Today in Sports - Week Ahead, Feb. 21 - Feb. 27

Every player in the top two divisions of men’s soccer in France will have “WO=MAN” written on the back of their jerseys instead of their names this weekend. The French league initiative is centered around International Women’s Day on Saturday. It started Friday with Toulouse’s home game against Monaco. It was continuing on Saturday and Sunday with the other teams in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. The LFP says the “WO=MAN” message highlights “the importance of gender equality not only on the field, but also in the stands.” LED panels around the pitches will display “WO=MAN” and official match balls have the motto written on them.

In the fast-changing world of college basketball, some things remain constant. Saint Mary’s, the small school in San Francisco’s East Bay region, keeps piling up wins at the rate that only the blue bloods of the sport can match. The Gaes are ranked 21st in the country after winning back-to-back outright regular season titles in the West Coast Conference and head into the conference tournament with a chance to become the first team to repeat as champions other than Gonzaga since Pepperdine in 1991-92.

JuJu Watkins scored 31 points, Kiki Iriafen added 21 and each grabbed 10 rebounds in their first Big Ten Tournament games, leading No. 2 Southern California to an 84-79 victory over Indiana. The Trojans are 3-0 in Indiana this season and have won eight straight. They'll face either fourth-seeded Maryland or fifth-seeded Michigan in Saturday's first semifinal. Yarden Garzon made five 3-pointers and led the Hoosiers with 23 points. The Trojans struggled to pull away until Talia von Oelhoffen and Watkins made back-to-back 3s late in the fourth to give USC its largest lead of the game, 77-68.

Chloe Kitts had 25 points and 10 rebounds and No. 5 South Carolina held off a furious second-half rally from Vanderbilt to win 84-63 on Friday in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 15 off the bench and Sania Feagin added 13 points for South Carolina, which has won five straight. Coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks, the Southeastern Conference’s top seed, appeared plenty motivated to win a third straight tournament title. They came out of the gates strong, shooting a blistering 67% from the field in the first half to build a 48-23 lead at the break.

The NBA fined DeMar DeRozan $25,000 on Friday for publicly criticizing officials after the Sacramento Kings' loss to the Denver Nuggets. “The refs were terrible,” DeRozan said after the 116-110 loss on Wednesday, according to the Sacramento Bee. The Nuggets had 30 free throws to 14 for the Kings. That included a 13-4 difference in the fourth quarter in which Denver outscored Sacramento 32-17.

Former major league outfielder Tyler Naquin says his attempted comeback as a right-handed pitcher was over a year in the making. Naquin played the outfield for four different major league teams from 2016-23. He has signed a minor league contract with the Guardians in hopes of making it back to the big leagues as a pitcher. Naquin says he started working out as a pitcher in January 2024. The 33-year-old Naquin says he hasn’t pitched in an actual game since throwing in a scrimmage while playing for Texas A&M in 2010. He said he also pitched in high school.

Tennessee will hold its spring game in the usual scrimmage format on April 12. Coach Josh Heupel said creating a big stage this time of year benefits development. The Volunteers’ spring game attracted more than 58,000 fans in 2023. Neyland Stadium’s spring-game capacity was reduced to 10,000 last year because of a renovation project and the limit will be about 45,000 this year. Heupel said it's important for young players to experience playing in front of a big crowd before the fall. Schools such as Nebraska, Ohio State, Texas and Southern California have scrapped their spring games this year.

Alyssa Ustby scored 12 points and grabbed 18 rebounds and freshman Lanie Grant made two free throws with 7.3 seconds left to give No. 14 North Carolina a 60-56 win over No. 22 Florida State in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. Reniya Kelly hit a jumper with just over a minute remaining to give the Tar Heels the lead and she connected again near the foul line to make it 58-54 with 20.4 seconds left. Ta’Niya Latson made two free throws for the Seminoles with 11.4 to go but then they had to foul three times before Grant went to the line. The fifth-seeded Tar Heels play the winner of No. 7 N.C. State and Georgia Tech in Saturday’s semifinals. Makayla Timpson had 15 points, eight rebounds and she tied a tournament record with eight blocks for the fourth-seeded Seminoles.

