Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 30, 1991 TAG: 9103300077
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GARY McCANN and WILT BROWNING LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Long
Duke and Nevada-Las Vegas square off in their rematch shortly after the Tar Heels and Jayhawks finish in the Hoosier Dome.
You get the impression people hope the Tar Heels and Jayhawks don't mess things up by going into overtime.
It is a strange situation for two schools whose tradition is woven into the fabric of college basketball.
"I hope Kansas and North Carolina are still in the same Division I [as Duke and UNLV]," Carolina coach Dean Smith said. "Could calling this a preliminary game help the winner? I don't know. It could depend on who we play.
"If we win, ask me again later."
While it may look like a preliminary game, it could be one of the most intriguing in recent tournament history.
Smith, the teacher, takes on Roy Williams, the pupil. The two teams run the same systems. It could be like getting up in the morning and looking in a mirror.
"They do exactly what we do," Carolina's Rick Fox said. "It could be like baseball where the other team steals signs."
Smith and Williams have spent much of the week attempting to downplay their roles.
"It's not a coach playing a coach," Smith said. "It's the players. Roy and I are teachers and both of us want our pupils to do well. It will be two teams trying very hard to win."
The Tar Heels waltzed into the Final Four, winning by 35, 15 and 26 points before holding off Temple 75-72 in the East Regional final. Kansas has been impressive, too, getting by New Orleans and Pittsburgh before dispatching Indiana by 18 and Arkansas by 12 in the Southeast Regional.
If there is a Cinderella in the field, it's Kansas. And that means it's the underdog.
"That doesn't bother us at all," said Adonis Jordan, who has emerged as a solid point guard this season, averaging 12.4 points and 4.4 assists.
"Even if we're the underdog, they're still going to give us a chance to play the game. We made it to the Final Four. We're here to spoil the whole party," Jordan said.
Just so you'll understand what Duke is up against in the second game, here are a few things to know about UNLV:
The Runnin' Rebels have won 45 consecutive games, 34 of them this season, and the average margin of victory in 1990-91 has been 27.6 points. The NCAA record for such a thing is 30.3 by UCLA in 1972-73.
The most narrow margin of victory this season came on the road in a 112-105 victory over Arkansas on Feb. 10. At home, the Rebels' closest call was a 12-point victory (86-74) over New Mexico.
It is a team that doesn't know much about coming from behind. Only twice this season, against Michigan State and Arkansas, has UNLV trailed in the second half - for a total of 1 minute, 21 seconds.
And none of that apparently is the fault of UNLV.
"We're not to blame because we haven't had a lot of close games this year," said the man who makes UNLV run, point guard Greg Anthony.
The fact that there have been few close games does not come as a surprise to Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
"I'm not sure if we are capable of beating UNLV," he said. Duke is considered an underdog by as much as 10 points. Almost a year ago, on April 2, UNLV blew out the Blue Devils by 30 points, 103-73, in the 1990 national championship game.
"Last year we played a near-perfect game," UNLV's most dominant player, senior forward Larry Johnson, said Friday afternoon. "And we caught them on one of those nights. We haven't played that well since."
But the five UNLV starters have played well enough to have averaged 55 percent from the floor this season, 41 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent from the free-throw line.
"We don't have a real weakness anywhere," UNLV's coach, Jerry Tarkanian, said Friday. "We have a player at every position. It's real hard to throw a gimmick defense at us."
The translation is that when most teams have sought to pack the middle with a zone defense in an effort to limit the effectiveness of Johnson, the other four have countered with deadly 3-point shooting.
The result is that Tarkanian, college basketball's most celebrated towel chewer, has gone easy on the terry cloth this year.
"As a coach, it's really nice to sit there on the bench with a 15- to 20-point lead with two minutes to go," Tarkanian said.
The only strategy wrinkle that came to light from the UNLV camp Friday was a psychological one.
"Coach has been trying to put in our minds how Duke will come out fired up because of what happened last year," Johnson said.
If nothing else, last spring's championship game is a reminder for Duke that the UNLV team is being compared to some of the greatest teams in college basketball history.
And no one understands the explosive nature of the Rebels better than Bobby Hurley, the Duke point guard upon whose shoulders primarily rest the Blue Devils' hopes.
"They are so fast turning your miss [missed shot] into points that I've got to be ready to get back on defense faster [than was the case a year ago]," Hurley said. "Normally, when we put up a shot, I watch it and when it goes through the net, I pump my fist in the air and head back.
"I've got to remember when we play UNLV that I won't have time to pump my fist in the air. Just that much time can be the difference on their break."
by CNB