College Basketball
Kentucky is No. 1 in AP poll; Louisville is ranked third
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Every time Kentucky coach John Calipari starts to praise his latest crop of talented freshmen, he’s just as quick to point out that it is a work in progress.
As the Wildcats take the first step toward coming together, Calipari also will have to remind his players to get through those growing pains quickly because they now are the team to beat in college basketball.
Kentucky – with a collection of high school All-Americans – is ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press’ preseason Top 25, a significant step considering the Wildcats finished 21-12 last season and were upset by Robert Morris in the first round of the NIT.
Kentucky beat out Michigan State in a close vote from the 65-member panel.
The Wildcats received 27 first-place votes and 1,546 points in the poll released Thursday. The Spartans, who return four starters from the team that lost to Duke in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 16, received 22 first-place votes and 1,543 points.
It won’t take long for the schools to settle the issue. Kentucky and Michigan State will meet Nov. 12 at the State Farm Champions Classic in Chicago.
Defending national champion Louisville received 14 first-place votes and was third, while Duke, which received the other two No. 1 votes, was fourth.
Kansas was fifth, followed by Arizona and Michigan. Oklahoma State and Syracuse tied for eighth, and Florida rounded out the top ten.
MLB
Rizzo and Williams unite as GM and manager in D.C.
WASHINGTON – More than a decade ago, when Matt Williams still was a third baseman, and Mike Rizzo still was climbing the front-office rungs, the future general manager thought he noticed the makings of a future skipper.
Well, here they are. Williams will make his debut as a major league manager with the Washington Nationals, a hiring announced by Rizzo on Thursday.
Rizzo was a part of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ front office when the expansion team entered the majors in 1998, and he became their scouting director two years later along the way to becoming Washington’s GM. Williams played in Arizona from 1998 to 2003, part of a 17-year career that also included time with the San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Indians.
MLS
Fire hire Yallop as new coach to replace Frank Klopas
CHICAGO – New coach Frank Yallop believes the Chicago Fire “with a bit of tinkering, is a good squad.”
A defensive specialist who coached San Jose to a pair of MLS Cup championships a decade ago, Yallop was hired Thursday to replace Frank Klopas, who was fired Tuesday after New York eliminated the Fire from the MLS playoff race for the third time in the last four seasons.
The Fire finished 14-13-7, with 51 points, identical to Montreal, but missed the playoffs on goal differential. They made the playoffs last season but lost to Houston in the first round.
Yallop, the MLS coach of the year in 2012, was fired by San Jose after the Earthquakes started the 2013 season 3-6-6.
Tennis
Gasquet and Wawrinka book the final two ATP spots
PARIS – Richard Gasquet and Stanislas Wawrinka earned the last two spots for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals after Milos Raonic lost to Tomas Berdych 7-6 (13), 6-4 in the third round of the Paris Masters.
Raonic needed at least a runner-up finish in Paris to have a chance to qualify for the London tournament next week, which features the top eight players.
Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, Juan Martin del Potro and Berdych booked their spots before playing in Paris.
Andy Murray also qualified but withdrew from the event to recover from back surgery.
Roger Federer qualified for the finals for a 12th consecutive year.
Associated Press
