6B = THEUNIVERSITYDAILYKANSAN
SPORTS
FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2003
Harrick resigns from coaching post
The Associated Press
ATHENS, Ga. — For the fourth time in less than a decade, Georgia is looking for a men's basketball coach.
This time it must repair its reputation as well.
Jim Harrick ended his coaching career yesterday, resigning from Georgia before he was forced out. He left behind a program marred by allegations of illegal payments and academic fraud.
"A lot of people have been hurt by this." Athletic Director Vince Dooley said. "A lot of fans have been hurt, but especially the players. In so many ways my heart goes out to them."
University officials said that under a resignation agreement, Harrick would receive his remaining base pay, broadcast payments and a Nike payment, which total $254,166.
Harrick was suspended with pay March 10 pending a joint investigation by the university, the NCAA and the Southeastern Conference.
In his fourth season, Harrick coached the Bulldogs (19-8) to a No.25 ranking, boosting attendance, energizing student support and promising a long run in the NCAA tournament.
the season unraveled quickly after ESPN aired an interview with former player Tony Cole.
Cole, kicked off the team last year, accused assistant coach Jim Harrick Jr. of teaching a bogus class on basketball coaching. Cole said he never attended the class but received an A.
Two other players — starters Chris Daniels and Rashad Wright — also got top grades without going to class. They were declared ineligible March 10 for academic fraud and unethical conduct.
Harrick Jr. was suspended and ultimately dismissed.Earlier this week, Dooley said he planned to make a decision on the elder Harrick's future before the start of the NCAA Men's Final Four on April 5 in New Orleans.
The Final Four is a common place for job interviews because nearly all college basketball coaches attend the National Basketball Coaches Association convention, held concurrently.
Harrick was due another $2.1 million on his contract that he
will not receive. In exchange, a retirement agreement was signed by Dooley and Harrick in which the university promises to keep confidential any information about NCAA violations or wrongdoing and not to "disparage Mr. Harrick."
Dooley said the term "negotiated settlement" was not the proper label for the agreement, but he could not explain why Harrick resigned.
"I don't know all his reasons," Dooley said. "But there are no findings that I know of that directly associate him with any violations."
Dooley said the settlement arrangement should not be interpreted as an indication that there was "a smoking gun" uncovered in the ongoing investigation.
"It simply says that we paid him what we were obligated to up to the time he resigned," Dooley said.
Harrick arrived at Georgia in the spring of 1999 with baggage. He coached UCLA to the 1995 national championship but was fired a year later for lying on an expense account.
He coached two years at
Rhode Island before succeeding Ron Jirsa at Georgia. Harrick was a surprise hire, coming in largely on university president Michael Adams' recommendation. The two had been friends while they were both at Pepperdine.
Adams said he and Dooley had placed a lot of confidence in Harrick, "a man of considerable coaching talent."
"We were greatly disappointed to lose that confidence due to coach Harrick's failure to appropriately manage the basketball program," Adams said. "Based upon the facts discovered in the investigation to date, his resignation is appropriate and we accept it."
Since the troubles at Georgia broke out, allegations have surfaced at Rhode Island. A former secretary at Rhode Island said Harrick had grades changed for players, had student managers write papers for players and arranged for players to receive lodging, cars and money from boosters. In addition, Harrick Jr. was accused of falsifying hotel and meal reports for recruits when he worked for his father at Rhode Island.
'Hungry' hitters boost Royals' spring stats
The Associated Press
SURPRISE, Ariz. — It's spring training — so the conventional baseball wisdom says all the statistics recorded so far are meaningless.
But it's tough to ignore the work of Jeff Pentland, Kansas City's hitting instructor. The Royals have a spring training best .321 batting average, .387 onbase percentage and 200 runs.
"Obviously, it means something," Pentland said. "I don't even look at statistics in spring training. What I'm looking for is the approach we're taking: how we do our work, the upbeat attitude of the players just doing what they need to do.
