Allen started 27 of the 36 games he played in as a junior during the 2009-10 campaign and was the Spartans' top three-point threat, hitting 39.8 percent from long range en route to averaging 8.2 points per game.

"It's been no secret that Chris Allen's been in a tenuous position since the spring," Izzo said in a statement. "There were multiple obligations that Chris had to meet in order to return for his senior season.

After all, the Bulls were supposed to be in hot pursuit of the game's biggest prize, LeBron James, and came up empty. In fact, when one ill-informed ESPN talking head proclaimed Chicago the favorite to land the narcissistic one, dozens of lemmings fell in line to drink the Bristol Kool-Aid, convinced the Windy City would land LeBron.

Instead, King James took his throne to South Beach and the Bulls were forced to scramble and cultivate a Plan B that included signing power forward Carlos Boozer away from Utah, and inking a number of complimentary parts like Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver and Kurt Thomas.

Crawley has a record of 40-27 in two seasons with the Eagles. She guided the school to the women's NIT semifinals in the spring of 2009.

"We are very fortunate to have Sylvia Crawley leading our women's basketball program," said BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo.

This will be the fifth set of preseason games in China for the NBA.

The Rockets and Nets will meet on October 13 at Wukesong Arena, then will play three days later at the Guangzhou International Sports Arena. The Wukesong Arena hosted the basketball games for the 2008 Olympics.

Seimone Augustus and Monica Wright each clocked in with 21 points while Nicky Anosike added 15 points and a team-high 12 rebounds for the Lynx...

Renee Montgomery poured in a game-best 33 points and Tina Charles posted 19 with a game-best 21 boards for the Sun. Sandrine Gruda contributed 14 points in a valiant, but losing cause.

Ivory Latta chipped in with 15 points and seven assists for Tulsa, which snapped a seven-game slide and won for only the second time in the last 21 games overall. Despite the win, the Shock are only 5-22 this season.

Sue Bird scored 19 points and Lauren Jackson went for 18 for the Storm, who have dropped two straight after a 13-game winning streak and fell to 22-4.

Lindsey Harding scored 16 points for the Mystics, who have won three straight games and improved to 16-10 this season. Matee Ajavon posted 14 points in the victory.

Angel McCoughtry scored a game-high 30 points for the Dream, who saw their four-game win streak halted. Iziane Castro Marques netted 14 points while Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza both added 10 points in the loss.

Dupree made 12 of her 15 field goal attempts to give the Mercury their third straight win to improve to 13-13, second place in the Western Conference. Diana Taurasi added 21 points and 10 assists, while DeWanna Bonner and Penny Taylor both had 15 points in the victory.

Sophia Young scored 24 points for the Silver Stars, who are still in third place in the West with a 10-16 record. Chamique Holdsclaw added 20 points in defeat, and Michelle Snow and Becky Hammon each contributed 13. Hammon also had 11 assists.

Janel McCarville turned in a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Liberty, who have won four straight and six of their last seven to improve to 15-11 this season.

Tamika Catchings had 19 points for Indiana, which has dropped three in a row after winning the previous five games and fell to 16-10.

The injury was confirmed following an MRI and examination by Dr.

Dave Rubenstein.

Recovery time is expected to be 4-to-6 weeks.

Smith was re-signed by the Clippers two weeks ago, after posting averages of 7.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in just over 16 minutes per contest last season.

The Heat will open the season in Boston against the Celtics in the first game of a doubleheader aired by TNT.

Miami will unveil its star trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in a potential Eastern Conference Finals preview. The Celtics are the defending East champions and also feature a 'Big Three' -- Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, who led the Celtics to the 2008 NBA title. This past season Boston pushed the Lakers to seven games in the Finals.

The Knicks head coach will assist the team in New York from August 10-16, but will not travel for the team's training and exhibition games overseas, or to the tournament in Turkey, which runs from August 28-September 12.

He will be replaced by Toronto Raptors head coach Jay Triano.

