AP National Sports

By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Thad Matta only stayed for one season the last time Butler hired him as head coach. Over the next decade, the Bulldogs celebrated unprecedented success including two straight national runner-up finishes. Now athletic director Barry Collier believes his 54-year-old former assistant can recreate the script —

By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Baseball Writer ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Texas Rangers have arrived in Toronto for their season-opening series. They had their entire expected opening-day roster on the trip to the country that requires all visitors to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 at least 14 days prior to entry. Before returning to the

By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer BOSTON (AP) — The NCAA Frozen Four features a foursome of western teams. It’s the first time since 2011 that the Eastern schools were shut out. Michigan will play Denver in the early semifinal on Thursday, with Minnesota and Minnesota State meeting in the nightcap. The field has already

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball and NBC agreed to a new Sunday morning package of broadcast streams that will start at 11:30 a.m. and noon EDT. The deal that requires all other big league games on those days to be scheduled to start no earlier than 1:30 p.m. The package announced starts May

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers have acquired Victor Caratini from the San Diego Padres to address their catching depth as Pedro Severino serves an 80-game suspension to begin the season. Milwaukee sent minor-league outfielder Korry Howell and catcher Brett Sullivan to the Padres in the Wednesday trade that brought Caratini to the Brewers. This

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Dream have acquired the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft from the Washington Mystics. The Mystics acquired the No. 3 overall pick Monday and the No. 14 selection in the second round. Washington also has the right to swap its 2023 first-round pick with Atlanta’s first-round pick acquired

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and past champion Madison Keys both advanced in their opening matches at the weather-delayed Credit One Charleston Open on Wednesday. The season’s opening clay-court event had wall-to-wall matches because much of Tuesday’s schedule was washed out due to rain. Sabalenka won for the first time since

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky guard TyTy Washington Jr. will enter the NBA draft and forego his remaining collegiate eligibility, ending his lone season as the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer. The 6-foot-3 freshman is the second Wildcats player to enter the draft pool in what has become a spring ritual for the program. Projected as a

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — As tradition dictates, there is now very bad news to report about Canadian golfers Mike Weir and Mackenzie Hughes. Neither will win the Masters. That is, if you believe the superstition — or at least, believe in the history. No player has won the Par

VILLARREAL, Spain (AP) — Villarreal has pulled off another surprising Champions League result with a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of the quarterfinals. After making it past the group stage and eliminating Juventus in the round of 16, the modest Spanish club took a big step toward making it to the

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Smile Happy is the 9-5 morning line favorite and will start from the No. 10 post among 12 horses for the $1 million Blue Grass at Keeneland. Smile Happy is coming off a runner-up finish to Kentucky Derby points leader Epicenter in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds in February

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Tiger Woods returns to the Masters just 14 months after a harrowing car crash. The first major of the year gets started on Thursday with a 91-man field at Augusta National. The course has added yardage on the 11th and 15th holes and taken away trees on the 11th. Hideki Matsuyama

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Golf has a bright future and isn’t quite ready to let go of Tiger Woods. Even as six players can end the week at No. 1 in the world, even as Rory McIlroy goes after the career Grand Slam, this Masters is all about Tiger

BURNLEY, England (AP) — Everton plunged to within a point of the Premier League’s relegation zone by conceding in the 85th minute to lose 3-2 at Burnley in a wild, end-to-end match. Maxwel Cornet grabbed the winner for Burnley, which climbed above Watford to third-to-last place and within striking distance of overtaking fourth-to-last Everton. Two

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina starting forward Victaria Saxton said she’s returning for a final season with the national champion Gamecocks. That means the team will have four of its five starters back with point guard Destanni Henderson the only member of the starting five not coming back. Saxton is a 6-foot-2 senior who

PARIS (AP) — Former Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga announced Wednesday he will retire after the French Open, hoping to put the final touches on an injury-plagued career in front of his home crowd. The 36-year-old Frenchman reached a career-high ranking of No. 5 in 2012, but has dropped to No. 220 following his latest

BOSTON (AP) — Athletes from Russia and Belarus previously accepted to compete in this year’s Boston Marathon who are currently residing in either country will not be allowed to participate. The Boston Marathon Association, which manages the world’s oldest annual marathon, made the announcement. The exclusion also extends to athletes previously accepted into the B.A.A.’s