Coaches vote Kentucky, Syracuse 1-2
MCLEAN, Va., Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Kentucky is still the unanimous No. 1 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' basketball poll but Syracuse leapfrogged Ohio State into the No. 2 spot.
Kentucky (21-1) regained the top spot in the poll last week when Syracuse slipped from first to fourth following its first loss of the season. Syracuse (22-1) regains the voters' good graces this week and moves up to second, switching places with Missouri.
Ohio State (19-3) keeps the No. 3 place with Missouri (19-2) fourth. Duke (18-3) inches up one place to fifth while Baylor (19-2) and North Carolina (18-3) are tied for sixth.
Kansas (17-4) drops from fifth to No. 8 ahead of its annual trip to Missouri, which is Saturday.
Murray State (21-0), the lone unbeaten, remains ninth and Michigan State (17-4) moves from 11th to No. 10.
No. 11 Florida (17-4), 12th-ranked Creighton (20-2) and No. 13 Nevada-Las Vegas (20-3) all improve two places this week. Georgetown (16-4) is 14th after a week at No. 10 and Marquette (18-4) comes in 15th.
St. Mary's (Calif.) (21-2) goes from 20th to 16th while San Diego State (18-3) drops from 12th to No. 17. Virginia (17-3) is at 18th followed by No. 19 Mississippi State (17-5) and Big Ten rivals Indiana and Wisconsin, which are both 17-5 and tied for 20th. Wisconsin beat Indiana last week.
Michigan (16-6), with two ranked teams on this week's schedule, remains at 22nd and Harvard (18-2) is again No. 23. Florida State (14-6) returns to the rankings, after eight weeks, at 24th and Louisville (17-5) is No. 25.
Reports: Burrell retiring
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Outfielder Pat Burrell, who won World Series with Philadelphia and San Francisco, is retiring after 12 big league seasons, multiple media reports said Monday.
Burrell, 35, is a career .253 hitter with 292 home runs and 976 runs batted in in 1,640 games, though he was just 1-for-27 in two World Series.
The former No. 1 overall draft pick spent most of his career with the Phillies, winning a world championship in 2008. He went on to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2009 but was released in mid-season in 2010 when he struggled at the plate. He signed with San Francisco where he rediscovered his swing and helped the Giants to another World Series that fall.
Last season, his numbers atrophied again. He hit .230 with seven homers and 21 RBI in 92 games.
V. Martinez out for year after surgery
DETROIT, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The Detroit Tigers said Monday they expect designated hitter Victor Martinez to miss the 2012 season to recover from surgery on his left knee.
Martinez tore his ACL during off-season conditioning and underwent multiple procedures Friday in Vail, Colo., the American League club said. Dr. Richard Steadman performed the microfracture surgery, and operations to repair both the medial and lateral meniscus in the knee.
Martinez is expected to have ACL reconstruction surgery in 6-8 weeks.
The 33-year-old Venezuelan batted .330 with 40 doubles, 12 home runs and 103 runs batted in last season, his first with the Tigers. He previously was with Cleveland and Boston, and is a career .303 hitter with 143 homers and 743 RBI.
With Martinez out of the picture for this season, Detroit added another power bat by signing free-agent first baseman Prince Fielder.
Mayer among early Sud de France winners
MONTPELLIER, France, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Sixth-seeded Florian Mayer opened play Monday at the Sud de France Open tennis tournament with a straight-set win.
Mayer topped Gilles Muller 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 by cashing in the only two service breaks of the match. Muller won 77 percent of the points on serve but Mayer twice broke Muller's serve in the second set for the win.
Mayer landed 70 percent of his first serves and claimed 74 percent of the overall points when he served. He fought off seven break points in the first set in getting to the tiebreaker.
French players went 1-1 Monday.
Guillaume Rufin got past Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) by recording the only break of the match to take the first set and then winning the close tiebreaker.
Nikolay Davydenko, however, ousted Rufin's countryman Stephane Robert 6-2, 6-1 in 59 minutes. Davydenko lost only five points on serve and won all 12 of his service points in the second set.
He moves into the second round against fourth-seeded Richard Gasquet, another French player. Gasquet and the other Top Four seeds, including No. 1-seed Tomas Berdych, received first-round byes.
No. 3-seeded Gael Monfils won the tournament in 2010 but it wasn't contested in 2011.
Hurricanes give Gleason 4-year deal
RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Tim Gleason signed a four-year contract extension Monday, the day after his 29th birthday.
Gleason will be paid $3.5 million in 2012-13, $4.5 million in 2013-14 and 2014-15 and $3.5 million in 2015-16.
"We thank Tim for choosing to stay with the Hurricanes long term," General Manager Jim Rutherford said. "He is one of our core players, someone who brings character and leadership to our locker room, along with being a key piece on the ice. This is a very important signing for our team going forward."
Gleason has one goal, 13 assists and a plus-two rating in 51 games this season. He leads all Hurricanes defensemen in hits with 87 and total minutes played with 1,063.
