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| | Friday, October 13 It still takes veterans to win a national title | |||||||||||
| By Andy Katz ESPN.com TUCSON, Ariz. -- Forget about early-entry candidates hurting the game or impact freshmen ruling the sport each year. To win the national title, a team better be loaded with vets. Arizona and Duke are the clear 2001 national title favorites. Check their rosters lately? Arizona returns all five starters. Duke returns four. Arizona could have lost two players to the NBA draft. Duke could have seen at least one bolt. But they're not alone. Maryland has a chance because Terrance Morris returned. Michigan State can defend its title because Jason Richardson, Andre Hutson and Charlie Bell are back to compliment two impact freshmen in Zach Randolph and Marcus Taylor. Florida is on the radar screen due to the return of sophomore Brett Nelson. Tennessee can count on being a factor with Tony Harris and Vincent Yarbrough coming to their senses and deciding against pursuing the NBA. Illinois? No one left, except coach Lon Kruger. But five starters back and magic man Bill Self make the Illini a Final Four favorite. North Carolina? Yeah, Joe Forte and Brendan Haywood return for the Tar Heels' Final Four run. Kansas? Roy Williams stayed. Drew Gooden and Nick Collison, two players who had the talent but didn't think about leaving early, give the Jayhawks an experienced 1-2 punch inside.
SMU won't have a Midnight Madness Friday. The students are on fall break, leaving the Mustangs to begin practice Saturday with little local fanfare. That's fine with Mike Dement. His work in progress isn't ready for viewing yet. This is his year at SMU, but he's not catching any breaks. Picked to finish first in the Western Athletic Conference and get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1993 and first in Dement's five years at the school, the Mustangs are starting practice in a delicate state. While all-American and potential first-round draft pick Jeryl Sasser is ready to roll, albeit frustrated by the lack of commitment from a few teammates, the Mustangs are facing practice with only nine healthy bodies. Senior guard Renaldo Bratton (herniated disc) could be gone for the year. Junior center Mike Niemi is experiencing nagging back pain that will keep him out indefinitely, even though X-rays for a possible stress fracture were negative. Freshman guard Voc Atkins, who was expected to help replace departed point guard is out for another 2-4 weeks with torn cartilage in his knee. The good news is guard Quinton Ross, expected to be a key reserve, will practice after he had a bulging disc in the offseason. Center Nigel Smith, who had major sinus surgery, was cleared, too, but he hasn't played in almost two years. "Our situation is very fragile," said Dement Wednesday in Dallas during ESPN.com's preseason tour. The Mustangs are one of the teams to watch this season because of Sasser and Dement. Dement could be the next Bill Self (Tulsa to Illinois) or Mike Brey (Delaware to Notre Dame), ready to move on to a higher profile program, even though he's a bit older than the pair at 46. Dement, who coached at Cornell and UNC Greensboro, spent time on Duke's bench as an assistant and is cut from similar coaching cloth. But is first and only chore is to deliver an NCAA Tournament berth to a starving basketball community, dominated by Big 12 news without a team in the city. If it happens, it will be because of Sasser. The lanky 6-7 Sasser is an all-everything guard, who will post up, be a playmaker or a distributor, usually towering over a defender. But Sasser has to be more assertive for the Mustangs to have a chance for an NCAA Tournament berth, let alone a WAC title. Sasser declared for the NBA draft and waited until the final hours to withdraw from the draft on the June 21st deadline. Sasser and returning senior big guard/small forward Willie Davis have to be the team's leaders. If they're not, then the Mustangs won't get out of the WAC. "Jeryl is mature and he knows that he has to have a great year for us," Dement said. "His goals are the NBA and getting us to the NCAA Tournament. He has to play for us, though. He can't play for the NBA. He has to respect what the other guys do and do what's necessary for us to win games and not just totally take it upon himself." Sasser's intensity to win can make him frustrated if everyone doesn't share his desire. But the Mustangs have little room for error. They're not used to being picked as the favorite. They were even tabbed as the No. 1 seed in the San Juan Shootout, a tournament that might not have another postseason team beside Iona or possible Nebraska (in the NIT). That puts even more pressure on the Mustangs to win a tournament like that and build some power rating points. Games at Tennessee and a possible matchup against Oklahoma in the All-College Tournament in late December could decide if the Mustangs have the resume for an at-large berth. Last year, the Mustangs lacked the quality non-conference wins and lost to Hawaii in the WAC tournament quarterfinals, leaving the then-21-8 Mustangs for an NIT berth. "There's a danger of us feeling like we've arrived because everyone is telling you how good you are," Dement said. "We should be very hungry because we got close last year. We sniffed (the NCAA). We played Southwest Missouri State in the NIT. But we've got to play well in that San Juan tournament. That's the same tournament that Tulsa emerged from last year with a win over Tennessee." The Mustangs have only 12 home games, down three from a year ago. They've got injuries. Balance is a question with forwards Jon Forinash, DeWayne Floyd and Jibran Kelley all unproven scorers. "We're going to have to experience and be prepared to play davis on the perimeter instead of inside and it might be a great thing or a disaster," Dement said. "We need Sasser and Davis to stay healthy. We need Ross to stay healthy. But Sasser has to have a great year for us to do it."
