NCAA Grants an Extra Year to USC’s Turner

USC forward Jarvis Turner was awarded a fifth year of college eligibility for the upcoming basketball season after being granted a medical hardship by the NCAA.

Turner’s college career appeared over after suffering a fractured ankle midway through his senior season last year. He played in only seven of the Trojans’ 30 games, appearing in only four games before fracturing his ankle Jan. 20 against Arizona State.

“It is great to have a veteran guy like Jarvis Turner back on the team because he knows what it takes to win,” USC Coach Henry Bibby said in a statement. “He’s had a tough career at USC because of injuries and hopefully he can make the most of this opportunity.”

Turner, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward, bolsters a USC team that returns all five of its starters.

Pro Basketball

Nancy Lieberman-Cline will not be retained as coach and general manager of the WNBA’s Detroit Shock, the team said.

Lieberman-Cline’s three-year contract with the Shock expired at the end of the regular season earlier this month. Detroit missed the playoffs with a 14-18 record. In three years, her team was 46-48.

The Houston Comets’ dramatic overtime victory over the New York Liberty that clinched their fourth consecutive WNBA title gained a 2.1 rating and a 6 share in the Nielsens, NBC reported. That tied the WNBA’s second-highest overnight rating and exceeded the rating of 1.74 for last year’s Game 2 by 24%.

Jurisprudence

A judge ordered the U.S. Olympic Committee to take Greco-Roman wrestler Matt Lindland instead of Keith Sieracki to the Sydney Games, the latest reversal in a lengthy dispute that has bounced between arbitrators and the courts.

Lindland lost to Sieracki in the 167 1/2-pound class at the Greco-Roman wrestling trials in June and in a final arbitrator’s decision last week. But U.S. District Judge B. Zagel ruled in Chicago that an arbitration ruling that led to a rematch--with Lindland winning--was upheld by an appeals court and should settle the matter.

A second arbitration held in Colorado was decided in Sieracki’s favor Thursday, but Zagel said it has not been confirmed by the courts. USOC attorney Irving B. Levinson said he would consult with the committee before determining whether the ruling would be appealed.

American University sued the Colonial Athletic Association for the right to participate in the conference’s postseason tournaments.

The conference fined American $250,000 and banned it from participation in tournaments as punishment for leaving. Officials with American, which plans to leave the CAA and join the Patriot League after the 2001 athletic season, said they are only contesting the ban.

“The conference action targets all student-athletes and coaches for harsh sanctions without cause,” American President Benjamin Ladner said.

American is one of three schools leaving the CAA at the end of the athletic season.

The University of Richmond is joining the Atlantic 10 Conference, and East Carolina is going to Conference USA.

Miscellany

Even though Tiger Woods didn’t make a birdie over the last 15 holes and built a nine-stroke lead in third round of the NEC Invitational, CBS Sports had its highest local overnight ratings from Saturday at Firestone since 1986.

Saturday’s overnight rating was 5.1 with a 13 share, up 65% from the third round in 1999. Sunday’s final round, was 5.3 with a 12 share, down 4% from 5.5 with a 13 share last year.

Defender Michelle French was picked to replace Michelle Akers on the U.S. women’s Olympic soccer team. French, one of four alternates picked for the Olympics on Aug. 10, moves onto the 18-player squad.

U.S. Coach April Heinrichs chose French four days after Akers announced her retirement from international soccer. Akers has been plagued by a shoulder injury that needs surgery for a second time.

Two-time champion filly Silverbulletday has been retired and will be bred in 2001. Owner Mike Pegram and trainer Bob Baffert decided to end her racing career after she won only one of five starts this year.

In 1999, she won eight of 11 starts, including two Grade I stakes races, the Kentucky Oaks and the Alabama Stakes. She won Eclipse Awards each of the last two years.

Arena Football League players voted to ratify a six-year collective bargaining agreement after working under an interim agreement since March.

Among the approved terms are unrestricted free-agent status to any player with four or more years experience and an increase in minimum base salary.