Associated Press
The college basketball notebook …
Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson defended the men’s basketball program Thursday, saying the school checks out all potential players.
He would not confirm that Derrick Rose, who led Memphis to the 2008 national title game, is at the center of an NCAA investigation of major violations during that season.
In a letter to the school the NCAA says an unknown person took the SAT for a player, with his knowledge, and then the player used that test to get into Memphis. The NCAA said the athlete in question played for the Tigers in the 2007-08 season and the 2008 NCAA tournament. The only person who played just that season was Rose.
“We wouldn’t play anybody if we hadn’t checked it out pretty thoroughly,” Johnson told The Associated Press.
WALL UPDATE
RALEIGH ó Kentucky recruit John Wall has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and entered a program for first offenders which could lead to having his record cleared.
Wall, 18, pleaded guilty Wednesday to breaking and entering.
Wake County Assistant District Attorney Phillip Cowan said that under the terms of the plea, Wall must complete 75 hours of community service, pay court costs and program fees and stay out of trouble for the next six months.
The 6-foot-4 point guard at Raleigh Word of God signed a national letter of intent to play at Kentucky last week. He was charged after police found him walking out of a vacant house in Raleigh. Wall and two other teenagers were cited.
GILLISPIELEXINGTON, Ky. ó The University of Kentucky countersued fired men’s basketball coach Billy Gillispie on Thursday, claiming it doesn’t owe him pay because he never signed a contract.
The employment dispute escalated when the university filed a lawsuit in Franklin Circuit Court in Kentucky, one day after Gillispie filed his own claim in Dallas, asking for $6 million in lost salary and undisclosed punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and court costs.
Gillispie, who was fired March 27, was working under a seven-year memorandum of understanding but hadn’t signed a formal contract during the two years he coached the Wildcats.
DRAFT COMBINE
CHICAGO ó Blake Griffin showed up in an orange, black and white sweatsuit. For the record, he insisted there was no Clippers jersey underneath it.
In fact, the All-American forward from Oklahoma still wasn’t quite ready to sign a mortgage in Los Angeles or declare himself the NBA’s No. 1 pick. He’ll wait for commissioner David Stern to make that announcement on June 25, even if the Clippers indicated it’s really not necessary.
“I’m planning it as if I don’t know right now, which I don’t,” said Griffin, who was in Chicago on Thursday for the NBA draft combine. “I’m not going to guarantee anything. I’m going through it just like everybody else is.”