Coaches Debate Ncaa Berths
The nine members of the NCAA’s tournament selection committee are due to arrive in Kansas City, Mo., Thursday morning. They will take care of some administrative business and then lock themselves in a hotel room and begin picking the nation’s best 34 at-large teams for this year’s 64-team field.
And anyone who doesn’t appreciate the difficulty of that task should have listened in on Tuesday’s conference call with Pacific-10 Conference coaches and heard their varied opinions on such a simple question as how many Pac-10 teams - out of a mere 10, mind you - deserve a spot in this year’s tournament.
On one end of the spectrum was Southern California interim coach Henry Bibby, who said he felt UCLA, Arizona, California and Stanford were locks and that even a fifth team might have a chance. On the other end was Arizona State’s Bill Frieder, who said there was still a chance that only two teams would get invited.
And completely off the spectrum was Cal’s Todd Bozeman, who scoffed at the suggestion that less than four teams might get in and then seemed to blame the negative attitude of the West Coast media for the low number of Pac-10 teams usually invited to the tournament.
“To me, the West Coast media does more to damage that (number) than the East Coast media,” Bozeman said.
To make his case, Bozeman pointed out that while those listening in on Tuesday’s call are still questioning whether four Pac-10 teams deserve an invitation, ESPN-TV and other East Coast media outlets have already declared that four teams from several Eastern conferences are already in.
But when asked if he really felt the media’s opinion mattered in the committee’s final decision, Bozeman reversed course.
“No, it doesn’t,” he admitted. “But I wanted to say that anyway.”
UCLA (21-7 overall and 14-2 in the Pac-10) has already clinched at least a share of the conference title and the league’s automatic NCAA berth. Arizona (23-5, 12-4) could still tie for the league crown, but would lose the automatic berth because of the tie-breaker system that is in place.
It is generally considered that the next two teams in the standings, Cal (17-8, 11-5) and Stanford (10-6, 17-8), will also receive NCAA invitations, provided they split in Arizona.
And there is some sentiment that Washington (15-10, 8-8) and Washington State (15-10, 7-9) might still receive consideration if each can sweep in Los Angeles.
“I think those two teams have a shot,” said Bibby, whose Trojans entertain WSU Thursday night and Washington Saturday afternoon.
UCLA’s Jim Harrick sees four teams as the most realistic scenario. But he made it clear WSU would probably have made the field had senior forward Mark Hendrickson not missed six games with a broken left hand. “But I’ll tell ya something,” Harrick added. “I look for Washington State not only to be in the NIT, but to win it.”
Frieder said Cal and Stanford each needs to win at least one more game to make the NCAA field.
“You have to understand that we’re at a decided disadvantage without a conference tournament,” he said. “And while (Cal and Stanford) are hanging around at 18 victories, they’re going to be competing with teams for the selection committee that have a chance to pick up one, two or three more victories in a conference tournament. That could come back to haunt us.”
Top player tough pick
The Pac-10 is expected to announce its all-conference and all-freshman teams this weekend, along with its coach, player and freshman of the year. The most intriguing race would seem to be the player-of-the-year voting. The honor has traditionally gone to a player on one of the top two teams in the standings, but that might not be the case this time.
As several coaches pointed out Tuesday, UCLA has been balanced, making it difficult to select a Bruin. And Arizona teammates Ben Davis and Reggie Geary could end up splitting the Arizona vote.
Among others being mentioned as candidates are Stanford point guard Brevin Knight, Hendrickson and California freshman Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
Oregon coach Jerry Green, a former assistant at Kansas, said he will probably vote for Davis.
“I think Davis has put Arizona on his back and taken them to where they are almost by himself,” Green explained. “You could pick a lot of people, but I’d probably pick Ben. “And I’m probably a little prejudice, because we recruited him at Kansas when I was there.”
USC woes
A year that started off with three-year lettermen Tremayne Antrum and Bert Harris trying unsuccessfully to battle back from lingering knee problems has gone from rotten to unimaginable for USC.
The midseason firing of coach Charlie Parker prompted Avondre Jones to leave the team briefly. Starting point guard Cameron Murray quit the team recently to devote more time to studies. Ty Reuter suffered a season-ending ankle injury. And recent injuries to Maurice Strong (knee) and Damion Dawson (toe) have left Bibby with only five healthy scholarship players for Thursday night’s home game vs. WSU.
The Trojans, who have lost eight in a row since Parker was fired, played two walk-ons during last weekend’s road swing through Oregon and even suited up a student manager.
A vote for Charlie
ASU coach Bill Frieder said he was going to vote for Parker as coach of the year, even though the former USC coach was fired at midseason.
“Charlie Parker, I think, has done the best coaching job,” Frieder said. “Look where Southern Cal was when he left. Look where they were compared to a year ago.
“He’s done a great job.” The Pac-10 has issued a memo, however, explaining that all votes must be cast for a current coach.
, DataTimes