Duquesne University's 6-foot-10 junior Shawn James, one of the most prolific shot-blockers in Division I, is on the list of 50 non-seniors who have declared for the NBA draft, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com. The declaration deadline was last night at 11:59 p.m. James hasn't hired an agent and still would be eligible for his final season if he withdraws from the draft by June 16.

The NCAA allows NBA teams to pay travel expenses for non-seniors to come in for a workout.

James, who turns 25 in September, recently went through an evaluation by NBA personnel and is projected to either go late in the second round or be undrafted. He averaged 12.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.0 rebounds a game this past season despite limited minutes because of injuries and coach Ron Everhart's wholesale substitution system.

James set an NCAA Division I record with 6.5 blocks per game in 2005-06 as a sophomore at Northeastern.

Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet plans to return to school for his junior season instead of entering the NBA draft. The 7-foot-3 native of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, was projected as a first-round pick in the draft. Thabeet averaged more than 10 points and almost eight rebounds a game as a sophomore, and ranked third in Division I with 147 blocked shots. He was the Big East Conference's defensive player of the year, helping Connecticut to a 24-9 record before losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

• UCLA's Josh Shipp will enter the NBA draft, but the junior won't hire an agent, leaving him the option of returning to play for the Bruins. Shipp averaged 12.2 points and 3.2 rebounds during UCLA's run to its third consecutive Final Four. The Bruins lost to Memphis in the national semifinals. He is the fourth UCLA starter to enter the June draft, along with freshman Kevin Love, sophomore Russell Westbrook and junior Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.

Tennis

No Serena or Venus Williams. No Lindsay Davenport. And no spot in the Fed Cup final for the United States. Defending champion Russia advanced to its fourth Fed Cup final in five years, clinching its semifinal match when Vera Zvonareva rallied to defeat Vania King, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. The Russians will face five-time champion Spain in the Fed Cup final in September. Venus Williams was injured, Serena Williams previously said she would pull out and Davenport withdrew from a recent tournament because of the flu.

• Rafael Nadal won his first title of the season, defeating top-ranked Roger Federer yet again on clay to claim his fourth consecutive Monte Carlo Masters. The second-ranked Spaniard won, 7-5, 7-5, and improved his clay-court record over Federer to 7-1.

Horse racing

Colonel John ran the fastest 5 furlongs in his final major workout before the 134th Kentucky Derby, when the California colt will race on dirt for the first time. Colonel John completed 5 furlongs in 57.80 seconds, quickest of 62 workouts at the distance, on a sunny, breezy morning under the Twin Spires in Lexington, Ky., without any urging from exercise rider Karine Lhuillier. The big question at the start of Derby week was how Colonel John would handle a dirt surface because he has raced and trained almost exclusively on the newer synthetic surfaces in California since beginning his career at Del Mar last summer.

Field hockey

The U.S. women's team is headed to the Beijing Olympics after defeating Belgium, 3-1, in the final of the qualifying tournament in Kazan, Russia. Kayla Bashore deflected Kelly Doton's penalty corner to put the U.S. team ahead in the 18th minute. Tiffany Snow also scored her sixth goal of the tournament for the Americans.

Boxing

Verquan Kimbrough of Aliquippa defeated Rodney Jones of Fort Smith, Ark., in a unanimous decision to win the NABA lightweight title at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort in Chester, W.Va. On the same card, Brian Minto of Butler defended his WBA Fedecentro heavyweight title with a TKO in the first round of Chad Van Sickle of Columbus, Ohio.