Conference Call

Sporting News, The, Jan 22, 2001

               Hits                       Misses

ATLANTIC       Halston Lane, Georgia      Virginia. The Cavaliers
COAST          Tech. His name sounds      looked like the worst
CONFERENCE     like he could be a         top-10 team in history
               fashion designer. But in   last week, losing at
               wins over Virginia and     home to Georgia Tech and
               Wake, the 6-4 freshman     being humiliated by
               shot 11-of-16, was         Duke, where they trailed
               6-of-8 on 3s and totaled   37-9 before realizing
               31 points in 41 minutes.   where they were.

BIG            Dean Oliver, Iowa.         Michigan. Coming off a
TEN            Playing in front of his    big win over Indiana,
CONFERENCE     dad, who has been          the Wolverines shot a
               serving a 2 1/2-year       season-worst 27.7
               sentence for his           percent and tied a
               involvement in a drug      season-low 51 points in
               ring, Oliver had 16        a 29-point loss to
               points in a home rout      shorthanded Illinois.
               of Illinois.

SOUTH-         Brett Nelson, Florida.     Arkansas. A drubbing at
EASTERN        His last-second basket     Vandy dropped the team
CONFERENCE     gave UF a big win at       to 0-3 for the first
               Mississippi State last     time since it joined the
               week, saving the team      SEC in '91-92. It's the
               from an 0-2 SEC start.     worst league start for
               With Teddy Dupay           Nolan Richardson since
               injured, Nelson is         an 0-5 Southwest Conf.
               playing shooting guard.    start in '85-86.

BIG            Maurice Baker, Oklahoma    Aaron McGhee, Oklahoma.
TWELVE         State. The 6-1 JC          OU's top scorer had
CONFERENCE     transfer guard had three   dominated everyone in
               double-doubles in four     his path until facing
               games (one a triple-       Kansas' sizable front
               double), including         line. The 6-8 JC
               26-point outings at        transfer missed all nine
               Texas and against Iowa     of his field-goal
               State.                     attempts in a 69-61
                                          loss.

BIG            Providence. The team       Miami. The Hurricanes
EAST           matched its win total of   are 0-4 in the Gig Fast
CONFERENCE     a year ago with an 81-68   for the first time since
               upset of 13th-ranked       going 0-18 in 1993-94.
               UConn. PC, 11-4, and its   Last week, the
               surging defense forced     Hurricanes gave Virginia
               21 TOs in its first win    Tech its first Big East
               against Connecticut in     win, 85-74, in
               six games.                 Blacksburg.


PACIFIC-10     UCLA. Playing like the     Rob Evans, Arizona
CONFERENCE     Bruins of the '60s, the    State. The coach lost
               team has won five          his temper and was
               straight. In the last      ejected at Washington
               four, UCLA forced 23.3     State. The Sun Devils
               turnovers a game. Steve    are 0-4 in the Pac-10,
               Lavin installed a          with every loss a
               40-minute defensive        blowout. Evans failed to
               press, and foes have       recruit any shooters.
               scattered.

ATLANTIC 10    Bill Phillips, St.         George Washington. The
CONFERENCE     Joseph's. He scores. He    team is sinking into a
               rebounds. He speaks        morass thanks to its
               French. Now the 6-9        defense. Any team that
               junior is just shy of      allows Massachusetts to
               averaging a double-        score 51 points in the
               double and is a big        second half just doesn't
               reason the Hawks have      want to stop anybody.
               NCAA tourney hopes.

CONFERENCE     Shyrone Chatman,           Charlotte. The 49ers
USA            Memphis. The shooting      lived by the 3 during
               guard turned point         their 7-1 start but now
               guard is averaging 14.3    are dying by it, having
               points, 6.8 assists, 3.8   lost six of eight. In
               rebounds and only 2.0      Saturday's home loss to
               turnovers in the Tigers'   Saint Louis, Charlotte
               four-game win streak.      hit just 1-of-14 3s.

WESTERN        Tarkanian, Fresno State    Nevada. After a 7-2
ATHLETIC       coach.  He's pushing all   start the wheels have
CONFERENCE     the right buttons for      fallen off with six
               the WAC favorite. The      straight losses. Besides
               Bulldogs have beaten SMU   G Terrance Green, coach
               and TCU at home and        Trent Johnson is getting
               Tulsa on the road in the   only spotty
               first half of league       contributions from each
               play.                      of his starters.

