Kentucky’s starters all declare for NBA draft
Kentucky’s starting lineup of three freshmen and two sophomores did most everything together en route to the school’s eighth national title. Now, they will each go their separate ways in the NBA.
Freshmen Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague, and sophomores Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb declared for the draft in a nationally televised news conference Tuesday night.
“We made it work,” Jones said. “We all wanted to be there and do it together like we’ve done everything else together.”
The group, all clad in similar blue Kentucky golf shirts, came into the season largely untested before ascending to No. 1, winning the Southeastern Conference in dominating fashion and capping an NCAA tournament run with a 67-59 victory over Kansas in the title game.
“It’s been a great opportunity playing here, I’ll miss this team, the way we played together. We all love each other,” said Davis, who picked up every major player of the year award and is likely the No. 1 pick in June’s draft. “I’m just going to miss this place. We won an NCAA championship here and did a lot. We all did a lot for this school and I’m going to miss it.”
The five join seniors Darius Miller, who is also projected to be drafted, and Eloy Vargas in leaving the program.
Etc.
The University of Arkansas says the former mistress of fired football coach Bobby Petrino has resigned her position with the program.
The school announced in a news release that Jessica Dorrell had stepped down as the football team’s student-athlete development coordinator. Athletic Director Jeff Long said the decision was mutual and that there are no immediate plans to try to re-fill the job.
The university says Dorrell will be paid approximately $14,000 to settle “all matters between the parties.”
Petrino was fired last week for not disclosing their affair — a conflict of interest — and Dorrell had been put on paid leave. The revelations about their relationship surfaced after they were involved in a motorcycle accident on April 1.
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Graham Rahal was placed on probation for six races by IndyCar for his role in an accident with Marco Andretti at the Long Beach Grand Prix. Reviews showed Rahal was guilty of blocking and initiating avoidable contact Sunday on Lap 22, IndyCar race director Beaux Barfield said.
Andretti’s car hit the back of Rahal’s, launched briefly into the air and spun into a tire barrier. Andretti said Rahal chopped him, adding: “I’m lucky I didn’t get upside down. I could have been killed.”
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Mario Gomez scored in the 90th minute to give Bayern Munich a 2-1 win over Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal in Munich.
Gomez’s 12th goal of this year’s competition boosted Bayern’s hopes of becoming the first team to play the Champions League final at its own stadium.
Franck Ribery opened the scoring in the 17th minute for Bayern Munich and Mesut Oezil equalized in the 53rd.
The second leg is next week in Madrid.
Chelsea and Barcelona are playing in the other semifinal, which begins Wednesday at Chelsea.
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Frankie Vatrano scored the winning goal in the third period to lead the United States to a 5-3 victory over Canada at the world under-18 hockey championship in Brno, Czech Republic.
Vatrano scored 6:39 into the final period for the Americans (4-0), the three-time defending champions who finished on top of Group A and earned a bye directly into the semifinals.
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Kim Clijsters will skip the French Open and clay-court tennis season to focus on adapting to grass ahead of the London Olympics and Wimbledon.
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Roger Blake has been selected to succeed the retiring Marie Ishida as executive director of the California Interscholastic Federation. Blake has served as the CIF’s associate executive director.
He has been involved in education for almost 36 years as a teacher, coach, administrator and athletic director. He has held administrative positions with the CIF for 15 years.
“There is not a more qualified person for this job than Roger Blake,” Ishida said in a statement.
— Eric Sondheimer
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