USD Football 1993

TOUCHDOWN IUUSTRATED • Bas~etball Preview

Jason Kidd, who li1,ed up to his phenom billing with some miraculous shots in the NCAA Tournament, returns to anchor a young Cal squad.

one, can do without the Owls' pestif- erous zone. He said of it, "Wherever we were, they were." Chaney is rag- ingly superstitious with a favorite slo- gan he preaches to his players: "Be the dream." But before the dream can be realized there are 5:30 a.m. prac- tices (donuts included), so his players can turn their attention to academic purs uits for th e rest of the day. Chaney's a wise old Owl, one who passes life's joy and pain on to his young players who are sti ll feel ing their way. McKi e chose Temple because of him. He said, "He's about life. A lot of big-time players visit here and want money to come. They ask me, 'What do they give you at Temple?' I tell them, 'We get nothing but the scholarship. You work for what you get, and we're a family. You're either with us or you're not."' Kansas. Y ou don't spit in the wind or walk on Superman's cape. But if you are Kansas it is permissible, and even wise, to spit in the Mississippi River. Tom Sawyer did it. Roy Williams did it in 1982 when he occupied a place as an assistant on the North Carolina bench next to Dean Smith. Somebody told Williams at the t ime the Tar Heels were in the '82 Final Four that sp itting in th e Mississippi would bring good luck. Even with Michael Jordan and James Worthy on the floor, Williams fe lt compelled to test this piece of folklore. "So I went and spit in the Mississippi River. Told'em I did my part," Wi lliams recall ed. "Sometimes I'm silly." Sometimes, but Wi ll iams was a be liever after North Carolina edged Georgetown 63-62 on Jordan's jumper. Williams was feeling the need to be particularly superstitious in March. It may have had something to do with an early exit by his team from the Big Eight tournament, not a good sign with the

NCAA tournament just a round the corne~ Wi lliams runs daily. He incorporated in the lo op he makes two cemeteries n ear Lawrence, KS, so he co uld pat t he g rave sites of two of the game's giants: Or. James Naismi th and

fro nt lin e of 6-5 Scotty Thurma n, a shooter's shooter, 6-7 Corliss Wi Iliamso n and incoming 6- 11 Darnell Robin so n, a Californian who migh t have bee n the best of all high school post players last season. Thurman,

Phog Allen. When the Jayhawks arrived in St. Louis for the Midwest Regional, Williams took them to the Mississippi River near the Arch and everyone spit. Wouldn't you know it. Kansas ousted Cinderella Cal and Indiana, then ranked No. 1 nationally. The victory made Williams 3-0 against Indiana's Bob Knight, one of his idols, and sent him to his second Final Four. Only North Carolina's Everett Case won more games (137) in the first five seasons than Williams at Kansas (132). Returning are 6-7 Richard Scott, 6-7 Darrin Hancock, 7-2 Greg Ostertag (an oak tree), 6-4 Patrick Richey, 6-4 Steve Woodberry and 5-6 Calvin Rayford. Kan sas recruited 6-11 Scott Pollard, 6-10 Nick Proud and 6-0 Jacque Vaughn. Yep, the Jayhawks are loaded. Arkansas. F orty minutes of hell has worked nicely for the Razorbacks under the baton of Nolan Richardson, who has scorched more than his share of oppone nts. He re 's a man who understands how the high school blue-chippers of today want to play the game. So, will the 35-second shot clock whi ch takes effect this season be to the benefit of those who prefer to keep the heat on offe nsively? Like Richa rdson, we mean. It could. In the meantime, Arkansas will take up residence in the new 18,600-seat Bud Walton Arena. Richardson is preparing a

the Hogs' highest-scoring freshman ever, broke the school record for most three-pointers (80) in a sea- son. Before Arkansas met North Carol ina in the NCAA East Regional, Richardson labeled Tar Heels coach Dean Smith as "one of the last of the cowboys," leaving Smith with a furrowed brow in puz- zlement over the remark. Protested Smith: "I'm a city boy from Topeka, which is very far from Dodge City. I' ve ridde n a horse once." Richardson himself may be riding hi gh, but getting th ere was far more than half the battle. Coaching positions for African-Americans at the prestigious schools have been precious few. Richardson made mention of thi s when h e sa id, somewhat in jest, "Dean is one of the masters of the game. Dean, Kazeski... uh, Mr. K, I can n ever pronounce his name (Mike Krzyzewski )...and Bobby Knigh t. They're the establishment. They're the ones I want to play. Of course, it's Arkansas against their teams, but from a personal standpoint I want to play all the big boys as soon as I can. I'm behind in this race and I want to play them as fast as I can to try to catch up." Michigan. T hey' re two of the o ri ginal Fab Five, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. "l call him Money," said King. "Like money in the bank."