MOUNTAIN       Terrell Lyday, BYU. The    Air Force. The team was
WEST           extra work the senior      shooting well from long
CONFERENCE     guard is doing is paying   distance--until
               off. With PG Trent         conference play began.
               Whiting taking some        Without the 3s, the
               scoring pressure off,      methodical Princeton
               Lyday had 24 points in a   offense Joe Scott is
               29-point win over San      trying to implement
               Diego State.               simply isn't effective.

               Coaches'                   Week
               Corner                     Ahead

ATLANTIC       Georgia Tech's Paul        Maryland at NC Rate (3:30
COAST          Hewitt gets the early      p.m. ET Sunday, ABC
CONFERENCE     nod for ACC coach of the   reg'l). This might be
               year. He has instilled     the last chance for
               discipline and returned    State, 0-3 in league
               an all-got assault         entering the week, to
               defense to the program,    jump-start its season.
               and it's paying off at     Duke can't look past
               2-2 in league play.        Georgia Tech and Wake.

BIG            Michigan State's Tom       Purdue at Indiana (7
TEN            Izzo made two changes to   p.m. ET Tuesday, ESPN).
CONFERENCE     his starting five after    If Mike Davis wants to
               a loss to Indiana C Zach   endear himself to IU
               Randolph and G Marcus      fans, a win here would
               Taylor are in. G David     do the trick. In a
               Thomas and F Al Anagonye   scheduling travesty,
               are out                    these bitter rivals only
                                          play once next season.

SOUTH-         Vandorbilt's Kevin         Kentucky at Ole Miss (1
EASTERN        Stallings has done quite   p.m. ET Saturday, CBS
CONFERENCE     a juggling act, using      reg'l), at Alabama (9
               nine starting lineups in   p.m. ET Tuesday, ESPN).
               pushing his freshman-      That six-game win streak
               dominated Commodores to    was achieved entirely in
               12-3 despite injuries      Lexington and
               and the suspension of      Louisville. Now the
               Billy Richmond.            Cats must travel.

BIG            Colorado's Ricardo         Texas at Oklahoma
TWELVE         Patton put C Ernest        (Wednesday). With two
CONFERENCE     Renfroe, who averaged      losses to contenders in
               1.5 points and 1.3         the first week of league
               rebounds, in the           play, the Sooners will
               starling lineup, and the   have to string together
               Buffaloes walloped Texas   some wins soon. The big
               A&M, 88-58. Renfroe had    guys need to score more
               7 points and seven         for OU.
               boards.

BIG            Seton Hall's Tommy         Syracuse at Seton Hall
EAST           Amaker has a divided       (3:30 p.m. Sunday, ABC
CONFERENCE     locker room on his         reg'l). Syracuse
               hands. After suspending    veterans Allen Griffin,
               Eddie Griffin for          Damone Brown and Preston
               punching out Ty Shine,     Shumpert take on Hall
               the Pirates whipped        freshmen Andre Barrett,
               Notre Dame. With Griffin   Eddie Griffin and Marcus
               back, they lost to Pitt.   Toney-El.

PACIFIC-10     Arizona interim coach      UCLA at Arizona (1 p.m.
CONFERENCE     Jim Rosborough cut         ET Saturday, CBS reg'l).
               Richard Jefferson's        Both are coming off
               minutes, which boosted     stellar weeks after
               scoring chances for        dismal starts to the
               Loren Woods, Michael       season. Two weeks into
               Wright and Gilbert         league play, only UCLA
               Arenas. In a Washington    and Stanford have
               sweep, the trio had 113    perfect league records.
               points.

ATLANTIC 10    Dayton's Oliver Purnell    St. Joseph's at Xavier
CONFERENCE     might like the spark       (Saturday). Xavier
               Keith Waleskowski          returns from a two-game
               provides off the bench,    road trip hoping to play
               but it's time for the      better at home than it
               freshman to crack the      did when UMass visited.
               starting lineup. He gets   St. Joseph's finishes
               enough points and boards   a stretch that included
               to merit more minutes.     Dayton and Temple.

