Stanford Lives With Cardinal Sin of Oregon State Loss

By ROBYN NORWOOD

March 8, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

If Stanford hadn’t lost to Oregon State in its final game, the Cardinal had a shot at a No. 1 seeding, since Connecticut could have been sent to the South after Auburn and Maryland lost.

Instead, the Cardinal may have to beat top-seeded Connecticut--a team that has blown out Stanford two years in a row with its pressing, attacking defense--to get back to the Final Four. Stanford opens with Alcorn State.

A potential upset: savvy Penn against a Florida team that lives and dies by the three-point shot.

1. CONNECTICUT (28-2)

* First-round opponent: Texas San Antonio.

* Season in brief: No. 1 for 10 weeks until Syracuse handed the Huskies their first loss with Richard Hamilton and center Jake Voskuhl sidelined because of injuries. UConn lost its effective run-and-press rhythm never seemed to be as good--even in defeating Stanford, 70-59, at Maples Pavilion without Hamilton. Also lost to Miami, and struggled in its Big East tournament opener against Seton Hall before regaining its early-season form in victories over Syracuse and St. John’s. Voskuhl’s foot injury still makes his availability uncertain, a considerable handicap.

* Player to watch: Hamilton, a junior swingman, is a great scorer in transition, can shoot well from three-point range and slash to the basket.

* Tidbit: Senior guard Ricky Moore is one of the nation’s best perimeter defenders.

* NCAA bio: Despite three trips to the Elite Eight, Connecticut and Coach Jim Calhoun have never reached the Final Four. Most memorable “almost” was when the Huskies were beaten on a miracle overtime shot by Duke’s Christian Laettner in 1990.

2. STANFORD (25-6)

* First-round opponent: Alcorn State.

* Season in brief: A preseason No. 1 in some corners with every starter back from a Final Four team, the Cardinal stumbled at times--most stunningly in a 70-59 loss to a Connecticut team playing without Richard Hamilton at Maples Pavilion. Nevertheless won the Pac-10 title outright, blowing out Arizona to clinch. Stanford is at its best in a physical, halfcourt game and likes to run at opportune times. But the Cardinal has been vulnerable to fullcourt defensive pressure.

* Player to watch: Stanford thrives on the emotional play of power forward Mark Madsen.

* Tidbit: Whether Arthur Lee and Kris Weems are hitting from three-point range is the difference between the Cardinal being great or just good.

* NCAA bio: Reached the Final Four last season for the first time since winning the national championship in 1942, and pushed eventual champion Kentucky to overtime in the semifinals before losing by a point.

3. NORTH CAROLINA (24-9)

* First-round opponent: Weber State.

* Season in brief: After losing two NBA lottery picks--Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter-- after their junior seasons, the Tar Heels staggered early with losses to the College of Charleston and California. Still finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference and beat second-place Maryland in the ACC tournaemnt. Other “quality” victories were over Stanford, Louisville and Purdue.

* Player to watch: Savvy senior forward Ademola Okulaja, a streak shooter, is a good barometer of how the Tar Heels will fare.

* Tidbit: Mini-scandal broke this season when Raleigh News & Observer reported canned crowd noise was being used to enhance Carolina radio broadcasts without the school’s knowledge.

* NCAA bio: Has won at least one NCAA game 18 years in a row. Reached the Final Four for the fifth time in the 1990s last season, but lost in the semifinals for the third time in four years. Won titles in 1957, ’82 and ’93.

4. ARKANSAS (22-10)

* First-round opponent: Siena.

* Season in brief: Razorbacks have been strikingly inconsistent, making a big impression by beating Kentucky and Auburn in back-to-back February games, only to lose to Alabama in the season final. Lost to Villanova and Oklahoma in early-season games.

* Player to watch: Senior guard Pat Bradley shoots 40% from three-point range and ranks eighth in NCAA history in three-point baskets since the introduction of the arc in 1987.

* Tidbit: Arkansas has won more games in the 1990s than any school but Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Duke.

* NCAA bio: Won the 1994 NCAA title, and reached the title game again in ’95 before losing to UCLA. Lost to Utah in the second round last season.

5. IOWA (18-9)

* First-round opponent: Alabama-Birmingham.

