ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996 TAG: 9603250110
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: SOUTHEAST REGION NOTES
DATELINE: LEXINGTON, KY.
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
Bobby Cremins knows the feeling.
After watching two straight Georgia Tech teams be among the last names erased from the NCAA Basketball Committee's selection board, the Yellow Jackets' coach understands the pain of his sideline brethren.
``Every year, teams that should be in [the tournament] don't get in,'' said Cremins, whose Tech club won the ACC regular-season title and got the Southeast Region's No.3 seed. ``I felt for Perry Clark [Tulane], Clem Haskins [Minnesota], Pete Gillen [Providence] and Tark [Fresno State's Jerry Tarkanian] this year.
``I've been in their shoes. I'm going to sit down after the tournament and write a letter to the selection committee and propose that they look to expand the field by six or eight teams. You could get eight more teams with some play-in games.''
PACKER POINT: CBS hoops analyst Billy Packer likes the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), but said the conference power rating isn't a fair gauge because of expansion of some leagues.
Packer takes issue with the Big East's No.6 RPI rank, behind the ACC, Big Eight, Big Ten, SEC and Conference USA.
``The RPI worked very nicely when conferences were eight deep, because it showed a nice balance between your upper guys and bottom guys,'' Packer said. ``Now, you take a conference like the Big East, with 13 teams, and the bottom teams have a negative impact on the RPI.
``They really shouldn't be a factor, because the strength of the league is going to be based on the teams you actually send to the tournament. I think the Big East, far and away, was the toughest league, had better players and more maturity on its top teams.''
GATOR BAIT: Florida coach Lon Kruger's move to Illinois to succeed retiring Lou Henson has the coaching carousel spinning at Rupp Arena.
Utah coach Rick Majerus, Perry Clark of Tulane, Herb Sendek of Miami of Ohio and Mike Jarvis of George Washington already are being mentioned for the Gators' job. Some of those same names are hot in New York, where St. John's is searching, too.
Jarvis likely won't be a consideration, though, because he signed a contract extension Friday. Terms of the contract extension were not announced, but Jarvis stressed the deal guarantees he will be at the school for the entire eligibility period of the incoming freshman class.
South Florida, one of Virginia Tech's former foes in the Metro Conference, is said to be considering Billy Donovan of Marshall and Duke assistant Tommy Amaker as Bobby Paschal's successor.
AW, SHOOT: It takes more than defense to win, as Virginia learned in its 12-15 season.
Of the top 13 Division I teams in field-goal percentage defense this season, 10 made the NCAA field and two the NIT. The figures handed out at the Southeast Regional show the exception was UVa, which ranked 11th at .394.
The problem for Virginia was at the other end of the floor, where the Cavaliers shot an ACC-low .416. The NCAA won't do the final rankings until after the tournament, but an NCAA stats coordinator said that last year. 416 would have ranked in the bottom 50 in Division I shooting.
POLLING: There were 45 teams ranked in the Associated Press poll this season. Of the NCAA's Sweet 16, 14 were ranked in the final regular-season poll.
Georgia and Arkansas were not ranked. Of the top 16 in the poll, Purdue, Villanova, UCLA and Memphis are gone. Eight of the 13 teams ranked in every poll this season made the Sweet 16.
Those in the regional semifinals were Massachusetts, Kentucky, Connecticut, Georgetown, Kansas, Cincinnati, Wake Forest and Utah. The five that went home earlier were Villanova, Memphis, Iowa, Virginia Tech and North Carolina.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB