COLLEGE BASKETBALL : NCAA TOURNAMENT UPDATE : Sanderson, Alabama Will Try to Reach New Rung on Ladder

Coach Wimp Sanderson has brought Alabama to the Sweet 16 for the sixth time in the last 10 years. The problem is, the Crimson Tide hasn’t won a tournament game beyond that level in any of the previous five trips.

“It’s not a case of running into a roadblock,” Sanderson said. “The more you get up the ladder, the tougher it gets.”

Next for Alabama will be Arkansas, in the Southeast Regional at Charlotte, N.C. The other half of that Thursday doubleheader sends Indiana against Kansas.

In Thursday’s other games, undefeated defending champion Nevada Las Vegas will play Utah and Seton Hall will go against Arizona in West Regional games at Seattle.

Friday, it will be North Carolina against Eastern Michigan and Oklahoma State against Temple in the East Regional at East Rutherford, N.J., and Ohio State vs. St. John’s and Connecticut against Duke in the Midwest at Pontiac, Mich.

Arkansas is ranked No. 2 and preparing to move into the SEC next season. “We’ll have a chance to see what it’s all about,” Coach Nolan Richardson said.

North Carolina Coach Dean Smith, who has led the Tar Heels to 11 consecutive Sweet 16 appearances, isn’t taking Eastern Michigan for granted.

“I probably don’t need to do any more than tell my team that they represent the same conference (Mid-American) that Ball State did last year,” Smith said. “Ball State beat Louisville and lost by two points to (eventual national champion) Nevada Las Vegas. And this Eastern Michigan team beat Ball State at Ball State last year.”

When Connecticut and Duke played a year ago in the East Regional final, the Blue Devils won, 79-78, in overtime on Christian Laettner’s basket as the game ended.

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said he doesn’t expect Connecticut to be out for revenge.

“I don’t think that will be a big point of contention for Connecticut and it shouldn’t be because they’ve won without revenge,” Krzyzewski said. “They’ve won because they are just that good.”

Said Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun: “I’m not looking at it as revenge,” he said. “I look at it as a great opportunity for us to play one of the premier teams in the country.”

If Indiana loses to Kansas Thursday night in the Southeast Regional, it may be because Coach Bob Knight is too nice.

Kansas Coach Roy Williams made a one-day trip to an Indiana practice last fall to study the Knight technique. Williams came home, he says, a better coach.

“I wanted to watch his practice because I’d always had so much respect for him,” Williams said. “I had two things in mind--working on our motion offense, setting screens, for one. They do a fantastic job of that. I wanted to see if they did anything differently that might help us keep a player in front of you without allowing penetration.

“There were a couple of things we did and after seeing the way he did them, we changed and started doing them better. There was a drill we did differently, and I changed it to the way he does it.”

Lou Carnesecca, coach at St. John’s for 23 seasons, had a friendly warning for Ohio State Coach Randy Ayers, at 34 the youngest coach left in the NCAA tournament.

“It’s just marvelous,” Carnesecca said of the Buckeyes’ success. “The only thing now is that people are going to expect this from them every year. To sustain something like that is very difficult.”