THE OPENING LINE

Monday, Oct. 9, 2006 | 7:32 a.m.

A COACH WHO CAN'T STAY OUT OF THE NEWS

With the start of college basketball practice looming, I'm beginning to feel like Huey Lewis. Only he needed a new drug. I need a new college basketball team for which to cheer.

I want a new team

One that does what it should

One that won't make me feel too bad

One that won't break NCAA rules.

That used to be my old team, Indiana. Before they hired John Dillinger to coach it.

Dillinger, aka Kelvin Sampson, the former leader of the Oklahoma Gang, apparently was all the Hoosiers could get after Mike Davis' size 9 1/2 feet came up woefully short in You Know Who's size-12 coaching shoes.

But at least Davis played by the rules. And kept his cell phone in his pocket.

That's not the case with Cingular Sampson, who just a few weeks after being named the Indiana coach was ruled to have deliberately broken NCAA rules by making illegal phone calls to Oklahoma recruits. That's phone calls, plural. Real big on the plural.

The NCAA ruled that Sampson and his staff made 577 illegal phone calls, with Sampson being personally responsible for 233 of those.

Can you hear me now? There's trouble on the Verizon, Hoosier fans.

These illegal phone calls, I might add, occurred during Sampson's tenure as president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches when he presided over an ethics summit.

Although he has been barred from recruiting off campus, Sampson's new bosses are standing behind him it was either that or play a Get Out of Jail Free card. They say he is a man of integrity who made an error in judgment. Sort of like Heckle and Jeckle, the talking magpies.

But I say ol' chap. Until further notice, I think I'm just gonna cheer for Texas Tech.

THIS WEEK'S BEST BET

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Phoenix Suns, NBA preseason game, 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Thomas & Mack Center

Watch Kobe and Shawn Marion try to get a grip on the preseason - and the league's new, slick basketball.

TICKETS: $92, $42, $32, $22, $11

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ALSO WORTH A LOOK

New Mexico at UNLV, 7 p.m. Saturday, Sam Boyd Stadium

If only Brian Urlacher and Randall Cunningham had college eligibility remaining.

TICKETS: $26, $13

ON THE WEB: www.unlvtickets.com