It’s Early, but UCLA Is No. 2 in Rankings

On the strength of its 82-81 victory over Kentucky, UCLA moved to No. 2 in the Associated Press men’s basketball poll on Monday behind North Carolina, which became the third team to hold the top spot this season.

The Tar Heels (4-0) received 54 first-place votes and 1,633 points from the 66 members of the national media panel. UCLA (2-0), which was ranked No. 1 early last season, had five first-place votes and 1,501 points. . . . Tennessee remained No. 1 in the women’s poll. USC is 24th. . . . The Pond of Anaheim will be the site of the NCAA West Regional of the 1998 men’s basketball tournament, the NCAA has announced.

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Arizona center Joseph Blair has been suspended indefinitely for failing to fulfill his academic responsibilities, Coach Lute Olson said. . . . Darrel Johnson, former Baylor basketball coach, has pleaded not guilty to mail- and wire-fraud charges in connection with the alleged illegal recruitment of five junior college players.

Swimming

New testing methods caught the 11 Chinese athletes who were stripped of their Asian Game medals for using performance-enhancing drugs during the October competition in Hiroshima, Japan. An official at Mitsubishi Chemical Biochemical Laboratories Inc., which conducted the tests, said previous testing methods would not have been able to detect the drugs. The seven Chinese swimmers who failed drug tests at the Asian Games are expected to be banned for two years from international competition, an international swimming federation official said.

Kristin Otto, star of the 1988 Olympics, and other members of East Germany’s record-shattering women’s swimming teams were part of a systematic doping program, according to East German secret police records published in Swimming World.

Miscellany

Rev. Jesse Jackson criticized Colorado for hiring white football coach Rick Neuheisel and said he might urge recruits to boycott the school. . . . Two days after Sweden won the final in Moscow, all six members of the country’s Davis Cup Committee quit. . . . After a two-day break, the NHL and its players’ union resumed negotiations in Chicago and progress was made on the issues of entry-level salary and free agency. There is speculation the league will reintroduce the controversial “luxury tax�--which could derail any progress--when negotiations resume today. . . . Bruce Bargmann, a former company vice president who worked for Kings owner Bruce McNall, pleaded guilty to fraud, the fifth former McNall aide to do so.

Names in the News

International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch will not run for reelection in 1997, he said in an interview published in Greece. . . . Alabama’s Jay Barker has been named recipient of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, presented to the nation’s top senior quarterback. . . . Notre Dame football players Bobby Taylor and Germaine Holden will not play in the Fiesta Bowl after being suspended for one game for accepting compensation in an attempt to buy tickets to the Irish’s game against USC.

The Angels signed utility player Rex Hudler to a two-year, $600,000 contract and acquired shortstop Thomas Perez in the Rule 5 draft, then sold Perez to the Toronto Blue Jays. . . . The Dodgers selected left-handed reliever Ed Vosberg in the Rule 5 draft. . . . Free agent catcher Dave Valle and the Texas Rangers agreed to a $1.1-million, two-year contract.