Leading off today: The NCAA on Friday approved moving the men's three-point line back a foot to 20 feet, 9 inches.

   The decision by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel marks the first major change to basketball's three-point shot since its adoption in 1986-87 and will take effect in 2008-09. The men's rules committee recommended the change May 3.

   The revision may very well have implications for high school basketball. Given the number of courts that are shared by college and scholastic programs and the fact that a longer three-point shot would be better preparation for college-bound players, the National Federation will likely be under some pressure to adopt a corresponding change during annual meetings next spring.

   One complication, however, is that the NCAA women's committee has not proposed moving its three-point line.

   College shooters made 35.0 percent of their three-pointers last season.

   NYSPHSAA announces inductees: The New York State Public High School Athletic Association has announced the inductees for its 2007 Hall of Fame class:

• Robert Barrows -- 39 years as Orchard Park baseball coach with a 643-242 record and seven sectional titles.
• Joan Case -- First female athletic director at Clarke Middle/High School and 18 years as state field hockey coordinator.
• Mitch Kupchak -- Basketball All-American and all-time leading scorer at Brentwood High, general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers.
• Leonard R. Maida -- Football and basketball official for 45 years in Section 3.
• Dr. Thad R. Mularz -- 37 years as teacher, coach and administrator at Smithtown and the NYSPHSAA president in 1990-92.
• Lawrence J. Mulvaney -- 39 years as Schenectady football (107 wins) and wrestling (209 wins) coach.
• Dottie Pepper -- First female golfer to qualify for the NYSPHSAA state tournament and a multiple-time winner on the LPGA Tour from 1988-2004.
• Stanley G. Riggs -- Coached Peru to 18 Section 7 wrestling crowns and 122 straight dual-meet wins.
• Otis Edmond Sennett -- Elevated all Section 3 sports to sectional championships and developed girls varsity athletics preograms.
• Theodore R. Woods -- Teacher, AD, coach and administrator at North Rose-Wolcott and a long-time Section 5 administrator.

   The Hall of Fame, now in its fifth year, is sponsored by Pupil Benefits and Jostens. The honorees were picked through a two-part screening and selection process after initial nominations by their respective sections. The class will be inducted Aug. 8 in Lake Placid.

   Statewide bat ban possible: The debate over metal baseball bats has reached Albany with bills that would banish non-wood bats from Little League play introduced in the New York Senate and the Assembly.

   New York City's bat ban was passed last month and takes effect in September, limiting players in public and private high school games to the use of wood bats. A group of sporting goods companies, coaches and parents sued this month in federal court, calling the ban unconstitutional.

   The Albany bills introduced by Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) and Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Island) would ban players under 16 from using metal bats in organized baseball games. Supporters say metal bats are more dangerous than wooden ones because they propel baseballs faster. Opponents counter that there is no evidence proving one type of bat is more dangerous than the other.

   Texas says hold 'em: The latest bid to allow private schools into Texas' University Interscholastic League is dead for another year.

   Public schools have fended off repeated attempts over the years to reconfigure the UIL, Texas' primary governing body for high school sports with about 1,300 schools. This time, a bill passed the state Senate but never got a vote in the full House of Representatives, which will adjourn Monday.

   Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston, who argued that allowing private schools into the UIL is an issue of fairness for taxpayers who send their children to private schools, said the bill wilted under heat from public school superintendents and coaches.

   The bill passed a House committee, but not before it was changed to force private schools to compete in Class 4A or higher. Edd Burleson, director of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, said he was confident that most member schools would remain in the 250-

member TAPPS if such a bill were approved.

   San Antonio's Cornerstone Christian has been the driving force behind the latest private school push toward UIL membership. The school ran afoul of TAPPS in recent years over the number of foreign and out-of-state-players in its basketball program, and the private league did not renew Cornerstone's membership last fall.

   Cornerstone has a federal lawsuit pending against the UIL claiming religious discrimination.

   Turf war: Authorities are investigating a complaint that Brooklyn Tech's football coach kicked youth soccer teams off a city-owned field two weekends in a row.

   Charles B. Wang Field is Brooklyn Tech's soccer and football field and has been used by local teams for years without incident. That changed the past two weekends when Tech football coach Jim DeBenedetto allegedly told the two youth soccer coaches to surrender the field so that his football players could use it.

   New York City Council member Letitia James mediated the dispute and said rules for use of the field had been agreed upon: Brooklyn Tech has priority during scheduling conflicts, but local leagues do otherwise have the right to use the field.

   One of the soccer coaches is disputing those terms, and a spokeswoman for the Department of Education indicated that an investigation is in progress.

   My question is this: Why does a football team need the field at all in mid-May? It's track season right now.

   Priorities: Please do not take this as a knock on Gretchen Miller, because I'm sure she is a very good player and a well-grounded human being who will excel at Duke University next fall. But consider this paragraph from the Democrat and Chronicle's web site last night:

   "Mercy senior Gretchen Miller, who was named to Parade magazine’s All-America High School girls soccer team this week, played the first half before leaving to attend her prom. She took three shots."

   That paragraph came from the recap of the Rochester Women Rhinos' 4-0 loss to the Toronto Lady Lynx in the season-opener at PAETEC Park in Rochester. The Rhinos and Lynx, for the uninitiated, play in the W-League, purported to be the highest level of women's soccer in this country.

   The Rhinos' current roster includes eight players under the age of 20 and approximately half a dozen players from Trinidad & Tobago, not exactly a top-of-mind entity here, with no connection to Rochester other than the fact that they now play soccer here.

   Translation: There's neither much experience nor many marketable names to be found, which is a bad combination. They gave away tickets for an upcoming men's game to anyone who bought tickets to last night's contest.

   This team has existed under various ownership for a decade or so and has scarcely attracted remote interest from family and friends, never mind soccer enthusiasts. When one of the players has to leave early to attend the prom, you know it's genuinely amateur hour at the soccer stadium.

   The Rhinos organization should be embarrassed to be selling a product that's scarcely worth giving away.

   By the way, here's by favorite sentence from the post-game report posted by the Rhinos on their web site:

   "A special moment for the Rhinos came in 50th minute when 15 year-old Brittany Kinmond (Spencerport, NY) came into the game in place of Leslie-Ann James to an arousing applause."

   The over/under is three weeks on how long it will take before the Rhinos corporation -- it would be giving them too much credit to call them an "organization" -- does something that costs one of its college-age players her NCAA eligibility.

   Extra points: Odessa-Montour (5-13) pitcher Sherry Benedict has thrown three softball no-hitters this spring -- and lost them all, The Daily Star in Oneonta reports. The latest was a 5-3 setback to Jefferson (13-2) in the Section 4 Class D prequarterfinals. Benedict struck out 17 but walked nine. . . . Williamsville South beat Amherst, 17-0, in the first round of the Section 6 Class A softball tournament as Chelsea Plimpton struck out 13 and tied the state career record for shutouts -- 75 by Susquehanna Valley's Barb Cook from 1995 to 1999.

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