McRoberts to remain in NBA Draft

Former Duke star, projected to go in middle of first round, hires an agent

Former Duke star Josh McRoberts has signed with an agent and is staying in the NBA Draft.

Bob Myers, an agent with the Wasserman Media Group in Los Angeles, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he is representing the 6-foot-10 power forward who has worked out for three teams in the past week in preparation for the June 28 draft.

It wasn't much of a surprise that McRoberts kept his name in the pool of eligible players. Had he not signed with an agent, he could have withdrawn from the draft at any time before Monday and returned to Duke.

He announced in March that he was leaving school early, and coach Mike Krzyzewski said he supported McRoberts' decision because "it is time for him to move on to the next level."

Since then, Myers said McRoberts has been training with former NBA forward Billy Owens and with several current players, and has worked out for the New Jersey Nets, Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls.

Several mock drafts online have McRoberts as a mid-first round selection in one of the deepest drafts in years. Myers said McRoberts could be picked anywhere from ninth to 18th.

"It's tougher now. An agent [usually] has a better sense at this stage," Myers said.

McRoberts averaged 13 points and a team-leading 7.9 rebounds for the Blue Devils, who finished 22-11 and lost to VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. McRoberts scored a career-high 22 points in that game.

He finished second on the team with 114 assists and was the only player in the nation to average at least 10.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 3.5 assists.

MORE BASKETBALL

GRANT'S HEARING CONTINUED: An immigration court hearing for N.C. State basketball player Gavin Grant scheduled for today in Atlanta has been continued until Aug. 1, Grant's attorney said Tuesday.

Anna Baird Choi, a Raleigh attorney, said the continuance was granted because she is on maternity leave.

Federal officials contend Grant, a rising senior at NCSU, entered the United States illegally as a child from Jamaica 13 years ago. If the court rules against Grant, he could be deported or ordered to leave the U.S. voluntarily and apply to return.

"I can't make any predictions on what might happen," Choi said Tuesday. "We'll just present the evidence we have requesting cancellation of Grant's removal."

MEARS FUNERAL SET: The funeral for former Tennessee basketball coach Ray Mears will be Thursday, and his burial will be Friday in Knoxville, Tenn., university officials announced Tuesday.

The funeral for Mears, who died Monday at age 80, will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at West Hills Baptist Church, and his family will receive friends afterward. Burial was set for 11 a.m. Friday at Highland Memorial Cemetery.

FOOTBALL

SOONERS REPORT VIOLATIONS: Football players at Oklahoma were given two nutritional supplements banned by the NCAA before the school's compliance department detected the error and stopped the practice.

According to documents obtained Tuesday through an open records request by The Associated Press, Oklahoma self-reported to the Big 12 Conference that it committed a secondary violation of NCAA bylaws last fall by providing "two nutritional supplements that contained impermissible substances."

Oklahoma blamed one violation on a nutritional company inadvertently shipping a banned substance it identified as "an identical product bearing the same name" as a legal product that had been ordered by the university. In the second instance, Oklahoma reported the football program's strength and conditioning staff failed to review the ingredients of a new nutritional supplement.

FIELD HOCKEY

WAKE HIRES ASSISTANT: Christina Restivo, the goalkeeper on Maryland's 2005 and 2006 national championship teams, has joined Wake Forest as an assistant coach, Deacons head coach Jennifer Averill announced.