Conference Call

Sporting News, The, Jan 29, 2001

             Hits                        Misses

ATLANTIC     Shane Battier, Duke. He     NC State. In a must-win
COAST        had a quiet first half      home game, the Wolfpack
CONFERENCE   at Georgia Tech but         couldn't make a 3 and saw
             scored 20 consecutive       its fullcourt press
             Blue Devils points in       ripped to shreds by
             one second-half stretch     Maryland PG Steve Blake.
             en route to a 34-point      All this while Maryland
             effort in Duke's 98-77      SG Juan Dixon missed the
             victory.                    second half.

BIG          LaVell Blanchard,           Big Ten teams in
TEN          Michigan. The Wolverines'   Champaign. Texas Southern
CONFERENCE   Magical Misery Tour of      gave Illinois a better
             six consecutive road        game than 32-point loser
             losses finally ended at     Penn State did. Illinois'
             No. 14 Iowa, thanks to      three other guests have
             Blanchard's career-high     fallen by 29 (Michigan),
             30 points on 12-of-19       16 (Minnesota) and 15
             shooting.                   (Ohio State).

SOUTH-       Ezra Williams, Georgia.     Mississippi State on the
EASTERN      The spark behind            road. The Bulldogs were
CONFERENCE   Georgia's surprise          good enough to beat
             conference start has        Arizona but can't contend
             been Williams, a 6-5        for the SEC West title
             first-year guard who        after losing eight
             averaged 24 points in       straight league road
             victories over Auburn,      games, the latest to
             Mississippi and Florida.    Alabama and Tennessee.

BIG          Maurice Baker, Oklahoma     Texas. The Longhorns are
TWELVE       State. He continues to be   in the midst of a
CONFERENCE   impressive, draining six    brick-fest, shooting just
             3-pointers and scoring a    38 percent from the field
             career-best 29 points       in league play and
             against Baylor and          averaging only 27 points
             following that with         in the first half of the
             seven 3s and 26 points      team's last five games.
             against St. Gregory's.      Rick Barnes is baffled.

BIG          Marcus Barnes, Miami. The   Connecticut. The Huskies
EAST         freshman guard lived up     looked like pretenders
CONFERENCE   to his reputation as a      instead of contenders on
             scorer, setting             an 0-3 road trip to
             preconsecutive career       Providence, Texas and
             highs with 20 points and    Miami. Connecticut is now
             24 points in victories      winless in four road
             over Providence and         games this season.
             Connecticut.

PACIFIC-10   Sam Clancy, USC. The        Arizona State's centers.
CONFERENCE   junior power forward        Tyson. Johnston and
             carried the Trojans with    limping Chad Prewitt
             a total of 51 points, 14    share the spot and failed
             rebounds and eight blocks   to score a point in home
             in the Arizona swing,       losses to USC and UCLA.
             emerging as a possible      The centers totaled 9
             candidate for conference    points in their last four
             player of the year.         Pac-10 games.

ATLANTIC     Monty Mack,                 Dayton. Looks like the
TEN          Massachusetts. The senior   road woes are back.
CONFERENCE   guard has been on a tear    During last year's NCAA
             lately, scoring 20 or       run, the Flyers held
             more points in six of       serve while traveling at
             seven games. He has         7-6, Losing two straight
             helped the                  on the road is not the
             once-staggering Minutemen   best way to impress the
             to a 4-1 conference         selection committee.
             record.

CONFERENCE   Jobey Thomas, Charlotte.    South Florida. After
USA          The team is making an       winning nine of 10, the
             effort to free him, and     Bulls were poised to take
             Thomas is delivering. He    a spot in the Top 25. But
             scored 48 points,           they failed tests at
             including 12 3s, in         Marquette and California.
             helping the 49ers to        B.B. Waldon was held
             crucial wins at DePaul      below his scoring average
             and Marquette.              in both games.

WESTERN      Texas-El Paso. Legendary    Ryan Carroll, TCU. The
ATHLETIC     former coach Don Haskins    team's leading scorer
CONFERENCE   has to be proud. Despite    vanished against Tulsa
             a slip at home against      and Rice, his shot and
             Tulsa, the team is making   aggressiveness going AWOL
             a charge for what seemed    and the Horned Frogs
             like a yearly rite under    going south in the
             Haskins--the Big Dance.     standings.

