Ill Power Lifts Utah but Fails Louisville

One ill coach was under the care of a Santa Barbara cardiologist, far from the fray and with an uncertain future.

Another took his customary seat on the bench, cringing each time the opponent made a basket.

Utah rallied from a 17-point deficit to defeat state rival Brigham Young, 64-56, at Salt Lake City -- the Utes’ first game since Coach Rick Majerus took an indefinite leave of absence from the team after suffering from chest pains last week.

“We love coach, I’m sure he’s really proud of us,” said senior guard Nick Jacobson, who had to pause to collect himself while speaking to reporters. “It’s very emotional for me.”

Louisville Coach Rick Pitino, who took a two-day medical leave last week, returned for the fourth-ranked Cardinals’ 77-70 loss to Marquette at Louisville.

“Except for Novak’s shooting, I feel fine,” said Pitino, referring to Steve Novak, a Marquette guard who had eight three-point baskets and a career-best 30 points in helping to end the Cardinals’ winning streak at 16 games. “I don’t feel good about our basketball team. That would make anybody sick.”

Kerry Rupp filled in for Majerus, as he did when the coach left the team to attend a funeral last season. But nobody knows for sure when, or if, Majerus will be back to coach Utah.

“We challenged them to come out with the same heart, intensity and focus as Coach came with every single day,” Rupp said. “I thought the kids did a great job of responding.”

Utah guard Tim Drisdom said he expected the Utes to play emotionally while thinking of Majerus.

“I just felt like it was a tribute to [Majerus] and just the effort he would have wanted from us in that situation,” Drisdom said. “You realize how much of a family you have after you overcome adversity.”

Pitino returned to the sideline three days after visiting the Cleveland Clinic to determine the cause of ongoing pain in his left side. He missed a 64-48 victory Wednesday over Houston.

“Marquette taught us a difficult lesson,” Pitino said after losing for the fifth time in six games against the Golden Eagles. “I haven’t been pleased in about a week and a half with our practices. We haven’t passed the ball well.”

Pitino was especially disappointed in the Cardinals’ inability to cover Novak beyond the three-point arc.

“If you give this young man, who’s maybe the best shooter in college basketball, even a look, you’re playing poor defense,” Pitino said. “The shooting of one player was the difference in the game. We did a good job on their other guys, but we just let one guy get off. We can make all the excuses about injuries we want, but there’s no excuse for a guy getting those kind of looks.”

More Harrick Trouble

Rhode Island reported six possible rules violations to the NCAA, ranging from a coach’s giving a player $250 to an office secretary’s typing papers for players. An internal investigation found the violations occurred between 1997 and 2000, during the tenures of Jim Harrick and Jerry DeGregorio.

The news shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has followed Harrick since he was fired by UCLA in 1996 after he had filed a false expense report and lied to school officials to cover up a minor NCAA violation. Harrick resigned from Georgia last year when allegations of illegal payments and academic fraud surfaced.

At Rhode Island, a former basketball secretary named Christine King charged in 2002 that Harrick had had players’ grades altered, had team managers write players’ papers and arranged for boosters to give players free lodging, cars and money. King also alleged that Harrick’s son, Jim Harrick Jr., falsified expense reports for recruits.

DeGregorio replaced Harrick, then served as Clipper director of player development for two seasons, 2001-02 and 2002-03.

After reviewing the school’s report, the NCAA will determine what, if any, punishment Rhode Island will receive.

Upsetting Saturday

Some days it just doesn’t pay to be a ranked team facing a desperate unranked team. Saturday was one of those days, with Ohio State’s 65-59 defeat of No. 21 Purdue among the many upsets.

Purdue Coach Gene Keady had been telling his players they had better beware of the Buckeyes, but “it didn’t soak in,” he said.

So what’s a coach to do?

“We can’t trade players,” Keady said after Purdue fell to 14-6, 4-3 in the Big Ten. “I have faith in our players, we just have to go back to the drawing board.”

Winter in Vermont

Remember the Catamounts?

While UCLA’s struggles continued during a 71-55 nonconference loss at St. John’s, the Bruins’ opening-game opponent, Vermont, won its 10th consecutive game. The Catamounts’ 84-59 victory over Maryland Baltimore County also was their 13th America East Conference victory in a row.

Taylor Coppenrath, who torched UCLA for 38 points, scored 34 in the victory over UMBC. Vermont is 13-5, 9-0 in conference play. The Catamounts are two shy of matching the school-record winning streak of 12.

Winter in Minnesota

Minnesota didn’t figure to be among the Big Ten leaders this season, but no one expected an 0-7 start in conference play. A 61-47 loss to Northwestern kept the Gophers winless in the Big Ten.

“We just looked like a team that is not very confident,” Coach Dan Monson said. “We’re a frustrated basketball team.... We’ve got more mental issues than physical.”

Homered at Home?

Connecticut shot 26 free throws to only 12 for Boston College and, not surprisingly, the No. 6 Huskies beat the Eagles, 63-58, at Boston.

Al Skinner, Boston College’s coach, wasn’t pleased.

“No one gets fouled in the act of shooting? No one gets fouled?” Skinner wailed after the game. “My guys deserve a better effort than they got [from the referees]. Anyone that knows me knows I don’t whine. I don’t complain. I guess I do now.”

Yeah, guess so.

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Times wire services contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Painful Week

Louisville’s Rick Pitino and Utah’s Rick Majerus -- two of college basketball’s winningest active Division I coaches -- have had to deal with health issues in the last week. Majerus has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the team after suffering from chest pains. Pitino returned to coaching Saturday after taking a medical leave because of pain in his left side. The top 10 winning percentages of Division I coaches who started 2003-04 with a minimum of five seasons:

*--* No. Coach (Seasons) Current Team Pct 1 Roy Williams (16) North Carolina 803 2 Jim Boeheim (28) Syracuse 744 3 Lute Olson (31) Arizona 743 4 Mike Krzyzewski (29) Duke 743 5 Rick Majerus (20) Utah 742 6 Bob Huggins (23) Cincinnati 741 7 Rick Pitino (18) Louisville 738 8 Tubby Smith (13) Kentucky 729 9 Bob Knight (38) Texas Tech 724 10 John Chaney (32) Temple 715

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