The NHL-best Colorado Avalanche acquired center Nicolas Roy from Toronto on Thursday for a conditional fifth-round pick this year and a conditional first-rounder in 2027. The Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights got center Nic Dowd from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a 2027 third-round pick, a 2029 second-rounder and young goaltender Jesper Vikman.

Avalanche get bigger and deeper by trading for Nicolas Roy

Roy fills a major void for Colorado with significant size at 6-foot-4. Now 29, he helped Vegas win the Cup in 2023, when depth played a major role in that title run.

The condition on the 2027 first-rounder is that if it's in the top 10, Colorado will send its unprotected first in 2028 instead. The fifth will be the lowest of the three Colorado currently has this year.

There had been some speculation about the Avalanche reacquiring Nazem Kadri, who was part of their championship team in 2022, but the three years remaining on his contract with Calgary and pricey $7 million salary cap hit made that a tougher puzzle piece to fit in.

Roy should slide in perfectly as the No. 3 center behind leading scorer (at 100 points in 59 games) Nathan MacKinnon and 30-goal scorer Brock Nelson. The position was seen as the biggest need for a group that has been atop the standings since October.

Colorado previously added on the blue line with Brett Kulak and Nick Blankenburg.

Golden Knights keep buying by getting Nic Dowd

Vegas jumped the line in January, before the Olympic break, to pick up defenseman Rasmus Andersson from the Flames. Now general manager Kelly McCrimmon bolstered the roster up front.

Dowd, 35, gives the Golden Knights a penalty killer and shutdown defender down the middle who can also chip in some offense. He has 16 points and 43 blocked shots in 55 games this season.

An Alabama native, Dowd is under contract through '26-27 at a reasonable salary cap hit of $3 million.

The Golden Knights could still target a goaltender. While the Avalanche have the best team save percentage in the league at .916, Vegas is second-worst at .880 between Adin Hill, Carter Hart, Akira Schmid and Carl Lindbom.

What other trades could be coming?

Trading Dowd signals the Capitals' intention to at least in part be sellers, sitting four points back of the second and final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference but having played three more games than Boston, which is in that position. Pending unrestricted free agent forward Brandon Duhaime and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk are also trade candidates for Washington.

With roughly 26 hours to go before the deadline, plenty of other teams who declared they're open for business are awaiting more deals. Vincent Trocheck remains with the New York Rangers, and coach Mike Sullivan was noncommittal about whether the center whose name is atop many trade boards would play Thursday night against Toronto.

Roy played Wednesday night at New Jersey for the Maple Leafs, who are all but certain to miss the playoffs for the first time in a decade. They sat three other players for roster management reasons as trade talk heats up: Bobby McMann, Scott Laughton and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, all of whom could have new homes by 3 p.m. EST Friday.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Over the fence.

“I think that guys chase exit velocity and launch angle so that doesn’t lend itself to balls in the gap or down the lines,” Roberts said. “So I think that's the whole crux for me.”

While singles and home runs were up in the majors last year, the number of doubles and triples continued to decline. There were 7,745 doubles, down from 7,771 in 2024 and 8,254 a decade ago in 2016, according to Sportradar. Triples dropped to 628, compared to 697 in 2024 and 873 in 2016.

In an effort to create more action on the basepaths, Major League Baseball made the bases bigger when it changed some of its rules before the 2023 season. There was an increase in doubles, triples and steals that same year before doubles and triples resumed their downward trend.

It likely means less of a particularly exciting moment in a baseball game, when a crowd collectively leans forward and cheers in anticipation as a player runs toward second or third with a throw on the way.

“I guess you could say yeah, it loses something, but I think there's also a gain in some other things,” Chicago White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi said. “People like home runs and more stolen-base opportunities.”

The decline in doubles and triples can be traced to a variety of factors, beginning with defensive positioning.

While the 2023 rules package included limitations on infield shifts, there are no such restrictions on outfielders. And they are often playing deeper to guard against extra-base hits, helped by cards they keep in their back pockets that detail a hitter's tendencies.

“When I was playing, it was kind of, you want to play shallow to take away the singles,” said Roberts, a former major league outfielder, “but nowadays you’re playing for damage, and so outfields play considerably deeper than they used to.”

