.

The U.N. ‌office in Haiti (BINUH) has also recorded dozens of ​civilian deaths and injuries from ​drones, including a mother of three killed while selling goods on the street, and another case of a woman who was killed in her own home where two gang members took refuge from a drone.

Last month, ​BINUH said it had no indications ‌the deaths and injuries were being investigated.

HRW said there was no evidence drones were being used widely ​by gangs.

The U.N.'s human rights chief said last October the drone strikes were disproportionate and likely ​unlawful.

(Reporting by Sarah Morland in Mexico CityEditing by Matthew Lewis)