Backup Plan Works Out Rather Well for Auburn

By ROBYN NORWOOD

March 8, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Auburn got its No. 1 seeding in the South despite losing to Kentucky in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament final, as Stanford and Maryland, the other contenders, also lost Saturday.

UCLA gets defense-minded Detroit Mercy--which held two teams under 40 this season--and the road would hold potential games against Ohio State and perhaps-overrated Auburn.

An intriguing possible second-round matchup: St. John’s Coach Mike Jarvis against his former team, George Washington.

1. AUBURN (27-3)

* First-round opponent: Winthrop.

* Season in brief: Auburn started 17-0 before losing at Kentucky, making the Tigers one of the biggest surprises of the season. Lost only one other regular-season game--at Arkansas--before losing again to Kentucky in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament. The Tigers love to run and dunk, have great chemistry and are a very good rebounding team, especially offensively. Reasons for skepticism: The Tigers lack NCAA tournament experience and haven’t been in many close games. The SEC might not be as tough as usual either.

* Player to watch: Power forward Chris Porter, a transfer from Chipola (Fla.) Junior College and the SEC player of the year, is a tremendous offensive rebounder, a ferocious dunker who loves to run the court--and he says he’s coming back next season.

* Tidbit: Coach Cliff Ellis is a noted crooner who has recorded albums and CDs.

* NCAA bio: First trip since 1988, and only sixth in school history after a five-year streak in the 1980s that included the Charles Barkley era.

2. MARYLAND (26-5)

* First-round opponent: Valparaiso.

* Season in brief: The arrival of junior college transfer Steve Francis helped Maryland vault into the top 10 and set a school record for regular-season wins (25) with a high-octane game fueled by defensive pressure. The Terrapins led the nation in forcing turnovers at 22 a game. Swept by Duke, but beat North Carolina twice and also defeated UCLA and Stanford. Managed to play well despite losing center Obinna Ekezie for the season to an Achilles’ tendon injury.

* Player to watch: Francis is a spectacular dunker off the fast break, can create his own shot and averages almost three steals a game.

* Tidbit: Francis touches the tattoo on his right shoulder at the free-throw line in memory of his late mother.

* NCAA bio: Maryland has never reached the Final Four despite 15 NCAA appearances. Upset victim two seasons ago against College of Charleston.

3. ST. JOHN’S (25-8)

* First-round opponent: Samford.

* Season in brief: The Red Storm caught the nation’s attention by taking Duke to overtime in a high-intensity January game at Madison Square Garden, then played Connecticut tough two games later before losing again. New coach Mike Jarvis has improved an extremely athletic and balanced team that can look to Bootsy Thornton, who scored 40 against Duke, as well as Ron Artest or outstanding freshman point guard Erick Barkley. Swept by Miami in the Big East and showed vulnerability to zone defenses late in the season.

* Player to watch: Artest, a sophomore power forward, can make the three-point shot and might be in the NBA next season.

* Tidbit: Barkley has now taken St. John’s to as many NCAA tournaments as Felipe Lopez.

* NCAA bio: Lost to Detroit in first round last season in first appearance since 1993. Reached Final Four in 1985 with Chris Mullin. Lost to Kansas in 1952 title game.

4. OHIO STATE (23-8)

* First-round opponent: Murray State.

* Season in brief: Pulled the biggest turnaround of any Division I team this season, going from 8-22 to 23-8 to put Coach Jim O’Brien in contention for coach of the year along with Auburn’s Cliff Ellis. The biggest catalyst: junior point guard Scoonie Penn, who followed O’Brien from Boston College. Among the Buckeyes’ losses were Vanderbilt, Toledo, Michigan, Penn State and Illinois.

* Player to watch: Guard Michael Redd was the league’s top freshman last season, but he has been eclipsed by Penn.

* Tidbit: Penn has pulled a rare double: He was the Big East tournament most valuable player in 1997 and this season was the media’s choice for Big Ten most valuable player.

* NCAA bio: Last appeared in 1992, losing in the regional final with a team led by Jimmy Jackson. Won 1960 NCAA title and has appeared in eight Final Fours, the last in 1968.

5. UCLA (22-8)

* First-round opponent: Detroit Mercy.

