NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : A Long Look Up Awaits the Gauchos

Jerry Pimm was asked about the houseboat again. He hates that. But when you get UC Santa Barbara into the second round of the NCAA tournament against Michigan State and you briefly pique a nation’s curiosity, you’re going to get asked about the houseboat.

Pimm has to live with it. He lives on it, doesn’t he?

“First of all,” Pimm says, frowning at the question, “the term houseboat has the connotation of a low-grade level of boat.” He smiles. “It’s not a houseboat. It’s a motor yacht. Thank you.

“In boating and yachting terms, a houseboat is-- phew! --really down there,” Pimm continues. “I have a 50-foot motor yacht parked in a slip in Santa Barbara harbor and I stay on that most of the time.

“It’s a good style of living. It’s quiet. There’s no yard work. It’s a good place to entertain. And I use it. It’s got big diesel turbocharged engines and I get up on the bridge and I use that thing. I go into Avalon Bay, down into the L.A. area and into Mission Bay. It’s a very nice motor yacht and I enjoy scooting along the ocean once in a while.”

In collegiate basketball circles, this makes Pimm odd. Michigan State’s Jud Heathcote, an old friend, couldn’t resist taking a jab before his Spartans meet Pimm’s Gauchos in today’s second round of the NCAA Southeast Regionals.

“When Jerry moved to Santa Barbara, keep in mind that he was a bachelor for a long time,” Heathcote said. “I’m not going to tell you what that yacht became. It was raided six times, however.”

Today’s game at 1:45 p.m. (PST) at the University of Tennessee marks the first meeting between Santa Barbara and Michigan State. Pimm and Heathcote go back a bit further.

They met as assistant coaches in the early 1960s, Pimm working at Utah and Heathcote at Washington State. They coached together during summers at Team USA trials and often crossed recruiting paths.

Occasionally, they would kill a few hours on a handball or racquetball court.

Pimm, younger and lighter, claims he held the upper hand, or racquet, depending on that afternoon’s choice of weapon.

Rebuttal, Heathcote?

“Don’t believe stories that Jerry makes up,” Heathcote said. “Even if they’re true.

” . . . We never played racquetball. I was a handball player. Racquetball’s for sissies.”

Basketball’s for tall guys, which is one reason Michigan State is favored today. The Spartans start 6-foot-10 center, Mike Peplowski, and two 6-7 forwards, Ken Redfield and Matt Steigenga. They have a 6-6 point guard, Steve Smith, who is one inch shorter than Santa Barbara center Eric McArthur.

Such timber has earned Michigan State the Big Ten championship, a 27-5 record and top-seeded position in the Southeast Regional. Santa Barbara (21-8), the third-place team in the Big West Conference, is seeded ninth and defeated Houston in Thursday’s first round, 70-66.

Pimm has to find a way to contend with Michigan State’s height and contain Smith, an all-purpose leaper averaging 19.8 points and 7.1 rebounds, but his biggest challenge will be sweeping stars from his players’ eyes.

Pimm’s point guard, Carrick DeHart, kept referring Friday to Michigan State’s “prestige, aura, mystifying effect. Magic Johnson. (Greg) Kelser came out of there. You expect possibly a higher level of basketball played out of that region.”

nta Barbara (21-8), 1:50 p.m. PST