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Sports Briefs: Kentucky, others planning to have an even earlier Midnight Madness
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Published: October 10, 2008
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kentucky, West Virginia and several other schools plan an early start on Midnight Madness by taking advantage of an NCAA practice rule.
The official opening of practice for the 2008-09 season is Oct. 17, but the NCAA has allowed two hours of team workouts per week since mid-September.
Spokesman Rick Leddy of the National Association of Basketball Coaches said the intent of the rule was for coaches to work on skill development, not to raise the rafters.
But that's exactly what's going to happen.
West Virginia's basketball office decided to ring in the coming season with a fan-oriented event next Friday night as part of the football team's homecoming weekend. The football team already has four home games scheduled in a five-week span with a bye weekend Oct. 18.
NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson didn't immediately return a telephone message yesterday.
Unlike West Virginia, Kentucky decided to keep its first practice separate from football's homecoming weekend.
More basketball
■ Two of the top prep-school basketball teams in the country -- Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Va., and Lenoir's Patterson School -- will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the fourth Battle of the Blue Ridge scrimmage at the Mulberry Street Recreation Center in Lenoir. The teams were a combined 69-6 last season.
Oak Hill, annually one of the top prep teams in the country, features Chasen Campbell, a 6-8 center and forward from Charlotte who is being recruited by Wake Forest, UNC Charlotte, East Carolina and Appalachian State. Patterson features Arsalan Kazemi, a 6-8 wing forward from Iran who is being recruited by N.C. State, Maryland, Virginia, Clemson, Colorado and Seton Hall.
Tickets are $5 for general admission and $10 for VIP Section seating and are on sale at all branches of Parkway Bank and Bank of Granite and at the door Tuesday, starting at 5:30.
-- Bill Cole
■ Southeast Missouri State has fired Athletics Director Don Kaverman and has put men's basketball coach Scott Edgar on administrative leave three days after the NCAA notified the school of possible major violations.
The moves came three months after the women's basketball team forfeited 44 victories, and the women's and men's programs were put on two years' probation for major and secondary violations.
Kaverman will be on administrative leave until Feb. 7, 2009, when his contract will end. Edgar will keep his job title while the school waits for the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions to hear the case and release its findings.
■ Johnson C. Smith and Bowie State were picked as favorites to win men's division titles in the CIAA's preseason coaches' poll. Johnson C. Smith led the voting in the Western Division, ahead of Fayetteville State, Livingstone, St. Augustine's and Shaw. In the Eastern Division, Elizabeth City and Virginia Union tied for second behind Bowie, and Virginia State and St. Paul's completed the poll.
In the women's poll, also released yesterday, the order was: Johnson C. Smith, Shaw, St. Augustine's, Fayetteville State and Livingstone in the West, and Bowie State, Virginia State, St. Paul's, Elizabeth City and Virginia Union in the East.
■ Guard Rudy Fernandez and center Joel Przybilla won't travel with the Portland Trail Blazers for their game in Kansas City against the Atlanta Hawks tonight.
Fernandez sprained his left ankle in the Blazers' 110-95 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night. Przybilla has bronchitis.
The team also said that small forward Martell Webster had surgery yesterday to repair a stress fracture in his left foot. He will likely miss eight to 10 weeks.
Webster was injured in the exhibition opener, a 110-81 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
■ Patrick Beverley's agent, Bernie Lee, said yesterday that he's working on lining up a team for Beverley, a former Arkansas guard, to join in Europe -- and that Beverley could also end up in the NBA Development League.
"We're just trying to look through a couple different options for him, European-wise," said Bernie Lee, who represents Beverley. Lee, of Lee Basketball Services, didn't want to say who Beverley might sign with overseas. He said he might consider the NBA D-League as an option for his client. Beverley played two seasons at Arkansas. He would have been the team's top returning scorer, but the school announced in August he wouldn't be playing this season. The school didn't say why.
Cycling
■ American Ricardo Hernandez of Miami has been suspended by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for two years after testing positive for exogenous testosterone. Hernandez, 42, is disqualified from all results from March 2, 2008 and thereafter and most forfeit all winnings. That's the date his urine sample was collected.
■ Giro d'Italia organizers say they have no plans to re-examine doping samples from this year's race for CERA, the blood-boosting drug at the center of the latest Tour de France scandal.
Race director Angelo Zomegnan said yesterday that "the labs and the UCI have told us these tests were done, and nothing was found that could be taken as suspect. It's useless to ask for more (tests)."
Three stage winners in this year's Tour de France -- Stefan Schumacher of Germany and Riccardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli of Italy -- have tested positive for CERA, an advanced version of EPO.
Miscellaneous
■ Golfer Seve Ballesteros said he was "feeling well" yesterday and waiting for test results after a dizzy spell.
Ballesteros, 51, was taken to Madrid's La Paz hospital on Monday after briefly losing consciousness. He remained in the hospital after undergoing tests but gave no more details on his Web site. The hospital said that Ballesteros was in stable condition, with tests scheduled to end today.
■ Roger Federer will play at the Madrid Masters next week, ending a three-week layoff and setting up a possible meeting with top-ranked Rafael Nadal.
Federer, ranked No. 2, won the tournament in 2006 and was the runner-up last year.
He skipped this week's Stockholm Open, saying he needed rest as he continues to rebound from a bout of mononucleosis. The Madrid Masters will start Monday.
■ The Phoenix Coyotes traded center Mike Zigomanis to the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday for future considerations.
Zigomanis, 27, had 14 goals and nine assists in 75 games for the Coyotes in 2006-07, but had just two goals and one assist in 33 games last season. He was placed on waivers last week, went unclaimed and was assigned to San Antonio in the AHL.
Zigomanis, a second-round draft pick of Carolina in 2001, has 19 goals and 14 assists in 167 career NHL games with the Hurricanes, Coyotes and St. Louis Blues.
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