Sports briefs 12/14/04

• Illinois was No. 1 in The Associated Press' college basketball poll Monday for a second straight week, the school's longest run ever at the top of the rankings.

The Illini (9-0) moved into the top spot for the third time in school history last week. The other two times -- 1952 and 1989 -- they were there for all of a week, although they reached the Final Four both of those years.

This Illinois team had easy wins over Chicago State, Georgetown and Oregon last week and stayed No. 1 with 35 first-place votes and 1,748 points from the national media panel.

Kansas (6-0), which beat Texas Christian and Louisiana-Lafayette last week, stayed second with 22 No. 1 votes and 1,709 points.

• For the next few weeks, Walt Harris will work for Pittsburgh by day and Stanford by night.

Harris was officially introduced as Stanford's new football coach Monday, given the task of resurrecting a program that struggled in three seasons under Buddy Teevens.

Harris signed a five-year deal less than three weeks before he leads No. 19 Pittsburgh (8-3) in the Fiesta Bowl against Utah. Harris, who accepted Stanford's offer Sunday, will assume his new job after that game Jan. 1. In the meantime, the NCAA allows him one call a week to potential recruits.

Golf

American golfer Ricky Barnes was fined and reprimanded for unprofessional conduct Sunday in the final round of the Australian Masters, the Australasian PGA Tour said Monday.

Barnes, the 2002 U.S. Amateur champion who began play Sunday at Huntingdale only three strokes out of the lead, slammed a club into the ground after his first wayward tee shot on his way to a 78. He also five-putted the 15th hole from about 4 feet, carelessly knocking the ball around with his putter without lining it up, and slammed a club into the ground after another poor drive off the 17th tee.

"From the word go, from the first shot he was blowing up," said playing partner Richard Green, who went on to win the tournament in a playoff. "It was a shame that that sort of behavior was going on."

Barnes later apologized to tournament director Andrew Langford-Jones after receiving a reprimand. Langford-Jones said he fined Barnes a "substantial" amount but would not disclose how much.

"I informed him that I thought that his conduct was unprofessional, and he received a fine for it," Langford-Jones said Monday.

Barnes tied for 40th.

Tennis

• Andy Roddick fired coach Brad Gilbert this weekend after 1 1/2 years together that yielded a U.S. Open title and the No. 1 ranking.

No specific reason was given for the surprising split in a statement Roddick released Monday through SFX Sports Group.

Roddick went 121-26 (an .823 winning percentage) and won nine titles with Gilbert, including his first Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows last year. Roddick finished 2003 atop the ATP Tour rankings to become, at 21, the second-youngest American to end a season there.

But Roddick was relegated to No. 2 this year behind Roger Federer