USC’s Metu spurns NBA draft
The photo showed a basketball crowd full of cheering fans wearing USC gear. Some had their hands up in celebration. On the bottom stood forward Chimezie Metu. On his Instagram account, he captioned the snapshot, “Year 3 coming soon ...”
With that, Metu announced he would return to USC, putting off the NBA draft for at least one more season.
One year after the Trojans saw a wave of players leave in the offseason, Metu’s return registers as a significant win for coach Andy Enfield. Metu, who will be a junior, won the Pac-12 Conference’s most-improved player award last season. The Trojans are expected to return a deep and talented backcourt, but the 6-foot-11 Metu would’ve been difficult to replace inside.
Metu was considered USC’s best prospect for June’s draft. But this year’s class was deep, and Metu was not a lock for the first round.
Three USC players have already declared for the NBA draft: forward Bennie Boatwright and guards Elijah Stewart and Shaqquan Aaron. None have hired an agent, meaning all retain the option to return to USC. — Zach Helfand
Nigel Williams-Goss, who led Gonzaga to its first appearance in the Final Four, has decided to skip his senior season and declare for the NBA draft. He will hire an agent, precluding his return to Gonzaga. The secondteam All-American announced his decision Tuesday. Williams-Goss led Gonzaga in scoring last year (16.8 points per game) as the top-seeded Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA title game, where they lost to North Carolina.
Oregon junior forward Jordan Bell become the latest Ducks player to declare for the draft, making his announcement on the website riselongbeach.com. Bell, who played at Long Beach Poly High, said he planned to hire an agent. He joins Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey, who both have also declared for the draft since the end of a season in which the Ducks reached the Final Four. Bell averaged a career-high 10.9 points and 8.8 rebounds a game this season.
Duke guard Grayson Allen, who averaged 14.5 points and 3.5 assists this year, is returning for his senior season.
ETC. North Carolina gets NCAA events
The NCAA awarded coveted men’s basketball tournament games and other events to North Carolina, effectively ending a boycott that helped force the state to repeal parts of a law that limited protections for LGBT people.
The governing body announced decisions for events through 2022, two weeks after the NCAA said it had “reluctantly” agreed to consider North Carolina again for hosting duties. It had stripped North Carolina of seven championship events for the last sports season — including opening-weekend men’s basketball tournament games — and said it could relocate more events if there wasn't a change in the “bathroom bill.”
The list of events included men’s basketball tournament opening-weekend games in Greensboro in 2020 and Raleigh in 2021, as well as a women’s basketball tournament regional in Greensboro in 2019. In addition, the College Cup Division I championship rounds for men’s soccer and women’s soccer will alternate years in Cary from 201821, and the Division I women’s field hockey championship will be held in Winston-Salem in 2019.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper signed a compromise bill March 30 while saying it wasn’t a perfect solution. The compromise was reached days after the NCAA said the state was down to its final days to get something done about the law.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored three goals to help host Real Madrid beat 10-man Bayern Munich 4-2 in extra time and send the defending champions to the semifinals of the Champions League. Marco Asensio also scored late for Madrid, which advanced 6-3 on aggregate after a 2-1 first-leg win in Germany. Ronaldo’s goals, two of which were scored in extra time, enabled the Portugal star to become the first player to reach 100 Champions League goals. Bayern played a man down from the 84th minute after Arturo Vidal picked up his second yellow card of the night for a foul on Asensio.
After Robert Lewandowski scored a 53rd-minute penalty for Bayern, an own goal by Madrid defender Sergio Ramos in the 78th gave the German side a 2-1 lead in regulation time, and sent the game into extra time.
Atletico Madrid reached the Champions League semifinals for the third time in four seasons by ending host Leicester City’s fairytale European journey, drawing 1-1 at the King Power Stadium to advance 2-1 on aggregate.
Baylor University selected a new president to guide the nation’s largest Baptist school, picking the first female leader in its 172-year history as the campus wades through a sexual assault scandal that chased out her predecessor and led to several lawsuits and investigations. Linda Livingstone comes to Baylor from George Washington University, where she is a dean and professor of management. Her academic career includes previous administrative and teaching roles at Pepperdine and Baylor. Livingstone returns to Baylor at a time the school faces federal lawsuits from more than a dozen women who contend that school officials ignored or suppressed their sexual assault claims and fostered a culture of rape within the football program. The school also faces a state criminal investigation and civil rights probe by federal education officials.
Kevin Durant missed Golden State’s practice Tuesday because of a strained left calf and was listed as questionable for Wednesday's Game 2 against Portland, which again will be without center Jusuf Nurkic (leg). The Warriors, who won Game 1 on Sunday, also listed Shaun Livingston as questionable with a sprained right index finger and bruised hand, while forward Matt Barnes is questionable with a sprained right ankle and foot.