PCAA Preview : Nevada Las Vegas Is Still Team to Beat, but Task May Be Easier

A few million people had just switched on their television sets to watch the Final Four, the high-tech computer graphics were swirling into place and the voice-over introductions began:

“It’s down to four . . . Syracuse and Providence from the Big East, Indiana from the Big Ten and, from out West, the Runnin’ Rebels.”

From out West?

Nevada Las Vegas is so well recognized in college basketball that its nickname suffices. But the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. is so obscure, CBS apparently doesn’t feel it’s even worth mentioning.

That was just a bit more ammunition for PCAA coaches, who feel they have gotten no respect over the years--especially when it comes time for picking postseason berths. Trouble is, when it comes to direct competition with the nation’s best, only the Rebels have done much to earn recognition or, for that matter, respect.

Jerry Pimm, the coach at UC Santa Barbara, thinks that will change this season.

“This is the best conference in the West,” Pimm said. “We’ve got a tremendous amount of returning starters. But we’ve got to beat them. Until then it’s all talk.”

And the Rebels may not be in a position to do all the conference’s talking this season. UNLV has definitely dropped a notch or two from last season--which means they aren’t a Final Four team, although they still figure to be the team to beat in the PCAA.

“We’re the only team in this conference who lost anything,” said UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian, who always sings the preseason blues but finally may have some reason.

“We lost six seniors. We have only four players back and only nine scholarship players on the squad. We lost a potential starter to injury and another didn’t make it through summer school. Everyone says, ‘Vegas is loaded,’ but nobody can even name our players.

“We don’t know a lot about our club and I’ve never gone into a season like this. We might not even fast-break. We might be a half-court team. That’s the truth.

“I’m trying to be honest with you. I don’t know why you’re laughing, I’m telling you the truth!”

The rest of the league may have trouble feeling sorry for Tark and Co., but the consensus is that if there ever was a time to knock the Rebels off the top, this is it.

San Jose State, which got 2 of 10 first-place votes in the coaches’ poll, would have gotten a lot more if power forward Reggie Owens were still around. Coach Bill Berry dismissed Owens--the team’s top rebounder and No. 3 scorer last season--from the team last month for “not living up to his team responsibilities.”

Berry’s son, Ricky, a 6-foot 8 1/2-inch senior who averaged 20.2 points, is still on the team and probably the premier player in the conference.

Cal State Fullerton, always one of the PCAA’s best defensive teams, has seven lettermen, including the top two scorers, and has added strength inside with 6-9 Bobby Adair, a transfer from Utah, and 6-8 John Sykes, a transfer from Texas.

A capsule look at the PCAA, in the order of finish predicted by the coaches: NEVADA LAS VEGAS

1986-87 records: 37-2 overall, 18-0 in PCAA

PCAA finish: First

A Tarkanian team has never had a losing season, and this one won’t be the first. But the Rebels will be hard-pressed to go undefeated in conference again.

The Rebels are replacing point guard Mark Wade, the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s single-season assist leader, with Karl James, a 6-4 freshman from Maryland. They’re replacing post man Armon Gilliam, who averaged 23.2 points, with Richard Robinson. And they’re replacing guard Freddie Banks, who averaged 19.5 points, with freshman Stacey Augmon, the 4-A player of the year from Pasadena Muir High, who has never played guard.

UNLV has talent and experience at forward: 6-9 senior Gerald Paddio, 13.1 points and 4.3 rebounds, and 6-8 senior Jarvis Basnight, 9.2 and 4.0, are both electric, sometimes dominating players. Depth could be a factor, though. SAN JOSE STATE

1986-87 records: 16-14, 10-8

PCAA finish: Tied for second

The Spartans, who have put together three straight 16-victory seasons, seem to be on the verge of stepping up a level. They have both experience and athleticism.

George Williams, a 6-8 junior transfer from Minnesota, will try to fill the void left by the departure of Reggie Owens. Dietrich Waters, a 6-8 1/2 center, and guards Rodney Scott, a 6-2 transfer from UC Irvine, and Ricky Berry will start for sure.

“We hope Ricky doesn’t have to do as much scoring as he has in the past two years,” the elder Berry said. “But the way he’s playing now, it’s hard not to imagine him scoring more.” CAL STATE FULLERTON

1986-87 records: 17-13, 9-9

PCAA finish: Tied for fourth

Coach George McQuarn says his team’s goal is to be undefeated at home and play .500 ball on the road. Fourteen victories might be enough to win the conference title this season, and Tarkanian thinks the Titans have what it takes.

“George may have the best team in the West this year,” Tarkanian said. “They play UCLA at Pauley (Dec. 28) and (UCLA) may win, but if George plays UCLA on a neutral court with neutral officials, George wins for sure.”

If the Titans do develop into the West’s best, 6-4 senior guard Richard Morton and 6-7 senior forward Henry Turner--the outside scorer and the inside leaper--will have a lot to do with it.

McQuarn says he’s looking for Morton, 18.3 points, to have a strong senior season. Turner, 15.2 points and 6 rebounds, can change the momentum of game with just one of his spectacular flying dunks.

Transfers Sykes and Adair could be immediate impact players, and McQuarn hopes Van Anderson, a 6-4 junior swing man who transferred from Oregon State, will help offset the loss of Derek Jones, who was wounded in a random shooting Aug. 30. UTAH STATE

1986-87 records: 15-16, 8-10

PCAA finish: Seventh

The Aggies have two things going for them: Their top four scorers are back and they don’t lose many games at home. Utah State is 180-54 at home since the 10,270-seat Spectrum was built on the Logan campus 17 years ago.

