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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991                   TAG: 9103140179
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOHN SMALLWOOD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: COLLEGE PARK, MD.                                 LENGTH: Medium

SPIDERS WON'T BE SNEAKING UP ON SYRACUSE

His Spiders did it in 1984 when in their first NCAA Tournament appearance they shocked an Auburn team led by current NBA stars Charles Barkley and Chuck Person.

In 1988, it was defending national champion Indiana and Georgia Tech who fell as Richmond reached the Sweet 16.

That was then. By his own admission, Tarrant's days of ambushing are over.

When 15th-seeded Richmond (21-9) takes on second-seeded Syracuse (26-5) tonight at 10:05 in an first-round NCAA East Regional game at Cole Field House, Tarrant won't have the element of surprise.

"Nobody takes anybody for granted anymore," said Tarrant. "Maybe it's the exchanging of videos. I don't know if in 1991 anyone can sneak up on people anymore. The major upsets might be a thing of the past."

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim knows about Richmond. He said he has five videotapes of the Spiders in action.

"Richmond is a good team that is playing extremely well," said Boeheim. "When you get to the tournament, there aren't any easy games anymore."

Richmond, champion of the Colonial Athletic Association, must contend with a Syracuse squad featuring All-American Billy Owens, the Big East player of the year who averages 23.3 points and 11.7 rebounds a game.

The Orangemen also have double-figure scorers in swingman David Johnson, averaging 19.6 points per game, and center LeRon Ellis, averaging 11.1.

"We match up horribly against them," Tarrant said. "They're a marvelous team. We'll have to do some things such as more zones to neutralize the talent level. Going head-to-head would be difficult. We don't have the manpower."

The Spiders do have junior guard Curtis Blair of Roanoke. The former Patrick Henry star leads Richmond with 16.4 points per game. Sophomore forward Kenny Wood averages 14.5 points.

Coming off an upset loss to Villanova in the opening round of the Big East Conference tournament, Syracuse isn't likely to be caught off guard.

"We know about [Richmond's] past of knocking big teams out," said Owens. "They're a lot like Villanova in that they like to play zone. But I'm not worried about Richmond. I'm thinking about us. If we don't play 100 percent, anyone can beat us. Our goal is to play well for 40 minutes."

In today's other games at College Park, third-seeded Oklahoma State (22-7) takes on 14th-seeded New Mexico (20-9) at 12:20 p.m., to be followed by sixth-seeded North Carolina State (19-10) and 11th-seeded Southern Mississippi (21-7).

The evening session begins with seventh-seeded Purdue (17-11) going against 10th-seeded Temple (21-9) at 7:35 p.m.

\ Noting the tournament:

N.C. State guard Rodney Monroe, a native of Hagerstown, Md., has scored 31 and 33 points in his last two games at Cole Field House. Over his four years, he has averaged 24 points while shooting 48.6 percent (34-for-70) on field-goal attempts, 85 percent (17-for-20) on free throws and 45.8 percent (11-24) on 3-point attempts at Cole.

Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, who previously took Creighton, Arkansas and Kentucky to the NCAA Tournament, is the first coach to guide four different schools to the tournament.

"I've been fortunate over the years to take a number of teams to the NCAA, but none of them can I point to with more pride than this one," Sutton said.

Cowboys junior guard Sean Sutton, who was a freshman reserve when his father guided Kentucky to the tournament in 1988, said making the NCAA with Oklahoma State is more exciting. "Anything you accomplish at Kentucky has been done before. Oklahoma State has only been here twice in 26 years," Sean Sutton said.

Purdue arrived a couple hours late because its flight out of West Lafayette, Ind., was canceled due to severe weather. The Boilermakers took a bus to Indianapolis, then flew to Maryland.

"It's been a tough year," said Purdue coach Gene Keady. "[Tuesday night] was supposedly the worst ice storm in Indiana history. A tree fell on my house and went through the roof. I could look up through the ceiling and see the sky."