On This Court, He Shows That He Has Game

Louisville center Muhammed Lasege followed a no-points, no-rebounds performance Tuesday against Kentucky with two points and two rebounds Saturday against Saint Louis.

So, what makes Lasege college basketball’s biggest impact player this season?

An apparent victory over the toughest opponent a player--or school for that matter--can go against: the NCAA.

Lasege, a 6-foot-11 Nigerian, won an injunction against the NCAA in Jefferson (Ky.) Circuit Court in late December to allow him to play for Louisville--and in all likelihood making him the first foreign player to win the eligibility game against the NCAA.

The NCAA, never a gracious loser, is expected to appeal the decision this month.

Lasege had waged a three-year battle against the NCAA, arguing a professional contract he signed in Russia at age 17 should not affect his amateur status. He had fled Nigeria for Russia because he heard it was easier to get a visa to the United States from there. He signed a contract with a Russian junior team and played 13 games. Attorney Jim Milliman says Lasege was never paid; the NCAA contends he received $9,000. Lasege eventually went to Canada and and was recruited by Louisville before the NCAA declared him a professional because of his Russian contract.

“I expect this to become a precedent-setting case,” the Louisville-based Milliman told Dan Wetzek of cbs.sportsline.com. “It will say that the NCAA is going to have to take a look at how it deals with players from foreign countries and that it can’t judge them the same way as American kids.”

It has been argued that the NCAA places unfair standards on foreign players--especially ones from developing nations.

And that was the opinion of the Jefferson circuit court. In a strongly worded decision, it chided the NCAA for a lack of compassion toward Lasege, and for interviewing him only 10 minutes.

“The greatest shame can be placed squarely on the shoulder of the NCAA,” the court ruled. “They did not understand or realize Mr. Lasege’s age at the time he signed the contract nor his obvious cultural and economic disadvantages as a young man raised in a West African country consumed by poverty. A child raised in the ghettos of urban America is infinitely better off than a child raised in poverty in West Africa. The NCAA’s belief that Mr. Lasege should be compared with student athletes graduating from our high schools is a fatal error.”

And one that could open the door for foreign players in their pursuit to become student-athletes at NCAA universities.

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Let’s get physical: The opposition can usually count on a knock-down, drag out affair with Bob Huggins’ bad-to-the-bone teams. Catch the Bearcats snarling after a loss, and it’s all hands on deck.

Elbows were flying and bodies were falling throughout No. 25-ranked Cincinnati’s 76-66 victory Saturday over Charlotte at the Bearcats’ Shoemaker Center.

The Bearcats came out a little nastier than usual for this game after being uncharacteristically punchless in a loss last week to Toledo.

“We had a long, hard week of practices to prepare for this game,” said Cincinnati’s Jamaal Davis, not saying if the Huggins had put the Bearcats through hand-to-hand combat drills.

“They were a little more physical than us,” Charlotte’s Rodney White said. “They had more intensity than we came out with. They bumped us around early.”

Charlotte’s KenKay Jones was nearly KO’d after getting hit by Cincinnati’s Donald Little, losing some teeth and having his mouth bloodied. This came moments after the 49ers’ Diego Guevara had thrown an elbow at the Bearcats’ Steve Logan.

Guevara hadn’t exactly endeared himself with the Bearcats or their fans before this. Two seasons ago, Guevara blew kisses to his wife as he led the 49ers to a victory at Charlotte. He was the target of taunts and tossed coins at Shoemaker Center in the rematch that season, and was booed every time he touched the ball Saturday. Guevara was more timid than usual with the ball, taking only four shots, but was certainly aggressive in the incident with Logan.

“They’re competitive,” Cincinnati’s Kenny Satterfield said. “Their coach [Bob Lutz] tries to put in them what our coach puts in us.”

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Numbers game: Connecticut, Duke and Tennessee have men’s and women’s teams ranked in the top 10, but Baylor is the only school with unbeaten teams on both sides of the gender court. Both Baylor teams are 12-0 and have something else in common--neither is ranked in the top 25. . . . Call it a Temple of doom: St. Bonaventure hasn’t beaten Temple in 21 games in Philadelphia, losing 63-43 Saturday. . . . It’s no longer only sweet home Alabama for the Crimson Tide, which won for the first time on an opponent’s home court since Jan. 20, 1999--a span of 15 games--with an 82-73 victory over Louisiana State. The Crimson Tide had rolled to nine consecutive home victories this season against this undertowed opposition: Troy State, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Grambling, Wofford, Akron, North Texas, Alabama State and Southeastern Louisiana--which explains a No. 296 ranking in strength of schedule among Division I’s 319 teams.

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--Compiled by JIM RHODE