College notebook: Thoroughbred named after Luke Hancock?

Luke Hancock knows this much:

There's a 2-year-old colt training under the name Three Point Luke in California and it may or not be named after him.

"I think it's named after me," said Hancock, the Roanoke County product who helped Louisville win this year's Division I men's basketball championship. "I don't know for sure."

Chances are good that it is. Louisville coach Rick Pitino is one of the owners.

"I know he has a share in it," said Hancock, who described the idea of having a horse named for him as "very cool."

It wouldn't be the first time. Pitino had a share in another horse named Russdiculous, which is the nickname of Cardinals guard Russ Smith.

According to a Yahoo Sports account, it was Doug O'Neill, who trains horses for Pitino, who named the horse now known as Three Point Luke.

Hopefully, it will enjoy a more successful career than Russdiculous, which has been sold to another stable.

-- Hancock, named most outstanding player in the Final Four, currently is back in Roanoke and will be the guest speaker June 17 when the Roanoke Valley Sports Club convenes at the Roanoke Country Club.

Seating could be limited, so members and nonmembers (at a cost of $25 this month) can make reservations on a first come, first served basis by calling Maggie Drewry (725-7387) or Tom Marchi (588-2969).

Richardson to Liberty

At Liberty, where 1,000-yard rusher Aldreakis Allen was suspended earlier this spring, potential replacements will include Clifton Richardson, who last month received a release from his scholarship at Virginia.

"We are thrilled to have Clifton in our football program because of his character and his football ability," Liberty coach Turner Gill said. "He has tremendous power, above-average elusiveness and outstanding speed as a running back."

Richardson, rated the No. 10 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times after his senior year at Menchville High School, carried 72 times for 386 yards as a freshman at UVa in 2011 but was dogged by injuries last year, when he had only 24 carries.

-- Quarterback Josh Woodrum, a redshirt sophomore quarterback from Cave Spring in Roanoke County, has been named one of Liberty's co-captains for the 2013 season. Woodrum, the only non-senior to be chosen, was the Big South Freshman of the Year in 2012.

MLB Draft

Spectators at the Charlottesville Super Regional will get a look at a likely first-round Major League Baseball Draft pick in outfielder Hunter Renfroe, a 6-foot-1, 216-pound junior who is batting .352, with a team-leading 15 home runs and 58 RBIs for Mississippi State.

The best-of-three series will feature two of the nation's premier closers, Bulldogs sophomore right-hander Jonathan Holder (2-0, 1.17 ERA, 17 saves) and UVa junior left-hander Kyle Crockett (4-1, 1.68, 12 saves).

Crockett's lone loss came when he gave up six runs (four innings) in two-thirds of an inning at North Carolina. He has a 1.02 ERA in his other 27 appearances.

"You're not going to see him long in the minors," Florida State coach Mike Martin said of Crockett. "That's a beautiful, beautiful arm."

Recruiting

Virginia Tech is in the hunt with some of the nation's premier programs in its recruiting of David Cornwell, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound quarterback from Norman, Okla., who will have a hearing Wednesday to determine if he will be eligible to play in high school this year.

Cornwell missed an entire year of school and did not play football when he lived in Florida, where his mother was battling an illness, currently in remission. Alabama is seen as the team to beat for Cornwell and recruiting services, while the Hokies have been listed as a favorite for 6-3, 200-pound Goose Creek, S.C., quarterback Jacob Park.

Oklahoma State was the choice of Rock Hill, S.C., quarterback Mason Rudolph, who has family in Virginia and received offers from the Hokies and UVa.

Local update

Ex-William Fleming basketball standout Ti'Asia McGeorge, coming off the most productive season of her career at American University, has received an invitation to the NCAA Career in Sports Forum from June 8-11 in Indianapolis. McGeorge started 17 games and played more minutes as a junior last year (510) than in her first two years combined.

Changing levels

Recent Lynchburg College graduate Joe Lisicky, the 2012 ODAC player of the year in men's lacrosse, will play as a graduate student next year at Virginia. Lisicky, a first-team All-America defenseman in 2012, became eligible for a fifth year when he suffered a season-ending injury in the third game this year.

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