Richardson Drains Fizz From 6-Pack
The Big Ten six-pack of entrants in the NCAA field was too many, according to Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson.
“Manhattan winning doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “There are a lot of teams out there who can play with anybody and I’ll tell you what - there are some JC teams that can play with anybody.
“You get motor-mouth (Dick Vitale) on TV saying, ‘Big Ten, baby,’ and all that and people believe that crap.
“Six teams? Hell, that’s way too many but it’s that way because it’s perceived as being a strong conference. You get a kid out of some school, take off his jersey and put on a Big Ten jersey and everybody says, ‘Oh, wow, that kid is great.’
“Well, let’s see how he plays first, huh?”
Pressure’s Bruin
Jim Harrick was sitting at the Bob Knight Memorial Podium on Saturday in Boise when the question arose about NCAA Tournament pressure.
“People just don’t understand,” Harrick said. “We’ve got all these people at our hotel, and no one can talk about anything except the Final Four and Seattle. See-aaaatle!”
Seattle is still three wins away for the Bruins (26-2), who play Missouri today. Then there’s the West Regional semifinals and finals at the Oakland (Calif.) Coliseum Arena next week, with any misstep sure to set Westwood howling for years.
“Boy, it’s hard,” Harrick said. “Look at coach Knight. Five times he’s been beaten in the first round now. People say, ‘What’s up with Arizona? Three out of four years they’ve lost in the first round! Is that a pattern?’ Of course it isn’t.
“You think Nolan Richardson wasn’t puckered up when that (Texas Southern player) was on the foul line (Friday)? He was tight. If we weren’t in this meeting, I’d tell you what was tight about him. And it gets tighter and tighter, I’ll tell you.”
One development that could make Harrick a little tight involves senior point guard Tyus Edney, who was carried to the team bus by teammate George Zidek after spraining an ankle against Florida International.
“He was struggling, so I offered some help,” Zidek said. “He could have walked to the bus, but the best thing you can do for a sprained ankle is stay off it.”
Edney sat out UCLA’s 45-minute practice on Saturday, but was sure he’ll play today despite soreness and swelling.
Brother Rick
The best way to take Utah coach Rick Majerus is live and uncensored. We have no control over the former, but we can happily provide the latter.
On guard Brandon Jessie, whom Majerus recruited from Ventura College: “He’s done a good job of adjusting. I mean, ‘brother’ in Southern California and ‘brother’ in Utah mean different things.”
On his belief that players should be given money to bring relatives to the tournament: “They have a provision for me to bring my wife. I don’t have a wife. I’m bringing some slug I met in a bar last night in lieu of my wife.”
On Michigan State’s loss to Weber State: “I felt bad for (coach Jud) Heathcote. Then I saw his wife - she looks about 25 years younger - and I didn’t feel bad at all.”
Waiting by the phone
Bob Weltlich, the Florida International coach who resigned in December effective at the end of the season, reached his end of the season Friday night in a lopsided loss to UCLA.
He wasn’t bashful about his intentions after the game, wearing a sticker that read: “I need a job,” listed his phone number, “leave a message.”
A bit sensitive
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim snapped at a reporter Saturday for asking two Orangemen players how they expect to handle Arkansas’ defensive pressure.
“No,” Boeheim said, jumping in before anyone could answer. “If you want to ask them questions about basketball, go ahead, but don’t ask them about coaching.”
Somebody joked that having been with Boeheim for a few years, his players wouldn’t know about good coaching anyway.