DURHAM — The U.S. men's basketball team that will compete in Beijing at the Summer Games in August will be announced on Monday in Chicago, national team coach Mike Krzyzewski said on Tuesday during a press conference.

The team has 12 spots. Two positions that are the most up for grabs, according to comments made last week by national team managing director Jerry Colangelo, are point guard and another forward spot.

New Orleans Hornets star Chris Paul, a product of Wake Forest and Winston-Salem native, is contending for one the point guard spots.

• UNC, Duke, Wake Forest preview

The ACC lost one underclassman to the NBA Draft. That's the fewest since the parade of juniors started to leave the college ranks 25 years ago.

Theoretically, that means the ACC is poised for a great season with, at the very least, a chance to send more than four teams to the NCAA Tournament, which it did in 2008 despite being the No. 1-rated conference by the RPI.

The league will certainly have a national power to fly the flag in UNC, the prohibitive favorite to win the national title in Detroit on April 6, 2009. And the face of college basketball in UNC senior Tyler Hansbrough, who'll become the conference's all-time leading scorer and UNC's leading rebounder before the tournament begins.

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On Tuesday afternoon, the News & Observer blogs will be moving to a new system and a new server. This change will make getting to our blogs quicker and easier. Most of the blogs will change their appearance, while blogs like Taking Stock and Under the Dome will remain the same.

This change requires nothing from you, the reader. There will be a link to the older posts, and you won't need to change your bookmarks. If you have trouble finding your favorite blog or you have a comment, please email feedback@newsobserver.com.

John Strollo, who coached Duke's offensive line the past two seasons, joined Pete Lembo's staff at Elon on Monday. Strollo will coach tight ends.

Strollo's college coaching career began at Washburn University in 1983. The former Boston College football letterman has also coached at Maine, Cornell, Lafayette, Massachusetts and Northeastern.

N.C. State's J.J. Hickson said today he will sign a contract with sports agent Andy Miller of ASM Sports, who represents the Boston Celtics' Kevin Garnett, among others.

Hickson, a 6-foot-9 forward, officially announced Sunday that he would hire an agent and remain in the draft. That came more than a week after he told reporters in Phoenix that his intentions were to stay in the draft and not return for his sophomore season at State.

Hickson said he did not make a final decision until the last week, saying, he did enter the draft with the idea of "testing the waters" but that "I felt good enough about the workouts to keep my name in."

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The 2009 Final Four will be held April 4-6 at Detroit's Ford Field.

UNC fans will need this information because Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green are returning to Chapel Hill, according to a report by Fox Sports.

The Tar Heel trio tested their NBA Draft potential but did not hire an agent, allowing them to return UNC. The Tar Heels, who won a school-record 36 games and made the Final Four last season, return their entire starting lineup plus Green and add three McDonald's All-Americans to the roster.

UPDATE: The school confirmed the trio's return at 4:42 p.m.

The waiting is almost over for North Carolina basketball fans.

An announcement on the NBA Draft status of UNC underclassmen Danny Green, Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson is expected shortly, according the school's sports information department.

There will be no news conference, only a press release, when the players' decisions are made known. Players have until 5 p.m. today to withdraw and keep their college eligibility.

— Caulton Tudor

OMAHA, Neb. — Unseeded Fresno State will not have its No. 2 starting pitcher available for Tuesday's College World Series game against North Carolina, the Fresno Bee reported.

Clayton Allison has not thrown in a week and at best, might be able to throw and inning Tuesday, he told the Bee.

The Bulldogs were already without their top ace, Tanner Scheppers, who suffered a shoulder injury and hasn't pitched since May 4.

Fresno State is expected to turn to either Justin Miller (6-4, 4.88 ERA) or Holden Sprague (5-2, 3.62) to start.

The draft deadline, the real one, is finally for here for UNC's Ty Lawson, Danny Green and Wayne Ellington.

N.C. State's J.J. Hickson beat the buzzer by a full 24 hours, although his intentions were pretty clear on March 13.

As for the Tar Heel Three — or Big Two And One, as Green would call them — the educated guess is Lawson's gone, Green's back and Ellington, despite wanting to be in the NBA, will return in the hopes of playing his way into the 2009 first round.

All underclassmen have until 5 p.m. to say whether they are in or out. Since we'll know all the names by the end of the day, the popular ACC Now Summer Hoops Preview begins Tuesday.

Miami and Florida State worked their way into the losers' bracket of the College World Series and one of the ACC teams is going home today.

The rivals play at 2 p.m. at Rosenblatt Stadium. It's not where the Canes, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, or Noles, who won 54 games, expected to be.

"I'm certainly surprised that both of us are playing an elimination game at the earliest possible time," FSU coach Mike Martin said in today's USA Today.

Miami won the regular-season series in Tallahassee. Stanford and Georgia play in the top half of the bracket at 7 p.m. today.

OMAHA, Neb. — Much has been made of North Carolina's nation-leading ERA (2.84) this season. But with 17 hits — the most they've ever belted in a College World Series game — during their 8-4 victory over LSU on Sunday, the Tar Heels showed another reason why they're a team to be reckoned with.

"We singled them to death,'' coach Mike Fox said.

No. 2 UNC will play unseeded Fresno State in the winner's bracket at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

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AP photo

• Photo gallery

OMAHA, Neb. — North Carolina starter Alex White gave up two home runs, but the Tar Heels still beat LSU 8-4 after in their first game of the College World Series.

No. 2 UNC, which is trying to make it to the CWS championship series for the third straight season, will play unseeded Fresno State on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The No. 7 Tigers, who have won five national baseball championships, will play No. 6 Rice at 2 p.m. in the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination round.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Danny Muno, Alan Ahmady and Jordan Ribera launched three-run homers and Fresno State's amazing postseason run continued with a stunning 17-5 victory over Rice in the College World Series.

The Bulldogs, the first No. 4 regional seed to make it to Omaha, broke open Sunday's game against their one-time Western Athletic Conference nemesis with a seven-run fourth inning.

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N.C. State's J.J. Hickson, who said earlier this month he was staying in the NBA Draft, made the decision final on Sunday. The school announced Hickson, who led the Wolfpack in scoring and rebounding in his only college season, has hired an agent.

“Getting to the NBA has always been a dream of mine,” Hickson said in a statement released by N.C. State. “I want to thank Coach Lowe and everybody associated with NC State for all that they have done for me.”

Hickson, a 6-9 forward, is projected as a late first-round pick. He's the first Wolfpacker to leave school early since Cedric Simmons in 2006.

UNC's Danny Green said Sunday afternoon that he will wait until Monday before making a decision about his status in the June 26 NBA Draft.

Green, who would be a senior, originally intended to reach a decision today but a meeting with UNC coach Roy Williams, which had been tentatively schedule for Sunday, is now off until Monday.

“After that, I’ll decide,” Green said Sunday. “I still can’t say which way I’ll go.”

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