Morrison to be released by Blazers today
NBA: The Portland Trail Blazers informed former Gonzaga and Mead High star Adam Morrison he will be released today, according to multiple media reports.
Morrison, 28, had a good preseason opener, dropping nine points on 4-of-6 shooting. However, he shot 2 of 12 for the rest of the preseason.
“I want to thank the Blazers’ organization for giving me a chance,” Morrison told CSNNW.com (Comcast Sports Northwest) on Friday. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out, but I wish them nothing but success. Right now, I’m just going to talk to my agent and see where to go from here.”
Indiana, Big Ten top preseason rankings
College Basketball: Indiana is No. 1 in the Associated Press’ preseason Top 25 for the third time and the first since the 1979-80 season.
The Hoosiers return all five starters, including 7-foot sophomore Cody Zeller. They received 43 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. Louisville and Kentucky, the teams ranked second and third, received the rest of the first-place votes with Louisville getting 20 and the defending national champion the other two.
Ohio State and Michigan join Indiana as Big Ten teams in the top five. The last time a conference had three teams in the preseason top five was 2008-09 when Connecticut, Louisville and Pittsburgh of the Big East were second, third and fifth, respectively.
North Carolina State, Kansas, Duke, Syracuse and Florida round out the top 10.
Gonzaga is ranked No. 21.
Garrigus leads, Tiger lurks in Malaysia
Golf: Robert Garrigus shot a 7-under-par 64 to take a two-stroke lead ahead of Jbe’ Kruger, who upstaged Tiger Woods in their second-round pairing at the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Garrigus was at 14-under total 128 after two rounds.
Kruger, playing his first competitive round with Woods, pumped his right arm after each of his eight birdies amid the soggy conditions at the Mines Resort and Golf Club. Woods finished with a 67, tied for fifth at 9 under.
• Calcavecchia on top at AT&T: Mark Calcavecchia shot a 5-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead over Kenny Perry in the suspended first round of the Champions Tour’s AT&T Championship in San Antonio.
Perry was 3 under with three holes left when play was suspended on TPC San Antonio’s Canyons Course.
Pullman High graduate Kirk Triplett shot a 74.
• LPGA lead shared in Taiwan: Norway’s Suzann Pettersen shot a 7-under 65 to share the second-round lead with South Korea’s Inbee Park in the LPGA Taiwan Championship in Yang Mei, Taiwan.
Pettersen and Park, the winners the last two weeks in the opening events on the tour’s Asian swing, had 10-under 134 totals at the Sunrise Golf and Country Club. Park shot a 69.
NHL cancels games through November
Miscellany: The NHL lockout has forced the cancellation of all games through the end of November.
The NHL announced that 326 regular-season games from Oct. 11 through Nov. 30 were lost – more than 26.5 percent of the schedule. The news came one day after a league-imposed deadline passed for a deal with the players’ association that would allow for a full season.
The dispute is all too similar to the 2004-05 lockout that led to the cancellation of that entire season – the first time a North American professional sports league lost a complete campaign to a labor dispute.
Reaching a new deal potentially became even tougher Friday, because the NHL pulled off the table its most recent offer to the players – one that included a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenues.
• Azarenka seals top ranking: Victoria Azarenka wrapped up the season-ending No. 1 position in the world by beating Li Na 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the WTA Championships in Istanbul. Azarenka secured a spot in the semifinals and will next play Maria Sharapova. Agnieszka Radwanska will play Serena Williams in the other semifinal.
• Tour winner list to stay blank: The seven Tour de France titles stripped from Lance Armstrong will not be awarded to any riders, and the American cyclist and his teammates should return their prize money, the sport’s governing body said. Acknowledging “a cloud of suspicion would remain hanging over this dark period,” the UCI said the list of Tour de France winners will remain blank for the years from 1999 to 2005.