Duke's Irving signs with agent

Former Duke point guard Kyrie Irving has signed with agent Jeff Wechsler of 24/7 Sports, Duke spokesman Matt Plizga said Saturday in a text message.

Irving announced April 6 that he was going to enter the NBA draft and hire an agent, ending his college eligibility. He is projected as a top-three pick overall in the draft despite missing 26 of Duke’s 37 games last season with a toe injury.

A 6-foot-2 native of West Orange, N.J., Irving averaged 17.5 points and 4.3 assists per game last season as a freshman.

Ken Tysiac

Dunlap joining Pack basketball staff

RALEIGH - Tonight's Wolfpack Club caravan event gave incoming N.C. State director of basketball operations Jeff Dunlap a chance to meet fans at his new school.

Senior associate athletics director Chris Kingston said Dunlap is joining new coach Mark Gottfried's staff in a hire that will be announced after final approval by the university.

Dunlap was an assistant coach at Western Michigan. He also coached two seasons under Gottfried at Alabama.

Ken Tysiac

Davidson Adds Guard Kalinoski To Roster

Davidson has added guard Tyler Kalinoski from Olathe, Kan., to its 2011-12 roster, signing the 6-foot, 3-inch high school senior to a national letter of intent.

Kalinoski averaged 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.2 steals last season at Olathe East High School while leading his team to a school-record 21 victories and a third-place finish in the 6A state playoffs.

“Tyler is the kind of young man that we want representing Davidson College
and Davidson Basketball,” coach Bob McKillop said in a statement.

“His accountability in the
classroom has been consistently-evident in his academic performance. His
basketball talent, work ethic and team-oriented approach to the game are the
kind of characteristics that make him a perfect fit for our program. He is a
welcome addition to our roster.”

Kalinoski was awarded the DiRenna Award given annually to the top senior in the Kansas City Metro area by the Greater Kansas City Basketball Coaches Association. He will join a Davidson roster than returns 11 lettermen and four starters from an 18-15 season.

Poll: Wolfpack fans apathetic about Gottfried

The hire of Mark Gottfried as N.C. State’s basketball coach has created little reaction among Wolfpack fans, according to poll results released this afternoon.

Public Policy polling reports that 63 percent of self-identified N.C. State fans have no opinion of Gottfried, the former Alabama coach who most recently was an ESPN analyst and was hired April 5 at N.C. State.

Of fans who did take a position, 27 percent said Gottfried was a good hire and just 10 percent said hiring him was a bad decision.

Gottfried’s hire did generate more reaction from N.C. State fans than that of Brian Gregory at Dayton. A Public Policy poll late last month found 79 percent of Georgia Tech fans had no opinion of the Gregory hire; 14 percent were happy, and seven percent were unhappy.

The poll also showed that, N.C. State athletics director Debbie Yow has outstanding support. Fifty-three percent of N.C. State fans approved of the job Yow is doing, and just six percent disapproved.

Fans remained divided on whether firing former coach Sidney Lowe was the right decision. Thirty-three percent agree now that Lowe needed to go, while 26 percent thought he should have been retained.

In February, 27 percent of Wolfpack fans wanted Lowe fired, while 29 percent wanted him to stay on as coach.

Ken Tysiac

Leslie staying at N.C. State

N.C. State forward C.J. Leslie has told the Wolfpack's coaches that he did not petition the NBA for inclusion in this summer's draft as an early-entry candidate, team spokeswoman Annabelle Myers said this afternoon.

The deadline for underclassmen to enter the draft was 11:59 p.m. on Sunday.

Leslie, who's from Holly Springs and played for Word of God Academy in high school, was named to the ACC all-freshman team last season. He led the Wolfpack in rebounding (7.2 rpg) and was second in scoring (11.0 ppg) only to senior Tracy Smith as N.C. State finished 15-16 in coach Sidney Lowe's final season.

After the April 5 news conference to announce the hiring of coach Mark Gottfried, Leslie said he wanted to get to know Gottfried better before deciding whether to enter the draft. A 6-foot-8 forward, Leslie joins Lorenzo Brown and Scott Wood to give N.C. State three returning starters in Gottfried's first season.

Ken Tysiac

Challenging incentives in Gottfried's contract

RALEIGH – New N.C. State basketball coach Mark Gottfried’s contract, which was approved by the school’s Board of Trustees on Friday, is loaded with incentives, many of which will be difficult to reach.

Athletics director Debbie Yow explained the basics of the contract on April 5, when Gottfried was hired. It’s a five-year deal with an automatic, two-year rollover if N.C. State reaches the NCAA tournament in 2012 or 2013.

Gottfried has an annual salary of $750,000 a year and will earn an additional $450,000 a year in quarterly installments as long as he remains the team’s coach.

"We're extraordinarily pleased that Coach Gottfried is our basketball coach, and look forward to returning to the NCAA tournament and continuing to graduate our student-athletes," Yow said while leaving the Trustees’ meeting Friday morning.

The contract calls for Gottfried to be paid his salary multiplied by the number of years remaining on the contract if he is fired. Should he leave for another coaching job, Gottfried will have to pay the school a buyout equal to his salary times the number of years remaining on the contract.

Gottfried, who coached Alabama for 11 seasons and most recently served as an ESPN analyst, also can earn up to $1 million in incentives - $750,000 for on-court performance and the rest for academic accomplishments of his players.

For on-court achievements, Gottfried can earn:

- Two months’ salary ($125,000) if the team wins the ACC regular season, or one month’s salary ($62,500) as ACC runner up.