CONFERENCE     Despite an 0-3             Saint Louis at Memphis
USA            conference mark,           (9 p.m. ET Thursday,
               first-year Tulane coach    ESPN). The Billikens
               Shawn Finney remains       return to The Pyramid,
               committed to a press-      where they upset
               and-run style that has     Cincinnati and won the
               the Green Wave averaging   C-USA tourney last year,
               77 points per game.        to face suddenly hot
                                          Memphis.

WESTERN        Hawaii's Riley Wallace     SMU at UTEP (Monday).
ATHLETIC       caught Tulsa coach Buzz    The Mustangs must stop
CONFERENCE     Peterson by surprise       senior Brandon Wolfram,
               when he started hobbled    who is averaging 24
               C Troy Ostler against      points and hitting 61.4
               the Golden Hurricane.      percent from the field.
               The 6-10 senior had 18     UTEP must slow Gs Jeryl
               points and sparked the     Sasser and Damon
               Warriors' upset.           Hancock.

MOUNTAIN       UNLV's Max Good turned     Utah at Wyoming
WEST           to Lou Kelly to provide    (Saturday). Wyoming will
CONFERENCE     consistent minutes at      try to avenge last
               small forward Kelly        week's 83-71 loss. It
               struggled in a loss at     didn't fare well in that
               Utah, but he will start    rugged game. It will
               while Danny Brotherson     need Ugo Udezue to be
               is injured and Jermaine    active if it's to handle
               Lewis is in a slump.       the Utes' mammoth front
                                          line.

               Best Sixth
               Man

ATLANTIC       Craig Dawson, Wake
COAST          Forest. The junior guard
CONFERENCE     is leading the team in
               scoring (14.7 ppg)
               despite averaging just
               23.3 mpg. He shoots 41
               percent beyond the arc
               and has only 14
               turnovers this season.

BIG            Ryan Hogan, Iowa. The
TEN            transfer guard from
CONFERENCE     Kentucky has had five
               double-digit scoring
               nights and is averaging
               8.1 points a game. He
               has a 2-to-1
               assist-to-TO ratio,
               shoots 40 percent and
               adds 2.8 rpg.

SOUTH-         Rea Slay, Tennessee.
EASTERN        Averaging 13.0 points
CONFERENCE     and shooting 47 percent
               on 3s, he provides an
               emotional lift with his
               in-your-face game. He
               has a mouth but adds
               savvy, and the home
               crowd loves him.

BIG            Kansas' power forward.
TWELVE         Drew Gooden and Nick
CONFERENCE     Collison rotate as
               starter and sixth man.
               Collison is averaging 13
               points on 63.3 percent
               shooting. Versatile
               Gooden is averaging 16
               points and 8.1 boards.

BIG            Lee Scruggs, Georgetown.
EAST           The 6-11 senior was a
CONFERENCE     second-team all-league
               preseason pick but
               missed nine games and
               lost his starting job
               due to grades. He can
               hit the 3, rebound and
               runs the floor.

PACIFIC-10     Luke Walton, Arizona. An
CONFERENCE     occasional starter, he
               provides overall support
               off the bench, leading
               the team in steals with
               21, and running second
               in assists with 51 and
               fourth in rebounds with
               4.6 a game.

ATLANTIC 10    Keith Waleskowskl,
CONFERENCE     Dayton. He earned the
               league's most recent
               rookie of the week honor
               after averaging 15
               points and nine boards
               in two wins. He provides
               scoring punch in Mark
               Ashman's absence.

CONFERENCE     Altron Jackson, South
USA            Florida. He can go one-
               on-one, hits shots from
               anywhere and can score
               in transition. Averaging
               18.9 points and 4.4
               rebounds on 52.8 percent
               shooting has NBA scouts
               looking.

WESTERN        Bingo Merriex, TCU.
ATHLETIC       Averaging less than 19
CONFERENCE     minutes a game, he is
               getting 9.5 points a
               game, knocking down two
               3-pointers a game and
               shooting 42 percent from
               beyond the arc.

MOUNTAIN       Phil Cullen, Utah.
WEST           The 6-9 forward, who
CONFERENCE     also is an excellent
               baseball player, has
               long arms that he puts
               to good use on defense.
               He also gets his share
               of putback hoops, can
               hit the 3 and sets good
               screens.