Fake fights, real draft deadline decisions

Jacob E. Osterhout

Welcome to the Dean's List where we'd like to commend Britain's Princess Eugenie on her naked jaunt through the grounds of her boarding school. It's a fact: the only thing better than a clothed princess is a naked princess.

Honor Roll

IUPUI's George Hill may not be a household name, but the Summit League player of the year is staying in the draft. AP

• A lot of recent NBA draft announcements. After working out for multiple NBA teams but not being invited to the Orlando pre-draft camp, BYU's Lee Cummard, the Mountain West co-player of the year, will return to Provo to play his senior season. UCLA's Josh Shipp will also withdraw his name from draft. On the flip side, NC State's J.J. Hickson, Kansas' Mario Chalmers, West Virginia's Joe Alexander, Florida's Marreese Speights and IUPUI's George Hill have all announced their intentions of staying in the draft. What's that? Never heard of Hill. You will. The speedy guard was the Summit League player of the year player last season and, despite his 6-foot-2 frame, has impressed NBA teams with his 6-foot-9 wingspan and 37.5-inch vertical leap. That's a lot of hop for little dude.

• Normally, when you write that a team "ran away" from the competition, it's a figure of speech. But LSU's women's track and field team literally did just that at the Outdoor NCAA Track and Field Championships in soggy Des Moines on Saturday. The Lady Tigers were tied for the lead with defending national champs Arizona State heading into the last event -- the 1,600 relay. They didn't have to win, just finish better than the Sun Devils. LSU pulled ahead of ASU late in the first leg and finished second in the relay (ASU finished fifth), clinching its 25th women's track title and first since 2003.

• Florida State has 13 national championships under its belt, but the Seminoles still have to take the good with the bad. The good: Riding another dominant performance by star Walter Dix in the men's 200-meter to win its third straight team title at the NCAA track and field championships. The bad: Giving up 11 runs in the ninth inning of a tied ball game and losing 16-5 to Stanford on Saturday in the College World Series. Still, not a bad mixed-bag. Florida State gets to add one more trophy to its crowded awards case and, provided it minimizes the 11-run innings, the baseball team still has a fighting chance to win the CWS.

• Here's hoping that Navy pitcher Mitch Harris will someday be able to play big-league ball. Harris went 20-13 with a 2.51 ERA in four years at the Naval Academy and was drafted in the 13th round by the St. Louis Cardinals, but on Thursday, Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter on denied Harris' bid to play professional baseball. While Army recently imposed a new "Alternative Service Option" policy that allows athletes to compete professionally, Navy suspended all early releases back in 2007. So the right-hander must report to the amphibious transport ship Ponce in Norfolk on Monday to serve his five-year active duty report. Get home safely, Harris, and hopefully one day we'll soon see that fastball in action.