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Posted: Friday February 26, 1999 11:28 AM

Hurricane Force  

Fresh from an upset of Connecticut, Miami is aiming to take the NCAA tournament by storm

By Seth Davis

Leonard Hamilton sat in his hotel suite in Hartford last Friday night and recounted one particularly bad day he had early in his tenure as coach at Miami, when his team was beset with injuries and in the midst of a terrible losing streak. "I came back to my office after practice, shut the door behind me and just cried," he said. A moment after telling the story, Hamilton pulled a Bible out of his bag and read from James 1:4. "Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Setting the Bible on the couch beside him, Hamilton explained the passage's relevance: "There I was, feeling sorry for myself, when what I needed to do was understand that you grow stronger from struggles."

Apparently perseverance still hadn't finished its work, even after the Hurricanes' stunning 73-71 upset of then No. 2 Connecticut last Saturday, arguably the biggest win in Miami history. When the game was over, Hamilton stood alone at one end of UConn's Gampel Pavilion chatting up a security guard and glancing at his watch. At the opposite foul line his players were in the throes of celebration. Asked later what he was thinking at that moment, Hamilton replied, "We had to hurry and get on the bus to catch a 5:30 plane. You can't take too long to celebrate a win."

The victory moved the Hurricanes (19-5, 13-3 in the Big East through Sunday) to within a game of the Huskies (23-2, 14-2) in the conference standings and propelled Miami to No. 11 in this week's AP poll. That's the Hurricanes' highest ranking since 1960, when they made it as high as No. 8. Miami didn't even have a basketball program from 1971 to '85 because its board of trustees thought the sport was losing too much money. The Hurricanes have never won an NCAA tournament game, and if that streak is broken next month, Hamilton will probably mark the occasion by checking his watch. "I've been on the ladder with the scissors in my hand," he says, referring to his experience as an assistant for Kentucky's 1978 national champions. "I think this team has a chance to experience that, so this is not the time to celebrate."

Such talk was hard to imagine five years ago, when the Hurricanes went 0-18 in the Big East. That year Hamilton signed his most important recruit, 6'7" forward Tim James, a gifted athlete from Miami's Northwestern High, who, in addition to his hoops exploits, won the Big East high jump championship as a freshman and sophomore. He has spent the last four years writing his very own Book of James, evolving from a back-to-the-basket inside player as a freshman to a senior with a shooter's touch out to 17 feet. James is third in the Big East in scoring (19.1 points a game) and had 16 points and seven rebounds in the win over Connecticut. Last week Miami announced that it would retire James's jersey, an honor the Hurricanes had previously bestowed only on Rick Barry, whose number 24 was taken out of service in 1971.

James and 6'5" junior swingman Johnny Hemsley account for 56% of Miami's scoring, but as the defeat of the Huskies demonstrated, the Hurricanes have balance. Junior Mario Bland, an undersized but sturdy center at 6'6" and 265 pounds, had 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, which helped Miami dominate the boards 49-34. Vernon Jennings, a 6'4" junior who has become a dependable point guard, dished out five assists. Thanks to a rotation that goes nine deep, the Hurricanes were one of the few UConn opponents who weren't worn out by game's end; if anything, the Huskies were the ones panting. "It's taken a lot of time for us to mature," Bland said afterward. "We see all the NCAA banners Connecticut has, all the NBA players they've produced. They have a lot of things we want to get."

After the Hurricanes had finished celebrating last Saturday, Hamilton walked into the locker room to quickly address them. (They had a plane to catch, after all.) It took him awhile to make his way to the front of the room, however, because each player stopped him to give him a hug. "He's come a long way," James said. "There weren't a lot of people in his corner a few years ago. We just wanted to make sure he enjoyed this a little."

Texas Uprising: Big 12 Leaders Ride the Bubble  

At Texas, watching videotape requires careful attention and, occasionally, a box of Raisinets. Early this season first-year coach Rick Barnes showed his players a battle scene from Braveheart to teach them "the concept that there are things worth dying for," as he puts it. Last month he rolled a clip from City Slickers in which Jack Palance tells Billy Crystal that each person has to choose "that one thing," the most important thing in life, on his own. Wise guys might have pointed out that Palance's character dies soon afterward ("We didn't show that part," says Barnes), but the Longhorns bought the message. "For now," says sophomore center Chris Mihm, "that one thing is winning the Big 12 title."

