With its win at No. 20/19 Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon, No. 12/12 Houston claimed the outright American Athletic Conference regular season title and will be the No. 1 seed in the 2019 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship, held March 14-17 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn.,Houston has been a top-three seed in The American Championship in each of the past three seasons and will take on the winner of No. 8 Tulsa and No. 9 UConn on Friday, March 15 at noon ET/11 a.m. CT.,The Bulls played their last two games without starting point guard Laquincy Rideau who should be ready to make his return on Thursday, March 14 when USF faces No. 9 UConn in first game of the 2019 Championship at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT.,With the Huskies’ regular-season finale victory against the Pirates, UConn will take on No. 8 USF in the tip-off game of the tournament on Thursday, March 14 at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT.,No. 9 UConn vs. No. 8 USF, 1 p.m. ET/noon CT (ESPNU)

No. 12 Tulane vs. No. 5 Memphis, 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT (ESPNU) read more

For the eleventh time in his career, Donny Schatz of Fargo, North Dakota, was voted the “Driver of the Year” by the North American 410 Sprint Car Poll voting panel of media members, promoters, sanctioning officials and manufacturers.,California’s Colby Johnson is the “Rookie of the Year” Award recipient in the ‘410’ division of the North American Sprint Car Poll.,Jack and Bonnie Elam of JJ Auto Racing (their 14th such award) will receive “Builder/Manufacturer of the Year” honors for the ‘410’ poll.,Past recipients of the North American Sprint Car Poll’s “Outstanding Contribution to the Sport Award” are as follows: Dave Pusateri, the late Bryan Clauson, Dave Darland, Sammy Swindell, Fred Rahmer, Johnny Gibson, the late Jerry Reigle, Steve Sinclair, Kasey Kahne, Tom Schmeh, Dick Jordan, the late Fred Brownfield, Doug Auld, the late Hank Gentzler, Tony Stewart, Emmett Hahn, Allan Holland, Dave Argabright, Ron Shuman, the late Kevin Gobrecht, Jack Hewitt, the late Jack Miller, Brad Doty, Art Carol Malies, Dave Bowman, the late Ralph Capitani, the late Ted Johnson, Mark Kuchan, Steve Kinser, the late Don Martin, Steve Beitler, Lee Brewer, Jr., Mark Kinser, Frank Lewis, the late Earl Baltes, Casey Beverly Luna, Elayne Hoff, Jean Lynch, the late J.W. Hunt, and Bert Emick.,`Brent Marks, `Myerstown, PA, `34 First Place Votes - Donny Schatz 16; Brad Sweet 2; Greg Hodnett 1.

Over the past 10 days, the Barnesville and Steubenville high school mat teams have combined to help a Steubenville youth that has been stricken with the toughest opponent of all — cancer.,“We found out about it while we were in Steubenville for the (Ohio Athletic Committee) Junior High School Districts,” Barnesville wrestling coach Jayson Stephen explained.,The annual Buckeye 8 Tournament will be held Saturday inside ‘The Hangar’ on the campus of Union Local High School.,Division III schools are split between Barnesville High School and Sandy Valley High School in Magnolia, while Division II schools head to Claymont High School in Uhrichsville and Steubenville High’s Crimson Center.,The 82nd annual Ohio state tournament will be staged March 7-8-9 inside the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of Ohio State University.

Former Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight is on a mission to make an NFL roster, and he's hoping the inaugural season of the Alliance of American Football will help him get there.,Other league venues will be Georgia State Stadium (formerly Turner Field) for the Legends, Legion Field for the Iron, Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium for the Express, Spectrum Stadium (University of Central Florida) for the Apollos, Rice-Eccles Stadium (University of Utah) for the Stallions, the Alamodome (University Texas-San Antonio) for the Commanders and SDCCU Stadium (formerly Qualcomm Stadium) for the Fleet.,The AAF features several well-known coaches, including Steve Spurrier (Orlando), Mike Singletary (Memphis), Dennis Erickson (Salt Lake), Mike Riley (San Antonio) and Mike Martz (San Diego), in addition to Neuheisel.,Despite an impressive showing at the NFL Combine two years ago � where he finished first among quarterbacks in the vertical jump (35.5 inches), broad jump (10 feet, 5 inches) and the 40-yard dash (4.54 seconds) � Knight was not selected in the 2017 NFL Draft.,In addition to local stations, TNT will broadcast two games per season (one regular season and a playoff game) and the NFL Network will air two weekly games.

