NOTES

Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery is weary of his team’s growing reputation as a rough-and-tumble team.

The Cardinal’s image was only enhanced Friday when it won a wrestling match against Purdue, a Big Ten team with a tough reputation of its own.

“We don’t put them in a padded room and only the starters emerge,” a defensive Montgomery said.

Rhode Island Coach Jim Harrick, whose team plays Stanford in today’s Midwest Regional final, was eager to exploit the angle in his Saturday news conference.

“He’s from Montana,” Harrick said of Montgomery, “where you go to a bar to get a beer and a beating. He’s brought that to the basketball floor.”

“You have to consider where he’s from,” Montgomery said of Harrick. “That’s good ol’ West Virginia humor . . . not really funny.”

Montgomery defended his style.

“We certainly don’t get upset when people have quicker players than us,” he said.