MOUNTAIN     Marcus Bailey, Wyoming.     Wyoming. The Cowboys were
WEST         Despite struggles at the    a dismal 26-of-48 from
CONFERENCE   foul line, he had a         the line against Utah.
             career-high 33 points       Ugo Udezue was 1-for-5;
             and took over the game      Uche Nsonwu-Amadi was
             and led the Cowboys to a    1-for-7. The Utes were
             78-77 overtime win          only 22-of-35. Don't
             against Utah. He's now      these guys practice free
             an offensive focal point.   throws?

             Coaches'                    Week
             Comer                       Ahead

ATLANTIC     Believing his starters      Duke at Maryland (8 p.m.
COAST        were complacent in the      ET Saturday, ESPN). This
CONFERENCE   second half vs. FSU, UNC    one comes in the middle
             coach Matt Doherty pulled   of a three-game stretch
             them for four minutes.      for the Devils (between
             The reserves were           home games with Wake and
             outscored only 7-6, but     Carolina) that might
             FSU won the half, 40-31.    finally challenge their
                                         ACC reign.

BIG          Down 13 with three          Indiana at Iowa (1 p.m.
TEN          minutes left, Minnesota's   ET Saturday, CBS). How
CONFERENCE   Dan Monson slapped a        many times will Steve
             full-court press on         Alford be asked about
             indiana. The result: five   the IU job leading up to
             IU turnovers, which the     this one? Alford didn't
             Gophers turned into five    let his players talk
             baskets on their way to     after their last home
             a 78-74 OT win.             game, a loss to Michigan.

SOUTH-       With three starters lost    Tennessee at Georgia
EASTERN      to long-term injuries,      (Saturday) and at Florida
CONFERENCE   Florida's Billy Donovan     (9 p.m. ET Tuesday,
             is down to seven            ESPN). The Vols will have
             scholarship players and     to show more road
             might have to slow the      toughness than they did
             pace. Three players         at Kentucky. Last year,
             logged at least 35          the Vols beat the Gators
             minutes in a home loss      in overtime twice.
             to Vanderbilt.

BIG          Kelvin Sampson tried        Kansas at Missouri (9
TWELVE       everything to get J.R.      p.m. ET Monday, ESPN).
CONFERENCE   Raymond out of a            KU has shown no signs of
             seasonlong funk;            weakness since a Dec. 7
             something finally worked.   loss at Wake Forest. If
             The guard, who was          it can win at MU, then
             averaging 6.5 points,       beat Texas and iowa
             had 25 in leading           State, it will be welt
             Oklahoma past KSU in OT.    on its way to a title.

BIG          Pittsburgh's Ben Howland    Georgetown at Syracuse
EAST         demoted Brandin Knight to   (7 p.m. ET Monday, ESPN).
CONFERENCE   the bench for two games     The best rivalry from the
             because of bad practice     old days of the Big East
             habits. Knight returned     is heating up again. The
             to starting and had nine    Hoyas and Orangemen are
             assists in a 70-66 win      battling for first in
             against Georgetown.         the new West Division.

PACIFIC-10   Arizona's Lute Olson        Stanford vs. USC
CONFERENCE   challenged SF Richard       (February 1) and vs.
             Jefferson to become a       UCLA (3 p.m. ET February
             defensive stopper. He       3, ABC reg'l). The
             accepted, holding USC's     Cardinal faces its most
             David Bluthenthal to one    challenging home weekend
             second-half basket and      of the season in its bid
             UCLA's Jason Kapono to      to be the first team in
             2-of-14 shooting.           Pac-10 history to go
                                         18-0.

ATLANTIC     The loss of G Patricio      Dayton at Xavier (9 p.m.
TEN          Prato (broken wrist)        ET Tuesday, ESPN2).
CONFERENCE   means more minutes for      Everybody knows what a
             freshman Marques Green,     war Xavier-Cincinnati is,
             who already has started     but don't underestimate
             a few times. But now        this rivalry. The Flyers
             Bonnies coach Jim Baron     need a win here or risk
             must employ little-used     falling too far behind
             Eric Siegrist.              the A-10 leaders.

