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Sleepers wake up Nashville
Posted: Monday March 20, 2000 09:50 AM
By B.J. Schecter, Sports Illustrated NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Now we're talking. Chalkville finally turned into chalk dust at the subregional here. What started out as the site where Cinderella forgot to show up got awfully interesting on Sunday. The second and third seeds are on their way home so say hello to Tulsa and ... Miami? Yes, Miami, the basketball school. The Hurricanes don't look pretty but somehow they win. No, Leonard Hamilton's gritty group may never be invited to the Princess Diana charity benefit, but they're headed to Austin. There they'll meet another hard-nosed, blue-collar group. But please don't call either team a Cinderella. Tulsa may not have a national name, but it is awfully good. In fact, the Golden Hurricane has been good all season (13 straight weeks in the Top 25, the most wins -- 31 -- in the nation). And Miami was only the Big East regular season co-champion. The Hurricanes vs. the Golden Hurricane. How great is that? Forgive me for my cynicism in my previous postcard for this is the NCAA tournament and things have a way of working themselves out in the world's greatest sporting event. Tulsa and Miami in the Sweet 16, who would have ever thought? The thing I like about these teams is they both play hard and they aren't afraid to get after it on the defensive end. Tulsa's best player, Eric Coley, spends his free time calf roping on a farm near his on-campus apartment. Miami's top gun, Johnny Hemsley, used to follow his father around as he canned jump shot after jump shot on the playgrounds of Baltimore. Tulsa coach Bill Self was an assistant under Hamilton at Oklahoma State. Both teams are fighting for national respect and play with chips on their shoulders. Near the end of Miami's 75-62 victory over Ohio State on Sunday, Self spotted me on press row and sat down. "Do you think we can match up with these guys?" he asked. "They have a size advantage, but we have a lot a speed. What do you think?" A coach asking me for my input on his game plan. I like Tulsa over Miami already. B.J. Schecter is a Sports Illustrated reporter. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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