Small-City Utes Have E Wide Open

Utah’s players spent the days leading up to the NCAA West Regional in San Jose, Calif., taking finals and getting their first glimpses of the “alternative lifestyles” in nearby San Francisco.

Stanford’s players picked out fresh vegetables for dinner while accepting good luck wishes from the produce department clerks at their neighborhood grocery.

While the Utes (28-3) are a time zone and a 12-hour drive away from home, the Cardinal (22-7) are a bike ride away from campus - where they went 12-0 this season.

Will Stanford’s virtual homecourt advantage make a difference in today’s regional semifinal?.

“No one has ever come out of the stands and scored on us yet,” Utah coach Rick Majerus said. “In my entire career, I’ve always shut down the opposing crowd.”

Stanford will try to shackle All-American forward Keith Van Horn the same way it stymied All-American center Tim Duncan in a second-round victory over Wake Forest. And the Utes’ Andre Miller will be responsible for slowing Stanford point guard Brevin Knight, a second-team All-American who averages 16 points, eight assists and three steals a game.

Kentucky loses

Edwards Kentucky forward Allen Edwards will miss the remainder of the NCAA Tournament with a stress fracture in his right ankle, leaving the Wildcats with only eight scholarship players to defend the national championship.

The news comes less than a day after coach Rick Pitino said star guard Derek Anderson won’t return from a knee injury this season, even though doctors cleared the fifth-year senior to play.

It leaves Pitino with just three scholarship players on the bench when the Wildcats take on St. Joseph’s in a West Regional semifinal tonight.

Seton Hall hires Amaker

Seton Hall University named longtime Duke assistant Tommy Amaker its new basketball coach, hoping the former Blue Devils point guard can right the Pirates’ ship.

Amaker, 31, becomes the school’s youngest head coach. He replaces George Blaney, who was fired after the season.

One of the nation’s most sought-after young coaches, Amaker spent the past nine years as an assistant to Mike Krzyzewski, the last two as associate head coach.

Purdue coach Gene Keady said his pursuit of a national championship is one reason he’s intrigued by the opening at Ohio State.

“That’s about all I have left to accomplish. I think that could happen there,” he told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. “I think it can happen here, too, but I think it can be done easier in Ohio than it can in some states.”

Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger is searching for a replacement for Randy Ayers, whom he fired on March 10 after eight seasons.

Michigan probe widens

The law firm hired to investigate the University of Michigan basketball program will examine claims that drugs and alcohol were present at a 1996 party attended by players and a recruit.

“I can assure you, we’ll look into this,” said Keith Molin, a spokesman for the university’s athletic department.

Molin was responding to a Lansing State Journal report in which a woman who was present at the Feb. 17, 1996, party said the players’ Detroit hotel room smelled of marijuana and she saw at least one player drinking alcohol.

Former Michigan State University student Alexandria Tithof also told the State Journal that strippers performed at the party.

The incident initially came to light after a rollover accident when player Maurice Taylor fell asleep at the wheel of his grandmother’s leased 1996 Ford Explorer while the group was returning to Ann Arbor.

Grand jury serves subpoena

A federal grand jury has subpoenaed Fresno Police Department records as part of the FBI’s investigation into allegations of point-shaving by Fresno State basketball players.

Deputy City Attorney Larry Donaldson said that the March 12 subpoena seeks records of pawn shop transactions, which the city’s pawn brokers are required to file with the Police Department.

Donaldson refused to release the subpoena, saying he was not sure whether it is public record.

NIC men win opener

The North Idaho College men’s team was extended to overtime before winning its opener in the NJCAA tournament in Hutchinson, Kan.

The 97-95 win over Bossier Parish, La., pushed the Cardinals into the quarterfinals against No. 4 Champlain, of Burlington, Vt., which held off St. Catherine (Ky.) 66-65 and ran its record to 31-0. Shawn Myrick and Andre McKanstry led the Cardinals with 19 points apiece.

The North Idaho women were dumped into the loser’s bracket of the NJCAA tournament in Tyler, Texas, following an 89-55 quarterfinal thrashing at the hands of Central Arizona. Mandy Jacques led NIC with 12 points.

The Cardinals play Louisburg, N.C., today.

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