The Dallas Mavericks say Anthony Davis is improving daily but the team gave no indication of when the forward they got in their trade of Luka Doncic might be ready to play again. The Mavericks said in a medical update Friday that Davis had a recent re-evaluation of his left adductor strain and has been cleared for more dynamic on-court movements. Davis has played only one game for Dallas since the 10-time All-Star was acquired in that seismic trade on Feb. 2 that sent five-time All-Star Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Thomas Bach says he feels a rare calm in his final weeks as IOC president even as a “new world order” gains speed ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Bach led the International Olympic Committee through two locked-down Games in a global pandemic and several affected by Russian doping and military aggression, among other crises. His successor will be elected March 20. The biggest event for the next IOC president — the L.A. Summer Games — could yet challenge Bach’s faith in the Olympics’ power to unite the world in peaceful competition and mutual acceptance. Bach says “We have a new world order in the making.”

Matt Weston’s lead in the men’s skeleton world championship grew to 1.65 seconds going into the fourth and final run later Friday at Mount Van Hoevenberg. Weston arrived at the track Friday with a lead of 0.89 seconds. The British slider had the fastest time in each of Thursday’s first two heats and was first down the track Friday, with a nearly mistake-free run that padded his lead even more. He had a track-record time of 52.80 seconds in his third run, topping 75 mph on his way down the chute in the headfirst-sliding sport.

Picture this: A sliding athlete wins an Olympic medal in Lake Placid next winter, then is chauffeured down to New York for an award ceremony at Rockefeller Center a few days later with thousands of people there to cheer on both moments. It could happen. The element of incorporating New York into the Olympics is just one of the unique details inside Lake Placid’s plan if the two-time Olympic host gets asked to be the site of the sliding events for next winter’s Milan-Cortina Games.

ESPN says it has agreed to a five-year extension with Stephen A. Smith after nearly a year of negotiations. ESPN did not announce financial terms but a person with knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press that it is at least $100 million. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss financial matters. Smith’s contract with ESPN was slated to expire in July. The extension makes Smith ESPN’s highest-paid talent. Fox Sports NFL analyst Tom Brady remains the top sports host or commentator with a 10-year deal that averages $37.5 million per year.

Lionel Messi likes to play padel in his free time with his Inter Miami teammates. Rafael Nadal was recently seen playing shots off the glass on a padel court at his academy in Spain. So what’s all the fuss about this other racket sport? An American audience is about to find out as the Premier Padel tour makes its debut in the U.S. this month with a tournament in Miami. Padel is a cross between tennis and squash with players allowed to hit the ball off the glass and metallic mesh walls that surround the court. The tournament will be played March 18-23 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

It wasn’t that long ago that Alex Condon was a point guard. Although he was admittedly “pretty uncoordinated” as a teenager playing low-level basketball in Australia, Condon quickly learned how to handle the rock. And he’s maintained those skills while growing into a 6-foot-11 big man and becoming one of Florida’s most important starters. He ranks third on the fifth-ranked Gators with 62 assists. Few big men in college can match his assist-to-turnover ratio that’s slightly better than 2-to-1.

The Buffalo Bills signed starting middle linebacker Terrel Bernard to a four-year contract extension in locking up their defensive leader through the 2029 season. The 25-year-old Bernard still has one year left on his rookie contract, and has quickly made an impact since being selected in the third round of the 2022 draft out of Baylor. He won the starting job in his second season and, last year, joined quarterback Josh Allen as being the team’s only two captains. Bernard’s a do-it-all player in Buffalo’s two-linebacker defensive system in teaming with veteran Matt Milano.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. says his proposal for a long-term contract with the Toronto Blue Jays was for less than $600 million. In an interview to ESPN, the four-time All-Star disputed speculation he sought a deal similar to the $765 million, 15-year contract that Juan Soto agreed to with the New York Mets. Guerrero has a $28.5 million, one-year contract and can become a free agent after the World Series. Guerrero hit .323 with a .396 on-base percentage, .544 slugging percentage, 30 homers and 103 RBIs in 159 games last season.

