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Tuesday, March 8, 1994
SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Coach: Sun Devils clean
The Associated Press
TEMPE, Ariz. — Two years after a series of incidents involving Arizona State athletes and the law, basketball coach Bill Frieder is trying to get untangled by bookmaker talk of unusual betting on his team's games.
Meanwhile, officials of the Nevada Gaming Control Board studied results of hours of surveillance of two college-age men who lost about $250,000 on Arizona State's 73-55 home victory over Washington Saturday.
He said yesterday his program was clean.
The pair raised suspicions through repeat trips to sports bookmakers along the Las Vegas Strip to place hefty wagers on Washington, which began as a 10-point underdog.
"Some group of guys bet a lot of money on Washington, and we covered," Frieder said. "Do you think I'd be alive today if we had agreed to throw a game and then ran away with it?"
Because of the pattern, Washington was only a 3-point underdog for some bookmakers before the game was pulled from their betting boards.
The Phoenix Gazette quoted a Nevada gaming industry source who said that bookies called the board early Saturday because the gamblers weren't regulars and that even $20,000 is heavy betting on a non-
tournament NCAA game.
"They were watched for four or five hours on Saturday," the source told the newspaper.
Cameras detected a third man, about 60, who stayed in the background and watched the other two place bets.
Jim Muldoon, assistant Pacific 10 Conference commissioner, said no investigation had begun.
"The betting actually was on Washington, so anybody who bet on Washington lost their money," Muldoon said.
"What we plan to do is seek additional information from the Nevada people, their control board, and try to determine from them if they perceive any problem," Muldoon said.
Arizona State missed its first 14 shots against Washington. It then went on a 24-0 run in the second half to win by 18 points.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, which broke the story, noted that the game followed three inconsistent Arizona State losses — 68-56 at home to Southern California Feb. 19, 87-80 at Oregon Feb. 24, and 80-71 at home to Washington State Thursday. The Sun Devils (14-12, 9-8) were favored in all three.
Frieder said injury problems have made his team look inconsistent all
season.
Arizona State began the season without injured guards Marcell Capers and Quincy Brewer and center Mario Bennett, the Pac-10's 1992 Freshman of the Year. Capers is still sidelined.
Still, Frieder said, the Sun Devils are 1-4 against the league's three Top 25 teams, 3-3 against the next three Pac-10 opponents, and 5-1 against the three bottom teams.
"To me, that's pretty consistent," he said.
"Even though we've missed shots and turned the ball over, we've worked extremely hard," he said. "We didn't shoot well against Washington, but we played hard and got ourselves in a position to win."
Frieder said his players had performed with the same intensity throughout the season.
Frieder said his primary concern was trying to upset Arizona Saturday and qualify for the National Invitation Tournament.
Jack Powers, NIT executive director, said the reports would not bias his selection committee.
"Arizona State is still up on our board as far as the NIT is concerned," Powers said. "We have the utmost respect for Coach Frieder and his program and for Charles Harris, his athletic director."
ATTENTION“PRE-EDUCATION"STUDENTS
Applications for admission to open programs Middle/Secondary or Secondary only programs in:
Math Science Foreign Languages
are due April1
APPLICATION FORMS ARE NOW AVAILABLE IN 117 BAILEY HALL.
Director of the Peace Corps Carol Bellamy
Tuesday, March 8,1994 3:30 pm Alderson Auditorium Level 4 Kansas Union
Ms. Bellamy will speak on: "Peace Corps: A Look Ahead."
Ms. Bellamy is the first former volunteer to serve as director. She served in Guatemala (1963-65).
She joins Peace Corps from the private sector most recently as the Managing Director in the Public Finance Department at Bear Sterns & Co.
Peace Corps, the toughest job you'll ever love