E. Michigan Coach Reportedly in at Cal

Ben Braun, who guided Eastern Michigan to postseason play four times, will become California’s basketball coach Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Kansas State’s Tom Asbury and Indiana State’s Sherman Dillard, who had interviewed for the job, announced Friday they were no longer candidates.

Braun, who could not be reached for comment, has a 185-132 career record in 11 years at Eastern Michigan. He previously coached for eight years at Siena Heights, an NAIA school.

Last season, Eastern Michigan was 25-6 and upset Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Pro Basketball

Coach George Karl agreed to a one-year contract extension with the Seattle SuperSonics that will give him the highest coaching salary in the NBA, Karl’s representative said.

Price Johnson, a family friend who has helped represent Karl in negotiations this summer, said Karl called him Friday morning and said he would accept the offer, worth about $3 million, for the 1997-98 season.

The SuperSonics guaranteed Karl’s $1-million salary for the coming season during the NBA playoffs last spring.

This season, Phil Jackson of the champion Chicago Bulls will make the highest salary for a coaching-only job, $2.7 million. John Calipari of New Jersey, Pat Riley of Miami and Bernie Bickerstaff of Denver will be paid more than the salary Karl has been offered, but all three also have front-office duties.

The Lakers signed rookie free agent David Booth, 26. Booth, a 6-foot-6 forward, was not drafted by an NBA team after he left DePaul in 1992. Last season, he led the French league in scoring. In 1994-95, he led the Italian league.

Motor Sports

Miss Budweiser led first-day qualifying for Sunday’s 30th Bill Muncey Cup unlimited hydroplane race on Mission Bay at San Diego, averaging 164.465 mph over the 2.5-mile course.

Stock car driver Bobby Labonte qualified his Chevrolet at 155.086 mph to win the pole for Sunday’s MBNA 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover, Del. That easily broke the record of 154.784, set last spring by Jeff Gordon.

Kenny Bernstein (top fuel), Tony Pedregon (funny car) and Jim Yates (pro stock) led their categories after the rain-shortened first day of qualifying in the NHRA Pioneer Electronics Keystone Nationals at Mohnton, Pa.

Jurisprudence

Mississippi State basketball standout Marcus Bullard, who helped lead the Bulldogs to the NCAA tournament’s Final Four last season, was sentenced to three years in prison for violating his probation on drug charges. One year of the prison term was suspended for the point guard from Long Beach.

In Mannheim, Germany, the presiding judge at the tax evasion trial of Steffi Graf’s father lifted the arrest warrant that has kept Peter Graf in prison for 13 months. The elder Graf remained in custody while a higher state court considers the prosecutors’ objections to the judge’s ruling.

Also, Steffi Graf was quoted by the Bild newspaper as saying she had severed her ties with long-time manager Phil de Picciotto of Advantage International.

Miscellany

Michael Carbajal successfully defended his International Boxing Federation junior flyweight title, stopping Julio Indio Coronell at 52 seconds of the eighth round at Des Moines, Iowa.

Carbajal, 42-2 with 27 knockouts, knocked Coronell down four times before the Colombian’s corner stopped the fight. Coronell dropped to 17-10-1.

Connecticut’s Board of Trustees accepted a plan for the football program to move up to NCAA Division I-A by 1999.

Connecticut, currently a member of the Division I-AA Yankee Conference, plays at 16,200-seat Memorial Stadium. Under NCAA rules, Division I-A teams must play in venues with a minimum capacity of 30,000.

Tennis

Sergi Bruguera of Spain dropped the last five games of his match against Sweden’s Magnus Norman and lost in the quarterfinals of a clay-court tournament at Bournemouth, England, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5. In today’s semifinals, Norman plays Alberto Costa of Spain and Australia’s Jason Stoltenberg faces Marc Goellner of Germany.

Spaniards Carlos Moya and Alberto Berasategui scored straight-set victories and advanced to the semifinals of the Romanian Open at Bucharest.

Horse Racing

Cigar is the 2-5 favorite over five rivals in the 1 1/8-mile Woodward Stakes today at Belmont Park in his first start since a 16-race winning streak was ended last month at Del Mar.

Trainer Bill Mott doesn’t think a losing streak is in the cards for Cigar. “He’s as good right now as he’s been in a long time,” Mott said. “If Cigar runs his race--no, they can’t beat him.”

Names in the News

Ted Smits, 91, who served as sports editor of the Associated Press for 23 years--longer than anyone else--and also appeared as an old-time reporter in the Woody Allen film “Zelig,” died at White Plains, N.Y.

John Pramesa, 72, who caught for the Cincinnati Reds from 1949-51, died of cancer at Simi Valley Hospital. Pramesa batted .307 in 1950.

Sandy Barbour was named Tulane’s athletic director, becoming the first woman to hold the job in the school’s history. Barbour, 36, is one of five women serving as athletic directors at the nation’s 111 NCAA Division I-A schools. The others are Barbara Hedges of Washington, Deborah Yow of Maryland, Cary Groth of Northern Illinois and Andrea Seger of Ball State.

Russian Olympic swimming champion Alexander Popov, who was stabbed on a Moscow street last month, said he would resume training in October and planned to race at the 2000 Sydney Games.