Bafana pay for penalty miss

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Africa Cup of Nations title favourites Algeria got off to a winning start in Group C with a come-from-behind 3-1 triumph over South Africa in Mongomo.


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Africa Cup of Nations title favourites Algeria got off to a winning start in Group C with a come-from-behind 3-1 triumph over South Africa in Mongomo.


It was an impressive fightback by the Desert Foxes, who went top of the table on goal difference in the group of death after Senegal defeated Ghana 2-1 earlier.


Goals from Faouzi Ghoulam and Islam Slimani won a lively match for the top-ranked African team after a Thulani Hlatshwayo own-goal wiped out the lead Thuso Phala gave South Africa.


Tokelo Rantie wasted a great chance to double the advantage for Bafana Bafana (The Boys) almost immediately by firing a penalty over off the crossbar.


Algeria started with 11 of the squad that reached the second round of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and forced eventual champions Germany into extra time before bowing out.


South Africa had to do without suspended defensive colossus Erick Mathoho with Rivaldo Coetzee and Hlatshwayo manning the central positions.


The Desert Foxes were more impressive in the early exchanges, retaining possession and pushing forward without seriously troubling goalkeper Darren Keet.


But when full-back Ghoulam was presented with a long-range free-kick opportunity, he fired the ball straight at the South African shot-stopper.


Striker Rantie from English second-tier league leaders Bournemouth was proving menacing at the other end and twice threatened the Algerians with his pace.


Captain Dean Furman came agonisingly close to ending the stalemate midway through the opening half by unleashing an explosive shot from outside the box.


Goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi got the slightest of touches to the rising, swerving shot and it proved crucial as the ball cannoned back into play off the crossbar.


Mbolhi twice rescued the Foxes as half-time approached, dispossessing Sibusiso Vilakazi and then blocking an Andile Jali shot with his leg.


A Rantie back-heel set up Phala to break the deadlock on 51 minutes with a close-range shot wide of Mbolhi.


Then a Rantie spot-kick flew over off the crossbar after Aissa Mandi fouled Vilakazi.


Back came Algeria and Slimani was denied by Keet and then by the post.


However, the North Africans scored twice within six minutes midway through the second half to turn the tide.


Hlatshwayo headed a cross into his own net and a fierce Ghoulam shot flew past Keet.


An Algerian victory was wrapped up seven minutes from time as Keet allowed a Slimani shot to slip under his body and into the net. – AFP






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News sport : Report: December early signing period formally recommended

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Feb 5, 2014; Norcross, GA, USA; Norcross High School defensive end Lorenzo Carter selects a Georgia hat and announces that he will sign with the Georgia Bulldogs at Norcross High School. (Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports) A big change could be coming to the world of college football recruiting.


According to CBSSports.com, an early signing period has been “formally recommended” that would allow prospects to sign national letters of intent before National Signing Day, which comes on the first Wednesday of February. If it comes to fruition, the early signing period “would begin Dec. 16 and last 72 hours” beginning with the 2016 recruiting class.


This date wouldn’t be set in stone, however. Instead, the Dec. 16 date would “be in place for two years as an ‘experiment’” before a potential reevaluation.


Before the proposal can be formally introduced, the Conference Commissioners Association (the 32 Division I conference commissioners) will examine it during “a spring/summer discussion period.”


A 12-person committee, which is chaired by MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, made the recommendation for the early signing period at the NCAA convention over the weekend.


The early signing period allows for recruits who have been committed to schools for long periods of time to get their decisions out of the way and avoid the overtures of other programs in the weeks leading up to signing day. Additionally, an early signing period could also help schools save the resources they would use to continue recruiting players who have long been verbally committed.


The issue has been on the table for years. Some coaches have voiced support for it, while others strongly oppose the change.


“There’s an array of opinions on it,” Steinbrecher told CBS. “Clearly there was a strong groundswell in the coaching community and the administrative community. This is a drum that has been beating for more than a decade.”


The ACC supports an Aug. 1 early signing date while the SEC would be in favor of the Monday after Thanksgiving. Steinbrecher says the Dec. 16 date does not alter the recruiting calendar as a whole.


“You can’t do it earlier without changing recruiting rules,” Steinbrecher said. “You’re looking at six terms of (high school) academic work with an Aug. 1 signing date.”


College basketball has long had a November early signing period in place to precede a spring signing day.


Per CBS, a final document of the recommendation has not been finalized yet, but Division I commissioners were made aware of it on Friday. Additionally, coaches and athletic directors will have the opportunity to voice their opinions on the matter in the spring.


