Western Kentucky University’s Board of Regents are holding a special called meeting today to vote on moving the school’s athletic program from the Sun Belt Conference to Conference USA. The move is expected to be approved and if so, WKU would join C-USA beginning in July, 2014.

College Basketball: Louisville’s Kevin Ware is expected to be released from Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis tomorrow after suffering a broken leg in the first half of the Cardinals win over Duke in the NCAA Midwest Region final Sunday.

Doctors say the leg snapped in two places and had to reset the limb and place a rod in the right tibia. Coach Rick Pitino says Ware will be out for at least a year. The Cardinals will meet Wichita State in the Final Four Saturday in Atlanta.

Kentucky coach John Calipari has announced that Archie Goodwin is leaving the program to go to the NBA, while Willie Cauley Stein and Kyle Wiltjer have announced they plan to return next season.  Goodwin led Kentucky in scoring last season at 14 points per game.  Calipari announced in a statement he wished that Goodwin would return for his sophomore year, but he fully supported him in pursuing his dreams.  He also added he was excited that both Cauley Stein and Wiltjer were returning next season.

Murray State picked up a verbal commitment over the weekend. WPSD reported on its website 6-6 Jonathan Augustin-Fairell is planning to come to Murray from Indian River State College in Florida. Fairell averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds a game during his just completed sophomore season.

College Basketball

Emotions ran high and with tears in their eyes, the Louisville Cardinals earned their second consecutive trip to the Final Four with a 85-63 win over Duke in the finals of the Midwest Region Sunday in Indianapolis.

The Cards fought through the emotions of losing Kevin Ware in the first half with a broken leg and picked up their 33^rd win of the season behind Russ Smith’s 23 points, along with 14 points and 11 rebounds from Gorgui Dieng. The Cardinals will face Wichita State Saturday in Atlanta.

Michigan joined Louisville in the Final Four after dominating Florida in the finals of the South Region 79-59. The Wolverines opened the game with a 13-0 run and never looked back. Michigan will face Syracuse Saturday in Atlanta.

The emotions of Louisville’s win in the men’s tournament carried over to the women’s tournament as well as the Cardinals upset top overall seed Baylor 82-81. Monique Reid’s free throws with 2.6 seconds left gave Louisville the victory. Louisville will face Tennessee in the Oklahoma City region final, after the Lady Vols rolled over Oklahoma 74-59. The game takes place tomorrow night.

A trip to the Final Four in New Orleans is on the line tonight as 30-5 Kentucky faces 32-4 Connecticut in the Bridgeport region final. Tip off is at 6:30, with pre game coverage at 6:15 on Lite 98.7.

Also this evening is the Spokane region final as Georgia meets California.

Kentucky coach John Calipari announced Sunday guard Ryan Harrow is transferring to Georgia State. In a statement, Calipari said he supported Harrow’s decision to move closer to home to be with his ailing father, who suffered a stroke before the start of the basketball season.

Harrow will seek a waiver from the NCAA to be allowed to play next season, otherwise he will have to sit out a year. Harrow transferred to Kentucky from North Carolina State following his freshman season.

Western Kentucky University’s Board of Regents have scheduled a meeting at 11:30 this morning to vote on the school leaving the Sun Belt Conference to join Conference USA. As we reported late last week, it had been widely speculated that WKU would have the opportunity to join CUSA. WKU would join Conference USA in 2014. WKU has been a member of the Sun Belt since 1982 in all sports but football, which came into the fold when the program went to Football Bowl Subdivision in 2009.

High School Baseball-Today’s games: Fort Campbell hosts St. Mary, Caldwell County entertains Logan County, Henderson County travels to Crittenden County, Madisonville is at Seminole, FL.

High School Softball- Today’s games: Christian County goes to Union County, Hopkinsville is at Franklin Simpson, Russellville hosts Butler County.

High School Basketball: Hopkinsville’s Jordan Majors was selected to the Kentucky Senior All Star team over the weekend. Majors averaged 21.6 points per game in leading the Tigers to the semi finals of the Boys Sweet 16 before they lost to state champion Madison Central.

Also named to the Kentucky Junior All Star team was Hopkinsville's Tra Edwards. Edwards averaged 10 points per game this past season. Both Kentucky senior and junior teams will play against their counterparts from Indiana in June.

Owensboro Catholic’s Becca Greenwell was chosen to the Kentucky Senior Girls All Star team announced Sunday.

MLB: The Cincinnati Reds open the season this afternoon hosting the LA Angels of Anaheim at Great American Ballpark. Pre game coverage begins at 2:40 on News/Talk WHOP.

