GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida coach Todd Golden officially filled two open spots on his staff by promoting analytics director Jonathan Safir and hiring New York University head coach Dave Klatsky. Safir and Klatsky replace John Andrzejek and Kevin Hovde. Andrzejek left to take the head coaching job at Campbell, and Hovde took over at Columbia. Florida also formally added Princeton transfer guard Xaivian Lee and incoming freshman CJ Ingram. Lee averaged 16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists last season and will be a much-needed ball handler for Florida, which lost guards Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard to graduation and backup Denzel Aberdeen to the transfer portal.
UNDATED (AP) — The NCAA has passed rules that would upend decades of precedent by allowing colleges to pay their athletes per terms of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit settlement expected to go into effect this summer. The nine proposals passed by the NCAA board were largely expected but still mark a defining day in the history of college sports. An athlete’s ability to be paid directly by his or her university in on track to be enshrined in a rulebook that forbid that kind of relationship for decades.
UNDATED (AP) — North Carolina guard Ian Jackson is transferring to St. John’s and returning to his hometown to play for Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino. A highly touted recruit from the Bronx, Jackson averaged 11.9 points last season while shooting 45.6% overall and 39.5% on 3-pointers. He became the first Tar Heels freshman to score 23 or more points in four consecutive games, and he finished with at least 20 points eight times. North Carolina went 23-14 overall and tied for fourth in the ACC at 13-7. St. John’s was looking for backcourt help with Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith having used up their eligibility.
UNDATED (AP) — No one is surprised that West Coast additions UCLA, Oregon, Southern California and Washington are lined up in a row in the Big Ten Conference standings. The surprise is that Iowa is the one team in front of them. The Hawkeyes were picked ninth in the conference by D1Baseball.com. They are coming off a three-game sweep at Michigan and start the week 2 1/2 games ahead of second-place UCLA. Iowa now starts a challenging finishing stretch of Big Ten series against Indiana, Washington and Oregon.
