Basketball

Minnesota fires coach — Minnesota fired Tubby Smith on Monday, cutting ties with the veteran coach one day after the Golden Gophers lost to Florida in the NCAA tournament. Athletics director Norwood Teague announced the decision Monday and said it was time for a “fresh set of eyes” on the program. Smith was 124-81 (.610) in six seasons at Minnesota, helping to bring the program back to respectability and ramping up expectations for a team hit hard by an academic cheating scandal.

Romar not looking at UCLA – Despite media reports linking him to UCLA, men’s basketball coach Lorenzo Romar said he’s staying at Washington. Despite missing the NCAA tournament for the second straight year and playing in the National Invitation Tournament, Romar is being linked to the UCLA job after the Bruins fired coach Ben Howland on Sunday. Romar said he hasn’t had contact with any UCLA school officials and is content at Washington.

Ratings up for tourney – The NCAA tournament’s first week has earned its highest television rating in 15 years. The broadcasts on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV averaged a 5.8 household rating and 12 share, the highest rating for the tournament’s first week since 1998. That year, the rating was 5.9 and 15 share. The networks say that’s up 27 percent from last year’s 5.6 and 11.

Garnett out a week — Boston’s Kevin Garnett is expected to miss at least a week with inflammation in his left ankle as the Celtics practice patience with their 36-year-old star. Coach Doc Rivers, preparing his team for a playoff run, said on Monday he doesn’t think Garnett will be out for the long term.

Gymnastics

OSU regional announced — The 2013 National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships regional selections were announced by the NCAA. Six teams, five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual event specialist per event (who has a minimum Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 9.4) were named to each of the six predetermined host sites. Joining No. 10 Oregon State (196.900 Regional Qualifying Score) at the Corvallis Regional will be No. 4 Georgia (197.260), No. 16 Arkansas (196.435), No. 21 Boise State (195.970), Arizona State (195.495) and California (195.340). The Corvallis regional will begin Wednesday, April 6 at 4 p.m.

Baseball

Former Tiger pitcher dies — Virgil “Fire” Trucks, who threw two no-hitters for the Detroit Tigers in an otherwise dreadful 1952 season and was the last visiting pitcher to toss a complete-game no-hitter at Yankee Stadium, has died. He was 95. Charter Funeral Home and Crematory in Calera, Ala., confirmed Trucks’ death but did not release a specific cause. The two-time All-Star died Saturday near Birmingham, Ala. He pitched in the major leagues from 1941-58, helping the Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs in the 1945 World Series.

Football

Two schools joining Sun Belt — A person familiar with the situation says Georgia Southern and Appalachian State are leaving the Southern Conference for the Sun Belt Conference. The two schools will join the Sun Belt in every sport except football beginning in 2014. The football programs will join in 2015, making the transition from the FCS to the FBS. An announcement is scheduled for later this week. The moves will give the Sun Belt 10 football members in 2015. Arkansas State, Georgia State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy and Western Kentucky are the others.

— From wire reports