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Thursday's Games
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(All times Eastern)
Top-25 College Basketball
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7:00 p.m. - (22) Michigan State at Iowa
9:00 p.m. - (4) Arizona at Oregon
11:00 p.m. - Saint Mary's at (9) Gonzaga
National Basketball Association
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8:00 p.m. - New York Knicks at Indiana Pacers
10:00 p.m. - Dallas Mavericks at Sacramento Kings
10:30 p.m. - Miami Heat at Portland Trail Blazers
=== As of 6:30 p.m. (et) ===
=== NBA ===
New York Knicks star forward Carmelo Anthony will miss tonight's game against Indiana after being suspended by the NBA for one game. The NBA levied the penalty after Anthony tried to confront Boston forward Kevin Garnett following Monday's 102-96 Celtics' win at Madison Square Garden. The incident occurred in the arena tunnel, near the players' locker rooms, and in the parking garage. Anthony is averaging a team-leading 29 points along with 6.1 rebounds this season.
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Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao is expected to miss 6-to-8 weeks after having knee surgery on Thursday. Varejao underwent a procedure at the Cleveland Clinic to repair a small split in his vastus medialis muscle that was part of the right knee contusion he suffered Dec. 18 in a game against Toronto. The 6-foot-11 Varejao has averaged 14.1 points and 14.4 rebounds in 25 games this season.
=== NFL ===
The Jacksonville Jaguars have fired head coach Mike Mularkey after just one season. New general manager David Caldwell announced the decision Thursday, less than 48 hours after taking the job. The Jaguars were 2-14 in Mularkey's lone season. He now has a record of 16-32 in three years as an NFL head coach, going 14-18 with Buffalo in 2004 and '05.
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Buffalo Bills new coach Doug Marrone starting filling out his coaching staff Thursday by naming Mike Pettine as defensive coordinator and Nathaniel Hackett as offensive coordinator. Pettine had spent the last four seasons as the defensive coordinator for the New York Jets, leading a squad that finished in the top 10 in total defense each season. The Jets allowed the second-fewest passing yards per game (189.8) and finished fifth in the AFC in total defense (323.4 total yards per game) last season. Prior to joining New York, Pettine was a member of the Baltimore Ravens' coaching staff from 2002-08. Hackett spent the last three seasons as a member of Marrone's coaching staff at Syracuse, most recently as the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks/tight ends coach. This past season, the Orange set school records in yards per game (476.0), passing yards (3,757), touchdown passes (26), completions (295) and first downs (328). Hackett also led an offense in 2012 that included a 3,000 yard passer, 1,000 yard rusher and 1,000 yard receiver for the first time in a single-season in school history. The 33-year-old was the Bills' offensive quality control coach from 2008-09 before taking the job with Syracuse.
=== BASEBALL ===
Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association announced Thursday they will start random, unannounced in-season human growth hormone blood testing. The new policy will start in the 2013 season and will expand on the league's current policy regarding HGH. The MLB and MLBPA's previous joint drug prevention and treatment program allowed for each player to be subject to an unannounced blood test during spring training and an unannounced, random test in the offseason. Major League Baseball has been randomly testing its minor league players for HGH since July 2010 and is now the only major North American sport to blood test unionized players. Records
will also be kept on T/E (testosterone to epitestosterone) ratios in players to prevent the unauthorized use of synthetic testosterone. The league will use the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited Montreal Laboratory to record a player's baseline T/E ratio, which will be confidentially maintained for comparisons.
=== COLLEGE FOOTBALL ===
Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly reportedly interviewed with the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles earlier this week. According to a Philadelphia newspaper, Kelly first spoke with the Eagles about their coaching vacancy after the Fighting Irish played in the BCS National Championship Game on Monday night. The team will apparently meet with Kelly again. Kelly, in his third season at Notre Dame, led the Irish to a 12-0 regular season before a 42-14 loss to Alabama in the BCS title game. The Eagles are searching for a replacement for Andy Reid, who was fired after 14 seasons.
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