Nolan Arenado remembers it like it was yesterday. The eight-time All-Star was playing for St. Louis on May 23, 2022, when he recorded the highest exit velocity of his career, a 111.4 mph liner on a 1-1 pitch from Toronto right-hander José Berríos in the bottom of the second inning. The ball went over the head of shortstop Bo Bichette before it was cut off by center fielder Bradley Zimmer.

“Yeah. Single,” said Arenado, who was traded to Arizona in January. “And you know a few years back that probably would have been just an automatic double. ... So that was the first time I really noticed it. The defense alignment, it changes everything. You know you really got to hit a ball in the gap or you got to hit it down the line to get doubles.”

Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young also pointed to the evolution of defensive alignment.

“Every team has their own model and I think does a really good job of positioning,” said Young, a former major league pitcher.

Ballpark dimensions also have played a role. The New York Mets have made multiple changes to Citi Field since it opened in 2009, bringing in the fences to make the ballpark more hitter friendly. The Detroit Tigers altered the outfield at Comerica Park before the 2023 season, lowering the walls and moving in some areas. The Kansas City Royals made some adjustments to Kauffman Stadium this year.

Citi Field and Yankee Stadium, which also hosted its first game in 2009, are two of the majors' least friendly ballparks when it comes to doubles and triples, according to Statcast's park factors leaderboard. Globe Life Field, which opened in 2020, also ranks in the bottom 10 in each category over the previous three years combined.

“Pitching is pretty good. I think maybe some of the outfields, they’re bringing fences in,” Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona said. “You don’t hear anybody moving the fences back. So there’s a few ballparks, like Detroit, right-center. Kansas City was a big one. Now they moved them in. You’re not going to see a ton in our ballpark, just the way we’re configured. Right field's not very big.”

It's 325 feet down the line in right in Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park. The short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium is 314 feet from home plate. Tampa Bay's Tropicana Field, which reopens this season, is 315 feet on the left-field line and 322 to right.

Major league outfielders also are more athletic than before, cutting down on the balls that used to roll all the way to the wall — leading to extra bases.

“Now, if you are a negative defensively, you have to hit at such a ridiculously high level in order to be even a starting player,” Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “So there just aren’t many players out there that are negatives defensively at this point.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Bazzana was the first pick in the 2024 MLB amateur draft and is expected to be in Triple A this season in the Cleveland Guardians organization.

“If you think of the two things I thought about most growing up it was, like, playing in the WBC and being in the Tokyo Dome cause we'd always come here — and playing the World Series and MLB. It’s special," Bazzana said.

Of course, his World Series dream is yet to come.

He also credited Perkins for getting Australia in front, removing some pressure.

“It makes slowing down the environment a touch easier when you have two runs already,” Bazzana said. “I was feeling good in the box and got a good pitch to hit.”

The two big swings were enough in a tight game dominated by pitching. Taiwan managed only three hits and Australia had seven.

It was a critical victory for Australia, which also won its first game in 2023, defeating South Korea en route to reaching the quarterfinals and a narrow 4-3 loss to Cuba.

Australian starter Alex Wells pitched three no-hit innings and Jack O'Loughlin negotiated the next three and allowed only two hits, setting the stage for the bullpen.

O'Loughlin got the victory with a save for Jon Kennedy. Po-Yu Chen was the losing pitcher.

Following Perkins' homer, Taiwan put two runners on in the sixth with two out but failed to score. The second to reach base was Chieh-hsien Chen who was hit by a pitch on the his right hand and left the game.

Australia loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth and failed to score when Chris Burke popped out on the second pitch from reliever Yi Chang. Taiwan put two runners on in the top of the ninth and almost tied the game on a deep flyout by Lyle Lin.

South Korea beats Czechs behind four home runs — two by Whitcomb

South Korea hit four home runs and overpowered the Czech Republic 11-4 in Pool C in the day's second game at the Tokyo Dome.

Shay Whitcomb of the Houston Astros hit two home runs in back-to-back plate appearances, teammate Bo Gyeong Moon pounded a grand slam and Jahmai Jones of the Detroit Tigers added a solo shot in the eighth inning.

Moon’s grand slam came in the first inning with one out that chased starter Daniel Padysak, who picked up the loss. Hyeong Jun So got the victory.

