A First-Round Folly for Arizona

Virtually forgotten after a national championship run in 1997 and a round of eight appearance last year was that Arizona Coach Lute Olson’s teams had previously made not-so-graceful tournament exits in the first round three times this decade.

The ghost of first rounds past came back to haunt Olson on Friday in the Midwest Regional as fourth-seeded Arizona lost, 61-60, to 13th-seeded Oklahoma--the last team to get an at-large berth in the tournament.

Arizona (22-7) was actually following a script that had been successful this season--stay close to the opposition--whether strong or mediocre--and let senior guard Jason Terry win it with a last-second shot.

With three seconds left, Terry took an off-balance 10-footer--the type of shot he had made three times this season to win games for the Wildcats. This one bounced off the rim. Freshman forward Richard Jefferson missed a tip-in, got the rebound and missed another shot as he fell in the lane at the buzzer.

“I thought he was going to make it,” senior center A.J. Bramlett said of Terry’s shot. “I thought Richard’s were going to go in. I never think we’re going to lose because we always make those shots to win the game.”

Except in 1992, 1993 and 1995, when Arizona lost first-round games to teams that were seeded 14th (East Tennessee State), 15th (Santa Clara) and 12th (Miami of Ohio).

Oklahoma (21-10) and Coach Kelvin Sampson had their own first-round demons to exorcise Friday. Sampson appeared headed for his sixth first-round loss in as many tournament appearances with Arizona ahead 61-56 and 48 seconds left. That’s when junior forward Eduardo Najera, the Sooners’ best scorer around the basket, took his game outside and made a three-point basket from deep in the left corner.

After a timeout, freshman forward Michael Wright was in the motion of inbounding the ball when he saw that that Terry and Jefferson both had their backs to him. Wright tried to pull himself back and stepped over the line for a turnover.

Senior guard Eric Martin took an ill-advised--and errant--three-point shot with 25 seconds left that Najera rebounded and put back up. The ball went in, but with some help from sophomore forward Ryan Humphrey, who got “a fingertip on it.” The Wildcats thought it was goaltending, but the referees didn’t see it that way.

That left the ball in Terry’s hands for the potential winning shot. But as evidenced by the Pacific 10’s leading scorer’s four-of-17 shooting, this wasn’t meant to be his day.

“It was definitely disbelief,” said Terry. “The last couple of seconds, I was reminiscing about all the good days. Today wasn’t one of them.”

The loss put Olson--whose teams at Arizona also lost first-round games from 1985-87, in a familiar defensive stance in the post-game news conference.

“I want to make one thing clear: This group of seniors is 11-3 in the NCAA tournament,” said Olson, obviously quick in doing the math. “They can’t do anything about what happened eight years ago. These seniors have given us 11 wins and three losses. Most programs across the country would be happy with that.”

But, it all didn’t add up for Bramlett.

“We made a lot of bad mistakes and turnovers and stupid stuff throughout the game,” he said. “It’s tough to go out this way.”

North Carolina Charlotte 81, Rhode Island 70--The fifth-seeded 49ers, who lost players to injury, illness and international paperwork problems this season, overcame another giant obstacle--the 12th-seeded Rams’ multitalented 6-foot-9 Lamar Odom--to win in overtime.

Marlon Thomas scored five of his 13 points in overtime for Charlotte (23-10), but more importantly teamed with Galen Young to frustrate Odom, who could become the first pick in the NBA draft if he leaves Rhode Island (20-13) after only one season.

Odom had 16 points but was clearly uncomfortable with being defended closely by Thomas and Young, getting three charging fouls in the first half.

Rhode Island, which won the Atlantic 10 tournament final against Temple on Odom’s buzzer-beating three-point basket, couldn’t hold an eight-point lead in the second half and was outscored 16-5 in overtime as Charlotte made nine of 11 free throws. The 49ers play Oklahoma Sunday.

Charlotte reached the second round last season but lost star center DeMarco Johnson to the NBA and coach Melvin Watkins to Texas A&M.; Before the season, freshman center Ouseynou Kane got stuck in Senegal because of visa problems and senior guard Dalonte Hill suffered a knee injury in practice. Then, redshirt freshman guard Charles Hayward’s leukemia returned after he played 10 games.

Mississippi 72, Villanova 70--The ninth-seeded Rebels (20-13) won their first tournament game in five tries in a hectic finish.

Eighth-seeded Villanova (21-11) scored what proved to be the final points on Malik Allen’s layup with 55 seconds left. Jason Smith missed a layup for Mississippi, but John Celestand and Howard Brown both missed shots for Villanova. After a timeout with 4.7 seconds left, Allen was called for a technical when he shoved Marcus Hicks to the ground before Mississippi could inbound the ball.

Jason Harrison missed both free throws, but Mississippi kept possession. Michael White got the inbounds pass and dribbled around the floor, not letting any Villanova player get a hand on him until time ran out.

Michigan State 76, Mount St. Mary’s 53--The top-seeded and Big 10 champion Spartans (30-4) used the rebounding of their superior frontline to put away the region’s 16th-seeded team from the school in central Maryland with an enrollment of 1,300.

Mount St. Mary’s (15-15) trailed only 11-7 in the first five minutes, but Michigan State--in winning its 19th consecutive game--asserted itself to lead 38-24 at halftime and by 20 points or more most of the second half. The Spartans, who play Mississippi Sunday, had a 46-22 rebounding advantage.