Robert Lewandowski is leading Barcelona in scoring. Pedri is in complete command of the midfield, and Lamine Yamal has all the trappings of a generational star. But it is Raphinha who has Barcelona looking like a championship-caliber team thanks to his clutch scoring. The Brazil forward has blossomed into an all-round player this campaign with 25 goals across all competitions. Osasuna coach Vicente Moreno called Raphinha one of the world's best players day before his team visits La Liga leader.

Two public school districts and several parents are suing in Pennsylvania in a bid to undo antidiscrimination protections for gay and transgender people. They say that the two-year-old regulation in Pennsylvania is illegal because it goes beyond what lawmakers intended or allowed. The lawsuit was filed in the statewide Commonwealth Court late Thursday. It comes amid debate in Pennsylvania and nationally over the rights of transgender high school athletes to compete in women’s sports. If the lawsuit is successful, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission would no longer be able to investigate complaints about discrimination involving sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Gov. Josh Shapiro's office had no immediate comment.

Soccer great Samuel Eto’o has successfully overturned a move to block him from running for a position on the governing body of African soccer. The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport found in Eto’o’s favor after he appealed a decision by the Confederation of African Football to exclude him as a candidate to join its executive committee. The 43-year-old former striker, who played for top clubs like Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea, has been president of the Cameroon soccer federation since 2021.

Italian veteran Dominik Paris has prevented a Swiss sweep of the podium by winning a men’s World Cup downhill race. Paris claimed his record-extending fourth World Cup win in Kvitfjell. He beat Marco Odermatt by 0.32 seconds and Stefan Rogentin by 0.63. Swiss skiers Franjo von Allmen and Alexis Monney were fourth and fifth, respectively. The 35-year-old Paris also won World Cup downhill races in Kvitfjell in 2016, 2019 and 2022, and Friday’s win took his tally altogether to 19, joint-second on the all-time downhill winners list with Peter Müller of Switzerland. Only Austrian skier Franz Klammer won more (25).

Nasa Hataoka and Cassie Porter are atop the leaderboard with a one-shot lead after the second round of the LPGA’s Blue Bay tournament on China’s southern island of Hainan. Hataoka shot a 6-under 66 on Friday and Porter was in with a 68, both 7-under 137 after two rounds. Rio Takeda was a shot behind after a 69, and Gabbie Lopez and Auston Kim were two back.

The future of Mikko Rantanen is the biggest question going into the final hours before the NHL trade deadline. The Carolina Hurricanes could flip the point-a-game, top-line forward they acquired in late January to another contender or opt to keep him in the hopes of making a run at the Stanley Cup. The risk is the 28-year-old Finn could walk for nothing in free agency July 1. Stay or go is also a question for pending free agent Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand and Kyle Palmieri of the New York Islanders. The Islanders already traded Brock Nelson 15 hours before the deadline.

Iowa State women’s basketball star Audi Crooks has a love-hate relationship with social media. Sometimes she’ll scroll through her direct messages and find a note from a little girl who sees her as a role model and asks for advice, words of encouragement or to take a picture with her after the next game. Other times, the Big 12’s leading scorer will receive a message criticizing the way she looks, the way she plays or the way she acts. Crooks says keyboard warriors are missing the point of social media and using it to connect with college athletes.

Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes is trying to take his burgeoning fame in stride. The 22-year-old became an instant sensation from the moment he made his big-league debut last May. The 6-foot-6 right-hander went on to start the All-Star Game and win the National League Rookie of the Year award. Skenes called the buzz that surrounds him as he enters his second season “cool” and is happy to help grow the game but only up to a point. Skenes pointed out his fame is dependent on his play, and that taking another step forward on the mound while trying to lead the Pirates to the playoffs is his focus.