PENN STATE ABUSE SCANDAL
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Former Penn State President Graham Spanier was convicted of hushing up child sexual abuse allegations in 2001 against Jerry Sandusky, whose arrest a decade later blew up into a major scandal for the university and led to the firing of beloved football coach Joe Paterno.
The jury found Spanier guilty of one misdemeanor count of child endangerment over his handling of a complaint against the retired assistant football coach but acquitted him of conspiracy and a second child endangerment count.
Spanier, 68, showed no emotion when the verdict was read after 13 hours of deliberations. He could get up to five years in prison. His lawyer said he will appeal.
The trial centered on how Spanier and two other university administrators handled a complaint by graduate coaching assistant Mike McQueary, who said he reported seeing Sandusky sexually molesting a boy in a team shower in 2001. The three officials told Sandusky he could not bring children onto the campus anymore but did not report the matter to police or child welfare authorities.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – The chant ”S-E-C” so well known around football across the South is coming to the Elite Eight.
The league best known for winning national titles in football has the most teams still alive and playing for a trip to the Final Four. Kentucky and Florida have been joined by upstart South Carolina in the Gamecocks’ first ever trip to a regional final.
The SEC, which struggled to get three teams into the NCAA Tournament a year ago, now has two more teams playing on than any other league, including the Atlantic Coast Conference, which sent nine teams to the tournament.
Seventh-seeded South Carolina throttled third-seeded Baylor 70-50 in the first semifinal of the East Region in New York. Kentucky followed by knocking off No. 3 seed UCLA 86-75 in the South Region to set up a final with North Carolina on Sunday. The Tar Heels already were the only ACC team to reach the second weekend.
And back in New York, Florida needed overtime and a buzzer-beater by Chris Chiozza for a thrilling 84-83 win over Wisconsin to continue the SEC’s postseason success.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Star UCLA freshman Lonzo Ball says he’s one and done at UCLA and headed to the next level.
The guard said after his team lost to Kentucky in the Sweet 16 that he is moving on from the college game.
”That was my final game for UCLA. I appreciate all the fans and all the support,” Ball said in the UCLA locker room.
Ball was widely expected to declare for the NBA draft after this season. His father, LaVar Ball, has been especially vocal, declaring that the eldest of three hoops-playing brothers is better than NBA MVP Steph Curry.
PRO FOOTBALL
With the Raiders gazing at Las Vegas and sticking one foot out the door, Oakland is making a last-minute plea to hang on to them.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf shared details of investors’ plans for the first time for a stadium on the current Coliseum site, and vowed that she and the city are doing all they can to keep the team.
”We’re not giving up in the fourth quarter,” Schaaf said in a statement.
In a letter to the NFL, Schaaf shared new, detailed renderings of what the $1.3 billion, 55,000-seat football-only stadium would look like, and assured the league that Oakland would expedite the environmental review and other bureaucratic moves that could bog down the project.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
SEATTLE (AP) – Michael Porter Jr. has announced he will play college basketball at Missouri after Washington granted him his release from his national letter of intent.
Porter, considered the top high school senior in the country, announced his decision in a statement posted to Twitter. He said his plans changed last week when Washington fired coach Lorenzo Romar and that he’s taken the ”last seven days to give great consideration to my future.”
Familiarity is also likely at the heart of Porter’s decision. He lived in Colombia, Missouri, until the past year when his family moved to Seattle so his father could be an assistant on Romar’s staff. Michael Porter Sr. was hired as an assistant for new Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin.
Porter was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year earlier this week and the 6-foot-9 wing is already being projected as a possible top pick in the 2018 NBA draft.
WACO, Texas (AP) – A second former Baylor football player has been arrested on charges that include sexual assault.
The U.S. Marshal’s Service confirms that 23-year-old Shamycheal ”Myke” Chatman was arrested Thursday in Houston.
A McLennan County grand jury earlier indicted Chatman along with another former player, 22-year-old Tre’Von Armstead, who was arrested Wednesday near his hometown of Port Arthur, Texas.
The Waco Tribune-Herald reports both men were named in a 2013 Waco police report alleging they sexually assaulted the same woman, also a Baylor student, that year.
No charges were filed at the time.
It’s not clear if Chatman is still being held or whether he has an attorney to speak on his behalf.
The university faces several lawsuits from women who say Baylor mishandled or ignored their claims of assault.
