Arkansas

Former Overbrook basketball star Nurideen Lindsey announced via Twitter that he will transfer to Arkansas. He'll become eligible for the Razorbacks at the conclusion of the 2012 fall semester. Lindsey left St. John's in December after nine games and originally planned to announce his decision Saturday before "a change of plans. "  

Coming off a seven-overtime victory, Arkansas made sure that last night's game would be a 60-minute one. The host Razorbacks, behind three touchdown passes from Matt Jones and a 51-yard touchdown run by DeCori Birmingham, defeated South Carolina, 28-6, in Little Rock. Arkansas improved to 6-3 and 3-3 in the Southeastern Conference. Lou Holtz's South Carolina team is 5-5 and 2-5. Neither team is in contention for the SEC title, but both teams have bowl aspirations. Jones didn't start, but the junior signal-caller entered on the second series.

Bobby Petrino resigned as Atlanta Falcons coach yesterday, having lasted only 13 games, and last night was announced as the football coach at the University of Arkansas. Petrino succeeds Houston Nutt, who stepped down at Arkansas 2 weeks ago and became the head coach at Mississippi. "The timing of it probably the think that made it most difficult," he said. "Coming to Arkansas was the easy part. " In January, Petrino left as coach at Louisville to take over in Atlanta, agreeing to a 5-year, $24 million contract handed out by a team that felt he could help Michael Vick reach his full potential.

If Arkansas basketball were a natural disaster, it would be a tidal wave. Once the Razorbacks start heading for the beach, the only safe place is several miles inland. The red-clad zanies descended upon Reunion Arena, the place Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson used to call "Barnhill South," in a mood to party. Nothing that happened after they threw the ball up to start the Midwest Region semifinal against Tulsa changed their mood. It wasn't exactly "40 minutes of hell. " That would have been overkill on a night when Arkansas shot 60.6 percent in the first half, 72.4 percent in the second half and a season-high 66.1 percent overall and won last night, 103-84.

The Daily News sports section is nothing if not versatile. We file reports on athletic events. Analyze what happened. Express opinions. Sometimes we even influence the outcome. We're talking power. Yesterday at Franklin Field, after anchoring Arkansas to a world-best time of 9:20.10 in the Penn Relays college men's distance medley relay Championship of America, Joe Falcon wanted to feed someone a heaping plate of another bird. Crow. An analysis in Friday's editions predicted a DMR victory for Mount St. Mary's.

The sluggish Democratic presidential campaign picked up momentum yesterday as Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas, a leader of the moderate wing of his party, announced that he was officially forming an exploratory committee, a preliminary step to a formal declaration of candidacy. "I want to make it clear that I have not made a decision as to whether to seek the nomination," Clinton said in a statement issued by his office in Little Rock. "But forming an exploratory committee will give me a means to look into this in a lot more detail and get the kind of information I need to consider it right now. " Clinton said he would make up his mind by the end of September.

The University of Arkansas suspended five players yesterday, including three athletes identified in a rape complaint that did not result in charges, for violating unspecified team rules. Coach John Pelphrey said guards Courtney Fortson, the top returning scorer, and starter Stefan Welsh were suspended indefinitely. Guard Marcus Britt was suspended for six games, forward Glenn Bryant two games, and walk-on guard Nick Mason will not dress for games during the fall semester. The school did not provide specific reasons for the suspensions, which will keep all players out of Friday night's season opener against Alcorn State.

The Rose Bowl, it wasn't. To John Robinson, though, it was almost as sweet. Two years after he arrived to take over a hapless bunch of losers, Robinson's UNLV Rebels (8-5) beat Arkansas (6-6) last night, 31-14, in the hometown Las Vegas Bowl. Fans who didn't go near the UNLV stadium when the team was in the midst of a 16-game losing streak tore down a goal post as UNLV celebrated its turnaround in two seasons under Robinson. "I'm not the guy who did this," Robinson said, pointing to his players.