Other openers include the Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh, Atlanta hosts Philadelphia and St. Louis is at Arizona.

Minor League Baseball: The Bowling Green Hot Rods have unveiled their roster for the 2013 season. It includes seven of Baseball America’s Top 30 Tampa Bay Rays prospects and the first ever Kentucky native. Luke Maile, a catcher-first baseman of Edgewood joins the Hot Rods this season. Maile played collegiately at Kentucky. The Hot Rods open their season Thursday at South Bend, with the Midwest League team opening the home portion of the season next Monday against Lansing.

NHL: The Nashville Predators wrap up a two game road trip at Chicago this evening, with pre game coverage at 7:30 on News/Talk WH

College Basketball

The Elite Eight is now set in the NCAA Tournament.  In the South Region, Michigan needed overtime but the fourth-seeded Wolverines knocked off number-one seed Kansas 87-85 to advance.  Michigan will meet third-seeded Florida, which ended the Cinderella run of 15th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast with a 62-50 victory. The two teams will play Sunday afternoon.

In the Midwest Region, the top-two seeds are on to the final.  Top-overall seed Louisville dismantled 12th-seeded Oregon 77-69 to move on to their second straight Elite Eight.  The Cardinals will play second-seeded Duke, which took apart three-seed Michigan State, 71-61.  Louisville is the lone remaining number-one seed and plays the Blue Devils also on Sunday afternoon.

Two tickets to next weekend’s Final Four in Atlanta will be punched today as Syracuse meets Marquette in the East Region final, while Ohio State takes on Wichita State in the West Region final. Coverage of both games begins at 3 on News/Talk WHOP.

Kentucky’s women’s team meets Delaware in the semi finals of the Bridgeport Region at 11 am, with pre game coverage beginning at 10:45 on Lite 98.7. If Kentucky wins, they would face either Connecticut or Maryland in the finals Monday night.

Other semi final action today has Georgia meeting top seed Stanford and LSU playing two seed California in the semi finals of the Spokane region, with the winners to play Monday night.

Tennessee and Louisville are both in action tomorrow in the Oklahoma City semi finals, with the Lady Vols meeting Oklahoma, while the Cardinals face top overall seed Baylor.

Butler's Brad Stevens has reportedly been the target of UCLA's search for a new coach, but indications are that Stevens will remain with the Bulldogs.  

Stevens has been the head coach at Butler since the 2007-08 season and has guided the Bulldogs to a record of 167-49 with five NCAA Tournament appearances in six years. This year's squad went 28-9 in its first season in the Atlantic 10. The Bulldogs lost to Marquette in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

High School Baseball-Today’s games: Hopkinsville at Calloway County, Dawson Springs hosts Warren East, University Heights meets Kenwood at the Falcon Classic at Fort Campbell, which also has the host Falcons meeting Carlisle County and Sycamore, TN.

Caldwell County meets Moore County, TN and Watertown, TN at the Marshall Classic at Marshall County. The host Marshals play Hancock County, who also plays Murray. Murray also takes on Webster County.

Union County plays Scott County and Castle, IN at the Mojo Classic at Henderson County, with the host Colonels meeting St. X.

High School Softball-Friday’s scores: Paducah Tilghman defeated University Heights 6-2, Lyon County edged Dawson Springs 2-1, Hopkins Central shutout Webster County 8-0,

Today’s games:   Christian County travels to Livingston Central, Russellville hosts Clinton County for a doubleheader.

High School Basketball: Kentucky’s Mr. and Miss Basketball were announced during a ceremony in Louisville Friday evening. Madison Central’s Dominque Hawkins was named Mr. Basketball, while Marion County’s Makayla Epps was selected Miss Basketball. Both will wear the number 1 jerseys for the Kentucky All Stars when they play the Indiana All Stars in June.

Hawkins and Epps also both won MVP awards in their respective state tournaments, and were named Kentucky’s Gatorade Players of the Year

College Football: Kentucky had its first scrimmage of spring practice Friday, with the team getting in over 140 plays. Coach Mark Stoops said he was pleased with both the offense and defense as far as alignments, assignments and tempo, but noted the team needed more playmakers.

Stoops also confirmed defensive lineman Donte Rumph, who injured his shoulder in practice Monday, had surgery Friday. Rumph is expected to return to the field in time for fall camp.

Western Kentucky will wear a new helmet when they take the field for the 2013 season. New coach Bobby Petrino unveiled the chrome, reflective helmet with red trim during a Bowling Green-Warren County Chamber of Commerce breakfast Friday morning. The Hilltoppers have their first spring game under Petrino April 20^th and open the season August 31^st against Kentucky at LP Field in Nashville.

