NEWSWIRE : Oklahoma Assistant Rabedeaux Will Replace Haskins at UTEP

Jason Rabedeaux, an assistant at Oklahoma, confirmed Thursday that he has been hired to replace Don Haskins as basketball coach at Texas El Paso.

Rabedeaux, 34, said El Paso Athletic Director Bob Stull offered him the job by phone Wednesday night, and he accepted.

Stull didn’t immediately return a telephone call from the Associated Press seeking comment.

Rabedeaux said Thursday by phone from Norman, Okla., that he will wait until a news conference today in El Paso to discuss details of the deal.

“I think it’s an unbelievable opportunity to follow a coach that is a role model for coaches everywhere, that has established a legacy in college basketball, in the community and obviously at the University of Texas El Paso,” Rabedeaux said of Haskins, who announced his retirement last month.

Haskins, 69, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, retired Aug. 24 after 38 seasons at the school.

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Former USC basketball coach George Raveling was hospitalized in Barcelona after passing out while putting the Nike NBA All-Star team through a workout.

Doctors at the Asepeyo clinic in Sant Cugat, Spain, said Raveling was being kept overnight for observation. He was said to be in stable condition.

At first, it was feared Raveling had suffered a heart attack, but doctors ruled that out and said the problem was more likely due to something the coach had eaten.

A statement from Nike said Raveling had passed out because of stress from a busy schedule in recent months. The company said it expected him to be ready to coach the team, including Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen, in today’s game against FC Barcelona.

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New York Knick center Patrick Ewing won’t be ready for the start of training camp next month because of his partially torn left Achilles’ tendon. . . . Evan Eschmeyer, the New Jersey Nets’ only draft pick, will be sidelined for four months after an operation to repair a ruptured shoulder muscle. . . . Natalie Williams had 23 points and 15 rebounds and Lisa Leslie added 19 points as the U.S. women’s national team bolted to a 14-0 lead on the way to a 86-67 victory over Brazil in the opening round of the U.S. Olympic Cup at San Diego.

International Sports

Olympic officials meeting in London reached agreement on the framework for a world anti-drug agency to be launched by the end of the year. But the location and head of the organization have yet to be decided.

Already stung for giving out freebies, Salt Lake Olympic organizers say there will be no free tickets to the 2002 Winter Games.

Prime seats for speedskating events will cost up to $175, ski jumping at the Utah Winter Sports Park will set spectators back between $110 and $190, and seats for hockey’s gold-medal round will cost up to $425.

SLOC Chief Operating Officer Fraser Bullock said the goal was to make the most money possible on the most popular events while keeping cheap seats available at as many venues as possible. The aim is to bring in $180 million in ticket revenue, calculated on the assumption that 85% of the tickets will sell.

Ice Skating Australia has lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland in a bid to win back next year’s world figure skating championships for Brisbane.

The Queensland state capital was stripped of the March 2000 event when the International Skating Union decided last month to switch it to Nice, France.

Jurisprudence

Former NBA player Dontonio Wingfield was arrested in Cincinnati after failing to appear in court this week for sentencing on charges of assaulting two suburban police officers.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge David Davis issued an arrest warrant for Wingfield, 25, on Tuesday. It was the second time Davis had done that.

In April, Davis ordered Wingfield arrested when he failed to show up for a court appearance. Wingfield arrived a week late, but Davis threw out the warrant.

This time the judge wasn’t so lenient. When Wingfield showed up Thursday, he was arrested by sheriff’s deputies and taken to jail.

Miscellany

Greg Biffle passed Dennis Setzer for the lead with 39 laps to go and overcame two late cautions to win the rain-shortened Virginia Is For Lovers 200 Craftsman Truck Series race after 196 laps at Richmond, Va. Biffle’s eighth triumph in 21 races matched Mike Skinner’s season record set in 1995 and tied in 1996.

Giuseppe Bergomi, former captain of Inter Milan and a member of Italy’s 1982 World Cup championship team, said he will come out of retirement to play in Major League Soccer. He is 35.