MEN’S EAST REGIONAL : Tulsa, in Sweet 16 Again, Plays UMass

Sometime in the not-too-distant future, Tulsa might get the respect it deserves for reaching the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 two years in a row.

But until that happens, don’t look for any complaints from Coach Tubby Smith, whose Golden Hurricane (24-7) plays Massachusetts (28-4) tonight in the second game of the East Regional semifinals at the Meadowlands Arena.

“I don’t look at us as underdogs or that we haven’t gotten any respect,” said Smith, who has a 79-42 record in four seasons at Tulsa. “I’m sure in due time that we’ll be recognized for getting to this point two consecutive years, but for now we still have to go out and play.”

In the other semifinal, top-seeded Wake Forest (26-5) plays Oklahoma State (25-9).

A year ago, using Smith’s up-tempo style, Tulsa was the surprise team of the tournament after racing to victories over UCLA and Oklahoma State in the first two rounds, before losing to eventual national champion Arkansas in a Midwest Regional semifinal.

This season, Tulsa won its second consecutive Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title and easily defeated Illinois and Old Dominion in the first two rounds of the tournament.

The Golden Hurricane thus joined Kansas, Connecticut, Maryland and Arkansas as the only Sweet 16 returnees, but also joined Memphis as the only remaining teams not ranked this season.

“That really doesn’t bother me because I know that it takes time,” said Smith, who has been an assistant at Kentucky, South Carolina and Virginia Commonwealth. “Look at UMass. They probably were saying the same thing we’re saying four or five years ago. Now look at their program.”

When Smith took over in 1991, Tulsa had not won an NCAA tournament game in 36 years or a conference title in six.

His first goal was to keep local high school players at home. He wanted to end Tulsa’s history of losing standout players, such as current NBA players Waymon Tisdale, Byron Houston, Richard Dumas, Lee Mayberry and John Starks, to other colleges.

“My first year here, we only had one local player on the team,” Smith said. “And he was a football player.”

Smith’s plan began yielding results two years ago, when he was able to persuade guard Shea Seals, who grew up just a few miles from the Tulsa campus, to become a Golden Hurricane.

“Shea alone was a big recruit,” Smith said. “He showed that we can compete with the top schools in the country in recruiting. We told him that he could be a big fish in a small pond and that he’d get recognition with our success.”

In his first game at Tulsa, Seals set a school record with seven three-pointers while scoring 32 points. He was later chosen Missouri Valley Conference newcomer of the year and averaged 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists in three NCAA tournament games.

Seals’ signing also started a trend. Smith has already signed three recruits from Tulsa for next season, among them his son, highly regarded guard G.G. Smith.

This season, Seals was an all-conference performer, leading the team by averaging 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

UMass Coach John Calipari has noticed.

“He has the ultimate green light to shoot 25 times a game, and does,” Calipari said. “If he gets hot and goes on a run, we go home. We have our hands full in defending (against) him.”

The other semifinal is a showdown of two of the top big men, Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan and Oklahoma State’s Bryant (Big Country) Reeves.

Duncan, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, has been averaging 23 points and 10.5 rebounds in the tournament. Reeves has been just as effective, scoring 47 points and taking down 18 rebounds in the Cowboys’ two victories.

“It’s definitely going to be a big matchup because (Duncan) is one of the best centers in college basketball right now,” Reeves said. “Hopefully, I will be able to hold my own and do as well as he does offensively.”

If Duncan and Reeves neutralize each other, the game figures to turn on the backcourt play of Wake Forest’s Randolph Childress and Oklahoma State’s Randy Rutherford.

Childress, who has been slowed by flu and thought he had chickenpox, set an Atlantic Coast Conference tournament three-game scoring record with 107 points in leading the Demon Deacons to the title.

Rutherford, a 6-3 senior, can also score. He averaged 19.6 points and 6.2 rebounds.