Staff and wire reports

Three area college basketball players were named to the John R. Wooden Preseason All-America Team Wednesday. The team, which comprises 50 potential candidates for the postseason award, includes Cincinnati's Jason Maxiell, Xavier's Romain Sato and Kentucky's Gerald Fitch.

A midseason Top 30 list will be named later, and the top five finalists are invited to Los Angeles April 10 for the postseason ceremony.

Sato and Maxiell were preseason candidates last season as well, along with Xavier's David West, who was a finalist for the award.

• Xavier's Sato will play for the Central African Republic National Team that begins play today in the African qualifier for the 2004 Olympics. Sato's CAR team will play against other African teams in Egypt during the next two weeks. CAR is in Group A of the 22nd African Masculine Basketball Championship, along with Egypt, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Mozambique. Group B has defending champion Angola, Senegal, Morocco, Madagascar, Tunisia and South Africa.

KENTUCKY WESLEYAN: The school must vacate its runner-up finish in this year's NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament, the NCAA announced. Kentucky Wesleyan president Wesley H. Poling said two transfers were allowed to play last season despite being ineligible.

In July, Kentucky Wesleyan agreed to forfeit all its wins from this past season after the NCAA found the school had committed two secondary rule infractions. The Panthers finished 31-4 and lost 75-64 to Northeastern State (Okla.) in the championship game March 29 in Lakeland, Fla.

NBA

MILWAUKEE - Terry Porter has been hired as the new coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, general manager Larry Harris announced Wednesday.

Porter, 40, worked last season as an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings, his first season in coaching after a 17-year playing career.

"He is a proven winner in the NBA who played the game with dignity, confidence and intensity, skills that will translate directly to the improvement of our team," Harris said.

After starring at Milwaukee South Division High School and at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Porter was hoping to be drafted by the Bucks in 1985, but they bypassed him and he was selected by Portland instead.

"1985 was a tough year for me," he quipped Wednesday, but said he was happy to return home - with a much bigger profile.

"This is a day that I've dreamed about and worked very hard for," Porter said. "For it to happen here in Milwaukee makes it that much more special."

JAZZ: Utah signed free agent forward Michael Ruffin to a one-year deal. Terms were not disclosed.

76ERS: Derrick Coleman re-signed with Philadelphia, getting a three-year contract worth up to $13.5 million. Coleman, 36, finished last season with averages of 9.4 points and 7.0 rebounds in 64 games, including 35 starts.

In 13 NBA seasons, Coleman has averaged 17.0 points and 9.5 rebounds.

• Hall of Fame player Alex English joined the 76ers as an assistant to coach Randy Ayers.

Volleyball

Former Turpin High School player Tammy Schuler was part of the U.S. team that won a gold medal at the recent Down Under Games in Rockhampton, Australia.

Schuler, a junior at Urbana University, traveled with a U.S. team that faced national teams and university teams from Australia, Asia, New Zealand and Europe.