Thompson Pulls Application

Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson, bowing to the wishes of his university president, will drop his application for a Nevada gaming license.

Thompson had planned to become a partner in the company that operates slot machines at the Las Vegas airport, but was told by the Rev. Leo O’Donovan, the university president, that he couldn’t get involved with legalized gambling and remain coach of the Hoyas.

Thompson, in Atlanta to coach Georgetown against Texas Tech tonight in the NCAA East Regional, said Wednesday he had reconsidered after speaking with O’Donovan earlier in the day.

“This is a person who has been extremely supportive of me and a person I love very dearly, because he’s permitted me to be me and understood what I was doing,” Thompson said.

“I’ve decided to drop it totally because he asked me to do it.”

Thompson, an avid player of slot machines, applied for the license nine months ago to join a casino owner in the company that operates a lucrative string of lucrative 1,000 slot machines at McCarran International Airport.

Thompson wanted to own 10 percent of a company controlled by Michael Gaughan that runs the slot machine concession at the airport.

Gaughan’s son, Brendan, is a senior walk-on guard for the Hoyas.

Cover boy

Darvin Ham’s backboard-shattering slam dunk has already been seen on television screens and in newspapers from coast to coast.

Now, he’s featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated that was scheduled to hit newsstands Wednesday.

Ham, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, made headlines with his stunning, game-delaying slam in the first half of the Red Raiders’ 92-73 NCAA East Regional victory over North Carolina on Sunday.

UMass guard falls

Carmelo Travieso, the sharpshooting guard for top-ranked Massachusetts, injured his lower back when he fell from a podium during a news conference at the NCAA East Regional.

UMass trainer Ron Laham said Travieso was not seriously hurt and was expected to play tonight when the Minutemen meet 12th-seeded Arkansas in the East semifinal.

Travieso, the third-leading scorer on the team with a 12.4 average, skipped the day’s practice.

Damaged Deacons

Tim Duncan, the All-American center who battled through the flu last weekend as Wake Forest knocked off Texas, said he was feeling much better. “(But) I don’t know if I’m 100 percent,” he added.

Wake Forest’s second-leading scorer, point guard Tony Rutland, is nowhere near 100 percent recovered from a knee injury and “will be used sparingly at best,” head coach Dave Odom said.

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