More Problems for Cincinnati Basketball

Charles Williams and Ruben Patterson, two mainstays on the University of Cincinnati’s nationally prominent basketball team, will remain ineligible to play while the NCAA investigates the program.

The university declared Williams, Patterson and backup John Carson ineligible Monday as it released a report that found numerous violations of NCAA rules involving the players, one assistant coach and a team manager.

The manager has been fired and assistant coach John Loyer will remain on suspension while the NCAA follows up on the report.

The university did not implicate or penalize Coach Bob Huggins over the infractions, which represent the latest setback to a program already tarnished by repeated player arrests and suspensions.

Athletic Director Robert Goin declined to say how severe he considered the violations. The report said Williams received improper assistance before he enrolled at Cincinnati and was given an airline ticket and other financial favors by a faculty member who had contact with Loyer.

The report added that Patterson improperly used computer terminals and Carson received $200 from a job he never worked.

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Michigan didn’t believe Steve Fisher, but South Alabama appears to. The former Wolverine basketball coach had a chance to clear his name and apply for a job he hopes will make people forget about his ugly exit from Ann Arbor.

“I thought it went well,” Fisher said of his interview with South Alabama’s 13-member search committee. “It’s well documented what I had to say about my leaving Michigan.”

South Alabama president Frederick Whiddon said: “I don’t believe what they’re saying about him,” Whiddon said. “They have absolutely no proof. I don’t think he is a controversial person in the slightest.”

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The NCAA is investigating whether Marcus Camby received gifts from an agent during his sophomore year at Massachusetts.

Camby, now with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, has admitted accepting gifts as a junior but denied doing so as a sophomore. Massachusetts, which has already been stripped of its 1996 NCAA semifinal recognition for playing with Camby as a junior, could face more penalties if more violations are found.

Jurisprudence

Former Boston Celtic guard and assistant coach Dennis Johnson was arrested Monday in Orlando, Fla., and charged with aggravated assault on his wife, police said. . . . Richard Gnida, the chauffeur of the limousine that crashed while carrying a party of Detroit Red Wings pleaded guilty in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., to driving with a suspended license. A tentative sentencing date was set for Nov. 3. . . . A jury in Austin, Texas, ruled against Alvis Kent Waldrep Jr., a paralyzed former college football player who had hoped to prove he was an employee of Texas Christian University and eligible for workers’ compensation. . . . Wright State in Dayton, Ohio, has settled a lawsuit filed by Ralph Underhill, agreeing to pay the former basketball coach about $125,000. . . . Former San Francisco Giant pitcher John Montefusco, charged last week with beating and raping his ex-wife, remained jailed in Freehold, N.J.--unable to raise $6,000 bail.

Tennis

“The siesta is over. I am looking forward to a full schedule next year,” Andre Agassi said after another first-round loss, a 6-4, 6-4 defeat by Todd Martin at the Eurocard Open in Stuttgart, Germany.

“I think with hard work this fall, my footwork, and lose a little bit of weight, get a little stronger, I could be playing great tennis within a couple of months next year.”

Names in the News

Angel coach Larry Bowa is scheduled to interview for the vacant Toronto Blue Jays’ managerial job this week. Bowa, who managed the Padres in 1987-88, is one of 12 candidates. . . . Japanese boxer Akira Taiga, who fell into a coma after being knocked out in a junior welterweight title bout, died Sunday of brain damage.