UConn’s Sellers Says He’ll Be Ready

Like most basketball players, Rod Sellers probably dreamed of being on the floor with a championship on the line.

In Sellers’ case, however, the dream has become a little twisted.

Sellers, the University of Connecticut’s sophomore center, has wrenched his left knee three times in the past seven games. Each time, he has wound up on the floor, squirming with pain.

He hit the deck again in UConn’s second-round NCAA Tournament victory over UC Berkeley on Saturday. “It’s getting frustrating, ending up on the floor every game,” Sellers said.

Although he didn’t practice Monday, Sellers pronounced himself well enough to play against Clemson on Thursday in the NCAA East Regional semifinals at Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. The winner of that game will face the winner of the UCLA-Duke game for a berth in the Final Four in Denver.

Sellers said he would practice today--”All out,” he said--and is looking forward to tangling with Clemson’s 6-foot-11 front-court stars, Elden Campbell and Dale Davis, known as the “Duo of Doom.”

“No doubt I’m playing,” said Sellers, who has a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament. “There was less pain this time. It’s a little stiff and I can’t bend it all the way back, but I can run (and move laterally). . . . It’s nothing serious, it just needs some rest.”

UConn Coach Jim Calhoun said Sellers could have re-entered the game against UC Berkeley, which the Huskies won by 20 points, but it was not necessary.

“If it was this Thursday and the same thing happened, he probably would play,” Calhoun said.

That suits Sellers fine. He is from Florence, S.C., and grew up watching the Tigers on television. In fact, Clemson was high on Sellers’ list when he was choosing a college.

When Sellers visited Clemson, Campbell and 6-7 forward Sean Tyson showed him around. “I know those guys pretty well,” Sellers said.

Davis had 26 points and 17 of Clemson’s 55 rebounds in the Tigers’ 79-75 victory over LaSalle on Saturday at the Civic Center. Tyson had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Campbell, who fouled out, had seven points and five rebounds.

“When they first put the (NCAA Tournament) brackets up I said, ‘We’re going to meet them sometime,’ ” Sellers said.

Sellers, who averages 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds, is wearing his third knee brace. He has used a white one and, for the sake of poetic justice, a black one and a blue one. He wants to get a darker blue brace to match his uniform.

“I’ve had so many braces, I want to get one in every color,” he said.

Murray Williams, UConn’s junior forward, also will wear a knee brace Thursday, although it’s not nearly as high-tech as Sellers’.

Williams, who has a history of knee problems, had fluid drained from his right knee Monday and should be ready for the Clemson game. “There’s been more and more swelling as he’s taken some pounding down the stretch,” Calhoun said. “He says it’s going to be much better than it has in two weeks. You could see in the last couple of games, I thought, that he wasn’t quite as quick as he has been.”

The Huskies (30-5) began preparing for Clemson (26-8) Monday with rebounding and general toughening-up drills.

Calhoun will begin tailoring specific offenses and defenses this afternoon. After practice, the team leaves for New Jersey.

“You always try to attack big people (like Xavier did in beating Georgetown on Sunday),” Calhoun said. “We’ll spread it out and attack, but we’ll still attack.”