Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 20, 1994 TAG: 9403200099
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LANDOVER, MD. LENGTH: Medium
Appropriately, Boston College must look up to find its opponent today in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
It's not just because the Eagles, with three guards, must face top-ranked North Carolina, the No. 1 seed in the East Regional. It's not just because UNC is the defending national champion.
And, it's not just because the Tar Heels will start twin towers Eric Montross and Rasheed Wallace against a lineup that averages 6-foot-4 1/2.
Ninth-seeded BC is telling itself the Heels are even more sizeable.
"Our only chance is to come in believing in ourselves," said Eagles guard Malcolm Huckaby. "It's the only way to beat a team like this - not just a team, really, an institution."
BC (21-10) doesn't have to be told that in a 2:35 p.m. tip-off at USAir Arena, the Tar Heels (28-6) are seeking their 14th consecutive trip to the NCAA regional semifinals. BC has four senior starters, three of whom have played every game since they arrived on the Chestnut Hill, Mass., campus.
"We approach this as the underdog, which we are," said guard Howard Eisley. "Nobody expects us to win. No one picked us to be here this year, either."
BC finished third in the Big East Conference during the regular season, then crashed in an embarrassing 81-58 loss to Georgetown in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. The Eagles slipped past eighth-seeded Washington State in Friday's first round.
That was their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1985, when current Maryland coach Gary Williams was in charge. Jim O'Brien has guided the BC program to success through some very difficult times.
O'Brien, 43, likely would have lost his job had BC not reached the National Invitation Tournament the past two years. That was a minor worry, however. His wife, Christine, died of cancer in March 1991, on the eve of the Big East tournament. He is raising two teen-age daughters alone.
So, coping with Carolina's depth and size - "the biggest team we have played in [his eight] years at BC," O'Brien said - isn't intimidating.
"It is a concern," said the Eagles' coach. "Shooting percentage will be the single biggest factor for us. I do think we'll get some shots, I'm just not sure how many we'll get around the basket.
"If we don't shoot well, obviously it's going to be very difficult."
UNC bounced Liberty in round 1 after 30 minutes of struggle, and in Saturday's closed workout, it's likely the Tar Heels heard plenty from coach Dean Smith about unforced errors.
In a news conference Saturday, Smith singled out freshman Jerry Stackhouse - the ACC tournament's MVP a week ago - for his six turnovers against the Flames.
"Stackhouse had one that he lost that bounced off the Liberty guy and he got it back," Smith said. "I know the Lord's not on our side, but . . ."
The player BC needs to play big is 6-9 Bill Curley, the All-Big East center who has 2,053 points and 967 rebounds in his career. He will be going against Montross and Wallace, so expect the Eagles to try an inside-out attack that worked well for Liberty.
BC has a second-round streak of its own. The Eagles are 4-0 in NCAA second-round games, the last victory 74-73 over Duke in 1985. UNC owns a 2-0 series edge over BC - both victories coming in NCAA play (1967 and '75).
"There is a mystique about North Carolina," Huckaby said.
But, said Curley, "We're not going to say we can't win because it's North Carolina."
The last time UNC failed to reach the NCAA's Sweet 16 was in 1980, when the Tar Heels headed home after a 78-61 double-overtime loss to Texas A&M in Denton, Texas. Smith recalled the year before that defeat.
"In 1979 [when UNC was the No. 1 East seed, playing in Raleigh, N.C.], I remember Penn came in and said they thought Carolina was a soap opera, they had seen us on TV so much," said the Tar Heels' coach. "They said they wanted to beat us, and they did.
"There are no gimmes in the NCAA Tournament. I think the tendency was there to undersell Liberty, or maybe oversell us.
"It's this year that counts. This year we haven't made the Sweet 16 yet. We're going to try. You want to play your best basketball late, but we're still making unforced errors we shouldn't make at this level at this point."
by CNB