Sports briefs

College basketball

N.C. STATE DENIED AGAIN: North Carolina State has plenty of money to spend on its next basketball coach. Finding someone to take it apparently is a problem. John Calipari became the latest to turn down an opportunity to replace Herb Sendek, deciding instead to stay at Memphis. Calipari agreed to a contract extension Wednesday that comes with a nice pay raise, at least giving the impression he might have used his flirtation with the Wolfpack to his advantage.

"Is it possible?" said Rick Spell, a prominent Memphis booster and a friend of Calipari's. "Yeah, but let me tell you something. North Carolina State presented themselves well."

According to various reports, Wolfpack athletic director Lee Fowler offered Calipari about $2 million a year, a similar deal to the one Texas coach Rick Barnes declined over the weekend. Barnes also got more money from the Longhorns, although a new contract hasn't been announced yet.

REDICK NAMED TOP AMATEUR: Duke star J.J. Redick won the Sullivan Award on Wednesday night, becoming the first men's basketball player since Bill Walton in 1973 to be honored as the nation's top amateur athlete. Redick beat out Texas quarterback Vince Young, who led the Longhorns to a national title with a win in the Rose Bowl over Southern California and its two Sullivan Award finalists — Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: Jonnie West has signed a national letter-of-intent to play at West Virginia, the school his father Jerry led to a national title game 46 years ago. The 6-foot-3 West averaged 18.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.5 steals per game at Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, Tenn. Jerry West, the Memphis Grizzlies' president of basketball operations, led the Mountaineers to the national title game in 1960 before becoming one of the top NBA players ever with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Boxing

JOE LOUIS REMEMBERED: With the laying of a wreath and the playing of taps, Joe Louis was remembered at Arlington National Ceremony on Wednesday on the 25th anniversary of the boxing great's death.

Family and friends gathered at Louis' grave, beneath the long branches of a splendid oak tree not far from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. "The Brown Bomber," the nickname etched on his tombstone, was remembered as a black sports hero who transcended the divisions of race in the segregated 1930s and 1940s.