KIM MULKEY

The Associated Press preseason women's All-America team is out and Paige Bueckers of UConn is a unanimous choice.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has received a seven-year contract worth $22.4 million.

Kobe Bryant is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame now, along with contemporaries Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, headliners of a group of nine who got their delayed and long-awaited enshrinement on Saturday night, more than a year after being announced as the Hall’s Class of 2020.

Vanessa Bryant got a private tour to see some of the newly remodeled Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, viewing the exhibit that will honor the life and legacy of her late husband before the rest of the world gets their first look.

Kobe.

Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey has left Baylor to return home and take over the LSU women’s basketball team.

Michael Jordan will present Kobe Bryant for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame next month.

Haley Jones scored 17 points and Stanford beat Arizona 54-53, giving the Cardinal and coach Tara VanDerveer their first national championship in 29 years.

(AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)SAN ANTONIO – Maryland coach Brenda Frese was honored as The Associated Press women's basketball coach of the year Wednesday for the second time in her career. Frese received eight votes from the 30-member national media panel that votes on the weekly AP Top 25. Obviously its going to be one I never forget,” said Frese, who also was AP coach of the year 19 years ago when she was at Minnesota. When Maryland won the Big Ten Tournament, Frese's father and mother, Donna, were in the stands in Indianapolis. “It's a memory I’ll cherish for a lifetime.”___More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

Bueckers scored 28 points and top seed UConn used a huge run spanning the final two quarters to beat No. 2 Baylor 69-67 on Monday night and reach a 13th consecutive Final Four in the women’s NCAA Tournament. After a timeout, Baylor fouled Christyn Williams, who missed both free throws to give the Lady Bears one last chance. The Lady Bears (28-3) had won the previous two, including a 74-58 win at Connecticut in January of 2020. The Lady Bears closed the action-packed first quarter with a 20-10 run and trailed 26-24 after one.

As of Saturday, there had been two confirmed positive tests at the women's tournament with over 15,400 administered. The last positive result among the players, coaches and others working at the tournament was reported on March 22 from daily antigen testing. Six conference teams qualified for the women’s tournament: Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, Washington State and UCLA. And it’s led to some mutual support: Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer has been texting Oregon State men’s coach Wayne Tinkle, among others. Night in and night out in the Pac-12, we’re playing teams like Stanford, UCLA, great teams, Oregon State, Oregon.

... Oregon State opponents are shooting just 31.3% overall and 23.1% from 3-point range in the NCAA Tournament. That Missouri squad lost a regional final to an Oklahoma team coached by Kelvin Sampson, who’s now at Houston. … Arkansas is in a regional final for the first time since 1995, when it lost to UCLA in the championship game. … Arkansas’ Justin Smith is averaging 20.3 points and 11 rebounds in three NCAA Tournament games. Arizona and Indiana are both in an NCAA regional final for the first time.

The freshman guard has lived up to it so far, delivering record-breaking performances and earning a spot on The Associated Press women's basketball All-American team Wednesday. She's only the third freshman to make the AP team, joining Oklahoma's Courtney Paris and UConn's Maya Moore. “Name one player that has taken a team this young to where we are today," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. She became the school's first women's basketball All-American last season. She was joined by Naz Hillmon, who is the first women's player at Michigan to earn All-America honors.

6 Baylor beat West Virginia 76-50 to win the Big 12 Tournament on Sunday. It is the ninth Big 12 Championship in the last 10 tournaments for top-seeded Baylor (25-2). Dijonai Carrington added 14 and Moon Ursin had 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Lady Bears won their 17th straight game. “We didn’t shoot the ball well and took a lot of bad shots,” West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. AdThe Lady Bears dominated in the paint outrebounding West Virginia 46-33 and scoring 54 points in the paint.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley confers with forward Aliyah Boston on the sideline during the second half of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. 1 in The Associated Press women's college basketball poll. South Carolina, which originally fell from the top spot after losing to North Carolina State, beat the Huskies last season for the first time in eight tries. Here are other tidbits from the poll:MILESTONEMonday marked the 800th women's college basketball poll in the AP's history. Ad___More AP women's college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

