UNDATED (AP) — Alabama coach Nick Saban is retiring after winning more national championships than any other major college football coach. Saban won seven national championships and turned Alabama back into a national powerhouse that included six of those titles in 17 seasons. He made the announcement Wednesday. Saban led the Tide to nine Southeastern Conference championships and won his first national title at Alabama with a 14-0 season in 2009. Titles came again in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020. He also won a national title with LSU in 2003.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Six-time NFL champion Bill Belichick has agreed to part ways as the coach of the New England Patriots, bringing an end to his 24-year tenure as the architect of the most decorated dynasty of the league’s Super Bowl era. Belichick became just the third coach in NFL history to reach 300 career regular-season wins, joining Hall of Famers Don Shula and George Halas. Belichick trails only Shula for the record for victories by a coach. But this season, finishing with a 4-13 record, was Belichick’s worst in 29 seasons as an NFL head coach.
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Pete Carroll is out after 14 seasons as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, responsible for two NFC championships and the only Super Bowl title in franchise history during his long tenure. The 72-year old coach is moving into an advisory role with the organization, according to a statement from owner Jody Allen on Wednesday. Seattle closed the regular season with a 21-20 win at Arizona on Sunday. The Seahawks entered the final two weeks of the regular season with the chance at reaching the playoffs for the 11th time with Carroll in charge, but a Week 17 loss to Pittsburgh left Seattle in need of help it didn’t get to close out the season.
ORLANDO, FL (AP) — Jaylin Sellers scored 18 points, Darius Johnson added 17 and UCF erased a 16-point deficit to beat No. 3 Kansas 65-60 on Wednesday night. UCF’s victory came one night after No. 1 Purdue and second-ranked Houston lost. Ibrahima Diallo broke a 57-57 tie with less than three minutes left with a hook shot over Jayhawks (13-2, 1-1 Big 12) star Hunter Dickinson. He then blocked a KJ Adams Jr. shot with 50 seconds left to help the Knights (10-4, 1-1) preserve the lead and score the program’s first Big 12 conference win.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Emanuel Miller scored a season-high 27 points and had nine rebounds as TCU beat ninth-ranked Oklahoma 80-71. The 13-2 Sooners became the fifth Top 10 team over two days to lose to an unranked opponent. Oklahoma quickly erased a six-point halftime deficit when Javian McCollum hit two 3-pointers in the first 32 seconds after the break. But the Sooners didn’t score again until almost four minutes, a stretch when Miller scored seven points as 12-3 TCU went ahead to stay.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Taiyanna Jackson had a career-high 27 points with 19 rebounds to lead Kansas to an 87-66 victory over No. 4 Baylor on Wednesday night. S’Mya Nichols added 22 points and Holly Kersgieter scored 19 for the Jayhawks, who had not beaten the Bears in 19 tries since 2014. Kansas used a 16-0 run spanning halftime to take a lead it would never give up. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs led Baylor with 16 points. The loss leaves only South Carolina and UCLA unbeaten in women's Division I basketball.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Ayoka Lee scored 12 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter and No. 12 Kansas State defeated Oklahoma 74-57, running the Wildcats’ winning streak to 10. Lee had a pair of three-point plays and scored 10 points in the last 2 1/2 minutes after Oklahoma had cut a 16-point deficit to seven. Skylar Vann scored 14 points for the Sooners, who came in averaging 79 points a game but shot just 27%. Nevaeh Tot added 13 points and Sahara Williams 12.Serena Sundell had six straight points for K-State to put the lead at 58-42 with 5:35 to go. Vann then had seven points in a 7-0 Sooner run to cut the margin to seven with 3:17 left. The teams traded free throws before Lee converted her first three-point play, making it 63-53 with 2:29 to play and the lead remained in double figures from there.
AMES, Iowa (AP) — Emily Ryan scored 10 of her 13 points in the decisive fourth quarter, Audi Crooks had a double-double and Iowa State rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to beat No. 24 West Virginia 74-64 for its seventh straight win. Ryan scored four points, and Hannah Belanger and Addy Brown each hit a 3-pointer during a 17-8 run to give Iowa State its first lead of the game, 64-62, with about four minutes left. Crooks finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds for Iowa State (11-4, 4-0 Big 12 Conference). Jordan Harrison scored 17 points for West Virginia (13-2, 2-2).
UNDATED (AP) — Kentucky has been crowned the all-time No. 1 team after a review of 75 years of AP Top 25 polls for men's college basketball. The Associated Press began ranking teams in January 1949 with Saint Louis at No. 1, though the Wildcats would soon take over the top spot. Teams were awarded points based on where they landed on each ballot. Kentucky had 17,852 points and North Carolina had 17,268. Duke, Kansas and UCLA rounded out the top five. Louisville was sixth, Arizona seventh and Indiana, Syracuse and Michigan State made up the top 10.
PHOENIX (AP) — NCAA President Charlie Baker has given his first state of college sports address since taking over the the job in March. At the NCAA convention, Baker laid out goals for growing the college sports fanbase, dealing with issues related to the rise of legal wagering and continuing the conversation he started with a proposal to create a new tier of Division I where athletes would be paid by their schools. The speech came a little more than a month after he sent a letter to D-I member schools with a potentially ground-breaking idea for a new subdivision at the top of college sports.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are debating a ban on tackle football for children under 12 to reduce the risk of brain injuries under a bill that has cleared a key legislative hurdle. A legislative committee voted 5 to 2 during a public hearing Wednesday to advance the bill authored by Democratic Assemblymember Kevin McCarty. But the measure is a long way from passing. It must clear the state Assembly by the end of January to have a chance of becoming law this year. Advocates say the bill will protect kids from the risk of brain damage, but coaches and other football advocates say the ban would cut off kids from an important source of physical activity.
THURSDAY SCORES
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final UCF 65 (3)Kansas 60
Final (4)UConn 80 Xavier 75
Final Mississippi St. 77 (5)Tennessee 72
Final (7)North Carolina 67 NC State 54
Final TCU 80 (9)Oklahoma 71
Final Butler 69 (11)Marquette 62
Final (13)Memphis 107 UTSA 101
Final (15)Wisconsin 71 Ohio St. 60
Final Virginia Tech 87 (21)Clemson 72
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Sacramento 123 Charlotte 98
Final San Antonio 130 Detroit 108
Final Indiana 112 Washington 104
Final OT Boston 127 Minnesota 120
Final Oklahoma City 128 Miami 120
Final OT Atlanta 139 Philadelphia 132
Final OT Chicago 124 Houston 119
Final New Orleans 141 Golden State 105
Final Utah 124 Denver 111
Final L.A. Clippers 126 Toronto 120
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final SO Philadelphia 3 Montreal 2
Final Dallas 7 Minnesota 2
Final Colorado 3 Vegas 0