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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Tiger Woods' tooth knocked out by photographer in Italy

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Tiger Woods walks in the finish area of an alpine ski, women's World Cup super-G, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Jan. 19, 2015. Lindsey Vonn won a super-G Monday for her record 63rd World Cup victory and celebrated with an embrace from a surprise visitor boyfriend Tiger Woods. The American broke Annemarie Moser-Proell's 35-year-old record of 62 World Cup wins with a flawless run down the Olympia delle Tofane course, finishing 0.85 ahead of Anna Fenninger of Austria. (AP Photo/Armando Trovati) Tiger Woods showed up in Italy on Monday to surprise his girlfriend Lindsey Vonn on the occasion of her record-setting World Cup performance. And while Woods sported a skull facemask for a fair portion of his time on the slopes, closeups revealed that Woods is apparently missing a tooth.


What the heck? Did Woods take a golf ball to the face? Is this an elaborate disguise? Or is this Tiger's country cousin Possum Woods?


None of the above, as it turns out. No, Woods was a victim of an overly aggressive media corps. Here, we'll let his agent Mark Steinberg explain:


"During a crush of photographers as the awards podium at the World Cup event in Italy, a media member with a shoulder-mounted video camera pushed and surged toward the stage, turned and hit Tiger Woods in the mouth," Steinberg said in a statement to the AP. "Woods' tooth was knocked out by the incident."


Ow. OW. Man, that sounds like it hurt. As if Woods didn't have enough reason to hate the media before, now this.


Woods is scheduled to tee it up at next week's Waste Management Open in Phoenix.


____

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News sport : Injured Philadelphia rookie Joel Embiid denies blowing up to 300 pounds

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Philadelphia 76ers rookie Joel Embiid has yet to officially talk to the media during the 2014-15 NBA term. The team’s most-recent lottery pick hasn’t participated in a five-on-five scrimmage with his team; once he does, he’ll be due for regular sessions with reporters per NBA rules put in place after Derrick Rose routinely dodged the media following his all-out practices with Chicago in 2012-13.


As such, reporters (and, most importantly, Philadelphia fans that follow those reporters) have little clue as to what, exactly, is going on with Embiid. Touted as a potential top overall pick in last year’s draft, Joel’s draft stock fell to third overall when back and foot fractures knocked him both out of NCAA play, and a good chunk (if not all) of his first potential NBA season. The nature of his foot injury precludes him from participating in the sort of all-out rehab (much less practice) most other NBA players work through daily, which has allowed Embiid’s weight to noticeably balloon.


How much has it ballooned? The Philadelphia Inquirer, over the weekend, ventured an anonymously-sourced guess of sorts:



Embiid has a weight issue. Although the Sixers wouldn't disclose his weight, a source said he's close to 300 pounds after being 250 pounds at Kansas last season.




His work ethic is being questioned by some inside the organization.




And a blowup with assistant strength and conditioning coach James Davis is one of the reasons he was sent home during the team's recent West Coast road trip.



Even for a 20-year old – away from parental guidance, traveling through NBA towns rife with easy-access to high-calorie options, working with a contract that starts at over $4.4 million a year – tossing an extra 50 pounds on is pretty remarkable and borderline incredible. As in, “bordering on not credible.” Even on a 7-foot frame.


As the second report of Embiid’s weight gain this season hit the rounds, Joel most noticeably was the first Sixer to report for the team’s early morning shootaround on Monday, even though he won’t be playing in the squad’s matinee performance against the Washington Wizards:




Prior to that public workout, in one of his usual quick and unofficial discussions with reporters on Sunday evening, Embiid denied hitting three bills. From Dei Lynam at CSN Philly:



"I don't weigh that," Embiid said in passing at a D.C. hotel Sunday night with the Sixers in town to face the Wizards for a Martin Luther King Day matinee.




A team source backed him up, stating that 275 pounds has been the maximum weight for the 7-footer whom the Sixers selected with the third overall pick in last year's draft.



Lynam went on to say that the rookie “has expressed his frustrations with multiple people on the staff when working out this season.” That’s not the correct thing to do, and it’s far from professional, but in some ways it is understandable.


Joel Embiid won’t turn 21 until mid-March. He was drafted as an injured project big man 12 months after his team selected another injured project big man in Nerlens Noel that ended up sitting out of all of 2013-14. While many in Philadelphia celebrated Embiid’s selection, just as many outside of the team’s fan base snickered at the Sixers so blatantly sticking with the paradigm that put them in the lottery by choice – taking a project coming off of a major injury, scuttling any chance that some learning young stud could trip the 76ers into a few extra wins they don’t want.


