NIT moves to Texas, ending event’s 83-year run in New York
The NIT is moving the entire 2021 event to Texas because of the coronavirus pandemic, taking the semifinals and championship game out of New York’s Madison Square Garden for the first time in the 83-year history of college basketball’s oldest postseason tournament.
The field is being reduced to 16 teams from the usual 32, and all games will be played in the Dallas area. The two venues are the University of North Texas in Denton and an arena in Frisco that is home to a G League team affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks.
First-round games will be played March 17-20, with the quarterfinals March 25. The semifinals are set for March 27, followed by the championship game the next day. Specific arenas for each round weren’t announced.
NFL
CARDINALS AGREE TO TERMS WITH FREE AGENT EDGE RUSHER JJ WATT >> J.J. Watt has agreed to a twoyear contract with the Arizona Cardinals, showing that the franchise will be aggressive once again in their push to snap a fiveyear playoff drought.
The team announced the deal with the freeagent edge rusher on Monday. Watt was released last
month by the Houston Texans, for whom he won three NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards.
IRV CROSS, NFL PLAYER, PIONEER BLACK ANALYST, DIES AT81>> Irv Cross, the former NFL defensive back who became the first Black man to work full-time as a sports analyst on national television, died Sunday. He was 81.
The Philadelphia Eagles, the team Cross spent six of his nine NFL seasons with, said Cross’ son, Matthew, confirmed his father died near his home in Roseville, Minnesota. The cause of death was not provided.
Cross joined CBS in 1971, becoming the first Black network sports show anchor.
RODGERS GIVES $1 MILLION TO HELP BUSINESSES IN HIS HOMETOWN >> Green Bay
Packers quarterback and reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers has donated $1 million to help 80 locally owned business in or around his hometown of Chico.
The businesses that Rodgers is assisting are all either in Chico or in Butte County, where Chico is located. Restaurants and retail businesses with 20 or fewer full-time equivalent employees could apply for help through this fund.
All 80 of those businesses will receive grants through the Aaron Rodgers Small-Business COVID-19 Fund at North Valley Community Foundation in Chico. The grants will total over $1 million.
Men’s basketball
MICHIGAN LEAPS BAYLOR INTO SECOND BEHIND GONZAGA
>> Michigan finally broke the stranglehold of Gonzaga and Baylor atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, taking advantage of the Bears’ loss at Kansas to leap into the No. 2 spot behind the Bulldogs.
Gonzaga continued to hold down the top spot in the Top 25, just as it has all season, receiving 59 of 63 first-place votes among national media members. But the Wolverines picked up the other four to climb into second while the Bears, whose unbeaten season was foiled by the Jayhawks on Saturday night, dropped back to third place.
Women’s basketball
AGGIES REACH BEST-EVER RANKING OF NO. 2 >> Texas A&M moved up to No. 2, its highest ranking ever in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll, a day after winning its first Southeastern Conference regular-season title.
The Aggies (22-1) beat then-No. 5 South Carolina on Sunday to win the conference title and then moved up a spot in the Top25.
UConn remained the top choice in the poll, getting 27 first-place votes. North Carolina State fell to No. 3, with Stanford and Louisville rounding out the first five teams in the poll.