Pitino , speaking from his attorney’s offices, said that the NCAA’s decision to have Louisville vacate the title as part of sanctions for a sex scandal was unfair.
The sex scandal occurred during Pitino’s coaching tenure, though the Hall of Fame coach once again reiterated that he didn’t know about the sex shows. Pitino did take responsibility for the people he hired as assistant coaches – including Andre McGee. It was McGee who an escort said hired her and other dancers for sex parties on campus with players and recruits that led to the NCAA investigation.
As for taking legal action himself, Pitino said he was defenseless in this situation, but he is suing Louisville for his dismissal. He was not fired after the sex scandal, but Louisville let him go in October after the school acknowledged the university was being investigated as part of a federal college corruption case.
That case is unrelated to the NCAA’s investigation of the sex scandal.
NBA
DALLAS (AP) – The NBA fined outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban $600,000 on Wednesday for comments about tanking during a podcast with Hall of Famer Julius Erving.
Commissioner Adam Silver said the fine was for ”public statements detrimental to the NBA.” The league said the podcast with Erving was posted Sunday, the day the All-Star game was played in Los Angeles.
Cuban said during the 30-minute interview that he met recently with some of his players and told them ”losing is our best option.” Cuban was trying to illustrate to Erving how he believes he is a transparent owner.
After trading veteran guard Devin Harris to Denver at the deadline this season , Dallas (18-40) is tied for the fewest wins in the NBA and among seven teams with 18 or 19 victories at the All-Star break.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Dirk Nowitzki said he was ”disgusted” to read about allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct by former team president Terdema Ussery in a Sports Illustrated report that described a hostile workplace for women.
The 20-year player who has spent his entire career with the Mavericks told reporters after the first post-All-Star break practice in Los Angeles that he was glad the franchise was addressing the situation by hiring outside counsel to investigate the allegations.
Ussery was accused of making sexually suggestive remarks to several women. He spent 18 years with the team before going to the sports apparel company Under Armour in 2015. Ussery, who was investigated by the team over similar claims in 1998, denied the allegations in a statement to SI.
NHL
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Another game, another record for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Alex Tuch scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period and Vegas pulled away for a 7-3 victory over the Calgary Flames. The win moved the Golden Knights back atop the NHL standings with 84 points – a record for an expansion team in its inaugural season – one point ahead of Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay.
Vegas improved to 23-4-2 at home to also set the record for home wins by a team in its inaugural season. It topped the previous mark set by the Gordie Howe-lead 1979-80 Whalers (22-12-6).
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – The Arizona Coyotes acquired goalie Darcy Kuemper from the Los Angeles Kings for forward Tobias Rieder and goalie Scott Wedgewood.
The 27-year-old Kuemper was 10-1-3 with a 2.10 goals-against average in 19 games for the Kings this season. He’s 51-35-17 with a 2.52 GAA in 104 career games with Minnesota and Los Angeles.
The 6-foot-5 Kuemper will join No. 1 goalie Antti Raanta as the netminding pair for the Coyotes.
Kuemper and the Coyotes were finalizing a contract extension Wednesday night. He said he is excited to be part of the growth of an Arizona franchise with a lot of young players.
The 25-year-old Rieder, from Germany, had eight goals and 11 assists in 58 games for Arizona this season. He has 51 goals and 60 assists in 292 career games, all with the Coyotes.
Wedgewood was 5-9-4 with a 3.45 GAA in 20 games this season for Arizona. The 25-year-old goalie appeared in four games for New Jersey in 2015-16.
NFL
CHARLOTTE , N.C. (AP) – Marty Hurney will be calling the shots once again with the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina re-hired Hurney as its general manager, marking his second full-time stint as general manager. Hurney previously worked for the Panthers from 1998-2012, beginning as GM in 2002. He rejoined the Panthers last July as on an interim basis.
Panthers COO Tina Becker said Hurney did an ”exceptional” job in helping the Panthers to an 11-5 season last year.
The Panthers reinstated Hurney as interim general manager last week after an NFL investigation found no wrongdoing into charges of harassment by his ex-wife. Hurney had been on a paid leave of absence during the investigation and had disputed all accusations through his attorney.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have hired former NFL player Brentson Buckner as defensive line coach.
