COLLEGE BASKETBALL : Bennett Will Leave His Heart in City by the (Green) Bay

And now, in our continuing series on virtual unknowns, we offer the following identity clues:

1) Shortly before being named a starter on the U.S. Pan American team, our hero was given a locker between Ohio State’s Jimmy Jackson and Duke’s Christian Laettner. His reaction: “This is pretty neat.”

2) At last look, our unknown was second in the nation in three-point field-goal percentage (54.7%). He trailed UCLA’s Tracy Murray, a Pan Am teammate, by the way. Mr. X also is shooting 55.8% from the field and averaging 19.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists for his 18-2 team.

3) His coach is also his father. In fact, when asked to list some of the best coaches in the country, DePaul’s Joey Meyer named Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Eddie Sutton of Oklahoma State and Mr. X’s pop. Said Meyer: “Whoo, he’s no fun. (Coaching against him) is like going to the dentist without any Novocain. He coaches the hell out of them.”

4) Other than the school he signed with, no other Division I-A team recruited him. And about that school: When driving around campus, be prepared for certain cultural and verbal differences. For example, a stoplight is called a “stop-and-go” in this faraway land. McDonald’s is pronounced, McDan-alds . And, if you can believe it, people are friendly.

5) His team was on ESPN once this year, though no one is quite sure how it happened. “But our scores have been on there a few times,” our unknown said.

Give up? We thought so.

Presenting the un-star, guard Tony Bennett of that Midwest powerhouse, Wisconsin Green Bay.

Standing 6 feet, weighing 175 pounds, Bennett isn’t exactly an intimidating sight. Bennett admits that much himself.

“I’m not real tall,” he said. “People see me and go, ‘Geez, that’s a slow kid out there.’ ”

Bennett relies on quickness, on a mind well-versed in the mechanics of the game and on an offense designed to showcase his strengths. And typical of those players who come out of nowhere, Bennett also relies on an attitude.

“The media, the people make these players to be superstars,” Bennett said. “They’re all very excellent, but the gap isn’t as big as you think. You don’t have to be from the highest quality program. We do things just as hard and do things the right way.”

You will get no argument from Michigan State’s Jud Heathcote, who watched Wisconsin Green Bay nearly beat the Spartans in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season. Only a last-second shot by Steve Smith prevented the upset.

In 1986, Loyola Marymount traveled to Green Bay . . . and nearly got ambushed. Then-coach Paul Westhead said he would never make that kind of scheduling mistake again.

Meyer, you know about. The Phoenix beat DePaul last year.

Same goes for Colorado, which has played Green Bay in each of the last two seasons and lost each game. And don’t bother asking Purdue’s Gene Keady about the Phoenix. Keady, who also coached the Pan Am team, watched as Green Bay defeated the Boilermakers at West Lafayette this past December. Bennett had 20 points, six rebounds and six assists.

As for the Mid-Continent Conference, which the Phoenix is favored to win, Bennett said it is worth watching.

“Our conference is tough,” he said. “Nobody really knows about it.”

If the Phoenix is concerned about its lack of national recognition, it doesn’t show it. Coach Dick Bennett said this image of Green Bay as the small-town-team-made-good loses its appeal after a while. Never was that more true than during last season’s NCAA tournament.

“I don’t think our team ever felt like a bunch of little guys, like (the movie) ‘Hoosiers,’ ” he said.

Maybe not, but no one can deny that this is a team built around the younger Bennett. In the 107 games Bennett has played at Green Bay, he has finished out of double figures only 10 times. Against Nebraska this season, where he was booed every time he touched the ball (Cornhusker fans remembered his 29 points last season), Bennett scored 23. All-American candidate Byron Houston of Oklahoma State managed only 15 against Nebraska a week ago.

Nor was it a coincidence that Green Bay’s first conference loss this year came a game after Bennett injured his back. The injury prevented him from starting against Akron, though he did score 20 points in 22 minutes as a reserve.

Green Bay lost, but it was the thought that counted.

“I admire him,” Dick Bennett said. “It isn’t easy playing for your father. It’s not easy playing in your hometown. And it’s not easy doing so much for this team.”

He added: “If I needed to win a game to save my job, I would want (Tony) on the court.”

Despite beating Louisiana State and Shaquille O’Neal at Baton Rouge, there remains some question about Duke’s ability to win without point guard Bobby Hurley.

Hurley, who broke a bone in his foot in a game against North Carolina, is sidelined for another two weeks--at least. If he returns, so too do Duke’s chances of winning a second consecutive national championship.