Kevin Nixon, at 18.2 points, leads the returners and three new big men could turn the Aggies into title contenders. Community college transfers Greg Houskeeper, a 6-9 junior from Ricks College in Idaho, and Stan Pepek, a 6-9 junior from Highland College in Kansas, along with 6-8 sophomore Jerry Davis, who returns from a Mormon mission in Chile, give the Aggies a formidable front line. UC SANTA BARBARA

1986-87 records: 16-13, 10-8

PCAA finish: Tied for second.

The Gauchos, coming off their best season in more than a decade, have an outside chance of breaking up the big three--UNLV, Fullerton and San Jose State--if their new inside players come through.

UCSB’s perimeter play should be very good with Brian Shaw, a triple threat last season with averages of 10.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists; Garrick DeHart, last season’s PCAA freshman of the year, and Brian Johnson, who made 87 three-point shots.

“The outside players are the best and most experienced we’ve had, but we have to gain some respect underneath,” Coach Jerry Pimm said. “We have quality players inside, but they’re inexperienced and you can’t inject that.”

Greg Trygstad, who made the conference’s all-freshman team last year, is Pimm’s only veteran underneath. NEW MEXICO STATE

1986-87 records: 15-15, 9-9

PCAA finish: Tied for fourth.

The Aggies have four starters back, but the one who’s gone will be tough to replace. Guard Kenny Travis averaged 19 points and 7 rebounds last season.

“It seems like everyone has four or five starters back,” Coach Neil McCarthy said. “The question is, which team will have the right chemistry in January?”

The Aggies are guard heavy. They have three returning point guards--Keith Hill, Jeff Williams and Blaine DeBrower. DeBrower started the first 13 games last year, before Hill, who transfered from Michigan State and became eligible in mid-December, took over. Williams was suspended from the team for disciplinary reasons before the season began.

New Mexico State will be balanced. The four returning starters--6-8 forward Johnny Roberson, 6-5 guard Jeff McCool, 6-8 forward Steve McGlothin and the 6-4 Hill--all averaged within a point and a half of 10 a game.

McCarthy also is excited about his fifth starter, Willie Joseph, a highly recruited transfer from Cerritos College. FRESNO STATE

1986-87 records: 9-20, 4-14

PCAA finish: Tenth.

The Bulldogs, once the power of the PCAA, sky-dived from grace last season. Coach Ron Adams has eight returning letterman, but they’re the same guys managed to win just four conference games last season.

All are forwards or centers. Mike Mitchell, at 6-7 the team’s No. 2 scorer at 11.9 last season, has been moved to small forward to increase his offensive output. Jervis Cole, 12.4; Derrick Barden, 10 points and 7.1 rebounds, and 6-11 Rene Ebeltjes, former starting center for the Dutch national team, combine with Mitchell to give the Bulldogs a strong front line.

Adams brought in five new guards and Kevin Stevenson, a transfer from Santa Barbara City College, heads the list. Returning starter Leo Walker is in a battle with transfer Rodney Heard from Detroit and freshman Andre Sims at point guard. CAL STATE LONG BEACH

1986-87 records: 12-19, 7-11

PCAA finish: Seventh.

USC Coach George Raveling says he thinks first-year Long Beach Coach Joe Harrington is “in that young cluster of coaches that will be the next group of master coaches.”

Harrington, who spent 10 years as an assistant under Lefty Driesell at Maryland and averaged more than 18 wins a season during the last eight as head coach at George Mason University, takes over a 49er program that appears to be peaking. All 5 starters and 10 letterman return.

Harrington figures to find out quite a bit about his team in December, when the 49ers play at Georgetown, at Arizona and against Ohio State in the Lobo Classic at New Mexico.

Morlon Wiley, 12.8 points and 4.7 assists, is the floor leader and DeAnthony Langston, 10.7 points and 5.5 rebounds, is the enforcer underneath. The 49ers won’t have great size, but quickness and stamina should be a strong point. Five players ran a mile in less than five minutes in an early workout. UC IRVINE

1986-87 records: 14-14, 9-9

PCAA finish: Tied for fourth.

The Anteaters will set up 19 feet 9 inches or more from the hoop and hope to shoot their way into the PCAA’s upper echelon. Irvine was the best three-point shooting team in the conference last year at .416.

Guard Scott Brooks, who scored 336 points on three-pointers, is gone but freshman Justin Anderson, the North Dakota high school player of the year, is UCI’s long-range heir apparent.

At 6-8, Wayne Engelstad, UCI’s No. 2 scorer last season at 16.5, is an offensive threat anywhere inside 18 feet. Frank Woods, 11.7, and Kevin Floyd, suspended from the team for the Freedom Bowl tourney which begins Friday at Irvine, are both improved offensively.

Mike Hess, a 6-1 senior, will start for Floyd at point guard. Rob Doktorczyk, a 6-9 forward who started half of UCI’s games last season, is the fifth starter.

Defense remains a weakness, though. Opponents outscored the Anteaters, last season, 87.6-86.6. PACIFIC

1986-87 records: 10-17, 6-12

PCAA finish: Ninth.

If UOP could go back in time and strategically insert 24 points in last season’s conference schedule, the Tigers might have finished second. Of course they probably would have needed 50 more shots to do it. Pacific shot 39.8% from the floor.

That statistic should improve with the return of junior Domingo Rosario, who red-shirted last year to recuperate from a broken leg. As a freshman and sophomore, Rosario was one of the PCAA’s most exciting players.

Holger Fuerst, a 7-foot center from West Germany who scored just 4 points and grabbed 28 rebounds in 18 games last season, has improved but still has a long way to go. “When he got here, he had trouble catching the ball,” O’Neill said. “Now, he’s catching the ball. Step 3 is catching it and scoring.”

Sean Lasher, from College of Southern Idaho, the junior college national champion, will take over the point guard spot. The Tigers also have freshman Jon Barry, son of former NBA star Rick Barry.