DeJuan Vazquez and the other Longhorns are driving for the NCAAs. DarrenCarroll

When Texas had a 2-7 record -- including losses to Houston, South Florida and San Diego -- on Dec. 19, such talk would have drawn more laughs than City Slickers. But since then the Longhorns have been hotter than burnt orange, having raised their record through Sunday to 17-10 (12-2 in the Big 12) and clinched a tie for the conference regular-season title with last Saturday's 63-54 win over Texas A&M. The key to the turnaround, according to Barnes and the players, was a discussion they had after losing 56-46 to Princeton in December's Rainbow Classic. "We have more talent than they do," Barnes told his Longhorns, "but they won because they have a plan and they believe in it. That's what we need, a belief in what we're doing."

Translation: The Texas players needed to share Barnes's obsession with having, in his words, "the best half-court defense in America." Slowly, they've caught on. The Longhorns had held opponents to 65.8 points a game (down from 81.4 last season under former coach Tom Penders).

Not that Texas is all defense. Mihm, a 7-footer, has shed his big-talent, big-wuss stigma and was averaging a double double (13.1 points and 10.4 rebounds). Meanwhile, 6'5" senior forward Kris Clack (14.7 points) has proved himself as both an outside shooter and an explosive slasher.

But the Texas-sized surprise of the Longhorns' season has been 6'7", 250-pound junior forward Gabe Muoneke, Texas's leading scorer (16.8 points a game), whose fearless inside play and velvety outside touch -- he was shooting 56.8% from three-point range -- have made him a candidate for Big 12 player of the year. "Coach came up to me the third day he was here and said, 'Do you want to be great?'" says Muoneke, who averaged just 10.4 points last season. "It blew me away. He made me feel like I could play basketball again."

Muoneke's only flaw has been his penchant for reenacting Braveheart on the court. Barnes suspended him for a game last month after Muoneke sucker-punched Kansas players three times in the same game; Muoneke also sucker-punched a Wisconsin player in a game in December. "Off the court I don't get into confrontations with anybody," says Muoneke, a devout Catholic, "but on the court I get so upset when my goals are being jeopardized that I react. I need to worry about what I can control and not pull any cheap shots."

Muoneke's outbursts have ceased since he began meeting with a specialist last month to learn how to channel his emotions better. He doesn't deny that he'll be excited if Texas can rescue an NCAA bid from what once seemed a lost season, butSunday became Black Sunday last year for Gonzaga, whose players sat sullenly in coach Dan Monson's basement in Spokane watching their bubble burst. The Zags finished the 1997-98 regular season with a 23-9 record and a West Coast Conference championship but lost to San Francisco in the league tournament final. When the NCAA bids were issued, the Bulldogs were victims of their too-low power rating of 74. At Gonzaga RPI spelled RIP. "When you're a mid-major team way out in Spokane, you're just numbers to the committee, so you don't get the respect you may deserve," Monson sa he knows that despite their 17 wins, the Longhorns aren't a shoo-in for the tournament, not even after winning the regular-season title in a major conference. "Oh, no, not yet," Muoneke says. "We've got to keep winning. We can't control the committee, and if there's anything I've learned this year, it's that you can't worry about things that are out of your control."
-- Grant Wahl

Gonzaga: Excelling in Obscurity  

Selection Sunday became Black Sunday last year for Gonzaga, whose players sat sullenly in coach Dan Monson's basement in Spokane watching their bubble burst. The Zags finished the 1997-98 regular season with a 23-9 record and a West Coast Conference championship but lost to San Francisco in the league tournament final. When the NCAA bids were issued, the Bulldogs were victims of their too-low power rating of 74. At Gonzaga RPI spelled RIP. "When you're a mid-major team way out in Spokane, you're just numbers to the committee, so you don't get the respect you may deserve," Monson says. "It makes you lose faith in the system."

