Butch Davis has crisscrossed the country, getting some of the top commitments in his first full North Carolina recruiting class from Sierra Vista, Ariz., and Roswell, Ga.Tom O’Brien zeroed in on top players close to home, getting pledges for N.C. State from Bunn, Concord and Laurinburg as recruits prepare to make their college decisions official today on national signing day.Fifteen months after they were hired, Davis and O’Brien have overhauled the recruiting strategies used by their predecessors. Once upon a time, Chuck Amato’s fondness for recruits from Florida for N.C. State opened the door for John Bunting to sign more top in-state prospects for North Carolina.Now Davis is going out of state to compete with elite programs for national-caliber recruits. O’Brien has commitments from seven of scout.com’s top 20 in North Carolina, more than any other school.”It is a complete flip-flop,” rivals.com recruiting analyst Mike Farrell said. “North Carolina currently has (five) kids committed from the state of North Carolina, whereas N.C. State has focused a lot of their efforts on the state and has at least twice as many.”The changes appear consistent with the recruiting history of both coaches. At Miami, the elite status the school had achieved under Jimmy Johnson allowed Davis to sign some of the nation’s top players.North Carolina recruiting coordinator John Blake also has recruited nationally as an assistant at Nebraska and head coach at Oklahoma. Commitments from running back Jamal Womble of Arizona and linebacker Ebele Okakpu of Georgia demonstrate the staff’s talent for luring athletes from outside the state.”They’ve always tried to find the right guys for their system, and they were willing to go anywhere in the country to get them,” said scout.com regional recruiting analyst Miller Safrit.When O’Brien coached Boston College, he developed a strong recruiting base within about a 200-mile radius in New England. A Cincinnati native, he used his roots there to establish a secondary recruiting region in Ohio and Pennsylvania.At N.C. State, O’Brien has quickly established himself in the state with commitments from linebacker Terrell Manning of Scotland County High, safety Brandon Barnes of Bunn and offensive tackle R.J. Mattes of Concord Robinson.O’Brien, who used to recruit the Virginia Beach area for Virginia, also tapped into what could become a secondary area for him for his marquee commitment, quarterback Mike Glennon of Chantilly, Va.”The first thing Tom O’Brien wanted to do was make amends with a lot of the high school coaches that were out of whack with N.C. State (during Amato’s tenure),” Farrell said.There will be other story lines to watch on signing day. Clemson has the Carolinas’ top class, ranked No. 14 by rivals.com as of Tuesday morning.New Duke coach David Cutcliffe has a top-10 quarterback commitment from Sean Renfree of Scottsdale, Ariz. Thomasville linebacker E.J. Abrams-Ward and Fort Dorchester, S.C., defensive end Robert Quinn are top-five players in their states who have yet to choose a school.But the emergence of new recruiting strategies at North Carolina and N.C. State might have the most lasting impact of any story line.”It’s definitely fun to watch,” Safrit said. “The philosophy is definitely on the other foot now for both teams.”

For once, coach Sidney Lowe’s seat on the bench was warm.N.C. State scored 16 of the first 20 points Tuesday night in a 73-63 defeat of Virginia Tech at the RBC Center, so there was no need for Lowe’s usual gestures and histrionics.Before Tuesday, Lowe had been up off the bench constantly in ACC games, whistling wildly to get players’ attention in adverse situations. N.C. State’s three ACC wins had been by three points or fewer.Three of N.C. State’s ACC losses had been by 16 points or more. For once, things came easier for the Wolfpack and Lowe was able to relax.”It felt good to be able to sit down,” Lowe said. “It really did. It felt good to be able to sit down for most of the game and watch the guys just work out there.”Freshman center J.J. Hickson’s ability to convert from the foul line made it an easier night for Lowe. Hickson made 13 of 17 free throws, scored a game-high 21 points and made some non-scoring plays he admitted he wouldn’t have made earlier in the season.After Virginia Tech drew within 54-48 with eight minutes to play, Hickson passed the ball out from the post to Javier Gonzalez, who found Courtney Fells for a 3-pointer in the corner.With 45.8 seconds left and the Hokies trailing 70-63, Hickson drew a charge in the lane on J.T. Thompson to regain possession for N.C. State.”I don’t think I’ve drawn a charge this season,” Hickson said, “so everybody was pumped up.”Virginia Tech (14-9, 5-4) came into the game with three straight ACC wins but fell to 0-4 against the Wolfpack under Lowe. While Lowe relaxed on the bench during the first half, Hokies coach Seth Greenberg stood with his hands on his hips.With an opportunity to enhance their NCAA tournament resume, the Hokies watched N.C. State bolt to a 19-point first-half lead.”We weren’t as tough or as quick or as strong as we needed to be to win a game like this on the road,” Greenberg said.N.C. State (15-7, 4-4) is back in the NCAA tournament picture with a .500 conference record after starting ACC play with blowout losses at North Carolina and Clemson.The Wolfpack has quality nonconference wins away from home against Villanova and Seton Hall, and its RPI was at 40 late Tuesday night, according to realtimerpi.com. Hickson and fellow freshman starter Gonzalez say they’re gaining confidence as the team’s record improves.”Right now we’re sitting in a good situation, I think,” Lowe said. “We’ve fought our way to .500. … We’ll just keep climbing.”

