Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 12, 1990 TAG: 9003122880
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: KANSAS CITY, MO. LENGTH: Long
Michigan State and defending champion Michigan led a parade of seven Big Ten teams - the most ever from one conference - into the NCAA Tournament field Sunday.
"They deserved to get in. There's no question the seven teams are in the top 64 in the country," said Steve Fisher, Michigan's coach.
Michigan State, the Big Ten champion, was made a top seed along with No. 1 Oklahoma, Nevada-Las Vegas and Connecticut.
"I thought seven teams could make it," said Jud Heathcote, the Spartans' coach. "I wonder if more than five teams should go from any conference."
Joining Michigan State and Michigan from the Big Ten were Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio State. Only Iowa, Wisconsin and Northwestern were left out.
Jim Delany, chairman of the NCAA Tournament selection committee, also is the Big Ten commissioner. But Tom Frerick, Dayton's athletic director and a member of the committee, said Delany did not influence decisions about his conference's teams.
"[Delany] did not take part in any discussion the committee had on any teams that are from the Big Ten. He left the meeting room," Frerick said.
"A couple of those teams were part of the number that we agonized over for eight to 10 hours. They played their way into it with their schedule strength. That's what stood out so much. They were entitled to seven spots."
The Big East was next with six teams, followed by the ACC with five and the Big Eight and Pacific 10 with four each. Conferences with three teams are the Southeastern, Western Athletic, Big West and Southwest.
Delany said there were more teams than usual from west of the Mississippi.
"The West is gathering strength," he said. "The West has made great progress."
Loyola Marymount (23-5), still mourning the death of star Hank Gathers, is seeded 11th in the West and will play New Mexico State (26-4) on Friday night in a nationally televised game. If Loyola wins, it will play Michigan in the second round if the Wolverines beat Illinois State.
Along with Connecticut - seeded first in the East - the Big East will be represented by Georgetown, Providence, St. John's, Syracuse and Villanova. The ACC has Virginia, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Duke and North Carolina.
Oklahoma, the top seed in the Midwest, is joined in the tournament by Big Eight rivals Kansas, Missouri and Kansas State. UNLV is seeded first in the West and Michigan State is the top seed in the Southeast.
First-round play begins Thursday and Friday in eight cities. A bid is worth a minimum of $250,000 to a school.
The winners of the regionals will play in Denver on March 31 in the Final Four. Those four teams will be guaranteed an estimated $1.3 million each after expenses.
Among those left out of the field were last year's NCAA runner-up Seton Hall (12-16), DePaul (18-14), Maryland (18-13) and Penn State (21-8). The worst records in the tournament belong to Notre Dame (16-12) - the only independent in the field - Ohio State (16-12) and Kansas State (17-14).
"It doesn't make sense to me," said Joey Meyer, DePaul's coach. "I can't explain why Notre Dame was selected over us. Maybe 14 losses had something to do with it, but there were teams with similar records that were selected. This is my first time not in the tournament and it is really tough to deal with."
The Blue Demons beat Notre Dame twice this season, but the Fighting Irish were helped by the strength of their schedule, as well as late-season victories over Syracuse and Missouri.
The committee left out 16 teams with 20 or more victories, including Southern Illinois (26-7), Holy Cross (24-5) and Hawaii (23-9).
"There's no question we didn't get a fair shake," said Rich Herrin, the Southern Illinois coach. "I think it's the most unfair situation I've had in 30 years in athletics. I question the honesty and integrity of the committee."
Delany said about 22 teams were considered for the final five to seven spots.
"The focus was on a national pool, not necessarily if School A beat School B twice," Delany said.
Making their tournament debut are Coppin State, South Florida, Northern Iowa, Towson State and Southern Mississippi.
All four top seeds play their opening-round games Thursday. Since the NCAA field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985, no No. 1 or No. 2 seed has lost in the first round.
Oklahoma (26-4), which won the Big Eight Conference Tournament, plays 16th-seeded Towson State (18-12) in the Midwest Regional in Austin, Texas. Michigan State (26-5) plays Murray State (21-8) in the Southeast in Knoxville, Tenn.
UNLV (29-5), the Big West champion, plays Arkansas-Little Rock (20-9) in the West in Salt Lake City. The other top seed, Connecticut (28-5), plays Boston University (18-11) in the East in Hartford, Conn.
One of the more interesting first-round matchups has Michigan's Fisher coaching against his alma mater, Illinois State.
"I know where it is," he said. "I know their nickname and I know they no longer play in the arena from when I was there. I knew Illinois State would be in, but I didn't know we would play them."
Two coaches will face teams they formerly coached. Gene Bartow will guide Alabama-Birmingham against UCLA and Missouri's Norm Stewart will go against the school where he made his debut as a head coach, Northern Iowa.
Five teams will stay close to home for their opening-round games.
Connecticut plays in Hartford, East Tennessee in Knoxville, Virginia in Richmond, Loyola Marymount in Long Beach, Calif., and Purdue in Indianapolis. The NCAA prohibits a team from playing on a court where it has played more than half its home games, but does allow a team to play near its campus.
"I've been saying all week that I never thought we'd play in Hartford," said Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, whose team won the Big East tournament. "Based on history, I didn't think that would come about.
"But moving the champion out of the region just didn't make sense. We forced the committee to go by the rulebook, which said we were eligible to play at that site. It's 95 feet-by-45 feet with 10-foot hoops. We'll see what happens."
Louisiana State, seeded fifth in the Southeast in Knoxville, can advance to the regional final - and its home fans in the Superdome - with two victories.
Michigan State's Heathcote was pleased with his No. 1 seeding.
by CNB