Majerus to Remain in Utah and Irish to Keep Looking

The Notre Dame basketball program, seeking to replace fired coach John MacLeod, may have missed an opportunity to return to national prominence Tuesday when Rick Majerus and the Irish failed to reach an agreement and Majerus decided to remain at Utah.

Majerus, who took the Utes to the NCAA title game before losing to Kentucky last year, has the seventh-best winning percentage among active NCAA coaches and ranks 21st all-time. His 1997-98 team finished 30-4 and this season’s Utah team, which was ranked sixth before being upset in the second round of the NCAA tournament by Miami of Ohio, was 28-5.

“I’ve decided to stay at Utah,” Majerus said late Tuesday night. “The people here have been wonderful to me, I’ve been here 10 years, and this is the right thing right now.”

Majerus met with Mike Wadsworth, Notre Dame athletic director, twice in person, once in Las Vegas on March 7 and once in New York last weekend. Notre Dame sources said that Majerus was Wadsworth’s choice, and that an announcement of the hiring might have been made as soon as today, but that when the two priests who run the university, President Monk Malloy and Vice President William Beauchamp, voiced some reservations, Majerus took himself out of the picture.

Wadsworth’s number in South Bend, Ind., is unlisted and Irish officials would not make him available, so there was no official statement from Notre Dame. The leading candidate for the Irish job now is reported to be Skip Prosser of Xavier.

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Michael Gill scored all of his career-high 22 points in the second half--17 in the first nine minutes--as California defeated Oregon, 85-69, in the National Invitation Tournament semifinals at New York.

The Golden Bears (21-11) advanced to Thursday night’s final against Clemson, which held off Xavier, 79-76, in the second game.

Trailing by 24 points with just under 15 minutes to play, Xavier staged one of college basketball’s more amazing rallies. The Muskeeters went from a 61-37 deficit to a 76-73 lead, going ahead on Lenny Brown’s three-point shot with 1:23 left.

The Tigers (20-14) made six free throws down the stretch and then held their breath as Brown’s shot at the buzzer was just off line.

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Sophomore center Elton Brand and senior guard Trajan Langdon of Duke headline the 10-member John Wooden All-American team.

Also selected were junior guard Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State, junior forward Richard Hamilton of Connecticut, senior guard Andre Miller of Utah, senior forward Wally Szczerbiak of Miami of Ohio, senior center Evan Eschmeyer of Northwestern, senior forward Scott Padgett of Kentucky, junior forward Chris Porter of Auburn and senior guard Jason Terry of Arizona.

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Dave Bliss, who took New Mexico to seven NCAA tournaments in nine years but failed to satisfy the expectations of many Lobo fans, accepted the head coaching job at Baylor. He was the Lobos’ all-time winningest coach with a 246-108 record. . . . Ohio State point guard Scoonie Penn, who has helped carry the Buckeyes to the Final Four, says he will return for his senior season instead of making himself available for the NBA draft.

Former Minnesota tutor Jan Gangelhoff said she thinks Golden Gopher Coach Clem Haskins knew she was doing course work for players, but in a statement, Haskins said: “I deny the allegations of former player Russ Archambault. I again deny the allegations of Jan Gangelhoff. They are not true.” . . . The NCAA notified Nevada Las Vegas that its basketball program is once again under investigation for possible recruiting and other violations. . . . . . . San Jose State Coach Phil Johnson was given a five-year contract extension after the Spartans (12-16) improved on last season’s victory total by nine.