Rick Pitino won his first Big East Coach of the Year award and RJ Luis Jr. took Player of the Year honors after they propelled a resurgent St. John’s program to its best regular season in almost four decades.

UConn forward Liam McNeeley was selected the league’s Freshman of the Year despite missing eight games with a high ankle sprain.

In his second season at the school, Pitino guided sixth-ranked St. John’s (27-4, 18-2) to its first outright Big East regular-season title in 40 years after the team was picked fifth in the preseason coaches’ poll. A winner of national championships at Kentucky and Louisville, the 72-year-old Hall of Famer became the first coach to lead five programs to regular-season conference crowns. He is the winningest active Division I basketball coach with 881 victories.

Arkansas nearly blow lead to No. 16 South Carolina >> Trevon Brazile had 16 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, Johnell Davis scored six key points in the final 40 seconds and No. 9 seed Arkansas nearly blew a 20-point lead before holding off No. 16 seed South Carolina 72-68 to begin the SEC Tournament.

Arkansas (20-12) will play a second-round game against No. 8 seed Ole Miss on Thursday. The then-13th ranked Rebels won the only regular-season meeting 73-66 on Jan. 8.

Baseball

Blue Jays Scherzer out with Thumb injury >> Max Scherzer won’t make his scheduled spring training start for Toronto on Thursday due to right thumb soreness.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider said the team is being cautious with the 40-year-old right-hander. Scherzer was slated to pitch against Baltimore.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner signed a $15.5 million, one-year contract with Toronto and has made three spring training starts, allowing two runs over nine innings with 14 strikeouts and no walks. He last pitched Saturday.

Jankowski opts out of Cubs deal joins White Sox >> Outfielder Travis Jankowski agreed to a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox after opting out a minor league deal with the Cubs.

Jankowksi signed with the Cubs on Feb. 24 after spending the past two seasons in Texas, where he won a World Series with the Rangers in 2023 as their fourth outfielder.

NBA

Jazz Fined $100,000 >> The NBA fined the Utah Jazz $100,000 for violating the league’s player participation policy after failing to make leading scorer Lauri Markkanen available for recent games.

The league said it was penalizing the team for failing to make Markkanen available at Washington on March 5 as well as other games the past few weeks.

The 7-footer from Finland had not played since a win over Houston on Feb. 22. Markkanen, averaging 19.3 points, was listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game at Memphis due to a lower back injury.

NFL

Rams release Kupp >> The Los Angles Rams cut Super Bowl 56 MVP Cooper Kupp after being unable to find a trade partner for their former No. 1 wide receiver.

The Rams officially moved on from the 2021 AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year at the start of the league year.

Kupp announced last month that the Rams were trying to trade him despite his desire to remain with the team. But with him being owed $20 million this season, no other team was willing to make a trade.

Ravens Pierce retires on Podcast >> Ravens defensive lineman Michael Pierce says he’s retiring.

“I’ve decided to call it a career,” Pierce said on the Sports Spectrum podcast. “It’s been a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful nine years. I’ve had so many people help me along the way.”

Pierce spent seven of those NFL seasons in two stints with Baltimore, sandwiched around time with Minnesota. Pierce opted out of the 2020 season.

Bills re-sign Hamlin >> Safety Damar Hamlin is returning to Buffalo, and the Bills also continued restocking their defensive front by agreeing to sign tackle Larry Ogunjobi.

Hamlin, a pending unrestricted free agent, returns to Buffalo after starting 14 games last season in continuing a remarkable comeback for a player who had a near-death experience two years ago. Hamlin chose to resume his career after he went into cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the field during a game at Cincinnati in January 2023.

Hockey

Rangers re-sign goalie Quick >> The New York Rangers have signed veteran goaltender Jonathan Quick to another one-year contract, which comes with a $1.55 million guaranteed salary.

Quick, 39, is three-quarters of the way through his second NHL season serving as Igor Shesterkin’s backup for New York. Last month, he became the first U.S.-born goaltender to record 400 wins in the league.

Soccer

Champions league >> Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid in a Champions League penalty shootout — again — to keep its title defense alive Wednesday and advance to the quarterfinals.

Defender Antonio Rudiger scored the decisive spot-kick in a 4-2 shootout win after two Atletico players missed. Marco Llorente’s shot struck the bar after Julian Alvarez’s score after he slipped was disallowed because the ball struck his right foot twice.

Madrid moves on to the quarterfinals to face Arsenal, which also advanced Wednesday along with Aston Villa and Borussia Dortmund.

Arsenal rested some regulars in a 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven to run up a 9-3 aggregate score.

Aston Villa also had a stress-free evening at home to ensure England has two teams in the quarterfinals, one night after Premier League leader Liverpool was beaten at Anfield by Paris Saint-Germain.