NCAA settles on 68-team tourney format

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA has settled on the format for the new 68-team men's basketball tournament, though the announcement isn't scheduled until sometime next week.

The Division I men's basketball committee reached its decision after studying a number of options and discussing feedback during meetings in Chicago. The NCAA announced in April that it would add three teams to the field, the first expansion for the tournament since it went from 64 to 65 in 2001 after going from 48 to 64 in 1985. The new format is scheduled to take effect next March.

NCAA officials recommended the 68-team field after the public loudly complained that going to 80 or 96 teams would water down the NCAA's marquee event, and network executives insisted they did not need more tourney games to make a profit on the next television contract — a 14-year, $10.8 billion television package with CBS and Turner Broadcasting.

Bees to honor pilot killed in plane crash

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake Bees will honor Quinn Falk, the pilot who perished in a plane accident while preparing to tow the Bees' game banner last Saturday.

Bees general manager Marc Amicone and team members will present his family with a baseball and bat autographed by Bees players and coaching staff prior to the game at Spring Mobile Ballpark on Monday, July 5, against the Tacoma Rainiers.

Falk's girlfriend, Becky Knapton, and her son Parker Knapton, along with Falk's brother Dan Falk and best friend Corry Robbins will join the team on the field to accept the gifts and pay tribute to Quinn.

Parker Knapton will throw the first pitch just prior to the game's 7:05 p.m. start time.

Kinneberg, Cron begin stint with Team USA

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah head baseball coach Bill Kinneberg and All-America catcher C.J. Cron are preparing for a stint with USA Baseball this summer, which culminates with the FISU World University Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

Cron is one of 39 players who have been invited to the Collegiate National Team Trials, after which the roster will be narrowed down to 22 players with three alternates. The trials go from July 6-11 in Cary, N.C. For Kinneberg, it is his third stint with the USA team and his first as head coach. He served as the pitching coach in 1999 and 2007.

Sandy man wins national handball tourney

AUSTIN, Texas — Sandy's Gary Scogin won the Men's 50-plus Masters Singles Division at the United States Handball Association's National Four-Wall Championships in Austin, Texas, over the weekend.

Scogin defeated David Steinberg of Portland, Ore., (8-21), 21-3, 11-5 in the final.

Georgia AD arrested on DUI charge

ATLANTA — University of Georgia athletic director Damon Evans repeatedly referred to his position at the school before his arrest on a drunken driving charge and asked the patrol officer if there was "anything you can do without arresting me," according to a police report released Friday.

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Evans told the Georgia State Patrol officer several times he was the school's athletic director before he was arrested late Wednesday and charged with DUI and failure to maintain a lane, according to the report. Also arrested with him was 28-year-old Courtney Fuhrmann, who was charged with disorderly conduct. "I am not trying to bribe you, but I am the athletic director of the University of Georgia," Evans said, according to the officer identified in the report as M. Cabe.

The officer also said that Evans asked to be taken to a motel instead of jail or to be let off with a warning. According to the report, Evans later said: "I am not trying to bribe you, but is there anything you can do without arresting me?" In the report, the officer noted he found a "red pair of lady's panties between (Evans') legs." When he asked Evans, a 40-year-old married father of two children, what he was doing with the underwear, Evans said: "She took them off and I held them because I was just trying to get her home," according to the report.

Fuhrmann was charged with disorderly conduct after police said she repeatedly ignored warnings to stay inside the 2009 BMW while the trooper was conducting the field sobriety test and later acting "combative" in the back seat of the patrol car, according to the report

— Deseret News staff and wire reports

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