NCAA SOUTHEAST REGIONAL : Brown and Jayhawks Weren’t Expected, but Hope to Crash Party

Larry Brown and Kansas weren’t expected to be here in the NCAA basketball tournament’s Southeast Regional semifinals. It seemed more likely that next season’s team would make a run for the national championship.

Brown lost three starters, forward Ron Kellogg, guard Calvin Thompson and center Greg Dreiling, along with a valuable sixth man, Archie Marshall, from the team that reached the Final Four a year ago.

But Brown has a habit of showing up where he’s least expected.

His comings and goings are legendary, starting with his abrupt departure from Denver of the National Basketball Assn.--a team he had been with for more than six seasons--for a short stay at UCLA, where he coached the Bruins into the NCAA title game in 1979-80. That was followed by another abrupt departure for the New Jersey Nets of the NBA, followed by still another abrupt departure for Kansas before the 1982-83 NBA season was even over.

One thing is consistent about Brown, though. He has been a winner all over the map. He has never had a losing season as a college or pro coach in his 15-year career. Moreover, his college teams have never failed to win 20 or more games in a season.

Even so, Kansas (25-10) may be hard pressed to extend its season. The Jayhawks don’t figure to beat Georgetown (28-4) tonight at Freedom Hall. Alabama (28-4) will play Providence (23-8) in the other semifinal game.

Asked if he’s surprised that this year’s team, with four freshmen getting playing time, has exceeded his expectations, Brown said:

“I thought if we had Archie Marshall, who got hurt last year against Duke in the NCAA tournament, we would have been real good,” Brown said. “But he injured his knee and we had to redshirt him. He was actually our fourth starter.

“When we lost him, along with the three seniors, I didn’t think there was any hope of us being very good. But, heck, we’ve got a great player in Danny Manning and that’s been a major difference. He has done such a tremendous job.

“It has been a situation where Danny has carried us in a lot of cases, along with our point guard (Cedric Hunter).”

Now Manning, a 6-11 forward-center, will be asked to carry the Jayhawks one more time.

A consensus All-American, Manning scored a career-high 42 points against Southwest Missouri State in a second-round game. For the season, he’s averaging 23.9 points, 9.4 rebounds and is shooting 61.9% from the field.

Manning is virtually a one-man team on offense, so opponents don’t need any sophisticated scouting reports on Kansas.

“Teams try to stop him but he’s real unselfish,” Brown said. “He does a lot of things to help his teammates. It puts a lot of pressure on Danny, but he has responded very well.”

Georgetown has an All-American of its own in forward Reggie Williams along with a swarming, pressing team.

“They’re great,” Brown said of the Hoyas. “They’re so deep and we don’t have much depth. They have great athletes and a great player in Williams. I love their team. I think they’re like the UCLA teams of old. It is going to be really tough.

“We’re going to have to play our best game by far and I don’t know if that’s good enough.”

In any interview with Brown, he usually makes some reference to UCLA. He coached there for only two seasons, but has thought of it often.

“There is one move I wish I hadn’t made,” Brown said wistfully. “I regret the one I made when I left (UCLA). When I did it, it was for the right reasons with J.D. Morgan (athletic director emeritus) passing away and what the financial situation was for me. It was tough.

“If I could have gutted it out there one more year . . . but I’ve been lucky enough to land on my feet here.”

Bob Fischer, UCLA’s athletic director during Brown’s UCLA tour, says that Brown is an excellent coach.

“The biggest problem was the financial package that we had for Larry at the time,” Fischer said.

Now the rumors are swirling around Brown again. Will he become the New York Knicks’ coach next season, or in the future, in another move around coaching’s Monopoly board?

His wife, Barbara, who graduated from Kansas last spring with a degree in journalism, lives and works in New York.

“They’re just rumors,” Brown said. “I want to stay here. This is the last year of my contract. I’m hopeful that it can be worked out.

“I just wanted to finish this contract so maybe people wouldn’t focus on the fact that I’ve moved (again). It doesn’t seem like it will ever change with me.

“I know a lot of people have moved more than me, but that’s what people take hold of and won’t let it go.”

It is believed that Brown promised Manning that he would stay with the talented athlete throughout his college career. There is a possibility, however, that Manning, a junior, may make his own move to the NBA next season.

If he doesn’t, though, Brown’s team should be even more formidable, with the return of Marshall in addition to this season’s freshmen, who will be tournament toughened.

As for now, an unexpected berth in the round of 16, has Brown pumped up.

“I told the kids that as long as we’re here, we might as well win it,” he said.

Sounds reasonable.

Southeast Notes Alabama will play Providence beginning at 3:30 p.m. PST, with the Kansas-Georgetown game scheduled for 6:11 p.m. . . . Georgetown came back from a 15-point deficit to beat Ohio State in a second-round game Sunday, 82-79. “This team never ceases to amaze me,” Georgetown Coach John Thompson said. “As long as they’re winning, I’ll let them to continue to amaze me. This is proably one of the best teams we’ve ever had on man-to-man, half-court defense.” . . . The Hoyas are restricting opponents to an average of 42% shooting.