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“Mason made a significant commitment to its athletic programs, especially men’s basketball, when the university moved to the Atlantic 10 Conference two years ago,” athletics director Brad Edwards said in a statement. “The university has high expectations for the program and thus determined a change was needed. MORE: Play SN’s free bracket game | Ranking the field, 1-68 “Paul has always been a tremendous advocate for the sport of college basketball and we are extremely appreciative for the manner in which he has represented the university and for his service to the student-athletes and to the program....

Known colloquially as the “selection committee,” they now must deal with how to seed into a field filled with elite mid-major teams, successful major-conference teams and this year’s powerhouses a Georgetown team that won four games in four days and still only managed to scramble to a position one game over the .500 mark. For the Hoyas, getting the chance to play in the NCAA for the first time since 2015 “means everything,” as coach Patrick Ewing told Fox Sports late Saturday....

Such allegations and conspiracies continue to be parroted by fellow Republicans, Trump campaign officials and even President Donald Trump himself. “It’s like playing a game of whack-a-mole,” said Gabriel Sterling (R), the voting systems manager for the Secretary of State’s office, during a Monday press conference. “Every time we knock down one, there’s a new crazier one.” Sterling went on to note that a hand audit “proved no votes were switched” and derided conspiracy theories about their voting tabulation systems....

A new “election confidence” report, calling for sweeping restrictions on voting, was approved by the Georgia Republican Party’s Executive Committee this week. The measures being introduced in the GOP-controlled Legislature include efforts to ban automatic voter registration and to eliminate no excuse absentee voting. They also want to remove drop boxes for returning absentee ballots. “The 2020 election revealed dramatic weaknesses in Georgia’s system for conducting elections, and as a result, public confidence in the integrity of that system has been shattered,” the report says....

The coronavirus provisions are common restrictions placed in many states such as social distancing and sanitation. While face masks are not required, the order does encourage them in public places. “It is further ordered: That all residents and visitors of the State of Georgia are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings while outside their homes or places of residence, except when eating, drinking, or exercising outdoors,” the order stated....

While only essential businesses, such as grocery stores and pharmacies, have been permitted to remain open during the stay-at-home-order, Kemp’s new rules allow other businesses to open their doors as early as Friday. On April 24, some non-essential businesses will be allowed to reopen, including gyms and fitness centers, body art studios, barbers and hair salons, cosmetologists and nail salons, estheticians, their respective schools, massage therapists, and bowling alleys....

One of the first schools in the nation to reopen during the pandemic, the school drew national attention after a photo depicting a crowded hallway of students with few wearing face masks went viral. Shortly after, a half dozen students and three school employees tested positive for COVID-19. The Georgia high school was shut down Monday and Tuesday to be cleaned and disinfected and initially planned to reopen Wednesday, but the closure was extended until the rest of the week....

Speaking to CNN’s New Day program on Tuesday, Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan pushed back against allegations of voter fraud and other misinformation about the state’s election process. “I would urge the president, I would urge the Republicans, to redirect their post-election approach here,” Duncan said. “We both have short-term and long-term challenges if we don’t.” Duncan added, “In the short term, we run the risk of alienating voters for our Senate race that is coming upon us for Senator Loeffler and Senator Perdue, and we need them....

Baoky Vu is vice-chair of DeKalb County’s Board of Registration and Elections (BRE). His term will expire on June 30. He has not been re-nominated by the local GOP after being censured earlier this year for pushing back against claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election. Vu spoke to CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday and strongly criticized the state’s Election Integrity Act, which was signed into law by Republican Governor Brian Kemp on March 25....

“Let me start by saying that is not going to happen,” Raffensberger said in a statement on Monday. “The voters of Georgia hired me, and the voters will be the one to fire me.” Earlier in the day, Senator David Perdue and Senator Kelly Loeffler called on Raffensperger to resign over the state’s handling of the 2020 presidential election. “The management of Georgia elections has become an embarrassment for our state,” Perdue and Loeffler wrote in a joint statement....

