Tuesday, April 17, 2001 | 10:17 a.m.
Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4088.
With everybody from Arizona with the exception of Barry Goldwater having declared for the NBA draft, Wildcats fans and others concerned with the integrity of college basketball are wondering what can be done to prevent the pros from raiding college campusus.
Based on what the NCAA has announced as a potential solution, probably not a whole lot.
The NCAA last week voted to allow student-athletes -- otherwise known as players -- to obtain a one-time $20,000 bank loan based on future earnings.
While $20,000 wouldn't pay for one of those fully loaded SUVs these guys like to drive around, NCAA officials have declared that this is a step in the right direction.
For guys such as Arizona's Gilbert Arenas, who already has been spotted tooling around the Tucson campus in another sort of luxury sedan with all the options, paying back a $20,000 loan wouldn't be much of a problem. Like studying for a law exam with John Houseman as your tutor.
But what do you do if you're a guy such as former UNLV sniper Anderson Hunt, who might have borrowed the cash prior to coming out of school but then had no way to pay it back after being ignored by the NBA?
Maybe this loan thing isn't a total joke, which might explain why Jackie Mason isn't interested. But maybe nobody should be interested.
It was just two years ago that Duke lost four defectors, including three to the NBA draft.
It was just two weeks ago that the Blue Devils won the national championship.
Replacing a starter or two -- or even three or more -- isn't a problem for these basketball factories. As for the fans, well, I don't think the Cameron Crazies stopped going to the games because Elton Brand, William Avery and Cory Maggette bolted for the NBA.
On the other hand, the players might think they are entitled to some of that $6 billion CBS paid for the right to televise March Madness. But the Duke situation shows exactly why they are not. In college hoops, fans cheer for the jersey, not the kid who is wearing it.
So I say leave the game as it is.
As Jim Litke of the Associated Press said, there are more people willing to get in the way of an errant Tiger Woods' drive than were ringing the greens at Wilshire Country Club.
Moreover, the tournament was shortened to three days because the host course refused to cancel an Easter egg hunt on Sunday. Last year, the LPGA championship, which had been held at the Desert Inn, had to be moved to Florida at the last instant when the D.I. closed for renovations and nobody else around here bothered to step up.
Yet LPGA officials said over the weekend that the tour has never been in better shape.
The Padres are denying the report, as Winfield was forced to decide between representing the Padres or Yankees.
A source told the Daily News that Winfield offered to wear a Yankees cap to Cooperstown for a similar price, to which George Steinbrenner was said to have replied: "If you want to go in the Hall of Fame as a Yankee, then go in as a Yankee. We're not paying you."
While George has been known to open his mouth a time or two, that would mark the first time he hasn't opened his wallet.
Ingrid Sturm and Stephanie Rauch played varsity tennis at UNC.
Rauch-Sturm is at least the second Las Vegan who has had his/her name attached to a new collegiate sports complex in recent weeks. The University of North Dakota's Engelstad Arena, named for Imperial Palace owner and former Fighting Sioux goalie Ralph Englestad, is set to open in the fall.
No word yet on the groundbreaking for Wayne Newton Yards.
* BELL LAP: The last time I watched an NBA game from start to finish, there were two guys on the court who shot free throws underhanded (Rick Barry and George Johnson, Golden State Warriors vs. Washington Bullets, 1975 NBA Finals). But now that the league has adopted the zone defense, my curiosity has been aroused. ... Regarding above note: Anybody know what kind of shape Travis Bice is in these days? ... There was good news and bad news for the XFL last week. The good news is that the fledgling football league's TV ratings are better than the NHL's. The bad news is that the XFL got killed at the gate by a new women's pro soccer league last weekend. ... ESPN The Magazine on this weekend's inaugural XFL championship game: "The cream of the crap."
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