College Basketball: The Final Four : The Fun Hasn’t Begun Yet as UNLV Sticks to Business

And now, a quick look at UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian’s Final Four itinerary:

Wednesday--Endure an unscheduled fuel stop during the team’s charter flight to Indianapolis. Coincidentally, the plane lands in Kansas City, an hour’s drive from NCAA headquarters in Overland Park, Kan. Tarkanian later asks what he’s done wrong this time.

Thursday--Watch one of his starting guards, Anderson Hunt, reinjure his left shoulder during a workout. That evening, Tarkanian finds himself on national television, pitted against “Nightline” host Ted Koppel. Tarkanian survives, despite Koppel’s confession that the newsman’s daughter attends Duke, Nevada Las Vegas’ semifinal opponent today.

Friday--Get booed vigorously by a Hoosier Dome audience of 45,000. However, the crowd applauds when Duke takes the court. North Carolina and Kansas, who will play in today’s first game, also receive pleasant welcomes.

Tarkanian also acknowledges that the pressure of pursuing an undefeated record and a second consecutive national championship has affected him.

“To be real honest, the last couple of weeks I’ve started to feel it,” he says. “I think you feel it because I turn on the television set like the rest of you and I hear the people say it. You start feeling the pressure.”

Hey, who said a Final Four had to be fun?

For Tarkanian and his No. 1-ranked Rebels (34-0), the proceedings have featured all the charm of an insurance seminar. That’s what happens when a team is made a prohibitive favorite to do what no team has done since 1976--become the undefeated champion, as Indiana did--and 1973--win consecutive NCAA titles, as UCLA did.

At last look, Rebel players had been instructed to decline all autograph requests, to sneak out the back door of their hotel and to ignore the taunts of what appears, at least during Friday’s public workout, to be an anti-UNLV crowd. The Rebels might own a 45-game winning streak, but they hardly seem to be the people’s choice.

Duke players have treated the visit as if it were a trip to the county fair. At historic Union Station, located in the heart of downtown, Blue Devil players were everywhere. Also at the miniature golf course. At the video arcades. At the local restaurants. Coach Mike Krzyzewski has instructed his team to enjoy itself and, better yet, to enjoy the underdog role that goes with facing UNLV.

“I’m not sure if we are capable of beating UNLV,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re younger than we were last year. But I believe we’re better than last year.”

Krzyzewski still hasn’t shown the Blue Devils (30-7) the entire videotape of last season’s 103-73 championship loss to UNLV. Something about cruel and unusual punishment.

UNLV shot 61% that night. Hunt made 12 of 16 shots, including four of seven from three-point range. The Rebels had 16 steals and let Duke convert only one of 11 three-point attempts.

“We played a perfect game,” Tarkanian said.

And Duke played its worst.

This time, Krzyzewski and his players say, the circumstances have changed. This time, Blue Devil point guard Bobby Hurley, who was stricken by flu late last season, will be healthy. He is averaging seven assists and 11.3 points. By all accounts, Hurley is playing the best of any Duke starter.

Hurley’s importance can’t be overstated. He is probably the team’s best defensive player and certainly the centerpiece of the Blue Devil offense. Last year against the Rebels, he scored two points and had three assists.

“Just from a physical standpoint, I feel about 100% better than I did last year,” Hurley said. “The way I’ve been making decisions has been good. I think I’ve done a good job in that. I think I am as prepared as I ever will be to beat UNLV.”

Hurley will have help, too. Brian Davis, Grant Hill, Thomas Hill, even Christian Laettner are all capable of handling the ball if Hurley finds himself bothered by UNLV’s aggressive man-to-man defense.

“Last year we were a little bit of a cumbersome team at times,” Krzyzewski said.

And this time, the Blue Devils are without three seniors--Phil Henderson, Alaa Abdelnaby and Robert Brickey--who, suggested center Laettner, weren’t exactly consummate team players.

“I think the guys on this team are closer,” he said. “In some ways, I think (having those three seniors) may have hurt us in some respects.”

Laettner, as well as Greg Koubek, will spend considerable time trying to stop All-American forward Larry Johnson. Last year, Johnson outscored Laettner and Koubek, 22-17, and matched them in rebounds, 11-11. Together, Laettner and Koubek played 43 minutes, compared to Johnson’s 30.

Perhaps unfairly, most of the attention has been focused on the Duke-UNLV rematch. But the North Carolina-Kansas semifinal isn’t without its share of story lines.

The most obvious subplot involves Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith and Jayhawk Coach Roy Williams. Williams learned his craft from Smith and calls Smith the most influential person in his professional life.

Of course, Williams said he also was in awe of Indiana’s Bobby Knight; Kansas trounced the Hoosiers, 83-65, in the Southeast Regional semifinal.

North Carolina (29-5) is led by guard/forward Rick Fox, who averages 17 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and two steals. Fox uses vague terms such as “chemistry” when describing North Carolina’s late-season surge, but he might be the main reason for the Tar Heels’ Final Four appearance.

Kansas (26-7) also prides itself on teamwork. Guard Terry Brown is the leading scorer with a 16.4-point average, but forward Mark Randall isn’t far behind with a 14.8-point average.

The Jayhawks have enjoyed the most exhilarating ride to the Final Four, beating New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Indiana and Arkansas. Against both Indiana and Arkansas, the Jayhawks were given little chance to win.

“If we’re the underdogs, we don’t mind,” Kansas guard Adonis Jordan said. “We’re here to spoil the whole party.”