WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
NEW YORK (AP) - North Carolina State, Connecticut, South Carolina and Stanford are the No. 1 seeds for the women’s NCAA Tournament.
The Cardinal are the No. 1 overall seed. N.C. State is a No. 1 seed for the first time in school history. The Wolfpack won the ACC conference tournament and will play North Carolina A&T in the opener.
STORRS, Conn. (AP) - UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating at home.
The school made the announcement hours before it was named one of the top seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
UConn says the Hall of Famer received a positive result from a test taken Sunday and isn’t experiencing any symptoms.
The team’s head physician says contact tracing protocols revealed that Auriemma didn’t have close contact with any other team member since Friday. The rest of the team, which has tested negative, plans to leave Tuesday for the tournament in San Antonio.
SEATTLE (AP) - Washington fired women’s basketball coach Jody Wynn on Monday after four seasons during which the Huskies were among the worst teams in the Pac-12 Conference.
Wynn was 38-75 overall and a miserable 11-58 in Pac-12 play. The Huskies never finished higher than ninth in the conference standings during any of her four seasons. They went 7-14 overall and 3-13 in conference play this season.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Jennifer Rizzotti was fired as George Washington’s women’s basketball coach on Monday after one NCAA Tournament trip in five years at the school.
GW went 9-14 this season.
Rizzotti went 72-74 as GW’s coach since being hired in April 2016. She is also an assistant coach for the U.S. women’s national team.
George Washington was 20-10 and went to the WNIT in her first year, then 19-14 with an NCAAs appearance in her second.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson fired coach Archie Miller after four mediocre seasons.
Miller was 67-58 with the Hoosiers. His teams never made the NCAA Tournament.
Miller’s $10.3 million buyout was one of college basketball’s priciest but in a fiscal year where the COVID-19 pandemic cost the athletic department millions, Dolson says he raised enough money privately to pay for the coaching change.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Iowa coach Fran McCaffery signed a four-year contract extension through 2027-28 on Monday after leading the eighth-ranked Hawkeyes to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals and their highest NCAA Tournament seeding since 1987.
The Hawkeyes are 21-8 and finished third in the Big Ten regular season at 14-6. They’ve been ranked in the top 15 every week this season and peaked at No. 5 last week. The team is a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will play Grand Canyon on Friday in Indianapolis.
McCaffery’s annual base salary of $2.3 million for the next two seasons will remain unchanged.
CHICAGO (AP) - DePaul fired coach Dave Leitao on Monday six years into his second tenure in another effort to lift a once-proud program.
The Blue Demons went 5-14 overall in a season that started about a month late because of COVID-19 issues. They finished last in the Big East for the fifth straight year at 2-13.
DePaul beat Providence in the conference tournament before getting knocked out by Connecticut. Now, the search for a new coach is under way.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota fired Richard Pitino on Monday after the coach compiled a 54-96 regular-season record over eight years in the Big Ten and had only three conference finishes higher than 10th place.
The Gophers went 14-15 this season, dropping 11 of their last 14 games. They were 0-10 on the road, one of only three major conference teams in the country without a road win.
AMES, Iowa (AP) - Iowa State and men’s basketball coach Steve Prohm have agreed to part ways after one of the worst seasons in the history of the program, athletic director Jamie Pollard announced.
The school said in a statement that Pollard and Prohm met in person Monday night and that Pollard would have additional comment Tuesday.
The Cyclones were 2-22 overall, 0-18 in the Big 12. They lost their last 18 games.
Iowa State hadn’t won so few games since 1924-25 and hadn’t gone winless in conference play since 1936-37.
NFL
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers feel good about their chances of repeating as Super Bowl champions and aren’t wasting time doing whatever’s necessary to retain key components of their roster to help Tom Brady pursue an eighth NFL title.
Linebacker Shaquil Barrett and tight end Rob Gronkowski, who came out of retirement 11 months ago to help Brady win No. 7 in his first season with the Bucs, are the latest players to agree to terms to stay with the team.
Agent Drew Rosenhaus represents both players and confirmed the deals to The Associated Press on Monday.
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Kevin Colbert is sticking with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The team’s long-time general manager signed a one-year contract extension Monday that runs through the 2022 NFL draft.
The 64-year-old Colbert has been working on a year-to-year basis and has suggested that retirement is not far off. It will stay at bay for at least one more season as the Steelers head into what could be a very busy stretch as the club tries to navigate very serious salary cap issues and restock talent through the draft.
MLB
PHOENIX (AP) - Ryan Braun says he’s strongly leaning toward retirement, but the Milwaukee Brewers’ home-run leader isn’t ready to make any decision regarding his future.
Braun visited the Brewers’ spring training site Monday and said he hasn’t picked up a bat since the end of the 2020 season. The 2011 NL MVP became a free agent when the Brewers declined to exercise a $15 million mutual option in his contract last October.
“I’m strongly leaning in the direction of being done as an active player,” the 37-year-old Braun said.
GOLF
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) - Former U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland was among three players who withdrew from the Honda Classic on Monday after testing positive for the coronavirus.
It matched the most players who have had to withdraw from one tournament because of a positive test since the PGA Tour returned from the COVID-19 pandemic in June.
The tour said Scott Piercy and Doc Redman also tested positive.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Jim Furyk played in his final Ryder Cup in 2014, and he was captain in 2018. Now he gets to play both roles next year with a new PGA Tour Champions event that brings together the best from around the world.
The World Champions Cup will begin in the fall of 2022.
Taking a page from the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, it will feature nine-hole matches twice a day among Team USA, Team Europe and Team World. Furyk will be the playing captain for the Americans, while Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland will do the same for Team Europe and Ernie Els of South Africa leading Team World.
RUNNING
BOSTON (AP) - The pandemic-delayed 2021 Boston Marathon will have space for 20,000 entrants, race organizers announced Monday.
The Boston Athletic Association said the smaller field was necessary to allow for social distancing during the Oct. 11 event - especially at the start and finish. More than 30,000 runners had signed up for the 2020 race, which was first postponed and then canceled because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
BOXING
LONDON (AP) - Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have signed on for two fights to unify the world heavyweight titles, Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, said on Monday.
Hearn’s company, Matchroom, and Fury’s promoter, Top Rank, have 30 days to find a site and a date for the first fight in June or July.
Joshua and Fury will reportedly split proceeds 50-50 from their first fight, with the victor taking a 60-40 cut for the rematch.
Joshua’s WBA, IBF and WBO belts, and Fury’s WBC title, will be on the line.
MMA
The UFC intends to stage a pay-per-view show in front of an arena full of fans on April 24 in Jacksonville, Florida.
UFC President Dana White announced his plan on social media Monday to stage an event in front of North American fans for the first time since March 2020. UFC 261 will feature three title fights, and the mixed martial arts promotion intends to sell 15,000 tickets to the show.
The UFC hasn’t fought in front of a full arena since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
SLED DOG RACING
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Dallas Seavey on Monday won the pandemic-shortened Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, matching the most wins ever by a musher.
Seavey brought his 10 dogs across the finish line near the community of Willow, Alaska, with a healthy lead over the second place musher, Aaron Burmeister.
It was the fifth title for Seavey, who matched the five-win threshold that only one other musher has accomplished. Rick Swenson won his five titles between 1977 and 1991.
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