That was certainly true for Georgia State coach Ron Hunter after his team lost to Xavier, 75-67, on Saturday. MORE: Ron Hunter tears ACL during celebration | Who are the Panthers? | Georgia State’s miracle In the postgame presser, Hunter sat next to his son R.J. and Kevin Ware. He spoke of his emotions following the loss. “As a coach, [the tournament was] the best time of my life,” said Hunter....

Sifting through the current prop markets DraftKings Sportsbook has to offer, we’ve pinpointed five of our favorite props to consider for the big game. MORE TCU-UGA: DraftKings lineup | Expert picks Georgia-TCU Best Prop Bets: Advice, picks, odds for CFP National Championship Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook Georgia TE Brock Bowers OVER 0.5 receiving TDs (+115) Georgia’s receiving touchdown leader was held out of the end zone in the Peach Bowl, but Bowers is too dynamic of a playmaker to not reach paydirt on Monday night....

The Cavaliers (12-3) came into the week on the heels of 11 straight wins, but fell to in-state rivals Virginia Tech and the Yellow Jackets in consecutive games. MORE: SN’s ACC predictions | Most shocking upsets since ‘85 Quinton Stephens, Adam Smith and Nick Jacobs scored 16 points apiece to lead Georgia Tech (11-5). Stephens was phenomenal from the floor, hitting six of his eight field goal attempts and draining all four of his 3-point attempts....

Third-stringer Faton Bauta will take the reins in a game that will likely determine which team will take control of the SEC East. MORE: College football’s top 10 QBs | Week 9 predictions | Heisman odds Bauta, a fourth-year junior who has already graduated, has not received much playing time as a Bulldog. He has appeared in 14 games in his career, but mostly as the holder for kicks. At QB, he has 10 rushes for 46 yards and two touchdowns, and he is 4-of-5 for 48 yards as a passer....

Thousands were bussed into the Richard B. Russell Regional Airport in Rome, leaving their cars in parking lots, but were left waiting for hours after coaches failed to pick them up. The Georgia rally was Trump’s fourth and penultimate campaign stop of the day, drawing a crowd of up to 30,000. But chaotic scenes unfolded as the rally drew to a close around 10:30 p.m. EST with hundreds battling to exit the site and lining the road scrambling to get onto buses....

Game time is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. The matchup will be televised on Fox. The coaching matchup between Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Oregon’s Dan Lanning, who was the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator from 2019-21, will be a major talking point throughout the week. Georgia, of course, is coming off its first national championship season since 1980. The Bulldogs lost several key defensive players to the 2022 NFL Draft, but Smart has recruited enough talent that a reload for another SEC championship run is the expectation....

The Rockets swingman has been sidelined with what’s believed to be a broken foot this week and will undergo testing Monday, according to the Houston Chronicle. The Athletic reports Green could miss a few months, but for now, he’s out indefinitely. Green, 33, is entering his third season with the Rockets and averaged 10.2 points per game in his first two years with the team. He was expected to back up Eric Gordon at the small forward spot in 2019-20 to provide a spark off the bench with his perimeter shooting....

Chancellor Gerhard Schroder visited last week, a stop in his annual tour of the former German Democratic Republic. Flashing his checkbook, he promised 2 billion Deutsche marks to revitalize dying East German communities like Eisenhuttenstadt. Last month Berlin pledged to keep subsidizing the region as a whole at the rate it has for most of the past decade: 200 billion DM a year. It’s a colossal sum that has sapped the federal budget and fed animosities on both sides of the old East-West divide....

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer posted an announcement on Twitter about the decision, saying the misconduct would be “punished with all severity.” “The misconduct of some soldiers in Lithuania is a slap in the face of everyone who works day after day in the Budeswehr [Germany military] to serve the security of our country,” Kramp-Karrenbauer tweeted. The NATO Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) mission has deployed troops to the Baltic states and Poland after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 to deter Russia from further actions....

Germany won all 10 of their qualifying games, putting seven past San Marino, beating Norway 6-1 and recording a 5-1 win over Azerbaijan to comfortably progress to their 19th World Cup. This impressive run was broken up by a trip to Russia last summer which saw Joachim Low bring a panel of fringe and young players to the Confederations Cup where a 1-0 win over Chile in the final gave them another international trophy....