COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : Finch Has Target: Hat Trick With Memphis State : Midwest Regional: He has reached Final Four as a player, assistant and needs to beat Cincinnati to make it as a head coach.

Larry Finch, an All-American guard, was the catalyst when Memphis State reached the Final Four in 1973, the Tigers losing to UCLA in the championship game.

Finch returned to Memphis State as an assistant coach in 1979. He recruited All-Americans Keith Lee, Andre Turner and William Bedford to help the school return to the Final Four in 1985, losing to Villanova in the semifinals.

Elevated to head coach in 1986 when Coach Dana Kirk was fired after a scandal involving the NCAA and the federal government, Finch has rebuilt the Memphis State program, guiding the Tigers to the NCAA Midwest Regional championship game.

Memphis State (23-10) faces Cincinnati (28-4)--which defeated the Tigers three times this season in the Great Midwestern Conference--at the Kemper Arena today at 10:42 a.m. (PST). The winner advances to next week’s Final Four in Minneapolis.

“I’ve been with Memphis State when they went to the Final Four as a player and an assistant coach, and I want to go to the Final Four as a head coach and pull the triple,” Finch said. “We’ve never won it, and I want to have the opportunity to win it.”

To reach the Final Four, Memphis State must defeat 12th-ranked Cincinnati, which has won nine consecutive games, including two against Memphis State. Cincinnati won by 10 points at Memphis and defeated the Tigers by eight points in the conference tournament final. The Bearcats beat Memphis State by 10 points in their first game.

“We’re in a situation where we’ve lost three ballgames, but by the same token the pressure is the other way,” Finch said. “They’re the ones who have beaten us three times.”

Said Cincinnati Coach Bob Huggins: “There’s not any more pressure on us than there is on them. What’s (Finch) saying, that they don’t want to go to Minneapolis?”

Its reputation tarnished by the Kirk scandal, Memphis State was at low ebb when Finch was hired to rebuild the program.

“Our reputation had gone away from where we were in past years under coach (Gene Bartow),” Finch said. “We were successful, but yet people thought we were renegades and it bothered me, not only from a coaching standpoint but because it was my alma mater. I was embarrassed about some of the things that were said about Memphis State. The No. 1 thing I wanted to do was to get the integrity back in the program. People thought we were criminals, but I wanted to show the nation that we were a class operation.”

Although Memphis State was on NCAA probation for infractions committed under Kirk and was ineligible for the NCAA tournament in Finch’s first season, he was named the Basketball Times national rookie coach of the year after compiling a 26-8 record.

Finch, who has a 123-68 record, has guided Memphis State to postseason play for the last five seasons while the Tigers have recaptured the city of Memphis.

A Memphis native, Finch, 41, has spent almost one-third of his life at Memphis State, where his combined record as a player (1970-73), assistant coach (1979-86) and head coach (1986-92) is 346-147. His wife, Vickie, was captain of Memphis State’s cheerleading squad.

After playing for Bartow at Memphis State, coaching in high school and joining Bartow’s staff as an assistant at Alabama Birmingham, Finch returned to Memphis State as an assistant to Kirk for seven years.

A tireless recruiter, Finch once spent three weeks parked outside Lee’s high school to demonstrate interest.

Finch has continued to emphasize recruiting, signing freshman center David Vaughn and sophomore forward Anfernee Hardaway.

The Tigers have lost four of seven games against Top 25 teams.

“We played a tournament schedule all year long, and it was tough on us,” Finch said. “I wondered if I had over-scheduled us. But it turned out that it was the schedule that got us here.”