Study shows athletes winners in class

Nearly every main demographic group of top college athletes exceeds the graduation rate for its student body counterparts. According to federal graduation rates released yesterday by the NCAA, 63 percent of Division 1 athletes who started college as freshmen in 2000 graduated in six years. That beats the graduation rate for all students at Division 1 schools by 1 percent and equaled last year's percentage. White athletes had a 67 percent graduation rate, compared with 64 percent for white students overall. Black athletes also outperformed their student body counterparts, 53-46 percent. "What these data show are that student-athletes are good students," said NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson. "There tends to be a myth that student-athletes do not perform well in the classroom. The data simply suggests otherwise."

The University of Connecticut will play its first football game as a ranked team Saturday night against Rutgers, but many fans in Connecticut and New Jersey will not be able to watch. The game will be televised on ESPNU, a channel that is not carried by Comcast, a major cable provider with about 1.4 million customers in New Jersey and about 525,000 in Connecticut. UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway said he believes the first-place team in the Big East deserves to be on a bigger platform, and the schools' fans deserve a chance to see the game. "[UConn and its football team are] being used by the network to leverage cable companies in our state, which are so important to the network, to add ESPNU to their platform," Hathaway said. Burke Magnus, the vice president and general manager of ESPNU, called that assertion "ridiculous." He said the decision to put the game on ESPNU was made before No. 16 UConn upset South Florida and jumped into the Associated Press's Top 25 poll, and has nothing to do with trying to get Comcast to carry the channel. "You can't look at one game in the landscape of all the games that we're doing on all of our networks and single it out as a mistake or some giant ploy against Comcast to leverage them into carrying ESPN," he said. "That's just not the way it works." . . . Sports marketer Lloyd Lake has filed a lawsuit against former Southern California running back Reggie Bush and his parents that seeks to recoup nearly $300,000 in cash and gifts they allegedly accepted during his sophomore and junior seasons. "They had fallen on hard times financially and required immediate and significant financial assistance to support their respective lifestyles," according to Lake's lawsuit. Lake's attorneys said they plan to meet with NCAA investigators Friday . . . Kentucky safety Marcus McClinton will miss the final three games of the regular season with a fractured scapula . . . Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter was unable to throw in practice because of swelling in his sprained right thumb, although coach Dennis Erickson said he is almost certain to play when the sixth-ranked Sun Devils visit No. 4 Oregon Saturday.

Assistant Rob Senderoff resigned amid a telephone recruiting scandal that already has cost Indiana one basketball scholarship and coach Kelvin Sampson a $500,000 pay raise. The NCAA is still conducting an investigation, which could lead to further sanctions. "It's a very strong message," athletic director Rick Greenspan said of the internal investigation and report to the NCAA. The report, which does not accuse Sampson of any direct NCAA violations, details more than 100 impermissible recruiting calls, most of them by Senderoff . . . University of Nevada basketball player Tyrone Hanson, who was beaten unconscious and robbed at a Halloween party Sunday in Reno where three people were shot to death, has been kicked off the team because he had been told not to go out that night, Wolf Pack coach Mark Fox said . . . Former Duquesne student Brittany Jones pleaded guilty to helping two friends armed with guns get into a school dance the night five basketball players were shot and wounded.

Tim Duncan has agreed to a two-year, $40 million contract extension with the San Antonio Spurs, an official familiar with the negotiations said. The agreement will add to the 31-year-old Duncan's existing three-year deal and keep him in San Antonio at least through the 2011-12 season, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity . . . Sasha Pavlovic agreed to a three-year contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, ending his lengthy holdout. Pavlovic, who averaged 9.0 points last season, was in Serbia yesterday, but he was expected to be back in Cleveland today before the Cavaliers' opener against the Dallas Mavericks, although he was not expected to play . . . The Mavericks are bringing back Juwan Howard after agreeing to terms with the veteran forward. "Juwan was too big of an opportunity to pass up," Donnie Nelson, president of basketball operations, said on the team's website . . . Timberwolves point guard Randy Foye, an NBA All-Rookie team selection last season, will be out several weeks because of a lingering knee injury.

NHL players ratified a constitution that significantly alters the way the union is governed, completing a lengthy review process that started with the dispute over the hiring of former executive director Ted Saskin. The constitution, approved through a secret ballot, eliminates the Players Association's executive committee, which was comprised of a president and six vice presidents. In its place, the 30 club player representatives will serve as equal voting members of an executive board . . . Ticket sales for the Beijing Olympics, which began in China yesterday on a first-come, first-served basis, were suspended after overwhelming demand crashed the computer ticketing system . . . Bantamweight Gary Russell Jr. and featherweight Raynell Williams qualified for the Olympics with convincing victories at the World Boxing Championships in Chicago . . . Rush Propst, the Hoover (Ala.) High School football coach whose program was featured on MTV's "Two-A-Days" program, resigned amid a school board investigation, forfeits, and turmoil in his personal life. The school board investigation found evidence of grade changing and preferential treatment for some football players, raised questions about the program's finances, and concluded that Propst, who is married and has children, has supported a second family in another town.