NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball season openers in New York and Philadelphia have been postponed a day until Friday because of rainy forecasts in both cities. Pete Alonso and the New York Mets were scheduled to host the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday afternoon, a day featuring the first full slate of major league games this year. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres started the regular season with a two-game series in South Korea last week. But with wet weather expected much of Thursday in Queens, the Mets announced Wednesday the game was pushed back to Friday afternoon. Minutes later, the Philadelphia Phillies announced their sold-out opener against the NL East rival Atlanta Braves was moved from Thursday at 3:05 p.m. to Friday at the same time due to anticipated rain.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Catcher Will Smith and the Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to a $140 million, 10-year contract, raising the team’s spending to nearly $1.4 billion for five key players since December. Smith’s deal supersedes an $8.85 million, one-year agreement reached in January. The 28-year-old was a first-time All-Star last year, when he hit .261 with 19 homers and 76 RBIs. Smith has a .263 average with 91 homers and 308 RBIs in six seasons with the Dodgers. Los Angeles has committed almost $1.37 billion to two-way star Shohei Ohtani, right-handers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, outfielder Teoscar Hernández and Smith.
BOSTON (AP) — No. 1 overall seed UConn has looked unbeatable so far during its bid to become the first school since 2007 to win back-to-back NCAA Tournament titles. Its next hurdle in the Sweet 16 is a rematch with fifth-seeded San Diego State, which the Huskies beat in last year's title game. The other regional semifinal features a matchup between a second-seeded Iowa State team that has the best defensive rating against No. 3 seed Illinois, which boasts the top offensive rating of remaining teams.
UNDATED (AP) — Arizona's Caleb Love arrived from North Carolina with a bad reputation. Perception didn’t meet reality once Love put on a Wildcats uniform. The Wildcats are in the Sweet 16 for the second time in three years under coach Tommy Lloyd, facing Clemson in Los Angeles on Thursday. Love has been a huge part of Arizona’s success. The 6-foot-4 guard leads the Wildcats with 18.1 points per game. He was named the Pac-12 player of the year and a third-team Associated Press All-American after leading Arizona to the Pac-12 regular-season title.
UNDATED (AP) — UConn's Donovan Clingan recently joined Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson as the only players ever to get 14 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks in an NCAA Tournament game. UConn's Sweet 16 game with San Diego State represents just the fourth time two teams that faced off for the championship have met again in the NCAA Tournament the following year. Those facts and some other notable statistics are included as part of these numbers you need to know about each team in the Sweet 16.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The quality of the Atlanta Coast Conference took its share of criticism this season. Yet, the league has four teams in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. Two are in the West: top-seeded North Carolina and sixth-seeded Clemson. Two are in the South: Duke and North Carolina State. The league is 8-1 in the tournament so far, winning its games by an average of 18.4 points per game. The Tar Heels face fourth-seeded Alabama on Thursday in Los Angeles. The other regional semifinal pits Clemson against second-seeded Arizona.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Latrell Wrightsell Jr. will be a gametime decision for Alabama’s NCAA Tournament game against North Carolina on Thursday night. The senior guard continues to be evaluated for a head injury that he suffered during the first half of last Sunday’s 72-61 victory over Grand Canyon. Wrightsell was not on the court during the 15 minutes of practice open to reporters on Wednesday as the Crimson Tide (23-11) prepared for their West Regional semifinal game. Wrightsell got elbowed in the head while trying to defend on a 3-point attempt with less than seven minutes remaining in the first half.
SEATTLE (AP) — Danny Sprinkle says it's very personal for him to take over as the new head coach at Washington. Sprinkle played in college at Montana State and his first job as a head coach came with his alma mater. The feelings, he says, are very similar taking over at Washington. Sprinkle's dad, Bill, played football at Washington and the family has been Husky fans for decades. But with that comes pressure to help turnaround a Washington program that has only one NCAA Tournament appearance in the past 12 years. Sprinkle left Utah State after one season to take the Washington job. He led the Aggies to the Mountain West regular season title.
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Ever since Kyle Smith watched Mike Montgomery turn Stanford from an also-ran into a national basketball power, he viewed the Cardinal job as the dream destination in his coaching career. The dream has now been realized with Smith being introduced as Stanford’s new coach. College basketball has undergone a sea change since Montgomery took Stanford to a Final Four in 1998 and then a No. 1 ranking in three out of five seasons starting in 1999-2000 with the transfer portal, NIL money and conference realignment. But Smith is adamant that the Stanford education and brand can still attract top players.
UNDATED (AP) — NCAA President Charlie Baker is urging states with legal wagering on sporting events to ban betting on individual player performances. Prop bets allow gamblers to wager on statistics a player will accumulate during a game. The NBA has opened an investigation into Toronto Raptors two-way player Jontay Porter amid gambling allegations related to his own performance in individual games. Ohio, Vermont and Maryland are among the states that have removed prop betting on college athletes. The American Gaming Association estimates $2.7 billion will be bet this year on the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments through legal sportsbooks.
UNDATED (AP) — The NCAA women’s basketball tournament has so far been the most successful it has ever been in regards to attendance and viewership. Some of that attendance is driven by crowds turning out to watch their home teams at the 16 campus sites hosting first- and second-round games. The Utah women’s team had to stay 30 miles away from its game site because of lack of hotel availability and faced racism when they went out to eat. NCAA Vice President for Women’s Basketball Lynn Holzman says she wants a review of all tournament logistics and plans pushed up from 2025 to this year.
WEDNESDAY SCORES
NIT Quarterfinals
Final Utah 74 VCU 54
Final Seton Hall 91 UNLV 68
CIT Round 4
Final Norfolk St. 75 Fort Wayne 67
CBI Championship
Final Seattle 77 High Point 67
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Charlotte 118 Cleveland 111
Final Golden State 101 Orlando 93
Final OT Brooklyn 122 Washington 119
Final New York 145 Toronto 101
Final Atlanta 120 Portland 106
Final L.A. Clippers 108 Philadelphia 107
Final Minnesota 106 Detroit 91
Final Chicago 125 Indiana 99
Final L.A. Lakers 136 Memphis 124
Final OT Houston 132 Oklahoma City 126
Final San Antonio 118 Utah 111
Final Phoenix 104 Denver 97
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Ottawa 6 Buffalo 2