Sports briefs 3/6/04

Basketball

Fans who flock to see LeBron James star on the basketball court may soon be able to see him on the big screen in a movie directed by Spike Lee. The popular Cleveland Cavaliers rookie is in talks with Lee to develop a movie, according to James' agent, Aaron Goodwin. "We're still in the planning stages," Goodwin said Friday. "We don't have a script yet. We have a production team in place. Spike has been interested for months now, and LeBron is excited about the project."

College

Saint Joseph's guard Jameer Nelson and Stanford forward Josh Childress were among the five players named to the inaugural Adolph Rupp All-America team announced Friday. Nelson and Childress have helped lead their teams to undefeated seasons so far. Duke guard Chris Duhon, Connecticut center Emeka Okafor and Mississippi State forward Lawrence Roberts rounded out the team, which was selected by a national panel of media, coaches and administrators.

Texas running back Cedric Benson, who decided to stay with the Longhorns for his senior year instead of jumping to the NFL, has decided to give up professional baseball and focus on football. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who drafted Benson out of Midland Lee in the 12th round as an outfielder in 2001, were paying for his education. Now, he'll go on scholarship for football at UT. Benson played with the Dodgers' rookie league club in Vero Beach, Fla., before his freshman and sophomore years at Texas. Benson, who has earned more than $100,000 playing baseball, didn't play for the rookie league club last summer, opting instead to work out in Austin and focus on football. Benson rushed for 1,360 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2003.

Football

Six high school players and one from junior college have applied for the NFL draft, taking advantage of the court ruling in the Maurice Clarett case that cleared the way for underclassmen. The NFL released the final list of nine players Friday who requested early eligibility for the April 24-25 draft. The deadline for applying was March 1, with the players given 72 hours to pull out. In addition to Clarett, the running back who played as a freshman at Ohio State but was suspended last season, and Southern California wide receiver Mike Williams, there were seven others on the final list. According to the NFL, the seven applicants were: Ronnie McCrae, a defensive back from Pasadena (Calif.) City College; Joe Banks, a running back from New Directions Academy High School in Baltimore; quarterback John Belisle of Capac Community High School in Capac, Mich.; defensive tackle Earl Fields of Appling County High School in Baxley, Ga.; wide receiver Joe Lee of Gates High School in Tacoma, Wash.; running back Ethan Mitchell of Flowers High School in Springdale, Md.; and offensive tackle Ken Petitt of Redford High School in Detroit.

Motorsports

A week off hasn't cooled down Kasey Kahne. The 23-year-old rookie, who missed winning the race Feb. 22 at Rockingham by inches, grabbed his first NASCAR Nextel Cup pole in a record-smashing qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that featured NASCAR's "Young Guns." Kahne, driving a Dodge for Evernham Motorsports in only his third Cup start, turned a lap of 174.904 mph, leading 15 drivers who surpassed the previous track qualifying record of 173.016, set last year by Bobby Labonte. Kurt Busch, driving a Roush Racing Ford, had a lap of 174.548 -- which was 0.063-seconds slower than that of Kahne.

Tennis

Top-seeded Andy Roddick beat Alex Bogomolov Jr., 6-4, 6-3 Friday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic. Second-seeded Martin Verkerk also advanced, beating Cecil Mamiit 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in a match halted by rain on Thursday. Verkert was leading 6-2, 0-2 when the match was stopped. Romania's Victor Hanescu also advanced to the quarterfinals, beating Sweden's Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3.

-- From wire reports