COLLEGE BASKETBALL / DAILY REPORT : ACROSS THE NATION : Durham Reportedly Out at Georgia

Georgia Coach Hugh Durham has been asked to resign, the Associated Press reported Saturday night.

The university scheduled a news conference today but could not confirm or deny the report, said Norm Reilly, assistant sports information director.

Durham, 57, has a 298-216 record in 17 years at Georgia and picked up the 500th victory of his 29-year career this past season. The Bulldogs finished 18-10 and lost in the first round of the SEC tournament.

TODAY’S NCAA MEN’S GAMES

For Massachusetts, the Enemy Is Us

Maybe the fear factor will work for Massachusetts (27-4) today against Stanford (20-8) in the second round of the East Regional in Albany, N.Y.

Not fear of the Cardinal. Fear of the UMass coach.

“I’m going to punch them in the mouth if anybody’s scared,” said John Calipari, who was upset with the Minutemen in their 68-51 victory over St. Peter’s in the first round.

“I looked at that tape,” Calipari said. “Normally, I drive it under the wheels of my car about five times and throw it in the trash. But I looked at it and showed the guys about the first 5-7 minutes.

“We weren’t cutting hard. We were jogging. . . . They were the aggressor.”

He told his players that, and they held St. Peter’s without a basket the final 11 minutes.

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Tulsa (23-7), which beat UCLA and Oklahoma State in last season’s tournament, was hardly awed by Illinois while beating the Illini on Friday night. Playing Old Dominion (21-11) today in Albany certainly doesn’t impress the Golden Hurricane, even if the Monarchs beat Villanova in three overtimes Friday.

“Success breeds success,” Tulsa Coach Tubby Smith said. “We believe after the success we had last year in postseason play that we can play with anybody.”

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Another team that probably fears its coach is defending national champion Arkansas. Famed for playing “40 minutes of hell” on the court, the Razorbacks (28-6) are catching it from Nolan Richardson.

“When he walks by you he just mumbles,” center Corliss Williamson said. “Our motivation against Syracuse (20-9) on Sunday (in the Midwest Regional at Austin, Tex.) is to get Coach off our back.”

Richardson has been hard to live with since Friday’s close call against Texas Southern, which Arkansas won, 79-78.

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Purdue Coach Gene Keady is lonesome. His Boilermakers (25-6) are the only Big Ten team left in the tournament, and they had to defeat Wisconsin Green Bay, 49-48, to be there.

“I’m surprised we’re the only one left,” said Keady, whose team faces Memphis (23-9) at Austin. “What hurts is that it makes all the experts right about Big Ten basketball.”

Those are the experts who criticized the NCAA’s tournament selection committee for giving six Big Ten teams bids.

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Though there was no announcement as to whether Rasheed Wallace, the Tar Heels’ (25-5) sophomore center, will play in today’s second-round Southeast game against Iowa State (23-10) at Tallahassee, Fla., both teams expect it.

Wallace sprained his left ankle in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament last weekend and played only 16 minutes and scored only six points in a first-round victory over Murray State.

In the other game at Tallahassee, Georgetown (20-9) faces Weber State (21-8), coming off an upset over Michigan State.

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Fourth-seeded Utah (28-5) plays 12th-seeded Mississippi State (21-7) in today’s first game of the West Regional at Boise, Ida. The Utes are trying to advance beyond the second round for the first time since 1991, when they lost to top-ranked UNLV in the final 16.

Mississippi State is in the second round for the first time and its 21 wins are the most since the 1962-63 team went 22-6.