College Basketball Notes : Many Teams Wonder About Tournament Bids

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. Will the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament selection committee leave them in the rubble?

It is the question that will be asked at many schools between now and March 12, the day the 64 invitations go out for this year’s NCAA tournament.

It is being asked at Temple, where the 17-10 Owls go into this week’s Atlantic 10 tournament in Philadelphia nearly assured of a bid based on the strength of their schedule.

Nearly, but not quite. Especially in the mind of their coach.

“I don’t feel my team deserves to go to the NCAA tournament unless we win our own tournament, but then I’m not on the committee,” John Chaney said last week after losing to Rutgers -- but before snapping West Virginia’s 22-game winning streak last Sunday.

In the Atlantic Coast, both Virginia and Clemson are 17-9. The Cavaliers have beaten North Carolina and N.C. State, and the Tigers, who had beaten the Tar Heels, upset the Blue Devils Wednesday night to stay in the running.

In the Big East, 15-11 Pittsburgh could get a bid over 17-9 Providence since the Panthers have knocked off five top 20 teams and the Friars have yet to beat anybody among the league’s top echelon.

In the Big 10, Ohio State has slipped to 17-10 with three defeats in the last four games since losing star guard Jay Burson for the season with a broken vertebra in his neck. Wisconsin is 16-8, but hasn’t gone to the NCAA since 1947, a factor that is often considered.

In the Metro, last week’s loss to The Citadel might have finished off South Carolina (17-9). The Gamecocks, who also have lost to Oral Roberts but have beaten Louisville and Ohio State, are the fourth choice in a league from which the NCAA never has taken more than three.

In the Pac-10, sentimentality could come into play regarding Oregon State (19-6) and its retiring Coach, Ralph Miller. The 69-year-old coach, who turns 70 the day the conference tournament starts a week from Friday, could be given one great going-away present by the NCAA. UCLA (18-7) is another blowing bubbles these days.

One team that should be in the NCAAs, regardless of how it does in its conference tournament, is Evansville. The Purple Aces are 22-3 under fourth-year coach Jim Crews, but have yet to make the national rankings.

“I don’t have any invitations on my desk,” Crews, 35, said from Evansville Wednesday. “So we’re going to have to win our (Midwestern Collegiate Conference) tournament to get it. I don’t expect to be given anything.”

Crews finally is reaping the benefits of a massive rebuilding program that began when he took over for Dick Walters. The former Indiana player went out and recruited 11 players in 11 months.

Considering the wacky year it has been in college basketball, there are a number of teams such as Evansville and St. Mary’s (Calif.) and Ball State that can’t wait to get a shot at one of the big boys.

Take Georgia Southern. The little school from Statesboro, Ga., is giving lots of people the blues this year, having put together the NCAA’s longest current winning streak at 16 games going into Thursday night’s meeting with Sanford. Trouble is, Georgia Southern somehow attracts big-name schools on that team’s home court come tournament time. Two years ago, the Eagles made the NCAAs for the first time and lost to Syracuse in the Carrier Dome by six. Last year, they played at Georgia in the first round of the NIT and lost a close game.

Princeton Coach Pete Carril, once considered the king of the giant-killers, could be at it again. All the Tigers have to do is win one of their remaining two games, at Harvard and at Dartmouth, to win the Ivy League and get the automatic berth.

The Tigers could have sewed things up last Tuesday at the Palestra, but lost to Penn, 43-42, when Jerry Doyle missed the back end of a one-and-one with a second left that would have forced overtime.

The Quakers did a good job at containing Princeton’s second-leading scorer and its top three-point shooter, Bob Scrabis, with a box-and-one. Asked when was the last time a team played that kind of junk defense against Princeton, Carril didn’t blink.

“Fifteen years ago, Colgate did it, but I had more shooters,” Carril said.

If Princeton gets to the NCAA tournament, it would mark the first time since 1984 and the seventh time overall for Carrill. If they do, watch out. Meeting Carrill in the tournament is still a dangerous liaison.

Barring a last-minute turnaround, one team definitely not going to the NCAA tournament is Navy. The Midshipmen, who finished the regular season 6-21, obviously have to win the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. Navy plays Richmond in the first round Friday at the Hampton Coliseum.

The North-Atlantic Conference need not worry about attendance at its postseason tournament, which begins Thursday at the Hartford (Conn.) Civic Center.

As a result of a ruling by health commissioners in six New England states as well as New York, no fans will be allowed to attend the three-day tournament.

There have been measles outbreaks at two North-Atlantic schools, Siena and Hartford. Siena, which had a 14-game winning streak snapped by Boston University Wednesday night, is the favorite to go to the NCAAs.

“It’s not as much a matter of protecting the players as it is a matter of protecting the fans from one another,” said North-Atlantic Commissioner Stu Haskell.

The conference usually makes $50,000 from the tournament, but will lose $50,000. Some of the cost will be picked up by a sponsor, which Haskell said wants to remain anonymous.

Guess here is that it must be spot-remover company or a pharmaceutical lab.