UCLA to play Sidney’s team next season

The UCLA basketball team might see a familiar face in the 2009 John R. Wooden Classic next December. The Bruins confirmed that they will face Mississippi State, the team that signed L.A. Fairfax High star Renardo Sidney after a wild recruiting period.

Earlier this year, UCLA and USC backed off recruiting Sidney, who at separate times appeared ready to sign with each school. His eligibility is under review by the NCAA, which is reportedly looking into bank records and houses his family rented while he was in high school.

The Wooden Classic is scheduled for Dec. 12 at the Honda Center.

-- David Wharton

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Gonzaga’s Austin Daye, a junior-to-be from Irvine, says he’s leaning toward keeping his name in the NBA draft and skipping his final two years of college. Daye must decide before Monday.

Two other college players who were testing the NBA waters announced they would return to school. Tennessee forward Tyler Smith and South Carolina forward Dominique Archie will be back for their senior seasons.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Alabama put on NCAA probation

The NCAA put Alabama’s football program and 15 other of the school’s athletic teams on three years’ probation for major violations due to misuse of free textbooks, stripping the Crimson Tide of 21 football wins over a three-year period.

The NCAA said 201 athletes in 16 sports obtained “impermissible benefits” by using their scholarships to obtain free textbooks for other students. As a result, the NCAA ruled the football team must vacate any wins in which any of those seven players took part in 2005-07. Alabama said that pending a successful appeal, the decision would cost the program 21 wins, including the 2005 Cotton Bowl victory over Texas Tech and an upset of Florida earlier that season.

TENNIS

Roddick wins amid bomb scare

After the start of the match was delayed by a bomb threat, Andy Roddick defeated Lleyton Hewitt, 7-6, 7-6, to advance to the quarterfinals at Queen’s Club in London.

Tournament officials, who initially said the match was being delayed because of technical issues, disclosed that a spectator had discovered a bomb threat message pinned to a wall. However, a security sweep found nothing.

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Maria Sharapova won twice within hours to advance to the quarterfinals of the Aegon Classic at Birmingham, England. Sharapova needed only two minutes and five points to wrap up a 6-3, 6-4 victory against American Alexa Glatch in a second-round match suspended Wednesday by rain. She then beat seventh-seeded Francesca Schiavone, 6-1, 6-3. . . . Novak Djokovic saved five match points, staving off Florent Serra, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, and advancing to the Gerry Weber Open quarterfinals at Halle, Germany. . . . Damir Dokic, father of tennis player Jelena Dokic, was sentenced to 15 months in jail on charges that he threatened the Australian ambassador to Serbia.

HOCKEY

Crawford hired by Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars hired Marc Crawford as their new coach, bringing in a well-traveled NHL veteran to replace the fired Dave Tippett.

Crawford has a 470-361-156 record in 13 seasons as coach of the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche, Vancouver Canucks and most recently the Kings.

He was the Avalanche coach when it won the 1996 Stanley Cup.

ETC.

Disgraced referee attacked in prison

Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was attacked in prison in Pensacola, Fla., by a fellow inmate who claimed he had ties to the New York mob, a spokesman for Donaghy said.

The attacker hit Donaghy in the right knee with a stick or club in November at a minimum security federal prison camp, said Pat Zaranek of Executive Prison Consultants.

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Ryan Leaf’s lawyer, Bill Kelly, says the indicted former NFL quarterback will surrender on drug and burglary charges in Texas.

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Bryan Berry, the crew chief for Nationwide Series driver Brendan Gaughan, was suspended indefinitely for using a racial slur about rival driver Marc Davis, who is black.

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Quarterback Rex Grossman and the Houston Texans have agreed to a deal, a person familiar with the negotiations said. Grossman, who played for Chicago, is expected to sign after passing a physical.

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Quarterback Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles have agreed to restructure the final two years of his contract. McNabb’s new deal is worth $24.5 million over the next two seasons, a person familiar with the negotiations said.