Great Alaska Shootout Has Not-so-Great Field

Despite having three teams ranked in the top 20 in the preseason poll, the Great Alaska Shootout celebrates its 10th anniversary with perhaps its weakest field ever.

Syracuse, coming off a 31-7 season and a last-minute one-point loss in the national championship game, is ranked No. 1. The Orangemen opened their season against North Carolina Saturday.

Michigan, 20-12 last season, is ranked ninth, and Arizona, 18-12, is 17th.

But three teams, Miami, Duquesne and Southwest Texas State, had losing records last season. And while Miami is considered one of the country’s top independent teams this time around, the prospects for Duquesne and Southwest Texas State don’t appear much improved.

Alabama-Birmingham always has a good team but never a great one, and that appears to be true again this year.

And host Alaska-Anchorage will be hard-pressed to duplicate its unprecedented Shootout success of last year when it knocked off Texas and Washington. UAA, a Division II school, was 23-7 last year but lost two all-America players.

The Shootout begins Friday with Syracuse taking on Alaska-Anchorage, Michigan meeting Miami, Alabama-Birmingham against Southwest Texas State and Arizona playing Duquesne.

For the first time, the tournament will stretch four days instead of three. The change was made to accommodate ESPN, which will televise the championship game and four others.

The championship game will be played Monday instead of Sunday so as not to conflict with ESPN’s telecast of a National Football League game.

Syracuse essentially stood pat with the squad that led the Orangemen to within a heartbeat of a national title. Coach Jim Boeheim didn’t bring in any new recruits so depth could be a problem.

But the heart of the lineup returns. Sherman Douglas quickly made Syracuse fans forget Dwayne Washington by leading the team in scoring (17 points per game), steals, free-throw percentage and minutes played while setting a school record by averaging more than 7 assists per game.

The 6-foot junior point guard needs outside shooting help in the backcourt, and Boeheim looks for it from sophomore Earl Duncan, who missed last season because of academics.

Rony Seikaly is primed for a big year after averaging 23 points per game in post-season play. The 6-10 senior center will get inside help from Derrick Coleman, who averaged almost 12 points per game.

Michigan lost three starters, but has three high school all-Americas ready to step in. Terry Mills and Rumeal Robinson sat out last year because of academics. Freshman Sean Higgins arrived in Ann Arbor after a dispute with UCLA.

All-Big Ten guard Gary Grant brings back a 22-point scoring average, and Glen Rice (17 points, 9 rebounds per game) is solid inside.

Although last season was lackluster one for Arizona, the Wildcats are expected to be much improved with the return of guard Steve Kerr, who sat out a year with a serious knee injury suffered in the 1986 World Games.

Arizona lost only one reserve and has 10 lettermen back, led by Sean Elliot. He averaged 19 points and six rebounds last season. As a freshman, Elliott made the all-Shootout team in 1985 while the the Wildcats lost two out of three games.

Alabama-Birmingham hopes 7-1 Alan Ogg will continue the improvement he showed late in the Blazers’ 21-11 season. His strong presence in the middle would allow 6-8 Eddie Collins to move back to forward as the Blazers look for their eighth straight NCAA playoff appearance.

Miami also has a big man, 7-foot Tito Horford, who averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds as a freshman. Three other starters rejoin Horford as the Hurricanes try to improve last season’s 15-16 mark.

Every Shootout field has included at least one team that host Alaska-Anchorage would have a chance to beat. This year there are two, Duquesne and Southwest Texas State.

Duquesne has three starters back but the Dukes were only 12-17 last season. The best is 6-6 junior guard Brian Shanahan, who averaged more than 16 points and five rebounds per game.

Southwest Texas State wasn’t much better at 13-15, but the Bobcats are sure to be fired up because their coach is Harry Larabee, who coached Alaska-Anchorage for five seasons before moving south.

The Bobcats’ leading scorer last season, Eliezar Gordon, wasn’t even a starter, but averaged more than 13 points per game.

Alaska-Anchorage’s fourth-place finish in last year’s Shootout was the Seawolves’ best ever. But stars Jessie Jackson and Hansi Gnad have graduated, and the Seawolves struggled last week to beat two in-state rivals.

The Seawolves are hoping speedy junior college transfers will compensate for the loss of Jackson, and 6-5 Averian Parrish, a Brigham Young University transfer, will fill some of the void left by Gnad’s departure.