L.A. Is Long Way From Big Event

Not only did Los Angeles fail to put a team in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1988, only one player and two coaches with Southland roots were in the Final Four -- Texas freshman guard Kenton Paulino and Syracuse assistants Mike Hopkins and Clay McKnight.

How did L.A. become a wallflower for the Big Dance?

“It’s just a freak thing,” said Hopkins, who won a California high school title at Santa Ana Mater Dei in 1987 before playing at Syracuse from 1989-93. “I think high school basketball in California

But while Hopkins rattled off the names of such past L.A. high school stars as Baron Davis, Austin Croshere, Paul Pierce, Schea Cotton and Jason Hart, only one from his list played collegiately in Los Angeles -- Davis at UCLA.

Paulino was an All-City selection at Fremont High, where he averaged 24 points and six rebounds before playing a year of prep school ball at Maine Central Institute.

“USC had always been my dream school,” said Paulino, who has appeared in 17 games for the Longhorns. “But I guess when you get older you grow out of your dreams and you realize that you’ve got to go to the place that best fits you.”

McKnight, meanwhile, is hoping to come home ... to work for new UCLA Coach Ben Howland.

“I would love to be a part of Ben’s staff if he would want me,” said McKnight, who played for his father Gary at Mater Dei before spending a year at UC Irvine and finishing at Pacific. “He knows who I am and he knows that I would want to work for him.

“Obviously I’m looking for the next set of responsibilities. I’m ready and I feel like I have a lot to offer, connection-wise and knowledge-wise.”

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The mother of Marquette Coach Tom Crean was taken to a hospital Saturday night after complaining of numbness and tingling in her arms during the Golden Eagles’ 94-61 semifinal loss to Kansas.

Marjorie Crean was in good condition at Medical Center of Louisiana-Charity Hospital, said Diane Angelico, spokeswoman for LSU Hospitals.

Angelico said she was admitted as a precaution and for overnight observation.

Crean learned of his mother’s illness after his postgame interview and rushed to Charity Hospital, two blocks from the Superdome, site of the Final Four.

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Marquette assistant coach Trey Schwab is with the team in New Orleans but is ready to be called at any moment’s notice for a life-saving lung transplant.

Schwab suffers from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung disease. He spoke to reporters Friday at the Superdome with the help of oxygen tubes.

He needs a lung transplant to save his life, but he has to wait as he moves up the donor list.

“If the phone rings, and it’s time to get a transplant, I get the rest of my life back,” Schwab said. “If it doesn’t, I’m here and I’m going to enjoy it the best I can.”

Schwab has lost more than 100 pounds since being diagnosed in 2001 and has had to drastically reduce his coaching workload.

Schwab’s story has generated a lot of publicity during Marquette’s tournament run.

“This is the hand I was dealt,” Schwab said. “I’ve just got to figure out how to play it.”