| | Syracuse was in a bind. The Orangemen couldn't go on the road more than a few times for non-conference games because revenue from the Carrier Dome is needed to pay the bills on campus.
But their two non-conference road opponents -- South Carolina and Louisville --
couldn't fit the games in during November or December, so Syracuse had to wedge them in during Big East play.
That left the Orangemen with no road games until Jan. 8, when they finally leave the snow belt for Miami, Fla. That's nine straight non-conference home games, all of which Syracuse has won. The Orangemen also have Rutgers at home in their Big East opener Jan. 5.
|  | | Syracuse is 9-0 even with Etan Thomas missing three games. |
Undefeated, essentially untested and not seen nationally, the
Orangemen are in the top 10 in both polls with few outside of Syracuse
knowing how good they are or can be this season. The same could be said of Mississippi (11-1), and many were wondering if LSU was for real before the Tigers ran their record to 12-0 by beating No. 11 Oklahoma State.
"Ideally, we would have gone on the road against South Carolina and
Louisville earlier," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "But we couldn't get
it done. Now we've got three tough non-conference games during the year
(including a February home game against UCLA). It's true there have been
games all over the place with good teams but I've never believed that a
couple of tough games make you a better team."
While elite teams Stanford, North Carolina, Cincinnati, Arizona,
Michigan State, Connecticut and Indiana have played at least one top-10 team, Syracuse has skated by at home against a schedule that had only two name teams -- Wisconsin and Princeton. While center Etan Thomas' injuries slowed Syracuse, it was easier to handle with the homecourt
cushion.
"I'm surprised we got through it as well as we did without him,"
said Boeheim, who has had to devote even more time at home with his wife
giving birth to twins recently. "(Thomas) will be 100 percent from here on
out. But our biggest problem last year wasn't the road, it was at home. We
were 3-6 at home in the league, 7-2 on the road."
But Boeheim says the Orangemen have proven they're pretty good.
They're wiser, more mature and execute with poise. Boeheim moved Tony Bland
to shooting guard with DeShaun Williams, leaving Damone Brown to start at small forward.
Jason Hart has been solid at the point, while Preston Shumpert has been a reliable role player.
Ryan Blackwell has emerged as a low-post threat with Thomas out of the
lineup.
"Everybody has improved," Boeheim said of the Orangemen, who were 21-12 last season. "Connecticut is clearly the team to beat in our league, and the
country. I don't think (No. 1) Stanford would even give them a game."
LSU left its home state only once, for the Hawaii-Pacific tournament. In
Honolulu, the Tigers beat Wyoming and Fresno State, a pair of decent but not
impressive wins. But by passing their first real test with a 63-53 win over the Cowboys in the Sugar Bowl Classic, the Tigers should start garnering top-25 votes.
"I think they're one of the best teams in the country," Fresno
State coach Jerry Tarkanian said. "They've got two all-Americans up front in
Stromile Swift and Jabari Smith and their three-man (Brian Beshara) is
excellent. Their two-game is a good shooter (Lamont Roland) and their point
(Torris Bright) will be very good."
The Bulldogs' Melvin Ely couldn't get a good look at the basket against either
Swift or Smith in their loss to the Tigers.
"Stromile is so athletic, quick and jumps so high," Tarkanian said.
"You throw it up around the rim and he dunks it. Jabari can block shots.
They should be 10-0. Their conference is tough as heck but I think they're a
sleeper team."
The rest of the SEC isn't as surprised by LSU's success. Mississippi coach Rod Barnes
expected the Tigers to be a contender this season. But what about the
Rebels -- are they a pretender?
"We're good, not great," Barnes said. "We're playing good team
defense and that's why we've won."
The Rebels opened with the usual cupcake teams in the South before
winning the Southern Conference Holiday tournament. Their only loss came at Oklahoma, and have wins over Alabama State, VCU and Memphis.
"We lost three starters from last year on a good team," Barnes said
of the Rebels, who lost in the NCAA first round last season. "It's been good
that nobody has been watching us."
The Rebels have been led by the rebirth of Rahim Lockhart, the
bruising power forward who has seen his scoring average nearly double to 14.3 points per game.
"We're a confident team, because we've won some games," said
Barnes, who won't be tested again until playing at Arkansas in the SEC
opener Jan. 5 before a home game against Florida on Jan. 8.
"We're a better basketball team by winning these games than we would
have been at 5-6 (against a tougher schedule)," Barnes said. "We might be
one of the surprises to this point. Hopefully, we'll still be later in the
season."
Making the wrong call
A poor return rate on the first batch forced the NCAA to send out a second form to officials to make sure
they signed off on a controversial background check before the NCAA
Tournament.
But Hank Nichols, director of officials for the NCAA, said he
expected all 96 officials who worked last year's NCAA Tournament to fill
out the form. A signature is required before the NCAA can conduct background
checks to see if any official had been charged with illicit gambling.
