COLLEGE BASKETBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : Only Sure Thing About Big East Is Its Uncertainty

Mike Tranghese arrives in Miami this week with a conference that still works, three league teams that are still playing and one disturbing jinx that could spell doom for Boston College.

All in all, the kind of week the Big East commissioner can live with.

Earlier this month, as the league’s university presidents argued about expansion and expulsion, Tranghese, 50, wasn’t quite sure where the quirky Big East was headed. Oblivion was one possibility, what with several of the school presidents adamantly opposed to adding two more members--West Virginia and Rutgers--to the 10-team league. In turn, the pro-expansion forces, such as Miami, were threatening to bolt if they didn’t get their way.

The whole thing was a mess, but that’s what you get when some of your teams are basketball-only members, while others play both hoops and football.

“I was worried immensely,” Tranghese said. “I thought the chances of us breaking up . . . . it was very possible. If the presidents hadn’t compromised, there’s no doubt that we would have broken up.”

The compromise, which begins in 1996: West Virginia and Rutgers in, Temple and Virginia Tech out.

“We had football schools that pushed as hard as you can imagine to go to 14, and we had basketball schools who pushed to stay at 10,” Tranghese said.

Had a deal not been struck, Tranghese soon would have been proprietor of the Wee East. Instead, his conference remains intact. Temple and Virginia Tech aren’t too thrilled with the arrangement, but that’s how it goes.

When it came right down to it, a school such as Syracuse, which recruits heavily in the east for football and basketball, didn’t want to risk losing prime talent locations as Washington D.C. (Georgetown), Philadelphia (Villanova) and New York (Seton Hall, St. John’s). So they supported the compromise and the pseudo-expansion that came with it.

Now then, what do the other major conferences do?

According to Tranghese, not a thing.

“As I look at the landscape now, I don’t know if there’s anything out there that could motivate expansion,” he said. “All of us have contracts through the year 2000.”

Contract, shmontract. Where there’s a will, there’s a loophole, which is why further movement isn’t out of the question. But the way Tranghese sees it, there is a distinct difference in the Big East situation and those of the Pacific 10 or Big Ten or Southeastern conferences.

“All of our moves were based on survival and existence,” he said. “Other conferences have chosen to expand, the SEC and the Big Ten, under the assumption that bigger is better. I don’t agree with the theory of bigger is better. Yes, you become more powerful in that you control more markets, but you have to pay more people.”

Tranghese said he thinks the Pac-10, which pursued Texas and Texas A&M;, and the Big Ten, which was looking at Rutgers and possibly Missouri, “tend to feed off each other.”

In other words, no expansion for expansion’s sake.

“I thought the two-time zone issue was a monster issue (for the Pac-10),” Tranghese said. “I think once we did what we did . . . . (the Pac-10 and Big Ten) were only looking at expansion in the defensive stance.”

Still available, in a basketball-only status, however, is Notre Dame. Irish Coach John MacLeod wants to join a conference and Tranghese has said that any league would be foolish not to consider Notre Dame.

“But it’s hard for me to even conceive of us, based on what we’ve been through, doing anything,” he said. “We’ve been through four months of wear and tear.

“I don’t think I could venture down the road without the permission of our presidents.”

Which is another way of saying they haven’t ruled it out.

As for the dawning of superconferences, Tranghese isn’t holding his breath.

“I don’t think we’re going to see a lot more movement,” Tranghese said. “I think things are going to stay fairly quiet. But I’ve been wrong before.”

BIG EAST RULES

Well, not exactly. But compared to recent years, when the league’s NCAA tournament teams were sucking air like a chain smoker trying to run a marathon, life is good.

Boston College, seeded No. 9 in the East, is three games deep into the tournament because of victories against No. 8 Washington State and No. 1 North Carolina.

Syracuse, No. 4 in the West, is here because of wins against No. 13 Hawaii and No. 12 Wisconsin Green Bay.

Connecticut, No. 2 in the East, remains alive because of victories against No. 15 Rider and No. 10 George Washington.

In all, six Big East teams were invited, with only Seton Hall and Providence not making it past the first round.

Big East bashers (such as ourselves) have had to press the mute button on our rips. Worse yet, Arizona is the lone remaining west representative, which is about as comforting as wearing underwear dipped in Atomic Balm.

Still, before jumping entirely on the Big East bandwagon, remember this:

The last Big East team to win the championship was Villanova in 1985.

The last Big East team to advance to the Final Four was Seton Hall in 1989.

The last Big East teams to earn Final Eight appearances were St. John’s and Seton Hall in 1991.

And before this season, the last Big East team to reach the Sweet 16 was Seton Hall in 1992.

Big East chances to reach the Final Eight this week aren’t good--at least, if you believe in the Tranghese Factor.

