NCAA Southeast Regional : Providence Is a Real Long Shot Against Hoyas

Georgetown Coach John Thompson scoffs at the notion that Providence is the Cinderella team of the 1987 NCAA basketball tournament.

“Those people can play and we know they can play because they beat us once,” Thompson said Friday. “As for the truly Cinderella teams, they’re home now.”

Nonetheless, Providence is an upstart-type team that captures the public’s fancy and even if it loses today to Georgetown in the Southeast Regional final at Freedom Hall, it has had an emotional trip through the tournament.

Consider:

--The Friars have utilized the three-point basket more than probably any other team in the country.

That was underscored here Thursday night when guard Billy (the Kid) Donovan and the other long-range shooting specialists bombed favored Alabama out of the tournament, 103-82, by making 14 of 22 three-point shots.

--Comeback stories are never out of date and guard Delray Brooks, who complements Donovan, has made the transition from a reserve without a future at Indiana to prominence in the East.

--Then, there’s the youthful coach, Rick Pitino, 34, who encourages his players to shoot from outside the area code while he silently endures his personal tragedy.

His 6-month-old son, Daniel, died two weeks ago, just as the team was getting ready to leave for Birmingham, Ala., and the first round of the tournament.

North Carolina State and Villanova were so-called Cinderella teams when they won the NCAA championship in 1983 and 1985, respectively, and Providence is heading along the same path.

Providence improved on its nation-leading average of 8.2 three-point baskets a game against Alabama and it’s not a prayer shot. The Friars work at it.

“Each of our players has taken close to 40,000 three-point shots in practice and they feel they should make it (in a game) because of the time they’ve spent on it,” Pitino said. “And, if they miss, it’s not the end of the world. On the defensive end, though, they better get after it, or they’ll come out of the game.

“We run our offense to the line, and we don’t look down at the line. They could blindfold themselves and stop exactly on the three-point line.

“You don’t have to be an accounting major to understand that if you shoot 33% of your three-point shots a game it’s as good as making 50% of your regular shots--and our guys are good in math.”

Although the Friars have prospered from three-point country, Pitino believes that the 19-foot 9-inch distance is too short.

“I don’t like the three-point shot from that range and I thought we would become one of the teams that would change the line and get it moved back,” Pitino said. “But I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

As a senior at Rogers High School in Michigan City, Ind., Brooks was named “Co-Mr. Basketball,” the most prestigious honor bestowed upon a prep player in that state.

For whatever reason, however, Brooks didn’t fit into Bob Knight’s system at Indiana and transferred to Providence.

“The main reason I left was playing time,” Brooks said. “That was the bottom line. The players there are still friends of mine, but I had a hard time sleeping at night, knowing that I could have gone to almost any college in the country.”

Said Pitino: “Delray just didn’t fit into Indiana’s system. Bobby Knight is the second-happiest person that Delray has made it here. He loves the kid and pulls for him. I’m, of course, the happiest.”

Pitino and his wife, Joanne, have three children and now they’re mourning the loss of their fourth.

“It’s something I have to handle personally. It’s a lifetime thing for me,” the Providence coach said. “Fortunately, what the whole thing (the tournament) does for you is that it’s a distraction. It gets you back to your room later at night and obviously you’re not going to cry as long because of the distractions. My son Daniel is looking down. I think he’s a big part of this.”

Southeast Notes Today’s game, to be televised by Channel 2, will begin at 10:58 a.m., PST, and the winner will advance to the Final Four in New Orleans next Saturday, meeting the East Regional champion. . . . Providence (24-7) won its first meeting with Georgetown, which has a 29-4 mark, but lost the next two games against the Hoyas. . . . Georgetown Coach John Thompson says that today’s game will be a long one, meaning that both teams will press constantly, using the entire length of the floor. . . . Providence guard Billy Donovan made five of six three-point shots against Alabama, and guard Delray Brooks made five of eight. Yet, in three games against Georgetown, the guards were a combined 15 of 37 on three-point shots. “However, when you extend your defense so far to go after the shooters, it can open up things in the middle,” Thompson said. . . . There have been no reports of Hoya Paranoia here as Thompson and his players have lingered overtime at press conferences and the team is quartered in a downtown hotel. The Hoyas usually prefer a secluded hotel in the suburbs, or another state during tournament time. . . . If Georgetown wins today, it will be appearing in the Final Four for the fourth time in the last six seasons.