Failed drug test saved Lofton’s life
Former Tennessee guard Chris Lofton underwent treatment for testicular cancer after a failed drug test during the 2007 NCAA Tournament revealed he potentially had a tumor.
Lofton was randomly picked for a drug test, and it showed high levels of a hormone that serves as an indicator of steroid use or cancer. He underwent surgery in March 2007 and had four weeks of radiation surgery in May. He is cancer free.
Lofton and his family wanted to keep information about his cancer private during the 2007-08 season.
Temper tantrum
Indiana freshman basketball player Eli Holman, while telling new coach Tom Crean he was transferring from the school, threw a temper tantrum that required a call to the campus police.
Crean said the meeting began cordially but Holman’s “behavior took me, along with the other people in the office, by surprise.” Holman was not arrested and left the building without speaking to police.
•Summit League player of the year George Hill of IUPUI declared for the NBA draft. He said he would not hire an agent. Hill averaged 21.4 points per game.
•UCLA freshman Chace Stanback, a former California player of the year in high school, will leave the team and transfer to another school.
Million-dollar man
No leaving his heart in San Francisco for this Tony Bennett. Washington State bumped the basketball coach’s salary $200,000, guaranteeing him $1 million a year. Bennett’s amended contract also was extended through 2015.
Bennett, who succeeded his father after three years as an assistant at the school, made $350,000 his first season and $800,000 his second.
Butkus by Butkus
The Dick Butkus Award for the nation’s top college linebacker will be handed out by the Butkus family instead of the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando (Fla.) Butkus, a former Illinois and Bears linebacker, had sued to get back control of the award after he said the club didn’t raise enough money for charity.
The club had given out the award for 23 years. Now the Butkus family will begin presenting the award in Chicago, where he grew up and played.
North is north
North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell, a candidate to become women’s basketball coach at South Carolina, has withdrawn her name as a candidate.
Hatchell said, in a statement: “North Carolina is my home.” Hatchell is 16 wins away from 800 in her career.
Ohio State pays up
Former Buckeyes basketball coach Jim O’Brien is $2.74 million richer today, the payment for the school improperly firing him for violating NCAA rules.
O’Brien’s attorney confirmed the payment — the award plus interest he won in a lawsuit against the school in 2006. The school’s appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court was refused in February.
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