* Season in brief: This is the farewell tournament for Coach Tom Davis, whose contract wasn’t being renewed in a controversial decision by Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby. The Hawkeyes, picked to finish well back in the Big Ten because of his lame-duck status, started 4-0 but was 3-4 in February. Iowa lost Wisconsin transfer Sam Okey when he broke his wrist late in the season.

* Player to watch: Senior guard Kent McCausland.

* Tidbit: McCausland is the son of the Hawkeyes’ radio announcer.

* NCAA bio: Ninth NCAA appearance under Davis, but last Final Four was in 1980, with Lute Olson as coach.

6. FLORIDA (20-8)

* First-round opponent: Pennsylvania

* Season in brief: Three freshman lead the three-point crazy Gators--Mike Miller, Teddy Dupay and center Udonis Haslem. Florida made an astounding 17 of 35 three-point shots in a game against South Carolina. Young and inconsistent, the Gators beat Kentucky and Arkansas in February but lost to Vanderbilt in the final game of the regular season.

* Player to watch: Miller averages 12 points a game, leading five players in double figures. Only one, Greg Stolt, is a senior.

* Tidbit: Dupay, who comes off the bench, led the nation in scoring last season at Mariner High School in Cape Coral, Fla., averaging more than 41 points a game. He scored 70 in one game with 13 three-point baskets.

* NCAA bio: Only five appearances, but the Gators made the Final Four in 1994, losing to Duke in the semifinals.

7. MINNESOTA (17-10)

* First-round opponent: Gonzaga.

* Season in brief: Held its own in the tough Big Ten and made an impression with an overtime game against Cincinnati. Won three of four down the stretch and lost in the first round of the Big Ten tournament to Illinois. Player to watch: Forward Quincy Lewis was among the nation’s top scorers, averaging more than 24 points a game.

* Tidbit: The tandem of Lewis and Kevin Clark is known, simply enough, as Lewis and Clark.

* NCAA bio: Won National Invitation Tournament last season after missing the NCAA tournament a year after reaching the Final Four. The Gophers lost to eventual champion Arizona in the semifinals.

8. MISSOURI (20-8)

* First-round opponent: New Mexico.

* Season in brief: There was an opening for Missouri to sneak up on faltering Kansas and Oklahoma State in the below-average Big 12, but Texas took the regular-season title instead.

* Player to watch: Freshman guard Keyon Dooling was a high-profile recruit and is a future star.

* Tidbit: Missouri used to be a perennial NCAA team, but spent last season in the NIT, losing in the first round.

* NCAA bio: First appearance since 1995. Despite 16 trips, the Tigers have never reached the Final Four.

9. NEW MEXICO (24-8)

* First-round opponent: Missouri.

* Season in brief: Despite being ranked in the Top 25 at times this season, the Lobos weren’t a lock to make the field until they reached the WAC tournament final, losing to Utah for a third time this season. They had a nonconference schedule so weak it became a state scandal. Lost once to Utah by 30, but held the margin to 15 in the final game even though standout center Kenny Thomas didn’t play because of a groin injury.

* Player to watch: Thomas, a senior, needs to convince NBA scouts he’s not just another player who might never reach his potential.

* Tidbit: Before Thomas, Luc Longley was a star center at New Mexico.

* NCAA bio: Has made it past the second round only once in nine appearances.

10. GONZAGA (25-6)

* First-round opponent: Minnesota.

* Season in brief: Left out of the field last season after losing in the West Coast Conference tournament, the Zags took no chances this season. They made 18 three-point shots to blow out Santa Clara in the final, 91-66, and get the conference’s automatic bid. Made an impression early with victories over Washington and Washington State. Nonconference losses were to Kansas, Purdue, Detroit and Texas Christian. * Player to watch: Junior guard Matt Santangelo had eight three-point baskets against Santa Clara.

* Tidbit: Santangelo works out with John Stockton (Gonzaga ‘84) in the summer.

* NCAA bio: Lost to Maryland in first-round in 1995 in only previous appearance.

11. PENNSYLVANIA (21-5)

* First-round opponent: Florida.

