The Week In Tv Sports

Saturday 2/28

TRACK & FIELD
USA Indoor Championships
Paul McMullen (left), one of the featured performers at this meet at the Georgia Dome, is entitled to a 20% discount if he desires a pedicure. Last June, McMullen sliced parts of two toes off his right foot while mowing a neighbor's lawn. The U.S. 1,500-meter champ in 1995 and '96, McMullen has recovered nicely. Wearing a size-11 shoe on his left foot and a 10� on his right, he ran a personal-best 3:56.63 mile on Feb. 7 at Notre Dame, then finished second (3:57.46) in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games on Feb. 13. McMullen's wife, Jill, called the former clocking "a world record for a guy with eight toes."
? NBC, 2 PM

COLLEGE BASKETBALL
New Mexico at Utah
On the previous WAC-y episode of The Commish Meets Sheriff Lobo: New Mexico, abetted by a Royce Olney steal that leaves Ute Andre Miller sprawled on the court in Albuquerque, hands Utah (at week's end 22-2 and ranked No. 5) its first loss of the season, 77-74. (It's tough to blame the ref for the noncall: The Pit is the most unruly hoops arena this side of a CNN town meeting hull.) Afterward WAC commissioner Karl Benson said Olney should have been whistled for a foul, which incited coach Dave Bliss of the Lobos (21-4, No. 16) to bluster, "Karl Benson is the worst commissioner in America." Move over, Bud Selig. Tonight's pivotal matchup is the one between conference player of the year candidates Kenny Thomas of New Mexico and Michael Doleac of Utah.
? ESPN, 9:30 PM

Sunday 3/1

AUTO RACING
Las Vegas 400
Leaving Las Vegas: Nicolas Cage, Sheryl Crow and suspected anthrax terrorists. Long departed: Dan Tanna and Jerry Tarkanian. Coming to town: NASCAR, for this inaugural Winston Cup race on the 1.5-mile, low-banked Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval. By the time the green flag is waved, Jeff Gordon (below, 24), winner of last week's race at Rockingham, Rusty Wallace (2), the series points leader, et al. will have finished congratulating Dale Earnhardt for his Daytona 500 win and resumed trading paint and barbs. Pace car fantasy: Austin Powers ( Mike Myers) and Vanessa Kensington ( Elizabeth Hurley) reprising their cinematic first date to What the World Needs Now.
?ABC, 2:30 PM

DRAMAS
The White Shadow
Otherwise known as To Sir with Lovetron. How fondly we recall the gritty hoopsters from Carver High, clad in those garish, butt-hugger orange unis. Coolidge, Hayward, Salami, Thorpe and their pale rider coach, Ken Reeves (Ken Howard), were not even around long enough (1978-81) to exhaust their eligibility. Now, during March Madness, episodes will be telecast back-to-back each Sunday night. Howard, portraying a retired Chicago Bull now coaching high school, had far more street cred than does the coach presently played by Reggie Theus, an actual former Bull, on NBC's high school comedy Hang Time.
?NICK AT NIGHT, 8 PM

Tuesday 3/3
PRO BASKETBALL
Sonics at Heat
If you can't stand the Heat...you're not alone. Miami (backward: I maim) made February its own Black-and-Blue History month. On Feb. 1 center Alonzo Mourning's hard foul against the Knicks' Larry Johnson incited a dustup; the next night guard Voshon Lenard's flagrant personal sent Hawks center Dikembe Mutombo out of the game with a bruised tail-bone. Will Gary Payton (left, in photo) and the group-hug Sonics embrace the style of Heat guard Tim Hardaway (right) and the group-thug Heat in this showdown between Pacific and Atlantic division powers?
?TNT, 8 PM

ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANCE.