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Ryan Callahan scored three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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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Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
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STORRS, Conn. - Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said he and the university are looking into a Yahoo! Sports report claiming the school broke NCAA rules during the recruitment of former basketball player Nate Miles, but added Miles is not at UConn and his team remains focused on the NCAA tournament.
Yahoo reported Wednesday that Miles, a 6-7 guard from Toledo, Ohio, was given lodging, transportation, meals and representation by sports agent Josh Nochimson, and a UConn assistant coach knew about the relationship between the player and the agent. The story cited interviews, documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws and other sources.
Nochimson, a former student manager for UConn, was considered a representative of UConn’s athletic interests by the NCAA and was prohibited from having contact with Miles or giving him anything of value, Yahoo reported.
Records also show that five UConn coaches called Nochimson and text-messaged him at least 1,565 times during a nearly two-year period before and after Miles’ recruitment in 2006 and early 2007. Calhoun had 16 of those communications, Yahoo reported.
Miles was expelled from UConn in October without ever playing a game for the Huskies after he was charged with violating a restraining order in a case involving a woman who claimed he assaulted her. He is now attending the College of Southern Idaho and plays for the school’s basketball team.
Miles could not be reached for comment. A cell phone number used by The Associated Press to contact him in the past was answered Wednesday by his uncle, Thomas Pettigrew of Toledo, Ohio, who said the NCAA needs to do more to prevent recruiting violations.
“I just think he got mixed up with the wrong people,” Pettigrew said. “There was a whole bunch of adults who should have been doing their job instead of doing what they did.
“That’s how society is,” he said. “They chew you up and spit you out. If they can use you, they use you. I think the whole situation is funny, because I’m sure there are people who are supposed to be looking over that.”
Pettigrew added, “No matter what anybody says about him, my nephew is a great basketball player and a good person.”
Calhoun, in Glendale, Ariz., Wednesday as the team prepared for an NCAA regional semifinal against Purdue Thursday night, did not specifically respond to the story’s allegations. He pointed out that Miles is “not involved with our program” and said he is not concerned about the issue distracting the Huskies’ quest for a third national title.
“We can keep our kids focused on what we’re going to do, let them understand that the university ... will handle anything else that needs to be handled,” Calhoun said. “We can’t do anything about it. The only thing we can do is play basketball and hopefully advance our way to Saturday.”
UConn is the No. 1 seed in the tournament’s West Regional.
Calhoun’s comments echoed a statement released by UConn Wednesday, saying that when it began recruiting Miles, it consulted its outside counsel, who worked with NCAA staff to examine everything about Miles’ amateur status.
“The NCAA’s Eligibility Center reviewed all information that it had concerning the student-athlete’s eligibility status and determined that he was eligible for his freshman year. The student-athlete departed from the university before ever participating in athletics competition,” the statement said.
The university, which said it released numerous public documents to Yahoo, said it is reviewing the article to determine whether action is required.
“The University takes very seriously its responsibilities of NCAA membership and will do all that is expected to follow up on any information related to possible NCAA rules violations,” the statement said.
UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway, in Boston at the East Regional as an NCAA site representative, declined to comment and referred to the university statement.
Nochimson did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday. The NCAA declined to comment.
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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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.