NCAA championship game loses viewers

Compared with last year, Jim Nantz lost more than half his audience with the NCAA men’s basketball championship game’s move from CBS to cable television’s TBS.

Just under 13.9 million people watched Villanova’s last-second victory over North Carolina on TBS last week, which used the CBS basketball crew of Nantz, Grant Hill and Bill Raftery, the Nielsen company said. The 2015 final between Duke and Wisconsin, shown on CBS, had 28.3 million viewers.

March Madness fans can expect similar arrangements in the future. CBS and Turner on Tuesday announced an extension of their deal with the NCAA to show the tournament through 2032.

The women’s national championship, with Connecticut winning its fourth straight title by beating Syracuse, was seen by just under 3 million viewers on ESPN last week.

COLLEGES

The NCAA football rules committee has postponed the use of electronic devices such as laptop computers and tablets by coaches during games until 2017. The NCAA said it decided on the delay after feedback from coaches in Divisions 1, 2 and 3 . ... Clemson coach Dabo Swinney received a $1.1 million raise for next season in his reworked contract. Swinney will make $4.55 million in 2016.

Arkansas junior Moses Kingsley says he will enter the NBA draft without hiring an agent, leaving open the possibility of returning to the Razorbacks. Kingsley, a 6-foot-10 center from Nigeria, was a second-team AllSEC selection this season, averaging 15.9 points and 9.3 rebounds. The deadline for players to withdraw from the draft is May 25. Also declaring without hiring an agent: Indiana 6-7 forward Troy Williams and Notre Dame 6-8 forward V.J. Beachem. Deyonta Davis is hiring an agent and entering the NBA draft after one season at Michigan State. The 6-10, 240-pound forward scored 7.5 points and grabbed 5.5 rebounds per game.

GOLF

Steve Stricker is the next American captain for the Presidents Cup, for the 2017 matches at Liberty National at Jersey City, New Jersey. Stricker played on five Presidents Cup teams and had a 14-10 record while playing on nothing but victorious teams. He will go up against Nick Price, who will be International captain for the third straight time. The International team has not won since 1998.

TENNIS

Roger Federer cruised to victory at the Monaco Masters on Tuesday in his first match in more than two months following a knee operation. The 17-time Grand Slam champion beat Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-4. “I was very excited and tense,” said Federer. “It was a perfect match, because it was close in the beginning and then I could go on a roll.” In other matches, No. 2 seed Andy Murray overcame some sloppy serving to beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, and eighthseeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5) against Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.

Russia says Maria Sharapova is still in its plans for the Olympic women’s tennis tournament in Rio de Janeiro in August despite her provisional suspension for failing a drug test. Sharapova has been suspended since last month, when she admitted she tested positive for the banned substance meldonium at the Australian Open. No date has been announced by the International Tennis Federation for a hearing into the case of Sharapova, who won Olympic silver in 2012.

OBITUARIES

Billy Mustin, who starred as a player for Ole Miss, was an assistant football coach and then director of the Loyalty Foundation, died Monday at 87. Mustin, a 1950 graduate of Ole Miss and a star half back for the Rebels from 1946-49, worked for 12 years with the Loyalty Foundation. Mustin was inducted into the Ole Miss Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.

Former Houston Astros and San Francisco Giants general manager H.B. “Spec” Richardson died Tuesday at 93. Richardson died at his home in Columbus, Georgia, of natural causes. Richardson was general manager of the Astros from 1967-75 and was the Giants’ GM from 1976-80.

COURTS

Georgia freshman football players Julian Rochester and Chad Clay were arrested Monday night. Rochester, a defensive lineman, and Clay, a defensive back, were charged with having a weapon in a school zone — a BB gun — and second-degree criminal damage resulting from damage to a campus dorm. Each is a felony charge.

Court records show U.S. soccer star Abby Wambach pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of intoxicants Tuesday afternoon in Portland, Oregon. Charges against Wambach could be dismissed within a year if she completes a diversion program.