Sweet redemption: reaching regional play marks the start of a renaissance for some teams and the culmination of one Kent State

Sporting News, The, March 25, 2002 by Mike DeCourcy

The Kent State players were embarrassed enough to assemble twice in private: once by themselves, once with their coaches joining them. It is customary in athletics to address a festering problem with a single grievance/tribunal/therapy session, but this was a two-meeting crisis.

With most of the important pieces remaining from a team that attained the Mid-American Conference championship, 24 victories and the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory last season, the Golden Flashes had fallen to 4-3 in mid-December with a loss to Youngstown State, which would win only three more games. The players had openly rebelled at the structured offense installed by new coach Stan Heath, though they all but hand-picked him after Gary Waters left to take a more lucrative job at Rutgers.

"It was lower than low," senior wing Demetric Shaw says. "We tried to tell ourselves that maybe that was a good ballclub we lost to. But deep in our hearts, we knew we were better than that. We told ourselves, `This is not us.'"

Now, following 20 consecutive victories, they are part of the Sweet 16, one of four teams in the South Regional at Lexington, Ky. And the Golden Flashes are not the only team for which reaching this stage of the NCAA Tournament is sweet redemption.

* Before conference play even began, Kentucky coach Tubby Smith lost his first starting center (Jason Parker) to a knee injury and his second (Marvin Stone) to a transfer. Three times in the season's final month, Smith suspended shooting guard Gerald Fitch for conduct violations. Star wing Keith Bogans endured a baffling season-long slump that culminated in the Wildcats' loss in an SEC tournament quarter-final to NIT-bound South Carolina. And yet Kentucky is in Syracuse, N.Y., for the East Regional.

* After his team pushed Kansas to the limit but not into defeat early this month, Quin Snyder's competence as Missouri's coach was debated for hours on the state's call-in radio shows--even though he was a week from receiving his third NCAA bid in three years on the job.

The Tigers had climbed to No. 2 in the rankings early in the season, mostly because every major program except Duke lost before they did. That created the perception this team was not fulfilling its potential, a premise that ignored Missouri's abundant youth. With 32 games of experience, the Tigers whipped powers from the Big East (Miami) and Big Ten (Ohio State) and earned a trip to the West Regional in San Jose. Snyder senses a hunger in his team, a desire to continue improving.

* And how about UCLA? Bruins fans were singing the same tired song about ridding themselves of their coach, Steve Lavin, after their squad went 2-4 down the stretch. Now their team is dancing a familiar dance, in the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in Lavin's six seasons.

"When we play well, we're one of the best teams in the country. When we don't play well, we can be beaten by anyone," Bruins forward Matt Barnes says. "Anything less than a Final Four with us is going to be disappointing." Sounds like he's ready to be a season-ticket holder.

So much more is made of the finality of the NCAA Tournament's single-elimination format than of the opportunity it presents for revival. We dwell on Bob Knight's run of five first-round NCAA losses in his past seven trips, on Roy Williams' string of four No. 1 seeds that failed to reach the Final Four, on Bob Huggins' five second-round losses in six years. But this tournament also can save a season.

Smith says Kentucky talked about forgetting its turbulent past, however recent it may be. "It's a whole new season," Bogans says. "We just cleaned our slate." Unburdened of that baggage, Bogans averaged 20 points in two tournament games. All-SEC forward Tayshaun Prince, whose season disappointed many UK fans, scored a career-best 41 points in a second-round win over Tulsa. Smith's postseason record as Kentucky coach now is 23-5.

Kent State did not need the tournament to begin a renaissance but to complete one. The players concluded during those early-season meetings that they were not buying into Heath's system, not giving their coach a chance to prove himself. "We were really a little stubborn," Shaw says. They are now, too. They don't want to leave. "We're not done yet. Our goal is to get to the Elite Eight--even the Final Four."

If that happens, the Flashes can meet again at the bottom of the stepladder they'll use to cut down the Rupp Arena nets.

Later, Gator

Following a first-round, double-overtime loss to Creighton, Florida guard Brett Nelson confessed he was thinking about turning professional, partly because the season left a "bad taste" in his mouth. Nelson ended his season, and possibly his college career, by shooting 4-of-19 and playing matador defense on Terrell Taylor's game-winning 3-pointer.

If Nelson goes, there's no reason to believe the Gators are doomed. Instead, they may flourish.

One of this season's genuinely stunning trends is that many of the teams that lost players to early NBA draft entry improved. Cincinnati lost point guard Kenny Satterfield and went from a No. 5 seed to a No. 1. Georgia lost guard D.A. Layne and went from a No. 8 to a No. 3. Alabama lost forward Gerald Wallace and went from the NIT to an NCAA No. 2 seed. Pepperdine lost guard Brandon Armstrong and was promoted from the NIT to the NCAAs. Indiana won a share of the Big Ten title without Kirk Haston, slipped only one seed position and so far has won two more NCAA games, reaching the Sweet 16.