Glory Is Flawed at UNLV : National outlook: Defending NCAA champion has a great team, but a cloudy tournament future.

The two best college basketball teams in the nation played each other last week. In case you missed it, UNLV’s Scarlet squad beat UNLV’s Gray, 121-73.

Future lottery pick Larry Johnson had 24 points and 13 rebounds. The country’s best defender, Stacey Augmon, is also becoming one of its better scorers; he had 31 points, six rebounds and two steals. Anderson Hunt scored 30 points. Greg Anthony had 15 assists and nine steals. George Ackles added 13 points and seven rebounds.

Take heart, Gray. Those 73 points are all that Duke could manage against the Runnin’-you-into-the-ground Rebels in last year’s Final Four championship game. Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski had this dazed, faraway look that night in March, as if he had just taken a tour of a Chicago slaughterhouse. Instead, he had witnessed greatness.

“That was as close to a perfect game as we’ve ever had,” said Nevada Las Vegas’ resident towel chewer, Coach Jerry Tarkanian.

A couple of times during the off-season, Tarkanian has slipped a tape of the game into his VCR and relished the moments. He said the last half against Loyola Marymount in the West region final and the game against Duke “were about as good as I’ve seen played by any team.”

Krzyzewski would second the motion.

Of course, you’ll excuse Tarkanian if he seems a little subdued these days. He went into mourning on July 20, the day the NCAA Infractions Committee ruled his Rebels ineligible to play in the 1991 NCAA tournament. About the only worse punishment would have been to suspend Tarkanian and replace him with Dick Vitale.

Distraught over the sanctions, Tarkanian had his people offer alternative measures: What if the NCAA ruled him , but not the players, ineligible for the tournament? What if it took away his 10% cut of any tournament revenue? And what if it imposed a one-year ban on something he does as well as anyone--recruit? After all, reasoned Tarkanian, it’s him the NCAA is peeved at, not his players.

No word yet from the committee, which has been doing brisk business the past few months, what with Missouri and Illinois being punished for assorted NCAA violations. The Tigers and the Fighting Illini joined Kentucky, Maryland, Northwestern (La.) State, Marshall and Robert Morris on the list of teams ineligible for the tournament. UNLV would make it an even eight.

Tarkanian mopes. He has been irritable, frustrated and, for the first time, apathetic about basketball.

“Since July 20, I haven’t gotten myself motivated the way I have in the past,” he said. “Mentally and emotionally, I have not put myself into it. Luckily, we have two excellent assistant coaches here. They’re carrying us right now.

“Hey, I’ve been miserable. I’ve been wounded by this thing.”

The media are predicting that UNLV, which has four starters back, will finish the regular season No. 1.

Tarkanian glumly says thank you. But his problem isn’t one of talent. In fact, how many programs can lose blue-chip recruits Ed O’Bannon and Shon Tarver--both committed to UCLA after the NCAA levied its penalties against UNLV--and still be favored as the team to beat?

What bothers Tarkanian is the thought of not being able to defend the NCAA title.

“They feel we’re being treated unfairly,” he said. “We’re using that as a rallying point.”

Tarkanian might want to call Kansas Coach Roy Williams for advice. Williams replaced Larry Brown the season after the Jayhawks won the 1988 NCAA tournament. Brown’s legacy included a championship, but it also included NCAA sanctions, notably the dreaded postseason ban.

“(UNLV’s) situation is very similar to ours to the extent that not only had we won (the NCAA) the year before, but those kids didn’t have anything to do with the problem,” Williams said. “It sort of made them stronger, a sort of us-against-the-world syndrome. Every game is important to you. You know that no matter what kind of numbers you put up, you’re not going to be in the postseason. It might give them a little more incentive to do it every single night.”

With that said, Williams also pointed out the negatives, which are considerable.

“Kids look and see that they’re not going to have a chance to go to that big party again,” he said. “In college basketball, the attention all comes at the end of the season. That’s when it hits you.

“Nobody on that team was involved in any of (the NCAA charges),” Williams said. “But people will still yell things at those kids. They’ll walk onto the court and people will say, ‘You cheaters. Where’s your car parked?’ They’re going to get tired of hearing that stuff. They’re going to get tired of the same questions being asked by the media.”

And then there is the Tarkanian factor. Williams knows that feeling of helplessness, too.

“A lot of times, kids handle adversity better than adults do anyway,” he said. “With Tark, the problem he’s having is that he feels like it’s his fault. Just because of him, those kids are being punished. The bottom line, that’s it. He would do anything just to have that time period erased, so those kids wouldn’t have to be penalized.”

If the NCAA shoots down Tarkanian’s proposed personal penalty, then the race for UNLV’s crown could include six, maybe eight teams. Tarkanian himself is a big fan of Arizona, Arkansas, North Carolina and, his surprise choice, Indiana.

