Matt Painter chooses to remain at Purdue

Purdue’s sales pitch to Matt Painter was good enough.

After talking with Missouri about its basketball coaching vacancy, Painter decided to stay at his alma mater Wednesday and has agreed to an eight-year contract through the 2018-19 season.

Purdue officials spoke with Painter by telephone Monday, then he met with Missouri officials Tuesday while on vacation in Florida. The Tigers are hoping to fill a vacancy left open when Mike Anderson left for Arkansas after a similar public bidding battle just a week ago.

Painter, 40, has been selected the Big Ten Conference’s coach of the year three times and led the Boilermakers to Sweet 16 appearances in 2009 and 2010. Purdue (26-8) made it to the third round of this year’s NCAA tournament but was knocked out by Final Four participant Virginia Commonwealth.

Terms of the new deal were not disclosed.

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The John R. Wooden Award men’s and women’s All-American teams were announced by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

The men’s team is Jimmer Fredette of Brigham Young, Ben Hansbrough of Notre Dame, JaJuan Johnson of Purdue, Kawhi Leonard of San Diego State, Marcus Morris of Kansas, Jacob Pullen of Kansas State, Nolan Smith of Duke, Jared Sullinger of Ohio State, Kemba Walker of Connecticut and Derrick Williams of Arizona.

The women’s team is Brittney Griner of Baylor, Maya Moore of Connecticut, Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Jeanette Pohlen of Stanford, and Courtney Vandersloot of Gonzaga.

All five women’s team members and the top five men’s vote-getters are invited to Los Angeles for the April 8 announcement of the Wooden Award winners.

ETC.

USC reaches WNIT final

The USC women’s basketball team advanced to the Women’s NIT championship game by handing Illinois State its first home loss of the season, 63-36, at Normal, Ill.

Jacki Gemelos led the Trojans (24-12) with 15 points, and Ashley Corral scored 14. Christina Marinacci had 13 rebounds for USC, which will now play at Toledo for the WNIT title Saturday at noon PDT. Toledo defeated Charlotte, 83-60, at home in the other semifinal.

Emily Hanley led Illinois State (24-11) with nine points.

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Mardy Fish claimed the top U.S. tennis ranking for the first time by reaching the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open at Key Biscayne, Fla., when he beat No. 6-seeded David Ferrer, 7-5, 6-2.

Fish, 29, will climb to at least 11th, a career best, in the next world rankings. Roddick, a good friend since childhood, will fall from eighth to 14th after losing his opening match last week.

Fish is the lone American with a shot at the title this weekend. He will try to continue his best run in 10 appearances at Key Biscayne on Friday against No. 2-seeded Novak Djokovic, who is unbeaten this year.

Djokovic extended his winning streak to 24 consecutive matches by defeating Kevin Anderson, 6-4, 6-2.

Victoria Azarenka advanced to her first semifinal this year by beating two-time champion Kim Clijsters, 6-3, 6-3.

Azarenka’s opponent Thursday night will be No. 3 Vera Zvonareva, who beat No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-5, 6-3. The other women’s semifinal will pit Andrea Petkovic against Maria Sharapova.

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Auburn will investigate claims by four former football players, who have told HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” that they received thousands of dollars while being recruited by or playing for the Tigers.

Stanley McClover, Troy Reddick, Chaz Ramsey and Raven Gray told HBO for an episode that aired Wednesday night that they received cash payments — in book bags, envelopes and even handshakes. Ramsey played at Auburn most recently, in the 2007 season.

Tommy Tuberville, Auburn’s coach during the recruitment of all four players, declined to comment Wednesday. He is now the head coach at Texas Tech.

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Golfer Ryo Ishikawa says he is giving all of his tournament earnings this year to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in his native Japan.

Kyodo News reported that Ishikawa, 19, also is pledging money for every birdie he makes.

If his results this season are similar to the ones he posted last year, Ishikawa could wind up giving more than $2 million toward relief efforts.

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Monroe Nash, the sixth man on the 1971 USC men’s basketball team that finished 24-2 and is considered the school’s best team ever, died Monday of a heart attack in San Diego, according to a statement from USC. Nash was 61.

A memorial service will be at noon April 7 at Mount Erie Baptist Church, 511 S. 47th St. in San Diego, the statement said.

—Baxter Holmes