He has only been playing basketball since 2009 – the year Derrick Rose won the Rookie of the Year and the year Blake Griffin was drafted prior to his sit-out of the entire 2009-10 season with injury. He is stuck on a miserable Sixer squad that lost its first 17 games of the season, hanging around teammates that even an NBA neophyte like Embiid knows what be around when the Sixers finally start to round into winners behind Joel, Noel, possibly Michael Carter-Williams, prospect Dario Saric, and however many other lottery picks they’ll grab. This isn’t ideal.


That doesn’t make fighting with those that know better the right thing to do. And that doesn’t make the obvious weight gain, even if it isn’t up to 300 pounds, appropriate.


No, Embiid can’t do much by way of cardio or NBA drills as he recovers from a rather scary stress fracture (the same kind that ended Bill Walton and Yao Ming’s careers and the same one that derailed Zydrunas Ilgauskas for so many years), but he can still manage to stay reasonably close to his hoped-for NBA weight even while indulging in the odd trip to The Cheesecake Factory. There are people that the 76ers pay to help teach Embiid the sort of nutritional rules that we all needed to have bashed over our heads in our early 20s.


It’ll also be nice when Philadelphia 76ers fans can start to click on anything to read that doesn’t label their team anything more than a raging dumpster fire.


(Twitter hat-tips to Deadspin.)


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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!






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Senegal triumph in Afcon thriller

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Senegal beat Ghana 2-1 in an electrifying African Cup of Nations Group C opener after Moussa Sow scored a dramatic last-minute winner.


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Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea - Senegal beat Ghana 2-1 in an electrifying African Cup of Nations Group C opener after substitute Moussa Sow scored a dramatic winner with almost the last kick of the game on Monday.


Sow drilled in a low shot deep into added time to complete Senegal's comeback after Mame Biram Diouf had cancelled out Andrew Ayew's first-half penalty for Ghana.


The result was a sour start for former Chelsea boss Avram Grant in his first match in charge of Ghana, with the quadruple former winners now under pressure to advance from the 16-nation tournament's toughest group.


Algeria and South Africa were playing later on Monday.


Senegal coach Alain Giresse, the former France midfielder, was delighted after his men fought back and outplayed their more heralded rivals.


“We might have been behind at halftime but we always knew we had the potential to win the game,” he said after emotional celebrations by his players.


An error-strewn opening 10 minutes turned into a vastly entertaining encounter after Ghana right wing Christian Atsu raced clear of his markers and won a penalty as Senegal goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul brought him down.


Ayew, standing in as captain for fellow striker Asamoah Gyan who was ruled out after contracting malaria, drilled the spot-kick high down the middle in the 14th minute.


The pacy Atsu missed a gilt-edged chance to double the lead midway through the opening period, placing his shot wide of the far post with only Coundoul to beat after a darting run by midfielder Emmanuel Agyemang.


Senegal then took the upper hand and twice came close to drawing level, with central defender Kara Mbodji's header smacking the crossbar before a spectacular effort by Diouf.


With his back to goal on the edge of the penalty box, the Stoke City striker unleashed a vicious overhead shot after a teasing cross was headed into his path and only a superb reflex save by keeper Razak Braimah denied him.


Senegal pressed relentlessly after the break and the imposing Diouf was rewarded in the 58th minute when he equalised with a diving header after a first attempt hit the far post.


Rattled by Senegal's raids down the left flank, Ghana were let off the hook in the 66th minute when Diouf blasted a half-volley over the bar from 10 metres.


The last minute of extra time stunned the Ghanaians, barely 60 seconds after their forward Jordan Ayew had headed wide with the goal at his mercy.


A long upfield punt by Coundoul fell kindly for substitute Henri Saviet, whose crisp one-two with Diouf released Sow in the heart of the penalty box and the striker gave Braimah no chance with a first-time shot into the far corner.


Reuters






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News sport : Former Louisville linebacker Patrick Grant sues school over alleged promised scholarship

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Former Louisville linebacker Patrick Grant. (GoCards.com) Former Louisville linebacker Patrick Grant is suing the school after he claims coach Charlie Strong reneged on an agreement to continue Grant’s scholarship into grad school after he was forced to quit the team following a beating he suffered by two teammates.


Grant is seeking compensatory damages and an injunction restoring his scholarship.


The trial is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, however, records obtained by the Louisville Courier-Journal show Grant has no witnesses or documentation to support his claim.


Twin brothers Isaac and Jacob Geffrad allegedly assaulted Grant on Oct. 24, 2010. He suffered an eye injury that required two surgeries to fix. Both Geffrad brothers were kicked off the team, but neither was indicted by a grand jury.


Grant missed the rest of the 2010 season, but was medically cleared for fall camp in 2011. However, he suffered a concussion in practice and decided to leave the team.