* Season in brief: Made ultimate comeback by winning the Ivy League’s automatic bid over Princeton with a 73-48 victory in the regular-season final only three weeks after the Tigers’ stunning comeback from a 27-point deficit at the Palestra. Penn made a 29-0 run early in the first game, but ended up losing 50-49. Princeton’s stumbles against Yale and Harvard allowed Penn to clinch, avoiding a one-game playoff. Nearly swept Philadelphia schools, beating Temple, St. Joseph’s, La Salle and Drexel, but lost to Villanova, 74-63.

* Player to watch: All eyes will be on No. 23 Michael Jordan. No relation.

* Tidbit: Chuck Daly and Dick Harter coached at Penn before going on to the NBA, and Houston Rocket guard Matt Maloney was a Quaker too.

* NCAA bio: Reached Final Four in 1979. More recently, beat Nebraska in first round in 1994, and took Alabama to overtime in ’95 before losing.

12. ALA. BIRMINGHAM (20-11)

* First-round opponent: Iowa.

* Season in brief: Murry Bartow takes the Blazers to the tournament in his third season, stepping into the large footprints left by his father. Gene Bartow won 600 games and took UAB to the tournament nine times. The Blazers slipped into the field of 64 as one of the final teams on the strength of beating DePaul, another bubble team, in the Conference USA semifinals.

* Player to watch: Power forward Fred Williams is a strong rebounder.

* Tidbit: Gene Bartow, Murry’s father, took two different schools to the Final Four--Memphis and UCLA--and three different schools to the tournament.

* NCAA bio: Back in the tournament for first time since 1994. UAB used to be a regular, and has a 6-9 record in nine appearances. Reached the Sweet 16 in 1982 by beating Indiana.

13. SIENA (25-5)

* First-round opponent: Arkansas.

* Season in brief: One of the nation’s highest-scoring teams behind Duke and Texas Christian, the Saints qualified by winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament. A solid RPI around No. 40--buoyed by nonconference wins over George Washington and Pepperdine--kept Siena out of danger of facing a No. 1-seeded team in the first round. Defense might be what stands between the school from Loudonville, N.Y., and a potential upset, however. The Saints aren’t very quick or particularly physical.

* Player to watch: Senior guard Marcus Faison is a good shooter, and at 6-5, potentially a tough matchup on the perimeter.

* Tidbit: The Saints led the nation in free-throw shooting at 79.2%.

* NCAA bio: Upset a Stanford team led by Todd Lichti and Adam Keefe in first round in 1989 in only other tournament appearance.

14. WEBER STATE (24-7)

* First-round opponent: North Carolina.

* Season in brief: Won the Big Sky regular-season title but had to beat Northern Arizona, last season’s NCAA representative, in the conference tournament to earn a bid.

* Player to watch: Harold Arceneaux, a 6-6 transfer from Midland Junior College in Texas, was the league’s player of the year.

* Tidbit: Northern Arizona Coach Ben Howland says two Weber State players, Arceneaux and Eddie Gill, could play in any league in the country.

* NCAA bio: Most recent appearance in 1995, when Weber State upset Michigan State before losing to Georgetown by two points in the second. Ten other appearances, including four under former coach Neil McCarthy.

15. ALCORN STATE (23-6)

* First-round opponent: Stanford.

* Season in brief: Coach Davey Whitney finally has his team back in the tournament after returning to Alcorn State in 1996 to revive a program he led to success for 20 seasons, ending after 1988-89. The Braves averaged less than nine victories the last five seasons before breaking through this season with 23 and winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament.

* Player to watch: Reuben Stiff, a 5-11 senior guard.

* Tidbit: Whitney’s 1980 team was the first from a historically black school to play in the NCAA tournament, and the Braves’ arena is named the Davey Whitney Complex in his honor.

* NCAA bio: Gave teams such as Georgetown and Kansas scares in four previous appearances, all in the early 1980s. Advanced to second round once.

16. TEXAS SAN ANTONIO (18-10)

* First-round opponent: Connecticut.

* Season in brief: Earned automatic bid by beating Southwest Texas State in the Southland Conference tournament final. The Roadrunners won only nine games in 1996-97 .* Player to watch: Freshman guard Devin Brown averages 18 points a game and is a homegrown player from San Antonio.

* Tidbit: Texas San Antonio was the host school for the Final Four last year at the Alamodome.

* NCAA bio: Lost to Illinois in 1988 in only other appearance.

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