Kentucky

Kentucky offensive coordinator Joker Phillips eventually will become the Wildcats' head coach after Rich Brooks' retirement, the university said in a statement yesterday. The 66-year-old Brooks signed a contract extension through 2011 that will pay him $1.6 million a season. Phillips, who has just completed his third season with the Wildcats, played at Kentucky from 1981 to 1984. He would be the first African American football coach at his alma mater. Three Division II officials in the South Atlantic Conference were suspended and banned from working postseason games because they mistakenly credited Wingate with a basket on a missed shot during its 83-82 victory over Carson-Newman on Wednesday night.

The committee that selects the teams for the NCAA tournament obviously has a sense of history, because they sent Kentucky and Duke, the combatants in the epic East Regional final 20 years ago at the Spectrum, to the same region again, the South. This time it's the Wildcats who are the No. 1 seed and the favorite to win the whole tournament. Kentucky has a player of the year candidate in Anthony Davis and players like Terrence Jones and Darius Miller who were on its Final Four team of a year ago. The No. 2-seeded Blue Devils played the nation's second-toughest schedule during the year and have one of the best freshmen in the nation in Austin Rivers.

Mike Scipione, a 6-foot-6, 233-pound quarterback who did not play a single down as a backup at Kentucky last season, has transferred to Villanova, an athletic department spokesman said yesterday. Scipione, who will not have to sit out a year because he transferred from a NCAA Division I-A school to one in Division I-AA, will have three years of eligibility remaining. He is set to begin classes at Villanova tomorrow. Scipione, of Chantilly, Va., is expected to get a chance at spring practice to compete for the starting quarterback job with Brett Gordon.

Kentucky players Walter McCarty and Anthony Epps said they thought the NCAA had cleared them to go to a game in Louisville to watch Ron Mercer play and speak to the high school prospect. Seven Kentucky players made the trip to Louisville on Jan. 20 for the game between Louisville Male and Mercer's Oak Hill Academy, Va., team. "We just went up there to say hi, because we know him," said McCarty, one of the five Kentucky players who reportedly entered the locker room to speak with Mercer after the game.

Kentucky coach John Calipari and Kentucky experienced an entirely different kind of "one-and-done" in Tuesday's opening round of the NIT. A year after cutting down the nets in New Orleans, the defending national champions were cut down in Calipari's hometown of Moon, Pa., by Robert Morris, who let a 13-point second-half lead disappear before pulling out a thrilling 59-57 victory. Robert Morris (24-10) led almost the entire way, never blinking in a rare visit from one of college basketball's Goliaths.

Kentucky was hit hard by the NCAA yesterday when it was placed on three years' probation for football recruiting violations in "one of the more serious cases heard by the committee in recent years. " The Wildcats, cited by the NCAA for more than three dozen recruiting violations, were banned from a bowl game next season and must forfeit 19 scholarships over the next three years. "This is an embarrassment to the university, it's an embarrassment to our fans and it's an embarrassment to the athletic department," Kentucky athletic director Larry Ivy said.

It was as corny as when Notre Dame brings out the green uniforms, as teary as if you were watching the movie Hoosiers. Derek Anderson, the Kentucky senior who tore up his knee two months ago and watched his teammates make an improbable trip to the Final Four without him, was beckoned by his coach, pushed onto the floor by the other guys on the bench, and given a chance to make two technical free throws. The RCA Dome was in an uproar, Kentucky fans everywhere waving sweaters and hats, waving anything blue.

Kansas coach Bill Self said one of his biggest worries about Julian Wright was the sophomore forward's tendency to become too energetic. In his hometown, in the arena where he used to watch Michael Jordan play, Wright used all of his energy in the right way last night, helping top-seeded Kansas advance to the Sweet 16 after beating Kentucky, 88-76, at the United Center. The Jayhawks will face fourth-seeded Southern Illinois in the next round Thursday in San Jose, Calif. "I worry about Julian because sometimes his energy level is off the charts, and that's not always good," Self said.

At least 22 people were arrested in disturbances following Kentucky's 43-37, triple-overtime upset of then-No. 1 LSU. Couches were set ablaze near the heart of off-campus student housing after the game Saturday night, and parties continued until 3 a.m., with bonfires in driveways. Police monitored the city of Lexington by helicopter. Most of the arrests were for disorderly conduct, alcohol intoxication and trespassing, university spokesman Jay Blanton said yesterday. This was Kentucky's first victory over a top-ranked team since 1964, when the Wildcats beat Mississippi.