Briefs | College basketball: Stephen Curry's decision today

College basketball

Davidson's Curry to announce NBA decision: Davidson guard Stephen Curry will announce today if he will return for his senior season or enter the NBA draft.

The 6-foot-3 Curry was the nation's top scorer last season, averaging 28.6 points a game.

Two other players declared for the draft Wednesday: Brigham Young forward Jonathan Tavernari and Tennessee forward Tyler Smith. Neither will hire an agent.

North Carolina, Michigan State schedule rematch: Michigan State will travel to North Carolina for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Dec. 1. North Carolina defeated Michigan State 89-72 in the NCAA championship game.

Women lauded for coaching hires: The second Black Coaches and Administrators women's basketball hiring report card showed a record number of nonwhite coaches (nine) were hired in 2007-08, thanks in part to search committees that have become more inclusive.

Colleges

Fighting Sioux nickname gets one tribe's OK: North Dakota's use of the Fighting Sioux nickname and Indian head logo has been approved by one of the two tribes that must endorse it under a deal the school reached with the NCAA.

The Spirit Lake Sioux tribe voted 764 to 371 in favor of the nickname and logo. No vote has been scheduled for the Standing Rock Sioux, whose leaders oppose the nickname and logo.

Houston's Maggard retiring: Houston athletic director Dave Maggard is retiring after seven years at the school and 35 years in sports administration, including 19 at California.

College football

BCS considering parts of Mountain West proposal: The BCS could decide to adopt parts of the playoff plan proposed by the Mountain West Conference, even as the group seems unlikely to scrap its current system of determining the national champion.

A buttoned-up BCS finished its last day of meetings in Pasadena, Calif., which will host the championship game in early 2010.

It's unlikely the MWC's proposal will bring about any major changes to the BCS's format, despite pressure from the major-college conferences largely left out of the big-money bowls, as well as legislators and government officials including President Obama.

Judge extends probation for Penn State's Bowman: A judge in Bellefonte, Pa., sentenced Penn State's Navorro Bowman to an extra 12 months of probation and to undergo drug testing and counseling after the linebacker admitted smoking marijuana twice.

WNBA

Shock signs former Spartans star: Former Michigan State star Kristin Haynie has signed with the Detroit Shock, adding some perimeter depth to the WNBA champions. Haynie averaged 2.8 points and 2.5 assists last season for the Atlanta Dream.

Auto racing

Crews swapped for Harvick, Mears: Richard Childress Racing will swap the crews for slumping drivers Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears after this weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Both teams have underperformed this season, the first in which Richard Childress Racing is fielding four full-time cars.

Labonte gets new crew chief: Bobby Labonte will have a new crew chief starting this weekend at Talladega. Ben Leslie, who had been the field manager for Ford Racing the past four seasons, takes over the No. 96 Ford from Todd Parrott.

Tennis

Nadal begins title defense in Barcelona: Rafael Nadal began his bid for a fifth straight title at the Barcelona Open by beating Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-2, 6-2 in the second round.

Diving

Wilcox takes first national title: Jonathan Wilcox, a senior at Texas, won his first national title with a 411.60 score at the senior men's 1-meter springboard final at the USA Diving Spring National meet in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Christina Loukas, a senior at Indiana, won her third national title when she captured the senior women's 1-meter springboard with a 303.30 score.

Olympics

Vancouver organizers in court: Vancouver organizers were in court, arguing the decision to exclude women ski jumpers from competition next year is not theirs to reverse.

Fifteen ski jumpers are in a Canadian court this week seeking a ruling that women be allowed to compete in the event at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Three men's events are planned at February's Games but none are scheduled for women.

Swimming

Phelps trying out new technique: Michael Phelps is following up his record performance at the Beijing Olympics by changing some of the swimming technique that carried him to eight gold medals. As he shifts to focusing on shorter races, he hopes the new freestyle technique will increase his sprinting speed.

Cycling

Rebellin wins Walloon Arrow classic: Davide Rebellin of Italy won the Walloon Arrow classic for the third time, beating Andy Schleck of Luxembourg in the uphill sprint to the finish in Huy, Belgium.

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