Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 22, 1992 TAG: 9203220192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: CINCINNATI LENGTH: Medium
It probably was only a couple of points shy - from the tip of an elbow - of being out of control.
In the Carolina locker room after the Tar Heels' NCAA second-round victory at Riverfront Coliseum, UNC center Eric Montross pointed to his head, just in front of his right ear. He wasn't telling some inquiring minds he had used his head in the game, although he had.
Montross was showing where he had been whacked by an elbow by Alabama's Robert Horry with 11:27 left. All 7 feet and 270 pounds of Montross crumbled to the floor, the biggest crash here since a demolition team blew up the aging Central Bridge across the Ohio River 30 hours earlier.
"Unluckily, he got a 'bow in the face," Horry said. "I caught one in the eye from him and there wasn't any mention of that. It just goes both ways."
Montross is hardly a blusher in baby blue.
"I like to have a fairly loosely called game," Montross said, "but aside from that, other things go on. There's a very fine line between physical and too physical."
Obviously, someone has to know when to say when, and only the officials can do that. NCAA basketball is getting too physical for its own good, and, as Montross said from experience, "A lot of times the physical part of the game can get out of hand. We need to adjust to it, because we don't know that it's going to change."
In UNC's victory, Alabama's frustration was building because of season-low 29 percent shooting. But Horry wasn't the only one hitting with his elbows. UNC's Kevin Salvadori had two personal fouls in 1 1/2 minutes, both for elbows.
"I don't know what Kevin was doing," said Tar Heels coach Dean Smith. "Maybe he was sticking up for Montross."
Although the big center is an easy target, when push comes to shove, Montross admits he will do what the officials will allow. On this day, Ted Valentine, Tom Lopes and David Hall called too little, almost too late.
Those zebras should not be singled out, however. Unless the officials began to take control of the game in the paint as they should, CBS Sports will have paid $1 billion for the rights to seven years of NCAA Championship Wrestling.
Asked whether he sees the officials "letting a lot more things go" in the NCAA Tournament, Smith said, "I really think we're headed in that direction, and I'm disappointed."
Smith said the NCAA Officiating Committee that is headed by Hank Nichols - perhaps the best to ever wear a whistle - in the preseason called for a stronger enforcement of physical play by big men.
"Hank said, `If you see somebody pushing a big guy in the back, call the foul. . . . If he puts a knee up his tail, call the foul. And then next time, call the foul, too.'
"We're still getting warnings [about rough play] with 10 minutes to play in games. I thought this was extremely physical, and it's not good for the game. Pretend I'm out of it; I just hate to see the winner be the strongest, the guy who teaches the guys to act or hit people.
"The game is intended to be more finesse, and I'm afraid. . . . It's a beautiful game, and I'd hate for it to become hockey. I'm not mad at hockey. I don't watch it, but that's what I've heard."
It's not supposed to be basketbrawl, but Saturday's game could have become that. Officials don't have those whistles around their necks to strangle themselves.
Unless the game starts getting a few more blows of one kind, it will continue to have too many of another.
by CNB