Sports

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer South Carolina joined an exclusive group Monday, going wire-to-wire as No. 1 in consecutive years in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll. The defending national champion Gamecocks (32-0) became the third school to be the top team in the poll for the entire season in back-to-back years,

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer MADRID (AP) — Spanish soccer was rocked last month when it became public that Barcelona might have paid millions of euros to benefit from refereeing decisions for several years. Barcelona was paying a company that belonged to the vice president of the country’s refereeing committee. The club has denied

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer Bob Bryan is the new captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team. The U.S. Tennis Association announced the appointment on Monday. Bryan was half of a record-breaking men’s doubles duo with his twin brother, Mike. They won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles together and helped the United States claim

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi has hired Chris Beard as its basketball coach just over two months after his firing from Texas following a domestic violence arrest. The Rebels announced Beard’s hiring on Monday and will introduce him Tuesday in a public event at the SBJ Pavilion. Beard is a four-time conference coach of the

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer At Alabama, one of the team’s best players allegedly delivered a gun that was used in a fatal shooting. At New Mexico State, a player avoided charges for shooting and killing a student in what he said was self-defense, even though he was carrying a gun in violation of

By DAVE SKRETTA AP Basketball Writer The overall No. 1 seed for March Madness is No. 1 in the final AP Top 25, too. Alabama, fresh off an SEC Tournament title to go with its regular-season crown, ascended to the top spot Monday, earning 48 of 61 first-place votes to jump Houston, which lost in

By DANIELLA MATAR AP Sports Writer MILAN (AP) — Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi is under increasing pressure to deliver in the Champions League as his team visits Porto in the round of 16 on Tuesday. Inter is carrying a slender 1-0 advantage from the first leg and Inzhagi’s long-term future at the club could

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer Connor McDavid has already set career highs in goals and points with 15 games left for the Edmonton Oilers to play during the NHL regular season. McDavid surpassing 50 goals for the first time thanks to more of a shoot-first mentality has caught the attention of the hockey world.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills have reached agreements to re-sign punter Sam Martin and linebacker Tyler Matakevich before they were eligible to become unrestricted free agent this week. Martin agreed to a three-year contract following his first season in Buffalo, in which his 47.7 average yards per punt ranked third on the

By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer It looks like the BBC picked on the wrong guy. The network went up against a national treasure when it chose to make an example of Gary Lineker by suspending him for criticizing the British government’s asylum policy on Twitter. It quickly became clear there was only going to

SOLDEU, Andorra (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin has marked her 28th birthday with the appointment of a new personal head coach, just two days after she became the most successful World Cup skier in history. The U.S. ski team said Karin Harjo will take up the role in April and join Shiffrin for post-season training and

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — World Cup record-holder Mikaela Shiffrin has a new head coach. Karin Harjo, who has been leading Canada’s Alpine skiing team, will start working with Shiffrin next month. U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced Harjo’s hiring on Monday. Harjo has worked with Shiffrin as an assistant coach for the American team in

By NOAH TRISTER AP Sports Writer If you’re like most of the country, you probably didn’t count on a No. 8 seed reaching the national title game last year — or a No. 15 seed making it to the Elite Eight. Thank you North Carolina and Saint Peter’s, who made sure there’s nowhere to go

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer Bob Bryan is the new captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team. The U.S. Tennis Association is announcing the appointment on Monday. Bryan was half of a record-breaking men’s doubles duo with his twin brother, Mike. They helped the United States claim the 2007 Davis Cup. That was the

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer Kansas and Alabama are no strangers to playing for national championships. For the Jayhawks, another high-expectations trip to March Madness is a rite of spring. For the Crimson Tide, well, this path to glory travels through some unfamiliar ground — the basketball court. Alabama rolls in as the top

By TOM WITHERS AP Sports Writer CLEVELAND (AP) — A person familiar with the situation says the Cleveland Browns have restructured quarterback Deshaun Watson’s $230 million contract to create salary-cap space ahead of NFL free agency. The Browns always have had the ability to convert Watson’s base salary into a signing bonus and create $36

TOKYO (AP) — Kunwoo Park and Ha-Seong Kim hit grand slams in consecutive innings, and South Korea set a World Baseball Classic scoring record with a 22-2 rout over China in a game between already eliminated teams. South Korea broke the runs record that had stood since Japan beat China 18-2 in the first round