College Basketball: Cardinal Authority.com reports Louisville’s Mangok Maithang will not be eligible for the upcoming season. Coach Rick Pitino says Mathiang will have four years of eligibility to play, after the NCAA did not allow Mathiang to play this year.

Pitino also says when the Cards host Bellarmine in their second exhibition tomorrow night, Kevin Ware will be back from his one game suspension. Meanwhile, Pitino says its 50-50 whether Chane Behanan will play the season opener Sunday against Manhattan. Behanan is sitting out tomorrow night’s game due to a violation of a team rule and Pitino says if Behanan takes care of his business, he will likely play Sunday.

Former Christian County standout Anthony Hickey, Jr. sat out LSU’s 82-66 exhibition win over Arkansas-Montevallo Monday. The Baton Rouge Advocate reports Hickey was serving a one game suspension for discipline related issues. Coach Johnny Jones said Hickey would be back for the Tigers season opener Friday night against UC Santa Barbara at the Maravich Assembly Center.

College Football: Joker Phillips meets with the media for the first time today following his firing Sunday as Kentucky’s coach. UK officials announced Monday Phillips will coach the final two games of the regular season against Samford November 17^th and at Tennessee the following week.

The Lexington Herald Leader reports UK athletic officials have indicated they will honor the final two years of Phillips’ five year contract, which will be a payout of $2.5 million dollars. When asked by reporters at last night’s basketball game with Transylvania about the football coach search, athletics director Mitch Barnhart declined comment.

A reminder Coach Phillips will have his weekly call in show Wednesday night at 5, followed by Big Blue Weekly at 6 on Lite 98.7.

The Southeastern Conference has announced Vanderbilt’s game with Tennessee in Nashville November 17^th will kickoff at 6 pm on ESPN 2.

Meanwhile, Commodores coach James Franklin is dismissing any talk of a bowl game. Vandy is one win away from bowl eligibility and meets Ole Miss Saturday. The Tennessean reports during his weekly news conference Monday, Franklin said bowl talk is “taboo” and says he is focusing his team on Saturday’s contest.

NHL: The NHL and the players association meet today in New York to try and hammer out a collective bargaining agreement. The sides met in an undisclosed location over the weekend and reportedly made some progress toward a new CBA. Both sides however are referring to today’s talks as “make or break” negotiations.

The optimism from over the weekend is leading many to believe a shortened 64 game schedule could be on the horizon. The league has already cancelled the first two months of the season, plus the Winter Classic.