Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 30, 1991 TAG: 9103300036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Long
The most articulate and outspoken member of unbeaten and defending NCAA champion Runnin' Rebels, the guard they call "The Senator" dead-panned, "I always wanted to go to Duke."
The day before the national semifinals always is a love-in, with everybody saying nice things about everybody else.
But UNLV's besieged coach, Jerry Tarkanian, had an intriguing message.
Known for recruiting second-chance (and more) kids, the king of inner city projects said of the fresh-faced Blue Devils, who average three years in age less than his Rebels:
"Certainly, Duke is the ideal place to recruit for. Great players, great students. That's not what life is all about, but as a coach, it would be nice."
Tarkanian reflected on potentially more difficult entrance requirements, which almost everyone thinks will happen. He said he agreed with the idea of making a junior-college player sit out a year academically, and he said coaches shouldn't recruit players who weren't within a couple-hundred points of the school average on the college board tests.
The man who has seven JUCO players and several Proposition 48 casualties on his team said, "If a kid who makes 700 (on the SATs) goes to class and the guy who sits on the left of him made 1,100, and the guy on the right make 1,050, he can't compete."
Duke's average SAT is well above 1,300. "If everybody had to recruit like Duke," Tarkanian said, "there would just be a 10-team tournament." Then he revised that to a 10-game season. "That's all there would be," he said.
\ Do they like their basketball in Indiana? The estimated attendance for the open practice sessions Friday in the Hoosier Dome was 45,000.
Kansas, despite the fact it beat the beloved Bob Knight's Hoosiers, was the crowd favorite. But the largest audience greeted UNLV.
There will be 47,100 in the stands today and many will pay a a fancy price. Ticket-scalping is legal in Indiana. Some pairs of good seats were selling for $2,000.
\ Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has been asked countless times what it takes to beat UNLV, especially since the Blue Devils lost by 30 points in last year's NCAA finals.
Coach K has offered a variety of answers. He said he thinks the Rebels, who have won 45 straight games and rarely have trailed all season, are better than last year, "but we're also a better team."
Then Krzyzewski nailed Dick Vitale, a favorite whipping boy of the coaches for his outrageous coments.
"I heard the other night that Dick said he didn't think we were better than last year. Well, I think we are. I wondered who the hell was coaching the Duke team."
\ Kansas star Mark Randall gave Vitale and Jim Valvano credit for the way the Jayhawks played last week in upsetting Indiana and Arkansas in the Southeast Regional.
Randall, in particular, continues to press the theme that Kansas gets no respect.
In Friday's USA Today, Vitale guest-wrote a column in which he gave North Carolina the edge at every position in matchups against Kansas in today's semifinal opener at 5:39 p.m.
"I'm sure Roy [Kansas coach Williams] enjoyed that column," Dean Smith said. "Dick seems to be doing his best to coach everybody's team."
\ Many coaches are unhappy with graduation rates published this week in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Notre Dame's Digger Phelps was upset that schools aren't being given credit when a player graduates at another school, as his Matt Beeswuart did from California.
But anyway you count it, 32 percent of Division I basketball players graduating is too low, and, in certain areas, notably the Southeast, it is downright embarrassing.
NCAA executive director Dick Schultz believes the public will react more strongly to the (low) graduation rates of student bodies at many institutions.
\ Apparently, it no longer is a given that Georgia Tech All-American Kenny Anderson will opt to leave early for the NBA.
A disappointing finish to the season, and concern that he isn't physically ready for the punishing pro campaign, apparently has lowered the point guard's present stock.
Tech coach Bobby Cremins confirmed that Anderson was still considering his options.
Anderson had said he likely would leave the Jackets if he knew he'd be selected among the first five players in the pro draft.
ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan said Friday that Tech has determined Anderson isn't likely to go among the top five.
\ Corrigan left Friday night for New Orleans, where he will watch Virginia, coached by his niece, Debbie Ryan, play in the women's semifinals.
He will return to Indianapolis if either ACC team wins today.
by CNB