Buckner spent the past five seasons as defensive line coach for the Arizona Cardinals. They had 203 sacks during his tenure – tied for the seventh-most in the NFL.
The Bucs were last in the league with 22 sacks in 2017.
Buckner was a second-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1994. He also played for the Cincinnati Bengals, San Francisco 49ers and Carolina Panthers during a 12-year career.
The Bucs also announced Rasmus Dahlin went first overall to the Buffalo Sabres, Commissioner Gary Bettman was booed relentlessly by the crowd all night and trade chatter didn’t amount to a whole lot of movement.
With the exception of one trade by the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, the first round of the NHL draft went off without many surprises. Only two players and a handful of picks were traded Friday night, leaving general managers hoping for more on Day Two.
”That was kind of a boring first day or first round ,” Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall said. ”It’s not typical for this day.”
The Sabres picking Dahlin at No. 1 and the Carolina Hurricanes taking Russian winger Andrei Svechnikov at No. 2 got the draft itself off to a predictable start. Montreal taking Finnish center Jesperi Kotkaniemi third and Arizona going a bit off the board with center Barrett Hayton fifth allowed high-scoring Czech winger Filip Zadina to fall to Detroit with the sixth pick.
”I’m telling my agent if they will pass on me, I will fill their net with the puck,” Zadina said. ”I want to prove them that they have done, like, bad decision.”
Not a whole lot of big decisions happened Friday night at American Airlines Center. The Sabres taking Dahlin was automatic since they won the draft lottery in April, and the 18-year-old wore a Buffalo Bills hat Friday prior to the selection. Svechnikov got to try on the Hurricanes’ draft hat before he was the No. 2 pick just as general manager Don Waddell acknowledged recently.
Dahlin is the second Swedish player to be taken No. 1 and the first since Mats Sundin in 1989. Sundin went on to a Hall of Fame career.
”It’s pretty crazy actually,” Dahlin said. ”He’s a legend in the hockey world. It’s kind of weird but amazing.”
GMs found it weird that there weren’t more trades consummated. A few teams swapped picks late in the first round, but the big shakeup came a half-hour before the draft when the Capitals traded veteran defenseman Brooks Orpik and backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer to the Colorado Avalanche for a second-round pick.
The trade netted Washington the 47th pick but most importantly cleared significant salary-cap space to attempt to re-sign pending free agent defensemen John Carlson and Michal Kempny. MacLellan said he was close to getting a deal done with Carlson , so he had to prepare.
”It’s hard to do, but we had to create some room to sign some players,” MacLellan said.
Grubauer was the first domino to fall in what could be a fascinating goaltending market. Ottawa’s Craig Anderson is reportedly available, and Columbus might have to make a decision on Sergei Bobrovsky if like winger Artemi Panarin the two-time Vezina winner isn’t willing to talk about a contract extension with just a year left before free agency.
The Capitals and Hurricanes discussed a trade for Grubauer that would’ve given Washington a higher second-round pick, but MacLellan opted to send the 26-year-old German to the Western Conference rather than giftwrap him for a division rival, and Colorado’s Joe Sakic was willing to take on Orpik’s salary to get Grubauer.
”We knew the asking price was high and we had the cap room that we can give cap flexibility for us to not have to give up more than we did,” said Sakic, who added he’ll look to trade Orpik or buy out the 37-year-old. ”We felt it was important to get Grubauer. We just like what he can do for us.”
The Sabres love what they’re getting in Dahlin , who should spark the rebuilding process for a team that has missed the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons. The smooth-skating playmaker was considered the consensus first pick for more than a year.
”It’s been a long waiting,” Dahlin said. ”You can’t really plan anything. Finally today I can plan my future. I love to call my new town Buffalo.”
After co-owner Kim Pegula made some opening remarks, general manager Jason Botterill announced Dahlin as the top pick. In the corner of the arena, Sabres fans in attendance chanted, ”Dahlin! Dahlin!”
Bills draft pick Josh Allen tweeted after the pick: ”Welcome to Buffalo (at)rasmusdahlin00! Can’t wait to watch you play, wings on me later this summer.”
Dahlin will jump to the NHL right away and should help the club’s league-worst offense that contributed to its last-place finish. He had six assists in seven games at the world junior championships in Buffalo and put up 20 points in 41 games in Sweden’s top pro league this season.
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AP Sports Writer Schuyler Dixon contributed to this report.
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