COLLEGE BASKETBALL NOTES : Fire & Ice Are a Potent Backcourt Blend

What do fire and ice get you besides a puddle? Probably the best backcourt in the country.

“Fire & Ice” is the nickname given to North Carolina State’s guard tandem of Chris Corchiani and Rodney Monroe and the pair are living up to any hype which comes their way.

Corchiani is more than halfway to the 221 assists he needed at the start of the season to break Sherman Douglas’ NCAA career mark of 960. Corchiani has 136 assists, 9.7 per game, a mark good enough to lead Division I while committing just 53 turnovers.

Monroe is now within striking distance of David Thompson’s school standard of 2,309 points. He hasn’t scored less than 20 this season and he hung up 48 against Georgia Tech and 35 in Wednesday night’s win over Duke.

Monroe is only shooting 45 percent from the field (142-for-313), but the number is almost the same from 3-point range. He’s shooting 44 percent (57-for-130) from beyond 19-9 and is averaging 28.8 points per game, 10.7 better than Corchiani’s scoring mark.

Maybe the nickname is the reason Corchiani and Monroe have been mentioned so prominently when top backcourts are brought up, but there are some other pretty exceptional combinations out there.

UNLV’s Greg Anthony and Anderson Hunt have to take a backseat to their teammates who play up front. Even though they are key to the success of the Runnin’ Rebels as they defend their title, Anthony and Hunt are nowhere near as well known as forwards Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon.

Hunt is averaging 15.5 points per game while making three 3-pointers per game. Anthony gives Jerry Tarkanian 11.1 points and 9.5 assists per game as well as about as much floor leadership as a coach can expect.

La Salle is getting over the graduation of Lionel Simmons a lot easier than expected courtesy of the play of guards Doug Overton and Randy Woods.

Overton, who bettered the 30-point mark in the Explorers’ first three games this season and nailed Loyola Marymount for 45, is averaging 25.9 points per game, while Woods, who scored one point more against the Lions than his partner, is averaging 21 points per game. Forty-seven of 87 points per game from the backcourt isn’t too shabby.

Some teams are flexible enough to come at you with a three-guard attack featuring a player capable of playing the swing position.

Arkansas’ Lee Mayberry, Todd Day and Arlyn Bowers would probably get the nod over Pittsburgh’s trio of Sean Miller, Jason Mathews and Darelle Porter in the battle of the top trios who can all play the backcourt.

Want a coach’s view of how even the level of play is among the top Division I teams as tournament time draws closer?

Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim was asked if the reason the Big East standings looked as it does is because there are great teams in the conference or a lack of great teams in the league.

“There’s a great team in Las Vegas and there’s a great team down in Arkansas,” he said. “The rest of us are good teams. Take three through 25 and anyone can beat anyone and if you mix the whole bunch up there really wouldn’t be a complaint about it.”

The familiarity of conference play usually causes those gaudy early season scoring averages to plummet. Not in the SWAC!

Six of the top 33 scorers in Division I, including Nos. 2-4, come from the eight-member Southwestern Athletic Conference, which has only two teams with overall records better than .500.

Alphonso Ford of Mississippi Valley State is second in scoring at 34.1 per game, 1.2 behind Kevin Bradshaw of U.S. International, and just ahead of Bobby Phills of Southern U. (31.7) and Steve Rogers of Alabama State (29.5).

Robert Youngblood, Phills’ teammate, is 20th at 24.7, while Jackson State’s Lindsey Hunter is 28th at 23.5 and Michael Ervin of Prairie View A&M; is 33rd at 22.9.

Phills and Youngblood are one of three sets of teammates in the top 50 scorers.

Mike Iuzzolino (25.1) and Joe Anderson (22.6) of St. Francis, Pa. are 19th and 41st, respectively, while Coppin State’s Reggie Isaac (24.4) and Larry Stewart (22.1) are 21st and 46th.

The NAIA’s scoring race is a real Mutt ‘n Jeff affair.

Danny Stubbs, a 6-foot guard from DeVry Institute -- the other college with the nickname “Hoyas” -- is scoring at 37.3 points per game, and as you would expect, the bulk of the points have come from 3-point range where he has made 128 field goals, four more than from 2-point country.

Close behind at 35 points per game is Peter Martin, a 7-footer from MidAmerica Nazarene, who has scored 242 field goals, one from behind 19-9.

Billy Owens and Alonzo Mourning were the co-captains this summer for the U.S. national team which took the bronze medal at the World Championships in Buenos Aires.

The two met on an American court last week and covered each other for a good portion of the Syracuse-Georgetown game. Owens had a rough shooting night, going 5-for-15 from the field and 1-for-5 from the free throw line for 13 points in the Orangemen’s 58-56 victory at the Capital Centre.

Mourning was making just his second appearance after missing nine of 10 games with a strained arch in his left foot and he only managed nine points on 3-for-9 shooting, although he made his only shot from 3-point range.

“We were both trying a little too hard,” Owens said of the battle of the summer roommates. “We’re both better than that, but we both wanted it so bad. Man, I’m going to hear a lot about that 3-pointer, though.”

Clemson’s Ricky Jones pulled off an impressive academic-athletic doubleheader last month.

On Dec. 20, Jones walked down the aisle and received his diploma and a degree in managament. Soon after the ceremonies were over, he was walking down the aisle of an airplane on the way to Miami, where he became the second half of student-athlete.

The 6-foot-7 forward started that night against Coppin State in the opening round of the Golden Panther Holiday Classic and scored 20 points on 9-for-14 shooting and added three rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot in the Tigers’ 71-70 victory.

In the championship game the next night, he had career-highs of 26 points and 13 rebounds in a 99-89 victory over Florida Atlantic. This time when his name was called, he was handed an MVP trophy.

Wednesday will be the 20th anniversary of UCLA’s 74-61 victory over Cal-Santa Barbara. That was the Bruins’ first win of a record 88 in a row, a streak which would run until Jan. 19, 1974 when a small Catholic school from Indiana beat UCLA 71-70.