"The main thing is we're prepared to go into ball games, keeping it simple. I think what's
important about this ball club is there's some experience, but not a great deal of experience. What we have on this ball club is a lot of hungry people, willing to listen."
The Royals hired Pentland last October to replace Lamar Johnson. Pentland, who had been the hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs since 1997, seems to have had an immediate impact in his first spring training with the Royals.
Eleven players have hit at least .300 in spring training. During last year's regular season, the Royals hit .256 — the teams lowest average since 1992. Several of the Royals are having the best springs of their careers.
Mike Sweeney is leading the Cactus League with a.484 average and a.562 on-base percentage, and is second behind teammate Michael Tucker with an .887 slugging percentage. Tucker has a 900 slugging percentage.
Sweeney also leads the Cactus League with 21 RBIs, two more than teammate Dee Brown.
"Sweeney's fun to watch," Pentland said. "He's obviously in a class by himself."
Pentland compares Sweeney to a couple of other sluggers he worked with - Sammy Sosa with the Cubs and Barry Bonds at Arizona State.
Tucker, who hit 420 with six home runs in spring training, has secured a starting spot in the outfield and will bat leadoff.
Though Joe Randa batted fifth most of last season, manager Tony Pena moved him to second this spring and he responded by hitting.389.
"I told Tony that may be the
smartest thing he's done in spring training." Pentland said. "Joe's an on-base type of guy. He can hit behind guys and also drive in runs."
Brown made the team as a reserve outfielder after a strong spring. He hit .362 with five home runs in 21 games.
"Dee has been the biggest surprise in camp without question, not because he doesn't have talent," Pentland said. "He's taken it on himself to prove to the coaching staff and management that he belongs in the majors. He's hitting off-speed pitches as well as fastballs."
Pentland is also expecting better things from second baseman Carlos Febles, who has hit .396 in spring training after batting only .245 last season and .236 in 2001.
Tiger struggles; Haas early leader
The Associated Press
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Believe it or not, there's more than one player in The Players Championship.
Tiger Woods and his dominant game took a detour yesterday by spraying the ball around the TPC at Sawgrass. That cleared the way for 49-year-old Jay Haas and an older generation to take the early lead in golf's first big event of the year.
One year away from the Champions Tour, Haas pieced together a 4-under 68 in swirling winds and under the threat of rain to share the clubhouse lead with Rocco Mediate, Bob Tway and Skip Kendall.
All of the leaders are in their 40s, except for Kendall—he's a spry 38.
Woods, coming off an 11-stroke victory at Bay Hill for his third victory in four tournaments this year, spent most of his morning playing from ankle-deep grass and rallied over the final few holes for an even-par 72.
"Just trying to get to even par would have been a heck of an accomplishment considering the way I was hitting it today," Woods said. "I'm very happy to end up where I was."
Overnight showers drenched the TPC at Sawgrass, and a batch of afternoon thunderstorms finally suspended the first round with 68 players still on the course.
They will return at 7:30 a.m. today.
Kevin Sutherland was at 4 under par through 16 holes. Others who didn't finish include Fred Couples, a two-time winner at The Players Championship. He was the only player to get to 5 under par, but back-to-back bogeys dropped him to 3 under with four holes to play.
Stewart Cink, who played in the final group with Woods last week at Bay Hill, had a 69, while John Daly was in the group at 70.
All eyes were on Woods coming into The Players Championship, not just because of his victories, but how easily he was winning.
From his opening tee shot that sailed toward the trees, it was clear Woods was not going to breeze through the round. After going 47 straight holes without a bogey, Woods made two in a row. He was never under par at any point in his round.
The rain made Sawgrass play a little easier, but not much. Even in the early hours of the tournament, the grass on the greens was starting to turn brown and the scores stayed relatively high.
Only 21 of the 76 players who finished the first round broke par.
"I've seen it a lot harder, but it wasn't a pushover by any means." Haas said.
Haas has never finished higher than eighth in The Players Championship, although he seems to be defying the odds wherever he goes.
He nearly won at the Bob Hope Classic, and reached the quarterfinals of the Match Play Championship. That has put him on the cusp of earning an invitation to the Masters, but he probably needs a top-five finish this week.
"It was one of my goals at the start of the year to be playing again in the Masters," Haas said. "I don't think it would ruin my year if I don't."
Michael Campbell of New Zealand wasn't about to let one round ruin his career.
He hit an 8-iron to 6 feet on the 18th and holed the putt for his only birdie of the day and an 89. Campbell injured his left shoulder while toting his suitcase a few weeks ago, and he still hasn't recovered.
"I was feeling comfortable on the range." Campbell said. "As soon as I hit a few bad shots, my confidence went to pieces."
Arizona advances to West final; Wisconsin, Pittsburgh lose heartbreakers
The Associated Press
Arizona 88, Notre Dame 71
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Arizona took all the drama out of this one early.
After beating Gonzaga by one point in a double-overtime classic, the top-seeded Wildcats rolled right over Notre Dame 88-71 last night to advance to the West Regional final.
Arizona will face Kansas in the regional final.
Luke Walton, last seen sprawled in exhaustion on the floor in Salt Lake City after grabbing the final rebound in the second round, had 16 points, seven boards and eight assists for Arizona.
Fellow senior Jason Gardner
added 19 points in his school record 134th career start. Channing Frye had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Hassan Adams added 14 points.
The Wildcats (28-3) are in the round of eight for the first time since 2001, when they lost to Duke in the national championship game.
Torin Francis had 25 points on 10-of-11 shooting — more than double his average — and 10 rebounds to lead the Irish (24-10). Chris Thomas added 20 points.
Neither team led by more than five points before Arizona took command with a 22-3 run that gave the Wildcats a 47-29 lead with 5:56 remaining in the first half. There were eight lead
changes and seven ties by halftime, which ended with Arizona ahead 53-40.
Kentuckv 63. Wisconsin 57
MINNEAPOLIS — With Keith Bogans watching helplessly from the bench in the second half, Kentucky turned to the power of Marquis Estill to ward off Wisconsin.
Estill scored a career-high 28 points and the Wildcats ran their winning streak to 26 games, holding off the scrappy Badgers to advance to the regional final, where they will meet Marquette.
Bogans, the Wildcats' top scorer and floor leader, sprained his left ankle with 3:32 left in the first half when Wisconsin's Kirk
Penney committed a turnover, turned around to run back down the floor and fell over the Kentucky star.
Mike Wilkinson had a layup and Devin Harris made two spectacular driving baskets to pull the Badgers within 52-50 with just under seven minutes to go.
The Wildcats went inside to the 6-foot-9, 240-pound Estill, who made 12-of-18 shots. He muscel in for another basket and then hit two free throws as the Wildcats regained a six-point lead.
Wisconsin rallied to within one when Harris hit a 3-pointer and Wilkinson drove for a basket with 1:33 remaining.
But Erik Daniels tipped in a
After Wilkinson missed twice from the line with 23 seconds remaining, Kentucky hit four free throws in the closing seconds.
Marquette 77, Pittsburgh 74
miss by Estill with 1:03 left to give Kentucky a 58-55 lead, And after a traveling call on Wilkinson with 49 seconds remaining, Estill made one of two foul shots with 32 seconds left, pushing the lead back to four.
MINNEAPOLIS — Not since the days of Al McGuire has Marquette made it this far.
Dwyane Wade scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half to lead the third-seeded Golden Eagles to a victory over No.2 seed Pittsburgh.
Marquette (26-5) will play top-seeded Kentucky tomorrow, with the winner advancing to the Final Four in New Orleans.
Brandin Knight led Pittsburgh (28-5) with 16 points. His 3-point attempt with about four seconds to go could have tied it, but he came up short
The lovable McGuire retired after coaching Marquette to the 1977 national title, and the Golden Eagles hadn't been to a regional final since.
Chevon Troutman scored seven of his 15 points in the final 2:56 to lead a furious Panthers rally, but Marquette hung on and Pittsburgh was eliminated in the round of 16 for the second straight season.
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