Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP file
INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana University will give up two basketball scholarships for the upcoming season in anticipation of penalties related to the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate, assistant athletic director Frank Cuervo confirmed Wednesday.
The APR is a percentage score over a rolling four-year period that measures retention and eligibility of players. Teams can lose scholarships if their score is subpar and they have a player who left school early and would not have been academically eligible had he remained.
University officials do not comment on players’ academic standing due to privacy laws, but coach Tom Crean has said he “inherited a tremendous amount of dysfunction.”
Cuervo said that the move is partially related to the number of players who have left since the end of the 2007-08 season. Eric Gordon went to the NBA. Brandon McGee, DeAndre Thomas, Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis were dismissed from the team, and Eli Holman and Jordan Crawford left the program.
But Cuervo said it wasn’t that simple.
“It’s not necessarily about one issue,” Cuervo said. “It’s obviously related to the APR score. In terms of reasons, it’s not necessarily due to just players leaving.”
Indiana already has given up one scholarship for 2008-09 due to the phone-call scandal under former coach Kelvin Sampson. Indiana still is awaiting the NCAA’s decision on the allegations against Sampson.
“We will take contemporaneous penalties pro-actively this year for upcoming ’07-08 numbers, and we don’t anticipate further penalties going forward,” school spokesman J.D. Campbell said.
Campbell said Crean’s previous academic record at Marquette, including the fact that all 26 seniors who exhausted their eligibility graduated, made Indiana confident.
Crean has eight scholarship players available for the upcoming season. He also has a transfer who has to sit out a year and will be eligible in 2009-10. That counts as nine scholarships for 2008-09 and leaves the Hoosiers with one available.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
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