* Season in brief: Dominated by freshmen and sophomores, the Bruins have been predictably inconsistent, but they also have been spectacular at times. Point guard Baron Davis has the ability to take over almost any game, although his toe injury makes him a question mark for the tournament. Losing center Dan Gadzuric for the season because of knee surgery hurt the Bruins’ tournament prospects because of potential matchup problems. One more problem--a free-throw percentage that hovers around 60%.

* Player to watch: Davis. He won’t go quietly.

* Tidbit: Davis, a sophomore, has never played in an NCAA tournament loss. He was sidelined for the Bruins’ round-of-16 loss to eventual-champion Kentucky last season because of a knee injury.

* NCAA bio: Commit this to memory: Eleven NCAA championships, including 10 in 12 years under John Wooden.

6. INDIANA (22-10)

* First-round opponent: George Washington.

* Season in brief: Say this for the Hoosiers, they’ve had plenty of close ones. Set a Big Ten record with seven overtime games, one shy of the NCAA record shared by Western Kentucky, Portland and Valparaiso. The Hoosiers’ overtime record: 4-3. Nonconference results included early-season victories over Utah and Temple and losses to Syracuse and Kentucky.

* Player to watch: Junior guard A.J. Guyton and sophomore forward Luke Recker are the Hoosiers’ tag-team.

* Tidbit: Bob Knight’s never dull postgame comments can be found on the Indiana site at https://www.ingame.starnews.com.

* NCAA bio: Made it to second round last season for first time in four years, losing to Connecticut. Five NCAA titles--1940, ‘53, ‘76, ’81 and ‘87--but last Final Four was in 1992.

7. LOUISVILLE (19-9)

* First-round opponent: Creighton.

* Season in brief: A reversal on a postseason ban by the NCAA allowed Louisville to make the field. (The school won an appeal based on procedural errors by the NCAA). Lost four in a row in midseason, including an 82-70 defeat at the hands of UCLA, but picked up the pace after learning the NCAA tournament was a possibility. Swept convincingly by Cincinnati, but beat Kentucky for second year in a row.

* Player to watch: Former USC guard Cameron Murray has been inconsistent much of the season.

* Tidbit: With 22 NCAA appearances, Coach Denny Crum ranks third in NCAA history behind Dean Smith (27) and Bob Knight (23).

* NCAA bio: Won NCAA titles in 1980 and ‘86, but has reached a regional final only once (‘97) since the last championship.

8. SYRACUSE (21-11)

* First-round opponent: Oklahoma State.

* Season in brief: Handed No. 1 Connecticut its first loss on Feb. 1 when the Huskies’ Richard Hamilton and Jake Voskuhl were sidelined because of injuries. The Orangemen were beaten by UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, 93-69, in February. They beat Villanova in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament but lost decisively to Connecticut.

* Player to watch: Etan Thomas, the Big East defensive player of the year, is an intimidating presence and a shot-blocking terror who ranked second in the nation at four a game. Also an under-utilized offensive player.

* Tidbit: Point guard Jason Hart from Inglewood High once wanted to play for UCLA.

* NCAA bio: Played in the national championship game in 1987, losing to Indiana, and ‘96, losing to Kentucky. Lost to Duke in the Sweet 16 last season.

9. OKLAHOMA STATE (22-10)

* First-round opponent: Syracuse.

* Season in brief: The Cowboys’ win over Texas in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament probably got them over the hump and into the tournament after an up-and-down season. Ranked in the top 25 early, the Cowboys were stunned by Florida Atlantic and lost to UCLA in back-to-back games in December and didn’t live up to expectations in a subpar season.

* Player to watch: Senior guard Adrian Peterson.

* Tidbit: Guard Doug Gottlieb from Tustin High is one of the nation’s assist leaders at eight a game.

* NCAA bio: Lost to Duke, 79-73, in second round last season. Reached Final Four in 1995, losing to UCLA in the semifinals. Won titles in 1945 and ’46 under Hank Iba and also reached Final Four in ’49 and ’51.

10. CREIGHTON (21-8)

* First-round opponent: Louisville.

* Season in brief: The Bluejays opened eyes with a victory at Iowa in November, then endured a late-season slump in conference play, but earned the Missouri Valley Conference’s automatic bid by beating Evansville in the tournament final. Played in NIT last season as Coach Dana Altman continued a rebuilding program.

* Player to watch: Rodney Buford, a senior swingman, is a probable first-round NBA draft pick, but at 6-5 will be a shooting guard at that level.

* Tidbit: Junior forward Nerijus Karlikanovas from Lithuania is Creighton’s first foreign player.

