LOS ANGELES (AP) — The five finalists for the John R. Wooden Award as the nation’s top college basketball player are Udoka Azubuike of Kansas, Luka Garza of Iowa, Markus Howard of Marquette, Myles Powell of Seton Hall and Obi Toppin of Dayton. The 44th annual award will be presented April 7 during ESPN’s “SportsCenter” broadcast at 5 p.m. EDT.

FILE – In this Feb. 20, 2020, file photo, Iowa center Luka Garza celebrates after making a basket during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Ohio State in Iowa City, Iowa. Garza was selected the Associated Press Big Ten Player of the Year Tuesday, March 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

The scheduled presentation on April 10 at the College Basketball Awards in Los Angeles was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Voting took place from March 16 to March 23 but couldn’t include performances during the NCAA Tournament, which was canceled.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Chris Parks.

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Major League Baseball announced today that it has extended the league-wide initiative of financial support for Minor League players through May 31st or until the beginning of the minor league season – whichever occurs first.  MLB is taking this additional step to continue assistance for Minor League players and their families during the unexpected postponement to the start of the season.  All players will continue to receive medical benefits and may continue to use any balance they have in the College Scholarship Plan or Continuing Education Program.  This follows MLB’s March 19th announcement that provided interim support to Minor League players through April 8th, which covered the period until the originally scheduled start of the minor league season.

The exceptions to this plan are players who are signed to Major League contracts; players who are already receiving housing, food or other services from Clubs; and players on the Restricted, Voluntary Retired, Disqualified or Ineligible Lists.  In addition, each Club will make its own arrangements to provide support to players on Dominican Summer League rosters during the same period.

As a procedural matter, Major League Baseball has informed Minor League Baseball that Major League Clubs are unable to supply their Minor League affiliates with players as a result of the national health emergency.  All MLB Clubs are now in the process of informing Minor League players of the suspension of their Uniform Player Contracts.  Today’s announcement provides funds for impacted eligible players during the delay.

For the last two weeks, MLB has been engaged in a variety of discussions with stakeholders to identify ways to blunt the wide-ranging impact of the national emergency resulting from the global coronavirus pandemic.  MLB has announced a joint $1 million MLB-MLBPA fund to speed food assistance to those impacted by the crisis and a 30-Club, $30 million effort to support ballpark workers.  MLB partnered with Fanatics to manufacture masks and hospital gowns at the factory and from materials usually used to make MLB jerseys.  The much-needed supplies will first be sent to support healthcare workers and emergency personnel in Pennsylvania, where the factory is located, with the intention of expanding.  Individual Clubs will continue to announce more details surrounding support for their local communities, and players are coming together to urge fans to take this crisis seriously.

We will continue to monitor ongoing events and undertake the precautions and best practices recommended by public health experts, and urge all baseball fans to follow suit.  MLB extends its best wishes to all the individuals and communities who have been impacted by the coronavirus.

Mills County Emergency Management Agency Public Information Officer Nick Johnson, today (Tuesday), released information about youth sports activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The short answer – at least for now – to the question, “Should youth (or anyone) play sports during the outbreak?,”  is NO.  The CDC says that the virus gets spread most frequently among close contacts within about 6 feet — distance that is hard to create in team and even individual sports. Transmission of the virus occurs much more commonly through respiratory droplets than through contact with contaminated surfaces. However, there is risk of contact exposure with infected surfaces.

In Iowa, the risk of transmission is currently high, and the CDC recommends the cancellation of community gatherings of any size. The coming weeks are critical in limiting the spread of the virus, which is highly contagious. Mills County Public Health absolutely urges all organized and spontaneous youth sports activities to stop because it is so critical to do our part to contain this deadly virus. Medical experts are advising no exercise that involves sharing a ball. Sharing a ball right now is off-limits. … That goes the same for things like sharing dumbbells, sharing weights or sharing the same chin-up bar.

Now that does NOT mean you should refrain from going outdoors for recreation. Johnson says “Fresh air and exercise are important for physical and mental health, but we need to use caution. Maintaining a safe social distance of six feet from people who aren’t part of your household is key to controlling the spread of COVID-19.”

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa junior center Luka Garza was named the recipient of the Pete Newell Big Man of the Year Award given to the country’s top post player. The announcement was made by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) on Monday.

The award is named after Pete Newell, a former coach who ran the Pete Newell Big Man Camp for low-post players from 1976 until his death in 2008. No player was more dominant in the paint in 2019-20 than Garza. He is the first Hawkeye to win the award and the fifth Big Ten player to earn the honor.

Last week, it was announced that Garza was a unanimous consensus first-team All-American. Garza joins former Hawkeyes Murray Wier (1948) and Charles Darling (1952) as the program’s only consensus first team All-Americans.

Five major news outlets have already named Garza as its national player of the year: Sporting News, Basketball Times, Stadium, Bleacher Report, and ESPN. Garza is the first Iowa men’s basketball player to earn national player of the year distinction.

