Top Stories
Posted: Nov 14, 2009 9:11AM By Tom Ziller (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Hornets, NBA Injuries

Not the best night for the
New Orleans Hornets. In the team's first game under new coach
Jeff Bower, supernova point guard
Chris Paul was ineffective and reportedly frosty through three quarters, before spraining his ankle and leaving the game, an eventual 86-78 loss to the Blazers. The
New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that the ankle injury is severe enough to
knock Paul out for up to two weeks.
Despite the
Hornets' disappointing start, Paul has been the best player in the league statistically. Paul is averaging nearly 24 points and nine assists per game, and has shot 59 percent from the field and 65 percent from three. Rookie
Darren Collison played the fourth quarter of Friday's game and is expected to start Saturday in Atlanta.
Posted: Nov 14, 2009 2:34AM By Chris Tomasson (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Cavaliers, Lakers, FanHouse Exclusive

DENVER -- Do as I say and not as I do.
Or, at least not what
Kobe Bryant once did.
While bound for free agency in the summer of 2004, the
Lakers star openly spoke about teams he might consider. But Bryant now says Cleveland star
LeBron James is making the right decision by deciding earlier this week to stop talking about his impending free agency.
"He doesn't need to,'' Bryant said in an interview with FanHouse while in Denver for Friday's 105-79 loss to the
Nuggets. "He did the right thing by not talking about it. I mean, what can you say?''
Posted: Nov 14, 2009 1:50AM By Chris Tomasson (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Lakers, Pacers, Pistons, FanHouse Exclusive

DENVER -- Five years after the "The Malice at the Palace,''
Ron Artest isn't showing remorse. In fact, one could say he is embracing his infamous place in history.
Artest, a
Lakers forward, said in an interview Friday with FanHouse he's making a movie about his life. He said he made sure to touch upon the Nov. 19, 2004 brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills in order to "kind of spice up the movie a little bit.''
In that basketbrawl, Artest, then with Indiana, charged into the stands in the final minute of a game at Detroit after a fight had broken out and a fan had thrown a cup of beer at Artest. The game was called, and there were nine players suspended for a total of 146 games. Artest got the worst penalty, being sat down for the final 73 games of the season.
Thursday marks the fifth-year anniversary, and Artest will play that night at home against Chicago. Artest, who celebrated his 30th birthday Friday, was asked if he's matured and is a different person since the brawl.
"Not really,'' he said before the Lakers were crushed by Denver 105-79 at the Pepsi Center. "I'm the same person.''
Posted: Nov 14, 2009 1:03AM By Brett McMurphy (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Cincinnati, West Virginia, Big East

CINCINNATI -- The talk all week in
Cincinnati -- no make that for the past few weeks -- was when would Cincinnati quarterback
Tony Pike return? And, if so, would he start?
Friday against
West Virginia, Pike (right) finally saw his first action in 29 days and even threw two touchdowns, but he was merely a footnote. The real story for the Bearcats was running back
Isaiah Pead, who rushed for a career-high 175 yards as the fifth-ranked Bearcats did just enough to get past the Mountaineers 24-21.
With the victory, Cincinnati became the nation's first team to get to 10-0 this season, but it was anything but a perfect 10. Playing on Friday the 13th, there were a lot of strange occurrences for the Bearcats, including trailing in a game for the first time in 24 quarters and losing a fumble for the first time this season.
Posted: Nov 14, 2009 12:30AM By Chris Tomasson (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Bulls, Cavaliers, Lakers, Nuggets, Suns, NBA All-Star Game

DENVER --
Andrew Bynum was talking to his brother early this week when he got the news.
Amare Stoudemire, despite being Phoenix's starting power forward, was listed on the All-Star ballot at center for the Western Conference. That happens to be the same position played by the
Lakers' Bynum, and many had considered him the favorite to be the starter after Houston's
Yao Ming was lost for the season due to injury and
Shaquille O'Neal was traded from Phoenix to Cleveland of the East.
"I was definitely surprised,'' Bynum said in an interview with FanHouse about Stoudemire being listed at center even though he's started every game this season at forward, with
Channing Frye having opened at center for the
Suns.
Posted: Nov 13, 2009 11:35PM By Tim Povtak (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Magic, Nets

