BASEBALL

VETERAN OUTFIELDER GRISSOM ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT Marquis Grissom announced his retirement yesterday after a 17-year major league career. The 38-year-old outfielder signed a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs in January and had hoped to make the team as a backup. But he batted just .200 in 17 spring training games. Grissom leaves as one of seven players with 2,000 hits, 200 home runs, and 400 stolen bases, joining Craig Biggio, Roberto Alomar, Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor, and Joe Morgan.

Grissom finished with 429 stolen bases, including a career-high 78 in 1992. He was a two-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner during a career that saw him play in the majors with six teams. Grissom batted .272 with 386 doubles, 56 triples, 227 homers, and 967 RBI, and he compiled .988 fielding percentage in 2,165 major league games. He also batted .317 in 52 postseason appearances with 20 RBI. Grissom broke in with Montreal in 1989 and also played for Atlanta, Milwaukee, the Dodgers, and the Giants.

ASTROS INSURANCE CLAIM ON BAGWELL DENIED An insurance claim filed by the Houston Astros to recoup more than $15 million owed to injured first baseman Jeff Bagwell has been denied. The National League champions filed the claim in January to recoup about $15.6 million of the $17 million Bagwell is guaranteed this season in the final year of his contract, arguing he is too hurt to play because of a chronically injured right shoulder.

The 37-year-old Bagwell will begin the season on the disabled list and acknowledged Saturday he might never play again. He said he will start the season on the 15-day disabled list and consult with a doctor to see if it would be beneficial to remove bone spurs from his shoulder.

Bagwell, a four-time All-Star, holds the franchise record with 449 home runs. He has 1,529 RBIs and 1,517 runs. He is the only first baseman with 400 home runs and 200 stolen bases in his career. Bagwell has been the Astros’ first baseman on opening day the past 15 seasons.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

MICHIGAN REACHES NIT FINAL Courtney Sims scored 18 points to help Michigan beat Old Dominion 66-43 last night and advance to the NIT championship game for the second time in three years. Michigan (22-10) will play either South Carolina or Louisville in the championship game on Thursday night.

Trailing 21-14 with 12:14 left in the first half, Michigan held the Monarchs without a field goal for the rest of the half. The Wolverines outscored the Monarchs 19-3 over that stretch, highlighted by Sims’s two-handed dunk that made it 31-24.

Brian Henderson made three straight 3s to get the Monarchs within 35-33, but the Wolverines responded with a 13-5 run to take command of the game. Brent Petway capped the spurt with a two-handed alley-oop dunk that gave Michigan a 48-38 lead. Old Dominion would get no closer than eight the rest of the way as Michigan ended the game on a 18-5 run.

OKLAHOMA’S SAMPSON TO TAKE OVER HOOSIERS Indiana will hire Kelvin Sampson as its next basketball coach, taking him from an Oklahoma team under the cloud of a recruiting investigation to lead one of the most prestigious programs in the country.

Sampson spent the last 12 seasons at Oklahoma, re-establishing the Sooners as a national contender. This year, Oklahoma went 20-9 and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The 50-year-old Sampson would replace Mike Davis, who announced February 16 he was resigning after leading the Hoosiers the past six seasons. Davis went 115-79, became the first Indiana coach to win 20 games in each of his first three seasons and led the Hoosiers to the 2002 national championship game just two seasons after Bob Knight was fired.

In 12 seasons with the Sooners, Sampson went 279-109 and led the Sooners to 12 straight postseason appearances, including their first Final Four trip in more than a decade. Sampson is also one of six coaches with 20 or more wins each of the past nine seasons. The others are Arizona’s Lute Olson (15), Kentucky’s Tubby Smith (13), Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (10), Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim (9), and Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun (9).

PARIS IS FIRST EVER FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICAN In her first college game, Courtney Paris broke loose for 24 points and 10 rebounds – in only 20 minutes. As it turned out, she was just getting warmed up. Four months and 33 double-doubles later, the Oklahoma center has become the first freshman selected for the Associated Press All-America team in women’s basketball.

LSU senior Seimone Augustus was the lone unanimous choice on the team released yesterday, and the only first-team repeater from last year. Also chosen were North Carolina junior Ivory Latta, Rutgers senior Cappie Pondexter and Baylor senior Sophia Young. Augustus was a first-team pick on all 46 ballots from the national panel that votes in the weekly Top 25, receiving the maximum 230 points. Latta had 39 first-team votes and 210 points, while Pondexter had 36 and 207,Paris 30 and 184, and Young 25 and 183.

TENNIS

FEDERER, MAURESMO ADVANCE IN KEY BISCAYNE Top-ranked Roger Federer took 58 minutes to eliminate unseeded Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 6-3 yesterday to reach the quarterfinals of the Nasdaq-100 in Key Biscayne. Fla. Federer extended to 20 matches his record winning streak in Masters Series events, and he improved to 25-1 this year. Also reaching the quarterfinals were Argentines David Nalbandian and Agustin Calleri, and Croats Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic.

On the women’s side, no. 1-seeded Amelie Mauresmo and no. 12 Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced to a semifinal matchup Friday. Mauresmo improved to 23-3 this year by beating no. 5 Nadia Petrova 6-3, 6-1, and Kuznetsova defeated no. 21 Ai Sugiyama 6-0, 7-6 (4).

BASKETBALL

SUNS SHUT DOWN STOUDEMIRE AGAIN Amare Stoudemire has been sent back to the sidelines for further rehabilitation work on his left knee, Phoenix Suns coach and general manager Mike D’Antoni said yesterday. Stoudemire did not play last night against the Bucks in Milwaukee and is “probably doubtful” for at least another week, D’Antoni said in a telephone interview. Other sources have reported that Stoudemire won’t return at all this season. Stoudemire underwent microfracture surgery on his left knee and missed the first 66 games of the season before playing in the last three. The All-Star forward had 20 points and nine rebounds against Portland his first game back, but has been increasingly less effective in his subsequent two outings.

SOCCER

ARSENAL DOWNS JUVENTUS IN FIRST LEG OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTERS

Arsenal overcame the emotional return of former captain Patrick Vieira and beat Juventus 2-0 yesterday in the first leg of the European Champions League quarterfinals. Cesc Fabregas scored off a pass from Thierry Henry in the 40th minute at Highbury in London, and Henry gave the Gunners a two-goal lead when he connected on an off-balance shot in the 69th.

Two minutes after the second goal, Vieira was given a yellow card for kicking Jose Antonio Reyes. That card will keep Vieira from playing for the Italian champions in the second leg of the total-goals series, in Turin on April 5.

In the other quarterfinal yesterday, Barcelona, considered by some the best team left in the tournament, played a 0-0 draw at Benfica. Barcelona controlled much of the match at the Stadium of Light, with Ronaldinho and Mark van Bommel both getting several good chances. Benfica, which knocked out both Manchester United and defending champion Liverpool, got its best chances from long range.

In today’s quarterfinal games, Villarreal is at Inter-Milan and AC Milan visits Lyon.

– Associated Press