Ex-Arizona coach dies
Lute Olson, the Hall of Fame coach who turned Arizona into a college basketball powerhouse and led the program to its lone national title in 1997, has died. He was 85.
Olson’s family said he died Thursday evening. The cause of death wasn’t given.
Olson spent 24 seasons at Arizona, revitalizing a fan base in the desert while transforming a program that had been to the NCAA Tournament just three times in 79 years before he was hired in 1983.
Olson first took the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament during his second season in Tucson to start a string of 25 straight appearances. The streak would have been the third-longest in NCAA history, but the 1999 and 2008 appearances were later vacated by the NCAA for impermissible benefits to players and recruiting violations.
The Wildcats won a national championship under Olson in 1997 with a team led by Mike Bibby, Jason Terry and Miles Simon. Olson’s Arizona teams reached the Final Four four times and lost the 2001 national title game to Duke.
Olson won a school-record 589 games at Arizona, 11 Pac-10 titles and was named the conference coach of the year seven times. He led Arizona to 20 straight 20-win seasons and is one of five coaches in NCAA history with 29 seasons of at least 20 wins.
NBA
Kristaps Porzingis will miss the rest of the Dallas Mavericks’ series against the Los Angeles Clippers because of a torn ligament in his right knee.
The Mavericks said Friday that Porzingis has been receiving treatment for the injury, which he sustained in Game 1 of the series. They added that further treatment options are being explored and he wouldn’t be medically cleared the rest of the series.
The seventh-seeded Mavericks trail the Clippers 3-2.
Porzingis had missed the last two games. He finished with averages of 23.7 points and 8.7 rebounds in his three appearances.
HORSE RACING
A federal appeals court has upheld the decision by Churchill Downs stewards that made Country House the winner of the 2019 Kentucky Derby.
This year’s Derby is Sept. 5 after being rescheduled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati affirmed a U.S. District Court decision to dismiss a lawsuit by Gary and Mary West, who own Maximum Security. Their horse crossed the finish line first in last year’s Derby but was disqualified for interference. Runner-up Country House was declared the winner.
“It is time to move on and there will be no further appeals,” Gary West said in a text message to The Associated Press.