COLLEGE BASKETBALL / DAILY REPORT : Tarkanian Says He’s Been Offered Fresno State Post

Jerry Tarkanian, who says he’ll only return to coaching if it’s at his alma mater, confirmed late Tuesday night that he has been offered the head basketball coaching job at Fresno State.

Of the 40 candidates for the job, Tarkanian is the only one to interview on campus and no other such meetings were planned, a school spokesman said.

“I have been offered the job and right now we are trying to work out the numbers,” Tarkanian told KJEO-TV of Fresno.

An official announcement was expected today.

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UCLA Coach Jim Harrick will receive the American Youth Awards 1995 “Man of the Year” tribute April 30 at the Century Plaza Hotel.

Former Bruin coach John Wooden will receive the “Humanitarian of the Year” award.

For more information, call (818) 994-4661.

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UCLA, not surprisingly, finished in first place in the final USA TODAY-CNN basketball coaches’ poll, garnering all 34 first-place votes. The Bruins (31-2) earned 850 points, 35 more than second-place Arkansas (32-7).

North Carolina (28-6) was third with 777 points, followed by Oklahoma State (27-10, 742) and Kentucky (25-6, 685). Rounding out the top 10 were Connecticut Massachusetts, Virginia, Wake Forest and Kansas.

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A day after his team’s championship loss to UCLA, Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson talked about the likelihood of losing his best two players to the NBA and why he might be tempted to join them.

Corliss Williamson and Scotty Thurman said after the 89-78 loss that they intend to return for their senior season because they didn’t want to end their Arkansas careers on such a sour note.

But Richardson said Tuesday that those words were spoken in the emotion of the moment and both players could change their minds. Whether he recommends they skip their senior season to turn pro will depend on how much money they can get, he said.

Richardson said he’d listen to NBA offers primarily because of the money involved.

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Murray State Coach Scott Edgar, a former assistant at Tulsa, has told his team he is taking the job at Duquesne.