IN BRIEF

FOOTBALL

Kragthorpe fired after 4-8 season at Louisville

Louisville fired football coach Steve Kragthorpe after a 4-8 season, the school's worst in more than a decade.

Kragthorpe went 15-21 in three seasons after replacing Bobby Petrino in January 2007. Kragthorpe had two years left on a contract that paid him about $1.1 million annually, and athletic director Tom Jurich said Kragthorpe will receive a $2.2 million buyout.

Also: Louisiana State assistant Larry Porter has accepted an offer to become head coach at Memphis, an LSU official said. Porter, a former Memphis running back, will replace Tommy West, who was fired last month.

Akron fired coach J.D. Brookhart after a 3-9 season. He was 30-42 at the school.

Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice are among 25 semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Smith is the NFL's all-time leading rusher with 18,355 yards, and Rice is the all-time leading receiver with 1,549 catches for 22,895 yards.

Indianapolis Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney will miss today's road game against the Houston Texans because of an abdominal injury. He missed all of last week's practices.

BASKETBALL

Sixers show interest in bringing back Iverson

Guard Allen Iverson might not be retiring after all and could be headed back to his first team, the Philadelphia 76ers.

Iverson is among the free-agent candidates the Sixers are considering to replace injured point guard Lou Williams, who is expected to miss eight weeks after jaw surgery, a person with knowledge of the situation said.

Iverson played three games this season with the Memphis Grizzlies before taking a leave of absence to attend to personal matters. He was waived after the two sides agreed to part ways and last week announced his plan to retire.

Also: Orlando Magic forward Matt Barnes was fined $20,000 for throwing a basketball into the stands after a 99-98 loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday. He said he will appeal the fine.

The UNLV women's basketball team lost to Boise State 74-66 in the Lady Rebel Round-Up at Cox Pavilion. Erica Helms scored 18 points and Markiell Styles had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Lady Rebels (2-3), who shot 33.9 percent.

MISCELLANEOUS

Davydenko eliminates No. 1 Federer in semis

Top-ranked Roger Federer was eliminated from the ATP World Tour Finals in London, losing to Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the semifinals.

Federer came within two points of winning while leading 5-4 in the third set. But Davydenko rallied for his first win over Federer in 13 matches.

In today's final, Davydenko will face U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who defeated Robin Soderling, 6-7 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Also: Longtime Los Angeles Times sports writer Mike Penner, who announced in 2007 that he was transsexual, died Friday at age 52. The cause of death has not been determined but was believed to be suicide.

Former Breeders' Cup champion Ventura won the $300,000 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif., in her final race before retirement, less than two weeks after the death of her Hall of Fame trainer, Bobby Frankel. Ventura earned $2,880,530 in her career.

The Bakersfield Condors scored three first-period goals and held on for a 3-2 home victory over the Wranglers in an ECHL game. Jason Krischuk and Ryan Weston scored Las Vegas' goals.

Lucian Bute (25-0, 20 knockouts) retained his IBF super middleweight title, stopping Librado Andrade (28-3) with a left uppercut to the midsection at 2:57 of the fourth round in Quebec City.