Michigan’s Trey Burke declares for the NBA draft

The time was right for Trey Burke.

The Michigan star made it official Sunday: He’s leaving the Wolverines to enter the NBA draft. The move came as no surprise after Burke was voted the Associated Press national player of the year and led Michigan to the NCAA title game as a sophomore.

Burke also considered going to the NBA a year ago, but he came back for another season. Now he departs with his stock seemingly peaking.

“I just felt like this was the best opportunity for me,” Burke said. “It’s an opportunity that I’ve always wanted.”

The 6-foot point guard averaged 18.6 points and 6.7 assists per game in 2012-13. He made perhaps the most memorable shot of the NCAA tournament, a long three-pointer in the final seconds against Kansas that sent that regional semifinal to overtime.

Michigan made the Final Four for the first time since 1993, and in the championship game against Louisville, Burke scored 24 points in a losing effort.

Once the season ended, it would have been shocking if Burke came back again. The main question for Michigan is how many other players the Wolverines might lose. Junior Tim Hardaway Jr. and freshmen Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson III are also considered candidates to turn pro.

The deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft is April 28.

Etc.

John Isner of the United States beat Nicolas Almagro of Argentina, 6-3, 7-5, in the final of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston.

Isner won his first tournament of the year and the sixth of his career. He had seven aces in the match, giving him a record 64 for the tournament. He broke the record of 60 set by Pete Sampras in 2002. Almagro leads the ATP Tour with 266 aces. He had five against Isner.

Isner had aces of 144 and 142 mph in the 10th game to hold serve.

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Emmanuel Sanders is sticking with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The team announced it matched the $2.5-million offer the New England Patriots made to the restricted free-agent wide receiver last week. Pittsburgh would have received a third-round pick from the Patriots if it let Sanders go to New England.

Instead, Sanders will likely be second on the depth chart behind Antonio Brown when training camp opens in July. The 26-year-old Sanders caught 44 passes for 626 yards and a touchdown in 2012, and was the only wide receiver to appear in all 16 games for Pittsburgh in 2012.

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A medical examiner says a man who died in the infield during a NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway shot himself in the head.

The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office said the death of 42-year-old Kirk Franklin of Saginaw was a suicide.

Fort Worth police have said a man who was camping in the infield died of a “self-inflicted injury” after getting into an argument with other campers. The incident happened late in the Sprint Cup race.

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The interim leader of the NCAA office that conducted the investigation of Miami’s athletic department believes the Hurricanes are “grasping at straws” such as making personal attacks against investigators in their efforts to get the case against them dismissed.

That claim, and others, are part of the response that was signed by Jonathan F. Duncan, the NCAA’s Interim Vice President of Enforcement, in response to a motion Miami filed with the association’s Committee on Infractions to have the case brought to an immediate conclusion.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the enforcement staff’s response to that motion Sunday night.

“Overall, the enforcement staff believes that the institution is again grasping at straws in an attempt to disqualify members of the enforcement team with the most knowledge about the case,” Duncan wrote.

In late March, citing impropriety by the NCAA and how it handled the investigation, the Hurricanes asked the Committee on Infractions — a group that is separate from the association’s investigative arm — to throw the case out altogether. Four former Miami coaches, including current Missouri basketball Coach Frank Haith, also filed similar motions.

In his response, Duncan wrote that the NCAA’s enforcement staff “believes that the majority of the parties’ assertions in their motions to dismiss are largely based on assumptions, false accusations, misleading statements and meritless claims.”