'Cats clawing to keep NCAA streak alive

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Mar 6, 2008 | by Jeff Faraudo

IMAGINE WHAT it's like right now to be Kevin O'Neill.

After seven seasons in the NBA, he returned to Arizona to become Lute Olson's top assistant and, presumably, eventual heir to the legend. Then Olson took a season-long leave of absence and O'Neill got the big office.

Now the talk out of Tucson is a rift has developed between the two -- something neither man will acknowledge -- and that if Olson decides to return next season O'Neill will be gone.

Meanwhile, the team O'Neill inherited is substantially flawed. There is only one good big man and so little depth that when injuries knocked out guards Jerryd Bayless (four games) and Nic Wise (seven games but may be ready to play this week), the Wildcats were just 3-8.

With both players healthy, UA is 13-4 against a schedule rated the nation's toughest by the RPI computer. The'Cats have played more teams rated in the RPI's top 50 than anyone in the country, but they are 10-10 in those games.

As Arizona arrives in Oregon this week to close out the Pac-10 regular season, the program's 23-year run of NCAA tournament appearances is on the line. Just 4-6 in its past 10 games, Arizona needs two victories to finish 9-9 in the conference.

Do the Wildcats make the cut if they beat Oregon State tonight, but lose to Oregon on Saturday to finish 8-10?

O'Neill doesn't know what to think. "It's kind of a mystery to me," he said.

Since 1983, 28 teams with losing conference records have earned NCAA at-large bids. Twelve of those teams were from the Atlantic Coast Conference, none were out of the Pac-10.

We won't be surprised if Arizona rewrites that history. The Pac- 10's strength and the Wildcats' willingness to follow the NCAA's mandate to play a tough schedule should be rewarded.

"It's been an interesting year," O'Neill said. "That's all I can say."

Here are a few more tournament-related observations with barely a week left before Selection Sunday:

-The Pac-10 will get six teams, but Oregon won't be one of them. The Ducks are just 4-8 in their past 12 games and are 0-7 against RPI top-50 teams during that stretch, beating only Oregon State (twice), Cal and Washington.

-The Big East will garner the most bids (7), followed by the Pac- 10 (6), Big 12 (6), ACC (5), SEC (5) and Big Ten (4).

-Don't be shocked if the Missouri Valley gets three: Drake and Illinois State will make it, along with either Southern Illinois or Creighton, provided one of them reaches the conference tournament final.

-Don't expect to see last year's national championship combatants -- Florida and Ohio State. The Gators, 1-5 against the top 50 in the RPI, can wriggle back into the discussion with a win at home tonight against Tennessee. But the Buckeyes had lost four in a row and were 0-9 against the top 50 before knocking off No.15 Purdue on Tuesday night.

-Surprisingly, Billy Gillispie's new team (Kentucky) may have a better shot at the NCAAs than his old team (Texas A&M). The Wildcats, after an 8-9 start, have won eight of their past 10. A&M (21-8) is probably still in, but it has dropped four of five and plays tonight at Baylor, then Saturday at home vs. Kansas.

-Get ready to see Todd Bozeman back in the NCAAs for the first time since 1996, his final season as coach at Cal. In his second season at Morgan State, the Bears are 19-9 and have clinched the Mid- Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season title. How about a first- round matchup with old Pac-10 rival UCLA?

-St. Mary's and Gonzaga both will earn berths, even if San Diego wins the West Coast Conference automatic bid this weekend on its home floor. But don't count on the Toreros winning.

-A win over UCLA tonight could hoist Stanford to a No.2 seeding. Otherwise, the Cardinal figures to be a No.3.

-Who are the four No.1 seeds? We'll pick Memphis, UCLA, North Carolina and Kansas, but Tennessee, Duke and Texas will be ready and willing.

Cal-bound senior guard D.J. Seeley scored 18 points as Modesto Christian beat Colfax on Saturday to win its ninth straight Sac- Joaquin Section Division IV title.

Seeley scored 30 points in the Crusaders' semifinal win over Encina, while junior teammate Nelson Reeves, verbally committed to UCLA, had 53. Reeves broke Bill Cartwright's 34-year-old section record by totaling 121 points in three tournament games.

- Oregon athletic director Pat Kilkenny, on coach Ernie Kent's job status: "I really haven't given it a thought. It would be hard for me to imagine he's not our coach next year."

STAT OF THE WEEK: Hayward High product Diamon Simpson, the junior forward at St. Mary's honored as the WCC Defensive Player of the Year, is averaging 21.8 points and 11 rebounds over the past four games in a stretch that included Kent State, San Diego and Gonzaga.

THE ONE TO SEE: Stanford at UCLA, tonight, 8 p.m., FSN. The Cardinal can grab a share of the Pac-10 lead with a win at Pauley Pavilion. Hard to imagine Brook and Robin Lopez both fouling out again this time, as they did in Stanford's 76-67 loss to the Bruins back on Jan.3.

LAST-SECOND SHOT: "I feel like someone put a meat necklace around my neck and threw me into a lion's den." --Texas Tech coach Pat Knight, after the Red Raiders lost 109-51 at Kansas on Monday, the worst defeat in school history.