UConn has two more chances to play nonconference ranked teams, with Tennessee and South Carolina on the schedule. Conversely on the men's side, a majority of the current Top 25 have played at least one ranked nonconference opponent. The lack of marquee nonconference matchups could cause the NCAA women’s basketball selection committee some agita when trying to figure out who deserves to be in the NCAA Tournament and where teams should be seeded. We’ll have lively discussions.”Longtime ESPN and CBS analyst Deb Antonelli was sad that so many women's basketball games have been canceled or postponed. “COVID is COVID and we don’t want to penalize a team for the uncontrollable.”___More AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

European Professional Club Rugby hoped to avoid a break by introducing tougher health protocols, but the temporary withdrawal of French clubs ended that hope. Cricket Ireland says four more UAE players have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total to eight. Stefanski tested positive for the novel coronavirus last week and had to watch Cleveland’s 48-37 victory over the Steelers from his home’s basement. Following the game, Stefanski was able to celebrate with his players, who contacted him on FaceTime from Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field. Coach Kim Mulkey missed that game after being exposed at Christmas to a family member who tested positive for the virus.

(Stu Forster/Pool via AP)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___Oaklawn Park in Arkansas plans to allow limited fans during its winter-spring horse racing meet that runs Jan. 22-May 1. Current season box seat-holders and Oaklawn Jockey Club members can enter the grandstand with weekly reservations. The switch gives St. Pete promoters hope that more spectators will be permitted to attend the popular street festival as pandemic restrictions loosen. That move opened room on the schedule for St. Pete to request a later race date. The season ultimately did not start until June and St. Pete was moved to October as the finale.

Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey is shown during the second half of an NCAA women's college basketball game against South Florida Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020, in Tampa, Fla. No. 3 UConn after Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey tested positive for COVID-19. 3 UConn after Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey tested positive for COVID-19. Baylor said it began restricting team activities after Mulkey tested positive on Monday, the same day she had been planning to rejoin the team. Auriemma said he and Louisville coach Jeff Walz have talked the last couple of weeks about finding a time to play each other.

Oregon State lost its lone game last week, falling to Washington State and dropping out of the poll from No. 1 for the third consecutive week. Louisville, UConn, North Carolina State and South Carolina followed the Cardinal again in the poll. Michigan State replaced Oregon State in the poll, coming in at No. South Carolina (157), Mississippi State (120) and Louisville (93) are the only other teams that had longer active streaks than Oregon State's.

The NCAA announced Monday that San Antonio is the likely host site for the 64-team tournament next March. The NCAA expects the tournament to be played in late March and early April as usual, though there is a chance it could be shorter. “We don’t have an answer for that today.”This won’t be the first time a women’s tournament will be played at one site. From 1972-1977, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women played a 16-team postseason tournament at one site. The NCAA Tournament was first played in 1982.

The NCAA Division I Council on Wednesday, June 17, 2020, approved a plan to allow college basketball players to start working with their coaches for the first time since the pandemic wiped out March Madness. The summer access period for men's and women's players will begin July 20. The summer access period for men's and women's players will begin July 20. The NCAA basketball tournaments were cancelled days before the fields were scheduled to be selected because of the coronavirus outbreak. It will also consider adding more activities for basketball players during the July 1-19 period.

FILE - In this April 13, 2016, file photo, Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant smiles during the first half of his last NBA basketball game, against the Utah Jazz in Los Angeles. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the reopening has been pushed back two months to July 1 and the induction ceremony is being postponed, either to October or the spring. Complicating the potential possibility of a spring 2021 induction: The Hall doesnt know what the NBA and college basketball seasons will look like then. Doleva said the Hall decided against inducting Bryant alone and gave no thought to having a separate ceremony for him. Theyre all Hall of Famers, and all Hall of Famers are equal in the eyes of the museum.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports