Associated Press
LOS ANGELES ó Point guard Larry Drew II has enrolled at UCLA after abruptly leaving North Carolina last month.
Coach Ben Howland said Drew attended classes on Monday, the first day of spring quarter. The junior will sit out next season because of NCAA rules and will have one season of eligibility remaining.
Drew left the Tar Heels in February, with coach Roy Williams saying he was shocked by the playerís unexpected departure. Drew never explained his reasons for leaving, but he lost his starting job as point guard in mid-January.
Drew said in a statement it feels great to be back home in Los Angeles.
He is the son of Atlanta Hawks coach Larry Drew, who played 10 years in the NBA, including stints with the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ó Cuonzo Martin says he did his homework on the possible NCAA punishment Tennessee faces before agreeing to accept the job as the Volunteersí new menís basketball coach.
In addition to his own due diligence regarding the NCAA, Martin said Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton ěhas assured me it will all work out.î
Tennessee introduced Martin, 39 as the Volsí new coach Monday, just a week after Bruce Pearl was fired for recruiting violations. Martin takes over not knowing what kind of sanctions the NCAA might impose. School officials will go before the NCAAís Committee on Infractions on June 10-11, with final word on the Volsí punishment likely not coming until the fall.
RALEIGH ó North Carolina State University wants to be the only Wolfpack prowling the lucrative world of college merchandising and licensing, a goal that has put it at odds with Loyola University New Orleans, which boasts a Wolfpack of its own.
Last month, N.C. State sent a letter to the Catholic school asserting its legal right to the name and logo, which the Raleigh institution registered with the federal government in 1983, the year Jim Valvano coached the ěCardiac Packî to an improbable championship in the NCAA tournament. N.C. State isnít threatening a lawsuit, and so far the two schools have only engaged in preliminary talks. Both sides say theyíre optimistic of reaching a mutually satisfactory solution, but NCSUís desire to be the only Wolfpack in town is in no doubt.
ěJust like with any company, when people hear the name ëWolfpack,í we want them to associate that with N.C. State,î said Shawn Troxler, assistant general counsel for the university.
NFL
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ó Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams is predicting the NFL will play the 2011 season, even if it takes a few months to work out a new labor deal.
In fact, he guarantees it.
ěItís going to be a few months here, but weíll be playing this year,î Adams said Monday night. ěI guarantee weíll be playing.î
Adams spoke to reporters Monday night before being honored with a lifetime humanitarian award by the T.J. Martell Foundation with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on hand to help present him the award. The 88-year-old owner used a walker on the red carpet but moved around well.
Asked what he would say to fans who want football and are sick of all the talking, Adams said he wants football, too.
ěItís one of those things that they havenít been very (much) wanting to work out a deal with us, but weíll be playing football this year,î Adams said. Iíll tell you that for sure.î
NHL
DETROIT ó Marian Hossa scored on a power play 51 seconds into overtime, lifting the Chicago Blackhawks to a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.
Henrik Zetterberg was called for hooking Patrick Kane with 3.7 seconds left, putting Chicago on the power play to begin the extra session. The Blackhawks took advantage on Hossaís shot from the left circle ó his first goal against Detroit as an ex-Red Wing ó off a pass from Kane.
The defending Stanley Cup champions improved their precarious playoff positioning with their third win in four games. They began the night in eighth place, barely ahead of idle Calgary and Dallas and one point behind Anaheim, which hosted Colorado late Monday.
Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook scored in the first period to give Chicago a 2-1 lead that held up until Danny Cleary was credited with a goal early in the third. Zetterberg appeared to score the second tying goal of the game on a shot that went off Chicago defenseman Chris Campoli.
Detroitís Nicklas Lidstrom made it 1-all in the first period and became the NHLís first 40-year-old defenseman with 60 points in a season.
Corey Crawford made 33 saves for the Blackhawks.
Detroitís Joey MacDonald stopped 38 shots while starting in place of Jimmy Howard, who has a balky left shoulder but might play Wednesday at home against the St. Louis Blues.
The Blackhawks improved to 15-6-4 in March and February after barely being over .500 in each of the first four months of the season, giving their salary-cap depleted team a shot to defend the Stanley Cup when the playoffs start in two weeks.
The Red Wings, meanwhile, are in a slump that has trimmed their cushion in the Central Division over Nashville with six games left for both teams.
Both teams were missing one of their leading scorers.
Detroitís Pavel Datsyuk was out for a fifth straight game with a lower body injury and Chicagoís Patrick Sharp for the third game in a row with an injured left knee that might keep him out for the rest of the regular season.
The Red Wings had to play much of the night without Todd Bertuzzi, who was called for a 5-minute elbowing penalty and a game misconduct for hitting Ryan Johnson in the head 5:17 into the game. Johnson went down to his knees and gloves for a while before slowly getting up. He went off the ice and toward the dressing room, but played later in the first period.
Toews scored off a rebound and Lidstrom tied it with vintage slap shot between the left circle and blue line midway through the first period. He surpassed the mark set by Ray Bourque, who had 59 points as a 40-year-old defenseman during the 2000-01 season ó his last ó with the Colorado Avalanche.
Chicago went back ahead on Seabrookís shot off a cross-crease pass from Kane at the 13:18 mark of the first.
After a scoreless second period, the Red Wings got some puck luck when Zetterbergís shot went off an opponent and got past Crawford 2:25 into the third.
Both teams had plenty of scoring chances the rest of the game, but Crawford and MacDonald held up for the rest of regulation.
NOTES: Hossa, in his second season with the Blackhawks after one year with the Red Wings, hadnít scored against Detroit since his hat trick on Jan. 15, 2008, while playing for Atlanta. … Chicago has won three of four against Detroit heading into their home-and-home series on April 8 and 10 that ends the regular season. … MacDonald was sent to the minors and recalled twice this month because Chris Osgood was unable to come back from hernia surgery. … The Blackhawks scratched Dave Bolland for the seventh straight game because of a concussion. … Detroitís Johan Franzen returned to the lineup after missing four games with a groin injury and whiffed on two scoring chances on a sequence late in regulation.
The Associated Press
03/28/11 22:29