Strong, who is now the coach at Texas, is expected to testify during the trial, but said in a deposition that he never promised Grant a scholarship for grad school.


Grant said Strong not only promised to keep him on scholarship through the spring 2012 semester, but also through the following academic year while he pursued his graduate degree in criminal justice. That would have been six years of scholarship for Grant, who enrolled in 2007.


"I mean, why would you give a kid five years if he isn't playing?" Strong said. "I have 85 scholarships. What if every kid told me when he graduated, 'I want to continue to go to school, Coach?' How would I fill up my other class?"


There’s also the issue of how Grant left the team, which is disputed in court documents.


Grant claims he left the team because of his eye injury. He said he was seeing spots and that he was concerned his vision would get worse if he kept playing. Strong claimed Grant never mentioned any vision problems and that, “he quit the team.”


The university did offer Grant grants through the spring 2012 semester that were worth $7,510, for room, board and tuition. However, Grant declined, stating that that was not what he was originally promised.


"It's like any other kid who's got a degree," Strong said during the deposition. "It's time to go get in the work world. I am going to need your scholarship because you're done."


For more Louisville news, visit CardinalSports.com.


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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!


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News sport : Michael Beasley named Chinese All-Star Game MVP after scoring record 59 points

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Even the most ardent hoops lovers occasionally lose touch with which players are plying their trade where from time to time, missing signings or trades or releases for one reason or another. So you'd be forgiven if you'd forgotten that Michael Beasley — former Kansas State standout and No. 2 overall selection in the 2008 NBA draft, one spot behind Derrick Rose, two choices ahead of Russell Westbrook, and three picks ahead of Kevin Love — had gone (back) overseas, signing a one-year deal with the Yao Ming-owned Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association back in October after the Miami Heat declined to bring him back and a training camp invitation from the Memphis Grizzlies seemed unlikely to result in a regular-season roster spot.


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Evidently, the former Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns forward — who turned 26 years old on Jan. 9 — is thriving in the CBA, averaging 29.4 points on 51.4 percent shooting to go with 10.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 38.5 minutes per game. (Despite Beasley's production, the Sharks rank just 12th in the CBA with a 15-17 overall record.) Such gaudy numbers earned SuperCoolBeas a trip to the league's annual All-Star Game, and it looks like he gave the fans quite a show:



After the Stephon Marbury and Andray Blatche-led North team stormed out to a 13-2 lead, Beasley led the South side back, scoring a CBA All-Star Game record 59 points to lead the South to a 142-123 victory, according to Chinese news outlet Xinhua. Beasley was named the game's MVP, which tends to happen when you set a new single-game scoring record and your team wins.


It remains to be seen whether Beasley's regular-season and exhibition-game scoring prowess leads NBA teams to view him as a viable late-season addition after the CBA campaign wraps up in March. If nothing else, though, I think we can all find some comfort in the knowledge that defense is just as optional in international all-star games as it is here in the U.S.



Michael Beasley dunks during the CBA All-Star Game.

Video via allenwkai.


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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!



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News sport : Russell Westbrook throws down brilliant reverse dunk as Thunder destroy Magic

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A brief reminder: Oklahoma newspaper columnists aren't the only thing Russell Westbrook doesn't like. He's also not such a big fan of rims, which is why he always seems so dead-set on destroying them all the time:



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Even for as committed an explosion artist as Westbrook, this fast-break throwdown during the Oklahoma City Thunder's Sunday meeting with the Orlando Magic was pretty special. Head at the rim, the cradle-rocking pump and reverse ... I mean, even running buddy and assister Kevin Durant couldn't contain himself, leaping into the air with excitement as he trailed the play:



The runout reverse flash wasn't Westbrook's only gravity-defying highlight-reel moment during Sunday's matchup, though. Check out this tremendous mid-air transformation of a misplaced Durant lob into a no-look, over-the-shoulder, behind-the-head feed to a trailing Kendrick Perkins, who finished the break with a dunk:



... and this long-distance connection with a streaking and soaring Durant on the very next Thunder possession, less than 30 seconds later:



If all these fast-break finishes (and those numbers at the bottom of the screen) suggest to you that Oklahoma City had its way with the Magic on Sunday, well, congratulations on being so perceptive. The Thunder cruised to a 127-99 win over Orlando, turning the tables on the newly pace-pushing Magic to the tune of 26 points off 20 Orlando turnovers, a 16-8 edge in fast-break points and a +10 mark (56-46) in points in the paint.


