NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : UNINTIMIDATED : Arizona’s Olson Says His Team Can Take Care of Itself Against Those Tough Tar Heels From North Carolina

Conjure up this image: Tom Tolbert and Anthony Cook are lolling about on a West Coast beach, safe and secure in the company of other West Coast sissies when along come J.R. Reid and Scott Williams, the big, bad bullies from the East Coast, kicking sand in their faces.

Got it? Now forget it.

Arizona Coach Lute Olson is getting really tired of defending his 34-2 basketball team.

The University of Arizona was seeded No. 1 in the West Regional of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball tournament and, so far, Arizona has lived up to that No. 1 seeding, beating its Ivy League, Big East and Big Ten opponents by an average of 29 points. Why should Arizona suddenly cower like an underdog today?

This afternoon, Arizona will play for the regional title and a berth in the Final Four against North Carolina, seeded No. 2 with a current record of 27-6.

Yes, North Carolina is an Atlantic Coast Conference team. Yes, North Carolina has one of the best big men in the nation in J.R. Reid.

No, that does not intimidate Arizona.

“We’re not exactly a bunch of weaklings in there, either,” Olson said. “Anthony is a whole lot stronger than you think he is. Tolbert is not 6-7, as you keep reading. I don’t know where that came from. He’s 6-8 1/2 and he goes 242. And you don’t see a whole lot of flab on that body.

“He’s not exactly the wimp on the beach waiting for you to kick sand in his face. He’s not afraid to be physical.”

The Wildcats faced this line of questioning last weekend when they went up against Seton Hall’s more physical team. But the Wildcats are still playing. “What do we have to do get some respect?” Olson asked anyone in general. “All we’ve been is (ranked) first, second or third all season, and still I hear CBS picked Seton Hall over us. I hear that we haven’t been tested. We’ve played some good teams. Is it our fault they haven’t tested us?”

While he was on the subject of getting no respect, Olson went on to wonder how his star forward, Sean Elliott, was ever passed over for the preseason All-American teams (“I almost lost my lunch when I saw some of those teams. . . . The people who pick those ought to be embarrassed. . . . There are a lot of slow learners out there.”) and why Arizona can’t get the national TV time some other teams do. (“Even California teams get more attention that we do. We have 10 of 14 kids from California. UCLA is on TV quite a bit. I’m not sure that our team wouldn’t be watched as much and enjoyed almost as much as UCLA.”)

North Carolina Coach Dean Smith seemed not to understand Olson’s approach. Smith said: “I don’t know why they should have a chip on their shoulder. They’ve been beating everybody by 20 points or more. I don’t know. I guess a little paranoia can serve as incentive. The Rodney Dangerfield effect can help a team want to play. I wish our team felt that way. I think sometimes we get too much respect.”

Smith, himself, has been giving Arizona lots of respect. In fact, he got so carried away in saying how impressively the Wildcats play together and how much quickness the Wildcats have on a front line that stands 6-9, 6-8, 6-8 that he concluded, “I hope we can stay within 20 points.”

As for the quickness of the Arizona front line, Smith said: “It would be interesting to have the front lines in a track meet. I think they’d win a track meet. But for 94 feet, I think our guys can keep up.”

Olson is planning to find out. “Their big people are going to have to run. They can’t jog. The strength of Anthony, Tom and (reserve 6-7 forward) Joe Turner is their ability to run. If we get the board (rebound), I’ll guarantee that their big people will have to run. That’s our advantage. Their advantage is if they can get posted up on us.

“Even if their big people can keep up with us at the start, I don’t know if their legs will still be there late in the game.”

The Wildcats will try to deny the ball to Reid. As Smith said: “In college basketball, with our rules, if you want to stop somebody, you can. That’s why our rules are aimed at balance.”

But playing a helping defense or a zone defense will leave someone else open. The primary job of defending against Reid will go to Cook. Smith said: “Cook is very good. He’s quick. He’s a quick jumper and a good shot blocker.”

Arizona is also planning to utilize its long-range shooting to extend the Tar Heels’ defense. Wildcat guard Steve Kerr is hitting three-pointers at a 59.6% rate (and he has made 109 of them), and Elliott hits them at 47.5%. Guard Craig McMillan hits the three-point shot, too. As does reserve guard Ken Lofton.

North Carolina’s senior guard, Jeff Lebo, will shoot the three-pointer, too. But not as effectively.

The edge goes to Arizona in experience. The Wildcats start three seniors (Kerr, McMillan and Tolbert) and two juniors (Elliott and Cook). North Carolina starts two juniors (Lebo and Steve Bucknall) and three sophomores (Reid, Williams and Kevin Madden.)

And it seems that the edge goes to Arizona in the realm of confidence. Olson said: “We really look at it as a question of how they’re going to stop us, not the other way around. We’ll have a defensive plan, but when it comes time, we’ll play our game.

“We got to be 34-2 doing the things we’ve been doing all year, and we’re not going to make changes now.”

Elliott said: “This isn’t just a dream. It’s a realistic dream. All the guys have been talking about it all season. We’re not going to let it slip through our grasp now.”

West Regional Notes

North Carolina Coach Dean Smith said that he was a little surprised when Scott Williams, who played at Hacienda Heights Wilson, picked the Tar Heels. Smith said, “I thought he’d end up at Stanford or UCLA.” . . . Smith referred to his point guard, junior Jeff Lebo as “Coach Lebo” at one point Saturday while explaining that Lebo is always a step ahead of him in knowing what he’s going to want to do next. Arizona’s point guard, fifth-year senior Steve Kerr, actually played a volunteer coach’s role last season while he recovered from a knee injury. And Arizona Coach Lute Olson often jokes with Kerr about not making too many wise remarks so that he doesn’t blow his chance to one day take a real position on the Wildcat staff.

Friday night’s crowd of 23,229 at the Kingdome was not enough to get the local TV blackout lifted. The NCAA insists upon having 25,000 tickets sold before the ban is lifted. It appears that today’s game will be blacked out in Seattle. (Last weekend’s games at Pauley Pavilion were blacked out.) Tom Jernstedt of the NCAA told a Seattle reporter: “We owe it to the person who bought a ticket to these games with the thought that it might be the only way he’d see them played. We can’t play games with the ticket buyer. People must take the blackout policy seriously.”