National exposure comes at a high price

Sporting News, The, Dec 12, 1994 by Gene Wojciechowski

Not everyone was thrilled with the invitation to the recent Great Eight event, which had its heart in the right place, but not its calendar.

Arizona Coach Lute Olson, whose team arrived home from the Great Alaska Shootout on a Monday then had to board a plane for Detroit less than 24 hours later, wasn't thrilled with his school's administration, ESPN or the timing of the second trip.

"I was not in favor of participating in the Great Eight," Olson says. "I think it's wrong that we schedule things based on television and we don't take into account that these are student athletes."

Olson had nothing against the concept of the two-day, four-game Great Eight, which brings together the final eight teams of the previous season's NCAA Tournament. But he was openly critical of a schedule that saw the Wildcats leave Alaska at 2 a.m. on a Sunday, arrive in Tucson at 1:30 p.m., practice at troit and, if all went well, reach the hotel by midnight. Worse yet, Olson says, his players missed two full days of classes.

"I personally don't think it's right, and I objected to it then and I'm objecting to it now," Olson says. "I think this should be a Saturday-Sunday kind of affair. I'm not in favor of it, and I expressed that to our administration at the time it came up."

So if it were up to him, Arizona would have stayed home?

"It's not one that I agreed to, let's just put it that way," Olson says. "This was an athletic department decision."

At issue was the midweek format. NBC managed to squeeze the John Wooden Classic (Kansas vs. Massachusetts, UCLA vs. Kentucky) into a Saturday time slot, but ESPN with four games, didn't have that option.

"I think the Great Eight is a very position thing for basketball," says Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun, whose team upset Duke in the event. "I agree ... that the weekend would be much better."

And Olson also had a supporter of sorts in Florida Coach Lon Kruger.

"Without question, a concern is the number of missed class days," Kruger says. "We're going to miss three full class days. I hope something can be done."

Not every team in the well-meaning festival missed as many classes or suffered as many travel hardships as Arizona. And not every team had to say yes to the invitation. Arkansas didn't, but even its reasons were related more to financial considerations than academic concerns.

Great Eight organizers paid Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Duke, Michigan, Missouri, Purdue and Boston College lots of money (a $100,000 guarantee) and arranged for lots of TV exposure. In return, the first-year event had its great seven (UConn replaced the Razorbacks) and the players had their missed classes and jet lag.

Arizona guard Reggie Geary didn't mind the inconvenience, especially after the Wildcats defeated Michigan, 78-57.

"From a player's standpoint, this is something we live for," Geary says. "We missed a lot of classes, so I know what Coach (Olson) is saying. But I'll be all right. I've got a tutor and a computer."

Hog wild

Despite a 5-of-18 shooting effort in his college debut, Georgetown freshman guard Allen Iverson earned at least one notable admirer -- Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson, whose Razorbacks recovered from an openinggame loss to Massachusetts in time to beat the Hoyas, 97-79.

"I've been through three calf shows, nine horse ropings and I saw Elvis once, but I've never seen anything like that Iverson boy. It was almost like he had a string on it," said Richardson of Iverson's quickness and ball-handling skills.

In search of...

Indiana should be so lucky. Coach Bob Knight's search for a dependable lineup, particularly in the backcourt, remains glaringly evident.

The Hoosiers lost two of three at the Maui Invitational and then lost to Notre Dame in overtime the next week to start the season 1-3. It was Indiana's worst start since 1976-77 and the first time since '88 that the Hoosiers lost to the Irish. Of course, '88 also was the last time the Irish were ranked in the polls.

Notre Dame trailed by 11 at halftime, but thanks to a second-half barrage of 3-pointers and the departure of Indiana star Alan Henderson to fouls, the Irish were able to squeak by. One Hoosier bright spot: freshman guard Neil Reed, who scored 18 points after going scoreless in Hawaii.

Fathers and sons

On November 28, Hugh Durham's Georgia squad defeated son Doug Durham's Georgia Southern team, 87-57. Doug Durham got the job when Frank Kerns and assistants Mike Backus and Mark White resigned after an internal investigation revealed possible NCAA rules violations. The matchup marked only the fourth time in NCAA history that a father and son have faced each other. The Durhams join Ray and Tom Meyer, Butch and Jan van Breda Kolff and Ed Diddle Sr. and Jr.

Foyled again

Colgate freshman Adonal Foyle made an ironic, early-season appearance against Syracuse, the same school that thought it had the inside recruiting track to the 6-foot-10 center.

Instead, Foyle surprised everyone by signing with the Red Raiders of the Patriot League. Foyle scored 15 points against the Orangemen in an 88-53 blowout by Syracuse, but needed 15 shots to do it.