NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Sooners Are Ready for Another Land Rush : Only Villanova Stands Between Oklahoma and a Berth in Final Four

For stereotyped teams and coaches, you probably couldn’t find a more contrasting matchup than Villanova and Oklahoma in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball tournament’s Southeast Regional final today (Channel 2, 12:30 p.m., PST).

Villanova, with a 24-12 record, is once again catching the fancy of the country, much as it did in 1985 when it went unheralded into the tournament and won the championship.

All the Cinderella cliches are being recycled now--overachieving, smart, disciplined, a family atmosphere inspired by rotund Rollie Massimino, the well-prepared coach from the Big East Conference who studies opponents’ game films into the early-morning hours.

In the other corner there is Oklahoma (33-3), that wild bunch from the Big Eight.

The Sooners, who are averaging close to 105 points a game, are perceived by some as physically talented, undisciplined and coached by a guy, Billy Tubbs, who sounds like actor Jack Nicholson and whose coaching style is just to let his players press the full length of the court for 40 minutes and see what happens.

It’s not really that simple, of course, but stereotypes have a way of lingering.

Tubbs has been criticized for running up scores when an opponent has been thoroughly beaten. It has also been said that his team wins on its pure athletic talent, without much regard for defense or some of basketball’s finer points.

It has been noted in the fine print, though, that Tubbs has coached Oklahoma to 20 or more victories for seven straight seasons, and six straight appearances in the NCAA tournament in his eight years at the school.

Tubbs is seemingly immune to slights. He didn’t even blink when he was asked Friday to comment on the perception that Villanova is in the regional final because of great coaching and Oklahoma is here because of great players.

“I think that’s probably right,” he said. “Great players will beat a great coach most of the time. Rollie is a great coach and does an outstanding job with his players. I think they’ll be well prepared. I’ll be surprised if they aren’t.”

Then, with tongue in cheek, he played the role of a bumpkin in response to the following questions:

Question: Generically speaking is there a Big East style of play?

Answer: Generically speaking! That’s way over my head. I don’t see any conference that has any style of play. I really don’t pay a lot of attention to what everybody else is doing because I have a hard time minding my own business.”

Q: Would you comment on the seven or eight different defenses that are reportedly used by Villanova?

A: “It doesn’t matter to us how many defenses somebody uses because we have only one offense. You can’t trick us because we’re not paying attention.

“We don’t have to know what you’re doing because we don’t really care. We can’t be tricked because we’re not smart enough.”

Loyola Marymount, which was eliminated in the second round of the West Regional, by North Carolina, 123-97, was the only team in the country averaging more points--110--than Oklahoma.

Tubbs was asked to speculate on the final score of a hypothetical meeting between Oklahoma and Loyola.

“Oh, I’d say 160 to 107 with the Sooners winning,” he said without hesitation. “We would score more than North Carolina did.”

As for his team’s defense, which has been criticized in the past but is getting more positive reviews now, he said:

“We play the hardest defense there is to play. We try to legitimately cover 100% of the floor. A lot of people can’t do that.

“It’s easy to pack a defense in, stand back and wave your arms in the air and protect the basket. We actually try to guard people. The difference is the media sees us playing defense now, so our fans think so, too.”

It was then noted that defense can also be rated on the differential of points and Oklahoma is beating teams by an average of 23 points a game.

“Give that man an A,” Tubbs said. “We happen to be the best in the nation in that regard. Point differential is our concept of what defense is. I didn’t know this was going to be a clinic.”

Tubbs added that he doubts if any team is better conditioned than his.

“One of our goals is to always be in tip-top physical condition. We say we’re in the best condition of anyone in the nation. If anyone is perfect, then we tie.”

Massimino paid his respects to the Sooners after watching them beat Louisville Thursday night in a semifinal game, 108-98.

“The way they played last night, they were one of the best basketball teams I’ve ever seen,” Massimino said. “They’ve taken 747 three-point shots this season. That’s almost twice as many as we’ve taken. It’s going to be a very interesting kind of a game. If we hold them under 150 points, we may win.”

Tempo is the theme of today’s game. Villanova, which upset Kentucky Thursday night, 80-74, likes to control the tempo but will shoot quickly if it has an open shot.

“We just want to be more patient than we normally are. I’m sure they’re revving up their engines to run,” Massimino said. “As for their press, we’ve played against a good number of pressing teams, such as Providence and Georgetown. We’ll just be attuned to what has to be done.”

Then, Mark Plansky, Villanova’s senior forward, said he had a plan to offset Oklahoma’s fast, pressing team.

“We’ve got a lot of great track men at Villanova. We’ll fly them in for one day.”