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Cram TONIGHT sessions #24 SOUTH FLORIDA ' VS RUTGERS Olympic hopeful 7:30PM/ET Rachael Flatt, 17, Presented by Sports fills her day with four figure skating TOMORROW SECTION C practices and four #25 WEST VIRGINIA AP classes, 5C VS #5 CINCINNATI 8PM/ET

Thursday, November12, 2009 By Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY George Selvie

. Sportsline NFL midseason report

Basketball/NBA m3, 9C Toronto 99, Chicago 89 Indiana 108, Golden State 94 Boston 105, Utah 86 Atlanta 114, New York 101 Hallowed records Detroit 98, Charlotte 75 Philadelphia 92, New Jersey 79 Milwaukee 108, Denver 102 Cleveland 102, Orlando 93 Portland 107, Minnesota 84 Houston 104, Memphis 79 San Antonio 92, Dallas 83 Phoenix 124, 104 halfway to falling Oklahoma City 83, L.A. Clippers 79 Men’s top 25 m4C 4-N. Carolina 89, N.C. Central 42 12-California 95, Detroit 61 Manning has Marino’s 25-Syracuse 100, Robert Morris 60 5,084 passing yards Football/Football Bowl Subdivision m5C Central Michigan 56, Toledo 28 squarely in sights Hockey/NHL m10C Detroit 9, Columbus 1Washington 5, N.Y. Islanders 4 (SO) By Skip Wood Buffalo 3, Edmonton 1New Jersey 3, Anaheim 1 USA TODAY 5, Carolina 2Chicago 3, Colorado 2 (SO) Halfway through Live NBA scores the season, a little ex- on your cellphone trapolation makes for alot of intriguing pos- Send atext message to 44636 (4INFO) with TEAM NAME (BLAZERS, SPURS) sibilities regarding the or LEAGUE NAME (NBA). NFL record book. Among those whose North Carolina, Syracuse roll to wins marks are on pace to fall are Dan Marino, Dick Marcus Ginyard matched his career high with 17 “Night Train” Lane and points to help No. 4North Carolina beat visiting Kellen Winslow. North Carolina Central 89-42on Wednesday in the One of the most hal- 2K Sports Classic bas- lowed records being By Bill Haber, AP ketball tournament. The threatened is the single- Plethora of picks: Saints safety Darren Tar Heels (2-0) broke it season mark for passing Sharper is on pace for 14 . open by scoring 21 con- yards, Marino’s 5,084 secutive points in the At nfl.usatoday.com for the in 1984. uNFL midseason award first half. C.J. Wilkerson Indianapolis Colts quarterback Find our analysts’ winners, 6C led the Eagles (0-1 ) with has thrown for 16 points. The Tar Heels Week 10 picks and power rankings 2,545 and is on pace for 5,090. Veteran Darren Sharper of the will play Ohio State next coach and rookie Wednesday at New takes his 6-2 team of the Buffalo Bills York’s Madison Square to Indianapolis to meet Manning have seven picks apiece. Garden in the semifinals By AJ Mast, AP and the unbeaten Colts on Sun- uWinslow’s single-season of the tournament that On the mark: Colts quarterback day night. mark of 1,290 receiving yards by By Gerry Broome, AP benefits Coaches vs. Peyton Manning is on pace “Leads the league in pass- atight end in 1980 for the San Mine: UNC’s Deon Cancer. The other semi- for a season-record ing, leads the league in Diego Chargers. Dallas Clark of Thompson gets the ball. final will match No. 25 5,090 passing third-down conversions, the Colts in on pace for 1,406. Syracuse, a 100-60win- yards. (and) they are 8-0,” Bel- Clark (60 catches) also could ner against Robert Morris (0-1 ) on Wednesday, ichick said Wednesday. “I break ’s record against California. Andy Rautins made seven three- think that’s really the (102) for receptions by a tight pointers and scored 22 points for the Orange (2-0). biggest statement. It’s end in a season. production, and he does uTeam-wise, the Patriots- Griffey Jr. agrees to return to Mariners agreat job.” Colts matchup has record-chas- CHICAGO — Ken Griffey Jr. agreed to a one-year Among other records ing ramifications. The record for contract Wednesday with the Seattle Mariners to in sight: regular-season wins in a decade play in his 22nd and, perhaps, final season. General uLane’s 14 intercep- belongs to the San Francisco manager Jack Zduriencik said the signing would not tions, achieved in 1952 49ers, who had 113 in the 1990s. keep the team from acquiring another designated with the Los Angeles Rams In this decade, Indianapolis has hitter, the position Griffey played in 91 games in during a 12-game season. 109 to New England’s 108. 