ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - About 150 calls complaining about a photograph showing Indiana Coach Bob Knight flipping a bullwhip toward the rear end of bent-over Calbert Cheaney, a black player, have been received by the NAACP.

"This phone has been ringing off the hook," Alice Hoppes, president of the Albuquerque chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said yesterday. "I've heard from people who said they thought it was an outrage."

Kit Klingelhoffer, Indiana's sports information director, said Knight was joking at the time. Klingelhoffer described the reaction as "absurd."

Wednesday, Knight brandished the bullwhip as a prop at a news conference, then showed up with it at practice. The bullwhip had been given to him by his players.

"Probably no motivational device I've ever come across is as good as this," he said.

Just before practice ended, Knight ran the whip across the backside of a laughing Cheaney as the team's leading scorer was bent over with his shorts pulled down slightly. Both Albuquerque papers published photographs of the incident.

"Sure, I think he was doing this as a joke, but that's just not good," Gooden said.

Hoppes said the photo was degrading because it showed a black player. "If it had been a white player, it would've been fine," she said.

NOTES -- Baylor Coach Gene Iba's contract for the 1992-93 season will not be renewed, President Herbert H. Reynolds announced,

Baylor spokesman Mike Bishop said the school decided to replace Iba because of his lack of success. Iba had a 98-106 record in seven seasons, including 13-15 this season. -- The grandparents of Memphis State player David Vaughn were in the third row last night as the Tigers played Georgia Tech in a semifinal of the NCAA Midwest Regional. The Rev. David Vaughn Sr. and his wife, Virginia, were there as the personal representatives of Tennessee Gov. Ned McWherter. Tennessee legislators and lobbyists had contributed to a fund for the Vaughn family to attend the game, but their trip had been in doubt when the NCAA said they couldn't accept the money because it would violate the association's rules. -- DePaul players received $100,000 in perks form a former bank executive and team booster, according to a published report quoting unidentified sources. In a copyright article, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Jeffrey Tassani, serving a jail term for an unrelated offense, provided recruits summer jobs, arranged for players to have free meals and used his firm's money and media on the team's behalf. DePaul officials called the report old news.