Forwards: Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Kemsley Mathias, Ryan Elias, Dewi Lake, Evan Lloyd, Henry Thomas, Keiron Assiratti, Archie Griffin, Freddie Thomas, Christ Tshiunza, Teddy Williams, Will Rowlands, Taine Plumtree, James Botham, Jac Morgan, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.

Backs: Kieran Hardy, Rhodri Williams, Ellis Bevan, Sam Costelow, Gareth Anscombe, Ben Thomas, Nick Tompkins, Max Llewellyn, Eddie James, Owen Watkin, Blair Murray, Rio Dyer, Josh Hathaway, Tom Rogers, Cameron Winnett.

Toronto Maple Leafs center Calle Jarnkrok is considered month-to-month after undergoing groin and sports hernia surgery, the team announced Monday.

Jarnkrok, 33, has not played in a game this season.

He tallied 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in 52 games last season for the Leafs.

The 2010 second-round draft pick has 301 career points (136 goals, 165 assists) in 699 games played for four teams, most notably the Nashville Predators (2013-21).

Jarnkrok is in the third season of a four-year, $8.4 million contract in Toronto.

Toronto Maple Leafs' forward Auston Matthews "isn't getting worse" but remains at least another week away from returning from an undisclosed upper-body injury.

That was the latest from Leafs' coach Craig Berube on Monday when questioned about the status of his team's captain, who hasn't played since Nov. 3. Matthews clocked over 22 minutes that night in Toronto's overtime loss to Minnesota before being put on the shelf with an ailment he began dealing with in the preseason.

The 27-year-old has been classified as day-to-day while the injury lingers, and Berube confirmed on Monday that Matthews will not be available for Toronto's game on Wednesday against Vegas. That puts his earliest possible return for the Leafs as Sunday's matchup with Utah.

"I think it's a little bit of a holding pattern," said Berube of Matthews' recovery. "He isn't getting worse, so that's a good thing. It takes time, it's taking long. It is what it is. He's doing what he needs to do to get healthy and get back in the lineup. Our team needs to push on without him right now."

Berube said Matthews hasn't been on the ice over the last several days after previously being spotted at the team's optional morning skate on Nov. 9. He's been placed on injured reserve in the interim but is eligible now to come back off at any time.

Toronto has managed to excel in Matthews' absence, notching a league-leading 5-1-0 record and .833 winning percentage over the previous two weeks. John Tavares -- who's replaced Matthews as the Leafs' top-line center -- has four goals and six points over the last six games, while his wingers Mitch Marner (four goals and 10 points) and Bobby McMann (three goals) have been equally productive.

That production will continue to be key for Toronto as their forward depth was further impacted on Monday by another injury. The club announced center Calle Jarnkrok underwent groin and sports hernia surgery and is listed as month-to-month. Jarnkrok had been slowed by the issue since training camp and missed time with it early in the season before eventually deciding to go the surgery route.

"He's got to get it fixed and he will be out a while," said Berube. "It's too bad because he's a player that we liked and can help us but really hasn't had that opportunity to do that. It's one of those types of things, see how he heals up and how everything goes, so that's where that's at."

Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse will be sidelined five to 10 days after taking a shot to the head from Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves over the weekend.

"Obviously there was a big scare there ... since then, he's progressed really well, he's doing as good as he can," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters Monday.

Reaves hit Nurse with his shoulder as the latter was attempting to skate out from behind the net during the second period of the Leafs' 4-3 overtime win over the Oilers on Saturday. Nurse was bleeding after the exchange and did not return to the game.

Reaves received a five-minute major penalty for an illegal check to the head and a game misconduct. He was suspended for five games by the NHL on Sunday.

Nurse, 29, has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in 18 games this season.

In his 11th NHL season, all with the Oilers, Nurse has 276 points (78 goals, 198 assists) and a rating of plus-69. The Oilers selected him No. 7 overall in the 2013 draft.

As a strategy, it seems to make sense: Secure the budding superstar before he becomes prohibitively expensive. It worked out great for Real Madrid with Vinícius Júnior (acquired for 45m at age 16) and Rodrygo (also 45m at age 17), less so with Reiner (30m at 18). And, of course, the jury is still out on Endrick, who completed his move to LaLiga this summer.

This past summer, we already saw Endrick, Leny Yoro, Archie Gray, Yankuba Minteh, Ernest Nuamah and Savinho move for 25m or more. What they have in common is that none of them have turned 21, and most of them have a very small body of work: a season, maybe two, as a starter in a top league.

The logic is simple: Get a player like Yoro while he's young and you'll get more years out of him, plus he'll cost you less than three or four years down the line when he's an established superstar. The counterargument, however, is just as familiar. When dealing with very young players, there are tons of unknowns, tons of things that can go wrong and a limited amount of data on which to base your assessment. It's a bit like the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. Yes, you can land a generational talent, or you could end up with Anthony Bennett, Kwame Brown or Michael Olowokandi.

With this in mind, I decided to look at the 25 most expensive transfer of Under-21 players between 1999 and 2022, figuring it was too early to assess those who moved last summer. I adjusted for inflation using this handy tool, and we used figures from Transfermarkt for consistency. Note that these figures aren't "official" because fees generally aren't disclosed, but they're generally reliable estimates. Note too that in some cases -- like Vinícius and Rodrygo, who remained in Brazil after Real Madrid announced their arrivals, or Kylian Mbappé, who technically joined PSG initially on loan -- we went with the date they were signed rather than when they actually transferred.

Here's what the numbers say.

1. Kylian Mbappé

Position: Forward
Move: Monaco to Paris Saint-Germain (18 years old in 2017)
Fee: 180m (Adjusted for inflation: 210.6m)

The granddaddy of them all, PSG would've wanted to keep him rather than losing him as a free agent to Real Madrid, but they got as much as they could out of him when there.

Verdict: Met expectations

2. Ousmane Dembélé

Position: Forward
Move: Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona (20, 2017)
Fee: 145m (169.7m)

Barca obviously overpaid massively to sign him because they were sitting on the Neymar money. Injuries curtailed his contribution (85 LaLiga starts in six years) and they had to let him go for 50m to PSG in 2023.

Verdict: A bust, at least for the team that signed him

3. João Félix

Position: Forward
Move: Benfica to Atletico Madrid (19, 2019)
Fee: 127.2m (144m)

His supposedly unlimited upside explains the huge fee, but he never quite went to the next level and has bounced around on loan the past few years instead.

Verdict: A bust, at least for the team that signed him

4. Matthijs de Ligt

Position: Defender
Move: Ajax to Juventus (19, 2019)
Fee: 85.5m (96.8m)

The Dutch international faced a steep learning curve at Juve, but he did his part and his club recouped most of the money when they moved him on to Bayern Munich in 2022.

Verdict: Met expectations

5. Raheem Sterling

Position: Forward
Move: Liverpool to Manchester City (20, 2015)
Fee: 63.7m (76m)

A huge part of Pep Guardiola's early dominant City sides, the club got a big fee for him when he moved to Chelsea in 2022.

Verdict: Surpassed expectations

6. Christian Pulisic

Position: Forward
Move: Borussia Dortmund to Chelsea (20, 2019)
Fee: 64m (72.4m)

Injuries played a part in his struggles as he never established himself as a consistent starter at Stamford Bridge. Moved to Milan for a cut-price 22m and is doing much better now.

Verdict: A bust, at least for the team that signed him

7. Anthony Martial

Position: Forward
Move: AS Monaco to Manchester United (19, 2015)
Fee: 60m (71.6m)

Spent nine years at Old Trafford, starting more than half the club's league games in a season just twice, and leaving as a free agent. Showed glimpses of his quality, but no consistency.

Verdict: A bust, at least for the team that signed him

8. Leroy Sané

Position: Forward
Move: Schalke to Manchester City (20, 2016)
Fee: 52m (61.9m)

Three mostly successful years were followed by a serious injury and then, somehow, a move to Bayern that enabled City to recoup their investment. Still, he exited with two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and three League Cups.

Verdict: Met expectations

9. Nicolas Anelka

Position: Forward
Move: Arsenal to Real Madrid (20, 1999)
Fee: 35m (56.2m)

Scored just two league goals and had many arguments with the manager in his one season at the Bernabeu. Despite Champions League play and the fact Madrid recouped a big chunk of his fee, this is still a "miss."

Verdict: A bust, at least for the team that signed him

10. Rafael Leão

Position: Forward
Move: Lille to Milan (20, 2019)
Fee: 49.5m (56m)

Endured a slow start to his Milan career, but has grown steadily since. He's still waiting to take that leap to the top tier, but so far, so good.

Verdict: Met expectations

11. Javier Saviola

Position: Forward
Move: River Plate to Barcelona (19, 2001)
Fee: 35.9m (55.1m)

His Camp Nou career started strong, but petered out in Year 3, followed by loan spells and free agency.

Verdict: A bust, at least for the team that signed him

12. Wayne Rooney

Position: Forward
Move: Everton to Manchester United (18, 2004)
Fee: 37m (53.2m)

Played 13 seasons at Old Trafford, won plenty of trophies and retired as the club's all-time goalscorer. Enough said.

Verdict: Surpassed expectations

13. Vinicius Jr.

Position: Forward
Move: Flamengo to Real Madrid (16, 2017)
Fee: 45m (52.6m)

Took a while to get going, but the Brazil star has gone from strength to strength over the past three seasons and is very much a leader at the Bernabeu.

Verdict: Surpassed expectations

14. Rodrygo

Position: Forward
Move: Santos to Real Madrid (17, 2018)
Fee: 45m (51.7m)

Established himself as a starter at 21 and has only gotten better since.

Verdict: Met expectations

15. Lucas Moura

Position: Forward
Move: Sao Paulo to Paris Saint-Germain (20, 2012)
Fee: 40m (48.6m)

Never quite achieved superstardom, but he was a big part of PSG's early success under Qatari ownership and they got back most of what they paid for him when he moved on to Tottenham after five years.

Verdict: Met expectations

16. Fábio Silva

Position: Forward
Move: Porto to Wolverhampton Wanderers (18, 2020)
Fee: 40m (44.9m)

Had started one league game for Porto when Wolves picked him up in 2020. Since then, he's had three loan spells away from the club and caused plenty of head-scratching.

Verdict: A bust, at least for the team that signed him

17. Luke Shaw

Position: Defender
Move: Southampton to Manchester United (18, 2014)
Fee: 37.5m (44.8m)

On the one hand, he has had 10 years at United. On the other, it has been one of the worst decades in the club's history and injuries have limited him to starting less than half their league games since he arrived.

Verdict: A bust, at least for the team that signed him

18. Dejan Kulusevski

Position: Forward
Move: Atalanta to Juventus (19, 2019)
Fee: 39m (44.1m)

Very inconsistent at Juventus, the mitigating factor here is that they eventually got most of their fee back when they shifted him to Tottenham.

Verdict: Met expectations

19. Renato Sanches

Position: Midfielder
Move: Benfica to Bayern Munich (18, 2016)
Fee: 35m (41.7m)

A move that was too much, too soon for a player who never made the grade, whether at Bayern or elsewhere (Swansea City on loan, Lille, PSG, Roma or Benfica).

Verdict: A bust, at least for the team that signed him

20. Nuno Mendes

Position: Defender
Move: Sporting Club to Paris Saint-Germain (19, 2021)
Fee: 38m (41.5m)

Was developing nicely until injury cost him most of last season. Still 22, he's now on a trajectory to justify his fee.

