In the news
McGrady, Self, Krause, Lobo headline Hall of Fame class: Two-time NBA scoring champion Tracy McGrady, Kansas coach Bill Self, former Chicago Bulls executive Jerry Krause and former UConn star Rebecca Lobo are part of this year’s Basketball Hall of Fame class.
The Hall of Fame announced the 11-person class Saturday on Twitter.
McGrady was a seven-time NBA All-Star who played 15 years in the league. Self is one of six coaches to lead three different schools to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight. Lobo starred for the Huskies when they won a national championship in 1995 following an undefeated season.
Krause, who died last month, was the general manager during the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty in the 1990s.
Others in the class include Notre Dame women’s coach Muffet McGraw and Texas high school coach Robert Hughes.
49ers sign free agent RB Hightower: The San Francisco 49ers have signed free agent running back Tim Hightower.
General manager John Lynch announced the addition Saturday of another back to add depth behind Carlos Hyde.
Hightower has experience playing for new 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan. He was in Washington in 2011 when Shanahan was offensive coordinator.
Hightower missed the next three seasons with complications from a knee injury and spent the past two years in New Orleans. He had 133 carries for 548 yards last season with four touchdowns. He added 22 catches for 200 yards and a score.
In six years with Arizona, Washington and New Orleans, Hightower has rushed for 2,977 yards with a 4.0 average per carry and has 162 receptions for 1,208 yards.
Retired NBA star Duncan’s ex-adviser to admit to fraud: Court documents indicate a former financial adviser to retired Spurs star Tim Duncan plans to plead guilty in a multimillion-dollar fraud case. In paperwork filed Friday, lawyers for Charles Banks say he plans to admit he misled Duncan — identified in court documents as “T.D.” — to get his signatures on about $6 million in loans related to a merchandising business.
Banks was indicted last year for two counts of wire fraud, with each count carrying a possible 20 years in prison. He’s scheduled to appear in court Monday. Duncan retired last year after winning five NBA championships in 19 years with the Spurs. He previously sued Banks over what he alleged were more than $25 million in failed investments.
Neal out as New Mexico hoops coach after 4 seasons: After four years as head coach and 10 overall with New Mexico, Craig Neal and the Lobos have parted ways.
Athletic director Paul Krebs said in a statement late Friday: “The time has come to move Lobo Basketball in a new direction.”
The move comes three weeks after Krebs had given Neal a vote of confidence following the Lobos’ loss in the Mountain West Conference quarterfinals. But in the ensuing weeks, four players with eligibility remaining — three of whom were considered starters — announced they’re transferring.
Neal joined the New Mexico program as Steve Alford’s associate head coach. When Alford left for UCLA, Neal took over.
He led the Lobos to a conference tournament championship and the NCAA Tournament in his first season, before losing in the first round. In each of the subsequent seasons, the Lobos were eliminated from the conference tournament in the first game and didn’t make the NCAA or NIT tournaments. Neal finishes with a 76-52 record.
US beats Russia 7-0 in women’s hockey: Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, Brianna Decker and Kendall Coyne each scored twice to lead the United States to a 7-0 victory over Russia at the world championships at Plymouth, Mich.
Amanda Kessel also scored and Madeline Rooney stopped all 14 shots she faced to give the U.S. its second shutout in two games. Nicole Hensley had 18 saves in a 2-0 win over Canada in the opener the previous night. Maria Sorokina finished with 27 saves for Russia (1-1).
The Americans scored in bunches, with two goals in less than a minute in the second period and another two in the final 19 seconds of the game.
Briedis beats Huck on points for WBC cruiserweight belt: Mairis Briedis of Latvia defeated Marco Huck by unanimous decision to take the WBC cruiserweight title and the German’s minor IBO belt on Saturday in Dortmund, Germany.
The judges scored it 116-111, 117-110, 118-109 in favor of the undefeated Briedis, who didn’t look troubled at any stage of the one-sided bout. Briedis looked fitter, sharper and more precise, using his jab to good effect and leaving Huck on the back foot. Huck, the former WBO champion, stepped up his efforts in the final rounds but Briedis was always in control and he improved to 22-0 (18 KOs). The Serbian-born Huck dropped to 40-4-1 (27 KOs).
The WBC title was made vacant when champion Tony Bellew was declared emeritus champion as he would have been unable to defend his belt for some time. Bellew broke his hand in his heavyweight victory over David Haye on March 4 but will be able to fight for the title again when he has recovered.