BRIEFLY : MADKINS MISSES CUT FOR U.S. SQUAD.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Former UCLA standout Gerald Madkins was among the 12 players cut Saturday by coach Rudy Tomjanovich, as he assembles a U.S. team of college players and fringe pros for the World Championship of Basketball.

Others cut were former NBA players Larry Stewart, Acie Earl, Tim Kempton and Randy Livingston. There are 16 players left to battle for the 12 roster spots.

``It's not an easy task because the guys were so competitive and the level of talent was very close,'' Tomjanovich said. ``There are several guys who played very well who are not here. I feel bad about those things, but they happen.''

Duke standout Trajan Langdon and Big Ten player of the year Mateen Cleaves are the biggest names on the list of finalists. Earl Boykins, who, at 5-foot-5 is known as much for his diminutive stature as he is for his ball-handling skills, also made the cut. So did Jimmy King, who was part of Michigan's famed Fab Five and now plays in the CBA.

The other finalists are Brad Miller, Kiwane Garris, Michael Hawkins, Jimmy Oliver, Wendell Alexis, Tim Breaux, Bill Edwards, Jason Sasser, David Wood, Ashraf Amaya, Warren Kidd, and Gerard King.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Notre Dame head coach Bob Davie testified that he questioned then-head coach Lou Holtz's stability during the 1996 season and speculated to another assistant that Holtz was having mental problems.

Davie, on the stand for the second day in a federal age discrimination suit filed against the university, said there were several incidents involving Holtz during the 1996 season that concerned him.

Attorneys for Joe Moore, the former Irish assistant suing for $1 million, grilled Davie about his comments, asking if he considered it disrespectful to question Holtz's mental stability to another coach.

``When I talk about respect, I talk about issues with other coaches and other players,'' said Davie, who claims one of the reasons he fired Moore, 66, was because he was disrespectful to Holtz and other coaches.

TRACK AND FIELD: Olympic champion Donovan Bailey of Canada won the 100 meters in 10.07 at the Nuremberg track and field meet in Germany, which was plagued by rain and unseasonably cold temperature.

Lars Riedel, the Olympic champion who has been battling illness, tossed the discus 215 feet, 2 inches to beat American Adam Setliff, who finished second at 214-7.

SWIMMING: Australian Shelly Taylor-Smith bested 21 competitors from around the world to win the 17th annual Manhattan Island Swim Marathon.

Swimmers ranging in age from 17 to 63 set off from Battery Park on the morning tide, taking a counterclockwise route up the East River, through the tricky currents of Hell Gate into the Harlem River and back down Manhattan's west side to the starting point.