Verdict: Met expectations

21. Josko Gvardiol

Position: Defender
Move: Dinamo Zagreb to RB Leipzig (18, 2020)
Fee: 36.8m (40.2m)

Has already established as one of the best defenders in the world, and Leipzig made nearly tripled their money in transferring him to Manchester City.

Verdict: Surpassed expectations

22. Jules Koundé

Position: Defender
Move: Bordeaux to Sevilla (19, 2019)
Fee: 35m (39.6m)

Enjoyed three solid seasons at Sevilla and then made a move to Barcelona that enabled his first LaLiga club to make a tidy profit.

Verdict: Surpassed expectations

23. Dominik Szoboszlai

Position: Midfielder
Move: FC Salzburg to RB Leipzig (20, 2021)
Fee: 36m (39.3m)

One of those "in-house" moves between Red Bull clubs, so it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. That said, he made the grade at Leipzig and moved to Liverpool for nearly twice what it cost to get him to the German Bundesliga initially.

Verdict: Surpassed expectations

24. Wesley Fofana

Position: Defender
Move: Saint-Etienne to Leicester City (19, 2020)
Fee: 35m (39.3m)

Enjoyed an excellent debut season at Leicester, followed by a serious injury (which wouldn't be his last). Transferred to Chelsea for twice what they paid for him, making him a success for Leicester, though his long-term status remains unclear.

Verdict: Surpassed expectations

25. Amadou Onana

Position: Midfielder
Move: Lille to Everton (20, 2022)
Fee: 35m (35m)

Had two very good seasons for a struggling club followed by, this summer, a 50m transfer to Aston Villa.

Verdict: Met expectations

You might or might not agree with the ratings, but the thing to remember here is whether the deal worked out for the original club, not whether the player went on to excel elsewhere. In some cases, even after subpar performances, fetching a good transfer fee for the player was enough to salvage the original deal.

What conclusions can we draw? Well, you can leave Mbappe to one side: he's an outlier. From a pure bean-counting perspective, given how much he cost and the fact he left for nothing in midcareer, you can call it a miss. But given PSG's financial situation -- in other words, the fact they could seemingly spend freely -- and the need to get on the map, you can possibly justify it.

Beyond that, it's telling how many more misses than hits there are in the top 10. The "Dembele folly" -- with Barca panicking after Neymar's departure -- is well-chronicled. Joao Felix was a moon shot: he boasted a unique set of skills and probably a higher ceiling than anyone on this list (other than Mbappe), but for that deal to work out, you would have needed him to ascend to GOAT candidate or thereabouts. Meanwhile De Ligt is the only defender in the top 16, which suggests it's pretty evident clubs feel more confident splashing cash for young attacking prospects.

Once you get under a certain fee -- say, 55m -- there are more "hits." Though it's telling that several (Onana, Fofana, Szoboszlai, Kounde, Gvardiol) resulted in midsized clubs rolling the dice and quickly transferring the player to a bigger club within a couple seasons. That seems to be the sweet spot for that sort of deal.

Another point that jumps out is longevity and how that affects perception. Here, it's all about Manchester United with Rooney, Shaw and Martial staying for 13, 10 (and counting) and 9 years, respectively.

Rooney was an unqualified success obviously, but to what degree is our perception of the other two negatively affected by longevity? Hindsight is 20/20. If we'd compiled this list in 2020, following a year in which Martial was fit and scored 23 goals, we might rate him higher and suggest he finally turned the corner. In Shaw's case, we could say that his fee -- spread out over 10 years of service -- represented value for money. (Though, on the other hand, his injury-record means United had to pay other guys to fill the left-back role during his long injury layoffs too.)

The longevity argument works in reverse too, by the way. Had Leicester hung on to Fofana -- given how unlucky he's been with injuries -- you would probably call his move a failure. The same could be said of De Ligt and Kulusevski at Juventus.