“I think Bobby (Knight) is putting together a real powerhouse,” he said.

Tarkanian also is fond of Michigan State and UCLA.

“UCLA is very talented, particularly if we keep recruiting for them. They’ll get really strong,” he said. “(UCLA Coach Jim) Harrick must love us.”

And if two coaches make a consensus, Williams of Kansas votes for Arkansas and Arizona as the teams to beat.

You also can add Pittsburgh, Duke, LSU, Syracuse, Alabama, Georgetown, Ohio State, Temple, Southern Mississippi and a longshot, Cal State Long Beach, to the mix. There . . . a sweet 16.

Preseason All-American predictions usually aren’t worth much, but how wrong can you be with a starting five of UNLV’s Johnson and Syracuse’s Billy Owens as forwards, Georgia Tech’s Kenny Anderson and Michigan State’s Steve Smith as guards and the moody but dominating Alonzo Mourning of Georgetown as the center?

Other top players include center Shaquille O’Neal of LSU, center Shaun Vandiver of Colorado, forward Clarence Weatherspoon of Southern Mississippi, forward Doug Smith of Missouri, forward Don MacLean of UCLA, guard Harold Miner of USC and guard Lee Mayberry of Arkansas.

And there are three breakthrough players to tuck away in long-term memory--Alabama forward Melvin Cheatum, Minnesota guard Kevin Lynch and New Mexico center Luc Longley.

Not included on the list is Indiana freshman guard Damon Bailey, the state schoolboy legend whom Knight started scouting when he was in eighth grade. Hoosier fans merely want him to surpass the standards set by Isiah Thomas, lead Indiana to a Big Ten title and then a national championship--all this year.

Other than that, enjoy yourself, they say.

“He’s a good player,” said Kansas’ Williams, who flew to Bloomington last week to visit Knight and watch the Hoosiers practice. “He’ll play. He’ll score. But the toughest thing is that nobody can be as good as what’s going to be expected of him. It’s impossible to live up to what they’re expecting of him.”

Bailey isn’t alone. At North Carolina, freshman center Eric Montross is being hailed as the greatest center since, well, LSU’s O’Neal the year before. Duke forward Grant Hill is praised, as is newcomer Khalid Reeves, an Arizona guard. BYU freshman center Shawn Bradley is 7-feet-6. A list of expectations is almost as high.

Of course, nothing can equal the demands put on today’s coaches. Among those questions that beg to be answered:

--Will Arizona State’s Bill Frieder deliver on his promise to turn the Sun Devils into a basketball force? (Not this year.)

--Will Eddie Sutton find happiness and a copy of the NCAA rulebook at Oklahoma State? (He won’t find one without the other.)

--Will the St. John’s administration continue to allow Lou Carnesecca to wear those hideous Cosby-like sweaters? (Sadly, yes.)

--Will someone give Don DeVoe another try after pouty Dwayne Schintzius and former coach Norm Sloan ruined his chances at Florida last year? (Don’t be surprised if buddy Knight offers him an assistant’s job one of these days.)

--Will North Carolina’s Dean Smith win his 700th game this season? (Due date: January.)

Williams, a longtime assistant of Smith’s before taking the Jayhawk job, tried to put the 700-victory mark in perspective. “I hope I can live long enough to see 700 games,” he said.

As for the rest of the season:

--Ohio State has 12 players returning, including all of its starters. Only 11 starters returned to the entire Ohio State football team this fall.

--Ball State, which came closest to beating UNLV in the tournament last year, probably won’t even be invited this season. Nine players are gone from the 1989 team.

--Princeton will appear on national television at least three times. Why, nobody knows.

--Newcomer Scott McCorkle of Mission Viejo will have a greater effect on Syracuse’s chances of success than supposed savior Le-Ron Ellis, of Santa Ana Mater Dei fame.

And now, the Final Four teams--UNLV not included--most likely to succeed this year, beginning with . . .

Indiana. There has to be a reason Knight feels so good about this team. Trust his instincts.

Arizona. Lute Olson has assembled maybe the best roster from top to bottom. Strong inside play combined with outside accuracy.

Arkansas. Opponents are yelling, “May-Day, May-Day,” in honor of Razorback all-stars Lee Mayberry and Todd Day.

Alabama. The Tide plays suffocating defense and is built for the postseason. Every tournament has its surprise team. This is the one.

From there, Arizona beats Arkansas, and Alabama beats Indiana in the semifinals. And the champion is . . .

Arizona. We think.

* NCAA MONEY: In 1972, the NCAA couldn’t give basketball away. Elliott Almond’s story, C15.

* BIG WEST: A look at the conference and Cal State Long Beach and its new coach, Seth Greenberg. C18 and C19.