Tyler Hansbrough is OK with Gerald Henderson.Hansbrough thinks it’s funny that students might show up wearing masks to make fun of Henderson when second-ranked Duke (19-1, 7-0 ACC) visits No. 3 North Carolina (21-1, 6-1) at 9 p.m. today.All parties seem to have forged peace after one of the most memorable confrontations in college basketball’s greatest rivalry.But it took time.Hansbrough was miffed even after Henderson called to apologize two days after breaking his nose on March 4 with a flagrant foul at the Smith Center.”He wanted to get his point across to me that he didn’t intentionally do it,” Hansbrough said Tuesday, “… but my nose was still broken.”Duke wing Henderson’s apology, arranged by former high school teammate and current North Carolina guard Wayne Ellington, began the healing. During the summer, Hansbrough and Henderson played pickup basketball together at a practice gym in the Smith Center.Now Hansbrough says the problem the foul created doesn’t match the hype.”It was made out like it was this huge trauma thing,” he said. “My nose was broken. That’s the way I looked at it. I still played. I wasn’t down.”Like the players, the teams’ Hall of Fame coaches said their relationship remains cordial, too.But North Carolina’s Roy Williams acknowledged disagreement with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski because of what was said after the game. Krzyzewski didn’t want Henderson to be portrayed as the Clubber Lang of college basketball over one incident, which resulted in a suspension of Henderson for Duke’s ACC tournament opener.Williams wanted Hansbrough, not Henderson, remembered as the victim. Hansbrough wore a protective mask for three ACC tournament games and North Carolina’s NCAA tournament opener before casting it aside against Michigan State.”No one is ever going to say things that are perfect for the other party. What (Krzyzewski) said wasn’t perfect for me,” Williams said. “What I said wasn’t perfect for him. And you’ve just got to understand that. But that was last year.”The difference of opinion was unusual for Williams and Krzyzewski, who have worked together for like causes as officers with the National Association of Basketball Coaches.Williams said the coaches have talked while out recruiting and at ACC meetings during the offseason, though they have never spoken about the Hansbrough-Henderson incident.Krzyzewski said he has a good relationship with Williams and iconic former North Carolina coach Dean Smith, Krzyzewski’s longtime former rival.”Once initially, for me being young, getting to know who they were and recognizing who Dean was and all that and look at it in a big-picture way, I still have a really good relationship with Dean,” Krzyzewski said. “So that’s not going to change with a game.”That leaves Henderson, who will be the most uncomfortable person at the Smith Center tonight. He has emerged as Duke’s second-leading scorer and creates openings for himself and teammates with strong drives into the lane from the wing.He said he wishes the whole thing never happened.”Last year was an unfortunate incident,” he said. “It happened at the end of the game, when the game had already been decided, which makes it even worse. But I’m looking forward to going over there and getting a win.”None of them will forget what happened. In his locker, Hansbrough has a photo he had taken of himself in his bloody jersey that day.Henderson can never get back the lost ACC tournament game from his freshman season. Protective coaches Krzyzewski and Williams still regret the pain the incident caused their players, but say they respect each other even though their opinions diverged.”Sometimes it’s OK to disagree,” Williams said.That’s what a rivalry is all about.