College Baseball/Softball: Baseball action saw Austin Peay clinch its 6^th consecutive Ohio Valley Conference series with a 10-3 win over Murray State Friday. The two teams conclude the series in Murray this afternoon.

Western Kentucky defeated Louisiana’s Ragin Cajuns in 11 innings 10-9, with game two of the series today in Bowling Green.

Softball action saw Murray State lost 1-0 at Eastern Illinois, with the teams playing a doubleheader this afternoon. Austin Peay lost a pair of OVC games at UT Martin 8-5 and 4-3, with the series finale this afternoon.

Major League Baseball: Detroit Tigers ace pitcher Justin Verlander is set to be the highest paid pitcher in baseball.  Verlander and the team have agreed to a five-year contract extension which runs through 2019 and includes a vesting option for 2020.  Multiple outlets report the pact will pay him 180-million-dollars over the next seven seasons and the vesting option could push the deal to 202-million-dollars. 

Verlander went 17-and-8 with a 2.64 ERA last season.  The 30-year-old is 124-and-65 with a 3.40 ERA in eight big league seasons, all with Detroit.

San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey will be in the City By The Bay through at least 2021.  Posey has agreed to terms on an eight-year contract extension with an option for 2022.  He had already signed a one-year pact for 2013. ESPN reports the deal is worth $167 million for nine years. Posey hit .336 with 24 home runs and 103 RBI in 148 games last season. 

The Arizona Diamondbacks are rewarding first baseman Paul Goldschmidt with a five-year contract extension.  Multiple outlets report the deal is worth 32-million-dollars with a club option for a sixth season at 14.5-million-dollars.  The 25-year-old hit .286 with 20 homers, 43 doubles and 82 RBI in 145 games last season, his first full year in the big leagues. 

NFL: The Dallas Cowboys have given quarterback Tony Romo a long term contract extension. ESPN reports it’s a six year deal worth $108 million, making him the highest paid player in franchise history. Romo is the Cowboys all time leader in touchdown passes with 174 and has the franchise’s single season records for yards and touchdowns.

NHL: The Nashville Predators look to get back on the winning ways this afternoon as they open a brief two game road trip at the Columbus Blue Jackets. First puck drops just after 2 pm.

PGA Tour: Monday qualifier Steve Wheatstone has a one shot lead heading into the third round of the Shell Houston Open. Wheatstone fired a five under par 67 Friday for a two day total of 10 under 134. First round leader DA Points and Jason Kokrak are at nine under, with Stewart Cink and Brian Davis three shots off the lead.

Danville native Josh Teater had a five under 67 and is at three under par, while Nashville native Brandt Snedeker missed the cut at one over par.

Rory McIlroy announced Friday he will play in next week’s Valero Texas Open, the final tune up before the first major of the year, The Masters in two weeks.

College Basketball: Semi final action continues tonight in the NCAA tournament as Louisville meets Oregon and Duke goes against Michigan State in the Midwest Region, while Kansas takes on Michigan and Florida meets Florida Gulf Coast in the South Region. Coverage of all four games begins at 6 on News/Talk WHOP.

Kentucky is making final preparations for its semi final appearance in the Women’s NCAA tournament tomorrow against Delaware in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Tip off at 11, with pre game coverage at 10:45 on Lite 98.7.

The Lexington Herald Leader reports any announcement concerning whether Madison Central’s Dominque Hawkins will play for Kentucky will not come until after the school’s spring break, which is next week. Hawkins is scheduled to attend a dinner this evening in Louisville at which Kentucky Mr. Basketball will be chosen.

ESPN reports former Minnesota and Kentucky coach Tubby Smith has met with Texas Tech officials about their vacancy. Smith was fired by Minnesota Monday, one day after losing to Florida in the NCAA tournament. The Red Raiders were coached on an interim basis this season by Chris Walker and went 11-20. Walker was named coach after another former Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie was fired before the start of the season.

It appears UCLA has its sights set on hiring Butler coach Brad Stevens. ESPN reports that Stevens reaffirmed to them via a text message he is the coach at Butler. Butler lost to Marquette in the seond round of the NCAA East regional last week. Earlier this week, Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart turned down an offer from the Bruins.

MLB: The St. Louis Cardinals made it official on Thursday and announced a new five year contract for pitcher Adam Wainwright. Financial terms were not disclosed, although the Cardinals did indicate it’s the largest contract in franchise history for a pitcher. Reports Wednesday said the deal is worth close to $100 million.

The Cardinals also announced they will wear a uniform patch this season honoring the late Stan Musial. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports there will be three different patches for each of the uniforms they will use. Musial died in January.