In brief: Washington guard Appleby out six weeks

Washington senior guard Ryan Appleby, considered a likely starter this season, will be out six weeks after fracturing the thumb on his right hand, coach Lorenzo Romar said Thursday.

Appleby was injured during a rebounding drill in Wednesday’s practice.

“It is unfortunate to have something like this happen, but the good news is that Ryan shouldn’t miss too many games,” Romar said.

Washington plays its first exhibition game Monday against Seattle Pacific.

One of just two seniors on the roster, Appleby averaged 10.5 points last season and set a school record with 84 3-pointers, second most in the Pac-10.

“Kelvin Sampson just wants to coach basketball.

Embroiled in the second investigation into improper telephone calls to recruits since his arrival at Indiana last year, Sampson said that he is satisfied with a university report to the NCAA that has already led to the resignation of an assistant coach, the forfeiture of one scholarship and new restrictions on recruiting.

Sampson, who also gave up a scheduled $500,000 pay raise, said he didn’t know whether the self-imposed penalties would satisfy the NCAA.

“The report speaks for itself,” he said during a news conference at Assembly Hall, his first public comments since the resignation of assistant Rob Senderoff on Tuesday. “I read the report and agree with the school’s findings.

“I know what I know. That’s all I need to say on that,” Sampson said.

College football

USC will start Booty

John David Booty has his job back.

Booty will start at quarterback Saturday night when the 13th-ranked Trojans face Oregon State. He sat out three games because of a broken middle finger on his throwing hand and was replaced by Mark Sanchez.

“We’re going with John David,” USC coach Pete Carroll said after practice. “It’s clear he had a good, solid week. He’s good to go, he’s ready to play, he’s had a couple of weeks off. We look for him to jump back where he left off. Mark also is ready to go.”

Booty broke his finger when he hit it on a helmet in the second quarter against Stanford on Oct. 6. The fifth-year senior played on, and threw four interceptions in the second half as the 41-point underdog Cardinal rallied to upset the Trojans 24-23.

Sanchez, making the first three starts of his career, passed for 130 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in a 20-13 victory over Arizona, 235 yards and four TDs with no interceptions in a 38-0 win at Notre Dame and 277 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions in a 24-17 loss at No. 4 Oregon on Saturday.

Miscellany

Federer loses

David Nalbandian beat Roger Federer for the second time in less than two weeks, earning a 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory in the third round of the Paris Masters.

The result evened the 16-match series between the two and ended Federer’s streak of reaching the final in eight straight tournaments – going back to May.

Federer, who lost to the Argentine in the final of the Madrid Masters on Oct. 21, has lost eight times this season.

Nalbandian plays fifth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain next.

“Mike Skinner matched two qualifying records and extended another with a pole-winning run for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Silverado 350K in Fort Worth, Texas.

Skinner, four points behind championship leader Ron Hornaday Jr. with three races left, drove his Toyota around the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway with a fast lap speed of 184.137 mph to top the time trials.

The pole was Skinner’s 10th of the season, matching the series record the Californian established in 1995 during the series’ inaugural season. It was Skinner’s fifth pole at Texas Motor Speedway, duplicating Jack Sprague s record for poles at a track set at Phoenix International Raceway. Skinner also extended his series-leading pole total to 42.