The New York Giants’ Super Bowl win against the heavily favored New England Patriots three days ago will achieve sports immortality. Upsets are like that. They sear themselves into our memories. Nothing stirs the sporting public like The Great American Upset. We all see ourselves as underdogs, as a David armed only with five smooth stones against an approaching Goliath. Here are my 10 favorite sports upsets of all-time: 10.BUSTER DOUGLAS OVER MIKE TYSON (1990). Douglas, a 42-1 underdog, upset Tyson at the height of his powers, when the heavyweight boxer was the self-proclaimed “baddest man on the planet.” Tyson was never the same.9.UPSET OVER MAN O’ WAR (1919). Man o’ War, one of the best racehorses in history, lost only once in 21 races. It happened when he was edged in the 1919 Sanford Stakes by a horse named — yes, this is true — Upset.8.GIANTS OVER PATRIOTS (2008). Like much of America, I was happy to see Bill Belichick lose.7.RULON GARDNER OVER ALEXANDER KARELIN (2000). Karelin was the unstoppable Greco-Roman wrestler — a Russian with three gold medals who hadn’t lost in international competition for 13 years and hadn’t even been scored upon for 10. But the baby-faced Gardner, a Wyoming farmboy, shocked Karelin, 1-0, in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia to win the gold medal.6.CHAMINADE OVER VIRGINIA (1982). This one remains all the more unbelievable because it wasn’t televised, so virtually no one saw it. Tiny Chaminade, an NAIA school in Honolulu, took down Ralph Sampson and the No.1-ranked Cavaliers in Hawaii, 77-72.5.APPALACHIAN STATE OVER MICHIGAN (2007). I was listening to this game on the radio while driving two of my kids to Target. Appalachian’s announcers went totally berserk during the Mountaineers’ 34-32 victory.”Why are they going so freak-a-zoid?” my 9-year-old asked. I didn’t explain it well, but we all know why.4.VILLANOVA OVER GEORGETOWN (1985). Villanova’s “perfect game” against Georgetown was a stunner. Villanova shot 90 percent in the second half and 78.6 for the game to beat Patrick Ewing in the title game. A No. 8 seed, Villanova remains the lowest-seeded team to win the NCAA championship.3.NEW YORK JETS OVER BALTIMORE COLTS (1969). In the third Super Bowl, Joe Namath’s “guaranteed” victory changed the course of the NFL.2.N.C. STATE OVER HOUSTON (1983). Lorenzo Charles. Jim Valvano. Hugs all around.1.”MIRACLE ON ICE” (1980). I hardly ever watch hockey. But like most of America, I was transfixed by a band of unknown college kids who knocked off what was supposed to be the best hockey team in the world — the Soviets.In the midst of the Cold War, the Americans’ 4-3 upset win in the 1980 Olympics was historic. Many forget that the win against the Soviet Union actually came in the semifinals. The U.S. completed the fairy tale with a win against Finland to take the gold.IN MY OPINION Scott Fowler

Charlotte’s Boris Cheek, a computer applications teacher at South Mecklenburg High, has been an NFL official for 12 years.He’s worked one Pro Bowl, five playoff games and one NFC Championship Game — in 2000.Sunday, he worked the Super Bowl, getting an up-close look at the biggest upset in the history of the Big Game, when the New York Giants stunned previously unbeaten New England (headline: “Nobody’s perfect”).He was also part of history. Cheek, 49, was one of three black officials in the seven-man crew. Mike Carey was the first black head referee in Super Bowl history. Carl Johnson was the other black official Sunday.”I was just proud to represent the National Football League,” Cheek said. “It was a historical game from the standpoint that Mike was the first African American head referee, but I was equally proud of the fact that all the guys out there, black or white, are great officials. When you put on the striped shirt, it doesn’t matter what you look like. It matters if you can get the job done.”Cheek began calling games 21 years ago as a favor to a friend. He did adult sandlot games and was hooked.He paid $10 to join the Eastern Board of Officials at Howard University in the Washington area and worked high school and then semipro games. In 1993, working a semipro game at Charlotte’s Memorial Stadium, he was spotted by officials from the Canadian Football League.Cheek worked in the CFL in 1993 and ‘94. In ‘94, while doing a CFL game in Baltimore, NFL scouts approached him and asked him to apply. After a two-year stint in the NFL’s developmental World League, Cheek started in the NFL.His first NFL game was in 1996, St. Louis at Pittsburgh. Leaving the airport, he backed his rented van into a pole, leaving a huge dent.”On the field I was OK,” he said. “But I never got the van out of the airport parking lot, though. We laugh about that to this day.”Cheek has had an on-field look at some of the all-time greats, including Dan Marino,John Elway and Brett Favre.He’s met childhood heroes “Mean” Joe Greene and Jim Brown and marvels at how down to earth they are, how much they care about the game.Sunday, he got his first shot at the Super Bowl, the reward given to the officials who grade the highest throughout the season.Before the game, he shook actor Kirk Douglas’hand. He saw singer Alicia Keys.”It wasn’t like any other experience,” Cheek said. “There was a lot of adrenaline in the air. You see fireworks and superstars all around the stadium, but once it kicked off, it was almost like any other game.”Except this is one he’ll never forget.IN MY OPINION Langston Wertz Jr.

Clemson’s athletes have set a record with a 2.87 grade-point average for the fall semester.Clemson’s 15 sports program also had the most athletes named to the President’s List in a semester, school officials say.The football team had a 2.53 GPA — its third-best on record and best ever for a fall semester. The baseball team had a 2.76 GPA, and the men’s basketball team had a 2.41 GPA for the semester.Six Clemson teams had GPAs of 3.0 or better. The women’s soccer team had the top team GPA, at 3.32. The tennis team was the best among the men’s programs, with a 3.24 GPA.In briefCYCLING: Stephen Alfred has been banned for life from USA Cycling-sanctioned events after refusing to take an out-of-competition doping control test. The Union Cycliste Internationale said it was the third violation for Alfred, 40, of Capitola, Calif.OLYMPICS: Birgit Fischer, a kayaker who won eight gold medals, will skip the Beijing Games because she hasn’t trained enough. The 45-year-old German has competed at six Olympics. She also has four silver medals from the Olympics and 27 world championship titles.• NBC has agreed to be the U.S. broadcaster for the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles, according to Chicago Tribune sources. NBC looks at the event as a way to begin building interest in its coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.SOCCER: Midfielder Diego Gutierrez re-signed with the Chicago Fire for one last season. Gutierrez played with the Fire during their inaugural season in 1998 before returning to the Kansas City Wizards for four years. He says he’ll retire after the 2008 season. The Colombian-born midfielder has 12 goals and 42 assists in 233 regular-season MLS appearances and 209 starts. Gutierrez has played 137 league matches for the Fire, starting 123.• U.S. coach Bob Bradley knows that having so many players competing in Europe will only make his team stronger as qualifying for the 2010 World Cup approaches. Now, it’s just a matter of getting them all together and seeing them play.A total of 12 Europe-based players will play in today’s game against Mexico at Reliant Stadium, six from England’s Premier League. It’s a rare early opportunity for Bradley to see what he has to work with. The match is an exhibition, four months ahead of the first qualifier June 15.TENNIS: Defending champion Nadia Petrova was upset by Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4 in the first round of the Open Gaz de France in Paris. Amelie Mauresmo, a two-time winner, cruised past American qualifier Julie Ditty 6-1, 6-2. Mauresmo will play Eleni Daniilidou.• The defending champion U.S. Davis Cup team will shift from the hardcourts to slow clay when it faces Austria in the first round. The Austrians are hoping the slow play will neutralize American stars Andy Roddick and James Blake.The best-of-5 series will start with singles matches Friday at Ferry-Dusika Stadium in Vienna, Austria. The meeting between the U.S. and Austria will be the third in Davis Cup history. The Americans won the previous two, first on clay in Vienna in 1990 and hardcourts in Connecticut in 2004.

