COLLEGE BASKETBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : No Doubt About It: The Best Team Won

Only eight more months until Michigan travels to Duke for yet another try at the Blue Devils. Until then, we can ponder:

1. Did the best team win the national championship Monday evening?

Well, let’s see: forward Brian Davis, Duke’s best defender and perhaps its inspirational center, played on one ankle, lasted nine minutes and didn’t score a point or grab a rebound. . . . Christian Laettner committed seven turnovers and missed six of eight shots during the first half. . . . The Blue Devils had 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and trailed at intermission, 31-30.

And still, Duke defeated the Wolverines by 20 points.

You only get so many chances to beat the Blue Devils. Michigan had its opportunity with Davis hurt, Laettner struggling and Duke in apparent early trouble.

But the Wolverines allowed Duke a second life. They never exploited Davis’ absence. They couldn’t cope with the Blue Devils’ defense. They couldn’t keep the pressure on Laettner. And they never could figure out a way to guard Grant Hill, our choice as the Final Four’s outstanding player--point guard Bobby Hurley won the award--or protect the baseline.

In short, the Wolverine starting five played like freshmen, which is OK, since, well, they are freshmen.

2. Is there life after Laettner?

By beating Indiana, the supposed chic pre-tournament pick, in the semifinal, Duke provided doubters with a revealing glimpse of what can be done without Laettner. Laettner scored only eight points against the Hoosiers, but it didn’t seem to matter.

Then the Blue Devils beat Michigan on a night that Laettner had the worst first-half performance of his season.

As for Laettner’s replacement, Cherokee Parks, the news is encouraging. So thoroughly intimidated and unnerved by Laettner in practice through the first 15 games or so, Parks recovered in time to earn the trust of Coach Mike Krzyzewski when it mattered most--in the tournament.

Parks played 13 quality minutes against Michigan and did well--four points, three rebounds and adequate defense against the likes of Chris Webber and Juwan Howard. Against Indiana, he had eight points in nine minutes.

Parks doesn’t have Laettner’s versatility, outside shooting touch or degree of intensity--who does?--but he could develop into a better low-post player.

3. Can Duke win a third consecutive national championship?

Only if Laettner decides to forgo the NBA draft, returns to Duke for graduate studies and is granted a fifth year of eligibility by the NCAA.

On second thought . . .

Hurley, whose Duke jersey will one day be retired, returns for his senior season. So does swingman Thomas Hill, one of the underrated players in the game. Grant Hill, who has two NCAA titles in two years, is back as a junior, as is forward Antonio Lang.

That’s four 1991-92 starters--if you include Grant Hill--and Parks, who no doubt will find a regular place in the Duke lineup. And poor Krzyzewski probably won’t have his pick of more than 25 of the best remaining high school seniors in the country when it comes to recruiting.

4. What is Michigan’s fate? A few predictions:

--By the end of the 1992-93 season, you will knowingly say, “Ah, Jimmy King. . . . I knew he was going to be a star.”

You will say this because you noticed he was the only Wolverine who played the entire 40 minutes against Duke. You will also remember that Hurley later said he was exhausted after being guarded by King. You will also recall his game against Cincinnati in the semifinal, when he scored 17 points and added five rebounds.

At the moment, Michigan’s pecking order begins with Webber, goes next to Jalen Rose, then to Juwan Howard and then to everyone else. By this time next season, King will be in the top three.

--Webber, a devastating talent when positioned near the basket, will at last realize the need to occasionally shoot a jump shot. If nothing else, it will keep teams from surrounding him with defenders.

--The Wolverines will return to the Final Four next year.

5. Who will win the John R. Wooden Award today?

It won’t be UCLA’s Don MacLean, unless, of course, players receive votes for most elbows thrown in a tournament game.

LSU’s Shaquille O’Neal, Ohio State’s Jim Jackson, USC’s Harold Miner and Laettner will be in attendance, which should tell you a little something.

The pick? Laettner in a semi-landslide.

6. Will Jackson and Miner skip their senior seasons for the NBA?

USC Coach George Raveling said last week that Miner was leaning toward the NBA. Jackson’s status was less clear, but according to USA Today, he has received the blessings of Buckeye Coach Randy Ayers. Ayers reportedly told Jackson that he was ready for the pros.

Here’s hoping that both of them stay put. Fat chance.

7. What were the two best rumors of the tournament?

First the absurd: UCLA’s Jim Harrick to Villanova. Harrick would then be replaced by Texas’ Tom Penders.

Asked by Dallas Morning News reporter Steve Richardson about the tall tale, Penders apparently said, “What have you been smoking?”

Good question.

Second, the possible: Memphis State sophomore point guard Anfernee Hardaway, who sat out his freshman season because of academic difficulties, is contemplating an early exit. If he goes, kiss Memphis State’s chances of a Final Four appearance goodby.

Don’t count on the NCAA extending the six-foul rule, which completed its third and apparently final year of life in the Big East Conference. Unless it receives considerable support from other conferences, the much-debated six-foul concept is doomed.

Too bad. Notre Dame’s John MacLeod, who spent considerable time coaching in the NBA, has said he believes the six-foul limit would improve the quality of play and allow the best players to remain on the court. Sounds good. Of course, the problem isn’t so much with the rule, as it is with the application. Either allow six fouls for every conference or none at all. . . .

Webber took Michigan’s defeat harder than the rest of the Wolverines. When a CBS cameraman tried recording Webber’s emotions on his walk to the locker room after the game, the freshman center turned and said, “I’m a man. Get those cameras out of my face! You want to see me cry on TV? . . . you!” There were several more expletive-filled outbursts, but you get the idea. To his credit, Webber later issued a public apology.

Final Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. Duke 34-2 2. Michigan 25-9 3. Indiana 27-7 4. Cincinnati 29-5 5. Kentucky 29-7 6. Ohio State 26-6 7. Oklahoma State 28-8 8. Seton Hall 23-9 9. Memphis State 23-11 10. UCLA 28-5

Waiting list: USC (24-6), Texas El Paso (27-7), Kansas (27-5), Florida State (22-10), Massachusetts (30-5).