OBIT: Tarkanian
Hall of Fame coach dies
UNDATED (AP) — Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry Tarkanian has passed away at the age of 84. Known for his battles with the NCAA and chewing on a towel while working the sidelines of games, Tarkanian died after being admitted to a Las Vegas hospital on Monday with difficulty breathing and an infection.
His son Danny Tarkanian made the announcement. The younger Tarkanian told The Associated Press that his dad had “fought and fought and fought.”
The senior Tarkanian led Nevada Las Vegas to the Final Four four times with a win coming in 1990.
He ended up beating the NCAA, too, collecting a $2.5 million settlement after suing the organization for trying to run him out of college basketball. But he was bitter to the end about the way the NCAA treated him while coaching, and carried the grudge the rest of his life.
Tarkanian’s career spanned 31 years with stops at three Division I schools. He had a short stop in the NBA with the Spurs.
T25-SCHEDULE
UVA leads the way
UNDATED (AP) — The second-ranked Virginia Cavaliers are gunning for their 22nd win of the season tonight as they visit Raleigh, North Carolina. The opposition for the Cavs is longtime Atlantic Coast rival North Carolina State, which has a mark of 14-10. In their first meeting of the season the Cavaliers won 61-51. They have won eight of the last 10 encounters between the schools.
In other Top-10 games this evening sixth-ranked Villanova puts its 21-2 record up against Providence while No. 9 Louisville is home to the Pitt Panthers.
The rest of the schedule for ranked schools tonight has No. 13 Northern Iowa playing host to Illinois State, 15th-ranked Wichita State home to Indiana State, No. 19 Maryland hosting Indiana, the 20th-ranked VCU Rams home to LaSalle, 21st-ranked West Virginia on the home floor against Kansas State and 23rd-ranked Ohio State at Penn State.
MLB-PADRES
Deal with Shields is done
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The four-year, $75 million dollar deal between the Padres and free agent pitcher James Shields has been finalized. It’s the biggest free agent deal is franchise history.
Shields helped Kansas City reach the World Series last season but declined a $15.3 million qualifying offer from the Royals.
He’s the latest addition by first-year general manager A.J. Preller, who in December acquired sluggers Matt Kemp, Justin Upton and Wil Myers, as well as Derek Norris and Will Middlebrooks.
MLB-BREWERS
Brewers lose All-Star
MILWAUKEE (AP) — All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy will miss four to six weeks of spring training for the Milwaukee Brewers because of a strained right hamstring. The injury is near the top of Lucroy’s hamstring, close to the hip. Assistant general manager Gord Ash says that area had given Lucroy a little trouble at the end of last season.
Lucroy was fine when he was examined on Jan. 26 in Milwaukee at the time of the team’s winter fan outreach event. The catcher says he aggravated the injury while sprinting recently in preparation for spring training.
NBA-SCHEDULE
Harden continues to hit the nets
UNDATED (AP) — The top scorer in the NBA is on a roll, racking up his sixth game of at least 40 points last night. James Harden is the man in question and this evening he and his Houston teammates are in Los Angeles to face the Clippers. The Rockets start the day with 36 wins against 16 defeats while the Clippers, who have lost five of their last 10, are 34-19.
LeBron James gets to go up against his former Miami teammates again tonight. In their first encounter, in Miami, the Heat won 101-91 as James had 30 points and Dwyane (dwayn) Wade 31 for Miami. For tonight’s game the Heat won’t have the services of Wade, who is nursing an injury.
Barring a colossal collapse over the second half of the season the Toronto Raptors will win the Atlantic Division. They lead their division by 14 games and tonight are home to Washington. The Wizards are currently 10 games back of Southeast leader Atlanta and tied with Chicago for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta’s Hawks are on the road tonight for a game with the Celtics in Boston.
The rest of the games on a busy night of play have New York at Orlando, the Spurs in Detroit, the Pelicans home to the Pacers, Memphis at Oklahoma City, the Kings playing the Bucks in Milwaukee, Golden State at Minnesota, the Mavericks home to the Jazz and the Lakers at Portland.
NBA-KINGS
Report: Karl headed to Sacramento
UNDATED (AP) — It looks like former Denver head coach George Karl is headed to the Kings. A person familiar with the negotiations says Sacramento has agreed to the framework of a deal for him to take over as coach. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.
The plan is for Karl to coach the Kings in their first game following the All-Star break Feb. 20 at home against Boston, meaning Tyrone Corbin will be coaching his final game for Sacramento this evening against the Bucks.
Karl will be Sacramento’s third coach this season. Michael Malone was fired after an 11-13 start.
NHL-SCHEDULE
Wings to host Pens tonight
UNDATED (AP) — Detroit has won four straight overall with the last three coming on the road. This evening the Red Wings are in Pittsburgh to meet the Penguins in a game featuring two of the top five seeds in the Eastern Conference. This is the second of two meetings this season for the Wings and Pens, with Detroit having won the opener in overtime.
Vancouver is in jeopardy of losing its hold on the second Wild Card playoff berth in the West as the Canucks have lost five of their last eight games. The Blackhawks aren’t doing much better as they are 10-9-1 in their last 20.
And in San Jose the Sharks are looking to break a two-game losing skid with a game against the Capitals. For Washington the game marks the start of a four-game, eight-day road trip.
NHL-TRADE
Multi-player deal
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) —The Buffalo Sabres have acquired left wing Evander Kane from the Winnipeg Jets in a seven-player trade. The league’s last place team, Buffalo continued its rebuild by sending defenseman Tyler Myers, forwards’ Drew Stafford and Joel Armia, the rights to 2014 second round pick Brendan Lemieux (leh-MYOO’) and Buffalo’s latest first-round pick in 2015 to the Jets.
In exchange, Winnipeg is sending Kane, defenseman Zach Bogosian and goaltender Jason Kasdorf to the Sabres.
Kane won’t pay any immediate dividends as he is out four to six months after undergoing elective shoulder surgery.
NFL-COLTS
Indy reduces roster
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indianapolis Colts have released safety LaRon Landry, inside linebacker Andrew Jackson and offensive tackle Xavier Nixon. Landry started 18 games over the last two seasons after signing with Indy in March 2013. He also served a four-game suspension in 2014 after violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. Landry had 144 tackles and 2 1/2 sacks but never lived up to the four-year, $24 million deal he signed. Indy will save approximately $2 million by releasing Landry.
LITTLE LEAGUE
Chicago team stripped of title
CHICAGO (AP) — Little League International has stripped Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West of its national title after finding the team falsified its boundary map. The league made the announcement and said the Chicago team violated regulations by placing players on the team who didn’t qualify because they lived outside the team’s boundaries.
PENN STATE SCANDAL
Lawmaker calls for dismissal of NCAA boss
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania lawmaker whose lawsuit led the NCAA to lift the last of Penn State’s sanctions stemming from the Jerry Sandusky scandal says the organization’s president, Mark Emmert, should be fired. State Sen. Jake Corman said 4,900 pages of case documents he has released show that in 2012 the NCAA exceeded its legal authority under Emmert and misled Penn State to get school officials to agree to the sanctions.