Fresh off their impressive bounce-back win over the West-leading Golden State Warriors on Friday, the Thunder got just about everything they wanted offensively in Central Florida on Sunday and made the Magic pay dearly, especially in a first half that saw Orlando allow a franchise-high 79 points on just 44 shots. OKC's first-half shot chart has to be seen to be believed:



(If only they weren't such bums from the corner.)


The Thunder didn't make everything — defense-first shooting guard Andre Roberson airballed a free-throw, just to keep everybody humble — but it sure felt like they did, tying their season-high point total in a regulation game (which they set Friday against Golden State) while leading from wire-to-wire, building a lead that reached as high as 38 points, and regularly exploiting the Magic's utter lack of defensive resistance with plays like this split, drive and two-handed hammer from Durant:



Durant led seven Thunder players in double-figures with 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting, 11 rebounds, eight assists, a steal and a block in just 27 1/2 minutes of work. Westbrook added 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting and six assists, while Serge Ibaka (4-for-8 from 3-point land, eight rebounds) and Dion Waiters (7-for-9 from the field, two assists, two steals in 21 minutes off the bench) each chipped in 16 points.


Oklahoma City reached the .500 mark for just the second time this season after beginning the campaign hamstrung by injuries to Durant, Westbrook, free-agent signing Anthony Morrow, first-round draft pick Mitch McGary and a slew of other contributors. The Thunder join their fellow Sunday winners, the New Orleans Pelicans, at 20-20, three games behind the Phoenix Suns for the No. 8 seed out West.


The never-in-doubt blowout got the Thunder off to a good start on their five-game East Coast road trip, and after the game, Westbrook offered a bit of a stance switch from his awkward Friday night stonewalling. This time, he did answer reporters' questions, but when it came to an inquiry about his soaring cuff-and-reverse, he didn't really know what to say.


"It wasn’t planned," Westbrook said after the game, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. "I didn’t know what I was going to do. That’s what happened. I just jumped and figured it out later."


Getting into the air without a plan doesn't work out for a lot of people. But Russell Westbrook — as you've probably gathered by now, for better or for worse — isn't "a lot of people," and on Sunday, that spelled bad news for the Magic.


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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!



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News sport : North Carolina hires former Auburn coach Gene Chizik as defensive coordinator

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Auburn coach Gene Chizik reacts to a call against Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Dave Martin) After two seasons away from coaching, Gene Chizik will return to the sideline in 2015.


Chizik, the former Auburn head coach who led the Tigers to the 2011 BCS National Championship, has been hired as defensive coordinator at North Carolina. UNC head coach Larry Fedora announced the move on Monday.


“Throughout the hiring process, I worked closely with athletic director Bubba Cunningham to invest in someone who believes in the mission of the University and shares our vision of providing an outstanding experience to the student-athletes,” said Fedora. “Gene Chizik believes in competing at the highest level both on and off the field and is another highly regarded leader for our program.”


Chizik served as head coach at Auburn from 2009-2012 and registered a 33-19 record in those four seasons, including a 14-0 record in that national championship-winning season.


Chizik was fired and replaced by Gus Malzahn after the Tigers went 3-9 and were winless in SEC play in 2012.


Before coaching at Auburn, Chizik went 5-19 in two years as head coach at Iowa State. Additionally, he served as defensive coordinator at Texas when the Longhorns won the national title in 2005.


“I’m thrilled to join Coach Fedora’s staff and I appreciate the trust he and athletic director Bubba Cunningham have in me,” said Chizik. “It is a tremendous opportunity to coach at one of the most prestigious Universities in the country and live in Chapel Hill. I’m committed to the student-athlete experience they expect at Carolina, and look forward to developing our players into the best they can be in all areas of their lives.”


Before his two seasons at Texas in 2005 and 2006, Chizik served as defensive coordinator at Auburn from 2002-04, at UCF from 1998-2001 and at Stephen F. Austin from 1996-97. He also had stints as a defensive assistant at Clemson and Middle Tennessee.


Chizik has a tough task ahead of him with the Tar Heels. Defensive coordinator Vic Koennig was fired after the team was one of the worst defenses in the country, allowing 497.8 yards per game (No. 120 nationally) and 39 points per game (N. 119 nationally) in a 6-7 campaign.


For more North Carolina news, visit TarHeelIllustrated.com.


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News sport : Vanderbilt QB Stephen Rivers to transfer

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Stephen Rivers is on the move again.


Rivers, a 6-foot-7 quarterback who graduated from LSU and then transferred to Vanderbilt in June, announced on Twitter that he will play elsewhere for his final season of eligibility.




A Vanderbilt spokesman confirmed to the Tennessean that Rivers was granted his release.


