Lopez Proves That He Can Rebound

When Felipe Lopez appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated before he had ever played a college game, at least one New York newspaper had a slight sense of foreboding.

“Give Felipe Lopez some breathing room,” Newsday wrote in 1994. “Settle for three Final Fours.”

There have not been any Final Fours for St. John’s during that time, though.

There has not been one NCAA tournament game, either.

No one could have imagined how little Lopez’s career would match the hype.

His star flared bright and faded before he finished his freshman year. Admirably, he has never put the blame for that at anyone else’s feet.

Now, long after being written off as merely a decent college player eclipsed by many others, Lopez and St. John’s have an 18-7 record with victories over such ranked teams as Connecticut and West Virginia.

The Red Storm has stirred Madison Square Garden and Alumni Hall to life. And, yes, St. John’s is on the brink of making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1993 after failing to have a winning record in any of Lopez’s first three seasons.

“I want to make it to the NCAA tournament, and I want to make it far,” said Lopez, averaging 19 points. “We’ve been here for three years, and haven’t won anything in three years. That’s not a secret. But people would forget about what happened the last three years if we can keep playing the same way, go to the NCAA tournament and get to where we’re supposed to be. You get opportunities to make up for those other times.”

Those other times were not easy.

“Being in New York, you’ve got to know how to take it,” said Lopez, most valuable player of the McDonald’s high school all-star game in 1994. “You get to the point where it’s depressing, and you might feel it’s a little unfair. People view your personal life, and your athletic life, from other points of view, like the newspaper and TV. They basically don’t know about the person himself.

“For myself, it’s been a great experience to see one side and then the other and try to bounce right back,” he said. “Everything that happened to me has shown me in life how things can be done in different ways.

“I have been in bad situations. I have been depressed. My sophomore year, it was tough. You’d go home and be there by yourself, trying to find some formula and find yourself even crying at times. You find yourself isolated, depressed, and it doesn’t matter how hard you work, the feelings don’t change.”

Lopez got through it.

“I wanted to do so much for my teammates, myself and my school,” he said. “I thank God because he has given me strength.”

Lopez--who arrived in the Big East along with Georgetown guard Allen Iverson and was touted as practically good enough to turn pro then--improved his shooting over the summer, influenced by the persistence of former St. John’s star Chris Mullin, despite his long NBA career. Lopez and Zendon Hamilton have melded well with freshman Ron Artest, and Lopez is playing more under control than in the past.

“I think what our kids have done, especially our older kids, I sense they’ve gotten to a point where they just don’t want to lose any more,” said St. John’s Coach Fran Fraschilla, who is in his second season at the school. “That’s as simple as it gets. I’m fairly certain we won’t go undefeated the rest of the year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a refuse-to-lose attitude.”

Even though the game was at the heart of Lopez’s frustration, it was also his refuge.

“I love basketball so much, it doesn’t matter what the situation was, I still found basketball fun,” he said.

“You might go to the park just to play pickup games, and forget everything. You go, and no one’s watching. It’s just fun. No newspapers, no people watching.”

IN QUEST OF 18-0

After Stanford’s stumble against Arizona State and UCLA’s tumble at Oregon, the Arizona-UCLA season finale March 7 at Pauley Pavilion might not have any bearing on the Pacific 10 title--a prize seniors Miles Simon and Michael Dickerson are finally poised to grab for the first time.

Instead, the UCLA game could be the last rung of the ladder for an Arizona team with a very real chance of being the first team to go unbeaten in Pac-10 play since UCLA in 1978.

Arizona could even outdo the Bruin feat: It was the Pac-8 then, so UCLA went 14-0, not 18-0 as Arizona might do.

Since UCLA ran the table, four teams have finished with one loss--Oregon State in 1981, and Arizona in 1988, ‘89, and ’93. UCLA had a 17-1 record in its 1995 NCAA championship season, but it included a Cal forfeit because of an ineligible player.

The Wildcats--21-3 and 11-0 in the Pac-10--haven’t lost since they fell to Florida State on Dec. 23. The only other losses are to Duke and Kansas, and the 21 victories have been by an average margin of 23 points.

Their remaining Pac-10 games are against Arizona State, Oregon State, Oregon, USC and UCLA on the road and Cal and Stanford at home.

Arizona is even beginning to make some wonder if the Wildcats aren’t the best team in the country, picking up two first-place votes over North Carolina in the Associated Press poll this week.

REMEMBER NOVEMBER?

They were all in the top 25 then--Fresno State, Clemson, Iowa, Louisville, Georgia and North Carolina Charlotte.

Most of them are busts now--although Georgia (12-11) showed some life with its upset of No. 12 Arkansas Tuesday night and North Carolina Charlotte is playing better lately, with a victory over No. 19 Cincinnati.

What are their problems?

Fresno State can’t keep its players on the court--nine of 10 scholarship players have been suspended, ineligible, in a substance-abuse program or quit the team. Daymond Forney and Avondre Jones are the current residents of the suspended list, for unspecified violations. (By the way, Jerry Tarkanian might get another transfer: Kenny Brunner, the former Dominguez High star who recently left Georgetown, has been in Fresno and is expected to enroll. He would be eligible in December.

As for Clemson, the Tigers can’t make free throws--60% won’t cut it, especially in Atlantic Coast Conference.

Iowa was flat-out overrated.

UNC Charlotte, led by DeMarco Johnson, was hurt by the suspension of point guard Sean Colson and the emotional blow that accompanied freshman Charles Hayward’s leukemia diagnosis.

Louisville doesn’t have its usual talent, and inconsistent guard play is a problem. The question is still that win at Kentucky: How?

QUICK SHOTS

With its victory over Washington, Arizona State is 16-8 and has a toehold on an NCAA bid--although its final seven games include Arizona and Stanford at home and Oregon and UCLA on the road. “I think that [Washington] game was big in a lot of ways,” interim Coach Don Newman said. “Now you know that probably with the wins we’ve had and the way we played against Kansas, we’ve proven we deserve an opportunity to be there. We also understand there are seven games left. We’ve got to win some more. We’ve talked about a 20-win season. If that happens, certainly we should be in.” . . . Whether a fifth Pac-10 team will make it isn’t clear, though Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said Arizona State and Washington are both deserving. . . . North Carolina guard Shammond Williams’ 42 points in the Tar Heels’ double-overtime victory over Georgia Tech were more than Michael Jordan ever scored at North Carolina and marked the first 40-point performance by a Tar Heel since Kenny Smith scored 41 against Clemson in 1987. Jordan’s career high in college was 39 points against Georgia Tech as a sophomore in 1983. . . . UCLA disputes Utah Coach Rick Majerus’ perception that the Bruins aren’t willing to schedule the Utes. “I honestly don’t know that we’ve ever ducked anybody, and I’ve been doing the scheduling for 14 years,” said Jim Milhorn, a UCLA associate athletic director who doesn’t recall any recent overtures from Utah. “I know we’ve asked,” Majerus said. . . . Murray State Coach Mark Gottfried, a former UCLA assistant who played at Alabama, is a popular candidate to replace Crimson Tide Coach David Hobbs, who has been fired effective after the season.