Villanova, Tennessee, Wake Forest and UCLA will serve as the regional hosts for the 2010 NIT Season Tip-Off. The first-round pairings for the 16-team tournament were announced Monday. The first- and second-round games will be played Nov. 15-17 with the winners advancing to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals on Nov.

Apologizing for a series of "terrible mistakes," former Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton was sentenced Friday to three years of probation after pleading guilty to illegally obtaining prescription drugs. Sutton agreed to testify against two people who allegedly supplied him with adderall, clonazepam and oxycodone as part of a plea agreement covering four felony counts tied to his February...

Greg McGarity has been introduced as Georgia's new athletic director. Georgia president says McGarity will officially begin his duties on Sept. 1. McGarity replaces Damon Evans, who resigned July 5 after he was charged with driving under the influence in Atlanta near midnight June 30. McGarity has been the senior associate athletic director at Florida, where his responsibilities included...

Men's basketball players may have to give up those summer vacations to focus on academics. On Thursday, the NCAA's board of directors agreed to back a new proposal requiring incoming freshmen to have their academic records assessed by university officials. Those in need of additional classwork would have to take at least six credit hours during summer school, earning at least three credits,...

Georgia moved quickly to hire Damon Evans' replacement as athletic director. Florida associate athletic director Greg McGarity has been selected for the post, a person familiar with the search told The Associated Press on Thursday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made.

Texas-El Paso senior guard Myron Strong has been kicked off the basketball team for violating school and athletic department policies. UTEP made the announcement Thursday and provided no additional details. The Memphis, Tenn., native played in all 33 games last season for the Miners. Strong averaged 3.1 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists.

The Mid-American Conference extended its contract to hold its basketball tournaments at Quicken Loans Arena for another six years. The men's and women's tourneys will be at the Q at least through 2017. The MAC has held its conference tournaments in Cleveland since 2000. The previous contract was set to expire following the 2011 tournament.

Oklahoma State captain Nick Sidorakis has agreed to give up his scholarship so that the Cowboys don't have to cut a player from the basketball team. OSU spokesman Mike Noteware confirmed Tuesday that Sidorakis agreed to play his senior season as a walk-on and pay for school on his own. Otherwise, the Cowboys would've been over the limit on scholarships.

New Mexico coach Mike Locksley isn't hiding from his mistakes. Going into his second season, Locksley has quietly rebounded from a turbulent rookie year, aided by guidance from coaches like Tony Dungy and eager to show his program can make news for more than lawsuits and fights between coaches. Last season, Locksley was in the wrong headlines.

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun was in his element Saturday, watching dunks and no-look passes while hearing the roar of approval from the crowd. After an offseason filled with allegations of NCAA violations and reports of low academic performance rankings, the Hall of Fame coach got a chance to showcase some of his program's greatest successes at his biennial charity basketball game.

The University of Miami is being investigated for possible NCAA violations. Miami issued a statement Friday, saying the investigation surrounds "impermissible text messages and telephone calls to prospective student-athletes." The university conducted an audit and reported its findings to the NCAA.

Mississippi guard Eniel Polynice is going to play at Seton Hall this season. Seton Hall announced on Friday that the guard has signed a national letter of intent and has received a waiver from the NCAA that will allow him to play this season. Polynice was granted a waiver because he has graduated with a year of eligibility remaining, and because Ole Miss does not offer a graduate degree in his...

Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops is the latest person seeking change in how agents are involved in college basketball and the recruiting process. At a fan event for Sooners fans on Thursday night, Stoops suggested that agents and players should be the ones punished for breaking the NCAA's amateurism rules instead of schools.

NCAA runner-up Butler will face Utah in the first round of the Diamond Head Classic. The matchups for the eight-team tournament, held from Dec. 22-25 at the University of Hawaii's Stan Sheriff Center, were announced Thursday by ESPN Regional Television. The other first-round games on Dec. 22 have Hawaii playing Florida State, Mississippi State taking on Washington State and San Diego meeting...

Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich knows the lurid details that came to light during the trial of a woman who tried to extort milllions from Rick Pitino could affect some people's perception of the highly successful coach. Jurich isn't one of them. He reiterated his support for Pitino on Thursday after a jury found Karen Cunagin Sypher guilty of three counts of extortion, two counts of...

For almost a century, the Kansas fight song has boasted about husking corn and listening to the Cornhuskers' "wail." Come October, the classic standard "I'm A Jayhawk" will be revised to account for Nebraska's move to the Big Ten next year and Colorado's move to the Pac-10 next year or in 2012.

Northern Illinois has given center Sean Kowal his release, ending a dispute over the player's decision to obtain a graduate degree at another school. Kowal wants to pursue a master's degree in theology, a program Northern Illinois does not offer. The school initially denied him a release. Athletics director Jeff Compher says the university had a change of heart Tuesday, when Kowal provided...

Kentucky will play Oklahoma and Connecticut will face Wichita State in the opening round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational. Michigan State, a Final Four team last season, faces Chaminade, the Division II host school of the eight-team tournament, and Virginia will play Washington in the other first-round games on Nov.

Alabama athletic director Mal Moore has received a three-year contract extension and six-figure pay raise. The University of Alabama system board of trustees' compensation committee voted Wednesday to extend Moore's contract through June 30, 2014. The 70-year-old Moore's salary will go from $425,000 to $550,000, plus bonuses tied to academic performance and the success of the football...

Syracuse, which was ranked No. 1 for one week last season, and fellow NCAA tournament teams Georgia Tech and UTEP will be host schools in the 2010 Legends Classic. Michigan will be the other team in the field guaranteed a berth in the semifinals, which will be held Nov. 26 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.