TREPAGNIER, MADDOX STEW.

Byline: BILLY WITZ COLLEGE BASKETBALL 

Fresno State point guard Tito Maddox and USC off guard Jeff Trepagnier were supposed to be two of the most dynamic players on the West Coast and were prime reasons both teams are expected to make the NCAA Tournament this season.

Instead, they sit and wait as the NCAA continues its nearly two- month-old investigation into the trip the two former Compton High teammates took to Las Vegas in September.

Investigators have already found that Rodney Guillory, an acquaintance of Maddox and Trepagnier for six years, paid for their plane tickets and hotel rooms with his own credit card, according to a source close to the players.

If that were the end of it, the two could have made restitution for the hotel and air fare - something they've been told by the NCAA they must do - and then expected suspensions similar to Arizona center Loren Woods. He was suspended for six games (20 percent of the season) for receiving what the NCAA termed extra benefits from his former high school coach in St. Louis.

However, Trepagnier and Maddox's situation is complicated by the fact that Guillory is more than a friend. A well-known figure in the Compton- Long Beach basketball community, Guillory has represented the shoe and athletic-gear company, Spot Up, and, more important, has also worked as a runner for an agent.

On the trip to Las Vegas, Maddox and Trepagnier went with Guillory to a club where agents and UNLV players were present.

That investigators received different stories upon interviewing Maddox, Trepagnier and Guillory has further delayed the NCAA investigation. For example, when they were asked how they got around in Las Vegas, one said it was in a taxi and another by a friend of Guillory.

As a result, the NCAA has yet to decide on a suspension, putting the schools in the position of suspending Maddox and Trepagnier or risking forfeiture of the games they play.

Trepagnier, who missed USC's first three games with a stress fracture in his foot, sat out victories over Utah and Cal State Northridge after he was cleared (by doctors)to play. USC coach Henry Bibby said only that he expects Trepagnier to be reinstated by the Pac-10 opener on Jan. 4.

Maddox, who sat out last season after failing to meet Prop. 48 guidelines, has missed Fresno State's first six games. Last week, on a postgame radio interview, Maddox lashed out at Fresno State athletic director Al Bohl. He later apologized to Bohl, saying he was just frustrated.

As each day passes and Trepagnier and Maddox sit in street clothes watching their teams play, those feelings aren't likely to go away.

--Smooth-riding Carr: Earl Watson and Brandon Granville might be better known, but the best point guard in Southern California is Cal State Northridge junior Markus Carr.

Carr, who handed out eight assists and hit a critical, NBA-range 3- pointer to beat the shot clock late in the Matadors' win over UCLA, was even better in a 99-90 loss to USC on Tuesday night. The 6-foot-1 Carr, from Palmdale High, scored 16 points and handed out 10 assists against five turnovers. He repeatedly took the 5-9 Granville off the dribble and effectively went to the basket with either hand.

USC athletic director Mike Garrett raced over to Carr as he left the court, telling him he was a great player. Trojans coach Henry Bibby was no less effusive.

``He drives to the basket, brings a lot of intensity and runs the club real well,'' Bibby said. ``I wish we'd recruited him.''

--Enough already: Television commentator Bill Walton's incessant haranguing of UCLA coach Steve Lavin has become a little too much for his old coach, John Wooden.

Walton, who needled Lavin at a Wooden Classic press conference Friday morning over the Bruins' loss to Cal State Northridge, did more of the same later that night on the dais at a dinner benefiting the Special Olympics. Finally, Wooden had enough and told Walton to cool it.

--Like father, like son: Jim Harrick Jr. not only shares his father's last name but also his penchant for falsifying expense accounts, which of course led to dad's firing at UCLA.

Junior was spared prosecution last week after the Rhode Island attorney general's office decided not to pursue criminal charges because it appeared that the expense-account system at the University of Rhode Island, where Harrick Jr. was an assistant for his dad, was ripe for abuses.

An audit revealed that Harrick Jr. allegedly tore off the tops of credit- card receipts and submitted them for $988 worth of unjustified expenses.

--Double dribble: Stanford point guard Michael McDonald is the son, not the nephew, of former Long Beach State All-American Glenn McDonald, as was reported here last week.