Warkentien became the Nuggets' vice president of basketball operations in September 2006, when Chapman took on the role of vice president of player personnel.

Warkentien was named the NBA's Executive of the Year for the 2008-09 season.

Though terms of the deal were not disclosed, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported last week House had agreed to a two-year contract at the NBA veterans minimum of $1.4 million per season.

House averaged 7.0 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists while splitting the 2009-10 campaign between Boston and New York.

Williams, 34, came out of retirement a year ago to sign with the Magic. He averaged 6.0 points, 3.6 assists and 1.5 rebounds while appearing in all 82 games last season. The West Virginia native retired in September 2008.

"Jason played very well for us last season," said Magic general manager Otis Smith.

Terms of the deal were not announced, per team policy.

The 25-year-old inked a 10-day contract with Dallas in February of this year, but did not see any action.

Catchings led the WNBA in steals (2.56) and ranked seventh in the league in scoring (18.0) while helping the Fever post a 7-2 record during the month. The perennial All-Star posted three double-doubles and four straight games of 20-or-more points.

For Jackson, it is her third consecutive Player of the Month award after averaging 23.0 points in July, second only to Phoenix's Diana Taurasi (24.6). She also ranked eighth with 9.1 rebounds per game as Seattle was a perfect 8-0 and extended its franchise-record winning streak to 13 games before the club lost at Minnesota on Sunday.

West played the past 2 1/2 seasons with Cleveland and last year averaged 8.8 points with 3.3 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 60 games, including three starts.

The Wolves acquired West, along with Sebastian Telfair, in exchange for center Ryan Hollins and guard Ramon Sessions on July 26.

Calipari posted a message on his Facebook page saying Dodson remains academically eligible, and can return to practice with the team "if he meets our standards." Dodson played in 35 games, starting seven as a sophomore last year, and led the team with 50 three-pointers while averaging 6.0 points in 14.5 minutes. He was a junior college transfer from Miami Dade Community College where the 6- foot-7 guard starred as a freshman.

Pondexter, who claimed her eighth career weekly award, posted averages of 19.0 points and 3.7 assists per contest in leading the Liberty to a 3-0 mark during the period. She also led the Eastern Conference by averaging 35.3 minutes per game.

Pondexter was instrumental in guiding New York to wins over Los Angeles and Connecticut by posting 20 and 24 points, respectively, which were both game highs.

Beverley spent the 2009-10 season in Greece and played the previous year in the Ukrainian Basketball Super League. He appeared in four summer league games for the Heat and averaged 5.8 points with 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.8 assists.

The Los Angeles Lakers selected Beverly in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft and traded his rights to the Heat in exchange for a 2011 second-round pick and cash considerations. He played two seasons at Arkansas.

After LeBron James made his decision to spurn Cleveland for the Miami Heat on national television, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert let loose with an entertaining, albeit ill-conceived statement that called James selfish, disloyal and narcissistic.

Gilbert's rant was so over-the-top that NBA commissioner David Stern fined him $100K, calling his response to James' move "ill-advised and imprudent." Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo certainly didn't learn from Gilbert's little dust-up with the commish and made headlines last week when he accused his former star player and James' new teammate in South Beach, Chris Bosh, of quitting in his last season north of the border.

Anosike finished with only seven points, but it was her free throw that helped the Lynx improve to 8-16, which is good enough for fourth place in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of Los Angeles. Seimone Augustus led the team with 24 points, while Charde Houston had 14 points in the win.

Sue Bird recorded 16 points and 10 assists for the Storm, who had won 13 straight games and still have the league's best record at an impressive 22-3. Tanisha Wright added 15 points, while Camille Little scored 13 in defeat.

Taurasi finished with a team-high 35 points to go along with a career-best 11 assists for the Mercury, who have won two straight and sit firmly in second place in the Western Conference with a 12-13 record. Candice Dupree added 19 points, while Tangela Smith had 13 in the victory.

Penny Taylor provided 11 points and six assists for Phoenix.