AP Sports SummaryBrief at 1:36 p.m. EDT

Shohei Ohtani and four other Japanese players come home to start the MLB season TOKYO (AP) It's the World Series-champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Tokyo Dome to start the Major League Baseball season.

It's only two games.

For the record, the MLB regular season consists of almost 2,500 games.

But it's much more than just two games for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who was born in Japan.

And for Shohei Ohtani and the four other Japanese players competing at home for the Dodgers and Cubs.

MLB is opening its regular season for the second straight year in the Asian market.

Not just Ohtani: Tokyo Series will showcase the depth of Japanese talent in Major League Baseball TOKYO (AP) The spotlight will be on slugger Shohei Ohtani this week when the superstar returns to Japan and leads the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs in the first two games of the Major League Baseball season at the Tokyo Dome.

But he wont be the only one playing in front of his home country.

Four other Japanese players LAs Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, along with Chicagos Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga will be on the field in a display of how deep the talent pool is in the country.

Bubble watch: Indiana and Xavier now feeling the heat with Texas and North Carolina closing strong Xavier and Indiana had chances to give their NCAA Tournament resumes a significant boost.

But the Musketeers lost 89-87 to No.

25 Marquette, and Indiana fell 72-59 to No.

23 Oregon.

Those arent bad losses by any means, but they were squandered chances.

And Xavier and Indiana are very much on the bubble.

Texas and North Carolina are two bubble teams whose outlooks seemed pretty precarious a couple days ago.

Now they're still alive in their conference tournaments.

The Longhorns snagged a huge win over No.

14 Texas A&M, 94-89 in double overtime.

The Tar Heels beat Wake Forest 68-59.

It's not just Jamaica with a 'Cool Runnings' story.

There are sliders from all over the world now LAKE PLACID, N.Y.

(AP) It doesnt snow in Jamaica.

Or Malta.

Or Ghana.

Theres been a maybe dusting reported on rare occasions in parts of Thailand and Malaysia.

And nobody thinks of Spain, Colombia, Israel, Brazil and Taiwan as winter sports superpowers.

Theyre all sliding anyway.

Those 10 nations with a combined five Winter Olympic medals between them over the years, all won by Spain were part of a record turnout of 38 nations over the last two weeks at the world bobsled and skeleton championships in Lake Placid, a sign that the sports are still growing.

Injuries to freshman star Cooper Flagg, Maliq Brown hit at inopportune time for No.

1 Duke CHARLOTTE, N.C.

(AP) Duke coach Jon Scheyer says its a real long shot that freshman star Cooper Flagg will be able to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals because of an ankle sprain.

The 6-foot-9 Flagg rolled his left ankle in the first half of the top-ranked Blue Devils quarterfinal win against Georgia Tech on Thursday.

He hobbled off the court before heading to the locker room.

He returned to the bench for the second half but didnt play again.

Duke plays in the semifinals on Friday night.

Duke also lost versatile defensive forward Maliq Brown to a shoulder injury.

Bid to launch women's DI hockey at Michigan moving forward, regent Denise Ilitch tells the AP University of Michigan regent Denise Ilitch tells The Associated Press she believes theres enough support for the Big Ten school to launch a Division I womens hockey program that its only a matter of when, not if, it will happen.

Among the major issues still to to be resolved is determining whether to build a new facility to house both the mens and womens teams under one roof and paying for a projected cost of at least $300 million.

Ilitch, however, expressed confidence in saying she is eager to jumpstart the womens programs launch by identifying an off-campus arena to host the team in the interim.

Myles Garrett thinks Browns are in a better place after extension, discussions about team's future BEREA, Ohio (AP) Cleveland edge rusher Myles Garrett believes a trade request and voicing his frustrations during Super Bowl week about the Browns 3-14 campaign was the catalyst for more conversations with general manager Andrew Berry about the franchises future.

Instead of being traded, Garrett agreed to a four-year contract extension with an annual value of $40 million that makes him the highest-paid non-QB in NFL history.

John Feinstein, bestselling author and one of the country's foremost sports writers, dies at 69 WASHINGTON (AP) John Feinstein, one of the countrys foremost sports writers and the author of numerous bestselling books, has died unexpectedly, according to his brother, Robert Feinstein.

John Feinstein was 69.

He died of natural causes at his brothers home in McLean, Virginia.

He was a full-time reporter for the Washington Post from 1977 to 1991 and a commentator for outlets such as NPR, ESPN and the Golf Channel.

Feinstein was comfortable writing about all sports, but he was best-known for his connection to college basketball because of his groundbreaking book A Season on the Brink.

He was an AP Top 25 men's basketball poll voter for more than 20 years.

Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes wins longest-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes has won the longest-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska.

Holmes was first to the finish line Friday in the Gold Rush town of Nome, on the Bering Sea coast.

The race began March 3 in Fairbanks after a lack of snow forced changes to the route and starting point.

That made the normally 1,000-mile race a staggering 1,129 miles across the wilderness.

Holmes was competing for the eighth time.

He previously finished in the top 10 five times, including third last year and in 2022.

In his first Iditarod in 2018, his seventh-place finish earned him Rookie of the Year honors.

Lewis Hamilton ready to race for Ferrari for the first time in F1's season-opening Australian GP MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton racing a Ferrari for the first time.

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen arriving without a lot of mileage in his Red Bull.

Lando Norris helping McLaren set a benchmark with his pace in testing.

Formula 1 is expecting a hyper-competitive milestone 75th anniversary season in 2025 which starts this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix.

Theres no shortage of unknowns in terms of the pecking order, or the weather.

Most of the headlines ahead of Sundays Australian GP have revolved around Hamiltons move to Ferrari from Mercedes.

The normally relaxed pre-event news conference at Albert Park was overflowing with media there to hear from a rejuvenated Hamilton about how much hes enjoying the prancing horse-ride..

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