Pro basketball

SPURS, BULLS SET TO TIP OFF: The Bulls play host to the San Antonio Spurs at 7 tonight at the United Center, the season opener for both teams. The game is on cable channel TNT.

Earlier this week the Bulls exercised contract options on point guard Derrick Rose and forward Joakim Noah for the 2010-11 season.

The reigning Rookie of the Year, Rose averaged 16.8 points and 6.3 assists last season while leading the Bulls to the playoffs after being taken with the No. 1 draft pick. An inflamed tendon behind his right ankle kept him out for most of the preseason, but he is expected to be ready for the season opener tonight.

Noah, the ninth pick in the 2007 draft, has averaged 6.7 points and 6.6 rebounds over two seasons.

The Spurs have exercised the option on former IUPUI guard George Hill's contract for next season.

Hill averaged 5.5 points and 1.8 assists as a rookie playing behind Tony Parker last season. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, a Merrillville grad, called Hill his favorite player in training camp because of a strong preseason for the former first-round pick.

Pro football

COLTS TRY TO MAKE IT 16 IN A ROW: The Colts are off to their fourth 6-0 start in five years, one of three remaining unbeaten teams in the league and with a win Sunday against San Francisco would become the eighth team in league history to win 16 consecutive regular-season games.

"What have we got, 16 in a row or something like that?" DE Dwight Freeney said when asked about the quest. "Fifteen? I didn't even know that. I don't think anybody in here knows that."

Everybody's counting these days, though.

New England set the NFL record for consecutive wins (21) between 2006 and 2008. The Patriots also won 18 straight in 2003 and 2004, and the Bears won 17 in a row from 1933-34. Only four other teams have ever won 16 -- Chicago in 1941-42, Miami from 1971-73 and again in 1983-84 and Pittsburgh in 2004-05. The 2007 Patriots are the only team to ever finish a 16-game season undefeated, though they lost in the Super Bowl.

CHIEFS SUSPEND JOHNSON OVER SLUR: Running back Larry Johnson, who made two gay slurs within a 24-hour period and has a history of poor behavior both on and off the field, was given what amounts to a one-game suspension Wednesday night by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Missing one game check will cost the troubled former Pro Bowler about $213,000.

The Chiefs said Johnson would be suspended until Monday, Nov. 9. The team is on its bye week and will not play again until Nov. 8 at Jacksonville.

Women's basketball

VALPO'S KENNEY EARNS PRESEASON NOD: Valparaiso senior Lauren Kenney was named to the Horizon League's Preseason Second Team.

The 5-foot-11 forward averaged 10.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game during her first season with the Crusaders after transferring from Lincoln Trail College. Kenney was named to the All-Newcomer Team in the conference for her efforts.

Kenney ranked eighth in the league in rebounding and 13th in scoring while finishing the year fifth in field goal percentage, with 54.4 percent clip that ranked sixth on Valpo's single-season charts.

Valparaiso opens exhibition play at 1:35 p.m. Sunday at home against Indianapolis. The game will air live on the Horizon League Network.

Girls volleyball

VIKINGS ADVANCE TO REGIONAL FINAL: Once-beaten Illiana Christian moved one step closer to another regional championship on Wednesday, sweeping Rich East 25-6, 25-7 in the first round of the Class 3A Tinley Park Regional. The Vikings (29-1), seeded second in the Crete-Monee Sectional, move on to face the survivor of tonight's pair of quarterfinals and one semifinal in Saturday's championship, which starts at 1 p.m.

In Wednesday's win, Ally Bree led the Vikes with five kills, while Tonilee Meter was 12-for-12 serving with five aces. Nadine Krzyston had 17 assists, with Jessica Wiltjer and Katie Larson accumulating four kills each, the latter adding four digs.

Elsewhere, Homewood-Flossmoor had little time to celebrate its postseason-opening win before Stagg swept the Vikings 25-15, 25-12 at the Class 4A Lincoln-Way Central Regional. H-F defeated Simeon 25-4, 25-14 in the first match of the day.

At the Class 1A Morgan Park Academy Regional, Illinois Lutheran, seeded first, dispatched of Hope Academy 25-6, 25-17 to advance to Saturday's 1 p.m. championship.

Around the horn

Regionsports.com will webcast an IHSAA sectional semifinal playoff special at 6 tonight. West Side coach Alex Pratt is scheduled to join the RSN team in the studio to help break down the Sectional 9 games. Michigan City coach Craig Buzea will help analyze the Sectional 1 games. ... Purdue Calumet men's basketball coach Dan Voudrie previews the 2009-10 Peregrines men's team on "Purdue Calumet Sports Insight"from 5:30-6 p.m. Friday on WJOB-AM (1230). ... The Chesterton athletic department is selling tickets for Friday's sectional semifinal game against Portage from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily; cost is $5. ... The Lake Central athletic department is selling boys soccer state finals tickets in the athletic office today from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The athletic department will be selling only a season pass for $12. An $8 session ticket may be purchased at the gate. ... Tickets for Lowell's sectional semifinal home football game against South Bend Washington at 6:30 p.m. Friday can be purchased at Lowell High School's lobby area from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, and from 4-7 p.m. today at the ticket booth. All tickets are $5 each.