And if he doesn’t. . . .

“Hurley’s a great loss to Duke right now,” Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins said, before the Blue Devils beat his Yellow Jackets, 71-62, Wednesday. “But Duke is so good, so well coached, they’re able to overcome something like this. I think they need Bobby Hurley to make another run at the national championship.

“Can they do it without him? Maybe they could.”

At the moment, the versatile Grant Hill has moved to point guard. He did well against LSU, but then again, no one has accused the Tigers of great guard play this season.

“I was surprised they beat LSU,” said Clemson’s Cliff Ellis, who raved about Hill. “That shows this team is close and shows they are good. It’s going to be hard on Duke, and not because they don’t have talent. It’s the chemistry. I think Duke will eventually lose because of (the absence) of Hurley.”

North Carolina’s Dean Smith acknowledged the obvious: that a Duke team with Hurley was better than one without him. But he also mentioned that the Blue Devils might benefit if other players, such as forward Antonio Lang and guard Marty Clark, play well and gain confidence.

“But I think one more injury would really hurt,” he said.

Hurley is scheduled to be examined again by the end of the week. In the meantime, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski makes the best out of unenviable situation.

“It’s interesting,” he said. “I would hope overall it would make us better. You don’t lose a player like that on any team without it having a major impact on your squad.”

One of the trickle-down effects of Hurley’s injury could be the increased playing time for freshman center Cherokee Parks of Huntington Beach’s Marina High.

“I’m very pleased with his progress,” Krzyzewski said of Parks. “Most people don’t understand that he was out over a month. Now he’s back to where he’s playing well.”

Added Krzyzewski: “He has to step forward a little more. It might be what he needs.”

The list of possible replacements for Jerry Tarkanian’s job at UNLV is close to reaching double digits. The latest roll call included Tulane’s Perry Clark, Georgia Tech’s Cremins, Texas’ Tom Penders, Georgetown’s John Thompson, Purdue’s Keady and Iowa’s Tom Davis. Of course, don’t mention this to Davis. “I’ve been asked that and I’ve just been saying I’m not a candidate for any position.”

Clark is the hot coach right now because of his success at Tulane. But the NCAA tournament will produce more success stories and more UNLV coaching rumors. One other thing: Don’t count on Cremins or Thompson ending up there. Cremins has repeatedly said that he is staying put at Georgia Tech. And at this point, Thompson seems a longshot at best.

Michigan’s Steve Fisher might look mild-mannered, but you have to respect his knack of taking risks. Fisher started five freshmen against Notre Dame and probably will do so for the rest of the season. Granted, his freshmen are better than anyone else he has on the team, but still . . . five newcomers? “They’re a little beyond what you think is normal for freshmen,” Iowa’s Davis said. . . . Remember at season’s beginning, when Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino kept saying that his Wildcats weren’t as good as everyone thought? Next time he says something, listen. Kentucky is doomed when it doesn’t shoot the three-pointer well, but good when it does, as in a 103-83 victory over Alabama Wednesday in which the Wildcats were 10 for 20.

Oklahoma Coach Billy Tubbs finds himself in a mini-controversy. Seems that Tubbs does a weekly radio call-in show at an Oklahoma City restaurant-bar known, in part, for the, uh, creative attire of its waitresses. The National Organization for Women has been alerted. . . . Ohio State guard Mark Baker, who has struggled recently, received a vote of confidence the other day from Buckeye Coach Randy Ayers. Also, Ayers is doing his best to close the book on the Lawrence Funderburke transition. Said Ayers: “I think we’ve adjusted to having Lawrence in our lineup.” The talented Funderburke, who has played less than a dozen games in the last two years, can go about six minutes before tiring. . . . Maryland is last in the Atlantic Coast Conference, under .500 for the season and ineligible for tournament play. So why is Coach Gary Williams smiling? “I’ve been fortunate to watch Walt Williams go through his senior year,” he said. Williams has been subjected to every trick defense you can think of. Yet, Williams has scored 30 or more points seven times this season. The reason is simple, said Gary Williams. When the guard returned from a leg injury last season, he put a higher priority on developing an outside shot. It shows.

Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. Duke 19-1 2. UCLA 17-1 3. Oklahoma State 21-2 4. Kansas 18-2 5. Indiana 17-4 6. Ohio State 16-3 7. Arizona 17-3 8. North Carolina 17-3 9. Missouri 17-3 10. Arkansas 18-5

Our waiting list: Syracuse (16-4), USC (16-3), Tulane (18-2), Michigan State (16-4), Michigan (15-5).