Whitcomb hit a solo home run in the third and added a two-run homer in the fifth.

The Czech Republic’s Terrin Vavra connected on a three-run homer in the fifth off Woo Joo Jeong to narrow the lead to 6-3, only to be overshadowed by Whitcomb’s second homer in the bottom of the inning.

Vavra played a handful of games for the Baltimore Orioles, the only Czech player with MLB experience.

South Korea is deep in major league talent led by the Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Hyeseong Kim and the San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee.

South Korea is trying to advance from the pool stage in the WBC after three straight failures.

On Friday in Pool C, Australia faces the Czech Republic and Japan plays Taiwan.

The top two teams in the group advance to the quarterfinals in the United States, joining the top two in the other three groups.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Adrian Newey, the F1 car design great who’s heading into his first race as Aston Martin’s team principal, said Thursday the team's Honda power unit causes vibrations which could damage the hands of drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

Neither will likely be able to tolerate even half of the 58-lap race distance and the car's race time will be “very heavily restricted” until a solution is found, Newey added.

Aston Martin had a poor preseason, often slower even than new team Cadillac and it logged the fewest laps of all 11 teams.

“That vibration (transmitted from Honda’s power unit) into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems,” Newey said.

“Mirrors falling off the car, tail lights falling off, that sort of thing, which we are having to address. But the much more significant problem with that is that that vibration is transmitted ultimately into the driver’s fingers.

“So Fernando is of the feeling that he can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage into his hands. Lance is of the opinion that he can’t do more than 15 laps before that threshold.

“We are going to have to be very heavily restricted on how many laps we do in the race until we get on top of the source of the vibration — and to improve the vibration at source.”

Despite the long list of issues, Newey says the AMR26 car has tremendous potential as F1 starts a new era of regulations.

He argued the chassis is F1’s fifth best behind the expected top teams Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull and that, following an aggressive development program, has the potential to run at the front at some point in 2026.

Alonso, though, is keeping the faith until Friday practice in Melbourne, where he believes fixes on the car might provide a sunnier outlook.

“For us, it’s just vibrating everything,” the two-time F1 champion said.

“But it’s not only for us. The car is struggling a little bit, so that’s why we have some issues, some reliability problems that made our days slightly short.

“Since (preseason testing in) Bahrain, there were a couple of tests done and some of the solutions are implemented on the car now, so (I’m) curious to see what (happens) tomorrow (and) if we can improve.”

Its disappointing performance has been variously attributed to a compressed design time due to late arrival, Honda’s need to rebuild its research and development capabilities after leaving Red Bull, the challenge of producing a new in-house gearbox, and the team running a so-far unproven fuels partner in Aramco.

But it’s the side effects that will likely sideline its cars early in Sunday’s race at Albert Park.

Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas joked about Aston Martin’s lack of form. Asked to pick title contenders, he listed Alonso and Stroll alongside Mercedes’ George Russell -- who’s widely considered one of the favorites -- and suggested Mercedes wouldn't catch Aston Martin until the final race of the season.

“They’re going to beat Aston at the very end in Abu Dhabi,” he said.

___

This story corrects Newey quote about Aston Martin having problems with “mirrors falling off the car” and not “off the air.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

“Getting the chance to wear that across my chest is going to be pretty powerful,” the U.S. and New York Yankees captain said of the World Baseball Classic. “I think a lot of people have a lot of pride for their country.”

After losing 3-2 in the 2023 final when Japan's Shohei Ohtani ended the game by striking out Mike Trout, the U.S. will be trying for its first championship since 2017 when 20 nations compete for the sixth championship starting Thursday.

Australia plays Taiwan at the Tokyo Dome in the opener, and action starts the next day in Houston, Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The final again will be at Miami, on March 17.

A much-improved pitching staff includes Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal and Mason Miller, and the batting order likely will include Judge, Cal Raleigh, Kyle Schwarber and Bobby Witt Jr.

Having watched the last two tournaments, Skenes has hoped to receive an invite from U.S. manager Mark DeRosa.

“When DeRo called, it was like, just, ‘Yeah, I’m in. You don’t need to talk me into this or anything,’" said Skenes, who played two seasons at Air Force Academy before transferring to LSU. “It was a quick yes.”