Rivers, the younger brother of San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, was one of four quarterbacks to start for the Commodores in Derek Mason’s first year as head coach in 2014. Rivers, who made one start and appeared in four games overall, completed 25-of-63 passes for 334 yards and three interceptions.


At LSU, Rivers began the 2013 season at No. 2 on the depth chart behind Zach Mettenberger, but then-freshman Anthony Jennings passed Rivers as the season progressed.


With Rivers out of the equation, Vanderbilt still has many options at quarterback under new offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig. Johnny McCrary (985 yards, 9 TDs, 8 INT), Patton Robinette (454 yards, 3 TDs, 3 INT) and Wade Freebeck (376 yards, TD, 5 INT) all are expected to return. Redshirt freshman Shawn Stankavage and true freshman Kyle Shurmur will also compete for the starting job.


The Commodores went 3-9 in 2014 and were winless in SEC play.


For more Vanderbilt news, visit VandySports.com.


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News sport : Tyreke Evans' game-winner pushes Pelicans past Raptors

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With All-Star chaos engine Anthony Davis and stalwart two-way point guard Jrue Holiday sidelined by injuries, the New Orleans Pelicans entered Sunday's trip north of the border to take on the Toronto Raptors short-handed and seemingly outgunned, in need of another option to carry the day against the East's No. 3 seed. With the clock winding down, the game tied and a win in the balance, Tyreke Evans stepped up and did what he does best:



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With the score knotted at 93 and just under 16 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Evans dribbled the ball a step inside half-court, his teammates and their defenders fanned out along the baseline and Raptors guard Greivis Vasquez waiting for him just inside the 3-point arc. The play initially appeared to call for one of the Pelicans' bigs — starter Omer Asik or reserve Alexis Ajinca — to come up to the top of the key and set a screen on Vasquez, but instead, Ajinca cleared to the left wing and Asik slid across to the left side of the basket, opening up a path for Evans to make a right-hand dribble drive to the tin.


He beat Vasquez off the bounce and lofted a runner over the outstretched arms of three Raptors defenders — Vasquez, power forward Amir Johnson (who was trailing the play after following his man, Ajinca, nearly out to the 3-point line) and center Jonas Valanciunas (maybe a half-second slow in rotating away from Asik to protect the rim) — up off the window and through the net. The bucket gave the Pelicans a two-point lead that they would not relinquish, as DeMar DeRozan's attempt at a game-winning 3-pointer went awry, allowing New Orleans to escape with a 95-93 win. The victory brought Monty Williams' club back to .500 on the season at 20-20, leaving the Pelicans three games back of the Phoenix Suns for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.


Evans finished with a game-high 26 points on 9-for-14 shooting to go with five rebounds, five assists, one steal and four turnovers in the win, which was the Pelicans/former Hornets franchise's first in Toronto in more than six years. But while the former Rookie of the Year's basket with 1.6 seconds remaining clinched the win, it was the 7-foot Ajinca who provided an unlikely spark for the Pelicans.


The reserve center — a first-round pick of the Charlotte Bobcats back in 2008 who briefly played for the Raptors during the 2010-11 season before returning to his native France for a couple of years and rekindling his NBA career with New Orleans last season — scored a career-high 22 points on 10-for-13 shooting in 34 minutes off the bench, including 10 in the fourth quarter to spark the comeback that put the Pelicans in position to win in the closing seconds. It was the second straight solid outing for Ajinca, who scored 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in just 25 minutes in the Pelicans' otherwise-dispiriting Friday night blowout at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers. With premier offseason trade acquisition Asik offering more on the defensive end than the offensive one — the Pelicans have averaged nearly seven more points per 100 possessions with Asik off the court than when he's on it this season, and his 11 points on 5-for-10 shooting against the Raptors marked just the second time in the last month that he's cracked double figures in the scoring column — Ajinca's recent surge has led some to wonder whether Williams should consider inserting the Frenchman in the starting five.


Whether Williams elects to pull that particular trigger remains to be seen, but after the game, the coach seemed pleased with the level of resolve his club showed in bouncing back not only from Friday's loss in Philadelphia, but also to coughing up a 14-point halftime lead by allowing Toronto to dominate the third quarter before righting the ship in the final frame. From Ian Harrison of The Associated Press:


"Doing that without Jrue and AD was big for us," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said [...]

"We say you've got to take a gut punch," Williams said. "Most people don't know how to take a gut punch. We took it tonight in the third quarter. They came out and just blew us off the floor. On the road, after the loss we had the other day in Philly, you would have thought we would have folded and we did not."

