NCAA NOTES

Connecticut’s upset of Duke on Monday night in the national championship game posted a 17.2 national rating and a 27 share, the lowest since CBS began televising the event in 1982.

It was the lowest-rated NCAA championship game since the 1972 UCLA-Florida State final, played in the afternoon.

The 1999 tournament as a whole had a 6.8/15 share, down 7% from last year’s 7.3/17.

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Sidney Moncrief, who helped carry Arkansas to the Final Four in 1978, was hired as the coach at Arkansas Little Rock--his first job in coaching. Moncrief, 41, replaces Wimp Sanderson, who resigned March 1 after the Trojans finished 12-15. . . . East Carolina hired Bill Herrion, coach at Drexel for eight seasons, as its coach. Herrion, 41, succeeds Joe Dooley, who had the final year of his contract bought out after four seasons and a 57-52 record. Herrion was 167-71 at Drexel. . . . Michigan State assistant Tom Crean was hired to replace Mike Deane as coach at Marquette. Crean, 32, replaces Mike Dean, fired after a 14-15 season that followed four straight postseason appearances during his stay. . . . Tom Abatemarco has four wins in two seasons as Cal State Sacramento coach, but was given a one-year contract extension.