Coaches rebuke former WSU coach Sampson
Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson was reprimanded Tuesday by the National Association of Basketball Coaches over recruiting violations during his tenure at Oklahoma, becoming the first person to be punished by the group.
The decision comes nearly three months after the NCAA banned Sampson, who previously coached at Washington State, from calling recruits or making off-campus visits until next May because of excessive phone calls to recruits. The NCAA ruled Sampson and his assistants at Oklahoma made 577 extra phone calls to 17 recruits between 2000 and 2004.
•Chris Wilcox finally got a chance to start on a regular basis once he arrived in Seattle. Now he’s turned that opportunity into a $24 million contract.
He’ll get three more seasons with the SuperSonics to back up the promise he’s shown.
Wilcox and the Sonics reached agreement on a deal that gives him a chance to prove his impressive 29 games with Seattle last season were no fluke. He averaged 14.1 points and 8.2 rebounds, shot 59 percent and averaged 30 minutes, all career highs.
Football
Montana loses Hilliard
Montana halfback Lex Hilliard, a first-team all-Big Sky Conference player for the past two seasons, suffered a season-ending foot injury at practice Monday afternoon in Missoula.
The injury requires surgery and Hilliard will redshirt this year, the school announced.
Hilliard is ranked second in Montana history with 2,884 career rushing yards. He has rushed for 34 career touchdowns.
• USC receiver Dwayne Jarrett and lineman Thomas Herring were briefly detained by police after they were picked up by a female driver in a car that may have been used during a crime, authorities said.
•A typewritten, “cryptic” threat against Maurice Clarett was sent to the law office representing the jailed former Ohio State star.
The message was typed on a piece of paper, cut out and taped on a postcard.
•Southern California fullback Brandon Hancock will have surgery for ligament damage in his left knee and won’t play this season.
Miscellany
Landis’ team will end
Floyd Landis’ former cycling team will shut down at the end of the season.
Phonak owner Andy Rihs said that he has been unable to find a buyer for his team since Landis, this year’s Tour de France champion, was busted for doping.
•Martina Navratilova’s retirement sendoff will include induction into the U.S. Open Court of Champions.
She’ll be inducted along with the late Don Budge.
•Paul Tracy was fined $25,000 and docked three championship points for taking out Champ Car points leader Sebastien Bourdais in the final turn of the Grand Prix of Denver.
•Sweden’s former 400-meter hurdler Sven Nylander, one of five people involved in a drug bust at a party during the European Athletics Championships, said he used cocaine.