- Two months’ salary if the team wins the ACC tournament, or one month’s salary as tournament runner up.

- One month’s salary for reaching the NCAA regional semifinals, with an additional one month’s salary for reaching the regional final, and another month’s salary for getting to the Final Four.

- An additional two months’ salary for reaching the NCAA championship game, and another three months’ extra salary ($187,500) for winning the NCAA title.

Gottfried has eight academic incentives, each worth a half-month’s salary ($31,250). He would be paid that amount each time N.C. State exceeds the national average for men’s basketball in academic progress rate, federal graduation rate or graduation success rate.

He also would receive that amount for an academic progress rate in the top 50 percent of public schools in the ACC; a team grade-point average of 3.0 or higher for scholarship players; a team cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better for scholarship players; a player who is selected Academic All-American; or an ACC scholar athlete of the year selection.

Some of the academic incentives appear to be as difficult to achieve as the challenging on-court incentives. The only Academic All-America selections in N.C. State history were Terry Gannon in 1984 and 1985, and Todd Fuller in 1995 and 1996.

Gottfried also will receive two courtesy vehicles with paid liability insurance on each, a membership at the University Club or the State Club, and one free meal a day at Case Dining Hall. He will receive 20 tickets for N.C. State basketball games, 10 ACC tournament tickets, payment for six Final Four tickets, and six N.C. State football tickets.

Ken Tysiac

Duke's Scheyer looking for another title

Former Duke guard Jon Scheyer has a shot at his second championship in two years, although his current team's playoff run isn't getting as much national publicity as the Blue Devils' NCAA title last season.

Scheyer is a starter for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who face the Iowa Energy in a best-of-3 series in the NBA Development League finals beginning Sunday. Versus will carry Game 1 beginning at 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

Last summer, Scheyer suffered a serious eye injury while playing for the Miami Heat's summer league team, tearing his retina and damaging his optic nerve. He has recovered, though, and has averaged 12 points, four rebounds and four assists over five playoff games for the Vipers, who are based in McAllen, Texas.

-- Ken Tysiac

Scheyer has shot at another championship

Former Duke guard Jon Scheyer has a shot at his second championship in two years, although his current team's playoff run isn't getting as much national publicity as the Blue Devils' NCAA title last season.

Scheyer is a starter for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who face the Iowa Energy in a best-of-3 series in the NBA Development League finals beginning Sunday. Versus will carry Game 1 beginning at 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

Last summer, Scheyer suffered a serious eye injury while playing for the Miami Heat's summer league team, tearing his retina and damaging his optic nerve. He has recovered, though, and has averaged 12 points, four rebounds and four assists over five playoff games for the Vipers, who are based in McAllen, Texas.

Ken Tysiac

N.C. State trustees approve Gottfried's contract

RALEIGH - In closed session this morning, N.C. State's Board of Trustees approved the contract of new basketball coach Mark Gottfried.

The contract terms were revealed by athletic director Debbie Yow on the day Gottfried was hired on April 5. Gottfried received a five-year deal worth $1.2 million a year, with an automatic two-year rollover if N.C. State makes the NCAA tournament in 2012 or 2013.

"We're extraordinarily pleased that Coach Gottfried is our basketball coach, and look forward to returning to the NCAA tournament and continuing to graduate our student-athletes," Yow said this morning.

Gottfried also can earn up to $1 million in incentives - $750,000 for on-court performance and the rest for academic performance of his players.

N.C. State hired Gottfried, who coached Alabama for 11 seasons and most recently was an ESPN analyst, to replace Sidney Lowe.

Ken Tysiac

Harrison Barnes says he's returning to UNC

Harrison Barnes will return to North Carolina for his sophomore season, the university announced Monday on its official website.

Barnes, a 6-8 forward who was the ACC's top rookie, becomes the third Tar Heel who considered the NBA draft to announce his return to school for next season, joining 6-10 John Henson and 7-0 Tyler Zeller.

The return of those three players from a 29-8 team that reached the Elite Eight in 2010-11 makes North Carolina one of the favorites in the national championship chase next season.

"As an 18-year old, I'm in the early stages of my life journey," Barnes says in the release. "I'm honored and blessed for the chance to play in the NBA. And because of my family, teachers, passion, and work, I have the ultimate dream of one day playing and experiencing a fulfilling career in the NBA.

"Opportunities, both beneficial and life changing, can seem to make the next phase of my journey an easy decision. But I am a student-athlete at the University of North Carolina. I'm here to experience college life, grow as a person, receive a quality education, and be part of the greatest basketball family in college sports.

"As a team, we're preparing for a special season. My off-season plans are to diligently work on honing my basketball skills in all areas with one team-goal in mind -- to bring the 2012 national championship home to UNC."

Barnes, a second-team all-ACC selection as a freshman, would have been among the top five picks in the draft according to many experts.

He averaged 15.7 points and led the Tar Heels in three-pointers made with 67.

“I am of course excited to have Harrison back on our team next year," UNC coach Roy Williams said in a prepared statement. “It has been a true pleasure to coach him and I look forward to coaching him again next season. He had a difficult decision to make. He really had no wrong decision to choose, but I believe he is coming back to school because he enjoys college basketball, he enjoys the University of North Carolina and he enjoys his teammates. If he had decided to leave for the NBA, that would have been OK, too, because he will always be a Tar Heel. But it will certainly be a lot of fun to coach him again.”