Newsmakers
Decided Oregon forward Ben Carter and guard A.J. Lapray decided to leave the Ducks’ basketball team. The school announced Friday that the two plan to transfer.
• Xavier forward Justin Martin decided to transfer for his final season, leaving the Musketeers basketball team without the top two scorers from last season’s NCAA tournament team.
• New Mexico’s 7-foot center Alex Kirk chose to forgo his senior season and declare for the NBA draft.
• Tennessee forward Jarnell Stokes decided to bypass his senior season to enter the NBA draft. Stokes, a 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward, confirmed at a news conference that he had decided to begin his pro career. Stokes’ departure means that Tennessee will have to replace four of its top five scorers.
Improved Former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian’s health has improved, although he remains in a Las Vegas hospital. Tarkanian’s son-in-law, Zafi Diamant, said Tarkanian was awake and talking at Valley Hospital. The 83-year-old Tarkanian was feeling weak, having trouble breathing and struggling to keep his eyes open when he was taken to the hospital Wednesday. Diamant said doctors are still trying to determine what’s behind Tarkanian’s ailments. Tarkanian was inducted last year into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. Hospitalized Spanish Vuelta champion cyclist Chris Horner has been hospitalized with a punctured lung, four broken ribs and cuts on his head following a training accident in northern Italy. The Lampre team says details of the accident involving the 42-year-old American rider “are still to be evaluated, however it seems that in the afternoon he was probably hit by a car.”
Broken The Final Four was a record-breaker. Dallas set a weekend attendance mark with 158,682 attending the three NCAA basketball tournament games, 9,006 more than last year in Atlanta. Monday’s title game drew a record 79,238, while Saturday’s semifinals drew a record 79,444. Overall, the tournament drew 739,189 people. Announced Iowa State gave basketball coach Fred Hoiberg a $600,000 a year raise, bumping his average annual salary to $2.6 million in an effort to keep “The Mayor” in Ames for life. Hoiberg just finished his fourth and most successful season at Iowa State. He led the Cyclones to 28 wins, a Big 12 tournament title and the program’s first Sweet 16 appearance in 14 years.