COLLEGE BASKETBALL : There Isn’t a Method to All This Madness

“If Connecticut goes anywhere this March, it will be back to the NIT. It will be surprising if Connecticut can climb higher than sixth in the Big East.” --Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook

Oh, well, so what if Connecticut is actually the No. 1-seeded team in the East Regional of the NCAA basketball tournament after finishing first, not sixth, in the Big East?

Nobody’s perfect, which is especially important to remember at this time of the year after 92,946 people applied for Final Four tickets in McNichols Arena, which seats 17,022. Something has to give. So here is a completely abridged guide to the tournament.

This is your wake-up call: The biggest sleeper in the tournament? How about Virginia? The Cavaliers (19-11) are saying goodby to Coach Terry Holland, who is becoming athletic director at Davidson next year, but this won’t be a win-one-for-the-coach crusade. Instead, look at Virginia’s bracket in the Southeast Regional (played in Richmond, Va., by the way): Notre Dame (16-12), then probably Syracuse (24-6), the most talented but fragile team in the draw. Two victories will put Virginia in the Sweet 16 and a potential date with Missouri (26-5) or the winner of Minnesota (20-8) and Texas El Paso (21-10).

FYI: Tiny Coppin State, which plays Syracuse in the first round, is located in Baltimore. The Coppin State campus consists of nine buildings. There are 1,406 full-time students and 890 are women.

What is 22? The average margin of points by which Nevada Las Vegas won its games in the Big West tournament.

Pro-bait: Mitch Kupchak, assistant general manager of the Lakers, listed the players in the tournament who have the best chance to be NBA stars, whenever they leave school: 6-foot-3 Gary Payton, senior, Oregon State; 7-1 Shaquille O’Neal, freshman, Louisiana State; 6-7 Larry Johnson, junior, Nevada Las Vegas; 6-9 Derrick Coleman, senior, Syracuse; 6-2 Kenny Anderson, freshman, Georgia Tech; 6-4 Kendall Gill, senior, Illinois; 7-2 Dikembe Mutombo, sophomore, Georgetown; 6-1 Chris Jackson, sophomore, LSU.

Payton Place: According to Kupchak, who scouts the college ranks for Jerry West, Payton is a can’t-miss NBA point guard. “If you want a guy who will be a good point guard for 10-12 years, he’s the one,” Kupchak said.

Shooting the threes: For what it’s worth, the top three-point shooting team in the tournament is Brigham Young, which shot 45.5% from beyond the stripe.

Rumor mill: There will doubtlessly be more, but here is the latest gossip on which coaches may be heading elsewhere. Stanford’s Mike Montgomery to Virginia; Cal State Long Beach’s Joe Harrington to Miami; California’s Lou Campanelli to Miami; Eddie Sutton, formerly of Kentucky, to Texas A&M; Loyola Marymount’s Paul Westhead to Texas A&M; Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun to Virginia; Texas’ Tom Penders to Virginia.

Sutton Place: Retiring Oklahoma City University Coach Abe Lemons, 68, isn’t too sure that Sutton, who left Kentucky in the wake of an NCAA investigation, would be welcomed warmly at College Station, Tex., since Sutton once coached at Southwest Conference rival Arkansas. But Lemons said he could be wrong. “If he does get back into coaching, that’ll be great news for cheaters,” Lemons said. People will be yellin’ ‘Cheating don’t count, cheating don’t count.’ ”

Who beat La Salle?: The Explorers (29-1) have the best record in the tournament, losing only to Loyola Marymount in overtime, 121-116.

Whom did La Salle beat? The Explorers defeated such foes as Iona, Canisius, St. Peter’s, Fairfield, Manhattan, Army and Holy Cross.

Happy landings: The Southwest Missouri State Bears, who play North Carolina in a first-round Midwest Regional game today in Austin, Tex., must hope things go a lot smoother than they did getting there. A DC-9 charter carrying about 100 passengers, including the team and school officials, was tossed about violently as it flew through severe thunderstorms, then experienced a bumpy landing before arriving safely in Austin. School fund-raiser Brent Dunn was on the flight. “We just hope we didn’t use up all our luck on the plane,” he said.