COLLEGE BASKETBALL / CHRIS DUFRESNE : They’re Paid the Price for Losing Big

For every misty-eyed Mount St. Mary’s upset of Georgia Tech, there are scattered remains of a hundred mismatches that go off without a hitch.

No one is particularly proud of these December hit jobs--Kentucky 96, Morehead State 32--but it’s all part of a sport’s early-season dirty work.

Steve Hamilton, athletic director at tiny Morehead in Kentucky, calls them “prostitution games.” His school president requires him to schedule at least two “guarantees” per season. The first $50,000 earned goes into the general fund; anything extra the athletic department gets to pocket.

Morehead has played 17 guarantees since Dick Fick became basketball coach five years ago, netting the school more than $250,000.

“No doubt, schools at this level, with gender equity, have to play these games,” Fick said.

Here’s how it works: For a $25,000 fee, a school agrees to have its Morehead bashed by Kentucky at Rupp Arena. Often, the perpetrator will throw in perks such as travel expenses just to make sure you don’t chicken out.

Kentucky gets what it wants--a good show to satisfy the local hoop lust--and Morehead gets what it came for (check, please).

This season, Morehead has cashed a $17,000 check from Louisville for impersonating pylons in a 58-point loss and $25,000 more for posting up against Kentucky. Saturday, the pledge drive heads west as the Eagles travel to No. 10 Iowa.

“You’re always going to lose those games,” Hamilton said of the arrangement. “You’re always at the other team’s place. I’m not sure I can justify what we do. We do it for financial reasons. The UK and Louisville games were harmful, in my opinion.”

The morning papers in December are filled with box scores born of financial considerations.

Tuesday it was No. 1 Kansas 103, Pittsburg State 48; No. 6 Georgetown 88, St. Francis (Pa.) 55; No. 15 Missouri 81, Austin Peay 58; No. 12 Wake Forest 91, Appalachian State 50.

No school west (or east) of the Appalachians has scheduled more of a Murderer’s Row than Appalachian State of the Southern Conference.

The Mountaineers, of Boone, N.C., have been led blindfolded down a preconference plank against Clemson, Georgia Tech, North Carolina Charlotte, North Carolina Greensboro and Wake Forest.

The average margin of defeat in the five games was 24.2 points, but all the checks cleared.

Next week, Appalachian plays Indiana in the Hoosier Classic.

“It’s a challenge,” Appalachian Athletic Director Roachel Laney said of the schedule. “And so far, we haven’t met the challenge.”

Laney said the schedule was worked out, with his approval, by Coach Tom Apke.

Apke’s theory is to put his team through boot camp early to have his squad battle-tested before the start of conference play. But no one can deny part of it is financial.

The take-home pay for a good Atlantic Coast Conference roasting is $25,000.

“It’s a good day’s work,” Laney said.

And yes, there is always the off chance of an upset. “You can always pull one out like St. Mary’s did over Georgia Tech,” Laney said of Monday’s 71-69 upset at Atlanta.

Last year, Fick reminds, Morehead led Indiana at the half.

Yet the strategy can backfire. One-sided losses can shake confidence and crush the psyches of 20-year-olds.

In the Monday follow-up to Saturday’s 64-point Kentucky loss, Morehead was extended to overtime before defeating Thomas More, an NAIA school.

“There was still a residual effect from the UK game,” Hamilton said. “There was a lack of confidence. Now we go play Iowa, and I’ll guarantee you they won’t have the same mercy on us that UK and Louisville did.”

Mercy?

Kentucky led Morehead, 50-14, at the half, but Hamilton swears it could have been much worse had Coach Rick Pitino not called off the ‘Cats.

Fick acknowledges playing No. 1 Kentucky this year was a mistake.

“I really feel the Clippers would give them a game for a half, then Kentucky would kill them,” Fick said.

Morehead had hoped the media exposure leading into the Kentucky game would help the program, but the wipeout may have the opposite effect.

“I don’t recommend people do this, play those schools for the sake of money, unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Hamilton said.

Morehead has two more “guarantees” scheduled for next season, opponents to be determined.

Don’t expect the school to do any more polluting in state.

