Seikaly Picked It Up Too Well, Too Soon

Syracuse center Rony Seikaly, a native of Lebanon who grew up in Athens, Greece, spent much of his childhood playing soccer, volleyball and field hockey until he was introduced to basketball in the ninth grade.

“Someone showed me how to dunk, and I was in the gym dunking and dunking and dunking,” he said. “One day, I bent the rim and I wasn’t allowed in the gym again until the 10th grade.”

Add Forgettable Quotes: Said Gary Graham of Nevada Las Vegas on the eve of the Indiana game: “I don’t think they’ve ever seen the kind of pressure we put on a team.”

Maybe Indiana gave him a new look, too. He scored one point, going 0 for 5 from the floor, and had no assists and 4 fouls in 25 minutes.

Bob Knight still doesn’t like the three-point shot but conceded that he might have liked it when he was playing at Ohio State.

“When I was a player, I thought it was a player’s game,” the Indiana coach said. “As a coach, I think it’s a coach’s game. When I no longer coach and become a spectator, I’ll think it’s a spectator’s game. I don’t think I’ll ever get to the point where I think it’s the press’ game.”

Trivia Time: Cal Covert of San Bernardino submits this one: “Who is the only player in college basketball history to go to four NCAA Final Four tournaments?” (Answer below.)

Would-you-believe-it Dept.: When Marquette won the NCAA title in 1976-77 in Al McGuire’s last year, one of its regular-season losses was to the University of Detroit, 64-63, at home. The Detroit coach was Dick Vitale.

When Wake Forest beat UCLA, 82-80, in the third-place game of the 1961-62 NCAA tournament, Billy Packer scored 22 points for Wake Forest. Walt Hazzard scored 15 points for UCLA.

For What It’s Worth: If Indiana wins tonight, it will be the third time it was won the NCAA title after eliminating Louisiana State in the regionals. The Hoosier teams of 1952-53 and 1980-81 both used the Tigers as a springboard.

Other teams that have won the title after beating LSU were Michigan State in 1978-79 and Louisville in 1979-80 and 1985-86.

Who says the Celtics don’t have a bench? During one stage of the first half Sunday, Boston actually was pulling away from Philadelphia with a lineup of Darren Daye, Fred Roberts, Greg Kite, Jerry Sichting and Conner Henry.

Now-it-can-be-told Dept.: Larry Doby, the first black to play in the American League after being signed by Cleveland owner Bill Veeck in 1947, told Dave Anderson of the New York Times about reporting to Indian Manager Lou Boudreau.

“Lou lined up all the players,” Doby said. “One by one, Lou introduced me to each player. ‘This is Joe Gordon,’ and Gordon put his hand out. ‘This is Bob Lemon,’ and Lemon put his hand out. ‘This is Jim Hegan,’ and Hegan put his hand out. All the guys put their hands out, all but three. As soon as he could, Bill Veeck got rid of those three.”

Trivia Answer: Ralph Drollinger, UCLA, 1972-73 to 1975-76.

Quotebook

Nevada Las Vegas Coach Jerry Tarkanian, on Indiana guard Steve Alford: “He’s a great shooter, and he’s a better ballhandler than people think. And he’s really not as slow as everybody says. But then, white guys just look slower.”