The bottom line? You're rolling the dice when you spend big on young players, simply because they're more difficult to assess. If you're a bigger club, it helps to have the patience to bring them along slowly, like Real Madrid did with Vini and Rodrygo or Milan with Leao, but there's no real formula here. Rarely does it make sense to go really, really big because if you do that, the ceiling needs to be really, really high. Most of the time, it simply isn't.

UMass has fired coach Don Brown, ending his second stint leading the program and the third overall, with two games to play this season.

Brown went 6-28 at UMass over the past two-plus seasons. He went 43-19 there from 2004 to 2008, reaching an FCS national championship game and a national quarterfinal. Brown, who grew up in the state, also served as UMass' defensive coordinator in 1998 and 1999.

"I am extremely grateful to Coach Brown for returning to UMass three years ago to help us build back a program he once coached to a national title game," athletic director Ryan Bamford said in a statement. "Don should have immense pride in the outstanding contributions he has made to advance Massachusetts football during his three stops in Amherst."

Offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery will serve as UMass' interim coach for the final two games, this week at No. 12 Georgia and then at home against UConn. Montgomery is the former head coach at Miami (Ohio).

Brown, 69, came to UMass after spending the 2021 season as defensive coordinator at Arizona. He also held coordinator roles at Michigan, Boston College, UConn, Maryland and other stops, spending much of his career in New England.

Bamford credited Brown for helping UMass, an FBS independent, earn conference membership again, as the school will begin play in the MAC in 2025.

Brown also was head coach at Northeastern (27-20) and Plymouth State (25-6).

Kansas strengthened its grip on the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll on Monday, while the rest of the top 10 turned into a jumble of teams swapping places.

The Jayhawks picked up five first-place votes, receiving 49 from a 61-person media panel. No. 2 UConn had seven first-place votes, No. 3 Gonzaga earned two and No. 4 Auburn had three. Iowa State climbed two spots to round out the top five.

The shuffling started with No. 8 Alabama's 87-78 loss to No. 6 Purdue, a game that dropped the Crimson Tide six spots and bumped the Boilermakers up seven. Losses by Duke and Arizona shook up the top 10 further.

The No. 12 Blue Devils dropped six spots from last week after their 77-72 loss to No. 9 Kentucky. The Wildcats climbed 10 spots for their first top-10 ranking this season. Arizona lost 103-88 at No. 19 Wisconsin and fell eight spots to No. 17. The Badgers are ranked for the first time this season.

Kansas backed up its win over North Carolina in the season's opening week by beating Michigan State and Oakland last week.

UConn continued to roll in its bid for a third straight national championship, blowing out Le Moyne 90-49. Gonzaga crushed UMass Lowell, Auburn rolled over Kent State and Iowa State beat Kansas City by 26.

No. 7 Houston moved up a spot bouncing back from a 74-69 loss to Auburn by blowing out Louisiana.

ON THE RISE

Wisconsin had to reload its roster after an upset loss to James Madison in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season.

Coach Greg Gard filled the holes with some solid additions through the transfer portal, but the Badgers were still picked to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten.

The projections might have been off.

After rolling through three easy wins against smaller conference schools, Wisconsin made a few waves by running over Arizona. John Tonje scored 41 points, two off the school record, and the Badgers never trailed in a convincing win over a top-10 team that led to a passionate postgame speech by Gard.

WHO'S IN; WHO'S OUT

No. 25 Illinois joined Wisconsin as the only teams to move into the top 25. The Illini knocked off Oakland 66-54 last week.

Ole Miss dropped out from No. 25 despite beating South Alabama and Colorado State last week. Ohio State fell from No. 21 after its 78-64 loss to No. 23 Texas A&M.

BIG MOVES

Arizona had the biggest drop, losing eight spots. Alabama and Duke were next, each dropping six places.

Kentucky had the biggest jump among teams already in the poll, climbing 10 places and Purdue was next at seven.

CONFERENCE WATCH

The Southeastern Conference led the way with seven ranked teams, including No. 11 Tennessee, No. 20 Arkansas and No. 21 Florida.