Hamilton: “We’d like to play somebody far away.”

ENVELOPE, PLEASE

Hey, it’s never too early to evaluate possible future Clipper draft picks.

Marcus Camby of Massachusetts against Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan wasn’t exactly “High Noon” drama on Dec. 6, unless you were one of the 22 NBA scouts on hand to witness the matchup of college basketball’s best centers.

The game, won by UMass, 60-46, was a clunker. Camby “won” the individual battle (17 points, nine rebounds, three blocks, although he made only six of 19 shots). Duncan was held to nine points, making only four of 18 shots, with 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.

The ho-hum performances did nothing to hurt either player’s NBA stock.

Jeff Weltman, the Clippers’ director of scouting, says it’s conceivable Camby and Duncan, both juniors, will go 1-2 in next year’s NBA draft. He isn’t predicting which order.

Camby and Duncan probably would have been lottery picks had they chosen to leave school as sophomores, but neither felt he was ready.

Getting the chance to watch Camby and Duncan square off against each other was the kind of stuff NBA scouts live for.

“They weren’t exclusively paired against each other, but when they were, there were a whole slew of scouts there to watch,” said Weltman, who attended the game at Amherst, Mass.

Weltman was impressed with Camby’s growth as a player.

“Camby is definitely, I think, improving mentally,” Weltman said. “He’s starting to show signs of maturing. Obviously, he’s a young kid. I’m not going to say I advocate him coming out but, clearly, he’s made an improvement.”

Despite an off night, Duncan is considered more of a pure NBA center, a big man with great timing and touch.

Weltman might have learned more about Duncan because he had an off night.

“He such a poised player at that age [19],” Weltman said. “He never lost control of his emotions, never panicked in the pressure of the game. He wasn’t having a good night, yet he did a good job on rebounds, blocked shots. He never let his head get out of the game.”

HOOSIERS, THE SEQUEL

What is it about Indiana and walk-ons?

First, there was “Rudy,” the real-life story of the Notre Dame football half-pint who turned dogged determination and a cameo game appearance into a Hollywood script.

Now, 20 years later, comes “Lemme,” the story of Kevin Lemme, a former Indiana basketball team manager who has earned a seat at the end of Indiana’s hallowed bench.

Hoosier Coach Bob Knight, known to use team managers in walk-through drills, pressed Lemme into active duty last October when Knight ran out of able bodies at a clinic for high school coaches.

Lemme, a good high school guard who grew up idolizing former Indiana star Steve Alford, was so impressive in a three-on-three drill he was asked to practice with the real Hoosiers.

Lemme got quite a shock five minutes before Indiana’s first exhibition game when he was given a uniform and told to suit up.

Unlike Rudy Ruettiger, who needed a near miracle to get on the field for Notre Dame, Lemme has already played for the Hoosiers, making two late free throws in recent mop-up work against Delaware.

OK, Gene Hackman will play the father. . . .

LOOSE ENDS

Where are they now: Marquis Burns, the former UCLA guard who transferred to New Mexico State, became eligible last Friday and played 18 minutes in Saturday night’s 69-68 loss to New Mexico.

Burns, a 6-foot-4 junior, did not start, but scored 10 points, making five of his 10 shots. Aggie watchers say Burns was impressive defensively and note that it’s only a matter of time before he’s a starter. Because Burns was a midseason transfer, he did not become eligible until the end of fall classes.

Also back is Utah’s star senior guard Brandon Jessie, who will make his debut at Wake Forest tonight after serving a seven-game NCAA suspension for his involvement with sports agent Robert Troy Caron.

The Utes are 6-1 without Jessie, the only loss coming to No. 1 Kansas, but don’t let that deceive. Jessie, a senior from Huntington Beach, will be a key player in any NCAA tournament run Utah might have in mind.

With a 4-4 record, Fresno State Coach Jerry Tarkanian has already lost more games than he did in his last two years at the Nevada Las Vegas, when his teams were 34-1 and 26-2.

Add Tark: In 31 years as a Division I coach, he has never had a losing season.

If there was any doubt the first-year Conference USA is for real, all 11 teams began the week with winning records.