Loyola Marymount Goes With Tention

Loyola Marymount will hire Rodney Tention as its men’s basketball coach, school officials said Friday.

Tention has spent the last eight seasons as an assistant at Arizona under Lute Olson. He will be Loyola Marymount’s 23rd coach and succeeds Steve Aggers, who was fired March 9 after the Lions were eliminated in the first round of the WCC tournament.

Pending final approval of school President Father Robert Lawton, Loyola Athletic Director Bill Husak said Tention was expected to be introduced at a news conference Tuesday. Lawton was not on campus Friday.

Tention, in St. Louis for the NCAA Final Four, could not be reached for comment.

“I anticipate that it will just be a formality,” said Husak, who would not divulge contract details.

A former point guard and team captain at the University of San Francisco, Tention was selected over former NBA player and current FSN analyst Jack Haley after other candidates either turned down overtures or pulled their names from consideration.

Tention was considered when his alma mater was looking for a head coach last year but was passed over for another Olson protege, Jessie Evans. He will take over a Lion team that went 11-17 overall and finished last in the West Coast Conference, but has everyone returning except point guard Charles Brown.

“I know he’s been very excited about that possibility,” Olson said.

“He’s done a great job here. There’s no question that he has a strong desire to be a head coach. He’s ready.”

Tention worked with the Arizona guards and served as the program’s chief recruiter. “I think he’ll be a great choice,” Olson said. “He’s a good fit there. He knows Los Angeles and he has so many contacts down there.”

-- Eric Stephens

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Utah center Andrew Bogut was chosen Associated Press player of the year.

The 7-foot sophomore led Division I with 26 double-doubles in 35 games.

Bogut was second in rebounding at 12.2 a game and fourth in field goal percentage at 62%.

He averaged 20.4 points a game, 15th in the nation, and was the leading vote-getter on AP’s All-America team.

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Bruce Weber, who led Illinois to its winningest season, was an overwhelming choice as Associated Press coach of the year.

The Fighting Illini (36-1), who play Louisville in the national semifinals today, were ranked No. 1 the final 15 weeks of the season.

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Rob Evans will return for an eighth season as Arizona State coach, university president Michael Crow told the East Valley (Ariz.) Tribune.

Evans has two years left on his contract, and there had been speculation his status was in doubt after the Sun Devils failed to reach the NCAA tournament for the seventh time during his tenure.

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Dave Dickerson, who has spent the last nine seasons as an assistant at Maryland, was introduced as the new coach at Tulane.

He replaces Shawn Finney, who had a 60-86 record in five seasons