UCLA's Cori Close is the AP Coach of the Year after a historic season for the top-seeded Bruins
TAMPA, Fla. — Cori Close, who led UCLA to its first women's Final Four during one of the best seasons in school history, was named The Associated Press Coach of the Year on Thursday.
The Bruins earned the No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 for the first time, holding the spot for 14 weeks as they piled up win after win on their way to grabbing the top overall seed in the women's NCAA Tournament.
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Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Shaikin: Despite a quiet offseason, Padres are still making noise in competitive NL West
San Diego's Fernando Tatis Jr. celebrates in the dugout after scoring on a double in the first inning of an 8-7 loss in 10 innings to the Dodgers on Monday at Petco Park. (Orlando Ramirez / Associated Press) Fernando Tatis Jr. sat in front of his locker late Monday night, assessing his San Diego Padres in the wake of an extra-inning loss to the Dodgers. He did not have much to say, but he did not have to say much. 'We can still play better,' he said. 'It's that simple.' Advertisement Tatis reached base three times Monday, but his OPS is 78 points below his career average. The Padres dropped the highly anticipated opener of the season series of baseball's best rivalry by one run, but their most productive and healthy starting pitcher got hit hard, one of their relievers threw away a comebacker, one of their outfielders misread a line drive, and their shortstop lost a pop fly in the twilight. Read more: Dodgers-Padres lives up to the rivalry hype as L.A. prevails in 10th inning Yet, after all that, the Padres (37-28) awoke Tuesday nine games over .500 and two games out of first place in the National League West. At this point last season, the Padres were one game under .500 and eight games out of first place. The Padres rallied to clinch a postseason spot and came within one game of eliminating the Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs. Then came winter, with the Padres going into hibernation as the Dodgers signed most of the free world. Advertisement The Padres did not win the winter, by choice. That did not endear them to their fans, particularly not after the Dodgers took home a championship trophy because no one could beat L.A. in October. There was a preseason fan fest in San Diego. It was decidedly not festive. 'I don't think we were ever bad,' Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove said. 'People see the additions of big name players for a lot of money and think that directly correlates to the ability to win.' That is true for fans, and truer still for major league owners operating in markets far smaller than San Diego, refusing to spend and then pointing fingers at the Dodgers. The Padres earned a playoff payoff last season, and they have sold out 27 of 31 home dates so far this season. San Diego's Jackson Merrill celebrates after hitting an run-scoring double against the Dodgers in the 10th inning Monday. (Orlando Ramirez / Associated Press) 'I don't think the fans are wrong for feeling how they felt,' Musgrove said. 'That's just a natural, knee-jerk reaction to seeing everyone move and you not move.' Advertisement The Padres lost Tanner Scott, Jurickson Profar and Ha-Seong Kim over the winter. They lost Juan Soto, Blake Snell and Josh Hader the previous winter. That would frighten any fan base. The Padres traded Soto and got two New York Yankees relievers — Michael King and Randy Vasquez — that now start in San Diego. The Padres replaced Soto in the outfield with a minor league shortstop, Jackson Merrill, who should have been the NL rookie of the year. They didn't use Scott as a closer when they traded for him; Robert Suarez closed then and closes now. Gavin Sheets, signed to a minor league contract, has 11 home runs, more than anyone on the team besides Tatis. Advertisement The top four batters in the San Diego lineup — Tatis, Luis Arraez, Manny Machado and Merrill — can hold their own against the Dodgers' quartet of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández. Utilityman Tyler Wade scoffed at the winter notion that the Padres might not fare as well this season. 'Look around our room, man,' Wade said. 'We've got a super-talented bunch. We basically have the same team as last year — minus a couple of key pieces, obviously.' The Padres' catchers have a negative WAR. So do their left fielders, and their .248 on-base percentage is the lowest among any team's left fielders. Advertisement The Angels' Taylor Ward would be a nice fit here. A.J. Preller, the Padres' president of baseball operations, is the rare executive who trades actual prospects. He'll make the Padres better in the seven weeks between now and the trading deadline. Said Musgrove: 'The people in this room felt extremely confident in the staff, and in the belief that we have in A.J. to put a good product on the field and make adjustments as necessary throughout the year.' What might distinguish the Padres from the Dodgers this season — and vice versa — is how many starting pitchers return from the injured list, and how effective they can be. Advertisement The Dodgers have Snell, Roki Sasaki, Tyler Glasnow and Tony Gonsolin on the injured list. The Padres have King, Musgrove and Yu Darvish on the injured list. Darvish has yet to pitch this season but has resumed throwing bullpen sessions. King is expected to miss several weeks because of a pinched nerve. Musgrove, who had Tommy John surgery