Oklahoma’s Griffin leaves school early

Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin will give up his final two years of eligibility and make himself available for the NBA draft after a sophomore season in which he was honored as college basketball’s top player.

Griffin announced his decision Tuesday at a campus news conference alongside Coach Jeff Capel, saying it was time to take his game to the next level. He helped the Sooners win 30 games in a season for only the fifth time in school history, shattering the school records for double-doubles and rebounds along the way.

Also Tuesday, Arizona junior forward Chase Budinger said he was hiring an agent and would make himself available for the draft. Kentucky guard Jodie Meeks and South Carolina guard Devan Downey said they would make themselves available but were not hiring agents in case they wanted to return to school.

Pittsburgh Coach Jamie Dixon has been named the Naismith men’s coach of the year after leading the Panthers to a school-record 31 wins and the NCAA tournament regional finals.

Michael Jordan’s youngest son, Marcus, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard, said he will play basketball at Central Florida next season.

CYCLING

Armstrong denies any wrongdoing

In a strongly worded statement, Lance Armstrong denied any wrongdoing during an out-of-competition doping test conducted by the French national doping agency last month. The agency has filed a report with the International Cycling Union about Armstrong’s behavior during a test where blood, urine and hair samples were taken while Armstrong was training in southern France.

TENNIS

Blake, Fish lose on clay

Guillermo Canas of Argentina, ranked 113th in the world, completed a sweep of the top two seeded players in the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over top-seeded James Blake.

Earlier, Germany’s Bjorn Phau, ranked 77th, beat second-seeded Mardy Fish of the U.S., 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. It marked the first time since 2000 that the top two seeded players in the Clay Court Championships failed to advance past the first round.

Former No. 1 player Juan Carlos Ferrero advanced to the second round of the Grand Prix Hassan II by beating Christophe Rochus, 6-2, 6-3, in Casablanca, Morocco.

PRO FOOTBALL

Bengals get Tank Johnson

Defensive tackle Tank Johnson has agreed to a contract with the Cincinnati Bengals. The 27-year-old free agent had 33 tackles and three sacks in two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.

Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Marcus Stroud has signed a two-year contract extension potentially worth $16.5 million, his agent said.

ETC.

Wynn hired at Long Beach State

Jody Wynn has been hired as Long Beach State’s women’s basketball coach. Wynn, 35, a former USC guard, has been an assistant at her alma mater the last five seasons. She also was an assistant for eight seasons at Pepperdine.

Wynn replaces Mary Hegarty, whose contract was not renewed after this past season, her sixth at Long Beach.

The Marmonte League officially extended an invitation for football power Westlake Village Oaks Christian High to join the league for all sports beginning with the 2010 season.

Oaks Christian has not decided whether to accept the invitation.

Riverside King forward Kawhi Leonard, The Times’ player of the year, was among the seven local boys’ basketball players selected as recipients of the John R. Wooden high school player-of-the-year awards.

The other winners were Westchester’s Dominique O’Connor in the City Section, Rialto Eisenhower’s Andrew Bock in Division II, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake’s Erik Swoope in Division III, Torrance Bishop Montgomery’s Justin Cobbs in Division IV, L.A. Windward’s Darius Morris in Division V and Ojai Besant Hills’ Yannick Atanga in Division VI.