Tranghese attended the Southeast Regional first-round games in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Lexington, Ky. Sure enough, Seton Hall and Providence both lost.

Now Tranghese is in Miami for Friday’s game between Boston College and Indiana.

“I might sit in a corner and hide,” he said. “I don’t want to jinx anybody.”

GOOD GUY, BAD IDEA

Nobody can accuse USC Coach George Raveling of not stretching the envelope when it comes to new ideas. But one of his latest suggestions is a borderline example of protectionism, one that would do the Pac-10 more harm than good.

Raveling wants league members to think twice before scheduling non-conference schools that recruit heavily on the West Coast. USC had a chance to play Kansas in what would have been a televised game, but Raveling chose not to pursue the opportunity because he thought it helped the Jayhawks more than it helped the Trojans.

His reasoning: Kansas (as do other schools, such as Duke) tells its recruits that it will try to schedule at least one game during their careers in or near their hometowns. Had USC played Kansas at the Sports Arena, Raveling would have been helping the Jayhawks “pay their debt” to a recruit, in this case, guard Jacque Vaughn, who played high school ball at Pasadena Muir.

We understand Raveling’s point, but we think he has to think Big Picture. Recruits want to be on TV. They want to play against big-time programs. Rather than see a game against Kansas as a threat, the Pac-10 should see it as a golden opportunity. After all, what if USC won?

And anyway, didn’t Raveling sign Washington D.C. star guard Claude Green last year and then add D.C.-based Howard University to the Trojan schedule?

WHERE’S THE PACIFIER?

North Carolina’s Dean Smith is still three, probably four seasons away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in Division I basketball history. After Sunday’s performance at the East Regional in Landover, Md., it is apparent he is already the whiningest.

We don’t question Smith’s integrity, his devotion to the game or his concern for his players, but enough already with the Saint Dean stuff and the constant whimpering.

In Sunday’s loss to Boston College, Smith suffered a courtside meltdown when Eagle freshman Danya Abrams rammed Tar Heel Derrick Phelps from behind, knocking the senior point guard out of the game. Smith had a right to be upset--it was a blatant cheap shot by Abrams--but he didn’t have a right to storm the court, point fingers and go after a befuddled freshman who forgot about the laws of physics (that his 270 pounds can knock the bejabbers out of Phelps’ 181 pounds).

And talk about your poor loser . . . .

Afterward, Smith offered a less-than-heartfelt congratulations to the Eagles. He did, however, mention that in the pregame preparation he had told his players about a certain Boston College starter who was a bit of a thug.

“I probably shouldn’t say that,” said Smith, moments before identifying “24”--Abrams--as the guilty party.

OK, Abrams didn’t play well with the other children. But we didn’t hear Smith mention the time Tar Heel forward Brian Reese purposely pushed Abrams in the small of the back as the Eagle forward went up for a shot. Foul.

And maybe Smith didn’t notice when 7-0, 275-pound Eric Montross threw a wicked elbow in the general direction of Bill Curley’s cranium. Foul. Or when Montross went after 169-pound Gerrod Abram, who had the audacity to make a three-pointer over his outstretched hand.

“After the end of the play,” Abram said, “he kind of hit me in the throat.”

Not advancing to the Sweet 16 is bad enough for a team that features three future NBA first-rounders (Montross, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace), but what Smith did after the upset was worse. Forget about Abrams. Smith took the real cheap shot.

THE REST

Let’s get this straight: Clem Haskins’ underachieving Minnesota team blows a lead and eventually a second-round game against Louisville Sunday and he blasts whom afterward? Not himself and not his players, but the officials and media. “I think Bobby Knight has the best philosophy with the media--treat them like dogs, because most of them deserve it,” Haskins told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Haskins issued an apology a day later. To which we reply: “Woof” . . . . Just wondering if President Bubba will wear one of those red plastic Razorback hats if he attends Friday night’s Arkansas-Tulsa game at Dallas . . . . The tournament MVP after two rounds: Michigan center Juwan Howard, who is averaging 31 points and 13.5 rebounds . . . . Take it for what it’s worth, but a computer-generated NCAA tournament program run 1.6 million times rates Purdue (5.73 to 1 odds) as the probable tournament champion. The Boilermakers were followed by Connecticut (7.56 to 1), Arkansas (7.85 to 1) and Arizona (10.66 to 1).

Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. Arkansas 27-3 2. Connecticut 29-4 3. Missouri 27-3 4. Purdue 28-4 5. Kansas 27-7 6. Arizona 27-5 7. Duke 25-5 8. Louisville 28-5 9. Michigan 23-7 10. Marquette 24-8

Waiting list: Indiana (21-8), Maryland (18-11), Syracuse (23-6), Boston College (22-10), Florida (27-7)