An eighth suspect was arrested Tuesday in the point-shaving scandal at Tulane University. Meanwhile, a newspaper reported that a basketball player implicated in the case said he and four others were paid $5,000 in the scheme. The Orleans Parish District Attorney`s office said Craig L. Bourgeois, 23, of New Orleans was booked on five counts of sports bribery and one count of conspiracy to commit sports bribery. He is not a student at Tulane, according to spokeswoman Zully Jimenez.
The Times-Picayune and States-Item reported that according to sources close to the investigation, Bobby Thompson, a senior guard, told investigators he received the money through a middleman from Roland Ruiz, a convicted bookmaker. Thompson told prosecutors he took the $5,000 for point-shaving in the Feb. 20 game against Memphis State and shared it with the other four players, according to the paper`s sources.
The $5,000 from Ruiz was in addition to the $18,000 prosecutors were told the five players received from a group of students to manipulate the score in the Feb. 20 game and in a Feb. 2 game against Southern Mississippi, the sources said.
Those arrested include three players, three other Tulane students who are not members of the team, Ruiz and Bourgeois. All are free on bond. District Attorney Harry Connick said Monday there may be more arrests.
— Louisiana Tech coach Andy Russo admits he`s a prime candidate for the vacant University of Washington head basketball coaching job. ”The ball`s in their court now,” the Chicago-area native said. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that the search for a successor to the retired Marv Harshman, 67, had narrowed to two men: Russo and Don DeVoe of Tennessee.
— Utah`s leading scorer this season, junior guard Kelvin Upshaw, a Marshall High graduate, was ruled eligible to return to school after his academic record was reviewed.
— Former Villanova coach Alexander Severance died Monday at his Lexington hotel room of an apparent heart attack, hours before his former school won the NCAA championship. He was 77. Severance coached Villanova from 1936-61.
THORN WATCHES, WAITS
Rod Thorn has 15 months before he has to work for a living again. That`s how much time was left on his contract when he was fired as Bulls` general manager by owner Jerry Reinsdorf and replaced by Jerry Krause. ”I`ve talked to a lot of people in the league, but it will be two to three months before I decide what I`m going to do,” Thorn said. ”People have talked to me, feeling-out types of things. They presented different scenarios that might happen and asked if I`d be interested. There`s a good chance I`ll be back in the NBA. There`s certainly a good chance I could be back in the coaching end.”
The Seattle SuperSonics would be a possibility. There are reports coach Lenny Wilkens will be given a front-office position at the end of the season and Thorn could be a leading candidate to take over. ”I played for Lenny and worked with him as an assistant coach,” Thorn said. ”He is one of my best friends in basketball.”
— Boston Celtics` star Larry Bird is nursing a sore elbow that has hampered his ability to shoot to such a degree that he`s taking some time off. ”I just can`t extend my arm fully when I shoot,” Bird said Monday after a workout. Because of the problem, Bird was expected to sit out Tuesday night`s game against the Bucks in Milwaukee and may miss Wednesday`s Boston Garden matchup against the Indiana Pacers.
KNIGHT`S NEW STRATEGY
Indiana coach Bobby Knight is going to make some changes. ”I think what`s happened is that we`ve been too colloquial in our recruiting, and we`ve got to expand our recruiting,” he said. ”Ohio, Illinois and Indiana is almost exclusively where we`ve recruited, and it`s always been very good for us. That`s indicated by the success we`ve had. But you just can`t stick with it when it begins to hurt you.”
Knight also intends to red-shirt players for reasons other than injuries or academic problems and will sign junior college players, whom he has avoided in the past. The coach already has commitments from three JUCO players–Todd Jadlow, a skinny 6-foot-10-inch forward from Barton County Community College; Andre Harris (6-7), also from Barton County CC; and Lenell Moore (6-7), a forward who attended Allen County (Kan.) Community College and Porterville
(Calif.) Junior College.
OUT OF COMMITTEE
Now read this, St. Louis Cardinals. The Senate Commerce Committee gave 10-6 approval Tuesday to a bill that grants limited antitrust exemptions to professional sports leagues but that also places restrictions on the movement of franchises. The measure covers pro football, basketball, hockey and soccer and would exempt those leagues from antitrust considerations in franchise relocation and revenue-sharing decisions. Permission to move would be based on a number of factors, including adequacy of stadium and related facilities, willingness of the community to correct problems, ticket sales, profitability, and presence of a good-faith local offer to buy the club at a fair price. The bill is sponsored by Missouri`s two senators, Republican John Danforth and Democrat Thomas Eagleton. The St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League reportedly are considering offers to move the team.
CAUGHT SHORT
He was hitting .325. He hadn`t made an error in 80 chances at shortstop. But those statistics won`t help University of Oklahoma baseball star Greg Edge now. Edge faces seven counts of a federal indictment for selling cocaine to undercover agents. Oklahoma coach Enos Semore said if the charges are true, Edge will be dropped from the club.
JOCKEY SUSPENDED
Stewards at Hialeah (Fla.) race course have suspended jockey Donald MacBeth for 10 days for his ride in the Flamingo Stakes Saturday in which Chief`s Crown was disqualified for cutting in front of Proud Truth and Stephan`s Odyssey. Chief`s Crown finished first, but Proud Truth was awarded the victory. Chief`s Crown and Proud Truth are the early favorites in the May 4 Kentucky Derby.
