NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Minnesota Rebuilds From the Bottom Up : Southeast Regional: Clem Haskins took over a program that nearly self-destructed four years ago.

Maybe Bobby Cremins is amazed. Maybe the Georgia Tech basketball coach is sincere when he looks at his team’s placement in today’s NCAA Southeast Regional final, shakes his head and says, “I don’t know how we keep winning.”

He still hasn’t got a thing on Minnesota’s Clem Haskins.

Only Georgia Tech’s season was on the brink Friday night when the Yellow Jackets barely beat the buzzer and Michigan State, 81-80.

Four years ago, Minnesota’s entire program was on the brink.

“Our program was so far down, we couldn’t go any lower,” Haskins says. “If you could’ve looked at us in 1986 and predicted that we’d be in the final eight in four years, I’d have said you were sniffing the wrong stuff.”

In January of 1986, three Minnesota players--Mitchell Lee, George Williams and Kevin Smith--were arrested on rape charges in Madison, Wis., after a Big Ten game between Minnesota and Wisconsin. This came only months after Lee’s acquittal for a separate rape charge in January of 1985.

Within days, all three players were gone--although they, too, eventually were acquitted. So was Coach Jim Dutcher, who announced his resignation after the university president decided to forfeit Minnesota’s next game, against Northwestern.

The prevailing sentiment in the Twin Cities, however, was that the university didn’t go far enough. Minnesota basketball became a scourge amid the genteel community, branded as a haven for marginal students and marginal citizens. Newspaper columnists called for the dissolution of the program.

The university settled for a new coach. Haskins was hired from Western Kentucky, where he had coached the Hilltoppers to two 20-victory seasons.

Haskins was used to dirty jobs. An aspiring rancher, he knew his way around a shovel and a horse’s stall.

But Minnesota basketball?

“I took the job on April 7. On April 8, I was asking myself the same question,” Haskins says.

“But I’m not a quitter. I’m a builder. Check my record. My last year at Western Kentucky, we had a team good enough to win a national championship (the Hilltoppers lost to Kentucky in the 1986 NCAA tournament).

“When I evaluated the program at Minnesota, I knew they needed someone like Clem Haskins. I wasn’t the only one. But Clem Haskins was one of the guys who could do the job.”

This job began at ground zero. Haskins brought in seven freshmen and three of them--forward Willie Burton, forward Richard Coffey and center Jim Shikenjanski--played extensively.

Those Gophers went 9-19.

The next year, there was improvement. The 1987-88 Gophers finished 10-18.

“We had to roll with the punches,” Haskins said. “We knew we were trying to do things the right way. We had guys going to class. That was the most important thing. Winning ballgames came later.”

Minnesota won 19 games last season. That was enough to earn the Gophers a berth in the NCAA tournament, where Minnesota reached the East Regional semifinals before losing to Duke.

This season brought the breakthrough. After Friday night’s 82-75 upset of Syracuse, the Gophers are 23-8 and in the NCAA’s final eight for the first time in the school’s history.

And still at Haskins’ side, comprising 80% of his lineup, are four members of that first recruiting class--Burton, Coffey, Shikenjanski and guard Melvin Newbern.

“I made a commitment and stayed with them for four years,” Haskins said. “We have two excellent redshirts that could help us win right now. But I made a commitment to these guys then and I’ve stayed with them.

“This is not about winning and losing. This is about doing the right thing.”

Burton, an All-Big Ten first team selection, is averaging 18.7 points. Newbern is averaging 14.8. Shikenjanski dutifully attends to the grunt work inside the lane and Coffey, a former Army paratrooper, was largely responsible for grounding Syracuse’s Derrick Coleman Friday night.

Haskins’ fifth starter, junior guard Kevin Lynch, is averaging 13.4 points and made seven of 10 shots against Syracuse.

Georgia Tech (27-6) is also approaching unprecedented territory. The Yellow Jackets have advanced this far three times before--the last time in 1985--but have never reached the Final Four.

And after Friday’s overtime escape against Michigan State, Cremins isn’t sure if his team hasn’t worn out its welcome.

“That Michigan State game, I didn’t get over that until this morning,” Cremins said. “How the hell did we win that game?”

Michigan State Coach Jud Heathcote will tell Cremins that he didn’t. According to Heathcote, the shot that sent the game into overtime--a 19-footer by Yellow Jacket guard Kenny Anderson--came after the buzzer.

Cremins disputes that, saying: “I feel fortunate to win, but that has nothing to do with the clock. Kenny beat the buzzer. I feel fortunate because we’re not playing well. We’re shooting horribly.

“I don’t know how we keep winning.”

This is how Georgia Tech wins. The Yellow Jackets’ best shooter, Dennis Scott, makes six of his first 21 attempts, but with seven seconds left in overtime sinks a hanging jumper in the key after spinning around two Spartans.

“I hadn’t shot the ball all game,” Scott said, “but with 10 seconds on the clock, the ball came to me. With that kind of confidence they had in me, I couldn’t let my teammates down.”

Georgia Tech and Minnesota will be playing at less than full capacity today. Yellow Jacket guard Brian Oliver is playing on a bad ankle. And Minnesota’s Burton suffered a scratched eye against Syracuse, which left his vision temporarily blurred but was treated with a moisturizing solution Saturday.

Burton will start. This opportunity, which seemed a million miles away in 1986, is not to be missed.

“You go back and look at Minnesota four years ago,” Haskins said. “The student body was down on us, the community was down on us. But we’ve brought credibility and honor back to Minnesota basketball.

“Sunday, every television set in Minnesota will be turned on.”