And as a result, New Orleans gets a chance to get back over .500 on Monday when they take on the woeful New York Knicks. They could get star big man Davis back just in time for their visit to Madison Square Garden, which would certainly be bad news for a Knicks team that doesn't need much more of that, having lost 16 straight games to fall to an NBA-worst 5-36 on the season.


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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!



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Bafana ready to claim Afcon glory

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Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba made no bones about the fact that they were gunning for continental glory.


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Mongomo – Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba said his preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations were almost perfect, and made no bones about the fact that they were gunning for continental glory.


South Africa take on tournament favourites Algeria in their opening clash of this year’s Afcon at the Estadio de Mongomo tonight (kickoff 9pm SA time).


“The camp out in Gabon addressed all our problems,” the veteran coach told media last night. We expected to face difficult opposition here. The three teams in our group will require three different approaches. That is why we played Zambia, Cameroon and Mali, three different teams, with three different styles.


“We also managed to acclimate to the heat and the humidity, which is going to be a huge factor at this tournament.”


Mashaba, who is unbeaten in his last 10 matches since taking over the Bafana job in August, is certainly confident that his team can again claim Afcon glory for the first time in 19 years.


Mashaba also said his players are up for the fight after a couple of gruelling sessions since they got off the plane in this sparsely populated rural town on Friday afternoon.


The team had two sessions here ahead of the match, with Mashaba holding his cards quite close to his chest and mixing and matching his teams during his training sessions.


The players, though, have been climbing into each other to try and get one of the prized 11 spots for tonight’s game against the No 1-ranked team in Africa.


“Since day one, everything has gone right for us. To qualify with one game to go gave us confidence, and now anything can happen.


“But it’s going to be really important to win the first game and set the tone to qualify for the quarter-finals. We have confidence that the boys can do that, and in the last session they showed a willingness to work hard, although at this time everyone is scared of injuries just ahead of the tournament.”


The Bafana coach didn’t announce who would captain the team against the Desert Foxes tonight, although star midfielder Dean Furman did sit next to him at the official coach and captain press conference last night. Furman captained Bafana three times in their past five matches, while Anele Ngcongca (pictured) and Andile Jali also adorned the captain’s armband in the past three.


Mashaba also said it didn’t take him long to pick the team for the game, and will announce it later today.


“It is going to be game by game at this tournament. If one player strikes it rich maybe we will keep him.


“But we are looking at a player who is level headed and can influence his teammates, to do what is expected of him on the field, and a player who is able to carry out the coach’s instructions during the match.” - The Star






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News sport : Former Washington State LB Darryl Monroe transfers to Akron

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Washington State Cougars linebacker Darryl Monroe (13) puts on his helmet prior to the game against the Auburn Tigers. (Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports) More than a month after leaving Washington State, Darryl Monroe has a new home.


Monroe, a three-year starter at linebacker for the Cougars, has transferred to Akron for his final season of college football and will be eligible immediately via the NCAA’s graduate transfer rule.


Monroe told the Orlando Sentinel that he also considered a transfer to Cincinnati, but ultimately decided to suit up for the Zips under head coach Terry Bowden.


“The coaching staff really reminds of me of the coaching staff I committed to at Washington State,” said Monroe in reference to former WSU coach Paul Wulff, who was fired in November 2011. “They’re genuine, they care about you as a person and a player and they want to win.”


The 6-foot-1, 235-pound Monroe, an Orlando native, was third on the Cougars with 70 tackles in 2014 despite losing his starting job in October after starting the team’s first seven games.


Monroe redshirted his first season at Washington State and then earned the starting role at middle linebacker and was named honorable mention All-Pac-12 with 80 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and three sacks as a redshirt freshman in 2012.


Monroe had another strong season in 2013 with 94 tackles, eight tackles for loss and two sacks.


He admitted that his 2014 season was a bit of a down year and attributed it to a high ankle sprain and a few family issues.


"A lot of things happened and it was hard to focus on the game within itself," Monroe said. "I wasn't, for one, healthy at all after the second game, and then I had a lot of family stuff going on back on the east coast.”


Though he didn’t get to play for Wulff’s staff, Monroe says he enjoyed his time under coach Mike Leach at WSU.


"My time at Washington State was great," Monroe said. "It kind of broke my heart that I didn't get to play under Paul Wulff and (defensive coordinator) Chris Ball and those guys, but besides that I felt like I took advantage of my opportunity and just went out and enjoyed playing the game my first two seasons ... just having fun and good things happened. I kind of look for the same things this year."


Washington State went 3-9 in 2014. Akron lost five of its last six games and finished 5-7.


For more Washington State news, visit WazzouWatch.com.


