Indiana’s Cody Zeller to test NBA draft with other underclassmen

Indiana 7-footer Cody Zeller and two point guards were among the latest standout underclassmen to make themselves available for the NBA draft.

Joining Zeller were Syracuse’s Michael Carter-Williams and Missouri’s Phil Pressey.

Zeller, a sophomore who led the Hoosiers in scoring (16.5 points) and rebounding (8.1), was a second-team All-American and is projected to be a top-10 pick in the June draft.

He is the second Hoosiers star to leave school early. On Tuesday, junior swingman Victor Oladipo announced he, too, was declaring for the NBA draft. He also is projected to be a lottery pick.

The 6-foot-6 Carter-Williams started all 40 games for the Orange this season. He finished fifth nationally in assist average (7.3) and fourth in steals (2.78) among Division I players, and also averaged 11.9 points and a team-best 35.2 minutes.

Pressey, a 5-11 guard whose father, Paul, played in the NBA, averaged 11.9 points, 7.1 assists and 1.8 steals in leading the Tigers to an appearance in the NCAA tournament. He was selected All-Southeastern Conference and is Missouri’s career leader in assists with 580. He tied Anthony Peeler for the school’s career steals lead with 196.

::

Tony Bland, a San Diego State assistant who played for the school and also at Westchester High, has accepted an offer to join USC Coach Andy Enfield’s staff as associate head coach, according to a report.

Bland told UT San Diego that Enfield offered him the job last Thursday at the Final Four. Bland’s compensation will increase from $120,000 to as much as $300,000, the website said.

Bland is the second assistant hired by Enfield. On Monday, Pepperdine Coach Marty Wilson announced via Twitter that assistant Jason Hart was joining USC’s staff.

A USC athletic department spokesman said he could not confirm Hart’s or Bland’s hiring.

Bland played at Syracuse for two seasons before transferring to San Diego State. As a senior in 2001-02, he averaged 16.4 points per game.

—Gary Klein

ETC.

Armstrong sells his estate in Texas

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has sold his Austin, Texas, estate to an oil-and-gas rights agent.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that a deed of trust filed with Travis County last week showed Al Koehler obtained a $3.1-million loan to buy the property, Armstrong’s home since 2004 and the site of the Oprah Winfrey interview in which he admitted his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Although county tax rolls listed the 1.7-acre property’s value at $3.9 million, local real estate agents say the house was listed at $10 million. However, in an email to the American-Statesman, Koehler said he paid nothing close to the listed value.

Martin Alund of Argentina wore down Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, in the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships at Houston before rain washed out the rest of the day’s schedule.

Play was suspended at 2:47 p.m. at River Oaks Country Club after continuing rain left the clay courts too wet to continue. Top-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain and No. 2 Tommy Haas of Germany had their matches rescheduled for Thursday.

::

Top-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland rallied to beat 85th-ranked Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, in the second round of the Grand Prix Hassan II at Casablanca, Morocco.

::

Serena and Venus Williams will lead the U.S. Fed Cup team against Sweden at the Delray Beach (Fla.) Tennis Center on April 20-21.

::

The Mississippi-Mississippi State football rivalry game, known as the Egg Bowl, will be played on Thanksgiving night this season for the first time since 2003.