USC's Watkins among first-team All-Americans
Caitlin Clark has been a mainstay on The Associated Press All-America team the past few seasons.
The NCAA's all-time scoring leader from Iowa was honored for the third straight year Wednesday, becoming the 11th player to earn the distinction three times. She was a unanimous choice from the 35-member national media panel that chooses the AP Top 25 each week.
Clark was joined on the first team by Stanford's Cameron Brink, UConn's Paige Bueckers and freshmen JuJu Watkins of USC and Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame. They are only the fourth and fifth freshmen to make the AP team since it began in 1994-95, joining Oklahoma's Courtney Paris, UConn's Maya Moore and Bueckers.
Clark joins a select group with her third firstteam honor: South Carolina's A'ja Wilson and Aliyah Boston, Baylor's Brittney Griner, Tennessee's Chamique Holdsclaw, Duke's Alana Beard, Paris, Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu, Kentucky's Rhyne Howard and UConn's Breanna Stewart and Moore. Paris and Moore did it four times.
Clark, who earned second-team honors as a freshman, led the nation in scoring averaging 31.9 points per game as well as being tops in assists with 8.9. She became the first Division I player to have consecutive 1,000-point seasons and to also top 3,000 points and 1,000 assists for her career.
Watkins took the country by storm as a freshman. She has already scored 810 points, which is fourth most for a freshman all time. She averaged 27 points, which was second behind Clark and added 7.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.5 blocks to help the Trojans win the Pac-12 Tournament for the first time since 2014.
Hidalgo was incredible on both ends of the floor for the Fighting Irish, helping lead them to the ACC Tournament title. She averaged 23.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists and also led the nation in steals, averaging 4.6 a game.
Bueckers finally made it through a season healthy after missing most of the past two years because of injuries. She returned to the form that earned her AP Player of the Year honors as a freshman, averaging 21.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists for the Huskies.
Brink averaged 17.8 points, 12 rebounds and 3.5 blocks, which led the nation.
Draw held for tourneys at the Paris Olympics
The United States women's soccer team will face Germany and Australia at the Paris Olympics when incoming coach Emma Hayes looks to get off to a flying start in the job.
The draw for the men's and women's soccer tournaments were held at a ceremony in Saint-Denis.
The record four-time gold-medallist was drawn against fifth-ranked Germany and World Cup semifinalist Australia in Group B. Those teams will be joined by either Morocco or Zambia from the African Football Confederation.
The U.S. hasn't won Olympic gold since 2012 and is coming off a disappointing Women's World
Cup last year when it suffered its earliest exit from the tournament after being knocked out by Sweden on penalties in the round of 16.
Defending champion Canada was drawn in Group A with host France, Colombia and New Zealand.
World Cup winner Spain is in Group C with Japan and Brazil. Nigeria or South Africin Olympics a will join that group as another CAF qualifier.
The U.S. men's team will face France at the Paris Games after being drawn in the same group as the host nation.
The U.S. is competing at the Games for the first time since Beijing in 2008 and faces a potentially daunting task after being drawn alongside France, coached by soccer great Thierry Henry, in Group A.
Also in the group are New Zealand and the winner of a playoff between teams from the Asian and the African confederations.
World champion Argentina was drawn in Group B with Morocco, Ukraine and a qualifier to be confirmed from the AFC.
Spain, runner-up in Tokyo, is in Group C along with Egypt, Dominican Republic and another qualifier from the AFC, which is yet to be confirmed.
Group D features Paraguay, Mali and Israel as well as a final qualifier from the AFC. his death on CTE, the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, in a statement released through agent Paul Theofanous. “We will not be releasing any further details at this time and ask for privacy during this very difficult time,” the family wrote. “We appreciate everyone who shares in our tragic loss.”
There's no way to confirm CTE while a person is alive, though doctors can identify suspected cases based on symptoms and neurological exams.
Simon played 857 regular-season and playoff games over 15 NHL seasons from 1993-2008. Over his career, he fought more than 100 times and racked up 1,824 penalty minutes to rank 67th in league history.
“For a big tough player, he was also a very kind, caring individual who was always respectful and grateful for advice,” former agent Larry Kelly said.
Simon won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1996 and was part of runs to the final with Washington in 1998 and Calgary in 2004. He also spent time with the Quebec Nordiques and played for Chicago, Calgary, Minnesota and the New York Rangers and Islanders, before finishing with five seasons in the KHL from 2008-13 and retiring.
Simon on the ice was a respected teammate and fan favorite, though he occasionally crossed the line. The NHL suspended him eight times totaling 65 games, including a 25game ban in March 2007 while he was with the Islanders for cross-checking the Rangers' Ryan Hollweg in the face and 30 games for stomping on the leg of Pittsburgh's Jarkko Ruutu that December.
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Round of 128
Round of 128
11/2 91/2 131/2 191/2 241/2 111/2 11/2 11/2 21/2 131/2 51/2 151/2 211/2 41/2 71/2 11/2
Line
WOMEN'S SINGLES
at Mississippi St Duquesne
Akron Long Beach St
Wagner Morehead St
Oregon at Dayton Colorado St Oakland McNeese S Dakota St St. Peter's NC State Samford at Washington St -128/+106 -240/+195 -120/+100 -137/+114 -137/+114 -120/+100 -176/+146 -230/+188 -285/+230 -360/+280 -192/+158
Underdog
Chicago Philadelphia at New Jersey
St. Louis NY Rangers NY Islanders Nashville
Buffalo Montreal at San Jose
Seattle
Luca van Assche, France, def. Pavel Kotov, Russia, 6-3, 7-5. Botic Van de Zandschulp, Netherlands, def. Rinky Hijikata, Australia, 7-5, 7-6 (3). Denis Shapovalov, Canada, def. Luciano Darderi, Italy, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4. Jack Draper, Britain, def.
