These giants have fallen and may not get up

Sporting News, The, Feb 19, 1996 by Mike DeCourcy

Great Expectations. You read the book, probably against your will. Now, see the game tapes. Mississippi State. Maryland. Missouri. They were expected to be among the great teams, but it hasn't worked out that way for any of the three Ms. In late-summer, The Sporting News determined the Bulldogs had enough talent to be the No. 7 team in the preseason, the Terps would be No. 8 and the Tigers would be No. 11. In mid-February, the trio is fighting to be Nos. 62, 63 and 64, scrambling for positions in the NCAA Tournament.

"I don't mind the high expectations," says Mississippi State Coach Richard Williams, whose team has fared the best of the three. "When you have high expectations for the team, it generally means there are some good players. I've never seen a team with high expectations that had bad players."

There have been quite a few bad teams that had good players, though, and each of these three teams has flirted with that reality. Maryland, adapting more slowly than anticipated to the early departure of All-America center Joe Smith, started 0-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, 6-6 overall, before rallying to win six of its next seven games. With inexperienced Marcus Bullard taking over at point guard, Mississippi State opened 10-1 but struggled, then plunged to four defeats in its next five Southeastern Conference games. Missouri, missing the scoring and inspiration provided last season by guard Paul O'Liney, limped to 6-6 between December 20 and January 29.

The thing all three teams have in common is an inability to move and control the ball. Missouri and Mississippi State have substantially more turnovers than assists, and Maryland is about even. By comparison, No. 1 UMass has 55 more assists than turnovers, and No. 2 Kentucky had 95 more.

"We had to make sure after we started out 0-3 in the league that we understood why," Maryland Coach Gary Williams says. "I thought our patience and shot selection wasn't there, and our defensive intensity hasn't been the way it has in recent years. And that's with or without Joe Smith."

With senior Mario Lucas grabbing the majority of the minutes that used to go to Smith -- ostensibly a center, Lucas is third on the team in 3-pointers attempted -- the dynamic of Maryland's offense was altered. For the worse. Lucas and forwards Keith Booth and Exree Hipp shoot a combined 40 percent from the floor. Hipp, in particular, has had a disastrous season. A 6-foot-8 senior small forward, Hipp's scoring is off by nearly half from last year, to 7.1 points per game. He is shooting under 20 percent from 3-point range.

The Terps recovered from their lapse to construct a heartening string of six victories in seven games, including an 84-78 victory at North Carolina, but remained unreliable enough to follow that with a crushing loss at Florida State.

Like Maryland, Mississippi State touched bottom and began to surface. Unlike Maryland, the Bulldogs do not play in a conference capable of exposing whatever flaws they still possess. After its 3-4 SEC start, MSU won five consecutive games.

Bullard, a 6-3 sophomore, was recruited by most as a shooting guard and plays the point like he can't wait to get back there. He is a 48 percent 3-point shooter, but turns over the ball as often as he sets up a teammate. Shooting guard Darryl Wilson, the SEC's best last season, "is not getting the same shot opportunities," Williams says. Junior-college recruit Dontae Jones, a spectacular athlete at small forward, only recently began. to play like part of a team.

"It was difficult to deal with," Williams says of the preseason ranking. "There was some pressure we didn't have before. We'd been sort of an underdog program. But ... I think we're an improved basketball team."

Missouri's decline has been the most severe and mystifying, which stands to reason given how tough it is to conventionally evaluate Coach Norm Stewart's program. How does he win so consistently without great point-guard play? How does he win so many regular-season games without finding NCAA success? How could his Tigers lose to last-place Colorado, then beat first-place Kansas?

Those who recognized these Tigers might encounter backcourt problems figured Stewart had overcome that in the past and would again. He hasn't. Missouri lacks precision on offense, and Stewart has struggled to keep either of his 7-0 twin towers, Simeon and Sammie Haley, on the floor.

The defense looks fine statistically, holding opponents to 40 percent shooting, but Colorado slapped 106 points on the Tigers. Following a 73-62 humbling of Missouri, Iowa State's players noted some on-court bickering and obvious frustration among the Tigers. Outside Columbia, they won just two of their first nine games.

"There has been a couple of times this year when I thought we played well on the road," Stewart says. "The other times, we've been driving in a muddy field without a tractor. We'll start playing well, then hit a rut."

A loss isn't a loss

Virginia Tech loses on the road to George Washington and falls from No. 8 to No. 13 in the Associated Press poll. Georgetown loses to a sub- .500 St. John's team and drops only from No. 6 to No. 9. Marquette loses at UNC Charlotte and goes from No. 24 to nowhere. Wake Forest loses at North Carolina and falls from No. 9 to No. 12.