COLLEGE BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: NCAA PROBE LOOKS AT UW.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Reports

Coaches at Division I basketball programs in eastern Washington were interviewed Monday by NCAA officials regarding allegations of recruiting violations by Lorenzo Romar's new staff at Washington.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few met with two NCAA officials in Spokane, followed several hours later by a meeting between the officials and Ray Giacoletti of Eastern Washington. As time permits, the NCAA staffers will meet with Paul Graham of Washington State.

All three coaches are upset over what they allege to be multiple instances of illegal contacts by Romar's staff, particularly assistant coach Cameron Dollar, a former UCLA standout, during ``quiet'' or ``dead'' recruiting periods.

Romar, the former UCLA assistant and Pepperdine coach hired in April to succeed the fired Bob Bender, told ESPN.com Sunday, ``This is unbelievable.''

Later, Washington released a statement quoting Romar as saying, ``We look forward to telling our side of the story. We're going to cooperate with the NCAA enforcement staff as they look into these allegations.''

Among several specific allegations of misconduct by the Huskies is that the team attended practices at Seattle's Rainier Beach High in June during a quiet period, in which coaches cannot recruit off campus.

Rainier Beach is the home of the highly regarded Stewart twins, Lodrick and Rodrick, who announced Sunday they would attend USC. The NCAA will likely be looking into whether there were irregularities in Washington's recruitment of the twins.

Coaches at North Carolina and Arizona State are also known to be concerned about the alleged violations. North Carolina was represented in an open-gym workout of highly regarded prospect Marvin Williams of Bremerton, Wash., when Dollar is alleged to have had a 45-minute conversation with Williams' mother, which would be improper under NCAA rules.

``Outside of paying guys,'' one coach told the Seattle Times, ``this is the most serious thing you can do. I've never seen anything like this before. It's out of control.''

ESPN.com quoted Robert Lowden, coach of the AAU Gary Payton Pinnacle All Stars Elite, as saying that several schools, including Washington, attended practices during quiet periods, ``viewing us when they shouldn't have been.'' That team practiced at Rainier Beach.

Another allegation involves junior-to-be Josh Heytfelt of Clarkston, Wash., who told ESPN.com Dollar was in his eastern Washington town 10 days ago when he was working out. Heytfelt didn't confirm whether Dollar witnessed the workout.

The father of a committed recruit to Gonzaga, junior David Pendergraft of Brewster, Wash., told ESPN.com Dollar called to confirm the Pendergrafts' address. The senior Pendergraft said Dollar was ``feeling me out to see how committed we were.''

--CSUN changes: The Cal State Northridge men's basketball team has made changes to its schedule and now will open the season at Portland State on Nov. 22.

CSUN will play a tournament at Oregon, but the name has been changed to the John Thompson Challenge, which also includes Jacksonville and Grambling State. If the Matadors beat Jacksonville in the first round, they'll likely play Oregon, where CSUN coach Bobby Braswell was an assistant coach for five years.

Also, CSUN added a game at Southern Illinois on Dec. 22.

- Jill Painter