Players have been in contact with each other long before reporting this week.

“The group chat's been firing away for the last couple of months,” Philadelphia's Bryce Harper said.

Rotation boost

Logan Webb is slated to start the Americans' Friday opener against Brazil in Houston, followed by Skubal on Saturday against Britain, Skenes vs. Mexico on Monday and top Mets prospect Nolan McLean against Italy on March 10.

The foursome has a combined 19.8 Baseball Reference WAR last season. The Americans' four starters in 2023, Adam Wainwright, Nick Martinez, Lance Lynn and Merrill Kelly, combined for a 7.8 the previous season.

Skubal intends to make one start, then return to the Tigers.

A pitcher is limited to 65 pitches in first-round games, 80 in a quarterfinal and 95 in a semifinal or final. If a player throws more than 50 pitches in an outing, he can’t pitch for the next four days. If he throws more than 30, he can’t pitch the next day. No one may pitch three days in a row.

“There are obviously guardrails for the tournament to begin with, pitch-count wise, but there’s also guardrails for guys having to throw on certain days to get ready for their team’s opening day," U.S. manager Mark DeRosa said.

Trying to do it again

Japan is trying to win its fourth title and become only the second repeat champion after the 2006 and 2009 Samurai Warriors.

Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have some experience at consecutive titles after helping last year's Los Angeles Dodgers become the first repeat World Series champion since the 1998-2000 Yankees won three in a row.

“Going back to back, that is our only goal,” Yamamoto said through a translator.

Yamamoto, the World Series MVP, is scheduled to start Japan's opener against Taiwan on Friday. Los Angeles is allowing him to pitch for Japan after he threw 211 innings last year, including the postseason.

“The Dodgers understand how big the WBC tournament is, big in Japan,” he said. “The Dodgers and the WBC, they both are very important to me equally.”

Japan's pitching staff is missing Ohtani, who won't take the mound, along with Roki Sasaki, who remained at Dodgers camp following an injury-interrupted rookie season, and Yu Darvish, sidelined following elbow surgery.

Star-filled Dominican roster

Seeking its first title since its only previous win in 2013, the Dominican Republic has a roster that includes six players who finished among the top 10 in MVP voting last year: Junior Caminero, Jeremy Peña. Geraldo Perdomo, Julio Rodríguez, Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Manny Machado and Ketel Marte also are on a roster that includes pitchers Sandy Alcantara and Cristopher Sánchez.

“It can be a headache also because you have so much talent. You wish that you can make everybody happy," Dominican manager Albert Pujols said. ”The Dominican Republic has been blessed with so many talent."

Venezuela, with the Dominicans in Group D, is led by Ronald Acuña Jr., Jackson Chourio, Eugenio Suárez and William and Willson Contreras.

Playing through politics, war

Judge says there’s significance representing the U.S. in a tournament starting days after the U.S. and Israel launched a Middle East war with joint strikes on Iran. Skenes and reliever Griffin Jax played college ball at Air Force.

“There are individuals out there that have sacrificed everything for this country to allow me to have my wife safe at home, my daughter safe at home and I get a chance to come out here and play a kids’ game," Judge said.

Israel is also in this year’s tournament. Outfielder Assaf Lowengart is the only player on the roster born in the country.

Venezuela, with what appears to be among the strongest rosters, plays in Miami two months after the U.S. military captured former Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro. Following his ouster, Venezuela elevated the autocrat’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, to serve as acting president.

Eight members of Cuba’s delegation were denied U.S. visas, including a pitching coach and federation executives, the Cuban Baseball and Softball Federation said.

Hot pr

ospect

Travis Bazzana makes his Australia national team debut in the tournament opener after being selected first overall by Cleveland in 2024 amateur draft.

While playing for Australia's under-18 team in 2024, Bazzana wrote a note on his phone dreaming of being Australia's second baseman and leadoff hitter at this year's WBC.

“Growing up, I always looked ahead and kind of had a vision of things I wanted to do in this game, and this was a big part of it," he said Wednesday. “I was always writing about it and thinking about it.”

Bazzana has an .801 OPS in 111 minor league games and is expected to start the season at Triple-A.