ORLANDO -- Magic center
Dwight Howard arrived at Amway Arena for Friday night's game against the New Jersey Nets to find a handwritten note in his locker.
It was signed by the same guy who had been prodding him the past couple days, criticizing him for his lack of energy, his rebounding drop off and his sudden inability to block shots.
Howard read the note twice, then left it where he could see it again at halftime. He also saw it after the game, and he smiled.
"There is no one better or smarter in the NBA. All you need to do is play with great energy and enthusiasm,'' the note said. It was signed "Stan,'' as in Coach
Van Gundy.
Posted: Nov 13, 2009 11:32PM By Terrance Harris (RSS feed)
Filed Under: TCU, Utah, Mountain West
FORT WORTH – If you are waiting for TCU coach
Gary Patterson to start lobbying for his team's inclusion into the BCS and possibly the national championship game, you will be kept waiting.
Patterson (above) can see far too many traps to get caught up in what the nation is talking about and that's that the fourth-ranked
TCU Horned Frogs could very well be the first of the non-BCS schools to punch a ticket to the BCS' grandest stage.
It's a nice thought, but with 14th-ranked Utah on the horizon in a mega Mountain West Conference game Saturday night, Patterson isn't even willing to give the BCS possibilities a thought. He's strongly suggesting his players don't, either.
Posted: Nov 13, 2009 7:00PM By Michelle Smith (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Connecticut, Duke, Stanford, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10, Women's Basketball

When Connecticut ran through the 2008-09 season with a 39-0 record and cruised through the Final Four to a national title, they turned an entire season, thousands of games involving hundreds of teams, into an exercise in inevitability.
At the cusp of a new college season, the biggest question is: Can the Huskies do that again? Or will the search for a new point guard to replace Renee Montgomery will bring UConn back to the pack?
Connecticut is the undisputed No. 1 team in the nation at its start, the unanimous choice in both national polls. But, of course. The Huskies have
Maya Moore and
Tina Charles, two of the top three or four players in the country, they have outstanding role players such as Kalnna Greene and
Kaili McLaren. They have Geno Auriemma, who embraces the role of front-runner in a big, enthusiastic bear hug.
Posted: Nov 13, 2009 4:24PM By Ray Holloman (RSS feed)
Filed Under: North Carolina
Once again,
North Carolina beats
Duke. And just about everybody else in the nation.
Harrison Barnes, the nation's top basketball recruit, selected the defending national champion Tar Heels over the Blue Devils, long rumored to be Barnes' fruont-runner, as well as
UCLA,
Oklahoma,
Kansas and
Iowa State at a press conference at his high school in Ames,
Iowa on Friday.
And if Barnes can play basketball half as well as he can draw out the suspense, Roy Williams is in for another banner year.
Posted: Nov 13, 2009 4:00PM By Brett McMurphy (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Cincinnati, West Virginia, Big East

CINCINNATI -- Since the Big East Conference was reconfigured in 2005,
West Virginia has been the league's bell cow. The Mountaineers have won or shared two of the four league titles.
Entering this season, West Virginia's 22-6 record in Big East play was a whopping five games better than the next best league team. Nobody had done it better -- or even came close.
But times, they are a changin'.
It started last season with
Cincinnati winning its first league title and the Bearcats are on pace for a second consecutive title this season.
Friday, West Virginia visits Cincinnati and the national television audience can watch how these programs are heading in different directions.
Posted: Nov 13, 2009 3:49PM By Terence Moore (RSS feed)

The toughest fight in Mike Tyson's life never involved the likes of Buster Douglas, Evander Holyfield or Lennox Lewis. It involved Tyson versus Tyson. As for Tyson's second toughest fight, it continues, and it will never end. It involves Tyson versus ...
Posted: Nov 13, 2009 2:30PM By Ryan Wilson (RSS feed)

Somewhere in the Philadelphia area Dan Leone shakes his head knowingly. The former Eagles employee was fired for making some derogatory comments about the team on his Facebook page. Leone was devastated, just like Mike Wood, a recently canned ...
Posted: Nov 13, 2009 2:00PM By Adam Gretz (RSS feed)

We have a new team at the top of our power rankings as the San Jose Sharks take over the No. 1 spot. Meanwhile, a red-hot Eastern Conference team breaks into the top three, while the losses continue to mount for one club that's stuck in the ...
Posted: Nov 13, 2009 1:49PM By Anthony Olivieri (RSS feed)

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. -- Rentschler Field, the University of Connecticut's football facility, served as a temporary home for the New York Sentinels on Thursday night. There is a chance it could house a UFL team of its own next season. In a story ...
Posted: Nov 13, 2009 12:45PM By Matt Snyder (RSS feed)

As with any polarizing figure, Jay Cutler brings about strong emotions on both sides of the fence. Many people believe he's the worst thing that ever happened to professional quarterbacking, someone who sucks so bad he'll be in the UFL in a few ...