Charleston Stepping Toward Big Dance

South Carolina, the hotbed of college basketball?

Well, this week there are three South Carolina schools in the Associated Press’ Top 25 rankings for the first time--Clemson at No. 7, South Carolina at No. 12 and College of Charleston at No. 25. Just as rare was that the Palmetto State has as many ranked teams as college basketball-crazed North Carolina.

And, interest in the South Carolina teams has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks.

Clemson had a campground of 141 tents outside Littlejohn Coliseum with fans waiting to buy tickets to the Tigers’ Jan. 23 game against Wake Forest.

Ticket lines reached record numbers the last two weeks at South Carolina’s Frank McGuire Arena for the first time, well, since McGuire was adding to his coaching legend at the school in the ‘70s.

And the College of Charleston has sold out its 3,052-seat arena since January.

One other distinction for Charleston, making its first appearance in the national rankings, is that it has the longest active Division I winning streak. The Cougars pushed that streak to 16 and won their fourth consecutive regular-season Trans America Athletic Conference championship Thursday night with an 85-81 victory over Florida International (remember the Golden Panthers UCLA fans?) at Miami.

Long winning streaks are nothing new for Charleston, 22-2 overall and 13-0 in the TAAC. Cougars had streaks of 16, 16 and 21 the last three seasons in compiling a 75-11 record.

So why did teams with losing records--Central Florida and Florida International--represent the TAAC in the NCAA tournament during that time? Charleston, after moving up from Division II, had to wait seven years to become eligible for the conference’s postseason tournament--and its automatic NCAA tournament berth.

The Cougars are itching to make a name for themselves after now that the seven-year wait is over.

“It takes time to have name recognition,” said Charleston Coach John Kresse, who has a 434-111 record in 19 seasons at the school. “This is like the little guy getting invited to the Inaugural Ball--it doesn’t happen a lot.”

Kresse says that Charleston’s newly gained national status is not without its drawbacks.

“I feel like we don’t have to send a polished resume to the NCAA selection committee now,” said Kresse, whose team’s two losses have come against No. 4 Kentucky by 29 points and Oklahoma State by 19. “But now, that we’re in the AP top 25, we’ve become a major target.”

Florida International (11-12, 9-4) had dead aim on Charleston’s win streak, leading by six points with four minutes left. The Cougars, however, converted three turnovers into baskets and took the lead for good at 79-71 on Sedric Webber’s free throws with 2:18 left.

Center Thaddeous Delaney, who at 6-feet-8, 250 pounds is called the “Shaq of the TAAC,” was one of four players to score 14 points for Charleston.

No. 5 Utah 84, Southern Methodist 63--Center Michael Doleac had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Utes (18-3, 10-1) in the Western Athletic Conference game at Salt Lake City. Doleac had a career-high 26 points in Utah’s 17-point victory over SMU (13-9, 5-7) on Jan. 16.

Forward Keith Van Horn had 18 points for Utah, which had a 41-21 rebounding advantage.

No. 8 Cincinnati 69, St. Louis 56--The Bearcats (19-4, 7-1), playing for sixth time in 13 days, overcame a sluggish performance by closing the Conference USA game at Cincinnati with a 16-3 run. St. Louis (8-14, 2-7) was coming off a victory over No. 17 Louisville.

Cincinnati center Danny Fortson was in foul trouble for nearly half the game and finished with nine points--13 below his season average. Forward Ruben Patterson, the Bearcats’ second-leading scorer at 14.9 points a game, was benched for the first 30 minutes for missing practices.

No. 10 Maryland 73, Florida State 57--The Terrapins (19-5, 8-4) used a 16-0 run midway through the first half to take command of the Atlantic Coast Conference game at College Park, Md., and avenge a Jan. 29 loss to the Seminoles (13-8, 4-8).

Forward Keith Booth and center Obinna Ekezie combined for 32 points and 22 rebounds and were particularly effective when Florida State’s 6-foot-10 center Kirk Luchman left the game because of foul trouble just before Maryland made its decisive run. The Seminoles were without injured 6-foot-11 forward Randell Jackson, who had 20 points in the first game against the Terrapins.

No. 13 New Mexico 81, Rice 64--The Lobos (19-4, 8-3) increased their home win streak to 24--the third-longest in Division I to Kansas and Kentucky--in the Western Athletic Conference game at Albuquerque.

New Mexico shot 54% and had a season-low eight turnovers. Rice (11-10, 5-6) shot 61% in the first half and got 26 points from center Shaun Igo.

Alabama Birmingham 64, No. 23 Tulane 61--Guard Damon Cobb’s three-point basket with 15 seconds remaining was decisive as the Blazers (14-10, 5-5) handed the Green Wave (16-8, 7-2) lost its third consecutive loss in the Conference USA game at New Orleans.

Alabama Birmingham forward Carlos Williams had 30 points, 22 in the second half, and 11 rebounds. Tulane forward Rayshard Allen had 25 points.

OTHER GAMES

Temple (14-7, 7-4) overcame a school-record 16 three-point baskets by St. Joseph’s (16-6, 9-3)in a 64-62 Atlantic 10 Conference victory at Philadelphia. Temple center Mark Jackson had 16 points and 10 rebounds. . . . Guard Anthony Carter had a season-high 32 points for Hawaii (17-4, 9-2) in a 70-68 victory over Wyoming (10-12, 6-5) in a Western Athletic Conference at Laramie, Wyo. Hawaii’s team bus had hit another car and skidded off the road in foggy weather en route from Denver to Laramie Tuesday. There were no injuries.

College Basketball Notes

Three officials are being disciplined for a mistake during the final seconds of Tuesday night’s Duke-Virginia game at Charlottesville, N.C. Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner Gene Corrigan said Thursday that Rick Hartzell, Tim Higgins and Zelton Steed each will lose one conference game assignment for failing to allow a Virginia player into the game with five seconds to go. Duke won the game 62-61. The score was tied 60-60 when Virginia’s Norman Nolan was fouled. He missed the first free throw and made the second. The scorer’s table horn blew as Virginia’s Willie Dersch was trying to check into the game, but the officials didn’t stop play. Duke’s Steve Wojciechowski took an inbounds pass and, with the clock not yet running, drove the length of the court and was fouled. After a lengthy discussion and reviewing television replays, the officials reset the clock to .7 of a second. Wojciechowski made both foul shots, then Virginia missed a desperation shot.