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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Lindsey Vonn breaks World Cup record, Tiger Woods watches in disguise

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Lindsey Vonn celebrates on the podium after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup super-G, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Jan. 19, 2015. Lindsey Vonn won a super-G Monday for her record 63rd World Cup victory and celebrated with an embrace from a surprise visitor, boyfriend Tiger Woods. The American broke Annemarie Moser-Proell's 35-year-old record of 62 World Cup wins with a flawless run down the Olympia delle Tofane course, finishing 0.85 ahead of Anna Fenninger of Austria. (AP Photo/Andrea Solero, Ansa) Lindsey Vonn broke a 35-year-old record Monday, officially claiming the title of winningest female World Cup skier in history. And she did so with the surprise support of a guy who knows a thing or two about historic wins.


Vonn won the super-G at Cortina D'Ampezzo in Italy on Monday, marking her 63rd World Cup victory and passing Annemarie Moser-Proell for most women's World Cup wins all-time. Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden holds the men's record with 86 World Cup wins.


Vonn's victory comes just one day after she tied the record, and marks a triumphant return to the top of the skiing world after two injury-riddled years that cost her a berth in the Sochi Games.


Vonn's beau, one Tiger Woods, was present in Italy, having flown in to surprise Vonn. Woods spent much of the time in "disguise" wearing a skull-decorated facemask:



Tiger Woods, third from left, leaves the finish area of an alpine ski, women's World Cup super-G, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Jan. 19, 2015. Lindsey Vonn won a super-G Monday for her record 63rd World Cup victory and celebrated with an embrace from a surprise visitor, boyfriend Tiger Woods. The American broke Annemarie Moser-Proell's 35-year-old record of 62 World Cup wins with a flawless run down the Olympia delle Tofane course, finishing 0.85 ahead of Anna Fenninger of Austria. (AP Photo/Elvis Piazzi)

"I didn't think this could get any better than [Sunday] with my entire family here but now with Tiger here this is unbelievable," Vonn said after the race. "I said, 'I can't believe you came.' And he said, 'I told you.'" (Woods didn't speak to reporters.)


All told, Vonn has won 32 downhills, 21 super-Gs, three giant slaloms, two slaloms and five combined races, in addition to her three golds, and seven medals overall, in Olympic and world championship competitions. Vonn skied in the 2010 Games in Vancouver, and hopes to compete for the United States in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.


Woods, meanwhile, is working his way back from his own debilitating injuries. He's next slated to tee it up at next week's Waste Management Open in Phoenix, Arizona.


____

Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.



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Redknapp won’t get the sack

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Harry Redknapp will remain as manager of Premier League strugglers Queens Park Rangers, club chairman Tony Fernandes insisted.


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Harry Redknapp will remain as manager of Premier League strugglers Queens Park Rangers, club chairman Tony Fernandes insisted following suggestions he was about to sack the veteran English boss.


There had been speculation in the British press last week that Redknapp was in danger of being dismissed by west London club QPR, with the Hoops just one place off the bottom of the Premier League and without a win in six games in all competitions.


Saturday's 2-0 loss to Manchester United at Loftus Road left QPR firmly in the relegation zone but Malaysian businessman Fernandes, also the chief executive of chief executive of Southeast Asian budget carrier AirAsia, was adamant he still had faith in the 67-year-old Redknapp.


“I firmly believe Harry is the best man to get us out of the position we currently find ourselves in,” Fernandes said in a club statement.


“He has great experience and having spoken to him at length over the last week or so, he is determined to turn this around and help us maintain our Premier League status.


“This is Harry's squad of players, so he is the man to move us forward.”


Redknapp arrived at QPR in November 2012 and was unable to keep them in the top-flight that season,. although he did oversee an immediate return to the Premier League via the play-offs last season.


The former West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth manager was then well-supported in the transfer market by Fernandes as QPR splashed out on the likes of Steven Caulker, Sandro and Leroy Fer in a bid to cement their Premier League status.


Former England captain Rio Ferdinand, who made his name under Redknapp at West Ham, also arrived at Loftus Road.


Yet it has proved to be a tough campaign so far for QPR, with all 10 away league games played ending in defeat.


But a tally of 19 points at home has left them just a point adrift of safety and Fernandes said he believed the side could stay up under Redknapp, who last week suggested a club 'mole' was trying to force his departure from Loftus Road.


“The performance against Manchester United showed the players are behind him and that they have the stomach for the fight,” Fernandes explained.


“We know we need to improve our away form and Harry, his coaching staff and the squad will be doing all they can to turn around our fortunes on our travels.


“It's very tight in the table and we will do our best to strengthen where we can to give us the best possible chance. The fans have been brilliant all season and all I ask is that they continue to back Harry and the team.” – AFP






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