KHALID SORRY! STAR SENTENCED ON POT CHARGES

Photo captiion: UConn's Khalid El-Amin sits with bowed head Thursday at
press conference in Storrs next to his coach, Jim Calhoun. El-Amin
apologized for his arrest on marijuana possession.

STORRS - Khalid El-Amin apologized to his family, the University of
Connecticut, his teammates, the state's of Connecticut and his native
Minnesota in a Thursday afternoon press conference at Gampel Pavilion.

The public apology came hours after El-Amin appeared at Hartford Community
Court and received community service for his Tuesday arrest in the state
capital for possession of marijuana. In return, UConn coach Jim Calhoun
ended speculation that El-Amin would skip Saturday's parade in Hartford
honoring the NCAA men's basketball national champions.

(Editor's note: What do you think of UConn point guard Khalid El-Amin's
recent arrest? Join a Town Talk discussion and let us know.)

"There has been a great deal of speculation about the parade," Calhoun said.
"At 11 a.m. - assuming there's no rain - on Saturday for our national
championship team, which Khalid El-Amin was an incredible part of, I would
tie him down to make sure he's on one of those floats. This is a celebration
of wonderful championship season that Khalid was an intregal part of. Any
punishment will be handled during the 1999-2000 season."

But will El-Amin be playing basketball for Calhoun and UConn during the
1999-2000 season? That's a question that El-Amin supposedly answered on
April 7 when the point guard said, in a statement released by the school's
athletic communications department, he planned on returning for his junior year.

El-Amin said that the incident had no bearing on his decision on whether to
stay or leave UConn but refused to confirm he would be back.

"That will be answered at a later time and a later date," El-Amin said.

UConn is currently awaiting a decision from junior All-American swingman
Richard Hamilton on whether he will return next season.

That decision could come as early as Monday.

The focus Thursday for El-Amin was on clearing the air about the arrest. The
Minneapolis native was arrested for having five grams of marijuana in his
possession by Hartford police Tuesday afternoon. Hamilton was with El-Amin
but was not charged. The two men were in a car that El-Amin said he borrowed
from a friend at UConn that was
owned by the friend's father"I'm very sorry for this incident and it will
never happen again," El-Amin said. "I realize I made a gross error of
judgment and I'm sincerely sorry for it."

El-Amin also went out of his way to apologize to Hamilton.

"I sincerely want to apologize to my dear friend Richard Hamilton, who was
with me," El-Amin said.

"I sincerely want to apologize to him for putting him in this situation. I
just want that out there for everyone to know."

El-Amin was given six hours of community service to be performed next
Wednesday in Hartford. He will also speak to children in three middle
schools in the city on the issue of drugs in the near future. El-Amin,
however, had to listen to stern words by Judge Raymond Norko.

"You come from another state," Norko told El-Amin. "The citizens in this
state have adopted you, adore you and basically come to love you. Just a
mere 18 days ago you were at the pinnacle of success."

Norko went on to to remind El-Amin that he is a public and held in a higher
standard than a normal citizen. The judge also told El-Amin - among other
things - that he hoped to never see him in court again for criminal reasons.

El-Amin told the judge immediately thereafter, "Thank you for your words,
your honor."

Calhoun said at the press conference that it's obvious El-Amin is having a
tough time dealing with the arrest and the circus-like media hype it has caused.

"Khalid made an error in judgment. Nothing more, nothing less," Calhoun
said. "He is paying the price for it now as you can see by him sitting here.
Certainly by going to court and by the embarrassment he's felt in the last
two or three days. He felt he's let people down. Khalid El-Amin is a great
asset for the University of Connecticut, our program, and is a great young man."

El-Amin, was second on the team behind Hamilton with a 13.8 scoring average.
He was a second-team All-Big East selection and an All-NCAA tournament team
selection this season. As a freshman, El-Amin was the Big East's rookie of
the year and the Big East tournament's most outstanding player.