NCAA upholds sanctions on Memphis
INDIANAPOLIS, March 22 (UPI) -- The Memphis men's basketball team must vacate its wins from two years ago when it reached the NCAA Final Four, the NCAA said Monday.
The Tigers were found to have used an ineligible player, unidentified by the NCAA but believed to be Derrick Rose, in their 2007-08 season. As a result Memphis will have 38 wins removed from its record and its NCAA runner-up finish wiped out.
The NCAA Division I committee on Infractions determined in August that a Memphis player didn't take the SAT exam on his own. Memphis appealed the sanctions as excessive but Monday the appeals committee announced it had denied the request.
Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson, in a release, said: "I am extremely disappointed with the findings. However, the ruling has been handed down and we must move forward. The future of Tiger athletics is, indeed, very bright."
The violations occurred when the Tigers were coached by John Calipari, but there were no penalties imposed on the coach.
It was the second time a Final Four appearance for a team led by Calipari had its appearance vacated. He took Massachusetts to the Final Four in 1996 but that was negated when the NCAA ruled that Marcus Camby had taken money from two sports agents.
Flyers' Carter out 3-4 weeks
PHILADELPHIA, March 22 (UPI) -- Philadelphia center Jeff Carter, the Flyers' leading scorer, will likely miss the rest of the regular season because of a foot injury, the NHL team said Monday.
Carter suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left foot while trying to block a shot in the first period Sunday against Atlanta. He finished the game but subsequent examinations revealed the injury.
The Flyers said Carter, who owns the franchise's third-longest consecutive game streak at 286 games, would miss 3-4 weeks.
The three-week time frame would put his return at the end of the regular season. Any longer and he would miss potential playoff games. Philadelphia is fifth in the NHL Eastern Conference but only four points ahead of ninth-place Atlanta.
"Obviously, he's a big part of our team; he's a big-time goal scorer that we rely on," defenseman Chris Pronger told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "It's going to take a group effort to kind of fill in from the offensive production standpoint but he does a lot more things for our team other than that. That's where he's going to be missed as well."
Carter had a team-best 33 goals and 60 points this season.
Wozniacki second in women's tennis ranking
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., March 22 (UPI) -- Indian Wells WTA finalist Caroline Wozniacki moved to a career-best No. 2 -- behind Serena Williams -- in the women's world tennis rankings released Monday.
Wozniacki lost in the BNP Paribas Open finals to Jelena Jankovic but the Sunday appearance in California was enough to lift her two spots in the world rankings. Wozniacki is 9-4 this year, with most of the wins coming at the Australian Open, where she reached the round of 16, and Indian Wells.
She jumped past Dinara Safina, now No. 3, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, ranked No. 4. Safina's play has been limited by back problems and Kuznetsova is just 5-5 this year.
Venus Williams, sister of top-ranked Serena, is ranked No. 5. Neigher played at Indian Wells.
Elena Dementieva switched places with Victoria Azarenka and is ranked No. 6, dropping Azarenka to seventh. Jankovic moved up to No. 8, pushing Agnieszka Radwanska to ninth. Samantha Stosur also is up one place, entering the Top 10 while Na Li slipped to 11th.
Two players who ended retirements in recent months continue their rankings climb. Kim Clijsters, who beat Wozniacki in the 2009 U.S. Open finals, is 16th and Justine Henin, back for just three tournaments, re-enters the rankings at No. 33.
Furyk back to No. 6 in golf rankings
VIRGINIA WATER, England, March 22 (UPI) -- Jim Furyk's PGA victory at the Transitions Championship returned him to the No. 6 position in the men's world golf rankings.
Furyk won the Transitions by one stroke over K.J. Choi with a final-round 2-under-par 69 that was delayed about 4 hours by thunderstorms in the Palm Harbor, Fla., area. It was the 14th career PGA win, but first since July 2007, for Furyk, who moved from ninth to sixth in the world rankings. He began the year at No. 6.
His move brought the only changes in the Top 10 as he pushed Ian Poulter, Martin Kaymer and Ernie Els each down one spot to Nos. 7-9, respectively. Padraig Harrington kept the No. 10 spot.
The top five positions are the same. Tiger Woods, who announced last week he would return to play at the Masters in two weeks, leads the list followed by, in order, Steve Stricker, Phil Mickleson, Lee Westwood and Paul Casey.
