|
 |  |
|
AD PARTNERS
|  |
Silent Hurricane Tulsa tries to make noise against Bearcats
Posted: Sunday March 19, 2000 12:41 PM
By Ryan Hunt, CNNSI.com NASHVILLE -- Admit it. You can't name a single player on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Yes, Arkansas' Nolan Richardson used to coach there, as did Kentucky's Tubby Smith and Florida State's Steve Robinson. And they ruined quite a few NCAA tournament brackets over the past couple of years. Sure, now they're 30-4 -- with their losses coming by a combined seven points -- but when it comes to breaking down the nation's 18th-ranked team, not much comes to mind. "Perception? Everybody probably thinks we're a bunch of corn-fed, farm-raised, calf-roping country boys," said forward David Shelton, Tulsa's leading scorer, who hails from Cincinnati. "But really, when you think about it, perception makes out 90 percent of our image and the other 10 percent is reality. Nine times out of 10, perception is wrong." Heck, some of the Cincinnati players didn't even know where Tulsa was located. So, fittingly, Tulsa is viewing Sunday's second-round showdown with the second-seeded Bearcats as a game that can put the Golden Hurricane on the map -- even though Tulsa has been to the Sweet 16 twice since 1994, which is more than Indiana or even Cincinnati can say.
"People need to realize that there is something pretty good going on down there," Tulsa coach Bill Self said. "And I'm not talking about this year. We've withstood the test of time. But still people ask, 'What have they really done to validate that they could be thought among the nation's elite?' "We don't get a chance to play the Cincinnatis once a week or once every two weeks. So you have to make the most of the opportunities when you go get them. It's important for us to play against a top-five team, a nationally recognized coach and program. So if we can play well tomorrow and the rest of the way, at least we'll be fresh in everybody's mind." The way it sounds, this year's NCAA tournament should be billed as the "Self Recognition Tour" for the Golden Hurricane. Then again, a lot of the "big-time programs" already know who Self is. Self undoubtedly will be mentioned as a candidate at every top school with a coaching vacancy, such as Georgia Tech, although he says he's committed to staying. But in the battle for respect and recognition, every little bit helps. Tulsa, with an enrollment of only 4,300, appeared on national television only twice all season -- the Western Athletic Conference tournament championship game (a loss to Fresno State) and a regular-season game vs. Rice (which only went to 60 percent of the country). That, combined with the weak reputation of the WAC, contributes more than anything to Tulsa's anonymity. Just ask Cincinnati.
"It's Tulsa. I don't think of any players. It's just Tulsa," Cincinnati guard Pete Mickeal said. "They started off good early, I do think that. They only lost four games, and only to two teams, but people kind of forgot about them. They've always been there, but they probably think they have something to prove. And I still think they do." Even the NCAA selection committee thinks so. Despite its gaudy record and national ranking, Tulsa was stuck with a No. 7 seed. But when you play third fiddle in your own state -- behind Big 12 powers Oklahoma and Oklahoma State -- getting people to notice can be an arduous task. "It's funny to me that nobody knows who we are," senior guard Tony Heard said. "It doesn't bother me, though. I kind of like it. They don't know what to expect." So who are the Golden Hurricane? OK, so the "corn-fed, farm-raised, calf-roping" analogy isn't entirely a fallacy. After all, senior forward Eric Coley, the team's fourth-leading scorer, raises horses in the offseason and enjoys calf-roping and the rodeo. But the names Coley, Shelton, Heard, Brandon Kurtz or Marcus Hill aren't exactly of the household variety. Man to man, they figure the publicity will come. And they hope it comes at the expense of Cincinnati. "Those who really know basketball, they know who we are," Coley said. "As for the players who don't know who we are, after we play them, they remember us. UCLA remembers us. We want Cincinnati never to forget us."
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
