Lsu

LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell said yesterday he'll skip his senior season and enter the NFL draft. "It kind of hit me toward the end of the season that I was going to make that jump," Russell said at a news conference. After a standout performance in the Sugar Bowl last week, the 6-6, 257-pound Russell had been expected to declare early for the draft. Russell, a native of Mobile, Ala., threw for 6,525 yards and 52 touchdowns in three seasons with LSU, two as a full-time starter.

Showing a long-distance touch, Glen Davis matched his season high with 26 points as No. 17 LSU beat Wright State, 71-45, last night in a first-round game of the Hispanic College Fund Classic in Baton Rouge. Davis, who had never made more than one three-pointer in a game during his career, hit three treys and was 10 of 13 from the field overall. He also grabbed 12 rebounds. Dameon Mason, a transfer from Marquette, scored a season-best 14 points for the Tigers (8-3). DaShaun Wood had 17 points to lead the Raiders (5-6)

Chantelle Anderson scored a game-high 24 points as No. 17 Vanderbilt upset No. 4 Louisiana State, 72-60, yesterday in Nashville. Doneeka Hodges scored 14 points to lead four double-digit scorers for LSU. Aiysha Smith, Temeka Johnson and Seimone Augustus each scored 12. Smith added 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the year. Vanderbilt (19-8, 9-5 Southeastern Conference) squandered a 20-12 lead in the first half, scoring just two points in a span of seven minutes and allowing LSU to take a 24-22 advantage on a three-point play by Smith.

LSU football coach Les Miles signed a contract extension that will keep him with the Tigers through 2012. The deal was approved yesterday by the LSU board's athletic committee, apparently ending any chance of Miles leaving for Michigan to replace Lloyd Carr, who retired last month. The approval of the full board is needed, but that is considered a formality when it meets today. The contract does not change Miles' salary, which will rise to at least $2.8 million annually next season.

Dale Brown's emotions got the best of him - both during the game and afterward. Brown coached his Louisiana State team all of 12 minutes, 31 seconds yesterday, before being ejected in LSU's 83-70 loss to Georgia in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Memphis, Tenn. Brown was ejected with his team trailing, 21-17, after picking up his second technical foul of the game. "The second one was totally wrong, totally incompetent," Brown said as he walked from the court.

Stanford's hopes of repeating as men's champion at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships virtually ended yesterday on the first day of competition in Eugene, Ore. The chances of men's indoor champion LSU and women's indoor champion UCLA completing sweeps with the outdoor titles also took big hits. In the biggest shock of the day, Stanford's Gabe Jennings, winner of the Olympic trials and NCAA 1,500 meters last year, did not qualify for the final of the 800, finishing fourth in his heat.

Kim Collins, running anchor for Texas Christian, overcame Tennessee's Leonard Scott as the Horned Frogs won the men's 400-meter relay title at the NCAA track and field championships in Eugene, Ore., last night. TCU was timed at 38.58 seconds, the fastest by a college team this year. The Volunteers finished second at 38.80. The women's 400 relay also was won on the anchor leg, as LSU freshman Muna Lee whipped past Southern California's Kinshasa Davis to give the Tigers the victory at 43.54.

Alabama's defense couldn't bail out the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide this time - or rescue their national-title hopes. JaMarcus Russell kept fifth-ranked Louisiana State's own championship aspirations alive yesterday by hitting Dwayne Bowe in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown in overtime, lifting the Tigers (8-1, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) to a 16-13 victory in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Russell hit Justin Vincent on a swing pass for 10 yards to open the possession after Alabama (9-1, 6-1)

ONLY A MAJOR upset or a dramatic shift by voters can prevent a rematch between LSU and Alabama in the BCS national championship game. LSU defeated Alabama, 9-6, in overtime on Nov. 5 in Tuscaloosa. The Tigers and Crimson Tide hold down the top two spots for the second straight week, and by a wide margin over third-place Oklahoma State. Stanford is fourth and Virginia Tech fifth. LSU (1.000 BCS average) is a unanimous No. 1 in both the coaches' poll and the Harris poll, and is top-ranked in the computer ratings.

First, it was the colors. "I guess it was something about that purple and yellow," Darrell Bush said. Then, it was the championships. "It seems like every time I was watching them, they were winning titles," Bush said. Bush, a soft-spoken senior at Woodbury High School, said Louisiana State University has been his "dream school" since he was in eighth grade. On Wednesday, Bush's dream became reality when the 5-foot-9, 155-pound speedster signed a letter of intent to attend LSU on a track scholarship.