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Still gaga over Gonzaga
Posted: Tuesday March 21, 2000 10:43 PM
Gonzaga, perhaps the best No. 10 seed in the history of the NCAA tournament, is not as versatile nor as deep as the group that reached the Elite Eight last season, but it still has the tools to reach this year's Final Four. Four seniors are in the starting lineup, and center Casey Calvary's improvement gives the Zags a post option they didn't have last year. Matt Santangelo, meanwhile, is back to playing point guard full-time. Santangelo played the entire 40 minutes during both of the Zags' wins last week, and scored a game-high 26 points against St. John's. During their morning shootaround last Saturday, the Gonzaga players lined up to take halfcourt shots as they usually do. One after another, they sank their attempts. Even the team's trainer made one. Now the Zags hope to carry that good karma to Albuquerque.
Point of orderPoint guards always take over during the NCAA tournament, and that will continue to be the case this week with three players you may not have heard a lot about.
Everybody knows about Marcus Fizer, but junior Jamaal Tinsley is a big reason for Iowa State's success. A playground legend in Brooklyn who never played high school basketball, Tinsley may be the most exciting ballhandler since Kenny Anderson. Wisconsin's Mike Kelley held Fresno State's Courtney Alexander and Arizona's Jason Gardner to a combined 15 points, and Kelly had 11 steals, 10 assists and no turnovers in two games. And UCLA senior Earl Watson turned in the best performance of the first two rounds during Saturday's thrashing of Maryland. Watson had 17 points, 16 assists and no turnovers in only 26 minutes.
Breaking up the BearcatsAs player introductions were beginning before Cincinnati's first-round game against UNC-Wilmington last Friday, injured forward Kenyon Martin sat on the Bearcats' bench and started to cry. That image will linger in the minds of Cincinnati's fans because the program is headed into a sharp downward cycle.Martin will be gone next year, as will Cincinnati's two other senior starters, Pete Mickeal and Ryan Fletcher. Freshman guard Dermarr Johnson is expected to declare himself eligible for the NBA draft, where he would be a top-10 pick. In addition, last month Cincinnati withdrew the scholarship offer it had given to its top incoming recruit after the player got into trouble off the court. And associates of Bob Huggins say the coach has been less than content at the school this season. They say Huggins appears eager to explore other opportunities. Sports Illustrated writer-reporter Seth Davis covers the college basketball beat and appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated.
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