PHOENIX (AP) — Patrick Mahomes dominated the voting for the AP NFL Most Valuable Player award. Now, he’ll try to break the MVP curse. Mahomes, who also won in 2018, easily outdistanced Jalen Hurts, receiving 48 of 50 first-place votes from a nationwide panel of media members who regularly cover the league. He earned 490 points to 193 for Hurts, who got one first-place vote, 26 seconds, 11 thirds and 10 fourths. Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs face Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
PHOENIX (AP) — Six-time All-Pro offensive lineman Joe Thomas and lockdown cornerback Darrelle Revis got voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on their first try. Thomas and Revis join a new class of Hall of Famers that also includes return finalists DeMarcus Ware, Zach Thomas and Ronde Barber. Senior candidates Joe Klecko, Chuck Howley and Ken Riley, along with coaching candidate Don Coryell also got voted into the Hall and will be inducted in Canton, Ohio, this summer.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas and Oklahoma are heading to the Southeastern Conference in 2024 after Big 12 officials cleared the way for the storied programs to exit their league a year earlier than planned. Texas and Oklahoma will leave behind the $50 million each school would have received over the next two seasons under the Big 12′s media contracts. Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormak said the league would only agree to an early departure “if it was in our best interest.” The agreement must still be approved the Texas and Oklahoma boards of regents, but that is considered a formality.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas officials have more than doubled interim basketball coach Rodney Terry’s salary to $1.2 million this season as he leads the No. 5 Longhorns after the midseason firing of Chris Beard. Terry took over the team as acting head coach on Dec. 12 when Beard was initially suspended following his arrest on a felony domestic violence arrest. Terry was given the interim head coach title when Beard was fired on Jan. 5. Terry’s previous salary was $500,000. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said the school wanted to pay Terry a salary that reflected his increased duties this season.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre has filed lawsuits accusing the Mississippi state auditor and two national sportscasters of defaming him in public discussions about the misspending of welfare money. The suits against Auditor Shad White and sportscasters Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee were filed Thursday in Mississippi. Favre is not facing criminal charges, but the state is suing him and about three dozen other people or businesses to recover misspent welfare money that was supposed to help some of the poorest people in the nation. A spokesman for White says the auditor has told the truth about the welfare case.
LONDON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to address a group of sports ministers meeting to discuss Russian participation at next year’s Paris Olympics. The International Olympic Committee is working on a plan to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes who have not actively supported the war to enter qualifying events for the 2024 Games despite the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine is pushing for Russian athletes to be barred and threatening a boycott as officials from 30 countries discuss how to respond. Zelenskyy has previously said any neutral flag for Russia would be “stained with blood.” He is due to address the online summit by video link.
THURSDAY SCORES
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (1)Purdue 87 Iowa 73
Final (4)Arizona 85 California 62
Final (7)UCLA 62 Oregon St. 47
Final Loyola Marymount 78 (15)Saint Mary's (Cal.) 74
Final (16)Gonzaga 99 San Francisco 81
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Orlando 115 Denver 104
Final Atlanta 116 Phoenix 107
Final Brooklyn 116 Chicago 105
Final Milwaukee 115 L.A. Lakers 106
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Detroit 2 Calgary 1
Final New Jersey 3 Seattle 1
Final Florida 4 San Jose 1
Final SO Philadelphia 2 Edmonton 1
Final Tampa Bay 5 Colorado 0
Final Vancouver 6 N-Y Islanders 5
Final Vegas 5 Minnesota 1