European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 10, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stars and stripes March 10,1992 c Page 28 nil players open talks a _. Minlu  off Iii inside sports Floyd captures doral open Page 21 Lindsey dominates Csc awards a Page 21 goalies frustrate nil contenders a Page 22 blazers Down sonics Aba report Page 25 Duke s no. 7 is almost unanimous by the associated press Duke could become the second team in As Many years to hold the no. 1 ranking from preseason to the final poll a if history does not repeat itself. Duke returned to near unanimous status As the top ranked team in the associated press poll on monday with Only one More poll left before the Mcaa tournament begins on March 19. No. 2 Arizona which plays no. 8 Urcla thursday night in a game that could determine the Pac-10 Champion appears to have the Best shot at derailing Duke in the poll but that could Only happen if Duke loses in the acc tournament. That a what happened to Duke last season although the Blue devils weren to ranked no. 1 at the time. In their last game before the tournament the Blue devils were clobbered 96-74 by North Carolina in the acc title game. Last wednesday the Blue devils rallied from 19 Points Down Early in the second half to beat Clemson 98-97, so their time might be near. Univ was no. 1 in every poll last season but lost to Duke in the National semifinals and the Blue devils went on to win the National title by beating Kansas. The Blue devils 25-2 received All but two of the 64 first place votes cast by the nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters and received 1,598 Points 149 More than runner up Arizona 24-4which moved up two places from last week. Kansas 23-4 held third place and was just five Points behind the wildcats. Indiana 22-5 and Ohio state 21-5who Are tied for first in the big ten round out the first five. Arkansas 24-6 and univ 26-2which received the other two first place votes switched places from last week and were followed in the top ten by Urcla 23-4kentucky 23-6 and Southern Cal 21-5. Oklahoma state 24-6 led the second ten and was followed by Cincinnati Missouri Michigan Seton Hall Michigan state Alabama Florida state Depaul and North Carolina. Georgetown topped the final five and was followed by Massachusetts Louisiana state Oklahoma and St. Johns. Tulane and Syracuse were dropped from the rankings. By Dave Goldberg new York a with less than a month left until the Start of the Stanley cup playoffs nil players and owners met monday to resume talks aimed at averting the first Ever hockey strike. While talks remained in the preliminary stage neither Side had a thing to say other than that each hoped to Avert a walkout. A a there a conjecture that the owners have been sitting Back and waiting a nil spokesman Bill Wilkerson said. A this is a compliant group of people. Their business is at  players want an arbitration like baseball a where Independent arbitrators decide salary disputes. The current system uses arbitrators under league jurisdiction. The players also want liberalized free Agency rules a better pension plan and increased playoff Money. Owners who met among themselves for two hours before the formal talks began Are at a disadvantage because they get the majority of their profit from the playoffs. The players on the other hand get their final paychecks of the season on March 15. After that players get from Between $500 a Man and $25,000 per Man depending on How far their teams Advance in the playoffs. That led Bill Torrey general manager of the new York islanders and a member of the negotiating committee to predict a strike for March 16, the Day after the players get their last paycheck. Others think a walkout could take place april 8, when the playoffs Are scheduled to Start. Torrey the Only management official who has commented publicly was silent monday As negotiations started. So were members of the players delegation led by Bob Goodenow the executive director of the nil players association and Bryan Trottier of the Pittsburgh penguins the unions president. Trottier was one of six players at mondays session. This is the eighth meeting of the two sides since june and the largest gathering since last september. The players have been without an agreement since sept. 15, when the previous five year contract expired. The session was preceded by a meeting a week ago Between Goodenow and president John Ziegler. The last formal negotiation was feb. 24. Wichita St. Contacts Valvano Wichita Kan. Up a Jim Valvano the former basketball coach of North Carolina state is considering becoming the basketball coach at Wichita state. Valvano now a basketball commentator for esp told the Cable network he had been contacted about the coaching vacancy at the school. He told esp radio sunday night he plans to have further talks with the University. Wichita state needs a replacement for Mike Cohen who said earlier this year he would resign after the season. The season ended with saturdays 67-63 loss to Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley conference tournament. Valvano who was forced to resign at . State after the 1990 season has been unavailable for comment. His wife Pam told the Wichita Eagle last week she was sure her husband had never even i visited Wichita. A is there a College there a she asked. When Pam Valvano was reached again sunday she said she knew nothing about any interest her husband might have in the shockers Job then she Hung up. Rex Cottle the schools vice president for academic affairs and the chairman of the search committee for a new coach is the Only committee member authorized to talk publicly on this matter. Cottle has said he hoped to name a new coach by late this  i think we re moving along a he told the Eagle. One problem in trying to land Valvano is Money. He reportedly makes As in urn As $1 million working for esp and Abc where he is also a basketball analyst. It is believed Wichita states top Oner would be $400,000, which in addition to base salary would include any radio and television shows a shoe contract and other Perks. Another problem in trying to lure Valvano would be the Lack of National exposure Given the Missouri Valley conference. Wichita state is looking for a successful division i coach. It has already been turned Down by Purdue a Gene Keady and Oklahoma states Eddie Sutton. Tark univ practice and wait Las vegas a univ players have returned to the practice court hopeful lawyers can convince a judge to put them into the Mcaa tournament. The players worked out for 90 minutes sunday night under former rebels coach Jerry Tarkanian. Ironically Tarkanian is a defendant in the lawsuit the players filed Friday in state District court. The no. 7 rebels 26-2 Are banned from postseason play this season As a final Resolution of a 13-year Battle Between Tarkanian and the Mcaa. Lawyers for the players obtained a temporary restraining order allowing the rebels to practice until the Issue of Post season play is determined in another court hearing wednesday. District court judge Donald Mosley is scheduled to decide then whether to Grant a preliminary injunction forcing the Mcaa to allow univ in the tournament. However univ president Robert Maxson said the school would turn Down any invitation