For six years the Meineke Bowl has achieved success among the lower tier of college bowls, thanks to strong television ratings, decent crowds and good community support.The task will become tougher in 2010 when Charlotte hosts the ACC championship game less than a month before the bowl. It will strain advertising budgets and test local fans, who will be asked to buy tickets to two games.Yet the Meineke Bowl plans to stick around.”The bowl needs to survive because the bowl is big for Charlotte, too,” Meineke Bowl executive director Will Webb said at a news conference Tuesday.The bowl, owned by Raycom Sports and played at Bank of America Stadium, announced a two-year extension with title sponsor Meineke Car Care Centers on Tuesday. The agreement runs through 2009, when all college bowl agreements end pending an extension of the Bowl Championship Series.Linebacker commits to UNCLinebacker Dion Guy of H.D. Woodson High in Washington has committed to North Carolina.Guy is 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds and made 103 tackles with seven sacks, four interceptions and five forced fumbles as a senior. He chose the Tar Heels over Ohio, Illinois and Kent State, said Woodson coach Greg Fuller. — Ken TysiacAround the nationARKANSAS: The school will ask the NCAA to allow transfer quarterback Ryan Mallett to play immediately without sitting out a year. Mallett transferred from Michigan after Rich Rodriguez replaced retiring coach Lloyd Carr. Mallett has three years of eligibility remaining.FLORIDA: The NCAA has found no rules violations in Florida coach Urban Meyer’srecruitment of junior college receiver Carl Moore, the school said Tuesday.GEORGIA: A former football walk-on player has died from injuries he sustained in a car-truck collision near Madison, Ga. Joshua Willis, a 19-year-old from Americus, Ga., died Monday. He was a long snapper for the 2006 team.MARSHALL: Toledo offensive coordinator John Shannon has accepted the same position at Marshall.NOTRE DAME: The Irish suspended football and lacrosse player Will Yeatman indefinitely for an undisclosed violation of team policy. Yeatman, a tight end, started three games. — Observer News Services

Bob Murphy couldn’t stay off the phone. During a 45-minute span on Tuesday, Murphy, Jeannette High’s athletics director, was trying to talk to a reporter in his office. Instead, he spent the entire time picking up his phone.In every instance, the caller wanted an update on Terrelle Pryor, Jeannette’s all-everything quarterback.Everyone wanted to know: Where is Pryor going to college? Will he definitely sign a national letter of intent today? If so, who will be able to attend the signing?”We had a Parade All-American named Donte Wiley in the early 1980s,” said Murphy, who started at Jeannette as a teacher 39 years ago. “I wasn’t the athletic director then. There was a press conference. They had a lot of media here for that. But it wasn’t of this magnitude.”Very few are.Today at noon all eyes will be on Jeannette, a small town 25 miles east of Pittsburgh. That’s when Pryor, 18, is expected to announce his college decision at a news conference in the school gymnasium.The event is without question the biggest thing to hit Jeannette, a city with a total area of just 2.4 square miles and a population of 10,654. The town is so small that it doesn’t have a hotel or movie theater.What it does have is Pryor, arguably the most sought-after high school football player in some time.Spend three seconds in the school cafeteria and one will learn the 6-foot-6, 235-pound Pryor, who has yet to pick a college, is the nation’s top prospect.Twenty or so newspaper clippings — from USA Today, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Jeannette Spirit, and Parade magazine — are posted on the wall. Another stack of papers, all featuring Pryor stories, sit atop a storage cabinet.”We love Terrelle,” Jeannette food-service worker Margie Gallagher said of the B-student. “He’s a genuine, honest, great kid. We would do anything for him. I would even take him home as mine.”Every major college football program would like to do the same.Published reports have Ohio State and Michigan as the front-runners. Pryor, who was off-limits to reporters on Tuesday, also lists Penn State as a finalist.That is why ESPNU and CSTV plan to carry Pryor’s decision live. Pittsburgh’s local television stations will be there, too. Sports Illustrated, ESPN.com, The Inquirer, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and other newspaper reporters plan to attend.”Terrelle is handling it good,” Jason Marquis, Pryor’s best friend and teammate, said of all the media attention. “You can tell, at times, he is getting frustrated with the constant phone calls, the constant messages. … I think it will be a relief for him to actually sign.”

