Gonzaga, Baylor remain on top
Gonzaga and Baylor were the top two teams in the Associated Press preseason men’s college basketball poll. After eight weeks of twists and turns, that hasn’t changed.
The Bulldogs received 63 of 64 first- place votes from a national media panel in the poll released Monday and the Bears had the other one. Villanova, Texas and Iowa rounded out a top f ive that remained the same from last week.
Gonzaga and Baylor split most of the first- place votes in the preseason AP top 25, but the Zags have become the clear- cut No. 1 after stringing together a series of routs.
Gonzaga ( 12- 0) has wins over No. 5 Iowa, No. 6 Kansas, No. 13 West Virginia and No. 18 Virginia, the closest game a f ive- point win over the Mountaineers.
Gonzaga, which had f ive games canceled because of COVID- 19 issues last month, has won 16 straight dating to last season.
In the women’s top 25, Washington State ( 7- 1) earned its f irst ranking in school history, coming in at No. 25. The ranking comes a day after the Cougars beat then- No. 7 Arizona 71- 69 in overtime on a buzzer- beating layup. Washington State ( 7- 1) has won f ive of its f irst six Pac- 12 games for the first time since the 2013- 14 season.
Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer and former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops are among the 13 former players and coaches who make up the latest College Football Hall of Fame class announced by the National Football Foundation. Former Eastern Illinois quarterback and current CBS NFL analyst Tony Romo was also selected for induction. This class will be inducted in December.
Former Indiana star Wayne Radford, a prominent backup on the Hoosiers’ 1976 unbeaten national championship team, has died. He was 64.
Mike Milbury is out and Mike Babcock is in for NBC Sports’ coverage of the NHL this season. Milbury drew widespread criticism last summer for saying players should be more focused in the league’s coronavirus bubble because there were “not even any women here to disrupt your concentration.” Babcock, an NHL head coach for 17 seasons, joins NBC Sports more than a year after being fired by Toronto.
Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and second- seeded Elina Svitolina were eliminated from the season- opening Abu Dhabi Open in the United Arab Emirates. Ninth- seeded Maria Sakkari beat Kenin 2- 6, 6- 2, 6- 0 in the quarterf inals. Unseeded Russian Veronika Kudermetova beat Svitolina 5- 7, 6- 3, 7- 6 ( 3). ... American Denis Kudla, seeded No. 4 in the Australian Open qualifying event in Doha, Qatar, was withdrawn and put into hotel quarantine after returning positive tests for COVID- 19. Kudla’s exit followed a 6- 4, 6- 3 f irstround win over Elliot Benchetrit of Morocco. ... American Christian Harrison, playing in his f irst career quarterfinal, beat Gianluca Mager of Italy 7- 6 ( 2), 6- 4 at the Delray Beach Open in Florida.
Washington Wizards point guard Russell Westbrook is expected to sit out a week with an injured left leg, the latest blow to a team that entered Monday with a 2- 8 record. ... The Philadelphia 76ers were f ined $ 25,000 for failing to list Ben Simmons ( knee) on their initial injury report.
Switzerland’s signature ski race was canceled after a rise in COVID- 19 infections was blamed partly on tourists from Britain. Wengen was to host three races on the iconic Lauberhorn mountain from Friday to Sunday. The classic men’s downhill scheduled for Saturday — on a scenic course that is the longest on the World Cup circuit — typically draws 30,000 spectators and one of the biggest audiences each year on Swiss television.
Cindy Parlow Cone is unopposed for an additional one- year term as U. S. Soccer Federation president running until February 2022.