Back after injury

Edwin Díaz is on Puerto Rico's roster after tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee during the 2023 WBC.

Díaz missed the 2023 season with the New York Mets because of the injury, sustained during an on-field celebration with teammates following a 5-2 group-stage win over the Dominican Republic that clinched a quarterfinal berth.

Several star players will be missing from this year's tournament due to insurance issues, including Puerto Rico's Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa and Venezuela's Jose Altuve.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

The Games will officially kick off on Friday amid the tensions of the war in the Middle East, which prompted travel difficulties for some of the nations coming to Italy because of a widespread flight disruptions. Iran was due to have one skier at Milan Cortina.

Wheelchair curling launched the competition schedule on Wednesday and the sport was quickly hit by another scandal as two rocks were stolen from the Curling Olympic Stadium. During the Olympics, the Canadian team was accused of cheating.

The Paralympic Games are back in Italy 20 years after Torino 2006. It will be the 14th edition of the Winter Paralympics since the inaugural edition in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, in 1976. Nearly 200 athletes competed in two sports at the time. Some 660 athletes will participate across the six sports in Italy from Friday through March 15.

The U.S. is sending a 72-member squad to Italy, compared to the 67-member roster it took to Beijing 2022. This year’s delegation includes Oksana Masters, the most decorated American Winter Paralympian, and 16-year-old Para alpine skier Meg Gustafson.

Russian flag returns

Russian athletes will compete under their own flag at the Paralympics for the first time in more than a decade, and the country’s national anthem could be played for gold medalists for the first time on the stage of a major global sporting event since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Russian flag hasn’t been flown at the Paralympics since the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, while the national anthem has not been heard at any Olympics or Paralympics since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.

It could be the first time the anthem is played on the stage of any major global sporting event in four years.

Ukraine was the first to announce that it was planning to boycott the opening ceremony because of Russia, and seven other nations were planning not to attend because of political reasons: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania and the Netherlands.

Some other nations are not attending the opening ceremony to rest their athletes ahead of their competitions, not as a boycott.

Germany criticized the International Paralympic Committee's decision to grant athletes from Russia and Belarus wildcards to participate at Milan Cortina.

“Team Germany Paralympics will not participate in the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony in Verona. This decision serves both to focus on the upcoming competitions and to respectfully express solidarity with the Ukrainian delegation,” the German team said.

Russian athletes and athletes from Russia’s close ally, Belarus, were awarded slots by the IPC on Feb. 17.

Russian and Belarussian athletes had been competing as individual neutral athletes without their flag, anthem or team colors.

Russian athletes were initially banned because of a state-sponsored doping program, and the sanctions had continued since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Ukraine’s sports minister Matvii Bidnyi had said in a social media post the nation will “not take part in any other official Paralympic events.”

The IPC said most teams were already in Europe for training, but it was helping out others with travel amid the war in the Middle East.

Chinese dominance

The Milan Cortina Games will give China the chance to establish itself as the nation to beat in both the Summer Paralympics and Winter Paralympics.

The Chinese have topped the medal count in the Summer Paralympics every time since 2004, and four years ago won the Winter Games for the first time with a record-setting performance that included 18 gold medals, 20 silver and 23 bronze.

China had more than 90 Para athletes competing at its home Games in 2022, the most ever by any nation, and is sending another large delegation to Italy this time. It will have 70 athletes competing in Italy, making its largest ever overseas delegation.

Norway is the most successful nation in Winter Paralympics, ahead of the United States and Austria. China is 14th in the all-time medal table but competed in less than half of the Games in which Norway, the U.S. and Austria participated since the first Winter Paralympics in Ornskoldsvik.

China’s push to dominate in the Winter Paralympics got a boost when it was picked to host the Beijing Games, where it won 60 more medals than the single one it had won in PyeongChang in 2018.

The push continued after the home Games, with government funds still being made available for Paralympic programs and changes being promoted on several fronts, including new laws for people with disabilities to encourage their access to sports.

“China developed hundreds of disability sport instructors and coaches with government funding since they started the investment in Paralympic sports. They trained coaches for mass participation and they’ve been training coaches for the elite sports,” said NaRi Shin, an assistant professor of sport management at the University of Michigan.

