COLLEGES
The University of Maine football team is projected to finish third of 12 teams in the Colonial Athletic Association this fall, according to a poll of league coaches and sports information directors.
The Black Bears, who last fall captured their first CAA title in five years, received one first-place vote. James Madison (20 first-place votes) was picked to finish first, and Towson (three first-place votes) was picked second.
The vote was conducted at the league’s annual football media day Tuesday in Baltimore. Elon, Delaware and Stony Brook round out the top six.
Six Black Bears earned CAA preseason all-conference honors. Earnest Edwards was selected to the team as both a wide receiver and kick return specialist. He was joined by fellow seniors Manny Patterson (cornerback), Kayon Whitaker (defensive lineman) and Taji Lowe (linebacker), along with juniors Liam Dobson (offensive lineman) and Deshawn Stevens (linebacker).
Junior quarterback Chris Ferguson (quarterback) and Charles Mitchell (defensive lineman) earned honorable mentions.
Maine opens its season at home on Aug. 30 against Sacred Heart of Connecticut.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: The NCAA suspended DePaul men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao for the first three games of the regular season, saying he should have done more to prevent recruiting violations by his staff.
The NCAA also put the Big East program on three years of probation, issued a $5,000 fine and said an undetermined number of games will be vacated because DePaul put an ineligible player on the floor. An unidentified former associate head coach is also facing a three-year show cause order for his role in the violations.
OLYMPICS
TOKYO: If the Tokyo Olympics were opening today, the United States would top the overall medal count and the gold-medal count.
That’s the forecast released by Gracenote Sports, which supplies statistical analysis for sports leagues around the world. The Tokyo Olympics open on July 24, 2020.
Simon Gleave, the head of sports analysis at Gracenote, said his model has the United States winning 51 gold medals, 34 silver, and 41 bronze for 126 overall.
China is picked to finish second with 38 gold and 81 overall.
Host nation Japan is third, which would be a strong showing for a country with a much smaller population than China or the United States. Japan is predicted to win 29 gold medals, 67 overall and take advantage of the “home-field advantage” that almost always goes to the host nation.
HOCKEY
NHL: The Vegas Golden Knights signed defenseman Deryk Engelland to a one-year deal.
Engelland, 37, played in 74 games last season and finished with 12 points and 18 penalty minutes. He set career-marks with 152 blocked shots and 165 hits.
• The Nashville Predators avoided arbitration with forward Colton Sissons by signing him to a seven-year, $20 million contract.
SOCCER
MLS: Austin FC is turning to a familiar face in U.S. soccer to lead the new franchise into its inaugural MLS season in 2021.
Josh Wolff, former U.S. men’s national team striker and current assistant, was named Austin head coach, taking over a club that doesn’t yet have a roster or a stadium but does have big plans for the future.
BOXING
HALL OF FAME: The International Boxing Hall of Fame is making changes to its voting process, shortening the retirement time for consideration and creating two categories for female fighters.
The categories for female boxers are Trailblazer, boxers whose last bout was no later than 1988, and Modern, those whose last contest came no earlier than 1989.
Female and male boxers must be retired for at least three years before the end of the calendar year in which voting takes place, meaning that boxers who last fought in 2016 are now eligible for consideration.
BASKETBALL
NBA: The Phoenix Suns signed big man Cheick Diallo to a multiyear contract.
The 22-year-old Diallo played the past three seasons with New Orleans, averaging 6.0 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 62 percent. He played in seven playoff games during the Pelicans’ run to the 2018 Western Conference semifinals.
SWIMMING
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Sun Yang was in the middle of controversy at the world swimming championships again. Only this time, it wasn’t his doing.
The Chinese star with a history of doping still got shunned on the medals podium at Gwangju, South Korea.
Sun won the 200-meter freestyle after Danas Rapsys of Lithuania finished first and got disqualified for an apparent false start.
Sun touched second, but was elevated after Rapsys had already celebrated in the pool.
Sun appeared surprised, clasping his hands to his face, but quickly sat on the lane rope and raised both arms in the air as a mix of cheers and boos rang out.
Katsuhiro Matsumoto of Japan took silver. Martin Malyutin of Russia and Duncan Scott of Britain tied for bronze.
On the podium, Scott wanted no part of sharing the moment with Sun.
Scott kept his hands clasped behind his back and refused to shake Sun’s hand, standing off on his own while the other medalists joined Sun to pose for photographers.
Sun, who served a three-month doping ban in 2014, is being allowed by FINA to compete ahead of a Court for Arbitration in Sport hearing in September that threatens Sun’s career.
After Sun won the 400 free, silver medalist Mack Horton of Australia refused to step on the podium or acknowledge Sun during the medals ceremony. FINA, swimming’s governing body, sent warning letters to Swimming Australia and Horton for his actions.
• Without three-time defending champion Katie Ledecky in the field, Simona Quadarella of Italy won the 1,500 freestyle in 15:40.89 – well off Ledecky’s world record of 15:20.48.
Ledecky withdrew from the final because of unspecified illness. Ledecky also dropped out of the 200 freestyle heats.
TENNIS
HAMBURG OPEN: Back on clay for the first time since losing the French Open final to Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem beat Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 7-6 (3) to reach the second round at Hamburg, Germany.
CYCLING
TOUR DE FRANCE: Caleb Ewan beat his sprinting rivals in suffocating heat to win Stage 16, with Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe keeping the race leader’s yellow jersey.
With temperatures soaring as high as 104, Alaphilippe and his main rivals did not attack each other over the 177-kilometer mainly flat stage.
Defending champion Geraint Thomas crashed about 40 kilometers after the race started but escaped largely unscathed, with a few scratches on his left elbow.
Ewan, a Tour debutant, edged Elia Viviani and Dylan Groenewegen to post his second stage win following his maiden success in Toulouse last week. After a group of five breakaway riders was caught 2 kilometers from the finish, Viviani was set up by his teammates and launched the sprint about 200 meters from the line but could not resist Ewan’s comeback.
There was no significant change in the overall standings, with Alaphilippe keeping his 1 minute, 35-second lead over Thomas. Steven Kruijswijk remained third, 1:47 off the pace and 3 seconds ahead of Thibaut Pinot.
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