Taro Daniel, Japan, 6-3, 6-2. Christopher O'Connell, Australia, def. Vit Kopriva, Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-4. Tomas Machac, Czech Republic, def. Darwin Blanch, United States, 6-4, 6-2. Flavio Cobolli, Italy, def. Yoshihito Nishioka, Japan, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. Marton Fucsovics, Hungary, def. Max Purcell, Australia, 6-2, 6-1. Andrea Vavassori, Italy, def. Pedro Cachin, Argentina, 6-2, 6-2. Thiago Seyboth Wild, Brazil, def. Nuno Borges, Portugal, 6-4, 7-5. Andy Murray, Britain, def. Matteo Berrettini, Italy, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Juncheng Shang, China, def. Miomir Kecmanovic, Serbia, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5). Martin Damm Jr, United States, def. Zhang Zhizhen, China, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3). Matteo Arnaldi, Italy, def. Arthur Fils, France, 6-3, 6-4.
Maria Timofeeva, Russia, def. Varvara Gracheva, Russia, 6-3, 6-3. Zhu Lin, China, def. Marie Bouzkova, Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-4. Elina Avanesyan, Russia, def. Erika Andreeva, Russia, 6-0, 3-6, 6-1. Camila Giorgi, Italy, def. Magdalena Frech, Poland, 6-4, 6-2. Sloane Stephens, United States, def. Angelique Kerber, Germany, 6-2, 6-3. Claire Liu, United States, def. Petra Martic, Croatia, 6-4, 6-1. Emiliana Arango, Colombia, def. Tatjana Maria, Germany, 6-2, 6-3. Danielle Collins, United States, def. Bernarda Pera, United States, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. Arantxa Rus, Netherlands, def. Sara Sorribes Tormo, Spain, 6-0, 6-3. Viktoriya Tomova, Bulgaria, def. Tamara Korpatsch, Germany, 6-2, 6-4. Shelby Rogers, United States, def. Linda Fruhvirtova, Czech Republic, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Nadia Podoroska, Argentina, def. Ashlyn Krueger, United States, 6-4, 6-2. Donna Vekic, Croatia, def. Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Storm Hunter, Australia, def. Martina Trevisan, Italy, 6-3, 3-0, ret. Naomi Osaka, Japan, def. Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Italy, 6-3, 6-4.
MEN
NATIONAL INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
First round
Wednesday's results
Seton Hall 75, Saint Joseph's 72
Indiana St. 101, SMU 92
Bradley 74, Loyola Chicago 62
Wake Forest 87, Appalachian St. 76
UNLV 84, Princeton 77
Cincinnati 73, USF 72
VCU 70, Villanova 61
Second Round
Saturday's games
North Texas at Seton Hall, 8:30 a.m.
Bradley at Cincinnati, 11 a.m.
Virginia Tech at Ohio St., 4 p.m.
Sunday's games
Minnesota at Indiana St., 11 a.m.
Georgia at Wake Forest, 1 p.m.
VCU at South Florida, 4:30 p.m.
Iowa at Utah, 6 p.m.
Boston College at UNLV, 6:30 p.m.
SPRING TRAINING
Wednesday's results
San Francisco 5, Angels (ss) 2
Angels (ss) 8, Kansas City 8
Detroit 12, Minnesota 3
Atlanta 10, Toronto 9
N.Y. Mets 6, Miami 3
Cincinnati (ss) 3, Chicago White Sox 1 Texas 8, Cincinnati (ss) 1
Oakland 3, Chicago Cubs 1
Arizona 5, Colorado 1
St. Louis 13, Washington 4
Baltimore 13, Philadelphia 4
N.Y. Yankees 12, Pittsburgh 0
Today's games
Atlanta at N.Y. Yankees, 10:05 a.m. Detroit at N.Y. Mets, 10:05 a.m. Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, 10:05 a.m.
St. Louis at Houston, 10:05 a.m. Washington at Minnesota, 10:05 a.m. Cleveland at Kansas City (ss), 1:05 p.m. Kan. City (ss) at Chi. White Sox, 1:05 p.m. Colorado at Chicago Cubs, 1:10 p.m. Boston at Baltimore, 3:05 p.m. Pittsburgh at Toronto, 3:05 p.m. Milwaukee at San Francisco, 6:10 p.m. Seattle at Cincinnati, 6:40 p.m.
SCHEDULE
Saturday's games
Chicago at New England, 11 a.m.
Miami at New York, 11 a.m.
Real Salt Lake at Vancouver, 4:30 p.m. Columbus at Charlotte FC, 4:30 p.m.
New York City FC at Cincinnati, 4:30 p.m. Austin FC at Orlando City, 4:30 p.m. Atlanta at Toronto FC, 4:30 p.m.
Galaxy at Sporting Kansas City, 5:30 p.m. D.C. United at St Louis City, 5:30 p.m. Houston at Colorado, 6:30 p.m.
Nashville at LAFC, 7:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at Portland, 7:30 p.m. Seattle at San Jose, 7:30 p.m.