CONFERENCE   After starting 4-8,         Wake Forest at Cincinnati
USA          Memphis has won six         (1 p.m. ET Saturday, ABC
             straight under new coach    reg'l). UC can help
             John Calipari. The win      restore some of its
             streak matches the          self-esteem when Wake
             longest since a run         visits. Southern Miss
             in '95-96 was ended by a    travels to Marquette on
             UMass team coached by one   Tuesday for a meeting of
             John Vincent Calipari.      unexpected league
                                         contenders.

WESTERN      Unhappy with                SMU at TCU (Saturday),
ATHLETIC     concentration and effort,   Bitter rivals square off
CONFERENCE   Fresno State's Jerry        for the first time this
             Tarkanian walked out of     season in what's already
             practice days before a      a must-win for the Frogs.
             game at WAC-winless         The Jeryl Sasser-led
             Nevada. FSU still fell      Mustangs are playing
             behind by 19 in the         their best ball of the
             second half before          season.
             rallying for a 3-point
             win.

MOUNTAIN     UNLV's Max Good may go      Wyoming at New Mexico
WEST         back to starting Danny      (Monday). A win for the
CONFERENCE   Brotherson after SFs        Cowboys in their fifth
             Jermaine Lewis and Lou      road game of the month
             Kelly have struggled with   could give them a share
             their shooting in league    of the league lead. The
             play. Brotherson is not     Lobos enter a three-game
             an explosive scorer, but    road stretch after this.
             he can defend.

             Best player
             under 6'

ATLANTIC     Donald Hand, Virginia.
COAST        The point guard shoots
CONFERENCE   too much and can play
             out of control, but when
             the Cars need frenzy for
             a comeback, he can
             provide it. He can get
             you points in a hurry.
             The crowd feeds off his
             energy.

BIG          Dean Oliver, Iowa. He's
TEN          among the league leaders
CONFERENCE   in steals and free-throw
             percentage, but it's his
             floor game that's
             immaculate (2.6 assists
             per TO). He's the glue
             on a roster with five
             freshmen and two
             transfers.

SOUTH-       Jason Harrison,
EASTERN      Mississippi. His 97
CONFERENCE   3-point baskets rank
             fourth in the Rebels'
             record book, and he isn't
             afraid to take the tough
             shot. At 5-5, he uses
             quickness to get around
             and frustrate taller
             players.

BIG          Jose Winston, Colorado.
TWELVE       His listed height, 6-0,
CONFERENCE   is a stretch. He is
             fourth in the conference
             in assists-to-turnovers
             ratio (2.2-to-1). Winston
             sets the pace on both
             ends and is fourth on the
             team in rebounds.

BIG          John Linehan, Providence.
EAST         Some would crown him the
CONFERENCE   Big East pest of the
             year. In pressure
             defense, he rattles
             opponents. In wins
             against UConn and
             Villanova, he forced the
             point guards into 12
             turnovers.

PACIFIC-10   Jason Gardner, Arizona.
CONFERENCE   At his best in big games,
             the sophomore ranks among
             the league's top 10 in
             five categories,
             including fourth in
             3-pointers made (2.6 per
             game) and fifth in
             assists (4.3 per game).

ATLANTIC     Jason Harris, Fordham.
TEN          It might seem odd for the
CONFERENCE   Rams to use a 5-9 player
             at shooting guard, but
             Harris is a good scorer
             from the wing and one of
             the conference's most
             dangerous long-range
             weapons.

CONFERENCE   Steve Logan, Cincinnati.
USA          He might be listed at
             6-0, but it's more like
             5-11 3/4 for the
             consistent contributor
             who is averaging 15.2
             points in a two-point-
             guard system alongside
             Kenny Satterfield.

WESTERN      Mike Wilks, Rice. The
ATHLETIC     5-11 dynamo can play
CONFERENCE   point and off-guard. At
             21 straight double-digit
             scoring games and
             counting, he's a quick
             defender and penetrator
             who's getting to the
             line more this season.

MOUNTAIN     Chris McMillan, Wyomming.
WEST         A model of consistency,
CONFERENCE   he is having a very good
             year, moving into fourth
             on the school's career
             assists list. He could
             score in double figures
             but doesn't need to on
             this team.