"Nobody expects anything to come up on the background checks and I'd
be shocked if one came up," Nichols said.
But officials are still upset over being asked to participate. NCAA
officials, who aren't part of a union, work as independent contractors and resent the
fact that they are the only ones being asked to participate, not players, coaches and administrators. Officials who spoke to ESPN.com recently said they don't expect anything to come out of the search but feel their integrity has been questioned.
"It's the principal that bothers us," said one western official who requested anonymity. "We're just as upset that we're not being asked to participate on decisions. We don't get any more input on rules than
the media and we weren't asked our opinion on this subject."
Nichols said he empathizes with the officials. But he said, even if
the NCAA wanted to, it couldn't undertake the project of fully investigating
all the officials. As for more input from the officials, Nichols said it
will happen in the offseason.
"Between now and next year, we will have conference reps to voice
concerns at a meeting to get them more involved in the process," Nichols
said.
A few officials told ESPN.com that there was some talk about a
potential boycott when the NCAA first asked for the background checks. But
that kind of rhetoric has ended.
Weekly chatter
Seven-foot center Ernest
Brown from Indian Hills (Iowa) Junior College said he's taking a long look at declaring for the NBA draft instead of honoring his letter of intent to play at Iowa State.
Brown, who originally signed at St. John's but went to Mesa (Ariz.)
College last season, said he has to take care of his family first, rather
than worry about a four-year school.
"I'm looking at it as a big option right now, because of my family
situation," Brown said. "(Iowa State) is aware that I might go
after this season. I'm focusing on school now but when I get more into the
season I'll decide."
Brown said agents have harassed him the past six months.
"I've had my number changed a few times so no one can call me,"
Brown said.
Brown, who along with TCU signee Corey Hightower have led defending
national champion Indian Hills to a 12-1 record, could end up as high as the
mid-teens in the first round if he declared, according to NBA scouts.
Glenda Rush, the mother of JaRon and Kareem Rush, told
ESPN.com that she doesn't understand where the NCAA came up with an
arbitrary figure of $1,800 for Kareem to repay to gain reinstatement at
Missouri. The NCAA reduced his penalty from 14 to nine games for receiving extra benefits while a member of an AAU team in Kansas City prior to his enrollment at Missouri.
"First they said $2,300, now it's $1,800? I don't see how they came
up with that without receipts," Glenda Rush said.
Rush said she wasn't sure how Kareem would repay the money.
"If it's not right now, I can help him but he'll probably have to get a job
this summer to pay for it," Rush said.
Rush said her son JaRon has been told by his lawyers not to talk to
the media while his case is being investigated at UCLA. A decision on Rush's
eligibility hasn't been made while he remains in Kansas City, instead of
practicing with the Bruins.
Fox and ESPN missed a chance for televising quality games by passing
on the Rainbow Classic. Two of the first four games in the first round came
down to dramatic endings.
Oregon beat Wake Forest on falling-down buzzer beater by Alex Scales. Hawaii beat Bradley when a pass from Johnny White went
through the legs of forward Marquette Alexander, as well as a Bradley
forward, before guard Nerijus Puida picked it up on a bounce and converted a
reverse layup. White then stole the inbound pass and threw it in for the final
67-63 score as the Rainbows scored four points in two seconds.
All four teams from east of the Mississippi -- Ohio, Wake Forest, Villanova and Bradley -- were in the
consolation bracket. Colorado and Gonzaga joined Hawaii and Oregon in the
semifinals.
Wonder why St. Joseph's went to Chattanooga this week? When
both schools were in the Sweet 16 in '97, St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli
read quotes from Mack McCarthy that no one would play Chattanooga. So, he
dialed him up and scheduled a home-and-home series. Chattanooga went to
Philadelphia last season and the Hawks returned the trip last week. They
each won at home.
Will the selection committee cut teams slack because of an
injury? Fresno State and TCU are certainly banking on it, especially without
an automatic bid out of the WAC. Both teams have been riddled with injuries
(TCU has six losses, Fresno State five). TCU has played without starters
Ryan Carroll and Vladimir Jaksic at times, with the pair missing a combined 10 games. It didn't help that center Derrick Davenport got tossed with two technicals in the Frogs' loss at home
to Butler earlier this week.
"Our backs are against the wall," TCU coach Billy Tubbs said. "We
can still get on a roll. We're not down. But we've got to score because
we're not shooting the ball well. We're not playing defense, either."
With Davenport, a healthy Carroll, Marquise
Gainous and Kentucky transfer Myron Anthony, TCU has the talent to win the WAC regular season title (yes, even over Tulsa and SMU). But the Frogs can't afford more than
two losses for the rest of the season if they want their non-conference record to
be dismissed.
The same is true of Fresno State. The Bulldogs had Melvin Ely and Courtney Alexander healthy in just one of their five losses (a 69-59 setback vs. San Francisco).
