Kyrie Irving is leaving Duke for the NBA draft

Point guard Kyrie Irving is leaving Duke after one season to make himself available for the NBA draft.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement issued Wednesday by the school that Irving plans to hire an agent, ending his college career.

Irving played only 11 games and sat out roughly two-thirds of the season because of an injured big toe on his right foot.

The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 17.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists for top-seeded Duke, which was upset by Arizona in the West Regional semifinals.

North Carolina’s big men are passing on the NBA for another run at a national championship. The Tar Heels will have to wait a little longer to learn the plans of freshman Harrison Barnes.

The school announced that junior 7-footer Tyler Zeller and sophomore John Henson will return to Chapel Hill next season but said Barnes “is still reviewing information” as he considers whether to make himself available for the draft.

Zeller and Henson were second-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference picks as the Tar Heels won the league regular-season championship and reached the East Regional final.

Kansas will have junior guard Tyshawn Taylor and sophomore forward Thomas Robinson for at least one more season.

Brigham Young Coach Dave Rose signed a new five-year contract that will take him through the 2015-16 season.

The woman convicted of trying to extort millions of dollars from Louisville Coach Rick Pitino reported to a federal prison in Florida to begin serving a sentence of more than seven years.

Karen Cunagin Sypher, 51, checked into the minimum-security women’s prison in Marianna on Wednesday, according to prison spokeswoman Jennifer Saad.

Sypher’s attorneys have made repeated requests for her to remain free while she appeals convictions on charges of extortion, lying to the FBI and retaliating against a witness. Prosecutors say she sought millions from Pitino to stay quiet about a 2003 sexual encounter.

ETC.

USC, NFL’s Titans settle their lawsuit

USC and the Tennessee Titans reached a settlement in a lawsuit over USC’s hiring of running backs coach and offensive coordinator Kennedy Pola.

The Titans filed a lawsuit in Tennessee last July after Trojans Coach Lane Kiffin hired Pola, who was the NFL team’s running backs coach for only six months. The Titans contended that Kiffin “maliciously” interfered with the contract of Pola.

“The settlement terms are private, but include opportunities for both parties to avoid future disagreements and disputes over employment of persons who are already employed by either party,” USC and the Titans said in a joint statement. “With this amicable resolution, the Tennessee Titans and the University of Southern California have restored their longtime mutual relationship, and anticipate that the suit will be dismissed within the next few weeks.”

—Gary Klein

South Carolina’s Stephen Garcia was suspended indefinitely from the football program, less than two weeks after the quarterback guaranteed he would not get in trouble again.

Coach Steve Spurrier said the suspension would last through the spring semester, and Garcia’s status beyond that would be determined at a later date.

Premier Pegasus, a son of 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus, was made the solid 8-5 favorite on the morning line for Saturday’s 11/8-mile Santa Anita Derby.

Jaycito is the 4-1 second choice, and Silver Medallion is third at 9-2.

Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki’s latest trip to the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C., began a lot better than the last one ended.

Wozniacki opened with a straight-set victory over American Irina Falconi on Wednesday.

It was a year ago that Wozniacki had to retire from a semifinal match against Vera Zvonareva because of an ankle injury when sliding on the green clay. This time, though, Wozniacki moved like the No. 1 player in dispatching Falconi, 6-1, 6-1.

Other early winners were No. 7-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia and No. 10 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

Larry Shepard, the former Pittsburgh Pirates manager who later became the pitching coach for Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine, has died. He was 92.

The funeral home handling the arrangements in Lincoln, Neb., said Shepard died Tuesday.