“They have national Para games and regional games within the nation’s boundary, but also had the Olympic Games in 2008 and the Winter Games in 2022, so they do have maintained the series of competitions so that these athletes who they trained have the experience of competing at the higher level,” said Shin, who is an expert in sport development and on how East Asian countries have invested in the Olympics and Paralympics.

___

AP Winter Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games

The pint-sized motivator who restored greatness at Notre Dame and demanded it everywhere else he went died in Orlando, Florida, Notre Dame announced Wednesday. He was 89.

Spokeswoman Katy Lonergan said the family did not provide a cause of death.

“Notre Dame mourns the loss of Lou Holtz, a legendary football coach, a beloved member of the Notre Dame family and devoted husband, father and grandfather,” Notre Dame president the Rev. Robert A. Dowd said in a statement.

His son, Skip, who followed Holtz into coaching, said in a post on X that his father had passed away and was "resting peacefully at home.”

“He was successful, but more important he was Significant," Skip Holtz wrote.

Holtz went 249-132-7 over a career that spanned 33 seasons and included stops at Minnesota, Arkansas, South Carolina and, most notably, Notre Dame.

It was there that he won his lone national championship, in 1988, capped with a win over West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl but highlighted by a 31-30 victory earlier in the season over Miami — one of the notable meetings in the so-called “Catholics vs. Convicts” rivalry of the '80s.

For all the big personalities coarsing through college football during the day, none stood bigger than Holtz. He was only 5-foot-10, but commanded the sideline like someone much bigger. The lead-up to the big games were sometimes his best theatre.

Armed with a homespun brand of folksiness that could trickle into corny but always contained a kernel of truth, Holtz lit up bulletin boards and motivational posters with dozens of memorable quotes and pithy observations, virtually all of them constructed to inspire:

—“Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.”

—"When all is said and done, more is said than done."

—“You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.”

He could make any team — from Akron to Army to Alabama — sound like a world beater on any given week. More often than not, his Fighting Irish figured out a way to scratch out the wins.

Restoring Notre Dame to greatness

Before Holtz arrived in South Bend, Notre Dame was wallowing in mediocrity — a mere shell of the program built on a foundation of Knute Rockne, Ara Parseghian, the Golden Dome and Touchdown Jesus. Holtz turned things around quickly and had the Irish in the Cotton Bowl in Year 2 and winning the national title the season after that.

His 1988 and 1989 teams won a school-record 23 consecutive games and he beat three teams ranked No. 1 — Miami in 1988, Colorado in 1989 and Florida State in 1993.

The Irish finished No. 2 in the AP poll in 1993. Holtz left South Bend after the 1996 season with a record of 100-30-2.

“Lou and I shared a very special relationship," said current Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, who led the Irish back to the national title game in 2025 — a contest Holtz attended and spiced up with some trolling of the Ohio State program that beat the Irish that day. "Our relationship meant a lot to me as I admired the values he used to build the foundation of his coaching career: love, trust and commitment.”

A fast start, then a detour to the NFL

Notre Dame was the highlight of a head-coaching career that began at William & Mary and North Carolina State and also included a one-year stop in the NFL.

Like so many who mastered the college game in his profession, he failed up there, resigning with one game left in a 3-10 campaign with the New York Jets in 1976 and proclaiming “God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros."

That opened the door at Arkansas, which was one of the four schools he led into the AP Top 25. His teams made 18 appearances there; eight of those were in the top 10.

After Notre Dame, Holtz transitioned into the TV booth with CBS, promising he would never coach again.

“I said, ‘You could put it in granite.’ I’ve got the granite stone,” Holtz said. “It wasn’t very good granite.”

He took an open job at South Carolina, where he had once served as an assistant coach. Despite posting a career-worst 0-11 mark in his first season with the Gamecocks, Holtz went 17-7 over the next two seasons, beat then No. 9 Georgia in the second game of 2000 and also beat Ohio State twice in the Outback Bowl.

He left the sideline for good following the 2004 season and returned to the airwaves, working 11 more seasons with ESPN.

Core values of trust and getting the best out of players

On the field, each program he led reached new heights in part because he never wavered from his core values of trust, a commitment to excellence and caring for others.

