Sports Briefs: ACC has contract to send nine teams to bowl games

GREENSBORO -- The ACC announced its bowl tie-ins for the 2009 football season yesterday and, for the second straight year, has agreements in place to send nine teams to the postseason. The lineup will include eight partners from last season, and the GMAC Bowl, which is new to the ACC bowl alignment. Last season, the ACC sent an NCAA-record 10 teams to bowl games.

"We are pleased to have quality bowl slots for up to nine of our teams for the 2009 football season," Commissioner John Swofford said. "It is an excellent lineup of destinations and potential opponents for our schools."

The winner of the ACC championship game will be the host team for the Orange Bowl unless it is No. 1 or No. 2 in the final BCS standings headed to the national-championship game. The Orange Bowl will be played at 8 p.m. on Jan. 5.

The other tie-ins for ACC teams, listed in order of selection after the Orange Bowl, are: Chick-fil-A Bowl (Dec. 31, 7:30), Gator Bowl (Jan. 1, 1 p.m.), Champs Sports Bowl (Dec. 29, 8 p.m.), the Music City Bowl (Dec. 27, 8:15 pm), Meineke Car Care Bowl (Dec. 26, 4:30), Emerald Bowl (Dec. 26, 8 p.m.), EagleBank Bowl (Dec. 29, 4:30), and GMAC Bowl (Jan. 6, 7 p.m.).

More football

■ Rookie linebacker Stanley Arnoux of the New Orleans Saints ruptured his left Achilles' tendon yesterday in the first of five rookie minicamp practices.

Arnoux, a fourth-round pick from Wake Forest, will have surgery next week and pending the surgery, a rehabilitation timetable will be announced at a later date. Most Achilles' tendons tears require being sidelined for a full season.

During four seasons at Wake Forest, Arnoux started 42 games.

■ Linebacker A.J. Nicholson was released by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League yesterday.

Nicholson is a former standout at Mount Tabor and Florida State.

Tennis

■ Wake Forest defeated Northwestern 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament yesterday in Lexington, Ky.

The Deacons will take Kentucky in the second round today.

After winning the doubles point, Cory Parr, Steven Forman and Jon Wolff all won their singles matches in straight sets to clinch the victory.

Both North Carolina teams also advanced yesterday. The UNC men crushed South Carolina 4-0 in Charlottesville, Va., and the UNC women down Georgia State 4-0 in Clemson, S.C.

Also yesterday, the Duke men had little trouble with Radford, coasting to a 4-0 victory in Knoxville, Tenn., and a first-round victory for the 18th consecutive season.

Duke's women also breezed in the first round, defeating Richmond yesterday in Durham. It was the 13th consecutive win for the Blue Devils, who will take on Virginia in the second round.

Basketball

■ Gerald Henderson appears ready to leave Duke for good and stay in the NBA Draft.

Henderson and his parents are exploring the possibility of hiring an agent, according to a Duke source, for the June draft. Hiring an agent would cost Henderson his last season of college eligibility under NCAA rules.

When Henderson decided on April 25 to enter the draft, Duke officials said that he had not hired an agent, which seemed to leave open the possibility that he could return to school if he did not like his draft status.

"He's still in the process (of looking at agents)," Matt Plizga, Duke's sports-information director for basketball, said. "He hasn't officially signed with anyone."

Henderson, a 6-4 swingman for Duke, is projected as a lottery pick by some NBA Draft analysts, which would make him one of the first 14 picks. Some analysts project Henderson will be the first ACC player taken in the draft.

The website NBADraft.net projects Henderson the No. 9 pick, going to the Toronto Raptors, and the first ACC player selected.

Henderson has until June 16 to decide to stay in the draft or return to Duke for his senior season. He averaged 16.5 points as a junior and led the team in scoring.

-- Bill Cole

■ Patrick Patterson is returning to Kentucky for his junior season.

The school said yesterday that Patterson, a 6-9 forward, will remove his name from the NBA Draft to stay in school.

Patterson averaged 17.9 points and 9.3 rebounds during his sophomore season with the Wildcats and was picked to the All-SEC first team.

He entered his name in the NBA draft last month but did not hire an agent, leaving him the opportunity to come back.

Patterson said in a statement the chance to complete his degree in three years while helping the Wildcats compete for a national championship were his primary reasons for staying in school.

■ The Greater Chattanooga Sports and Events Committee has sent a letter of complaint to the NCAA, saying that organizers lost about $60,000 during the first two rounds of the NCAA women's basketball tournament because the selection committee put North Carolina, Purdue, Central Florida and UNC Charlotte in the sub-regional.

The city had guaranteed the NCAA a payment of $75,000 for the games but had hoped to have either Tennessee or Chattanooga among its four teams.

"Those are the two teams everybody wanted," committee president Scott Smith said yesterday. "Once that didn't happen, to have five teams from (our) state in the tournament and not get any definitely didn't help."

Smith said he sent his complaint by letter in late March and was told that the NCAA would review it May 18. The NCAA did not return a message left by The Associated Press yesterday. The committee hopes for a little money back from the NCAA even though Smith said he did not ask for help in his letter.

Miscellaneous

■ Rachel Alexandra could be headed to the Preakness with jockey Calvin Borel aboard.

Stonestreet Stables owner Jess Jackson, who bought the horse Wednesday, called the pairing of Borel -- who rode 50-to-1 shot Mine That Bird to victory in the Kentucky Derby -- and Rachel Alexandra "a perfect match."

Borel said would rather ride Rachel Alexandra if forced to make a choice, calling the filly a "once-in-a-lifetime" horse. Rachel Alexandra is 5-0 with Borel in the saddle. Bennie Woolley Jr., Mine That Bird's trainer, said he wasn't surprised by Borel's decision.

■ Figure skater Sasha Cohen announced this week that she is returning to competition and said she feels that she can be even better than when she won the Olympics silver medal in 2006. Cohen, who will try to qualify for her third straight Olympics, hasn't competed since the end of the 2006 season but has stayed in shape through touring and says that her jumps have come back quickly.