Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 21, 1992 TAG: 9203210028
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTS COLUMNIST
DATELINE: CINCINNATI LENGTH: Medium
After getting a first-round wake-up call from Miami of Ohio, Carolina faces more of a physical problem than a psychological one today against Alabama in the Southeast Regional's second round.
"Against quick clubs, we sometimes have trouble, and that's what Alabama is," UNC guard Hubert Davis said of today's 2:25 p.m. tipoff at Riverfront Coliseum. "When we play a team like this, a team like Florida State in [the ACC], we have to really contain them and make them shoot jumpers."
Davis' use of the Seminoles - seeded third in the NCAA's West Regional - as a reference point was telling. Florida State ripped the Tar Heels (22-9) twice during the regular season before Carolina survived an ACC Tournament semifinal rematch.
Carolina's size edge, thanks to 7-footer Eric Montross, will become a deficit if coach Dean Smith's club can't force Alabama into a halfcourt game.
"Montross is huge for us," Tide coach Wimp Sanderson said. "If we get on a stepladder, we can get up to his bellybutton."
However, Montross can't guard Crimson Tide inside force Robert Horry, so forward George Lynch gets the defensive assignment on Horry, who stands 6-9.
"The biggest matchup problem is Horry," Smith said. "He's the kind of player who can go outside and shoot it, or drive. He can guard someone out on the floor, or he can block shots [second in the Southeastern Conference to Louisiana State All-American Shaquille O'Neal this season]."
After watching his Southeast fourth seed survive Miami's upset bid despite 39 percent shooting Thursday, Smith thinks he knows what UNC will see defensively from the Tide (26-8).
"They play more zone than I can remember them playing in the past," Smith said. "They'll probably say, `Let's pack it in [around Montross] and give them that 8-foot open jump shot."
Alabama is seeking its sixth NCAA regional semifinals appearance in eight years, and Sanderson likes the idea that his club has developed into a group that can win the close ones. Before Thursday's 80-75 NCAA win over Stanford, the Tide won its previous four games by margins of one, two, two and one.
"That's important this time of the year," Sanderson said. "We're not as good defensively or in rebounding as in the past, and we don't have much depth. But we play well when the game's on the line.
"At the same time, North Carolina is the best basketball team in the country in extending the game while trying to play from behind. Dean extends the game better than any coach in the history of the game."
Horry said the Tide can improve the program's presence with a victory over a team from the ACC, which he said "must be the best conference in the country, because they're on TV so much."
Asked whether his remark about the ACC was cast in sarcasm, the Tide senior frontcourt star replied, "Just a little bit."
"The ACC has Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest and has had other great teams in the past," Horry said. "It's been very good, but people look down on the SEC because they think we're only a football conference.
"People have to realize that in basketball, there are more conferences in the nation than the Big East and the ACC."
by CNB