last October, is not expected to rejoin the rotation this season but is hopeful he can pitch in relief in the postseason, if the Padres get there. The Dodgers' relievers have thrown the most innings in the league. Both the Dodgers and Padres' starters rank among the top five in innings pitched. The relievers for both teams are pitching very well, but too often. Ultimately, lest the bullpen arms become injured and/or ineffective, the manager said, 'We're going to need some depth out of some starters.' (The manager was the Padres' Mike Shildt, but it could just as easily have been the Dodgers' Dave Roberts.) Advertisement And, amid all the hype and analysis surrounding the Dodgers and Padres, there is one little wrinkle: The Dodgers lead the NL West, but the team in second place is not the Padres. It's the San Francisco Giants. Did someone say rivalry? Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
Fan taken to hospital after falling from stand during Belgium-Wales soccer match
Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — A soccer fan who fell from the upper tier of King Baudouin Stadium during a World Cup qualifier between Belgium and Wales was taken to the hospital for checks on his injuries. The Football Association of Wales said the unnamed man 'was conscious and speaking' after the incident, which reportedly took place during the second half of Monday's game in Brussels. The man 'fell from the upper to lower tier,' the FAW said in a statement after the match, which Belgium won 4-3. The incident came a day after a fan died after falling from an overhead level onto the media section at the Munich stadium during the Nations League final between Spain and Portugal. ___ AP soccer: recommended in this topic
Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
Oilers unravel in Game 3 against the Panthers and now are chasing the Stanley Cup Final
Associated Press SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Falling behind early, parading to the penalty box and losing grip of their composure, the Edmonton Oilers find themselves in an all-too-familiar position: trailing the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers. Not much went right for them in Game 3 on Monday night, a 6-1 blowout loss that put them down 2-1 in the series after taking the opener at home. Many of their 85 penalty minutes, the most by a team in the final in nearly four decades, came in garbage time, but there is far more concern about the mistakes that piled up to put them in a hole. 'We didn't play very well,' said Evander Kane, who was whistled for two of his three minor penalties in a miserable first period and got a misconduct late. "That's evident. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. We can definitely be a lot better.' Stuart Skinner got pulled after allowing five goals on 23 shots, but captain Connor McDavid acknowledged, 'I don't know how much we're going to put on Stu.' The play in front of him was disjointed and disconnected, at 5 on 5, on the power play and on the penalty kill. If not for Skinner, the score could have gotten out of hand much earlier because the Western Conference champions had their worst showing since perhaps the first couple of games of the playoffs. 'It was a weird game,' McDavid said. 'Obviously it wasn't our best — not our best at all. I don't think our best has shown up all series long. But it's coming. We'll shift the focus to finding a way to get a win in Game 4.' Even with an extra day off before Game 4 on Thursday night, coach Kris Knoblauch scheduled practice for his team Tuesday afternoon. There is much to discuss and work on. 'Collectively, goaltender, defense, all our forwards, we all have to be better,' Knoblauch said. "They played a heck of a game, and we're going to have to raise ours.' Being more disciplined is a good place to start. After giving up a goal to Brad Marchand 56 seconds in, Edmonton took four minor penalties in the first period. The dam eventually broke on a power-play goal that made it too tough a deficit to overcome. 'Almost half the period you're killing, so it's not a good way to get into your game,' McDavid said. "Never got to our game.' The Oilers' play was almost indistinguishable from how they've looked for much of this run, getting balanced scoring and star performances from McDavid and Draisaitl. Ill-timed defensive breakdowns proved costly, and guys lost their cool — like Jake Walman squirting water at Panthers players on their bench from his place on the visiting side. 'I obviously did that for a reason,' Walman said, reluctant to explain why. 'It's just gamesmanship, I guess.' By the time brawls ensued in the third period, the game was out of hand. Players downplayed the margin of defeat, quick to try to spin their thoughts forward to what they need to do to tie the final. 'We know what we're going to be up against,' Skinner said. 'It doesn't change how we're going to respond again. We've got two days to come back and I think there's some things that we're going to have to change.' That could mean lineup changes and certainly some major adjustments by Knoblauch and his staff. The Oilers also need to be better prepared to play in Game 4, perhaps channeling the pain from back-to-back losses. 'Losing in the playoffs, whether it's in round 1 Game 1 or the Stanley Cup Final, it's never a good feeling, but we've been here before," Kane said. "We've been down in series before, and we've had tough losses. It will sting right now and we'll flush it tomorrow and get ready for Thursday.' ___ AP NHL playoffs: and recommended