2009. “He’s open to anything,” Zduriencik said. “He has such a love for the Mariners and the city of Seattle.” Griffey, who turns 40 on Nov.21, will re- Special report Coaches’ salaries ceive a slight raise over his $2 million base salary of Ohio State gets this year, according to agent Brian Goldberg. Griffey is fifthon the career home run list with 630 and At collegefootball.usatoday.com batted .214 with 19 homers and 57 RBI last season. uA searchable database of assistant and head coach big hoops haul “We’re tickled pink that he has decided to come salaries that can be sorted by name, school or back,” Zduriencik said.—Bob Nightengale conference uWatch video of a day in the life of assistant Mike By Jim Halley Woods opens with 66 in Australia Rutenberg, who commonly works long hours for little pay USA TODAY Tiger Woods opened the Australian Masters golf tournament in Melbourne with a 6-under-par 66 Ohio State men’s basketball coach Thad Matta is today (Wednesday night ET), putting him atop the Football repeating a successful formula. leaderboard in his first appearance Down Under in Instead of worrying about whether recruits will 11 years. Woods had a birdie putt on every hole un- mesh, he signed players who already have. til hitting into the bushes on his final hole and mak- On the first day of the early signing period ing his lone bogey. Among early starters, Woods assistant Wednesday, the Buckeyes landed the top class, ac- was tied with James Nitties of Australia and Bran- cording to ESPN.com den Grace of South Africa. and Scout.com. Ohio paying State signed six play- Compiled from staff and wire reports ers. Four of them, Ja- red Sullinger, J.D. Our view Weatherspoon, Aaron his dues Craft and Jordan Sib- uKeeping Score: A women’s soccer player’s dirty ert, were on an AAU tactics go viral, Christine Brennan writes, 3C team, All-Ohio Red, N.M. State coach tied that was 201-9 the last Live USA TODAY News and for nation’s lowest paid three summers. Sull- information with you on the go. Text USA to 59523 or inger, a 6-8 forward, enter m.usatoday.com into your mobile browser. and Weatherspoon, a Carrier charges may apply. By A.J. Perez 6-5 forward, also USA TODAY played for Northland By Neal Lauron, Columbus Dispatch ® By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY (Columbus) High, last Recruit: Jared Sullinger USA TODAY Snapshots LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Clean-cut Passion: New Mexico State defensive backs coach Mike Rutenberg, season’s Ohio champi- heads Ohio State’s class. Most shots on and well-organized, New Mexico 28, makes $30,000 a year. “This is all I wanted to do,” Rutenberg says. on. State assistant football coach “(They) bring a cul- goal in an MLS uMemphis Mike Rutenberg has earned the uBig Ten, SEC media deals push other leagues, 2C ture of winning to our rebuilding, 4C playoff game nickname program,” Matta said. 15 “Stockbroker.” however, is where the similar- “Yeah, I have college friends on In 2006, Ohio State At preps.usatoday.com Cover In many ways, ities end. He makes $30,000 a Wall Street,” Rutenberg says, signed Greg Oden, vs. uOnline chat, 14 story it fits. Rutenberg year, a salary equal to Louisiana- “but my whole life, this is all I Mike Conley Jr. and Wizards is a Cornell Uni- Monroe wide receivers coach wanted to do. All I did was foot- DaequanCook, all of 2p.m. ET, City with USA Kansas 9/26/1996 versity graduate, Marty Humphrey’s as the lowest ball growing up. I worked hard whom won several TODAY’s Jim FC Dallas like his parents. His workdays among about 900 assistants in academically, but I used to draw national AAU titles on vs. 13 Halley and Prepstars 10/29/2005 start early and end late. His desk the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivi- up plays in my notebooks. I drew the Spiece Indy Heat. FC Dallas Crew .com’s Rob Harrington vs. is lined with Post-it Notes, many sion, according to USA TODAY re- up plays, even in class. I wanted The next season, those uUpdates on where the Columbus Galaxy 13 tracking numbers and trends. search. players were the nu- top 150 recruits landed Angeles Los 10/1/1998 Rutenberg’s paycheck Please see COVER STORY cleus of a Buckeyes FC Dallas vs. from the Aggies, next page u team that lost to Florida in the NCAA title game. Dynamo The consensus top 2010 recruit, 6-7 guard Harri- 11/2/2007 Houston son Barnes of Ames, Iowa, is expected to announce FC Dallas his choice Friday. Other recruiting winners in- Source: MLS By Kevin Greer and Julie Snider, USA TODAY cluded Illinois, Memphis and Syracuse.

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