News, Notes From NCAA Tournament Sites – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 14, 2002
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%^$%^$By The Associated Press%^$
%^$ST. LOUIS (AP) – Valparaiso is making its sixth NCAA appearance in seven%^$years thanks largely to its international lineup.%^$
%^$Lubos Barton, the Mid-Continent Conference player of the year, is from the%^$Czech Republic. Junior center Raitis Grafs (Latvia) made the all-conference%^$team, and junior guard Stalin Ortiz (Colombia) was on the conference’s%^$all-newcomer team.%^$
%^$The Crusaders, seeded 13th in the East Regional and facing No. 4 Kentucky on%^$Thursday, also have players from Finland and Angola.%^$
%^$Coach Homer Drew turned to Europe for recruiting because it was difficult to%^$attract players – especially for the frontcourt – when competing against%^$Notre Dame, Indiana and Purdue.%^$
%^$”That has given us some size to go along with the perimeter people, and that%^$blend has been very good to us,” Drew said. “International students have%^$been very good to us and they’ve also been very good students. They want to%^$go to class, they want to get a degree and they’ve been wonderful to coach.”%^$
%^$The 6-foot-8 Barton, who averages 15.2 points and 6.6 rebounds, said the%^$school’s trip to the round of 16 in 1998 wasn’t a big selling point when he%^$was being recruited.%^$
%^$”The past is the past,” Barton said. “They were more excited about the%^$players coming in.”%^$
%^$ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Lute Olson and the Arizona Wildcats are back in The%^$Pit. Just what New Mexico fans have been waiting for.%^$
%^$Three years ago, after New Mexico beat nationally ranked Arizona 79-78 in%^$Albuquerque, Olson criticized the officiating and said he didn’t want to see%^$anymore of The Pit or the Lobos.%^$
%^$”The home game next year (in Tucson) will be the end of the series%^$unequivocally,” Olson said after that loss.%^$
%^$The following season New Mexico went to Tucson and again upset the then-No.%^$3 Wildcats 70-68.%^$
%^$The teams haven’t played since, and New Mexico fans haven’t forgotten%^$Olson’s parting words.%^$
%^$Much of the talk on local sports shows this week has been about how Lobo%^$fans plan to boo Olson and cheer for UC-Santa Barbara (20-10) when the%^$Gauchos take on the No. 3 seed Wildcats (22-9) in the West Regional on%^$Thursday.%^$
%^$RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Selling a new offense to your team can be difficult.%^$Trying to persuade two senior guards to change can be even more challenging.%^$
%^$After consecutive low-scoring losses to Ohio State and Massachusetts less%^$than a month into the season, Archie Miller and Anthony Grundy were not sold%^$on the Princeton-style offense implemented by North Carolina State’s Herb%^$Sendek.%^$
%^$”We were a little skeptical,” Miller said as the Wolfpack prepared to play%^$Michigan State in the East Regional in Washington, D.C., on Friday. “But%^$when you’re running a new system, it’s like having a quarterback with a new%^$offensive coordinator: they have to keep learning different things. If you%^$don’t stick with it you can’t be good at it.”%^$
%^$A month after the 64-50 loss to Ohio State and 69-62 defeat to%^$Massachusetts, the offense was clicking in an 81-74 win at Virginia, which%^$at the time was ranked in the Top 10.%^$
%^$”Right then we said, ‘You know what? We’re going to be OK,” Miller said.%^$
%^$The Wolfpack averaged 75.7 points this season and scored 80 or more in nine%^$of its 16 ACC regular-season games.%^$
%^$”For as many hits as we’ve taken in the past about our style of play I can’t%^$imagine a more exciting style of play – running and pressing, and shooting%^$as many 3s from four or five positions as we do,” Sendek said. We have a%^$style of play that is as exciting as anyone in the country.”%^$
%^$ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – If nothing else, the Wyoming Cowboys should be able%^$to breathe easy as the underdogs against Gonzaga in Thursday’s West%^$subregional in this city situated at 5,300 feet above sea level.%^$
%^$While most of the other teams here – Missouri, Miami, Davidson, UC-Santa%^$Barbara, Ohio State and Gonzaga – don’t get much exposure to playing at such%^$heights, the Cowboys’ Arena Auditorium sits at an elevation of 7,220 feet.%^$
%^$Missouri coach Quin Snyder said dealing with altitude is mostly%^$psychological%^$
%^$”We’ve played at altitude before and haven’t gotten too tired,” he said.%^$”We’re taking the approach that we’ve been there, done that. I don’t know if%^$there’s a whole lot else we can do. You have to watch guys’ wind and you%^$start using your bench more earlier.”%^$
%^$After a practice session Wednesday, Miami guard John Salmons said: “The%^$first several times down the floor, we were gasping for air. But the longer%^$we played, the more we were capable of going hard for a long period of time.%^$Everybody out there has to go through the same thing.”%^$
%^$Everybody but Wyoming.%^$
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%^$ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – Georgia has had problems finishing off opponents lately.%^$
%^$”We haven’t been as sharp the last three weeks,” Georgia coach Jim Harrick%^$said. “We’ve missed a shot here and a shot there that we were making every%^$time down the stretch earlier. We’ve committed one more turnover or one more%^$defensive lapse that we had earlier.%^$
%^$”We lost our intensity a little bit.”%^$
%^$Georgia, which is seeded third in the East Regional and plays Murray State%^$on Friday in Chicago, allowed Tennessee to rally from an 18-point deficit in%^$a regular-season finale and let LSU come back from 12 down in the SEC%^$tournament quarterfinals.%^$
%^$”We should have won both of those games easy,” said Jarvis Hayes, the SEC’s%^$leading scorer. “We got way ahead and then kind of relaxed. We can’t afford%^$to be doing that in the tournament.”%^$
%^$During its 16-3 start, Georgia was 5-2 in games decided by six points or%^$fewer, including victories at Kentucky and at Florida.%^$
%^$But five of Georgia’s six losses down the stretch were by a combined 20%^$points, including two-point losses to Vanderbilt and Auburn, two of the%^$worst teams in the SEC.%^$
