Washington fires Romar
Washington fired coach Lorenzo Romar on Wednesday after 15 seasons at the school, a fate that seemed certain once the Huskies failed to receive an NCAA tournament bid for the sixth straight year despite a steady stream of talent.
Athletic Director Jennifer Cohen made the decision after the Huskies slogged through another lackluster season — even with freshman star Markelle Fultz, a projected top-five NBA draft pick.
Romar was 298-196 in his 15 seasons with the Huskies and was responsible for reinvigorating a downtrodden program, taking Washington to six NCAA tournaments and three appearances in the Sweet 16.
His shortcoming was never getting Washington to a Final Four despite a glut of talented players. Washington went 9-22 this season.
Romar was an assistant at UCLA under coach Jim Harrick from 1992 to ’96, then was head coach at Pepperdine and St. Louis before taking the job at Washington in 2002. A native of South Gate, Romar had played two seasons at Washington after playing at Cerritos College. He played five seasons in the NBA.
In a whirlwind few hours, Cuonzo Martin resigned at California on Wednesday and was announced as the coach at Missouri in his home state. The chance to go back to Missouri helped to lure him from Berkeley after three seasons. He will take over for the fired Kim Anderson. Martin was reported to be getting a sevenyear deal worth $21 million.
His resignation followed the Golden Bears’ first-round NIT loss at home to Cal State Bakersfield on Tuesday. Cal went 21-13 this season and tied for fifth place in the Pac-12. Martin was 62-39 overall.
Deontae Hawkins made a career-high six three-pointers and finished with 22 points to lead host Illinois State to an 8571 victory over UC Irvine in the first round of the NIT. Topseeded Illinois State (28-6) will play No. 4 seed Central Florida (22-11) in the second round. Jaron Martin scored 24 points and Luke Nelson had 17 to lead the Anteaters (21-15).
49ers trade to get center Zuttah
The San Francisco 49ers have agreed to acquire center Jeremy Zuttah from the Baltimore Ravens for an exchange of draft picks. The Ravens will move up 12 spots in the sixth round in the deal. Baltimore will select with the 186th pick, while San Francisco will have the 198th selection. Zuttah must pass a physical to make the deal official. The Ravens reportedly were planning to release Zuttah to save $5.8 million in salary cap space before making the trade.
A judge has dismissed robbery, assault and all other charges against former New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis stemming from a fight last month in Pittsburgh, after a childhood friend testified that he knocked out two men who confronted Revis during a dispute over a cellphone.
The friend, Rashawn Bolton, 31, of Aliquippa, Pa., has not been charged in connection with the incident about 2:30 a.m. Feb. 12 on the city’s South Side.
The NFL suspended New York Jets tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins without pay for the first two games of the season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Seferian-Jenkins was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Florida last September while he was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The tight end was cut by the Buccaneers a few days later and claimed off waivers by the Jets.
Just 31⁄2 months after trading for Derek Norris and penciling him in as their starting catcher, the Washington Nationals released him. Norris became expendable in February, when the Nationals signed four-time All-Star catcher Matt Wieters. By releasing Norris ahead of a deadline later this week, the Nationals owe him $688,525 in termination pay, instead of his full $4.2 million salary for 2017. Norris batted .186 with 14 homers and 42 RBIs with San Diego last season.
Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia held off a hard-charging Lindsey Vonn to win and wrap up the overall downhill title at the World Cup Finals in Aspen, Colo. Stuhec also kept in place her slim hopes of the overall title, now trailing American Mikaela Shiffrin by 278 points with three races remaining. Stuhec finished in 1 minute 36.95 seconds. Vonn was 0.66 seconds back in second.
In the men’s downhill at the World Cup Finals, Peter Fill of Italy retained his overall title by finishing second to teammate Dominik Paris.