The College Football Playoff will go to a more straightforward way of filling the bracket next season, placing teams strictly on where they are ranked instead of moving pieces around to reward conference champions.

Ten conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director came to the unanimous agreement they needed Thursday to shift the model that drew complaints last season.

The new format was widely expected after last season’s jumbled bracket gave byes to Big 12 champion Arizona State and Mountain West champion Boise State, even though those teams were ranked ninth and 12th by the playoff selection committee.

NBA

Nuggets promote Adelman to full-time coach >> Denver Nuggets interim coach David Adelman was promoted to full time after leading the team to the NBA Western Conference semifinals.

Nuggets president and governor Josh Kroenke announced the promotion after Adelman righted the discombobulated Nuggets and led them to a Game 7 against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, where they lost 125-93 on Sunday.

Adelman replaced Michael Malone last month.

Green named to All-DEFENSIVE TEAM >> Draymond Green’s Hall of Fame legacy as one of the NBA’s all-time great stoppers was further solidified on Thursday.

The 35-year-old frontcourt standout was named to the league’s first-team all-defense squad for the fifth time in his career. Green was an overwhelming choice for the first team, receiving 81 first-place votes and 17 second-place votes from the 100 voters. No other Warrior received even a single second-place vote.

Green joined Cleveland’s Evan Mobley, Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels, Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort and San Leandro native Amen Thompson of Houston on the all-defense team.

MLB

ANGELS SWEEP A’s >> Taylor Ward hit a go-ahead grand slam, Logan O’Hoppe also homered in a five-run seventh inning and the Los Angeles Angels rallied past the skidding Athletics 10-5 on Thursday for their seventh consecutive victory.

Ward and O’Hoppe both connected off reliever Grant Holman (4-1), sending the A’s to their ninth loss in a row.

Hockey

US beats Finland at worlds >> Conor Garland’s two power-play goals helped the United States beat Finland 5-2 to reach the semifinals of the ice hockey world championship.

Trailing 2-1 in the middle period, the Americans needed 71 seconds to turn things around when defenseman Zeev Buium put home a rebound at 23:53 before Garland’s second goal restored the U.S. lead.

Garland had given the U.S. a 1-0 lead 4:50 into the game when he received a cross-ice pass from Logan Cooley to beat goalie Juuse Saros from the right circle.

Soccer

Pulisic among the US starters to miss CONCACAF Gold Cup >> Christian Pulisic is among a slew of regular starters who will be missing when the United States plays in next month’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, another blow for a team coming off dismal performances at the Copa America and CONCACAF Nations League.

Pulisic, the top American player, asked to be left off the roster for the last competitive matches before the 2026 World Cup in order to rest after playing about 120 games for club and country over two seasons.