NCAA
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Under sharp criticism during its marquee March Madness tournaments, the NCAA said Thursday it is hiring a law firm to review potential gender equity issues related to how it conducts its men’s and women’s championship events.
The NCAA has been accused the past two weeks of not providing equal amenities to the teams in the men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournaments. Among other things, female players, coaches and staff in San Antonio have criticized the NCAA for not initially providing a full weight-training area to the women’s teams, noting the men’s teams in Indianapolis did not have the same problem.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger announced his retirement Thursday, ending a 35-year Division I college head coaching career that included taking five schools to the NCAA Tournament - with two of them reaching the Final Four - and more than 650 career wins.
The 68-year-old Kruger led Florida to the national semifinals in 1994 and Oklahoma to the same spot in 2016. He is the only coach to lead five programs to NCAA Tournament wins — Oklahoma, Kansas State, Florida, Illinois and UNLV.
At 674-432, his win totals were 10th among active Division I coaches and 27th overall at the time of his retirement.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Pat Kelsey is leaving Winthrop to become College of Charleston’s men’s basketball coach.
Charleston athletic director Matt Roberts announced Kelsey’s hiring Thursday. Kelsey, 45, spent nine seasons with the Eagles, leading them to three NCAA Tournament berths including this past season.
Kelsey’s Eagles opened 16-0 for the best start ever in the Big South Conference before finishing 23-2.
ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina State has hired former Memphis assistant Tony Madlock to be its men’s basketball head coach.
Bulldogs athletic director Stacy L. Danley announced the move Thursday.
Madlock has spent 25 years as an assistant coach, including the past three seasons at Memphis under head coach and college teammate Penny Hardaway.
Before that, Madlock was at Mississippi as an assistant for three seasons and then served as interim head coach in 2017-18.
MLB
Chicago White Sox slugger Eloy Jiménez is expected to be sidelined for five to six months after rupturing his left pectoral tendon trying to make a play in the outfield during an exhibition game.
Jiménez needs surgery to repair the injury, putting his season in jeopardy. General manager Rick Hahn said the team will know more when he begins the rehab process.
NBA
Kyle Lowry wound up staying with Toronto after all. Victor Oladipo is finally in Miami, a destination he’s eyed in the past. And Rajon Rondo is headed back to Los Angeles, though not with the team he helped win the NBA title last season.
The trade deadline has come and gone. And now, playoff pushes can really begin.
Miami, Denver, the Clippers, Portland, Dallas, Boston and Atlanta were likely among the teams feeling convinced that they improved on deadline day after a flurry of moves Thursday, though the best player - at least this season - might have been landed by the Chicago Bulls. They got All-Star forward Nikola Vucevic from Orlando, a move that ushered in the start of a big-time rebuild by the Magic.
SOCCER
The United States will play Honduras for a berth in the Olympic men’s soccer tournament in a doubleheader opener Sunday night at Guadalajara, and host Mexico will play Canada for a spot at the Tokyo Games.
The U.S.-Honduras game is a rematch of the October 2015 qualification game, won by Honduras 2-0. That year’s format saw the semifinal loser go to a playoff for another berth, and the U.S. lost a home-and-home series against Colombia on 3-2 aggregate and missed its second straight Olympics.
This year’s format does not include a playoff, and Sunday’s two winners will complete the 16-nation field for the Olympic tournament,
TENNIS
ST. PETERSBURGH, Fla. (AP) - The WTA is setting up a way that eventually will return its women’s tennis rankings to their usual 52-week system after a “freeze” of sorts was put in place to account for a tour hiatus and scheduling changes during the coronavirus pandemic.
It is a complicated way of calculating things, but in general, rankings points will remain part of a player’s total for a minimum of a year and not more than two years.
The changes will go into affect starting April 5, after the Miami Open ends.
COLLEGE SOCCER
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The men’s and women’s NCAA Division I soccer tournaments will be held in Cary, North Carolina, and surrounding areas under a plan approved by an oversight committee.
The NCAA’s soccer committees believe having all 48 women’s teams and 36 men’s teams in one region will help minimize travel, eliminate the need to comply with differing local COVID-19 protocols and cut the length of the postseason.
Having all the teams in one location will also centralize testing.
SPORTS BROADCASTING
Jim Nantz’s familiar introduction of “Hello friends” will continue to be heard on CBS for years to come.
Nantz and CBS Sports reached agreement on a new deal Thursday. The deal was first reported by the “Sports Business Journal”
CBS spokeswoman Jen Sabatelle confirmed the agreement but did not comment on the terms.
The 61-year old Nantz has been with CBS since 1985. He has been the lead announcer for the NCAA Tournament since 1991 and has worked the Masters since 1986. He has also been the lead voice for the network’s coverage of the NFL since 2002 and called his seventh Super Bowl last month.
OBITUARY
NEW YORK (AP) - Bobby Brown, an infielder who played on five World Series champions with the New York Yankees and later became a cardiologist and president of the American League, has died. He was 96.
He died Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas, the Yankees said.
Brown played with the Yankees from 1946-54, with Yogi Berra his roommate. He spent eight seasons in the majors and played in a career-high 113 games in 1948, batting .300 with three home runs, 48 RBIs. Overall, he batted .279 with 22 home runs and 237 RBIs.
He was president of the American League from 1984-94.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Stan Albeck, the former San Antonio, Cleveland, New Jersey and Chicago head coach during a long NBA career, died Thursday in hospice care at son John’s home. He was 89.
John Albeck told the San Antonio Express-News his father entered hospice care Thursday after having a stroke March 14. He also had a stroke in 2001 while an assistant coach with Toronto.
Albeck coached the ABA’s Denver Rockets in 1970-71, then directed Cleveland in 1979-80, San Antonio from 1980-83, New Jersey from 1983-85 and Chicago in 1985-86 - with Michael Jordan in his second season. He took the Spurs to consecutive Western Conference Finals in 1982 and 1983.
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