Sampson can revoke deal

Former Indiana basketball coach Kelvin Sampson’s separation agreement with the university will not be finalized until March 17.

Sampson signed the deal Friday, but university spokesman Larry MacIntyre said Monday that the former Hoosiers coach has 21 days to revoke the deal, which includes provisions that prevent Sampson from suing the university.

The agreement, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, also requires Sampson to continue cooperating with the NCAA investigation and bars him from interfering with any team activities.

“Sampson shall not interfere in any way with the activities of the men’s basketball team and shall not discourage the current members from cooperating with the transition to a new head coach, from remaining active members of the team, and from playing to their full potential in all competition events,” the agreement states.

Sampson took a $750,000 buyout Friday in return for his immediate resignation after the NCAA accused him of five major rules violations.

The university also included a clause saying that the deal does not, in any way, indicate Sampson believed he had any legitimate legal claims against the school.

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Tennessee ascended to the top of the Associated Press men’s poll for the first time in the program’s 99-year history after their 66-62 win over previously unbeaten Memphis, which dropped from No. 1 to 2.

The men’s program hasn’t outranked the women’s program in the AP poll since January 1982, the same year the NCAA started its women’s tournament.

SOCCER

U.S. women to play Mexico, Jamaica

The defending Olympic champion U.S. women were drawn into a soccer qualifying group that included Mexico and Jamaica.

The U.S. team will play Jamaica on April 4 and Mexico two days later in qualifying from the North and Central American and Caribbean region, with both games in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The top two teams advance to the April 9 semifinals along with the top two teams in Group B, which includes Canada, Costa Rica, and Trinidad and Tobago. The semifinal winners qualify for the Beijing Games.

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Spain is threatened with possible expulsion from this year’s European Championship because of the government’s demands upon the national soccer federation.

“It’s by no means an empty threat,” William Gaillard, a spokesman for European soccer’s governing body, said. “I think FIFA would sanction Spain if there is no agreement.”

The Spanish government asked all sports federations not competing in this year’s Olympics to hold elections before the Beijing Games in August. The Spanish soccer federation, however, doesn’t end its four-year term until November.

“It’s not up to a government to tell a federation when to hold elections,” Gaillard said.

TENNIS

Haas wins opening match

Defending champion Tommy Haas won his opening match of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at Memphis, Tenn., defeating Diego Hartfield, 6-3, 6-2.

Haas, a three-time tournament champion, is seeded third.

Second-seeded James Blake withdrew because of a right knee problem that has bothered him the last few weeks.

On the women’s side of the tournament, fourth-seeded Lindsay Davenport defeated Sabine Lisicki, 7-5, 6-3, and fifth-seeded Olga Govortsova beat Mashona Washington, 6-4, 6-2.

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Eighth-seeded Elena Dementieva beat Patty Schnyder, 7-5, 6-0, to advance to the second round of the Dubai Championships in the United Arab Emirates.

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Fourth-seeded Fabrice Santoro quit his first-round match because of an injured right shoulder while trailing Olivier Rochus, 6-3, 2-0, at the Zagreb Indoors at Zagreb, Croatia.

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The United States will host France on indoor hard courts in Winston-Salem, N.C., in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.

The defending champions will play the French team April 11-13 at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the International Tennis Federation said.

PRO FOOTBALL

Bears, Orton agree to extension

The Chicago Bears and quarterback Kyle Orton agreed on a one-year contract extension that runs through the 2009 season, setting up a competition between him and Rex Grossman.

The deal comes two days after Chicago re-signed Grossman to a one-year contract and said he would compete for the starting quarterback job with Orton.

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Minnesota Vikings Coach Brad Childress said he hasn’t determined whether he will punish left tackle Bryant McKinnie, who was charged with a felony after a confrontation at a Miami nightclub over the weekend.

Childress said he was still trying to gather all the information from Miami police about the incident.

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Veteran cornerback Fernando Bryant was released by the Detroit Lions after four seasons with the team.

FIGURE SKATING

Free webcast of junior championship

U.S. Figure Skating has made a deal that will allow U.S. audiences to watch the three female stars of last month’s national championships compete at the World Championships.

That’s the World Junior Championships, because Mirai Nagasu, Rachel Flatt and Caroline Zhang, the California trio who finished 1-2-4 at the senior U.S. Championships, all missed the age cutoff for the senior world meet.

The webcasts, beginning Tuesday, are free to anyone who registers with icenetwork.com.

-- Philip Hersh