The Washington, D.C., native is also a finalist for the Naismith Trophy, Wooden Award, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.

Garza (740 points and 305 rebounds) is one of three Big Ten players to ever to total 740+ points and 300+ rebounds in a single-season (Purdue’s Glenn Robinson in 1994 and Purdue’s Joe Barry Carroll in 1979). He ranked second nationally with 12 20-point/10-rebound performances, 20-point games (25); third in total field goals made (287) and points per 40 minutes played (29.8), fifth in scoring (23.9), 10th in 30-point games (5), 19th in double-doubles (15) and offensive rebounds per game (3.58), and 34th in rebounding (9.8). His 15 double-doubles are third most in a single-season by a Hawkeye in three decades and the most since 2002 (Reggie Evans, 18). Garza averaged 26.7 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in 12 games against AP ranked opponents in 2019-20, including recording 11 straight 20-point performances, the longest streak by any player since UConn’s Kemba Walker in 2011.

The Big Ten and USBWA District VI Player of the Year, finished the 20-game conference schedule averaging 26.2 points per game, becoming the first player to average at least 26 points in Big Ten play since Purdue’s Glenn Robinson in 1994 (31.1 ppg). Garza scored a school-record 740 points this season, breaking the program’s 50-year old record previously set by John Johnson in 1970. He scored 20 points or more in a school-record 16 straight Big Ten games, the longest streak by any player in the Big Ten since Ohio State’s Dennis Hopson 16 in 1987.

Garza is the only Big Ten player to register seven 25-point/10-rebound performances in the same season in more than 17 years. He has produced the two highest point totals in a game by a Big Ten player this season (44 at Michigan; 38 at Indiana).

LUKA GARZA HONORS (2019-20)

• Sporting News, Basketball Times, Stadium, Bleacher Report, and ESPN National Player of the Year
• Dick Vitale, Seth Davis, Andy Katz’s National Player of the Year
• Unanimous Consensus First-Team All-America
• NABC Pete Newell Big Man of the Year
• Big Ten Men’s Basketball Player of the Year
• USBWA District VI Player of the Year
• Naismith Trophy, Wooden Award, Oscar Robertson Trophy, Lute Olson Award, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year finalist

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa head wrestling coach Tom Brands has been named 2020 InterMat Coach of the Year, the amateur wrestling website announced Friday.

This award, presented each year since 2006 to the best college wrestling coach in all divisions for his/her college wrestling coaching performance during the 2019-2020 season, is based exclusively on the balloting of writers at InterMat. Brands won the award with eight of 10 first-place votes, and 84 total points. Princeton’s Chris Ayers was second with 39 points.

Brands led the Hawkeyes to the top of every national ranking this season, posting a 13-0 dual record and 9-0 Big Ten Conference record. The Hawkeyes won the 2020 Big Ten Championships, crowing three individual champions and scoring 157.5 points, its highest total since 1995. Brands was named Big Ten Coach of the Year, and junior Spencer Lee was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year.

The Hawkeyes entered the 2020 NCAA Championships with three top seeds, nine wrestlers seeded eighth or better, and another seeded 11th. Iowa was the favorite to win the NCAA team title. It would have been its 24th team title in program history.

Iowa also led the nation in attendance for the 14th straight year, setting a NCAA dual record average of 12,568.

The Big Ten Conference announced today that it will extend the previously announced suspension of all organized team activities through May 4, 2020 and will re-evaluate again at that time.

This is an additional measure to the previously announced cancellation of all conference and non-conference competitions through the end of the academic year, including spring sports that compete beyond the academic year. The Conference also has previously announced a moratorium on all on- and off-campus recruiting activities for the foreseeable future.

The Big Ten Conference will continue to use this time to work with the appropriate medical experts and institutional leadership to determine next steps relative to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The main priority of the Big Ten Conference is to ensure the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty, fans and media as we continue to monitor all developing and relevant information on the COVID-19 virus.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Spencer Lee of Iowa is the winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy as the most dominant college wrestler in the nation. Lee received 52 of a possible 57 first-place votes, WIN magazine announced Monday. Lee was 18-0, won his first Big Ten championship and was named conference wrestler of the year. He outscored opponents 234-18 in the 125-pound weight class.

FILE – In this March 23, 2019, file photo, Iowa’s Spencer Lee, left, celebrates his win over Virginia’s Jack Mueller (not shown) in their 125-pound match in the finals of the NCAA wrestling championships in Pittsburgh. Lee has been voted the winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy as the most dominant college wrestler in the nation. Lee received 52 of a possible 57 first-place votes, WIN magazine announced Monday, March 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Lee is the third Iowa wrestler to win the award since its inception in 1995. He joins Mark Ironside in 1998 and Brent Metcalf in 2008. The Hodge Trophy is considered the top award in college wrestling.

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