Tulsa’s Self Going to Illinois

Bill Self, who led Tulsa to the round of eight in the NCAA tournament last season, was hired Friday as basketball coach at Illinois.

He replaces Lon Kruger, who quit last month to coach the Atlanta Hawks.

Self led the Golden Hurricane to a 74-27 record in three seasons. He takes over an Illini team that has all its starters and key reserves returning after a 22-10 season.

The coach met his new players Friday after completing details Thursday night on a $900,000-a-year contract. Kruger was paid $750,000 a year.

Illinois Athletic Director Ron Guenther moved fast after Kruger left, contacting Oklahoma’s Kelvin Sampson and Self. After Sampson rejected the job Wednesday night, Guenther turned to Self.

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Kentucky quarterback Dusty Bonner, who passed for 3,264 yards and 26 touchdowns last season but was recently demoted, told his teammates he will transfer to Division II Valdosta State, Lexington television station WKYT-TV reported. . . . The Maryland athletic department is investigating allegations of hazing and underage alcohol consumption by members of several of its teams, the Washington Post reported.

Jurisprudence

District Attorney Paul Howard showed photographs of the victims and lashed out at defense attorneys for obscuring the truth in closing statements in the Atlanta murder trial of two friends of Baltimore Raven linebacker Ray Lewis.

In an emotional final speech--sharply different from his tone during the rest of the trial--Howard said Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar were “running for their lives” when they were attacked by defendants Joseph Sweeting and Reginald Oakley.

The jury will begin deliberations Monday.

Lawyers for Manfred Ewald, former Olympics chief of East Germany, demanded an immediate end to his trial in Berlin in which he is accused of drugging athletes. They contend that the 79-year-old Ewald violated no East German laws and the court had no right to reinterpret them. . . . Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey will face an arbitration hearing Thursday and Friday into her positive test for the banned steroid nandrolone. The International Amateur Athletic Federation said Ottey’s case would be heard at IAAF headquarters in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Miscellany

WNBA: Yolanda Griffith scored 24 points as the visiting Sacramento Monarchs defeated the cold-shooting New York Liberty, 77-56. New York shot 29%. . . . Astou Ndiaye-Diatta had 18 points and eight rebounds, helping the Detroit Shock to an 80-76 victory over the Indiana Fever at Auburn Hills, Mich. . . . Edna Campbell scored 17 of her 19 points in the second half as the Seattle Storm recorded the first victory in franchise history, 67-62, over the winless Charlotte Sting at Charlotte, N.C.

Steve Young sent his formal retirement notice to the San Francisco 49ers via fax, and team officials prepared for Monday’s farewell news conference. . . . The Philadelphia Eagles agreed to a two-year contract with free-agent running back Brian Mitchell, the NFL’s career leader in combined kickoff and punt return yardage. . . . Quarterback Charlie Batch of the Detroit Lions will undergo surgery early next week after suffering a knee injury Monday. Batch, 25, may be ready in time for the Lions’ season opener Sept. 3 at New Orleans. . . . Left tackle John Jackson, a 12-year NFL veteran, was released by the San Diego Chargers in a cost-cutting move expected to save the team about $3.25 million in salary.

Bobby Labonte set a qualifying record of 189.883 mph in winning the pole for the Kmart 400 at Brooklyn, Mich. That broke the hours-old record of 189.021 set earlier in the day by Ricky Rudd on the two-mile, high-banked oval at Michigan Speedway.

Pole-sitter Greg Biffle regained the lead with 36 laps to go and held on to win the rain-delayed NASCAR Trucks Pronto Auto Parts 400 in Fort Worth.

The Indy Racing League agreed to a five-year sanctioning agreement with Texas Motor Speedway that will ensure two races a year at the Fort Worth track through 2004. The 10-race agreement includes tonight’s Casino Magic 500 and the IRL’s season-ending Mall.com 500 on Oct. 15.

Kevin Lowe became general manager of the Edmonton Oilers two days after he resigned as their coach.

He replaces Glen Sather, who resigned May 19 and moved to the New York Rangers as general manager and president. There was speculation that Lowe would be reunited with Sather in New York as coach.

Josh Keller’s first two Major League Soccer goals lifted Tampa Bay to a 3-0 victory over New York/New Jersey at East Rutherford, N.J., ending the MetroStars’ winning streak at three games. . . . Amid beefed-up security and the threat of hooligan violence, soccer’s European Championships open today in Brussels, marking the midway point between World Cups. Belgium and Sweden play the opening game of the 16-team tournament.

Returning to the Seville, Spain, track where he set a world record in the 400 meters at the World Championships last summer, Michael Johnson easily won the 200 meters in a time of 19.92 seconds.