No NCAA appearances, so Michigan fires Amaker

Michigan basketball Coach Tommy Amaker was fired Saturday following six seasons leading the program without an NCAA tournament appearance.

Before this season started, Amaker said it was fair to expect the Wolverines to reach the NCAA tournament. They ended up playing in the NIT for the third time in four years and were eliminated from the tournament two days ago.

“Letting Tommy go was the toughest decision I’ve had to make in seven years as athletic director,” Bill Martin told the Associated Press.

“He took over a program that needed help, and he helped it in a lot of ways. But at Michigan, we have a tradition of winning Big Ten and national championships and we haven’t been close to doing either in a lot of ways.”

The Wolverines finished 22-13 after a 87-66 loss at Florida State in the second round of the NIT.

Amaker’s record at Michigan was 109-83 -- with three 20-win seasons -- and 43-53 in the Big Ten. He was under contract through the 2010-11 season.

MOTOR RACING

Burton wins second straight Busch race

Jeff Burton made it two NASCAR Busch Series victories in a row, easily holding off Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick in a Chevrolet to win the Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Kyle Busch appeared to be on the way to a victory, building leads of up to a full straightaway before the last of six caution flags came out on Lap 167 of the 195-lap race.

Busch led everyone back onto the track. But a NASCAR official spotted a missing lugnut on Busch’s left front wheel and called him back into the pits.

Busch fell back to 15th for the restart. The race restarted on Lap 174 and he moved up to third before running out of laps.

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When Ryan Newman noticed a miss in the engine while winning the pole Friday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he never expected it would force him to the back of the field.

Newman’s Penske Racing team changed the engine on his Dodge, meaning he’ll start from the rear of the 43-car field in today’s NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Kobalt Tools 500.

Newman’s lap of 193.124 mph ended a drought of 21 races without a pole. Elliott Sadler, who qualified second in a Dodge, will start from the No. 1 spot.

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Kimi Raikkonen won in his first race for Ferrari, dominating the season-opening Australian Grand Prix today for his 10th Formula One victory.

Raikkonen started from the pole position, and led almost throughout the race to edge world champion Fernando Alonso.

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Frank Biela became the second four-time winner in the history of the Twelve Hours of Sebring, teaming with Emmanuel Pirro and Marco Werner to drive an Audi R10/TDI prototype to a six-lap victory. An Acura prototype finished second in its American Le Mans Series debut.

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Kawasaki’s James Stewart held off Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael to win his eighth Amp’d Mobile Supercross Series race of the year in front of 42,991 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

WINTER SPORTS

Mancuso falls out of Cup title race

Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley, Calif., fell out of contention for the World Cup overall title, finishing 16th at Lenzerheide, Switzerland, in the season’s final slalom and ending her bid to become the first American woman to win the crown in 24 years.

Austria’s Nicole Hosp won with a combined time of 1 minute 45.67 seconds to overtake teammate Marlies Schild in the overall standings. Mancuso clinched third place overall.

Hosp earned 100 points and leads the overall standings with 1,472 points, 30 more than Schild. Mancuso, who has 1,332 points, tried to match the performance of Tamara McKinney, who won the overall title in 1983.

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Aksel Lund Svindal won the season’s final World Cup giant slalom at Lenzerheide, Switzerland, to clinch the discipline title and overtake Benjamin Raich for the lead in the overall standings.

Svindal had a combined time of 2:07.82. Massimiliano Blardone was second in 2:08.03. Bode Miller of Bretton Woods, N.H., seventh after the opening run, finished third in 2:08.49.

Svindal leads the overall standings with 1,252 points. Raich is second with 1,155.

COLLEGE SWIMMING

Auburn men win fifth straight title

David Marsh finished his long coaching career at Auburn with yet another NCAA men’s swimming and diving title, leading the Tigers to their fifth consecutive championship. He is leaving to become head coach and CEO of the Mecklenburg Aquatic Club in Charlotte, N.C.

Auburn finished with 566 points in the three-day event at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis. Stanford was a distant second with 397 points. Arizona (371), Florida (321) and Texas (296) rounded out the top five. USC (146) finished ninth.

Cesar Cielo capped the Tigers’ weekend with two NCAA and U.S. records. He won the 100-yard freestyle in 41.17, then took part in the 400 freestyle relay’s record 2:46.56 in the final event of the meet.

Larsen Jensen of USC won the 1,650 freestyle for the second time in three years, finishing in 14:26.70 -- the second-fastest time in NCAA history. Olympic bronze medalist Chris Thompson of Michigan set the mark in 2001 at 14:26.62.

SOCCER

Rooney, Park lead Manchester United

Wayne Rooney and Park Ji-Sung each scored two goals to lead Manchester United to a 4-1 victory over Bolton to maintain its six-point lead over Chelsea in the English Premier League. United (24-3-3) has 75 points. Chelsea (21-6-3), which defeated Sheffield United, 3-0, has 69.

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The Mexican women’s team defeated Japan, 2-1, at Mexico City, but Japan clinched a berth in the World Cup this September in China because it won the first leg of the two-match playoff, 2-0.

MISCELLANY

Holyfield stops Maddalone in third

Evander Holyfield’s bid to become the first five-time heavyweight champion gained momentum when the 44-year-old fighter stopped Vinny Maddalone in a bloody, one-sided bout at Corpus Christi, Texas.

At the urging of Maddalone’s trainer, Al Certo, referee Ruben Carrion stopped the fight at 2:48 of the third round.

Holyfield, whose comeback unfolds even as his name is associated with a nationwide steroid scandal, improved his record to 41-8-2.

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Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Gustavo Chacin was arrested and charged with driving under the influence in Tampa, Fla. Chacin was booked for a misdemeanor and released on $500 bond. Police reports showed he registered a blood-alcohol content of .150 and .152 in two consecutive readings. The state limit is .08.

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Heavyweight Cole Konrad won his second consecutive national championship to help Minnesota win the NCAA wrestling title at Auburn Hills, Mich.

The Golden Gophers finished with 98 points, 9.5 ahead of Iowa State. The Cyclones had three wrestlers in the championship round, but two losses kept them from winning the title.

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Pakistan, the 1992 champion, was eliminated from the cricket World Cup after a three-wicket loss to Ireland at Kingston, Jamaica. Trent Johnston’s hit gave Ireland, a second-tier teams, one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history.

PASSINGS

Dallas Cowboys fan Jones, 76

Wilford “Crazy Ray” Jones, the boisterous Dallas Cowboys fan who energized crowds for decades with his cowboy getup and sideline cheerleading, died Saturday at his home in Dallas. He was 76.