* NCAA bio: Most recent trip was in 1991 under former coach Tony Barone, when the Bluejays upset New Mexico State in the first round.

11. GEORGE WASHINGTON (20-8)

* First-round opponent: Indiana.

* Season in brief: Tom Penders, pushed out at Texas last season, took over as coach of the Colonials after Mike Jarvis left for St. John’s A Late-season victory over Xavier was key. Nonconference losses were to North Carolina Charlotte, DePaul, Stanford and Siena. Plays an up-tempo game led by the tag team of senior point guard Shawnta Rogers and senior forward Yegor Mescheriakov, who is from Belarus.

* Player to watch: Keep your eye on the 5-4 Rogers--No. 54, aptly enough. He averages 20 points, almost seven assists and nearly four steals--and four rebounds a game.

* Tidbit: The Washington, D.C, neighorhood the school is located in is known as Foggy Bottom.

* NCAA bio: Made tournament four times under Jarvis from 1993-98, winning in the first round three times.

12. DETROIT MERCY (24-5)

* First-round opponent: UCLA.

* Season in brief: Known for a half-court defense that helps to hold opponents to 54 points a game--second best in the nation. The Titans held two teams to fewer than 40 points. Lost to Iowa by one, beat Gonzaga and Texas El Paso. Other losses were to Michigan, Massachusetts, Butler and Loyola of Chicago.

* Player to watch: Well-rounded senior guard Jermaine Jackson is a probable second-round NBA draft pick.

* Tidbit: Coach Dick Vitale led Detroit to a first-round victory over Middle Tennessee State in 1977 before losing to Michigan in the second round.

* NCAA bio: Beat St. John’s in the first round last season in a mild upset before losing to Purdue in the second. Fourth appearance overall.

13. MURRAY STATE (27-5)

* First-round opponent: Ohio State.

* Season in brief: Aubrey Reese made a spectacular play in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship game to get his team here, taking the ball the length of the court to make a running one-hander at the buzzer for a 62-61 win over Southeast Missouri State. The Racers have continued to thrive under Coach Tevester Anderson and their game is the same as always: run and gun.

* Player to watch: Junior forward Isaac Spencer is the top scorer on a team with four starters averaging double figures.

* Tidbit: Assistant coach Bill Hodges was the coach at Indiana State when the Larry Bird-led team lost to Michigan State in the 1979 final.

* NCAA bio: A tournament regular, but with very little success. Murray State is 1-9, the only victory a 1988 upset of North Carolina State.

14. SAMFORD (24-5)

* First-round opponent: St. John’s.

* Season in brief: The three-point shooting Bulldogs run an offense modeled on Princeton’s system, putting four players on the perimeter looking for either a layup or an open three. But they probably aren’t as dangerous because they lack defensive quickness.

* Player to watch: Center Marc Salyers is the key to the offense from the high post with his passing and three-point shooting.

* Tidbit: Bobby and Terry Bowden and Chan Gailey all spent early years of their football coaching careers at the Birmingham, Ala., school.

* NCAA bio: First appearance.

15. VALPARAISO (23-8)

* First-round opponent: Maryland.

* Season in brief: Last year’s tournament darling doesn’t have deadeye shooter Bryce Drew, but the Crusaders won the Mid-Continent Conference tournament again to reach the NCAA tournament for the third year in a row. This is almost a completely different team from last year’s Sweet 16 group, with three freshmen starting.

* Player to watch: Senior center Zoran Viskovic is the only holdover from last season among the starters.

* Tidbit: The Crusaders have three Croatians and a Czech on their 14-player roster.

* NCAA bio: Upset Mississippi and Florida State to reach the Sweet 16 last year before losing to Rhode Island. Lost in first round in ’96 and ’97.

16. WINTHROP (21-7)

* First-round opponent: Auburn.

* Season in brief: The Eagles were 7-20 last season and hadn’t had a winning season since 1990. But under new Coach Gregg Marshall this season, they won the Big South tournament to qualify for the league’s automatic bid. The school, with an enrollment of 5,400, is in Rock Hill, S.C., a suburb of Charlotte, N.C., an early-round East Regional site.

* Player to watch: Senior forward Heson Groves had 19 rebounds in the Big South title game against Radford.

* Tidbit: Founded in the late 19th century, Winthrop was a women’s college until 1974 and began playing men’s basketball in 1978.