- BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME
UNDATED (AP) — Kobe Bryant's resume has yet another entry to prove his greatness. He's now officially a Hall of Famer.Bryant and fellow NBA greats Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett headlined a nine-person group announced Saturday as this year's class of enshrinees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. They all got into the Hall in their first year of eligibility, as did WNBA great Tamika Catchings.
Two-time NBA champion coach Rudy Tomjanovich (tahm-JAHN'-oh-vich), longtime Baylor women's coach Kim Mulkey, 1,000-game winner Barbara Stevens of Bentley and three-time Final Four coach Eddie Sutton were also selected.
All eight finalists who were announced in February were chosen to get in by the panel of 24 voters.
Former FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann is also headed to the Hall. He was selected as a direct-elect by the international committee.
- COLLEGE BASKETBALL-NAISMITH TROPHY
ATLANTA (AP) — Dayton forward Obi Toppin (OH'-bee TAH'-pihn) has been awarded the Naismith Trophy as college basketball's most outstanding player. Toppin was named the Naismith Trophy winner on Friday, adding to an award collection that includes national player of the year by The Associated Press.Toppin had a breakout sophomore season for the third-ranked Flyers, averaging 20 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while shooting 63%. The 6-foot-9 sophomore is Dayton's first consensus All-American and he led the Flyers to a school-record 29 wins. The Flyers finished No. 3 in the final AP Top 25 after the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, matching the highest ranking in school history, back in 1956.
Dayton's Anthony Grant also swept Naismith and AP honors as the national coach of the year after the Flyers won their third Atlantic 10 championship in five years.
Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu won the women's award.
The winners were announced in Atlanta, which had been scheduled to host the NCAA tournament's Final Four games this weekend.
- INDYCAR-WICKENS
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Robert Wickens has spent nearly 21 months fighting his way back from a spinal cord injury he suffered in a crash. On Saturday, he'll finally compete again in an IndyCar event - virtually.The Canadian driver is scheduled to compete in the second round of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge — a 45-lap virtual race on an Alabama road course that will give fans a glimpse into what Wickens calls biggest step yet to resuming his racing career.
After his horrific crash at Pocono in August 2018, Wickens was airlifted from the track to the hospital. He was diagnosed with a long list of injuries: Thoracic spinal fracture, fractured neck, fractured tibias and fibulas in both legs, fractures in both hands, a fractured right forearm, a fractured elbow, four fractured ribs and a pulmonary contusion. The most serious was the bruised spinal cord. When doctors told him he might never walk again, he set out to prove them wrong.
Wickens took his rehab to social media. In January 2019, he posted a video that showed him walking with assistance. Two months later, he returned to his first race since the crash. In July, at Toronto, Wickens took the pace car for a parade-lap spin with the use of hand controls. Over the last five weeks, fans have witnessed Wickens doing push-ups, walking on a treadmill and working with a walker.
- NHL-RANGERS-RACIST HACKER
NEW YORK (AP) — A hacker posted a racial slur hundreds of times in an online fan video chat Friday with a black New York Rangers prospect.The NHL team scrambled to disable the hacker on the Zoom chat with K'Andre Miller, the 20-year-old former Wisconsin defenseman drafted No. 22 overall in 2018.
The Rangers said in a statement that "a vile individual hijacked the chat to post racial slurs, which we disabled as soon as possible." The team said it is investigating the matter.
The hacker repeatedly posted the one-word slur in all capital letters on the Rangers' "Future Fridays" series on Twitter.
The NHL also released a statement condemning the hack, saying "No one deserves to be subjected to such ugly treatment and it will not be tolerated in our league."