Roundup

Colleges

Obama, Heels meet again, this time to celebrate

A pickup game of basketball last spring brought good luck to the University of North Carolina's basketball team and to Barack Obama, the president said Monday as he welcomed the national champions to the White House. North Carolina won the title this year. And Obama, who scrimmaged with the players during a campaign visit to Chapel Hill, won the state's Democratic primary and then carried North Carolina in November as he captured the presidency. "I'm not sure whose luck rubbed off on who," Obama said Monday as he greeted the team on the White House's South Lawn. "I think there was just a good vibe going on there." Obama said almost everyone was excited to have the Tar Heels stop by. The one exception, he said, was his personal aide Reggie Love, who won a title as a player for UNC's chief rival, Duke. Obama picked North Carolina to win the national championship this year. He thanked them "for salvaging my bracket and vindicating me before the entire nation." The president's other picks for the NCAA tournament's Final Four never made it that far.

MORE BASKETBALL: : Virginia Tech backup guard Hank Thorns, who averaged 3.0 points and 2.0 rebounds, plans to transfer.

DELAWARE:: The school named Bernard Muir, 40, athletic director at Georgetown, director of athletics and recreation services.

NBA

VP Mullin fired by Warriors; Raptors keep Triano as coach

The Golden State Warriors have let go executive vice president of basketball operations Chris Mullin, nearly a year after the former star player apparently lost his authority to run the troubled franchise. Mullin will be replaced by Larry Riley, the longtime assistant to coach Don Nelson. Riley was announced as the Warriors' general manager Monday in a statement by team president Robert Rowell, whose rise in the Warriors' power structure mirrored Mullin's fall in recent years.

RAPTORS: : Jay Triano, a native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, signed a three-year contract to coach the team, dropping the interim tag after taking over the team during the season. Triano, 50, was promoted Dec. 3 after Sam Mitchell's dismissal. Toronto went 25-40 under Triano but finished strong, going 9-4 in its final 13 games.