Fran Fraschilla didn't reach for a tape of Duke, North Carolina, Arizona or Michigan State. He wanted to watch Tulsa. That's right, Tulsa. And why not? Tulsa is as good a model for a program trying to retool as any in the country. Bill Self's Golden Hurricane, and likely Buzz Peterson's this season, played a definitive style. The Golden Hurricane weren't loaded with McDonald's All-Americans or even top-50 prospects. What they were was a collection of tweeners and physical players who played hard. They weren't the most skilled, or traditional position players. That didn't matter. The Golden Hurricane went hard on every possession and was aggressive toward the basket all the way to an Elite Eight appearance. Can New Mexico be Tulsa this year? Not in wins, or tournament success, but the Lobos can emulate the Hurricane. The Lobos are the unknown team in the Mountain West this season. "I don't think the coaches in our league know about who our players are or how good they can be," said Fraschilla Thursday in his office at the Pit. "These are the kind of guys I had at St. John's. We're the mystery team." In observing the Lobos workout, talent isn't a question. The Lobos have the size and strength at guard to hang with top four Mountain West teams Utah, Wyoming, BYU and UNLV. Marlon Parmer, who will return to practice Sunday after sitting out for a violation of team rules, is a more controlled point. The addition of Eric Chatfield gives the Lobos a Vinny Johnson-like pop at wing. Chatfield can hit the 3-pointer and physically drive off a player to get to the basket and convert. Tim Lightfoot has added bulk and is playing with more confidence than in his first two years. Lightfoot, one of two remaining players from the Dave Bliss era after a massive exodus hit Fraschilla's program in year one, is at ease for the first time. "Everyone here wants to be here and works hard," Lightfoot said. "We're a lot tighter than we were a year ago. It's good that we're looked at as a sleeper." Lightfoot will start for the Lobos until Arizona transfer Ruben Douglas is eligible. Douglas and Washington transfer Senque Carey, who won't be eligible until 2001-02, have already helped Lightfoot become a better player. He said he's being pushed every day in drills to drive harder and play stronger. Once Douglas is eligible, Lightfoot will likely become the team's sixth man. The frontcourt isn't deep but it's similar to Tulsa's, at least in appearance. Fraschilla likens returning senior Wayland White to Tulsa's Eric Coley. He sees JC transfer Malcolm Battles, a long, lean and physical finisher, to Tulsa's Brandon Kurtz. Patrick Dennehy, a freshman who still needs to add bulk, can't be Tulsa's David Shelton. Shelton was a resident enforcer and double-digit scorer off the bench. That's the missing role that may not be filled. "Bill Self's team had an identity of their own," Fraschilla said. "Just because you're an aggressive playing coach that doesn't mean you're playing 94 feet. We want to gut it out like Tulsa did." Fraschilla went through a rough transition year with the Lobos, finishing third in the Mountain West and receiving an NIT berth. Playing the Preseason NIT opener against George Mason, perhaps the toughest mid-major this season, won't be easy even though it's at the Pit. But once Douglas is eligible after the first six games, the Lobos will have a full compliment of players for a non-conference game at Gonzaga and the start of the Mountain West. "I love that everyone in this state is behind this team, I feed off that energy and feel responsible to work extremely hard for the 1.6 million people in this state," Fraschilla said. "Basketball is important to them and we're trying to keep this program at the level it was before and take it even further." Mimicking Tulsa isn't a bad idea. No Knight tonight Indiana's Midnight Madness will be sans Bob Knight but college basketball isn't going to stop. Knight's presence will be missed at Indiana but the game will go on. "We had tremendous games with Indiana when I was at Kentucky and the people in Indiana will miss him in his red sweater on the sidelines," said Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, a former Kentucky head coach. "But it won't have any affect on the college game. There are so many good programs and the quality of coaching is much better than when I started." The enthusiasm at Indiana might actually be higher Friday night. Mike Davis has invited the women's team to participate in Midnight Madness, trying to get even more support at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers are likely to be this year's loveable team because of their presumed underdog status. Weekly Chatter | ALSO SEE ESPN.com Preseason Top 25 An opening night at Indiana -- without Knight Have a question for the Weekly Word? Missed the Word? | |||||||||||
