Villanova’s Fraser Will Have Surgery

Villanova forward Jason Fraser will undergo surgery today on his broken right hand, an injury that could sideline him four to six weeks.

Fraser, a junior who leads the Big East Conference with 3.3 blocked shots a game, broke his hand during the Wildcats’ overtime victory over Providence on Tuesday night.

Fraser is averaging 7.9 points and 6.9 rebounds in 11 games this season.

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Chris Paul of Wake Forest, Raymond Felton of North Carolina and Chris Hernandez of Stanford were among six repeat finalists selected for the Bob Cousy Award.

The award is given to the outstanding point guard in college basketball and is presented by the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Travis Diener of Marquette, Josh Mueller of South Dakota and Chris Thomas of Notre Dame are also finalists for a second consecutive season.

A total of 18 finalists from all three NCAA divisions were selected. The inaugural award was presented last year to Jameer Nelson of St. Joseph’s.

The award, named for the Hall of Fame guard, will be presented in St. Louis on April 4.

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Doug Noll was fired as coach at Indiana Purdue of Fort Wayne. He had a 40-119 record in five-plus years, including 3-13 this season with a current eight-game losing streak. Joe Pechota, the Mastodons’ associate coach, was appointed interim coach for the rest of the season.

IPFW, in its third year as a Division I independent, never won more than 11 games under Noll, whose best season was 11-16 in 1999-2000, his first year.