<h4>Follow my lead </h4>
Amateur golfer Kyle Lograsso, 6, celebrates after sinking a birdie putt on the 10th hole during the pro-am round of the LPGA's Kraft Nabisco Championship golf tournament in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Wednesday. He was paired with Song Hee Kim of South Korea.
> Go to <a href="http://www.tucsoncitizen.com">www.tucsoncitizen.com</a> for more sports photo galleries.
Former Arizona associate head basketball coach Mike Dunlap, who left Tucson on Tuesday, was hired by Oregon on Wednesday.
Dunlap will serve in the same role for the Ducks as he did at Arizona last season – associate head coach.
Dunlap, who made $375,000 in his one season with the Wildcats, will receive a pay bump at Oregon. He will earn $400,000 in each of the next two seasons, plus incentives, and will receive a $300,000 signing bonus, according to the Eugene Register-Guard.
Dunlap, 51, could have been UA’s interim head coach last season, but declined the opportunity following Lute Olson’s retirement in late October. Dunlap has said he wanted to be the full-time head coach, not the interim.
He remained associate head coach when UA elevated Russ Pennell to interim.
Pennell gave Dunlap almost unprecedented responsibilities for an assistant coach – such as leading the huddles during timeouts and freely making substitutions.
Dunlap, known as an excellent strategist, also installed a 1-1-3 zone defense and worked hard behind the scenes in one-on-one instruction with the Wildcats.
“With all the one-on-ones, they felt they were getting absolute attention,” Dunlap said last month.
Oregon was 8-23 last season, finishing last in the Pac-10 with a 2-16 mark. The Ducks return the bulk of a young team.
“I was satisfied, after doing much research into the matter, that Mike Dunlap will help our basketball team be competitive in the Pac-10 once again,” Oregon athletic director Pat Kilkenny said in a news release.
Albertazzi, Elliott win
Teri Albertazzi of Tucson and Lewis Elliott of Scottsdale each won a fourth Tucson Triathlon Series event Sunday.
Albertazzi edged fellow Tucsonan Chrissy Parks in the March Tucson Triathlon event with a personal best of 1 hour, 1 minute, 37 seconds. Parks finished in 1:03:05.
Elliott won in 53:05, also a personal best. Alex Riegart-Waters of Tucson was second at 57:00.
Masters winners Susy Bacal of Tucson, seventh overall, won in 1:10:34 and for the men, Coloradoan Mike Montoya won in 59:08.
Citizen Staff Report
UA women’s golf
The Arizona women’s golf team will travel to Tempe to compete in the PING/ASU Invitational on Friday through Sunday at the Karsten Golf Course. The host Sun Devils are ranked No. 1 in the nation.
The event, including 13 of the country’s top 30 teams, will be the last tournament for No. 26 Arizona before the Pac-10 meet April 24-26 at Palo Alto, Calif.
The Wildcats’ best finish this year was sixth among 17 teams in its own February Wildcat Invitational. Alejandra Llaneza and Brittany Benvenuto have claimed the best Arizona individual season rounds of 69.
Citizen Staff Report
Dallas cop steps down
DALLAS – The police officer who pulled out his gun and threatened an NFL player with jail instead of allowing him inside a hospital where his mother-in-law was dying resigned Wednesday.
Officer Robert Powell had been placed on paid leave pending an investigation of the March 18 incident.
“I made this decision in the hope that my resignation will allow the Dallas Police Department, my fellow officers and the citizens of Dallas to better reflect on this experience, learn from the mistakes made, and move forward,” Powell said in a statement issued through his attorneys.
He had stopped Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats’ SUV outside Baylor Regional Medical Center in suburban Plano after the vehicle rolled through a red light.
The officer pulled out his gun and threatened Moats with jail as the player and his family pleaded to be allowed to go inside the hospital. Powell continued writing Moats a ticket and lecturing him even after a fellow officer confirmed that Moats’ mother-in-law was dying.
Jonetta Collinsworth, 45, died of breast cancer before Powell allowed Moats to go inside the hospital.
The Associated Press
Calhoun backs up talk
HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Connecticut men’s basketball program showed a profit of just under $6.3 million in the 2008 fiscal year, according to a legislative report.
The program earned $14.07 million in revenue during the year and had $7.8 million in expenses, according to the report compiled last month by the state Office of Legislative Research.
The report was requested in the wake of February’s heated exchange between UConn coach Jim Calhoun and a political activist over the coach’s $1.6 million salary in tough economic times.
“Quite frankly, we bring in $12 million to the university, nothing to do with state funds,” Calhoun said at the time. “We make $12 million a year for this university.”
If the coach was referring to gross revenue, UConn men’s basketball brings in $2 million more than he estimated. Even after expenses, the program turned a profit that was nearly four times higher than Calhoun’s salary.
The Associated Press
Bynum close to returning
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum’s rehab from a torn knee ligament has progressed to small-sided games – and carrying Playboy playmates on his shoulders.
As Bynum expressed confidence on his Web site this week that he’ll return before the end of the season, coach Phil Jackson defended his big man over pictures that have peppered the Internet showing Bynum at the Playboy Mansion last weekend posing with a woman on his shoulders.
“I think there’s a lot being made out of that that is unnecessary,” Jackson said before Tuesday’s game against Charlotte. “This is a young guy. I don’t think Andrew is 22 yet, is he? He’s a 21-year-old guy. He’s been out of basketball 5 1/2-to-6 weeks. He’s got to have some energy and vent and have some fun.”
Bynum was averaging 14 points and 8.2 rebounds when he tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee on Jan. 31. On Bynum’s Web site Tuesday, he vowed to be back soon.
The Associated Press
NUMBER OF THE DAY
29
Points by UA’s Nic Wise in the first round, the 10th best mark in the NCAA Tournament so far this year. The leaders:
1. Ben Woodside, N.D. State 37
2. Roburt Sallie, Memphis 35
3. Tyreke Evans, Memphis 33
3. Blake Griffin, Oklahoma 33
5. Sherron Collins, Kansas 32
6. Sam Young, Pittsburgh 32
7. Marcus Thornton, LSU 30
QUOTABLE
'I came here to build a great team . . . everything is in place here.'
TONY BENNETT,
Former Washington State hoops coach, on taking over at Virginia
———
ON THIS DATE
1990: UNLV pounds Duke 103-73 to win its first NCAA championship and extend the Blue Devils’ streak to eight Final Four appearances without a title. The Runnin’ Rebels become the first team to score more than 100 points in a championship game and the 30-point margin is the largest ever.
2000: Connecticut wins its second women’s national championship with a 71-52 victory over Tennessee. The top-ranked Huskies beat No. 2 Tennessee for the second time in three meetings this season.
The Associated Press
———
SPORTS SOUND-OFF
Fans not thrilled over Floyd
Re: Tim Floyd to be named UA hoops coach?
• If Livengood keeps his job after this decision, I will lose all hope. You have six months to formulate plans and Tim Floyd is your answer? I just don’t see him being a long-term fit.
CAMELBAK69
• So, a coach that has a rather poor record at USC is good enough for Arizona? I do not get it. Don’t you want a proven winner instead of a turn-around guy?
JOHNCHESS01
• Look I know everyone is mad, I hate (Floyd) too. But look at his recruits. Trust me I think this will work.
ABDUL
• Wait, it is April Fools. Please tell me Tim Floyd is an April Fools joke.
SELLY22