Making 20 Points From All Over

For the astute, informed fan, statistics and information are vital.

So as a public service, what follows is a list of 20 items of general or specific interest concerning the 1989-90 season. It may prove as invaluable as a sixth foul.

1. How about a Final Six? The six best teams in the country, in order, are Nevada Las Vegas, Syracuse, Georgetown, Arizona, Michigan and Louisiana State.

2. Dream team: Forwards Larry Johnson of Nevada Las Vegas and Derrick Coleman of Syracuse, center Alonzo Mourning of Georgetown or Brian Williams of Arizona, guards Chris Jackson of LSU and Mark Macon of Temple.

3. Dream II: Forwards Lionel Simmons of LaSalle and Stacy Augmon of Nevada Las Vegas, center LeRon Ellis of Syracuse; guards Rumeal Robinson of Michigan and Kendall Gill of Illinois.

4. George Raveling’s favorite L.A. restaurants: A gourmand of some repute, Raveling said this: “For Chinese food, the Panda Inn at the Westside Pavilion. For soul food, Aunt Kizzy’s Back Porch at Marina del Rey. For seafood, Ocean Ave. Seafood in Santa Monica. For Italian, Valentino’s on Bundy. For barbecue, Hogly Wogly’s Tyler Texas Barbecue on Sepulveda. Overall, a tie between Kate Mantilini’s on Wilshire and Cutter’s in Santa Monica.”

5. Mahalo very much: For the first time, the University of Hawaii basketball team has a player of predominantly Polynesian descent who will probably be a starter. He is Arlen Bento, a 6-5 senior from Hilo.

6. All-name team: Sean Zone, USC; Carlton Screen, Providence; Lance Blanks, Texas; Robert Brickey, Duke; Gerald Glass, Mississippi; Jasper Hooks, Georgia; Tim Jumper, Mississippi; Lorenzo Hands, Florida State; Jan Post, Temple; Joe Passi, Tulane.

7. Keep them apart: Two guys you never want to see together are David Benoit of Alabama and Fred Benjamin of Vanderbilt.

8. Get them together: Two guys you’d love to see together are Reginald Muhammad of Southern Methodist and Asad Ali of Colorado.

9. Crucial change: Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim has made a critical move, shifting the extremely talented 6-4 small forward Stevie Thompson to point guard, and 6-9 power forward Billy Owens to shooting guard.

10. Another crucial change: Boeheim, whose reputation for disliking the press is legendary, is trying to transform his frozen yogurt personality.

“I think as you get older, you don’t react quite as quickly at some things,” he said. “Somebody wrote that he hated me, that I was an idiot. And I never met the guy. He just wrote it from watching me on television.

“Geez, at least let me yell at you in person. I don’t think you should be judged on how you coach on television. That’s like judging an actor as a human being because he murders people on TV. I’ve got a bad rap.”

11. Honest Abe: Asked who is his best player, Oklahoma City University Coach Abe Lemons replied: “I have no idea.”

12. Real estate lesson: Lemons, 67, said he has never believed in owning a home: “I always thought if I just sat on the curb somewhere, somebody would find me and feed me.”

13. History lesson: In 1971, Dick Vitale was a sixth-grade teacher in East Rutherford, N.J. Now, he is a big star on college basketball telecasts. What’s more, there is now competition for the Barbie doll and the Ken doll. Available just in time for Christmas is the Dickie doll, modeled after Vitale.

“I shake when I think about it,” Vitale said. “Only in America.”

Let’s hope so.

14. See you in the paint, baby: This is Vitale’s answer when asked to list his five favorite expressions (translations included): 1, “PTP” (prime time performer); 2, “Give up the rock (basketball), baby;” 3, “Awesome, baby, just awesome;” 4, “Slam, jam, bam;” 5, “Give me some PT (prime time), I don’t mean BT (bench time), I want QT (quality time).”

15. Knock, knock: Who’s there? Only the two best players you’ve probably never heard of.

One is the 6-7 Johnson of Nevada Las Vegas, whom Laker General Manager Jerry West, not prone to lavishing unwarranted praise, called “absolutely tremendous . . . What can he do? Name it. Now, try naming one thing he can’t do. I don’t know how he can stay in school, he’s so tremendous.”

Then, there is 6-6 Gerald Glass of Mississippi, an inside-scoring machine who’s awesome, baby, just awesome. Said West:

“He can score, he’s got a good touch and a lot of people love him.”

16. Jim Harrick’s favorite UCLA team: “The 1973 national champions with Bill Walton. That was such a difficult era to coach in, to communicate with the kids at that time, with the time of the Vietnam War and all, and Coach Wooden did such a wonderful job with that, and with moving away from his high post to a low post offense to take advantage of Walton. What an innovator.”

Wooden’s favorite?

“The 1964 team that went undefeated, even though no starter was taller than 6-5, is the favorite of many,” Wooden said.

17. New on the shelf: Best of the season’s books is “Never Too Young to Die, the Death of Len Bias,” by Lewis Cole.

The worst?

Not even close. It’s “Lute Lute Lute,” the story of Arizona Coach Lute Olson, by Ace Bushnell and Fred Thompson. Opening sentence: “When Robert Luther Olson first strode into McKale Center as head coach of the University of Arizona men’s basketball team, he looked elegant.”

18. Do they make asbestos uniforms? The player most likely to incur the wrath of a coach, in this case the most severe wrath of all--Bobby Knight’s--may be 6-8 freshman Lawrence Funderburke, who was suspended last season by his Wehrle High School coach in Columbus, Ohio, for breaking team rules and whose name also came up in the NCAA’s investigation of Kentucky.

19. Who’s running this team? John Thompson of Georgetown did not decide to start the 6-10 Mourning and 7-2 Dikembe Mutombo at the same time until after he was urged to do so by Red Auerbach.

20. Calendar: The NCAA tournament’s first- and second-round games will be played March 15 and 17 and March 16 and 18, at Hartford, Atlanta, Knoxville, Richmond, Austin, Indianapolis, Provo and Long Beach. Regionals are set for March 22 and 24 and March 23 and 25 at the Meadowlands, the Superdome, Reunion Arena in Dallas and the Oakland Coliseum. The Final Four is set for March 31 and April 2 at McNichols Arena in Denver. Expect Syracuse to be the Final One.