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Imperfect beauties: sure, powerhouses such as Kansas, Maryland and Duke are rich with stunning attributes, but that doesn't mean they don't have their birthmarks

Sporting News, The, March 11, 2002 by Mike DeCourcy

Perfection is out there if you look for it. You can feel it sitting in the plaza outside Rome's Pantheon on a warm summer night. You can see it as Jennifer Aniston smiles from your television every Thursday night. It's there if you catch Denzel Washington's performance in Training Day. And it's replayed countless times as Christian Laettner catches, bounces, shoots, scores and wins.

Just don't look for perfection anywhere on the NCAA Tournament bracket when it is unveiled Sunday. Kansas, Duke, Maryland, Oklahoma, Cincinnati--none is flawless. The ones still alive in this event when 11 full days have passed--that's how long it takes to slash 65 teams down to the Final Four--may or may not be the best of those invited. In truth, they will survive as much as they triumph.

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Those that last will be the teams that, more than anything, make themselves invulnerable to perilous matchups. Becoming matchup-proof requires an abundance of talented players who are well-coached, impervious to pressure, healthy and rested. It also is a matter of ensuring that weaknesses are addressed in preparation and disguised when competition begins.

Florida needs to be consistently effective with its defense, whether the Gators are squeezing opponents with their full-court press or locking them up in the halfcourt. Alabama can't accommodate foul trouble to its inside players. Arizona's five freshmen must be as mature in the NCAA Tournament as they were precocious in beating Maryland and Florida to win the IKON Classic back in November. With no tournament games slated for Portland, Eugene or Corvallis, Oregon must offer more proof that it can play as well in some of the other 49 states. Gonzaga has to show (again) that its dominance is the result of talented players committing to a system and each other more than a matter of inferior competition.

The best teams will be forced to conquer their own issues--along with the teams placed in their paths.

* Ghostbusters?

The Kansas program continues to be haunted by the collective legacy of Raef LaFrentz, Paul Pierce and Jacque Vaughn. Given their accomplishments as players--each an All-American, a first-round draft choice, a long-term NBA player--that would seem to be a good thing. It's not.

Once the current Jayhawks suggested what was possible--a Final Four, a national title--skeptics citing recent tournament history determined these outcomes were unattainable. After all, when this program and this coach last reached the Final Four, in 1993, Roy Williams' hair was darker and guard Kirk Hinrich was maybe two feet shorter. Three times since, the team squandered a No. 1 seed by the end of the Sweet 16. This has happened four times to Williams overall, an NCAA record. To overwhelm this legacy, the only choice for these Jayhawks is to demonstrate physical and mental toughness their predecessors did not exhibit.

"I think you have to realize now these players are veterans," Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton says. "When we beat them two years ago in Stillwater--they certainly are a different team now. They've grown up. I think there's no doubt they're a very tough-minded basketball team."

With three freshmen in the rotation and only one senior starter (shooting guard Jeff Boschee), the heart of this team is its stellar junior class: Hinrich, forward Drew Gooden, center Nick Collison. Those four veterans, in fact, never have been the victims of an NCAA Tournament upset.

They are disconnected from the past so many use to define them. This team, under pressure, made winning plays on the road at Nebraska in late February and avoided home upsets against Valparaiso and Tulsa.

"It is kind of a positive to be able to make the plays that we did down the stretch," Collison says. "I think now we're pretty confident in our abilities and just hope that we don't put ourselves in that situation."

But they'll still have to prove it on the way to the Georgia Dome.

* Spectators?

It's probably impossible for a player to be too great--Michael Jordan taught us that--but a player can be expected to be great too much of the time.

Through so many difficult circumstances, senior point guard Steve Logan has carried Cincinnati. He has made more than a quarter of his team's baskets. He has reached double-figure scoring in every game and topped the 20-point mark in all but 10. This is terrific, except when he's not.

There were nights when Logan could not get enough done or could not get enough done by himself. In the Bearcats' three defeats, fellow starters Jamaal Davis, Donald Little and Leonard Stokes combined for 39 points. Not in each of those games--in all three combined. They shot 14-of-52 from the field (26.9 percent).

The Bearcats do their best work on defense, ranking first nationally in field-goal percentage allowed and sixth in points allowed. But no team in this tournament will pitch a shutout; every team will need to score. Last year's Final Four teams averaged 80.5 points in their regional finals. That total would just about double Logan's career high, so it might be a bit much for him to handle alone.

Imperfect beauties: sure, powerhouses such as Kansas, Maryland and Duke are rich with stunning attributes, but that doesn't mean they don't have their birthmarks

Sporting News, The, March 11, 2002 by Mike DeCourcy

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