Savovic denies receiving benefits

Two Buckeye boosters have been sued over illegal gifts.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- A former Ohio State basketball player on Monday denied taking thousands of dollars from a woman whose lawsuit led to the firing of coach Jim O'Brien and an NCAA investigation of the program.
Boban Savovic also denied living at Kathleen Salyers' home during his four years at Ohio State and said he never asked professors to change his grades, as Salyers claims in a lawsuit she filed against two Ohio State boosters.
He said in a statement that he accepted pocket money from Salyers, but that he believed it was within NCAA rules. In a deposition, Salyers estimates that she gave Savovic $200 on 120 occasions -- a total of $24,000 -- frequently putting the cash in his medicine chest because he was uncomfortable taking the money directly from her hand.
"I'm just trying to clear my name," Savovic told The Associated Press after the statement was released. "I'm just glad the truth is going to come out."
$600,000 sought
Savovic would not comment about Salyers' allegations beyond his statement, his first public comments in response to the lawsuit in which Salyers seeks $600,000 from her former employers, Dan and Kim Roslovic. Salyers claims they promised to pay her $1,000 a month plus expenses to let Savovic live in her home.
NCAA rules prohibit student athletes from receiving any financial help from anyone other than family members.
Ohio State fired O'Brien on June 8 after he admitted paying $6,000 to Aleksandar Radojevic, a recruit who never played for the Buckeyes. The payment came to light in Salyers' lawsuit.
Salyers' lawyer, Jeffrey Lucas, said significant evidence, including pictures of Savovic with the Salyers family and cards from Savovic to Salyers, has been collected to back up Salyers' claims and show the extent of the relationship between the two.
"Boban was there for a length of time," he said.
"I am disappointed at the issuance of the statement," he said. "I don't know where it came from."
Player in Europe
Savovic, who was married on Saturday in Dayton, said he has not commented until now because he has been traveling and getting ready for the wedding. He said he would soon be playing basketball in Europe.
In the statement -- provided by Jim Zeszutek, the attorney for former Ohio State assistant coach Paul Biancardi -- Savovic said he decided to stay away from Salyers after three years at Ohio State "because she became obsessive and continually attempted to interject herself into my life."
Savovic, who played on Ohio State's Final Four team in 1999, said he regrets that O'Brien and Biancardi, now the coach at Wright State, have "had to endure the false accusations made against them because of a relationship I had with Ms. Salyers. Coaches O'Brien and Biancardi and the other basketball coaches at Ohio State have done nothing but help me develop as a student and a person."
Biancardi has denied any wrongdoing. Zeszutek said Savovic's statement supports Biancardi.
In denying that he lived with Salyers, Savovic said he stayed with her for four or five weeks in the summer of 1998 before school began and then moved into a dormitory. He said he spent all four years at Ohio State living in a dormitory or an apartment.
He said that he occasionally stayed overnight with Salyers because he was friends with her son, Rob.
He said he accepted pocket money from her on occasion because he believed that gifts from someone outside of basketball was allowed under NCAA rules. He did not say how much money he accepted.
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