In the news
Gonzaga’s Few wins men’s coach of the year: Mark Few, who led Gonzaga to a 36-1 record, is The Associated Press’ Coach of the Year.
Few has taken the Zags to the NCAA Tournament in all 18 of his seasons there. He was a runaway winner Thursday receiving 31 votes from the same 65-member media panel that selects the weekly Top 25.
Sean Miller of Arizona received 8 votes, Chris Collins of Northwestern had 7 and SMU’s Tim Jankovich got 6.
Gonzaga is the only head job Few has had and he has compiled a 502-112 record. The Zags have reached the West Coast Conference Tournament final in all of Few’s seasons there.
He is the first WCC coach to win the award since Bob Gaillard of San Francisco in 1977.
Kansas’ Mason III is men’s Player of the Year: Frank Mason III, who led Kansas to its 13th consecutive Big 12 title, is The Associated Press’ Player of the Year.
The senior point guard averaged 20.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists while shooting 48.7 percent from 3-point range.
He received 37 votes Thursday from the same 65-member media panel that selects the weekly AP Top 25.
Josh Hart of Villanova was second with 16 votes while Caleb Swanigan of Purdue had nine and Lonzo Ball of UCLA had three.
Mason is the first Kansas player to win the award. He is the first Big 12 player to win it since Blake Griffin of Oklahoma in 2009.
Washington’s Plum, UConn’s Auriemma honored: Kelsey Plum had a historic season for Washington while Geno Auriemma did one of his best coaching jobs at UConn.
Both were overwhelming choices as The Associated Press women’s basketball Player and Coach of the Year in awards announced Thursday.
Plum broke the career NCAA scoring mark, topping Jackie Stiles’ 16-year-old record in style with a 57-point effort on her senior night.
UConn met every challenge and enter the Final Four without a loss, winners of 111 straight games.
Plum received 30 of the 33 votes from the national media panel that selects the weekly Top 25. A’ja Wilson of South Carolina, Gabby Williams and Katie Lou Samuelson of UConn each received a vote. The voting was done before the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Auriemma garnered 26 of the votes for coach of the year. Oregon State’s Scott Rueck was second with three while Drake’s Jennie Baranczyk received two. Duke’s Joanne P. McCallie and Mississippi State’s Vic Schaefer each received one vote.
North Carolina rolls back ‘bathroom bill’: North Carolina rolled back its “bathroom bill” Thursday in a bid to end the yearlong backlash over transgender rights that has cost the state dearly in business projects, conventions and basketball tournaments.
The compromise plan, announced Wednesday night by the Democratic governor and leaders of the Republican-controlled legislature, was worked out under mounting pressure from the NCAA, which threatened to take away more sporting events from the basketball-obsessed state as long as the law, also known as House Bill 2, remained on the books.
The new measure cleared the House and Senate and was signed by Gov. Roy Cooper in a matter of hours.
Among other things, it repeals the best-known section of HB2: a requirement that transgender people use the public restrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate.
Rangers, 2B Odor reach 6-year deal worth at least $49.5M: Rougned Odor and the Texas Rangers have agreed to a new six-year contract that includes a club option for 2023 and guarantees the young second baseman at least $49.5 million.
The deal completed Thursday includes a $2 million signing bonus and a $13.5 million club option for 2023 with a $3 million buyout. Odor’s salary will be $1 million this season, and then it will increase to $3 million in 2018 and $7.5 million in 2019. He will make $9 million in 2020 before $12 million in each of the last two years of the contract.
At 23, Odor is already going into his fourth season with the Rangers. He hit .271 with 33 home runs and 88 RBIs last year, when he became known to many for punching Toronto slugger Jose Bautista during a May 15 game , the finale of a contentious series. Odor served a seven-game suspension for that.
Odor was the youngest player in the majors when he made his Rangers debut in May 2014. He has hit .265 with 58 homers and 197 RBIs in his career.
He played for Venezuela this spring in the World Baseball Classic.
Panthers QB Newton undergoes surgery: Cam Newton is recovering from surgery to repair a partially torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder.
Dr. Pat Connor performed the surgery on the Panthers quarterback Thursday at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
Panthers head athletic trainer Ryan Vermillion says, “Dr. Connor was pleased with the results of the surgery and Cam is at home resting.”
Vermillion says Newton will begin his rehabilitation on Monday.
Newton, the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2015, suffered the injury last December in a win over the San Diego Chargers.