The Big 12 has six teams in the poll and the Big Ten five, followed by the Big East with four. The Atlantic Coast Conference has two, while the West Coast Conference has one.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and pitcher CC Sabathia are among 14 new candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot released Monday, joining 14 holdovers led by reliever Billy Wagner.

Pitcher Félix Hernández, outfielder Carlos González and infielders Dustin Pedroia and Hanley Ramírez also are among the newcomers joined by reliever Fernando Rodney, second baseman Ian Kinsler, second baseman/outfielder Ben Zobrist, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, catchers Russell Martin and Brian McCann, and outfielders Curtis Granderson and Adam Jones.

Wagner received 284 votes and 73.8% in the 2024 balloting, five votes shy of the 75% needed when third baseman Adrian Beltré, catcher/first baseman Joe Mauer and first baseman Todd Helton were elected. Wagner will be on the ballot for the 10th and final time.

Other holdovers include steroids-tainted stars Alex Rodriguez (134 votes, 34.8%) and Manny Ramirez (125, 32.5%) along with Andruw Jones (237, 61.6%), Carlos Beltran (220, 57.1%), Chase Utley (111, 28.8%), Omar Vizquel (68, 17.7%), Jimmy Rollins (57, 14.8%), Bobby Abreu (57, 14.8%), Andy Pettitte (52, 13.5%), Mark Buehrle (32, 8.3%), Francisco Rodríguez (30, 7.8%), Torii Hunter (28, 7.3%) and David Wright (24, 6.2%).

Gary Sheffield was dropped after receiving 246 votes and 63.9% in his 10th and final year on the ballot. He will be eligible for consideration when the ballot is selected for the committee that considered contemporary era players in December 2025.

BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years of membership are eligible to vote. Ballots must be postmarked by Dec. 31 and results will be announced Jan. 23. Anyone elected will be inducted on July 27 along with anyone chosen Dec. 8 by the hall's classic baseball committee considering eight players and managers whose greatest contributions to the sport were before 1980.

Suzuki in 2001 joined Fred Lynn in 1975 as the only players to win AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP in the same season. Suzuki was a two-time AL batting champion and 10-time Gold Glove winner, hitting .311 with 117 homers, 780 RBIs and 509 stolen bases with Seattle (2001-12, 2018-19), the New York Yankees (2012-14) and Miami (2015-17). He had a record 262 hits in 2004.

Sabathia was a six-time All-Star, won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award and a World Series title in 2009. He was 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts, third among left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, during 19 seasons with Cleveland (2001-08), Milwaukee (2008) and the New York Yankees (2009-19).

Hernández, the 2010 AL Cy Young winner and a six-time All-Star, won the 2010 and 2014 AL ERA titles. He was 169-136 with a 3.42 ERA and 2,524 strikeouts for Seattle from 2005-19. Hernández pitched the 23rd perfect game in major league history against Tampa Bay on Aug. 15, 2012.

González was a three-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and the 2010 NL batting champion. He hit .285 with 234 homers, 785 RBIs and 122 stolen bases for Oakland (2008), Colorado (2009-18), Cleveland (2019) and the Chicago Cubs (2019).

Pedroia was a four-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner, helping Boston to World Series titles in 2007 and 2013. He batted .299 with 140 homers, 725 and 138 steals for the Red Sox from 2006-19, winning the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year and 2008 AL MVP.

Hanley Ramírez was voted the 2006 NL Rookie of the Year and won the 2009 NL batting title, becoming a three-time All-Star. He hit .289 with 271 homers, 917 RBIs and 281 stolen bases for Boston (2005, 2015-18), the Florida and Miami Marlins (2006-12), Los Angeles Dodgers (2012-14) and Cleveland (2019).

Dick Allen, Dave Parker and Luis Tiant are being considered by the the classic era committee along with Tommy John, Steve Garvey, Ken Boyer and former Negro Leaguers John Donaldson and Vic Harris.