Gonzaga's only option was to try to boost its RPI by scheduling more perilous road games for this season. Over the summer Monson added visits to Kansas and TCU to a schedule that already included games against Memphis, Purdue, Detroit and Washington, all to counteract the weak conference schedule that Gonzaga cannot escape. Harsh as the strategy was, it worked. Gonzaga's RPI is 52, thanks in large part to wins over Memphis and Washington.

Junior point guard Matt Santangelo knows all about the division between the haves and have-nots. He had a scholarship offer from Stanford in 1994, but the Cardinal's other point guard recruit that year, Arthur Lee, beat him to it. Santangelo has found at least one significant advantage, however, to ending up with the Bulldogs: He has been tutored each preseason by Gonzaga alum John Stockton in private workouts that have included shooting drills and one-on-one duels. While Santangelo is a scoring point guard who is sometimes shifted to off-guard to add offensive punch, he has risen to second on Gonzaga's alltime assists list, behind only his mentor.

Santangelo had guided Gonzaga to a 22-6 record at week's end, and the Bulldogs should merit an NCAA bid regardless of the outcome of the league tournament. But Gonzaga, which has been to the NCAA tournament only once, under Monson's predecessor Dan Fitzgerald in 1995, knows it can't rest easy. Whenever there is a lull in practice, Monson invokes the memory of Sunday, March 8, 1998. "We haven't forgotten how glum we all felt that day," Santangelo says. "This season has been about a commitment we made right then not to have to suffer through that anxiety again."
-- Tim Crothers

Sun Belt Surprise: Arkansas State Assist Man  

It's hard to find Chico Fletcher. He plays for little Arkansas State in the overlooked Sun Belt Conference, and he stands just 5'5 1/2". His opponents tend to discover him the hard way. As Fletcher was scoring 13 points and dishing out a school-record 17 assists at Texas Christian on Nov. 23, Horned Frogs coach Billy Tubbs screeched at his point guard, Prince Fowler, "I don't care what you do -- trip him, kick him in the shins, do anything, just get that little guy out of the game."

Three years ago Fletcher, an outstanding high school quarterback, went to Arkansas State on a football scholarship, but after redshirting his freshman season with a left shoulder injury, he made the Indians' basketball team as a walk-on point guard. He started the final 20 games of the 1996-97 season and led the Sun Belt with an average of 6.3 assists. Fletcher, whose first name derives from his mother's favorite 1970s sitcom, Chico and the Man, quit football in '97. He then set an Arkansas State record last basketball season with 240 assists and became the first sophomore since '83 to win the Sun Belt player of the year award. This season he averaged 16.5 points as he led the Indians to a second-place finish in the conference, which is scheduled to start its postseason tournament on Saturday. More impressive, Fletcher led the nation in assists with 8.5 a game through Sunday, reaffirming once and for all that Chico is the Man.
-- T.C.

The Buzzer  

Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson insists that senior guards Kareem Reid and Pat Bradley , whom he pulled from the starting lineup for three games recently, weren't in his doghouse. "That wasn't punishment," says Richardson. "I was saying, You guys have been busting your ass, and the pressure on you is so high that maybe we need to try something to help you." Last Saturday, Reid and Bradley started and responded with 17 points each in a 74-70 win over No. 6 Kentucky that may have clinched a spot in the NCAAs for the 19-8 Hogs....

Brad (Big Continent) Millard of St. Mary's played his first game since November 1997 in the Gaels' regular-season finale. After two operations this year on a stress factor in his left foot, Millard, a 7'3", 345-pound junior center, wasn't expected to play until next season, but he wants to help St. Mary's win the West Coast Conference tournament and earn an NCAA bid. In 14 minutes an out-of-shape Millard scored only one point but drew a lot of defensive attention, which helped the Gaels beat Santa Clara....

What's with TCU? The Horned Frogs (17-8 through Sunday) fell to 5-6 in the WAC with a loss to 10-14 Air Force.... Did we say something about the Ivy League's deserving NCAA berths for both Penn and Princeton? With the Tigers' loss to Harvard last Saturday, forget we mentioned it.
-- B.J. Schecter

Issue date: March 1, 1999

 

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