Tennessee has announced new changes in its athletic department with a familiar face leading the transition. The university will merge the men's and women's athletics departments and longtime women's AD Joan Cronan will serve as the interim director. She was named the interim vice chancellor and director of athletics, overseeing all sports, Chancellor Jimmy Cheek said.

Former Arizona point guard Momo Jones has decided to transfer to Iona, according to several reports. Jones, a New York City native who led the Wildcats to a berth in the regional finals last season, had announced he wanted to return to the East Coast to be closer to his family. He averaged 9.7 points and 2.4 assists last season as a sophomore, starting every game as the Wildcats went 30-8, losing...

The West Coast Conference, with new member BYU, will get more exposure for its men's basketball teams under its new contract with ESPN. The two sides announced an eight-year contract extension through the 2018-19 season Wednesday. The conference will receive a minimum of 48 annual men's basketball appearances on ESPN networks starting this season.

Patrick Bade has switched from the Purdue men's basketball program to the school's football program. The school announced the switch Wednesday. Bade played in 58 basketball games for the Boilermakers over the last two seasons with four starts. The 6-foot-8, 230-pound Indianapolis native averaged 1.2 points and 1.6 rebounds per game, with career highs of 10 points and nine boards.

Former Duke basketball player Thomas Emma fell from the 12th floor of the New York Athletic Club in Manhattan to his death in an apparent suicide, police said. The 49-year-old Emma's body was found at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday on a second-floor landing of the building on Central Park South, where Emma was a member.

Northwestern has hired former Rutgers coach Fred Hill as an assistant. Hill joins the staff of fellow New Jersey native Bill Carmody as it tries to lead the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament for the first time. Northwestern has been to the last three NITs. The 52-year-old Hill compiled a record of 47-77 for Rutgers, but will be most remembered for what he did at a Big East baseball game last year.

Tennessee athletics director Mike Hamilton announced Tuesday he decided to resign so the Volunteers would have a "clean slate" when they go before the NCAA's Committee on Infractions later in the week. Hamilton, who has been at the helm of Tennessee men's athletics for eight seasons, said it was both a personal decision and one that he hoped would help reunite the Vols fanbase.

Forward Will Regan has signed a scholarship agreement to transfer to play for the University at Buffalo men's basketball team after spending his freshman season at Virginia last year. Listed at 6-foot-8, Regan will have three years of eligibility left after being required to sit out next season. From suburban Buffalo, Regan scored 25 points and had 18 rebounds in averaging 6.6 minutes over 20...

Bob Knight criticized the NCAA and called the rule Ohio State football players broke when they sold and traded their personal memorabilia "idiotic." The former Indiana and Texas Tech basketball coach, and an Ohio State alum, spoke to reporters Monday night before the Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Awards ceremony, where he was scheduled to deliver the keynote address.

The Mountain West Conference is focusing less on the mountain and more on the West. It's no longer proclaiming itself to be above the rest. The conference unveiled a new logo and slogan on Monday as it prepares to lose Utah and BYU and add high-profile Boise State to its lineup of schools for 2011.

With a firm handshake and confident voice, Patrick Chambers told nearly everyone he encountered Monday that a new era of hoops had dawned in Happy Valley. The energetic Chambers didn't hold back while being formally introduced as Penn State's next basketball coach, declaring his Nittany Lions would "scrap for every inch to make sure that we can compete on a daily basis."...

Butler forward Khyle Marshall is among the five additional players who have been invited to this year's under-19 USA Basketball training camp. Marshall will be the third Bulldogs player to try out for the team since 2009. NBA player Gordon Hayward and NBA hopeful Shelvin Mack made it two years ago.

Former Dayton guard Juwan Staten is transferring to West Virginia. Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins says Monday that Staten has signed a grant-in-aid to attend West Virginia. The 6-foot, 180-pound Staten will have to sit out the 2011-12 season due to NCAA transfer rules and will have three years of eligibility remaining.

Penn State chose Boston University's Patrick Chambers to take over its men's basketball program, capping a whirlwind coaching search following the surprise departure of Ed DeChellis. A posting on the website for Boston University announced the move late Friday afternoon. It was soon confirmed by Penn State.

There will be one basketball division in the Southeastern Conference along with some unhappy football coaches. School presidents and chancellors voted Friday to eliminate divisions in men's basketball and to reduce the annual signing classes in football to 28 players. SEC football coaches voted unanimously to keep the number at 28.

The Big 12's lower-revenue schools walked out of the conference meetings Friday with a multimillion dollar pay raise. Previously, the Big 12 distributed 57 percent of football and basketball TV dollars equally among its 12 members. But with Colorado and Nebraska gone, the 10-team league has decided to spread 76 percent of the dollars equally.

Men's basketball in the Southeastern Conference is about to be united. The league is expected to eliminate divisions Friday, a move that would make seeding the postseason tournament more fair but also could create some scheduling issues. The SEC's 12 basketball coaches proposed to athletic directors this week that the league scrap the divisional format and that the tournament be seeded 1...

Finishing among the top six in the regular season will be rewarded with a first-round bye in the redesigned men's and women's Big 12 basketball tournaments. It's one of the last adjustments the league had to make after Colorado and Nebraska dropped out this year and reduced the league to 10.

Wives who married into some of the nation's bitterest rivalries are bonding, thanks to connections made on a social networking Website. Joani Crean and Jerri Painter are two examples. While Indiana and Purdue are beating each other's brains out on the court, the wives of Hoosiers coach Tom Crean and Boilermakers coach Matt Painter share hugs, smiles and stories.

Dalton Pepper, a small forward who played the last two seasons at West Virginia, will transfer to Temple. The 6-foot-5 Pepper is a local product who was honored as the 2009 Pennsylvania Big School Player of the Year by the Associated Press. He scored a school-record 2,207 points and had 962 rebounds at Pennsbury High.