“I think you have to go in there with a vision of where you want to go and a plan of how you’re going to get there,” Holtz once said. “You have to hold people accountable, and you have to believe it can be done."

The results were impressive, even if he sometimes used unconventional methods.

He once tackled quarterback Tony Rice following a failed play in practice and was widely critiqued in 1991 when he grabbed a player by the facemask, pulling him to the sideline and yelling at him the entire way after the player committed a personal foul. Holtz later apologized.

Holtz suspended his leading rusher, Tony Brooks, and leading receiver, Ricky Watters, in 1988 because they were 40 minutes late to a team meal the night before Notre Dame faced then No. 2 Southern California. The Irish still won 27-10.

At Arkansas, he once suspended three starting offensive players for disciplinary reasons before facing then No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. Arkansas, an 18-point underdog, still won 31-6.

As demanding as Holtz could be, though, he used his charm and eye for good players to recruit top talent. Notre Dame’s 1990 recruiting class included five future first-round NFL draft picks, and he found unique ways to motivate his team.

“The first thing I said at every practice was, ‘Boy, what a great day to work,’” Holtz recounted. “It could be raining. It could be whatever. I’d be, ‘Boy, am I glad to be here. No place I’d rather be than here.’ I used to say to them, ‘I travel all over the world speaking to every major corporation and they’d pay me money. I speak to you for free and you don’t have to take notes.’”

Born in West Virginia, dreamed of coaching high school

Louis Leo Holtz was born Jan. 6, 1937, in Follansbee, West Virginia, and aspired to be a high school football coach. His future wife broke off their engagement in 1960. That’s when Holtz, once a 150-pound linebacker at Kent State, took a graduate-assistant job at Iowa. A year later, he married Beth Barcus, and they were together more than 50 years.

She inspired him again in 1966 when, eight months pregnant with their third child, Holtz was jobless. Beth bought him a book about setting goals, and Holtz created a wish list of what he wanted to do: attend a White House dinner, appear on “The Tonight Show” and see the Pope.

Holtz said there were 107 entries on the list: “She said, ‘Gee, that’s nice. Why don’t you add 'get a job.’ So we made it 108,” he said.

In 2008, Holtz was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and Notre Dame placed a statue of him outside its home stadium.

He said numerous times that his plan was to be buried on that campus, as well. He figured it was only fitting because, as he said in 2015: “The alumni buried me here every Saturday,."

___

AP Sports Writer Michael Marot in Indianapolis contributed to this report. Tom Coyne is a former AP sports writer.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

The Billies are on track to make history, riding a 23-game winning streak into the championship round.

The team said they prepared for a long postseason by challenging themselves early.

“We played teams like Brennan, Sotomayor and Harlan. We played Leander Glenn, so we purposely went out in the preseason and played teams that are bigger than us,” head coach Carrie Grona said. “We know that we’re capable of playing with teams like that. It’s just a matter of execution.”

This will be the first time anyone on this Fredericksburg roster has played in a state final at the Alamodome.

The Billies said the job isn’t finished, but reaching the state final is an accomplishment they are proud of.

“When I was in seventh grade, our team got to the Alamodome,” said Micaella Petty, a junior guard. “It’s really cool that I get to step up and be in that gym they were in because they were the girls I looked up to.”

“I’ve been playing basketball for about 13 years, maybe longer, and it’s always been my dream to play in the Alamodome,” said Rilyn Grona, a senior guard. “I’m just really excited to experience it.”

The Billies will face the Lincoln Tigers at 7 p.m. Friday.

Read more reporting and watch highlights and full games on the Big Game Coverage page.

And now, add an Unrivaled title to the mix — a league that she co-founded.

Breanna Stewart has won it all.

Stewart and Mist are the queens of Unrivaled for 2026, topping Phantom 80-74 in the championship game Wednesday night to cap the league’s second season. Stewart scored 32 points, setting the tone by scoring Mist’s first 12 points of the second half and her team — which went 0-2 against Phantom in the regular season — wouldn’t trail again.

“What I'll remember the most about this Mist team is we might not be the loudest, but we're going to work the hardest,” said Stewart, who was picked as MVP of the final — and whose team will split a $600,000 winners' pool.

