March Madness might expand

For the first time since adding a 65th team in 2001, the committee that oversees the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament is weighing expansion of the field.

Spurred by Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and other coaches, who called in March for at least modest expansion and met with the committee last week, incoming chairman Gary Walters said he expects the 10-man panel to address the issue, probably when it meets June 26-30 in Orlando, Fla.

The committee has been cool in the past to suggestions of expansion, reluctant to tamper with a hugely popular and successful event.

Expansion, if it happened, would require approval by NCAA legislative bodies and probably couldn’t come before 2009.

•Valparaiso (Ind.) is moving to the Horizon League in 2007, dropping out of the Mid-Continent Conference, where most of its teams have competed since 1982.

Football

Ex-Bengal dies

Dan Ross, who set the record for most Super Bowl receptions with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1982, collapsed and died shortly after an evening jog. He was 49.

The former tight was stricken at his home in Atkinson, N.H., after returning from a jog Tuesday, according to a release posted by Northeastern University. Ross was taken to Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill, Mass., where he died.

Ross made a Super Bowl-record 11 catches for 104 yards and two touchdowns in the Bengals’ 26-21 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in 1982. Jerry Rice and Deion Branch have since tied the mark.

•Minnesota Vikings cornerback Fred Smoot (May 30) and tackle Bryant McKinnie (July 7) will go on trial on charges stemming from a boat-party sex scandal. Both players are charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, indecent conduct, and lewd and lascivious behavior.

Hockey

U.S. team tumbles

Mika Hannula’s hat trick helped Olympic champion Sweden beat the United States 6-0 in the quarterfinals at the World Ice Hockey Championship at Riga, Latvia.

The Swedes advance to face Canada, which scored three goals in a span of 1:39 in the third period to beat Slovakia 4-1 in a later quarterfinal.

Auto racing

Hornish stays hot

With 31 drivers scurrying to make up for nearly a week’s worth of rained-out practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Sam Hornish Jr. was fastest again – and he had plenty of company on the 2.5-mile oval.

Hornish has been fastest on all but one practice day since the track opened May 9, including his latest circuit of 224.381.

Helio Castroneves was a close second behind his teammate on the speed chart at 223.392, followed by Scott Sharp at 223.293; 2004 Indy winner Buddy Rice at 222.895; and defending champion Dan Wheldon at 222.615.

Danica Patrick endured another frustrating day, posting a lap of 219.526 mph.

•An appeals committee upheld Richard “Slugger” Labbe’s suspension, sidelining Dale Jarrett’s crew chief for the next four weeks. NASCAR said that Labbe illegally mounted the sway bar on Jarrett’s car two weeks ago in Richmond.

Miscellany

Agassi must pay

Andre Agassi must pay taxes on earnings from overseas endorsement deals, The House of Lords ruled in London.

The court ruled that foreign show business and athletes performing in Britain are liable for income tax on money earned from endorsement deals, even though the income never enters the country.

•Samuel Eto’o and Juliano Belletti scored in the final 15 minutes as Barcelona rallied past Arsenal 2-1 in the soccer final of the European Champions League at Saint-Denis, France.