Jet lag caught up with Nevada-Las Vegas. Tarik Wallace and Pat Bradley combined for 21 points early in the second half as Arkansas opened an 11-point lead and went on to an 86-73 victory over the visiting Runnin' Rebels in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament. UNLV beat Hawaii Monday night in overtime, then headed for Arkansas at 1:15 a.m. The school could not get all the players on one plane, so some flew to Dallas and others to Houston. Eventually, they met in Tulsa, Okla.

A bruised and tired Corliss Williamson, who led Arkansas to the last two NCAA title games and the 1994 national championship, is headed for the NBA. The 6-foot-7 junior forward, who averaged 19.7 points as the Razorbacks went 32-7 this past season, had said after Monday's championship game loss to UCLA that he planned to stay in school. "My emotions took over and made me say that," Williamson explained yesterday. "I didn't end my college career the way I wanted to. I wanted to go out on top with a victory.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Bob Baffert knows well how to train a horse to win at Oaklawn Park. The Hall of Fame trainer hopes to once again capture an important race at the park on Saturday, when he sends out favorite War Academy in the $1 million Arkansas Derby. A Baffert-trained colt, Bodemeister, won the Kentucky Derby prep race last year, and the Californian guided horses to three straight wins at Oaklawn's Rebel Stakes before D. Wayne Lukas' Will Take Charge snapped that streak last month.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Cliff Lee makes it all look easy, and Drew Smyly had no reason to believe otherwise until he worked out with Lee in Little Rock this winter. The pitchers share a home state and agent. Smyly is trying to crack the Detroit Tigers' rotation and thought any time spent with Lee would help. Then, 15 sets into the first exercise, Smyly understood. "I've never had a workout like that," Smyly said. "When are we going to move onto a different exercise, man? We're just doing the same [stuff]

Neumann-Goretti's Josh Ockimey, a hard-hitting junior first baseman, made an oral commitment Thursday night to play baseball at the University of Arkansas. Ockimey, a 6-foot-4, 225-pounder who batted better than .400 with nine home runs and earned Inquirer second-team all-area honors last season, also was being recruited by North Carolina, Penn State, Temple, and Vanderbilt. - Rick O'Brien

Cedar Creek quarterback Damon Mitchell said Monday night that he was strongly considering Arkansas and Rutgers as his college destination. Mitchell, a first-team all-South Jersey selection who led Cedar Creek to the South Jersey Group 2 title game, said he might not make his decision until signing day on Wednesday. "My mom and me are trying to decide what's best for me," Mitchell said after scoring 16 points for the Cedar Creek basketball team in a 70-69 loss to St. Joseph. Mitchell committed to Georgia Tech in July but said he was unsure if the Yellow Jackets had withdrawn their offer.

ARKANSAS finally gave second-year coach Mike Anderson the signature win he was looking for. BJ Young led three players in double figures with 13 points as the host Razorbacks opened quickly and never let up in a shocking 80-69 victory over No. 2 Florida on Tuesday night. The win improves the Razorbacks (14-8, 5-4 Southeastern Conference) to 14-1 at home this season. The win was Arkansas' first over a team ranked in the top 10 since victories over No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 7 Texas early in 2008-09.

IT'S UNANIMOUS: This year's "Bonnie Lindros Meddlesome Mom Award" goes to Andrea McDonald. McDonald's son Alex Collins, a five-star running back from South Plantation High near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was in the school's auditorium Wednesday, preparing to sign a letter of intent to play for Arkansas. But he never did, because mom grabbed the papers and sprinted from the building. Apparently, she wants him to play at a school closer to home. When Arkansas coach Bret Bielema appeared on ESPNU on Wednesday to talk about his recruits, he couldn't mention Collins because he had not officially signed yet. On Wednesday, Collins older brother, Johnny, told the Miami Herald that the family wants Alex to consider the University of Miami.

The only thing more frustrating than Rashad Kinlaw's junior season was his senior season. Kinlaw played in just six games as a junior at Absegami. He missed the rest of the season after breaking his right fibula against St. Augustine. Kinlaw broke the same bone in a USA Football game in June. He ended up playing in just four games as a senior. "It definitely was frustrating," Kinlaw said. "I knew what I could do, and I couldn't do it. " Kinlaw's injuries didn't stop him from being one of the most highly recruited players in the state.