SPORTSLINE
FIRST WORD
Coach Lincoln Riley on Monday, confirming Oklahoma will be without DE Ronnie Perkins, RB Rhamondre Stevenson and WR Trejan Bridges for Saturday’s national semifinal against LSU in the Peach Bowl. Riley wouldn’t say what the suspensions were for and wouldn’t say whether they would extend past the game against LSU. Perkins’ absence figures to be the most important of the three. He’s been Oklahoma’s top pass rusher this season.
NOTABLE NUMBERS $33.2 million
In attorney’s fees and costs awarded by a federal magistrate judge Monday to lawyers representing the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the NCAA’s athlete compensation limits. The case is on appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but if the award stands, the NCAA will have had to pay a total of more than $75 million to plaintiffs’ lawyers in connection with two antitrust cases that have been a major part of the college sports landscape the past 10 years. The NCAA and various conference codefendants have combined to spend millions more defending the cases, though some of those costs have been offset by insurance.
LAST WORD
Former Purdue basketball star Robbie Hummel on becoming a 3-on-3 star and last week being named USA Basketball’s 2019 male athlete of the year. He was MVP as the U.S. won the 3-on-3 World Cup last summer. The ex-NBA player hopes to be in a position to win an Olympic medal since 3-on-3 will be in the Tokyo Games. The U.S. has to qualify for the Olympics in a qualifying tournament March 18-22 in India.
I don’t air guys’ dirty laundry out. You guys know me well enough. They get enough in this world. They won’t be available to play.”
It went from ‘I’ll give it a try’ to ‘I’m fully invested.’ And now, it’s like, ‘Let’s make the Olympic Games and do something pretty cool.’ ”