Arizona Expecting Jeers

UC Santa Barbara might be the beneficiary of anti-Arizona sentiment from New Mexico fans who resented Coach Lute Olson complaining about the operation of the clock after a 1999 loss in the Pit, saying he’d never return to play New Mexico again.

“I heard a couple of people on the plane on the way here talking about how they don’t appreciate Lute Olson too much and they’re behind us all the way,” guard Branduinn Fullove said.

Arizona figures to have plenty of fans, but the Wildcats are braced for whatever happens.

“I hear the crowd’s not going to be on our side,” Jason Gardner said. “But I think we’ve played through that in all the road games that we have. So I think it’s just like another road game, people saying things about you, heckling you.”

UC Santa Barbara’s players say they won’t be in awe of Arizona.

“I don’t think there’s any intimidation at all,” forward Mark Hull said. “We’ve played USC, UCLA and Stanford since I was a freshman. We’ve played the Pac-10 schools and watch them on TV all the time, especially being on the West Coast. There’s no intimidation involved.”

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Indiana President Myles Brand disputes accusations in Bob Knight’s autobiography that he was unfair in deciding Knight’s fate and reneged on a deal involving disciplinary action.

The book “Knight: My Story,” due on shelves March 26, states that Brand did not fully consider Knight’s contributions to the university before Brand fired him in September 2000.

Knight says in the book that Brand agreed to a one-game suspension and $10,000 fine in May 2000 after a videotape showed Knight grabbing former player Neil Reed by the throat during a practice. The next day, Knight says, Brand imposed a three-game suspension and a $30,000 fine.

“I am particularly dismayed by the personal attacks directed by Knight at other longtime university employees and trustees, many of whom have devoted their lives to Indiana University and continue to serve this university well,” Brand said in a statement.

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The NCAA’s plan to keep teams closer to home for March Madness worked out well for Pittsburgh, Maryland, Illinois and Texas--unless the home fans happened to be looking for tickets.

All four teams are playing in subregionals near their campuses, but they were treated no differently for ticket allotments than other teams.

Pittsburgh got the same 450 tickets for its games at nearby Mellon Arena as California and Central Connecticut. And Maryland got the same 450 tickets for its games at the MCI Center as Wisconsin and Michigan State.

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California will play Georgia and USC will play Missouri in the John R. Wooden Classic on Dec. 7 at the Arrowhead Pond.... Henry Dickerson was dismissed as coach at Chattanooga.... Will Brown was hired as the coach at Albany after a season in which he was the team’s interim coach for the last 20 games.

Associated Press