Former Georgia player Tony Cole heaped more allegations of NCAA rules violations on the university, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a story published Sunday that he used the personal credit card of coach Jim Harrick Sr. to buy a 28-inch color television.

Players questioned by NCAA

ATHENS, Ga. -- NCAA and Georgia officials have questioned two basketball starters about former player Tony Cole's allegations. Rashad Wright and Chris Daniels were pulled out of practice Monday and asked questions about a class they took with Cole in 2001, Georgia athletics director Vince Dooley said Tuesday. The class, "Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball," was taught by assistant coach Jim Harrick Jr., son of head coach Jim Harrick. Cole said he received a passing grade without ever attending the class. "The investigative team is seeking the truth, which is what we want," Dooley said. "As always happens, one thing leads to another, which leads to another. The history is that it will go on for a while." Wright and Daniels were expected to play Tuesday night when the No. 25 Bulldogs host No. 3 Florida. The younger Harrick was suspended Friday after Cole accused him of paying part of his expenses and committing academic fraud. The University of Rhode Island, where the elder Harrick coached before coming to Georgia, is also investigating allegations that players received money from the coaching staff, including Harrick Jr., and had their grades changed. -- Associated Press

Cole said he bought the television "with 'Coach Senior's' credit card, if you want to do a background check on that. I still have the TV and it should be on his billing statement."

The report did not make clear if Cole's allegation had been substantiated.

Harrick criticized the source of the allegations Sunday in an interview with CBS Sports, then said later he has nothing to hide.

"I never gave him my credit card," Harrick told the Journal-Constitution. "It's embarrassing that you would even ask me that question."

Harrick characterized Cole as "a very bitter young man."

"What I found after working with him for six months, he is very revengeful of things that everyone had ever done for him," Harrick said. "You'll find out in due time what kind of guy this guy is."

The 23-year-old Cole, who was interviewed by the Journal-Constitution in Baton Rouge, La., where he now lives, also said Mike Young, whom he called a Georgia basketball booster, gave him as much as $900 in the past few years, including a $300 shopping spree at a mall.

"The most I got out of him while I was [at Georgia] was about $900," Cole told the Journal-Constitution. "I went shopping one day ... and he left me at the mall and he didn't come back and get me. That's how scared he was."

Cole also alleged that other Georgia basketball players on the team at this time have received improper benefits from Young and others.

"These accusations are simply not true," Young said when reached by the Journal-Constitution on Saturday night.

Bulldogs senior guard Ezra Williams also refuted Cole's allegations about Young giving Cole $900.

"That's crazy," Williams told The Associated Press. "Tony Cole, I don't know why he's doing this, personally. I think it's a publicity stunt. He found some people that will listen to him and put him on TV, and he's taking advantage of it."

When asked if school officials had approached him about the investigation, guard Jarvis Hayes shook his head.

"We're just playing basketball, just focusing on basketball," Hayes told AP.

Cole was suspended after 16 games of the 2001-2002 season when he was charged with sexual assault. The charges against him were later dropped, but he was not reinstated to the basketball team.

Cole has admitted that he went public with the charges against the Harricks because he believes they abandoned him during the time he was facing sexual assault charges.

The Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald reported Saturday that Cole previously threatened to go public with allegations against the Harricks -- apparently in an attempt to remain on the basketball team.

According to a Sept. 12, 2002, letter from Athens attorney Ed Tolley that was quoted by the Banner-Herald, Tolley wrote "In several of his conversations, Mr. Cole threatened to 'get Coach Harrick and his staff'" and added that Cole "offered to withhold information adverse to Coach Harrick and his staff if the university and the [Georgia athletic] association agree to (Cole's) demands. This suggestion is improper."

Cole began leveling allegations against the program Thursday in an interview with ESPN. He told reporter Jeremy Schaap that Georgia assistant coach Jim Harrick Jr. paid part of his expenses and committed academic fraud at two different schools, including Georgia. The younger Harrick was suspended Friday, pending an investigation of the charges.

In one of his allegations, Cole claims that Harrick Jr. paid off a large phone bill that Cole ran up while staying at a friend's home while attending summer school in his hometown of Baton Rouge. The mother of Cole's friend, Eva Davis, told Schaap that Harrick Jr. offered to take care of any expenses Cole incurred while staying at her house.

Harrick said last week that the money for Cole's phone bill came from the private nonprofit Dale Brown Foundation. Harrick, however, said he had no receipt showing it came from the foundation, which is named after LSU's former basketball coach and assists needy students.

"They sent us the money," Harrick told the Journal-Constitution on Friday, "and (Cole) wanted it." Brown denied the claim. Later, Harrick told the paper his comments about the foundation were misunderstood, but declined to identify the source of the money.

On Sunday, Brown told The Advocate of Baton Rouge that the Harricks had apologized to him for linking him to the telephone payment. Brown told the newspaper that Harrick said "he would make a correction on it."

Georgia lost to No. 2 Kentucky 74-66 Sunday, but Harrick didn't blame the loss on the controversy surrounding the team.

"I don't think that what's happened in the last couple of days had anything to do with this game," Harrick told AP in his only statement addressing the controversy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.