Where’s The Beef? Look No Farther Than Pivotal Reeves-Zidek Matchup

At 7-feet and 292 pounds, including burr haircut, Oklahoma State’s Bryant “Big Country” Reeves doesn’t much look like Cinderella.

But Oklahoma State, the lowest seed remaining at No. 4, is as close to Cinderella as this tradition-packed Final Four gets.

And OSU, boiled down to its simplest terms, goes as Reeves goes.

Big Country, meet Foreign Country.

The matchup between Reeves and top-ranked UCLA’s George Zidek, from the Czech Republic, serves as an intriguing subplot to today’s 2:42 p.m. national semifinal at the Kingdome. Defending champion Arkansas (31-6) and 1993 titlist North Carolina (28-5) tangle about 25 minutes after the opener concludes.

Reeves, conqueror of UMass’ Marcus Camby and Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan in leading the Cowboys (27-9) out of the East Regional last weekend, served notice he’s ready by shattering a backboard in warmups Friday.

“Any coach that has coached against him in our conference, the first thing they think about is, ‘We have to stop Bryant Reeves,”’ OSU coach Eddie Sutton said.

Seeing Big Country in person is believing that his nickname should be altered to ‘Big Continent.’

If Zidek is nervous, he didn’t show it Friday. En route to a press conference, he dragged his hightops across the carpet, then touched television monitors to receive an electrical shock.

“Hey Ed,” he giggled at teammate Ed O’Bannon, “try this.”

Zidek, also 7-feet but 24 pounds lighter than Reeves, said his plan is to get close to OSU’s center.

“I just have to try to push him out and get into a shoving match,” Zidek said. “I’m going to try to run the floor to tire him out. For sure, I’m going to put a body on him.”

Reeves expects as much.

“He (Zidek) is different than the others (Duncan and Camby),” Reeves said. “They were athletic, good players. I think it’s going to be more of a physical battle.”

The other battle will be for control of tempo. OSU thrives in the half-court, dumping the ball into Reeves. On defense the Cowboys have yielded 49, 52, 66 and 54 points in four tourney games.

UCLA (29-2) prefers to quicken the pace. Point guard Tyus Edney drives and creates and has a host of finishers in Ed and Charles O’Bannon, and freshmen Toby Bailey and J.R. Henderson.

“I think we can do that (accelerate the tempo) with our defense - just basically get things moving as much as possible,” Edney said.

“They’re probably the best running team in the country,” OSU sharp-shooter Randy Rutherford said. “It’s going to be a great game for people to watch.”

Arkansas-North Carolina

A rare clash of Final Four heroes. Arkansas wing Scotty Thurman buried the 3-pointer that sank Duke in last year’s title game. Donald Williams was the MVP of the 1993 Final Four, when the Tar Heels claimed coach Dean Smith’s second national crown.

However, Thurman and Williams must share the limelight at their respective schools.

Thurman is one of nine Razorbacks returning from last year’s club. Physical Corliss Williamson will try to muscle inside against Carolina center Rasheed Wallace.

“He’s a great shot blocker,” Williamson said of Wallace. “The key is to try to get him in foul trouble. He is a smart player sometimes. Hopefully he doesn’t play smart when we play against him.”

The Hogs scraped past several tournament opponents, but soundly handled Virginia last week. They make no apologies for their string of narrow wins.

“Let me tell you something,” coach Nolan Richardson said. “After the game is over, it doesn’t concern me anymore. The only thing I can say is that winning close games builds character.”

Arkansas wants to wear down Carolina and its thin bench with relentless defensive pressure. The Tar Heels, at times, struggled with Kentucky’s heat last week.

“If Nolan looked at the tape midway through the first half, he has to be really smiling about pressing us,” Smith said.

Forward Jerry Stackhouse and Wallace accompany the sweet-shooting Williams in carrying the Tar Heels’ offense.

“Sometimes,” Stackhouse warned, “the stars (on both teams) wind up cancelling each other out. Role players really step up and dictate what happens in games.”