Police in Providence, R.I., say a Brown University basketball player is in critical condition after being punched in the head in what appeared to be an unprovoked assault.

Deputy Police Chief Thomas Oates says 21-year-old sophomore Joseph Sharkey suffered severe head injuries when a man came up to him and hit him early Sunday morning while he was talking to a group of women on Providence's East Side.

Chattanooga hired VCU assistant Will Wade as the Mocs' new men's basketball coach on Monday, hoping his experience helping the VCU Rams develop into an NCAA tournament team can get that program back on track.

Wade, a Tennessee native born and raised in Nashville, says he remembers when Chattanooga regularly competed for NCAA tournament berths. Chattanooga made four NCAA appearances in a five-year span from 1993-97 and reached a regional semifinal in 1997.

Television analyst and former Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps has been diagnosed with bladder cancer, ESPN announced Thursday.

Phelps has had surgery and will start follow-up treatment next week near his home in South Bend, Indiana.

In a statement, Phelps said that "he and his family appreciate your thoughts and prayers as he prepares for the 2013-2014 college basketball season."

Phelps, 71, has been a college basketball analyst for ESPN since 1993. He coached the Fighting Irish for 20 years from 1972-1991.

Source ESPN

UNC Asheville has promoted assistant coach Nicholas McDevitt to head coach of the Bulldogs' men's basketball program.

Athletic director Janet Cone announced Friday that McDevitt is the permanent replacement for Eddie Biedenbach.

Oregon State junior point guard Ahmad Starks said Sunday he is considering transferring to Bradley or Illinois to be closer to his ailing grandmother.

Starks, a Chicago native, has started 73 games in three seasons at Oregon State. The 5-foot-9 guard averaged 10.4 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 assists as a junior last season, shooting 64-of-162 from 3-point range.

James Madison has given men's basketball coach Matt Brady a four-year contract extension.

The deal through the 2016-17 season comes after Brady guided the Dukes to a 21-15 record, their first Colonial Athletic Association tournament title in 19 years and their first NCAA tournament bid in the same span. Their first-round victory against LIU Brooklyn was their first NCAA tournament win in 30 years.

Chris Casey has inherited a winning program and high expectations in his first Division I head coaching job.

Casey was introduced Monday as the new men's basketball coach at Niagara University. The former coach at Division II Long Island University Post takes over a program that went 19-14 and won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season championship in 2013 with the youngest roster in the conference.

Former Kentucky agriculture commissioner and University of Kentucky basketball star Richie Farmer was accused of misusing state funds and abusing his position in a federal indictment unsealed Monday.

The indictment charges him with using his state position from 2004 to 2011 to obtain thousands of dollars' worth of gifts, hotel rooms, clothing and computers. It also alleges he hired friends who did little or no work for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

"Throughout his tenure, Farmer wrongfully used public funds and KDA resources to obtain goods and services for himself and his family," the 13-page indictment said.

Farmer, 43, plans to plead not guilty when he is arraigned April 30, attorney J. Guthrie True said. He is charged with four federal felony counts of misappropriating state funds and one count of soliciting goods. The counts carry a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

True said he was disappointed but not surprised by the charges, which they knew was coming for several weeks. He called the federal indictment "a dangerous precedent" saying the issues raised in it are state matters.

"The manner in which the elected commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture conducts his business is a political, not a legal, issue," he said.

U.S. attorney Kerry Harvey declined to say if others may be indicted in the case.

Read more http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...felony-charges

Florida Gulf Coast has hired Kansas assistant Joe Dooley as its new basketball coach, the school announced Wednesday.

Dooley replaces Andy Enfield, who left earlier this month to take the head coaching job at USC.

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