Columnist Ron Kantowski: 'Strip basketball' game revealed at Rutgers

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4088.

When Josh Sankes and Earl Johnson Jr., were promised they would receive some exposure by signing with coach Kevin Bannon and the Rutgers University men's basketball program, shooting free throws in the nude probably was not what they had in mind.

In a story that has stayed ... well, under wraps for two years, it was reported last weekend that Sankes and Johnson and two student managers ran wind sprints in their birthday suits after losing a strip free-throw contest with their teammates during a Scarlet Knights practice over Christmas break.

It wasn't the first time that Bannon took the Shirts vs. Skins thing to the extreme. It turns out that co-ed naked free throw shooting (minus the co-eds) at Rutgers was just a continuation of a tradition he started during his coaching days at Rider University.

The coach said in a statement that he was only trying to add some levity during an otherwise mundane practice when he turned it into a peep show. But the two players and two student managers who ... well, gave a new meaning to the term "losing streak," didn't really see the humor.

Sankes said the naked bootleg he and the others were made to run across the gym floor was one of the reasons he decided to transfer to Holy Cross, where the great Bob Cousy once starred fully clothed.

It's a good thing that Wilt Chamberlain, Shaq or any of the UNLV teams of the past 10 years didn't play at Rutgers. They might have caught a death of a cold.

* ODOM'S CHECK-UP: The Los Angeles Times last Thursday said there may have been contact between Lamar Odom and a UNLV booster during the recruitment of the would-be Rebel between his sophomore and junior years in high school.

According to the story, David Chapman, a 37-year-old Las Vegas dentist and supporter of the UNLV men's basketball program, was approached by Odom's aunt, JaNean, during the Big Time Tournament in which Odom was playing here.

But a source close to Chapman said Odom's aunt mistook the dentist for UNLV coach Bill Bayno which, I suppose, is understandable.

Coaching college basketball is this town has always been a little like pulling teeth.

* HOMER THIS: All that was lacking in Busch Stadium for the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa Home Run Derby over the weekend was that wooden-appearing guy named Mark who hosted the television show of the same name during the early 1960s.

But forgive Cubs manager Jim Riggleman for not being knee-deep in the hoopla. The former Las Vegas Stars skipper seems more interested in saving his job these days than commenting on the he-man exploits of Big Mac and Slammin' Sammy.

"I can't tell you how uninterested I am in that," the usually easy going Riggleman said about McGwire-Sosa II. "The significance of (Sosa's) home runs is they help us win ballgames, not put himself in the record books."

* MAJOR OIL CHANGE: Omigod! They fired Kenny!

But that Kenny Irwin was sacked from his ride in the high-profile No. 28 NASCAR Texaco Havoline Ford didn't come as a major surprise to most who follow the stock car circuit. After all, this is a guy who just two years ago couldn't even make the field of five finalists during the inaugural Team Kool Green Academy for wannabe Champ Car racers at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Granted, Team Green was looking for the next Dario Franchitti or Paul Tracy -- a driver who can turn right as well as left. But ever since Jeff Gordon moved from Indiana to take up permanent residence in Winston Cup's victory lane, it has become hip for NASCAR team owners to turn to the Midwest open-wheel bullrings in an attempt to find a Gordon clone.

In promising rookie Tony Stewart, former Super Bowl coach Joe Gibbs may have found one for his two-car team which includes veteran Bobby Labonte. But Robert Yates, who gambled and lost on Irwin, is still looking.

I'd suggest he start south of the Mason-Dixon Line this time.

* AROUND THE HORN: Former UNLV golfer Skip Kendall, who set a course record during the second round of the PGA Championship over the weekend, has found a novel way to balance his career with his marriage. His wife, Beth, is also his caddie. She was the bag lady for Kendall at Medinah over the weekend. ... Former UNLV Lady Rebel Angie White has been named an assistant women's basketball coach at New Mexico State. ... The game of shinny between a group of NHL players and some of their Hollywood buddies mentioned in this space last week was played at the Las Vegas Ice Gardens in the Industrial Center, and not the Sahara Ice Palace on Karen. I guess we have more ice than ice hockey teams around here these days. ... It seemed like a good idea at the time, but a proposed nationally televised prep football championship game may have to be put on the back burner. Fox Sports Net has run into opposition from the various state federations, who don't want their student-athletes playing an extra game at the end of the season. ... Sad note: The assistant horse racing trainer at Saratoga who was killed in an auto accident near the track last week was a Henderson native. Alexander Derosa, 25, suffered fatal injuries when the car he was riding in collided head-on with a van. ... Nice P.R. move by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) last Saturday. When second-day qualifying at Mid-Ohio was rained out, fans were invited down to the pits and paddock to hang out with the drivers and their crews for a full 90 minutes. The next time the Cubs are rained out at Wrigley, what are the chances you'll be invited into the locker room to shoot the breeze with Sammy Sosa?

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