LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs are trading Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Peters to the Los Angeles Rams for what is expected to be a package of draft picks, according to published reports. ESPN.com first reported the trade, which will not become official until the start of the new league year on March 14.
SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) – The Royals like what they see so far out of Burch Smith. Kansas City got the hard-throwing, 27-year-old right-hander in the Rule 5 draft from the Rays. He’ll have to stay on the roster all season or be offered back to Tampa Bay. Smith was drafted out of Oklahoma in 2011 and made it to the majors two years later, but has missed most of the past three seasons with injuries. He could start for Kansas City or serve as a power arm out of the bullpen.
JUPITER, Fla. (AP) – Cardinals manager Mike Matheny isn’t sure when first baseman Matt Carpenter will make his Grapefruit League debut. Carpenter is battling back tightness. For the time being, he is in the hands of the Cardinals’ medical staff, who will determine when Carpenter can return to the field. Carpenter also missed much of last spring with back and oblique soreness.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – Missouri basketball coach Cuonzo Martin says freshman forward Michael Porter Jr. will practice with the team on Friday. He’s returning three months after back surgery. The former top prospect in the country last season played just two minutes in the opener in November. The Tigers face Kentucky on Saturday.
NEW YORK (AP) – Texas is withholding junior guard Eric Davis Jr. from competition until further notice after his name appeared in documents part of a federal investigation into college basketball corruption. Davis was named along with former Texas players Prince Ibeh and Isaiah Taylor in documents obtained by Yahoo Sports.
UNDATED (AP) – Oklahoma took college basketball by Sooner storm over the season’s first two months, winning with a freewheeling style and Trae Young’s nightly one-man show. Once the calendar flipped to 2018, the Sooners hit a Big 12 roadblock. College basketball’s toughest conference has taken a toll on Oklahoma and its fabulous freshman, pushing the Sooners onto the NCAA Tournament bubble.
National Headlines
NEW YORK (AP) – A federal probe into college basketball has reportedly uncovered a wide range of impermissible payments from agents to at least two dozen players or their relatives.
Yahoo Sports is reporting that the documents obtained in discovery during the investigation link Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Duke’s Wendell Carter, Alabama’s Collin Sexton and other current players to potential benefits that would be violations of NCAA rules. The report says players and family members allegedly received cash, entertainment and travel expenses from former NBA agent Andy Miller and his agency ASM Sports.
NCAA president Mark Emmert says in a statement Friday the allegations “if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America.”
GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) – The American men have won the Olympic gold medal in curling in a decisive upset of Sweden. John Shuster skipped the United States to a 10-7 victory on Saturday for only the second curling medal in U.S. history. Shuster was part of the other one, too, as the lead thrower on Pete Fenson’s bronze-medal team at the 2006 Turin Games.
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) – Kyle Mack has added to the U.S. medal count at the Pyeongchang Games by taking captured silver in the men’s Big Air. Mack had a chance to win until he sat down on his third and final jump, helping Canadian Sebastien Toutant secure the gold. It was the eighth silver medal and 22nd overall for the United States.
HOUSTON (AP) – Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star forward Jimmy Butler is scheduled to undergo an MRI today after suffering a right knee injury during last night’s 120-102 loss at Houston. Butler had just grabbed a rebound late in the third quarter when he planted his right foot hard before collapsing onto the court in pain. Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau said early evaluations by the team’s medical staff were inconclusive.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) – The Jacksonville Jaguars have given two-year extensions to head coach Doug Marrone, executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin and general manager Dave Caldwell. All three had two years remaining on their deals, which now will run through the 2021 season. The Jaguars won the AFC South for the first time, ended a 10-year playoff drought and advanced to the AFC title game for the first time since 2000.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) – Tiger Woods will be four shots back when the third round of the PGA’s Honda Classic begins this morning. Woods shot a 71 yesterday and was two shots off the lead until putting his tee shot into the water on the par-3 15th for double bogey. Luke List and Jamie Lovemark share the lead at 3 under, the highest score to lead the Honda Classic through 36 holes since it moved to PGA National in 2007.
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final 2OT (16) Ohio St. 80 Indiana 78
Final (18) Rhode Island 81 Dayton 56