USC’s Mobley joins rare air in Pac-12 with honors sweep
Evan Mobley is in rarefied air. USC’s 7-foot freshman center became the first player to ever win Pac12 men’s basketball player of the year, freshman of the year and defensive player of the year in the same season. He was joined by his head coach, Andy Enfield, who won the Pac-12’s coach of the year award.
The awards were voted on by the Pac-12’s head coaches.
Mobley is just the second player from a Power Five conference to win all three awards in the same season, joining Kentucky’s Anthony Davis in 2011-12.
Prior to Mobley, only three players had won Pac-12 player of the year and freshman of the year in the same season: Arizona’s Deandre Ayton in 2018, UCLA’s Kevin Love in 2008 and Cal’s Shareef Abdur-Rahim in 1996.
Mobley finished seventh in the conference in points per game (16.1) while leading the league in rebounding (8.6) and blocked shots (2.9).
Stanford’s Jaiden Delaire was tabbed the most improved player, Arizona’s Jordan Brown earned sixth man of the year, and USC’s Andy Enfield claimed the John R. Wooden Pac12 coach of the year honor.
It was a memorable season from Mobley, who will most assuredly leave USC after the NCAA tournament to declare for the NBA draft. He’s expected to be a top-three pick.
Stanford’s Oscar da Silva repeated as a first-team all-conference selection, while Cal’s Matt Bradley was named to the second team. Oakland’s James Akinjo from Arizona was named to the first team.
— Adam Grosbard, Los Angeles Daily News
NO. 1 GONZAGA SURVIVES, WINS WCC TITLE >> Jalen Suggs hit two late 3-pointers and scored 23 points, helping topranked Gonzaga (26-0) survive its biggest test of an undefeated season to beat Brigham Young 88-78 in the West Coast Conference Tournament title game.
BYU (20-6) used an early 11-0 run to build a 12-point halftime lead.
The Zags responded to their biggest halftime deficit in three years by locking down defensively and getting back to their efficient ways on offense.
Suggs took charge down the stretch, hitting consecutive 3-pointers to put Gonzaga up by nine with 1:28 left. Corey Kispert scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half.
College football
MILES OUT AT KANSAS OVER BEHAVIOR WITH WOMEN WHILE AT LSU >>
Les Miles is out as Kansas’ head coach just days after he was placed on administrative leave amid sexual misconduct allegations from his tenure at LSU.
Kansas announced Miles’ departure late Monday night, describing it as a mutual agreement to part ways. Miles has three years left on his original five-year contract with Kansas.
“I am extremely disappointed for our university, fans and everyone involved with our football program,” Kansas athletic director Jeff Long said in a statement. “We will begin the search for a new head coach immediately with an outside firm to assist in this process. We need to win football games, and that is exactly what we’re going to do.”
The 67-year-old Miles was 3-18 in two seasons with the Jayhawks. Offensive coordinator Mike DeBord was named acting head coach.
NFL
RECIEVERS GET FRANCHISE TAG MONEY >>
The big money that accompanies franchise tags for the 2021 season is going to receivers, safeties and linemen.
No running backs. No tight ends. No linebackers. And, with Dak Prescott reaching agreement with the Dallas Cowboys on a new fouryear deal, no quarterbacks.
So wideouts Chris Godwin, who helped the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl, and Chicago’s Allen Robinson were tagged just before Tuesday’s NFL deadline. So were tackles Taylor Moton of Carolina and Cam Robinson of Jacksonville, and defensive tackle Leonard Williams of the New York Giants.
NHL
LEAGUE GOING BACK TO ESPN >>
The National Hockey League will return to ESPN beginning next season.
The two sides have reached agreement on a seven-year contract that includes four Stanley Cup Finals, according to the The Associated Press. ESPN and the NHL had no comment. The deal was first reported by SportsNet in Canada.
NBC is in the final season of a 10year contract worth $2 billion that gives it national NHL rights, but the league will air on multiple networks in its next agreement.
Basketball
PAUL PIERCE, CHRIS BOSH HEADLINE 2021 HOF FINALISTS >>
NBA stars Chris Bosh and Paul Pierce, WNBA great Lauren Jackson and Villanova coach Jay Wright are among the 14 finalists announced Tuesday for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021.
Those four are among the nine first-time finalists up for election, along with five previous finalists. The Class of 2021 will be unveiled on May 16 and the enshrinement ceremony is scheduled for September.
The other first-time finalists are: Rick Adelman, the ninth-winningest coach in NBA history; five-time champion and five-time All-Defensive Team selection Michael Cooper; seven-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Yolanda Griffith; NCAA national champion and WNBA Coach of the Year Marianne Stanley; and Bill Russell as the first Black NBA head coach (he was inducted as a player in 1975).
NBA
SIMMONS, EMBIID BOTH TO MISS 76ERS’ SECOND-HALF OPENER >>
Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid will both be unable to start the second half of the season with the Philadelphia 76ers, though neither All-Star will be missing from the Eastern Conference leaders’ lineup for long.
Both will miss Philadelphia’s game Thursday in Chicago, and Simmons will also miss the 76ers’ contest on Friday against Washington. Provided both continue to test negative for COVID-19, they would be cleared after those games, the 76ers said.
Simmons and Embiid both traveled to Atlanta for Sunday’s All-Star Game, only to learn the night before that they were flagged by contact tracing data. The barber that both visited prior to their private flights to Atlanta tested positive for COVID-19, and even though neither Embiid nor Simmons tested positive the league’s health and safety protocols for navigating through a pandemic this season meant they had to be sidelined for a week.
Baseball
RAMÍREZ, REYES RETURN TO INDIANS AFTER COVID-19 MISSTEPS >>
Indians third baseman José Ramírez and slugger Franmil Reyes rejoined their teammates at training camp Tuesday after being banned for breaking COVID-19 protocols.
The players tested negative for the coronavirus and were back at the team’s facility in Goodyear, Arizona. Ramírez and Reyes had been isolated at their temporary spring training homes since Saturday after they went out to dinner indoors, a behavior that violated virus guidelines set last season by Major League Baseball and the players’ union.
Golf
CANADIAN OPEN CANCELED FOR 2ND STRAIGHT YEAR >>
The RBC Canadian Open, the fourth-oldest national championship in golf, has been canceled for the second straight year because of circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament, which dates to 1904, was to be played June 10-13 at St. George’s Golf & Country outside Toronto. The PGA Tour said Tuesday it would stage another event in the United States in place of the Canadian Open, which falls a week before the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.