Tar Heels trio is leaving for the NBA draft

North Carolina’s underclassmen decided they wouldn’t put off their goal of playing in the NBA any longer.

The school said Thursday that Harrison Barnes, John Henson and Kendall Marshall will make themselves available for the draft, ending a two-year run in which the Tar Heels made deep NCAA tournament runs only to fall a game short of the Final Four each time.

The school didn’t state whether the three planned to hire agents in its release announcing the departures, though it appears they’re in the draft to stay.

Henson was a freshman during Roy Williams’ worst season as a head coach in 2010. Barnes arrived a year later as the nation’s No. 1 recruit, though it wasn’t until Marshall took over at point guard midway through that season that the Tar Heels took off.

Stanford’s young guards Chasson Randle and Aaron Bright each scored 15 points, and the Cardinal routed Minnesota, 75-51, to win the NIT title at New York.

The third-seeded Cardinal (26-11) won its second NIT title, the first coming in 1991.

Danny Manning agreed to become the head coach at Tulsa, the second assistant from Kansas Coach Bill Self’s staff to announce his departure during the week of the Final Four.

Illinois introduced John Groce as its new coach, bringing him in to replace the fired Bruce Weber. Groce had been the coach at Ohio, taking the Bobcats to the Sweet 16 this season.

ETC.

Sharapova reaches final

A disputed line call on match point meant Maria Sharapova’s win over Caroline Wozniacki in the Sony Ericsson Open semifinals ended in ill feeling. Sharapova will face Agnieszka Radwanska in the final.

Sharapova won the disputed final point after an overrule by the umpire, edging Wozniacki, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Wozniacki, angry about the overrule, declined to shake umpire Kader Nouni’s hand and had words with him as she walked to the exit.

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic advanced to the men’s semifinals without argument, beating No. 5 David Ferrer, 6-2, 7-6 (1).

Djokovic seeks his third Key Biscayne title and second in a row. His opponent Friday will be No. 21 Juan Monaco, who advanced on his 28th birthday by eliminating No. 8 Mardy Fish. The scrappy Monaco dominated from the baseline and hit only eight second serves during the 6-1, 6-3 victory.

Angel Cabrera and Carl Pettersson shot seven-under-par 65 in calm morning conditions to top the Houston Open leaderboard before first-round play was suspended because of a thunderstorm at Humble, Texas.

Only 51 players completed play before the horn sounded at 1:27 p.m. Tournament director Steve Timms said the storm dumped about 11/4 inches of rain. The first round was scheduled to resume at 7:30 a.m. on Friday.

Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada won the world figure skating title at Nice, France, reversing last year’s result by beating defending champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States.

Virtue and Moir, who captured the worlds and Olympic crown two years ago, took the free dance after finishing first in Wednesday’s short dance.

Longtime Oakland Raiders trainer George Anderson has died. He was 82. The Raiders said Anderson died Thursday morning. No cause of death was given..