Loyola tabs Valentine
Loyola promoted assistant Drew Valentine to head coach, hoping he can build on the success the Ramblers experienced under Porter Moser.
The 29-year-old Valentine helped Loyola make two deep NCAA Tournament runs in four seasons as an assistant. He gets his first head coaching job with Moser taking over at Oklahoma after a 10-year run that included a Final Four in 2018 and a Sweet 16 appearance this year.
Valentine played a big role in Loyola's rise. The Ramblers went 99-36 overall and 56-16 in the Missouri Valley Conference the past four years, winning three regular-season league championships.
He was Loyola's de facto defensive coordinator the past two years. That group ranked among the best in the country this season.
BASEBALL
Mike Scioscia is taking over as the third manager of the U.S. baseball team in this Olympic qualifying cycle and will try to get the Americans to the tournament in Japan this summer.
USA Baseball hired the former Los Angeles Angels manager on Tuesday. He will lead a team of minor leaguers into the second-chance qualifying event, the Baseball Americas Qualifier, to be played in June in Florida.
Joe Girardi quit as U.S. manager in October 2019 to pursue a major league managing job, and Scott Brosius took over. Girardi was hired by the Philadelphia Phillies.
Only players not on 26-man major league rosters and injured lists will be eligible to play in the Americas tournament.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
The NCAA used the single-site concept for its marquee championship out of necessity.
Now it could become part of the tournament's future.
A day after crowning a national champion for the first time since 2019, NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said that the successful men's college basketball tournament held primarily in Indianapolis and exclusively in Indiana could create a late-round model for future tourneys.
“If it's the desire of the committee and the membership to consider something along these lines for the future, I think we would give it significant consideration,” he said. “I would hesitate to say, though, I don't think a 68-team single site, short of another pandemic, would be something we would have great interest in.”
NBA
NBA analyst Paul Pierce was fired by ESPN, people familiar with the situation confirmed.
Pierce, who played 19 seasons in the NBA, had worked for the network since 2017, including being a part of the “NBA Countdown” pregame show. He posted an Instagram video Friday night that showed him playing poker and smoking with scantily clad dancers performing in the background.
HOCKEY
Massachusetts will be without four players when the Minutemen face Minnesota Duluth on Thursday night at the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh due to COVID-19 contact tracing protocols, UMass announced.
Top goal-scorer Carson Gicewicz, forward Jerry Harding, and goaltenders Filip Lindberg and Henry Graham will miss the game. Head coach Greg Carvel calls the situation “hard to comprehend” but something the team has to accept.