Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 31, 1990                   TAG: 9003310263
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: DENVER                                LENGTH: Medium

ACHES AND PAINS PUT ASIDE AS PLAYERS HEAD INTO ACTION

Brickey has been hobbled by a pulled hamstring, but after Friday's practice he said, "I feel really good. I've practiced for three days now, and I'm comfortable with it."

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Brickey "is ready to go. He's not 100 percent, but he'll start and play - no excuses."

Oliver has been playing with a hairline stress fracture of his left foot.

"It feels a lot better," Oliver said before Friday's workout at McNichols Arena. "This week has given me an opportunity to rest. Hopefully, I'll be 70 to 75 percent for the game. I had a pretty good workout yesterday. I'm capable of doing more things."

"Ridiculous," Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins said when asked his opinion of a proposed rule change that would allow officials to consult instant replay in the last 60 seconds of a game.

"If they do that, they're making a big mistake," Cremins said. "We do not need instant replay in our game."

Duke's Mike Krzyzewski was somewhat less emphatic. "I don't think we should use instant replay," he said.

Asked how much he weighed, mammoth Arkansas sophomore center Oliver Miller said, "The scale at our hotel said 265. The one here [at McNichols Arena] said 275. Take your pick."

Addressing UNLV's bad-boy image, Runnin' Rebels guard Greg Anthony said the label is unfair but apparently irreversible.

"It would be a wasted battle for me to go out of my way every day to prove to you and to other people that we have good players, productive players, as well as citizens," he said.

"We just go out and let our basketball speak for itself. The community-oriented types of things we do as far as working with kids and in the juvenile systems, things that people fail to really publicize. . . . They don't really give us much credit. Instead, they just dwell on the negative.

"If that's what they're going to do, what are we going to do? We don't have the power of the pen. We're not reporters and newscasters. We really can't worry about that."

The Rev. Ed Beck, captain of Kentucky's 1958 NCAA championship team, remembers legendary Wildcats coach Adolph Rupp as having an irresistible recruiting pitch.

"Coming from a small town in Georgia, I had made up my mind to go elsewhere," Beck said during the presentation of the Adolph Rupp Trophy to LaSalle's Lionel Simmons. The trophy is awarded to The Associated Press player of the year.

"Coach Rupp convinced me to come to Lexington for one visit. Of course, the national championship trophies were displayed prominently there. I remember him telling me he didn't know if I was good enough to play for Kentucky, but he hoped so. Then he said he wanted me to know that `If you don't come here, wherever you go, we'll beat you.' It wasn't a threat, it was a promise."