Flu Bug Concerns Odom

Tim Duncan, Wake Forest’s All-American center who is suffering from flu, is expected to play against Louisville Thursday night in the Midwest Regional in Minneapolis, Coach Dave Odom said.

Point guard Tim Rutland is nursing an injured right knee, but Odom said Rutland should be able to play more than the 21 minutes he logged in Sunday’s 65-62 victory over Texas.

Odom said he’s getting all kinds suggested remedies for Duncan and Rutland.

“We’ve had no less than five or six calls from the general public with all sorts of herbal cures,” he said. “We had one guy call with an aspirin that you rub on Tony Rutland’s knee and within a matter of hours he would be cured. I’m not making fun of these things, maybe they work, I don’t know. These are from caring people, who really want to see us do well.”

Duncan joined his teammates Monday for a light practice that consisted of a shoot-around and weightlifting.

Odom said he would use Rusty LaRue at point guard if Rutland is unable to play Thursday. Odom used sophomore Jerry Braswell there in the team’s first-round victory over Northeast Louisiana, but believes Braswell is better at shooting guard.

“I won’t do that again,” Odom said of using Braswell at the point. “He’s not comfortable out there. Rusty’s just more adept at it.”

Wake Forest could meet Kentucky again if both win Thursday night in the Metrodome.

“We were pretty bad off last week,” said a sniffling LaRue. “We’re just looking forward to getting healthy in the next three days.”

UCLA: Holton Returns as Assistant

Michael Holton, an assistant basketball coach at Oregon State last season, has been hired as an assistant coach at UCLA, the school announced.

Steve Lavin, an assistant coach on the UCLA coaching staff the past five seasons, was promoted to recruiting coordinator.

Holton, 34, was a four-year letterman (1980-83) as a point guard at UCLA. He spent nine seasons playing professionally, including NBA stops with Phoenix, Chicago, Portland and Charlotte.

Before joining the coaching staff at Oregon State, Holton served on the coaching staffs at the University of Portland and Pasadena City College.

An opening on the UCLA staff was created when assistant Lorenzo Romar was hired Feb. 19 as coach at Pepperdine.

ACROSS THE NATION: Wichita State Names Coach

Wichita State named Randy Smithson as its new coach. He replaces Scott Thompson, who resigned Feb. 27 after four seasons. Thompson’s teams were 40-70, including 8-21 this season. Smithson, who played at Wichita State, has a record of 273-95 as a junior college coach. . . . Stephen F. Austin State fired Ned Fowler as coach.