The Bulldogs, who have already played 14 games, have 16 games in the final 12 weeks.
"Courtney has missed five weeks of practice and Melvin has missed
six," Fresno State coach Jerry Tarkanian said. "Hopefully, we can get it
going with them back."
Florida was forced to play VMI at noon on Tuesday in
Gainesville because the Gators couldn't get another non-conference game when they tried to schedule one late in the summer. VMI agreed but the only date it had available was Tuesday.
The Gator women had the venue reserved for a night game, pushing the men to an
afternoon affair.
Much of the talk about Florida this season has centered on Billy Donovan's underclassmen, but senior guard Kenyan Weaks has been on a tear all season. He's shooting 59.6 percent from the floor (56 of 94) and had already taken more free
throws this season (29) than all of last year (28) while missing just one. His assist-to-turnover
ratio over his three-year career had been nearly 1:2. But this season, he has 33 assists to just 15 turnovers through 11 games.
St. John's survived Erick Barkley's knee injury by going
1-1 in his absence, playing Chudney Gray at the point. With Barkley out, wing
Reggie Jessie converted 17 straight field goals and Prop. 48 sophomore
Anthony Glover was named Big East rookie of the week with 35 points against
Hofstra.
Lou Kelly's debut at UNLV is being held up while the wing waits for final eligibility. Kelly is waiting on a grade from L.A. City College, where he spent fall semester after playing at San Bernadino JC last season. If the grade isn't posted by Friday, he won't play vs. Cincinnati on Sunday. Instead, his first game would be in the Mountain West Conference opener against BYU on Jan. 10.
Purdue senior Brian Cardinal came back from a broken thumb
for the Boilermakers' win over Santa Clara. Cardinal came off the bench to
score four points in 18 minutes.
Ohio State's chances to get back to the Final Four rest
more with the inside play of Ken Johnson than with perimeter stars Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd.
He's averaging more than five blocks a game (he had eight against American on Wednesday) but the difference in his game has been at the offensive end.
The Buckeyes are making a concerted effort to get him the ball in the lane. But
Ohio State is hurting with its depth, losing Boban Savovic (its sixth man)
for 3-4 weeks with an Achilles tendon problem. There's a chance he could
seek a medical redshirt. Three freshmen and a sophomore dominate the bench.
"We've got to stay healthy and stay out of foul trouble and keep
Penn, Redd and Johnson rested because we know the Big Ten will be a monster of a conference again this
season," Ohio State assistant Rick Boyages said.
Arizona transfer Luke Recker and Kentucky
transfer Ryan Hogan started practicing at Iowa. Neither will be eligible
until January 2001, unless Recker gets an exemption to play in November.
Recker is seeking special permission because he left Arizona to be closer to his girlfriend, who is paralyzed
from a summer auto accident.
Players tend to bail on first-year coaches at mid-semester,
but rarely to they jump straight to a pro career in December. But that's what Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez is dealing with as he waits to see if senior Ken Kavanaugh ends up on a Irish or Spanish professional team. Despite starting and averaging nearly eight points a game, Kavanaugh
told the first-year Gonzalez that he had a deal to go abroad because of his
dual citizenship (Irish and American). Kavanaugh, who originally played at
San Jose State, was never a star in Division I.
"He said he'd rather grab it now than wait until the spring,"
Gonzalez said. "This happened right before we played Lehigh (Dec. 13) but
since I've seen him on campus finishing some stuff."
Gonzalez said Kavanaugh's father called to say he was making a
mistake.
"Ken told me he was going to Spain, but I've coached six pro guys
and if you're going to go to Spain, you're probably playing in a big-time
league," Gonzalez said.
The Jaspers' depth was hurt even more when they lost sixth-man Jerry
Clark to a season-ending knee injury. Manhattan was swept out of the Sun
Devil Classic this week in Tempe, Ariz., losing to Penn State and Bucknell.
Arizona transfer Ruben Douglas will start practicing at New
Mexico on Monday. Meanwhile, outgoing guard John Robinson II will likely end up
at home in Houston or Nebraska. Both schools could use a backup point guard.
Stanford didn't start Mark Madsen against New Hampshire on
Wednesday in the Stanford Invitational because he's not ready to play fullcourt. Assistant coach Blaine
Taylor said the concern with Madsen's hamstring injury comes when he tries
to go from end-to-end after practicing almost exclusively halfcourt the past
few weeks.
"Physically, he's pretty sharp," Taylor said. "But he's got to get
in a basketball rhythm. His come back will be gradual. He's got to get his
timing down. That's why this tournament is good for him. It's not
Cincinnati."
Madsen played 21 minutes, scored eight points and had eight rebounds
with two blocks in the 119-60 win.
Andy Katz's Weekly Word on college basketball runs every Thursday during the season.
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