COLUMBUS, Ohio - Thad Matta Wednesday accepted an offer to become Ohio State's next men's basketball coach.

Ohio State sports information director Steve Snapp said the school would hold a news conference Friday to formally introduce Matta.

Matta took Xavier to the NCAA tournament's regional finals in March. He had a 78-23 record in three years with the Musketeers. He was 24-8 in his only season as head coach at Butler (Ind.), his alma mater.

DENVER (AP) - Joel Quenneville was hired to coach the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday, replacing Tony Granato, who will become his assistant.Quenneville was the coach of the St. Louis Blues from January 1997 until this February, when he was fired during a 4-12 slump.In five of his six full seasons at St. Louis, Quenneville led the Blues to at least 40 regular-season wins. They won 307 regular-season games but went 34-34 in the postseason.Matsui, Abreu join All-StarsNEW YORK - Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui and Philadelphia's Bobby Abreu Wednesday earned the final spots on the All-Star teams in Internet fan voting.Matsui became the seventh member of the Yankees to make the 32-man AL squad. He has been an All-Star in both of his seasons since leaving Japan.Abreu made the All-Star team for the first time. The right fielder is batting .297 with 17 homers and 57 RBI.Matsui beat out Minnesota's Lew Ford, Cleveland's Travis Hafner, and Frank Thomas and Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox for the last AL spot.Abreu topped Arizona's Steve Finley, Pittsburgh's Jason Kendall, Florida's Juan Pierre and the Cubs' Aramis Ramirez for the final NL slot.PRO BASKETBALLDwight Howard, the overall No. 1 selection by the Orlando Magic, and future teammate Jameer Nelson were among five draft picks who signed with their NBA teams.The rookie scale under the NBA's collective bargaining agreement calls for the No. 1 overall pick to earn a little more than $11.2 million over the life of the contract, and almost $3.5 million this season.The 6-foot-11 Howard won the 2004 Naismith Award, given to the nation's top high school player.Nelson was the consensus national college player of the year last season for Saint Joseph's. He was drafted 20th overall by Denver, which shipped his rights to Orlando for a future first-round pick.Andris Biedrins, the 11th pick in the first round, signed with Golden State, Kevin Martin, the 26th pick, signed with Sacramento, and David Harrison, the 29th and last pick of the first round, signed with Indiana.BASEBALLSOCCERCHICLAYO, Peru (AP) - Javier Saviola scored three times, and tournament favorite Argentina routed Ecuador 6-1 in Group B play at Copa America.Defender Paolo Montero put home a header off a corner kick in the 88th minute for undermanned Uruguay in a 2-2 tie with Mexico. Richard Morales was sent off only seven minutes before the tying goal for a late body tackle on Pavel Pardo.ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - The United States advanced to an all-time high No. 7 in FIFA's rankings while Greece jumped 21 spots to No. 14 after its dazzling run to the European Championship title.Brazil remained No. 1 for the 25th straight month.TENNISNEWPORT, R.I. (AP) - Brian Vahaly snapped a seven-match losing streak, beating Michal Mertinak 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the second round of the Hall of Fame Tournament.In other first-round matches, qualifier Brian Baker defeated Wesley Moodie 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2); Glenn Weiner beat Alexander Peya 7-6 (4), 6-4; Gilles Elseneer defeated Rajeev Ram 6-2, 6-3; and David Sanguinetti eliminated Robert Kendrick 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.BASTAD, Sweden (AP) - Wild card Juan Monaco rallied from a set down for the second straight match, beating Belgian Kristof Vliegen 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 to become the first Swedish Open quarterfinalist.Monaco next plays sixth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, who beat Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (3), 6-1.Also reaching the quarterfinals were defending champion Mariano Zabaleta and Alberto Martin.AP-ES-07-08-04 0648EDT