The Texas Tech Red Raiders offered the reaction everyone expected Tuesday. They were shocked that Bob Knight resigned and were ready to move on with his son as the new coach.Then it was time for the main event — Pat Knight’s first news conference since replacing the winningest coach in men’s Division I history.Except the new Coach Knight didn’t show for the dozen or so reporters who came to United Spirit Arena for an introduction. He was busy getting ready for his first game today against Baylor.Some might say, “Like father, like son,” considering Bob Knight was as well known for his combative relationship with the media as he was for his ability to collect wins (902) and championships (three NCAA titles).Regardless, players say the Red Raiders are in good hands.”Pat’s doing a good job already,” guard John Roberson said. “We’re going to have the same preparations.”Being the Texas Tech coach is a role for which Knight has been groomed the past three seasons, and perhaps his entire life. He played for his father at Indiana and has been with him since they arrived at Tech in 2001. He was chosen as his father’s successor in 2005.Bob Knight, in comments Tuesday to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, reflected on a story about Ted Williams that said the famed Boston hitter knew when to quit.”I hope I have done that in this regard and I think I have,” said Knight, who doesn’t plan to attend his son’s debut in Waco. “I have above all a great appreciation for the players that I’ve had over the years. But know that in most cases, or in all cases, I’ve been really tough with them. That was just my nature as a coach.”The players were expecting that tough approach for 10 more regular-season games and the Big 12 tournament, at least. Freshman John Roberson said their last meeting with Bob Knight produced a collection of dropped jaws.”I was shocked because I expected him to finish out the season,” Roberson said. “He told us he was tired and he was worn out. So he made the best decision for the team, and I respect him for that.”In a decade as a college assistant, the only season Pat Knight wasn’t with his father was the only season his father didn’t coach in the past 42. He was at Akron in 2000-01 after Bob Knight was fired at Indiana.”He was great on the floor, great with kids and had a good mind for the game,” said former Akron coach Dan Hipsher, now an assistant at South Florida. “His game preps were excellent, his work in practice, his skill development with the kids. He was charismatic.”

Chris Lofton made six 3-pointers in scoring 26 points, and No. 7 Tennessee beat Florida 104-82 on Tuesday night.Lofton, with the help of 23 points each from Tyler Smith and JaJuan Smith and 10 points from Duke Crews, led the Vols (20-2, 7-1 SEC) to their best start in history.Marreese Speights led Florida (18-5, 5-3) with 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds.No. 6 GEORGETOWN 63, SOUTH FLORIDA 53: DuJuan Summers scored a career-high 24 for the Hoyas (19-2, 9-1 Big East), who won their sixth straight and 18th in a row at home. Dominique Jones scored 15 for the Bulls (10-13, 1-9).No. 10 BUTLER 71, VALPARAISO 68: Pete Campbell hit a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to give Butler (20-2, 9-2 Horizon League) its first lead and Willie Veazley added a free throw with seven seconds left as the Bulldogs beat the host Crusaders (14-8, 5-5).No. 15 DRAKE 73, ILLINOIS STATE 70: Josh Young scored all but one of his 18 in the second half, and visiting Drake (21-1, 12-0 Missouri Valley Conference) rallied to win its 20th straight.No. 18 TEXAS A&M 69, IOWA STATE 51: Texas A&M (19-4, 5-3 Big 12) ended Iowa State’s nine-game home winning streak. Jiri Hubalek scored 18 to lead the Cyclones (13-10, 3-5).No. 24 PURDUE 67, PENN STATE 53: Robbie Hummel scored 17 and E’Twaun Moore added 16 to help the Boilermakers (18-5, 9-1 Big Ten) beat Penn State (11-11, 3-7). It was Purdue’s first game as a ranked team in four years.NationOHIO STATE 65, MICHIGAN 55: Othello Hunter scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help the host Buckeyes (16-7, 7-3 Big Ten) send Michigan (5-17, 1-9) to its sixth straight loss.RADFORD 108, VIRGINIA MILITARY 102 (OT): Alex Gynes and Amir Johnson scored six points each in overtime, leading the Highlanders (7-15, 2-5 Big South). The Keydets (10-11, 2-5) lost their fifth straight.