Sports Briefs: Wolfpack's Irving in good condition after leg surgery

RALEIGH -- Linebacker Nate Irving of N.C. State is recovering from surgery after being hurt in a car crash.

A spokeswoman at WakeMed Trauma Center said that Irving was in good condition yesterday after surgery Sunday night. Irving was hospitalized with a broken leg and a collapsed lung after his vehicle ran off the road at 4:40 a.m. Sunday on Interstate 40 in Johnston County.

State troopers think that Irving might have fallen asleep at the wheel before crashing into two trees. Irving has been charged with careless and reckless driving.

It's unknown if Irving, a rising junior, will be able to play football this season. He was an honorable-mention All-ACC player last year despite missing one-third of the season because of injuries.

More football

■ Richard Baldinger, a former lineman at Wake Forest and with three NFL teams, was involved in a weekend traffic accident in Kansas City that left a woman dead. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said that Marilyn Walters, 61, was killed when the car she was in collided with a car driven by Baldinger, 49, on Saturday afternoon.

The patrol said that two people in Walters' car were injured. Baldinger was not listed as injured, and the accident is under investigation.

Baldinger played at Wake Forest from 1979 to 1981 and then played for the New York Giants (1982), Kansas City Chiefs (1982-93) and New England Patriots (1993).

■ James Frazier of East Davidson will enroll in Guilford College and play for the Quakers. Frazier is a 5-11, 265-pound center. He also participated in track and wrestled for the Eagles.

Basketball

■ The new NBA Development League team in Portland, Maine -- the Maine Red Claws -- will be affiliated with the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Bobcats, team officials announced yesterday. The team will start play in the fall.

The D-League, a feeder league for the NBA, plays from November to April. The Celtics previously were affiliated with the Utah Flash; the Bobcats were affiliated with the Sioux City Skyforce.

■ The University of Kentucky Athletics Association says that Billy Gillispie, a former Kentucky basketball coach, has sued the wrong people and in the wrong place.

The association has asked a federal judge in Texas to either dismiss Gillispie's lawsuit over his firing or move the case to Kentucky. In a motion filed Friday in federal court, the association's attorneys say the school has minimum contact with the state of Texas, giving the court there no jurisdiction to hear Gillispie's claims. The association's attorneys also claim that the university, not the athletics association, hired Gillispie and paid him.

Gillispie sued the University of Kentucky Athletics Association in federal court in Dallas on May 27, claiming fraud and breach of contract, and is seeking at least $6 million.

■ The New Jersey Nets are picking up the $2.06 million contract option on forward Jarvis Hayes for next season. Hayes, signed as a free agent last July, averaged 8.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 24.8 minutes in 74 games.

■ The Indiana Pacers will not exercise their team option on guard Marquis Daniels, agent Glenn Schwartzman told The Associated Press in an e-mail yesterday. Daniels would have made $7.3 million next season but is now an unrestricted free agent.

Daniels averaged a career-high 13.6 points last season, but Brandon Rush emerged late and is the favorite to start at shooting guard next season. A Pacers spokesman says that the team cannot comment on the situation until free agency officially starts Wednesday.

■ Center Yao Ming's broken left foot could be a "career-threatening" injury.

Dr. Tom Clanton, the Houston Rockets' team physician, said yesterday that Yao's injury "has the potential for him missing this next season and could be career-threatening."

Yahoo! Sports first reported the Rockets and Yao's representatives were concerned the 7-6 All-Star would never play again. Yahoo! Sports quoted "multiple league executives, officials close to Yao and two doctors with knowledge of the diagnoses."

Yao suffered a hairline fracture of the tarsal navicular bone late in a May 8 playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The team said last week the injury hasn't healed and he was out indefinitely

Miscellaneous

■ North Carolina, buoyed by national championships in men's basketball and women's soccer, finished second in the Learfield Sports Directors Cup competition for 2008-09. Stanford won the Cup, which measures a program's postseason success, for the 15th straight year, and UNC had its best finish since tying for second in 1997-98.

Florida was third, and Southern California and Michigan rounded out the top five. Virginia led the rest of the ACC at No. 8 and was followed by Florida State (15), Duke (17), Maryland (28), Wake Forest (37), Miami (43), Virginia Tech (46), Georgia Tech (48), Clemson (53), N.C. State (74) and Boston College (75).

■ James Blake will join Andy Roddick and the Bryan brothers on the U.S. Davis Cup team that will play at Croatia in a quarterfinal tie July 10-12.

Patrick McEnroe, the U.S. captain, selected Blake over Sam Querrey and Mardy Fish. Blake lost in the first round at Wimbledon last week. Fish reached the third round, Querrey the second. This will be the 12th time in the last 13 Davis Cup ties that McEnroe will use the same four players.

■ Ron Wilson's coaching staff for the U.S. Olympic hockey team is complete with the addition of assistants John Tortorella and Scott Gordon. Tortorella coaches the New York Rangers, and Gordon coaches the New York Islanders. Wilson, the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was appointed the U.S. coach for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics in April.

■ Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, gave Confederations Cup organizers in South Africa a grade of 71/2 out of 10 yesterday, while stressing that work remains on transportation and housing for next year's World Cup.

The Confederations Cup, which ended Sunday with Brazil's 3-2 win against the United States, was a dress rehearsal for the World Cup and was considered a major success on the field. But Blatter and FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke say that the tournament revealed problems that must be resolved in the next 11 months. Organizers are still 15,000 hotel rooms short of their target.

■ Three athletes from the Next Level Track Club of Winston-Salem won medals at the USATF Region 16 Track & Field Championships last weekend in Greensboro.

Sherrod Wells won the 9-10 bantam boys high jump, Nylah Rogers was third in the 9-10 bantam girls high jump and Jarrid McKissick was second in the 13-14 boys triple jump.

■ The Carolina Hurricanes are keeping Jussi Jokinen, agreeing to a two-year deal with one of the stars of their recent playoff run.

The team said yesterday that Jokinen's new contract will pay him $1.5 million next season and $1.9 million in 2010-11.

Jokinen could have become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday.