Arkansas’ Big Nasty Leaves Mark on Foes : Razorbacks: Williamson has led his team to its first appearance in the NCAA championship game.

As far as generating power goes back in his hometown of Russellville, Ark., Corliss Williamson probably runs second to the nuclear plant, but there’s not much on two legs that comes close to matching the Arkansas Razorbacks’ meltdown-looking-for-a-place-to-happen.

At the very least, Williamson is tough on his size-17 shoes. He has gone through 12 pairs this season. It seems he just can’t stop tearing them apart at the seams when he plants his feet and makes his moves around the basket.

Williamson wore the 13th pair Sunday, the same pair he will slip on before he walks on the court tonight when Arkansas plays Duke for the NCAA championship.

It’s difficult to say which team is going to win. But if it makes any difference, Arkansas clearly has the lead in a couple of possibly key categories: snakes and tattoos.

Williamson is big into both.

The Razorback players have the snake lead over Duke, six to zero. Corey Beck’s snake is called “The Truth.” Darnell Robinson has two snakes, one named “Big Pimpin’ ” and the other an unnamed albino.

Lee Wilson’s snake is “Sadie” and Roger Crawford has a snake, too, but it doesn’t have an official name. Williamson calls Crawford’s snake “Inch Worm” because it’s so small.

Williamson, nicknamed “Big Nasty,” owns a python called, naturally, “Little Nasty,” a six-footer on a two-rat-a-week diet.

There’s nothing quite like the warm, fuzzy feeling you get when your very own python is crawling on your arms or when you watch it eat, Williamson said.

“It’s kind of neat,” he said. “It’s lots of fun.”

It’s been nothing but fun for Williamson and the rest of the Razorbacks as they cut a giant swath through the NCAA tournament field and arrived in the championship game for the first time in school history.

The closest they got before was in 1990, when they lost in the semifinals at Denver. They lost to Duke.

Williamson knows it probably will be up to him to make sure he isn’t unlucky enough to have history repeat itself while he’s standing there in shoe pair No. 13.

Maybe the tattoos will help. Williamson has two--his initials on the right side of his chest and a Tasmanian Devil on his left side. Robinson’s tattoo is a ball swishing through a hoop and the word “Tank,” his nickname. Wilson has a tattoo of Elmer Fudd. No one seems to know why.

Anyway, it was Williamson who cleared Arizona out of the way in Saturday’s semifinals with 29 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and two steals. Coach Nolan Richardson was impressed.

“I think Nasty is every coach’s dream,” he said.

Richardson probably needed to dream of more Nasty things Sunday night to help against Duke. When it was pointed out to him that some have characterized the outcome as dependent upon which team plays with the most intelligence, Richardson became angry.

“Who do you think they’re talking about?” Richardson said. “Not us.”

Williamson said softly that he is offended by any intimation that the Razorbacks aren’t smart.

“I look at it this way,” he said. “You’ve got two guys in a fight and one is intelligent and one is dumb and strong. Which one do you think is going to win?”

Richardson leaned back and laughed. “I got to remember that!” he said.

Whatever Williamson’s strengths are in storytelling, it is on the court where he dominates most.

The Southeastern Conference player of the year, Williamson stopped playing football in the seventh grade so he could concentrate on basketball. He wears No. 34 in honor of former Georgetown star Reggie Williams and wanted to become a Hoya, but couldn’t resist Richardson’s plan to get something big going at Arkansas.

As a freshman, Williamson was injured twice and sat out 13 games, but he still averaged 14.6 points for the season and 16 in three NCAA tournament games.

Williamson led Arkansas in scoring, rebounding and shooting this season as a sophomore and has scored at least 20 points 22 times in 33 games.

He also did it in his own fashion. Williamson shaved his head except for where the part would be, then shaved that, too, after Beck called it “too country.”

Williamson is used to getting ribbed by his teammates. When they learned that Williamson liked to fish, they started calling him “Jethro.”

Call him anything you want, but “Big Nasty” is a big problem for anyone who plays him. Coaches double-team him and Williamson passes the ball skillfully. Play him straight up and Williamson’s eyes get as wide as “Little Nasty” at dinner time.

Williamson’s cousin, Clarence Finley, was the one who gave him the nickname “Big Nasty,” to describe a powerful, inside big man’s game. It sure fits on the court.

“It’s my world,” Williamson said. “It’s my little Fantasyland out there.”

And if you happen to get in the way, “Big Nasty” is liable to turn you into a Belgian waffle. Be warned, say the Razorbacks, all snakes and tattoos. They’re hoping it’s a real Nasty day.