The traditional signing day Wednesday merely padded Oregon's already stellar recruiting class, the best in school history.,GETTING DEFENSIVE: Washington capped its recruiting class by landing two of the top defensive players on the West Coast.,Washington had seemed to be the favorite for Heimuli for most of the recruiting period, but his Menlo-Atherton team advancing to the state title game in California impacted his ability to make a decision in time for the December signing period.,The abrupt departure of new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury after 34 days shook up the Trojans' recruiting class and led to the departure of receiver commit Bru McCoy, who spurned USC for Texas.,The day had an international flavor with the Utes bringing in 6-foot-7 offensive lineman Bamidele Olaseni, a native of London who played last year for Garden City Community College in Kansas, and fellow 6-foot-7 offensive lineman Luke Felix-Fualalo, a former rugby player in Australia who played last year for prep powerhouse Mater Dei in California.

Foskey, a four-star defensive end from De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., became the final member of Notre Dame’s 2019 recruiting class, joining 21 players who signed during the early period in December.,The Illini added a pair of linebackers to the 11 players they signed in December, getting the day started by announcing the signing of four-star prospect Shammond Cooper from St. Louis’ Trinity Catholic High School.,Three-star linebacker Tarique Barnes of Memphis, Tenn., brought the class to 13 players.,In terms of average player rating, Illinois’ class ranks seventh in the conference, and its three four-star signees — including cornerback Marquez Beason and quarterback Isaiah Williams — trail only five Big Ten teams.,Illinois was considered a likely landing spot for Cooper thanks to his strong ties with Cory Patterson, his former high school coach who is now an Illini assistant coach, and Williams, his high school teammate who signed with the Illini in December.

Against Winthrop, OU picked up the doubles point with wins from Jasmine Asghar and Ivana Corley at the top spot and Kianah Motosono and Olekdandra Korasvili on court three.,In singles, Corley cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 victory on court five, while Camila Romero got a 6-2, 6-4 win at the No. 3 spot.,Korashvili and Motosono again captured the point for OU, holding on for a 7-6 (5) victory at the No. 3 spot.,The award marked the first career honor for Korashvili, who made her OU debut this spring.,She becomes OU’s first Big 12 Player of the Week since Whitney Ritchie in 2014.

On court two, Camila Romero and Martina Capurro got the Sooners off to a hot start when they shut out Winthrop’s Alisa Soloveva and Rafaela Santos 6-0 in just 25 minutes.,The point came down to court three, where Kianah Motosono and Oleksandra Korashvili downed Tayla Van Eck and Ellie Burns.,Freshman Motosono clinched the match for OU with a dominant 6-1, 6-1 victory over Ellie Burns at the No. 6 line.,Capurro trailed 6-4 in the breaker, but staved off match points to take the lead and win the frame to send her court to a deciding set.,Jasmine Asghar (OU) vs. Rafaela Santos  (Winthrop), 6-4, 4-6, 6-6, unfinished

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MLB

NEW YORK (AP) — AL MVP Mookie Betts, NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom and major league home run champion Khris Davis reached high-priced one-year deals to avoid salary arbitration, while slugger Nolan Arenado and pitchers Gerrit Cole, Luis Severino and Aaron Nola were among 15 players still on track for hearings.,LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers reacquired catcher Russell Martin on Friday in a trade with Toronto, days after Yasmani Grandal left for a deal with Milwaukee.,NFL read more

Tucson attorney Ali Farhang recently phoned Oakland Raiders president Marc Badain, introduced himself and pitched a plan for the Raiders to play their 2019 home schedule at Arizona Stadium.,The man who created the Arizona Bowl and has become part-owner of the indoor football league’s Tucson Sugar Skulls, is not shy about an attempt to execute a grandiose Act III, putting the National Football League in Tucson — if only for a season.,+1 

Before settling in Las Vegas, the NFL’s Raiders would be smart to call Tucson home in 2019, Ali Farhang believes.,Or, perhaps, the Raiders could be creative, schedule a preseason game or two at Arizona Stadium, and play the ’19 regular-season schedule — eight home games — in a variety of Western cities.,In the hallway to his office is a subway sign that reads: read more