T25 BASKETBALL–TOURNAMENTS
It’s another busy day of college tournament play
UNDATED (AP) — The top team in The Associated Press men’s basketball poll has an SEC tournament game this afternoon. It’s No. 1 Florida facing Missouri in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.
In other games involving Top-10 teams today:
— Fourth-ranked Arizona is facing Colorado in a Pac 12 game in Las Vegas.
— No. 5 Louisville is playing Houston in Memphis in an American Athletic Conference game.
— Sixth-ranked Virginia has a game against Florida State in the ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C.
— The seventh-ranked Duke Blue Devils are playing Clemson in an ACC game in Greensboro.
— Michigan and San Diego State, the two No. 8’s in this week’s poll, have games in Indianapolis and Las Vegas. The Wolverines are playing Illinois in a Big Ten game while the Aztecs are going against UNLV in a Mountain West tournament contest.
— And 10th ranked Kansas goes up against No. 18 Iowa State in Kansas City in the Big 12 tournament.
NBA-SCHEDULE
Spurs and Clippers look to keep winning
UNDATED (AP) — The red-hot San Antonio Spurs can increase their lead over Oklahoma City in the NBA’s Western Conference race with a win tonight. The Spurs, who have won eight straight games, are home to the lowly Lakers. The Spurs start the day with a half-game lead over the Thunder and three-game lead over the Clippers. L.A., which has won its last nine straight games, is on the road for a game with Utah this evening.
On the other side of the fence is Philadelphia as the 76ers have dropped a whopping 18 straight games. The Sixers will once again try to get back in the win column with a game tonight at home with Central-leading Indiana. The Pacers lead the Eastern Conference race by two games over Miami, which has a home game tonight with Denver.
The rest of the schedule has Orlando hosting Washington, the Grizzlies at Toronto, Charlotte at home to Minnesota, the Suns at Boston, Portland in New Orleans to play the Pelicans and Cleveland at Golden State.
NHL-SCHEDULE
Who will lead the Pacific Division?
UNDATED (AP) — First place is on the line in the Pacific Division of the NHL this evening as the top two teams are on the ice. Both the Ducks and Sharks start the night with 93 points and this evening Anaheim is at Colorado while San Jose is facing the Islanders in Nassau Coliseum. The Sharks have made a contest of things because the Ducks have been slumping of late, going 0-2-2 in their last four games.
A pair of teams looking up in the standings will meet tonight in Washington as the Capitals entertain the Canucks. In the East, the Caps are three points back of the final playoff berth, while in the West, the Canucks are four out.
The rest of the schedule has Edmonton at Detroit, the Panthers at home to the Devils, Nashville in Chicago to meet the Blackhawks, Winnipeg at home to the Rangers and Calgary at Dallas.
GOLF-VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP
Chalmers moves in front
PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — Second round play in the PGA’s Valspar Championship is underway in Palm Harbor, Fla. Greg Chalmers, who shared the first round lead at 3-under, is now on top at minus-5 after three holes. John Merrick has played five holes and is one back at 4-under.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
Toshiba Classic starts today
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The opening round of the Champions Tour event in Newport Beach, Calif., is being played today. The winner of the Toshiba Classic a year ago was David Frost, who beat Fred Couples by five strokes. The last event on the Champions Tour was the ACE Group Classic last month in Naples, Fla., with the winner being Kenny Perry.
NASCAR-FOOD CITY 500
Qualifying on tap this afternoon
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — The qualifying for Sunday’s Food City 500 Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway is taking place today. The winner a year ago was Kasey Kahne (kayn) who held off Kyle Busch after a bumper-banging battle with Brad Keselowski.
In last week’s race in Las Vegas, Keselowski took the checkered flag, surging past Dale Earnhardt Jr. who ran out of fuel on the last lap.
NASCAR tweaked its new knockout qualifying rules Tuesday, banning drivers from making cool-down laps after their attempts and allowing teams to hook up cooling units to engines through hood flaps.
FORMULA 1
No surprise on first day of qualifying
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — As expected, Mercedes dominated the opening day of practice for Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Lewis Hamilton edged teammate Nico (NEE’-koh) Rosberg for the fastest time. Hamilton failed to complete a lap in the opening practice session due to a malfunctioning oil pressure sensor that shut down his engine, but recovered to set a time of 1 minute 29.625 seconds in the second session, 0.157 seconds ahead of Rosberg.
All new, completely redesigned cars are being used on the F1 circuit this season and Mercedes had the best training runs prior to arriving in Australia.
