Roundup: Utah advances to NIT finals

Utah men’s basketball is off to the NIT finals after beating Western Kentucky 69-64 Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York (Pac-12 Network highlights). The Runnin’ Utes will play Penn State Thursday night at 4 p.m. PT/5 p.m. MT for all the NIT marbles.

Arizona men’s basketball’s Rawle Alkins will enter the 2018 NBA Draft, he announced on Twitter Tuesday.

Washington State men’s basketball point guard Malachi Flynn announced his intention to transfer, Theo Lawson reports. He is the ninth player to transfer from Wazzu in Ernie Kent’s four years there.

This was, well, interesting – former UCLA football coach Jim Mora endorsed Sam Darnold as the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft over Josh Rosen. He had plenty of compliments for Rosen but said that he thinks Darnold “kind of represents what Cleveland is.”

Former USC safety Su’a Cravens has been traded from the Washington Redskins to the Denver Broncos (ESPN). According to Adam Schefter, the Redskins are also sending a fourth-round pick and a fifth-rounder to Denver for a fourth-round pick and two fifth-round picks this year in addition to a conditional sixth-round pick in 2020.

Karen Price of TeamUSA.org takes a look at Katie Ledecky’s Stanford swimming career. Ledecky announced earlier this week that she is turning pro after competing at the NCAA level for two years.

Colorado soccer’s Taylor Kornieck has been added to the United States’ U-20 Women’s National Team roster, U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday. (BuffZone.com).

Adam Jude gives us a Washington football spring preview of the secondary. A lot of returners in the defensive backfield for the Dawgs as they begin spring practice Wednesday.

Andrew Greif gives us this Oregon women’s basketball “season at a glance.” Another banner year for the Ducks, highlighted by Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles and a second straight Elite Eight appearance.

Arizona State’s Maggie Ewen was named Pac-12 Women’s Field Athlete of the Week after taking the NCAA lead in the hammer throw during the Pac-12+/Big Ten Challenge.

Former Cal gymnast Sean Bryan has done some serious work on American Ninja Warrior, California Golden Blogs points out.

Former Oregon State defensive coordinator Kevin Clune has joined the Memphis staff, Danny Moran reports. Memphis announced Tuesday that it hired Clune as a senior defensive assistant.