It ended somewhat controversially: an offensive foul on Stewart was overturned to a block on review, giving her a free throw to win the title. Stewart swished the shot, and confetti fell from the roof in celebration.

“Just focused on doing it for my team,” Stewart said.

Kelsey Plum carried Phantom with 40 points on 14-for-21 shooting, along with six rebounds and five assists.

It was a brilliant effort — but Stewart and Mist had just a bit too much.

“It's hard when it ends like this,” Plum said. “But overall, it was an amazing season.”

Arike Ogunbowale had 19 and Allisha Gray scored 12 for Mist, while Kiki Iriafen scored 13 and Tiffany Hayes had 12 for Phantom.

“There was complete faith in this group,” Mist coach Zach O'Brien said. “I'm just glad we got it done.”

Stewart and Napheesa Collier are credited as the co-founders of the league, one that if nothing else has filled a void on calendar for the women’s pro game.

“I think that there was a space that wasn’t kind of being used as far as what professional women’s basketball players were doing,” Stewart said. “We used to have a seven-month blackout period where you didn’t know what these professional basketball players were doing. And now you know.”

The question is what comes next.

The WNBA and its players do not have a labor agreement for next season, one that is slated — at this point — to start in about two months. The WNBA has told the players’ union that it needs to get a deal in place by this coming Tuesday to start the season on time.

And for now, there’s no indication that’ll happen. That means the Mist-Phantom final could be the last professional women’s game in the U.S. for a while.

Some will point to poor television ratings as a sign of trouble, while others can point to crowds drawn this season in Brooklyn and Philadelphia as signs of potential for Unrivaled. Players say it works, and there's no plans to stop now.

“People probably doubt us, that we can sustain it," Unrivaled CEO Alex Bazzell said. "That's what drives us and that's also what drives these players They’re all competitors and we are, too.”

Unrivaled — a 3-on-3, full-court game played on a 72-foot floor, shorter than an NBA or college court — sells itself on being fast-paced, with an 18-second shot clock, 7-minute quarters and plenty of open space for players to create.

The title game didn’t disappoint in that regard.

They were the top two seeds entering the playoffs — Phantom 1, Mist 2 — and Wednesday was back and forth. It was 24-24 after one quarter, 43-43 at the half, neither team having led by more than seven at any point.

Mist led 68-62 going to the fourth, an untimed final quarter where 11 points get added to the leading score as the end-of-game target.

To win the title: first team to 79 wins. Mist scored the first six points of the final quarter, going up by 12. Plum answered with five straight points, pushing her total to 35 for the night and getting Phantom within 74-67.

But Mist held the lead the rest of the way, and Stewart — as she has so many times — had a title to savor.

“It was our goal from Day One to be here, to be on this podium,” O'Brien said.

___

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

“Because of airspace closures, our head coach, Graham Arnold, is unable to leave the United Arab Emirates,” the Iraqi soccer federation said in a statement on Instagram on Wednesday. “In addition, several embassies remain closed at the present time, preventing several professional players, technical and medical staff members from obtaining entry visas to Mexico.”

Mexico’s foreign affairs ministry said late Wednesday in a statement that the visa complications arose because Mexico does not have an embassy in Iraq, but the Mexican embassy in the United Arab Emirates has been in contact with the Iraqi federation.

The statement added that the visas could be granted in any European country and that they have asked Iraq’s federation for the names of the people traveling to Mexico to expedite visa issuance procedures.

Iraq is scheduled to play either Bolivia or Suriname in Monterrey, Mexico on March 31 for one of the last two qualification places for the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The federation said it is in “constant communication with FIFA regarding the arrangements for our national team’s participation” in the match. It said the Asian Football Confederation is also “fully aware of every development regarding our team’s situation.”

If Iraq fails to qualify through the playoff, it could take another path if Iran is unable to take part in the tournament because of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on the country.

“We cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Iran’s top soccer official Mehdi Taj said.

Should Iran pull out — still hugely speculative — Iraq or the United Arab Emirates would be likely replacements as the ninth and 10th-ranked Asian teams in qualifying.

But FIFA’s legal regulations are vague and appear to give FIFA president Gianni Infantino wide powers to shape any decision.

Iraq’s most certain hope of qualifying remains winning the playoff later this month.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer