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Boeheim wraps up lost season

By Ralph Russo The Associated Press NEW YORK — Sitting next to his sons, Jim Boeheim did not hesitate when asked to evaluate the first losing season in his 46 years as head coach at Syracuse. “It’s the best season I’ve ever had,” the 77-year-old said Thursday after his team was eliminated by Duke in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. “I think that says enough.” Barring some kind of highly unexpected postseason invitation, Syracuse finished 16-17. The Orange struggled to close games all season, and again against Duke they faltered late, getting outscored 10-0 in ...

Mailbag

Expansion shouldn’t stop with Laurel Highlands So regional football leagues are disbanding and teams are applying to new surroundings. The Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference is expanding. Maybe the time has come to adopt the WPIAL format of teams playing games according to classification. Combine Districts 6 and 5, and extend an invitation to District 9 DuBois, Clearfield, Punxsutawney, Curwensville and Indiana (of the WPIAL). Other possibilities might include Erie McDowell and Cathedral Prep, both of District 10, and District 4 Williamsport. Those additions would ...

Baseball needs to right its ship

By Tim Dahlberg The Associated Press The talks are over, at least for now. Opening day is gone, too, and now we’re forced to wait to see if we get any baseball at all. If there was any good news coming out of baseball’s labor talks in Florida it was this: At least now we know who to blame. Here’s a hint: It’s not anyone wearing a uniform. No, baseball players aren’t blameless in any of this, far from it. They keep wanting more when they historically have always had the best deals in all of professional sports. But this one is mostly on the 30 miserable, conniving ...

RBs out to change perception

By Michael Marot The Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS — Kenneth Walker III believes NFL scouts may be shortchanging this year’s running backs contingent. He sees a promising group of skillful, multi-faceted players, more than one worthy of being a first-round draft pick in April. Walker, in fact, could be at the head of the class following his 2021 breakout season at Michigan State, especially if he tests well between now and then. The problem: Many teams find more value waiting to take a running back. So Walker and nearly three dozen other runners will spend this week trying to ...

Music would liven up PGA Tour

By Bill Contz For the Mirror Rock troubadour Bruce Springsteen recently agreed to part company with his entire music catalog for a cool $500 million. Not bad for an artist whose career was deemed on life support due to lackluster sales from his first two albums prior to authoring “Born To Run,” an ode to the utter restlessness of his generation. That tune, as well as many other compositions from The Boss, are no doubt headed to a television commercial or streaming service near you very soon. Based on fan reaction to the two hole-in-ones at this year’s Waste Management ...

Mulkey working her magic at LSU

By Brett Martel The Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU coach Kim Mulkey is still trying to temper expectations, even as she oversees a dramatic one-year improvement in the No. 8 Tigers’ fortunes. LSU went 9-13 in a pandemic shortened 2020-21 season, it’s last under previous coach Nikki Fargas. On Thursday night, the Tigers improved to 24-4 this season, closing out their home slate with a 58-50 triumph over an Alabama squad — a result which guarantees LSU at least a share of second place in the Southeastern Conference, behind only the nation’s top-ranked team, South ...