Purdue's Edey is overwhelming choice for 2nd straight AP POY
The child who wanted Zach Edey's autograph during his Purdue recruiting trip apparently saw something others missed.
Big Maple was destined to be a basketball star.
While many college coaches passed on the unpolished Canadian prospect as the basketball world became enamored with perimeter play and 3-point shooting, Purdue coach Matt Painter took a swing on his third center in the recruiting class and found a gem who led the Boilermakers to their first Final Four since 1980.
On Friday, Edey collected his second Associated Press Player of the Year award, becoming the first back-to-back winner since Ralph Sampson won three in a row at Virginia from 1981-83. Edey received 57 of 62 votes from journalists who vote in the weekly AP Top 25. Tennessee's Dalton Knecht received three votes and Houston's Jamal Shead got two.
Edey is the fifth player to win the award in consecutive seasons, though Lew Alcindor also won the award twice in non-consecutive seasons.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson narrowly edged UConn's Dan Hurley for his second Associated Press Coach of the Year award.
Houston won the Big 12 regular-season title in its first year in the league, earned a No. 1 seed in the tournament for the second straight year and advanced through the opening weekend for the fifth time in a row.
Sampson received 23 of 62 votes from the national panel that votes for the weekly AP Top 25; balloting closed before the start of the NCAA Tournament. Hurley, whose top-seeded Huskies will play Alabama in the Final Four on Saturday night as they chase a second consecutive national title, finished second with 21 votes.
USC'S JAMES DECLARES FOR DRAFT, ENTERS TRANSFER PORTAL >> Bronny James will enter the NBA draft after one season at Southern California that was shortened by his recovery from cardiac arrest.
The 19-year-old son of LeBron James announced on his Instagram account that he also plans to retain his college eligibility and will enter the transfer portal.
James posted his decision hours before USC introduced Eric Musselman as its new coach. He comes from Arkansas and replaces Andy Enfield, who left on Monday to become coach at SMU.
Pro basketball
NBA FINES 76ERS $100K FOR VIOLATING INJURY REPORTING RULES >> The NBA fined the Philadelphia 76ers $100,000 for violating injury reporting rules by initially listing Joel Embiid as out in a game he later played in.
Embiid returned from a 29-game absence after left knee surgery Tuesday night, leading the 76ers to a 109-105 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. That came after the 76ers had listed him as being out in the initial injury report. He was upgraded to questionable by late afternoon.
Teams are required to list the status of a player whose participation may be affected by injury by 5 p.m. local time the day before a game, unless they are on a back-to-back. The injury report is then updated throughout the course of the day.
Soccer
INTER MIAMI SAYS MESSI WILL PLAY SATURDAY >> Lionel Messi is coming back to Inter Miami's lineup, with the team saying his absence for a hamstring injury will end Saturday at home in an MLS match against the Colorado Rapids.
Messi has missed Inter Miami's last four games, including one Wednesday when the club wasted a 1-0 lead and lost 2-1 to Mexico's Monterrey in the first leg of a CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal. Tensions boiled over after that physical game, with members of both teams — Messi included — involved in a postgame shouting match near the locker room area at Chase Stadium.
Cycling
VINGEGAARD HAS COLLAPSED LUNG AFTER CRASH >> Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard remained hospitalized in Spain, one day after he broke his collarbone and several ribs in a bad crash with other top riders during a chaotic Tour of the Basque Country.
The Danish rider's Visma-Lease A Bike team said further tests revealed that Vingegaard also sustained a collapsed lung and a pulmonary contusion during the crash in Thursday's fourth stage. The team said cycling's leading rider was “stable and had a good night” but remains in a hospital in the northern Spanish city of Vitoria.
The accident came less than three months before the start of the Tour de France on June 29, when Vingegaard was scheduled to again face off against his leading rival, Tadej Pogacar. The highly anticipated rematch of former champions is now in doubt.
Golf
BHATIA STRETCHES LEAD TO 5 SHOTS >> Akshay Bhatia survived a rocky start in the Valero Texas Open by rallying with a pair of late birdies for a 2-under 70 that stretched his lead to five shots and raised hopes of getting the final spot in the Masters next week.
Bhatia was at 11-under 133. Denny McCarthy, who played in the afternoon, got within four shots of him until a bogey from the fairway on the par-5 18th for a 70. That dropped him to 6-under 138, along with Brendon Todd (72) and Russell Henley (69).
Rory McIlroy had another steady day of pars and did well enough for a 70 to stay in the mix at 139.
Nelly Korda almost certainly kept her hopes alive for a fourth consecutive LPGA Tour victory by shooting a 3-under 69 for a threeday total of 1-under par in the T-Mobile Match Play.
The top-ranked Korda was tied for fifth place with Narin An when she finished her round, and the top eight advance to match play Saturday. The cut line was 2 over when Korda walked off Shadow Creek Golf Course.
It was quite a leap for Korda, who shot 73 in each of the first two rounds, but high wind Thursday afternoon also brought the field back to her.
GARCIA SHARES LIV LEAD AT DORAL >> Sergio Garcia decided to refurbish the putter he used 25 years ago when he was a rookie and played like it was 1999. He was bogey-free at Trump National Doral for a 5-under 67 to share the lead with Talor Gooch and Peter Uihlein in LIV Golf Miami.
Gooch had the lead until a bogey on his final hole, the par-4 second hole in the shotgun start. Uihlein dropped only one shot, at the par-4 18th, in his round of 67.
They led by one shot over a group that included Bubba Watson.
Tennis
PEGULA REACHES CHARLESTON OPEN SEMIFINALS >> Top-seeded Jessica Pegula saved four match points in a third-set tiebreaker and beat Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7) to reach the Charleston Open semifinals.
Pegula will play Daria Kasatkina on Saturday for a spot in the final. The 11thranked Kasatkina defeated Jaqueline Cristian 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-3.
In the other two quarterfinal matches, Elise Mertens will face Danielle Collins and 2021 Charleston winner Veronika Kudermetova will play seventhranked Maria Sakkari.
Skiing
SHIFFRIN, KILDE ANNOUNCE ENGAGEMENT >> Skiing power couple Mikaela Shiffrin and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde have announced they're engaged to be married.
Shiffrin, a two-time Olympic champion who has won a record 97 World Cup races, holds her ring up to the camera in one of several photos they posted on their social media accounts.
Aamodt Kilde is a former overall World Cup champion and two-time Olympic medalist. The 31-year-old Norwegian's season ended in January when he sustained injuries in a crash during a downhill race in Wengen, Switzerland.