Off the wire

BASKETBALL Smith named Sixth Man

J.R. Smith won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award Monday after turning a role he didn’t want into one of the strengths of the New York Knicks’ first division championship team in nearly two decades. Smith received 484 points, including 72 first-place votes, from a panel of 121 writers and broadcasters. The Los Angeles Clippers’ Jamal Crawford finished second with 352 points, getting 31 first-place votes. Golden State’s Jarrett Jack finished third, followed by Kevin Martin of Oklahoma City and Ryan Anderson of New Orleans. Smith averaged 18.1 points in 80 games, all off the bench. He had 29 games in which he scored 20 points as a reserve, tying Crawford for the NBA lead. The 6-6 swing man wanted to start, but said he accepted it fairly quickly once Coach Mike Woodson told him he would be a reserve. The New Jersey native had by far his best NBA season, helping the Knicks to their first Atlantic Division title since 1994.

Alabama has reassigned women’s basketball Coach Wendell Hudson to take an administrative role. Athletic Director Bill Battle said Monday that it was a mutual decision after several weeks of discussions with Hudson. The Crimson Tide went 68-87 and 14-64 in SEC games during Hudson’s five seasons. He had been spent the previous five years as Alabama’s associate athletic director for alumni relations. Hudson was Alabama’s first black scholarship athlete. He played forward under Coach C.M. Newton in 1970-1973 and was SEC Player of the Year as a senior. Battle did not elaborate on Hudson’s new position.

The Phoenix Suns parted ways Monday with General Manager Lance Blanks after the second-worst season in franchise history, the team said. Blanks had served as general manager since Aug. 5, 2010, joining the team at a time when he was considered one of the league’s top up-and-coming executives. But this season was a harsh one as the Suns struggled to adjust after trading away two-time league MVP Steve Nash and letting former All-Star Grant Hill leave to kick off a rebuilding effort. The Suns finished 25-57, second behind their 16-66 effort in their inaugural season in 1968-1969. Blanks spent five years in the scouting department of theSan Antonio Spurs, who won two NBA titles and drafted the previously unheralded Tony Parker. He spent the five seasons before joining the Suns as vice president of basketball operations and assistant general manager for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who won 66 percent of their games during his tenure.

FOOTBALL Chancellor getting extension

Kam Chancellor and the Seattle Seahawks agreed on a contract extension Monday that will keep the young safety with the only team he’s ever played for through the 2017 season. Chancellor’s agent, Alvin Keels, announced the four-year extension on his Twitter account. Chancellor, who turned 25 earlier this month, has grown from being a fifth-round pick out of Virginia Tech in 2010 into the hard-hitting anchor in Seattle’s secondary. In 2011, Chancellor was a Pro Bowl selection in his first season as a starter, when he had 73 tackles, 4 interceptions and 13 passes defensed. Last season, Chancellor was used even more in run support and recorded a career-high 92 tackles.

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Rolando McClain is facing new charges in his north Alabama hometown. Decatur police say the 23-year-old McClain is charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after a disturbance at a park Sunday. Police haven’t released details, but McClain is free from jail after posting a $1,000 bond. Mc-Clain is now with the Ravens after being released by the Oakland Raiders. This is third time McClain has been arrested in Decatur since 2011. He was previously charged in a 2011 shooting, and police arrested him in January on charges of having his car windows tinted too darkly and trying to lie about his identity.McClain was sentenced to jail on an assault charge after the shooting, but prosecutors later dismissed the case.

Scott Fujita, a Super Bowl-winning linebacker who became enmeshed in the Saints bounty scandal, has signed a one-day contract with New Orleans and retired. Fujita finished his career with the Cleveland Browns, but was implicated and suspended for one game by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for his role in what the league called a Saints performance pool designed to knock targeted opponents out of games from 2009 to 2011. Fujita later was essentially absolved by former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Fujita spent four seasons with the Saints and was part of their 2009 championship. He left in 2010 and spent three seasons with the Browns.

The NCAA granted Central Florida’s appeal of a one-year postseason ban in football Monday, clearing the way for the Knights to be eligible for a bowl berth in their inaugural season in the American Athletic Conference, formerly the Big East, in 2013. It its report on the ruling, the NCAA wrote that its Infractions Appeals Committee “determined the football postseason ban is excessive such that it constitutes an abuse of discretion.” Central Florida’s was originally issued the ban as part of sanctions levied last July for major recruiting violations in football and basketball. It also received a oneyear postseason ban in basketball, $50,000 fine, five years’ probation, reduction of basketball scholarships, and limits on football recruiting. The postseason ban was the lone penalty Central Florida didn’t accept.

ATHLETICS Schools give ACC TV rights

The Atlantic Coast Conference presidents have agreed for the league to retain media rights for a school that leaves the conference. The league said Monday each of the current and future schools has signed the deal, which is effective immediately. The grant of rights would appear to make the league more stable by essentially locking all 15 schools into the ACC through the length of a TV deal, including eventual new arrivals Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Louisville. Awarding control of those TV rights - and, more importantly, the money that comes with them - to the league means that a school would have to leave its TV rights behind if it chose to go elsewhere.

FOOTBALL Auburn finds no evidence of wrongdoing

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Auburn’s internal review into allegations by former players of academic fraud before the 2010 BCS championship game found no evidence of wrongdoing, Athletic Director Jay Jacobs said Monday.

Jacobs posted in a letter to fans on the school’s website the results of a review by his department and the university’s Internal Auditing department, which he said refuted a report by former New York Times and Sports Illustrated reporter Selena Roberts.

Auburn worked with the NCAA in investigating the academic fraud, said Jack Smith, the athletic department’s director of strategic communications.

Jacobs had disputed Roberts’ report in an earlier statement but said Auburn would review them.

He made a point-by-point rebuttal to a number of charges made by former players, including defensive back Mike McNeil, who pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery April 8.

Roberts cited three players who said the team was informed that as many as nine were ineligible for the BCS championship game against Oregon in January2011, including tailback Michael Dyer (Little Rock Christian).

Jacobs said that six players were academically ineligible and none made the trip to Arizona.

McNeil had alleged that he had a failing grade changed to a “C” to make him eligible for the title game. Jacobs said the internal review found that all university policies for grade changes were followed and that McNeil provided a medical excuse for absences.

He said Dyer passed nine hours during the 2010 summer semester and 15 hours during the fall - nine more than are required by the NCAA - and ended with a 2.8 grade-point average.

“There is no evidence academic fraud occurred,” Jacobs said.

Former Auburn receiver Darvin Adams also said in the report that he was offered money to stay for his senior season, which he skipped to enter the NFL Draft.

“No booster offered him anything to play at Auburn, and no booster or coach offered him any money to stay at Auburn,” former Coach Gene Chizik said. “That is simply a bogus allegation.”