Three-Fourths Of Final Four Struggling To Win This Season

Rarely have Final Four teams had such a significant drop, but it’s not without justification.

Massachusetts’, Mississippi State’s and Syracuse’s fall from the top isn’t troubling. It’s understandable.

UMass’ season is parallel to Maryland’s from a year earlier. The Minutemen’s schedule was designed for Marcus Camby, just like Maryland’s was organized for Joe Smith. Both left for the NBA, Camby a year early and Smith two.

Had Camby left after his sophomore season, then-UMass coach John Calipari likely wouldn’t have scheduled as many marquee matchups. The Minutemen were scheduled to go to the Maui Invitational and couldn’t get out of a return trip to Wake Forest. But they didn’t have to take the Georgetown game in the Great Eight, North Carolina in the Jimmy V Classic in the Meadowlands or begin a home-and-home series with Fresno State. What you see with UMass is a team that was built around Camby in the middle and a pair of finishers around him with then-seniors Donta Bright and Dana Dingle. Carmelo Travieso and Edgar Padilla never had to be the first option as they must today. They didn’t have to look for their shot first.

The Minutemen are young up front but have the talent to eventually be a top 20 team next season with Ajmal Basit, Lari Kettner and Mike Babul. The backcourt will be steady with the eligibility of shooting guard Monte Mack and the return of Charlton Clark. The problem for Bruiser Flint is that UMass is already 4-7 and will need to pick up wins fast in the Atlantic 10 to make a run at an NIT bid. With UMass’ schedule, an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament wouldn’t be out of the question with a 16-win season. Maryland finished 17-13 last season after a gritty schedule.

Mississippi State’s 5-5 start is easy to dissect. The Bulldogs aren’t the type of program to survive the loss of three starters, of which two went early to the NBA in Erick Dampier and Dontae’ Jones. Mississippi State’s frontcourt was ravaged by those losses, even with the addition of heralded junior college swing guard/small forward Horatio Webster. Just as damaging was the loss of Marcus Bullard, the Bulldogs leader on the perimeter who is in jail after he was sentenced to three years in prison for violating his probation on drug charges.

With Bullard gone, point guard fell to Bart Hyche, who isn’t quick enough to handle perimeter pressure by himself. Mississippi State is still active on the floor but has no leadership, no consistency and no chance of making the NCAA Tournament and probably the NIT, too.

Syracuse knew it would lose John Wallace. He was a senior. But the Orangemen thought they would have Winfred Walton at power forward. He was ruled ineligible and transferred to Fresno State. The Orangemen still have returning starters Otis Hill, Jason Cipolla and Todd Burgan as well as an exceptional freshman point guard in Jason Hart. Depth is lacking and the Orangemen have struggled early, losing two Big East games. However, Syracuse has the talent, the most of the three sagging Final Four teams, to make it back to the NCAA Tournament.

The fourth Final Four team from last season? Kentucky, the national champions. And guess what? The Wildcats, despite losing three starters to the NBA and a fourth player to the draft, are looking like they’ll make a run at a consecutive title, still deep, still a pest to play and getting better since a season-opening loss to Clemson.

Hot rumor: Coaches, like the media, love to pass around gossip and the latest rumor has former UCLA coach Jim Harrick as the next UC Irvine coach. It wouldn’t be a shock. Harrick is likely only marketable to the NBA or a mid to low-major Division I school after UCLA linked him to a minor NCAA violation. If Harrick were to take a job like Irvine, don’t be surprised if he hired his friend and now former unemployed head coaching colleague, Roger Reid, who was fired at Brigham Young two weeks ago.

Tactically, it would be a coup for the Anteaters with one coach who has won a national title and another who continuously challenged for the Western Athletic Conference title by maximizing limited talent. Present UC Irvine head coach Rod Baker is likely out at the end of the season. The Anteaters were winless in their first seven games and will be lucky to win a few during the Big West season. They were embarrassed and unnecessarily humbled by USC, which kept a press throughout the game, even with a double-digit lead. Trojans coach Henry Bibby’s poor excuse was that teams didn’t take it lightly on USC last season.

Whatever happens to Baker, the Anteaters need something to revive them after a dramatic fall. UC Irvine should have been a postseason team last season after finishing second in the Big West. However, a semifinal loss in the Big West tournament eliminated them from a National Invitation Tournament bid. Gone from last season’s team are not only seniors Raimonds Miglinieks and Michael Tate but also two starters - Kevin Simmons (UNLV) and Brian Keefe (Boston College) and a potential third in Tchaka Shipp, the transfer from Seton Hall, who left school.

Mid-major schools like Irvine can’t weather those kind of losses. The hope for next season begins with Wyoming transfer Shaun Jackson, a scoring small forward should be an impact player in the Big West. Jackson couldn’t fit into a controlled atmosphere at Wyoming.

While Irvine is floundering, Utah State probably got its season going with a one-point win over Wyoming last week in Salt Lake City. The Aggies had looked poor in a 4-3 start, with three of the four wins non-Division I. Cal State-Fullerton’s 5-2 start is a surprise as is the dip of Long Beach State, off to a disappointing 3-4 beginning. Without the 49ers, which have the most athletic talent in the Big West’s Western Division, Pacific should walk away with the title and could make a case for an at-large berth if the Tigers don’t win the conference tournament.

Prior to Saturday’s game with Georgetown, moved to Las Vegas from Halifax, Nova Scotia after a promoter failed to properly fund the event, the Tigers only loss in eight games was to Fresno State. They have won on the road at Brigham Young, at San Diego and at Pepperdine, even with two former teams struggling they’re still wins away from Stockton. They also handled Santa Clara rather easily. The last three weeks, Pacific has been winning without injured senior guard Adam Jacobsen.

And the Tigers probably have the find of the season in 7-foot center Michael Olowokandi. The junior, who played sparingly last season until the final few weeks, was virtually a walk-on. Pacific coach Bob Thomason had always told his staff to stay by the phone, because you never know when a 7-footer would telephone. A coach was never out of the office and last year, Olowokandi called. He’s a potential double-double scorer-rebounder every night out and no team in the Big West has as intimidating a presence in the middle.