INDIANAPOLIS (AP) β Coach Tom Izzo’s upstart Michigan State Spartans, who some experts thought might not qualify for the 68-team NCAA tournament a month or so ago, takes on Duke in tonight’s first national semifinal at the Final Four. Izzo’s seventh-seeded Spartans are the only team in the Final Four that was not a No. 1 seed, but the coach says his team has played well enough down the stretch to be playing on the final weekend of the season
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) β The AP college player of the year goes up against the AP coach of the year tonight when Frank Kaminsky and the Wisconsin Badgers try to derail Coach John Calipari’s 38-0 Kentucky Wildcats. Kentucky is trying to become the first team since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers to finish the season and tournament undefeated.
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) β Lydia Ko is seven strokes behind leader Sei Young Kim as they enter the third round of the first major of the LPGA season, the ANA Inspiration. Ko missed a chance to break the LPGA Tour record for consecutive rounds under par yesterday, closed with a bogey for a 1-over 73 in the second round of the ANA Inspiration. Ko had fired 29 straight rounds under par, tying the PGA mark set by Annika Sorenstam in 2004.
HUMBLE, Texas (AP) β Andrew Putnam takes a one-shot lead over Phil Mickelson and Austin Cook into today’s third round of the Houston Open. This is the final event on the PGA Tour before next week’s Masters.
NEW YORK (AP) β Major League Baseball and the Los Angeles Angels say they are surprised and disappointed by an arbitrator’s decision not to discipline outfielder Josh Hamilton for his latest problems involving cocaine and alcohol. Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto says he disagrees with the ruling by an arbitrator appointed under MLB’s joint drug program with the players’ union.
