COLLEGE BASKETBALL : Sure, <i> Now</i> Richardson Knows the Secret to Beating UNLV

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. —  Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson remains convinced that the Razorbacks can beat No. 1 Nevada Las Vegas. Richardson told his team that very thing after Sunday’s seven-point loss to the Rebels.

“I’d be willing to bet you that if you can get back to playing them again, it will be a different ballgame,” he said.

Richardson’s reasons:

--UNLV’s bench remains highly suspect.

“That’s their weak spot,” he said, “and we could not take advantage of it. I couldn’t make (UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian) use his bench.”

Point guard Greg Anthony played all 40 minutes. Stacey Augmon played 39. Anderson Hunt played 37. Larry Johnson played 36 and George Ackles played 31. UNLV reserves Elmore Spencer and Evric Gray played 17 minutes and were mostly ineffective.

“It’s a good thing (UNLV) doesn’t play for two or three days,” Richardson said earlier this week. “They were put through the wringer.”

--Las Vegas has no answer for Arkansas center Oliver Miller.

“If we could have gotten Oliver the ball, he could have scored 40 (points),” Richardson said.

--UNLV can be flustered.

“They have never been harassed like that before,” Richardson said. “They weren’t sure they could beat us there for a while in the first half.”

Richardson said he also learned that UNLV had a much more difficult time breaking Arkansas’ press when Hunt, not Anthony, was forced to dribble the ball.

Now, back to reality. While Richardson’s arguments are valid, UNLV did beat the Razorbacks convincingly at Arkansas’ Barnhill Arena. The Rebels forced 23 turnovers and led by as many as 23 points before slipping it into cruise control late in the second half.

We still think Arkansas has the best lineup to defeat UNLV, but that doesn’t mean it will happen. Even Richardson knows Las Vegas is a special team.

“I didn’t learn anything (from the loss) I didn’t already know,” he said. “They should still be ranked second in the country . . . in the NBA.”

Of the seven regular-season games left on the UNLV schedule, only 12th-ranked New Mexico State is given a legitimate chance to beat Vegas. The Aggies, who play UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday and in Las Cruces on Feb. 25, beat the Rebels, 83-82, last year at home.

“I’ve read those articles, too,” Aggie Coach Neil McCarthy said. “They say we’re the last challenge in the world of basketball prior to the Final Four for the Runnin’ Rebs. They always mention Feb. 25. They don’t mention the game up there (in Las Vegas). That’s supposed to be a total given. We’ll see about that.”

McCarthy paused.

“He said, matter of factly, ‘We’ll see about that.’ Not, he said, with great confidence, ‘We’ll see about that.’

“Anyhow, I don’t think the kids’ heads can get too inflated. We were flying back from Los Angeles (Tuesday) and the stewardess usually announces that the New Mexico State Aggies, the whatever-ranked team in the nation, are on board. (Tuesday) she announced, ‘We’ve got the New Mexico State basketball team, and they’re 12th ranked in the state of New Mexico.’ The players got quite a chuckle out of that. We’re still working on a slight identity problem.”

His Texas team has 10 consecutive victories and is ranked for the first time since mid-December and yet, Tom Penders’ most memorable coaching move involves a tape recorder.

Minutes before last week’s game at Baylor, Penders told a Texas assistant sports information director to quickly teach the team’s bus driver, who was seated near the Longhorn bench, how to operate the recorder. Penders, upset with Baylor’s decision to allow its students to sit directly behind the bench, wanted a taped account of any verbal abuse. He got it, too.

According to Steve Ross, the Texas assistant sports information director who attended the game, Baylor students could be heard reminding each other of Penders’ wife’s name, Susie. “They had a (Texas) brochure and were going through it for personal stuff,” Ross said.

After Texas beat Baylor, the students began chanting sexually explicit remarks at her. Not surprisingly, Penders filed a protest with the Southwest Conference. Adding to controversy was a claim by Skip Cox, Baylor’s assistant athletic director, who said he heard nothing to justify Penders’ report.

On Monday, five days after the incident, Baylor Athletic Director Bill Menefee issued a formal apology. He also restricted Baylor students from sitting behind the visiting team’s bench and ordered baseline seats located near Baylor opponents to be removed.

Baylor is 0-6 in conference play at home. Fitting.

Counting the days until this season ends and next one begins is first-year Miami Coach Leonard Hamilton, whose 7-17 Hurricanes are a far cry from the Oklahoma State team he left. Back in Still-water, the Cowboys are 17-5 and ranked No. 21 under Eddie Sutton.

“I watch them five minutes here, five minutes there,” Hamilton said. “I always watch the scores. Coach Sutton has done a wonderful job with them. I’m happy for them. I recognize the situation I’m in now. I’m fine. I know the future here is going to be bright.”

Hamilton can say these things because next year Miami joins the Big East. By doing so, Hamilton’s program reaps the following benefits:

--His recruiting base is immediately expanded and his drawing power for in-state players increases.

--In anticipation of the Big East announcement, season-ticket sales were up 107% compared to last year, from 1,757 to 3,630. Miami officials expect the numbers to increase.

--As support for his program grows, an on-campus arena becomes more of a possibility. The Hurricanes play in the 15,000-seat Miami Arena.

--The Big East television package will provide the Hurricanes with much-needed exposure.

--No longer will Hamilton’s program depend solely on the financial success of the football team.

“I think it’s going to make a world of difference,” Hamilton said. “It puts you in a situation where you have an equal opportunity. Right now, we’re proud of the progress we’ve made.”

To prove the point, Miami recently received a verbal commitment from Ochiel Swaby, a 6-foot-7 North Miami High forward who is averaging about 50 points.

Perhaps as some form of punishment, Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps had his team wear those Kryptonite-green uniforms in a recent game against Syracuse. As usual, the Irish lost (Billy Owens’ short jump shot with about five seconds remaining was the killer), but the memory of those uniforms will live forever.

“I thought we all looked like E.T.,” Notre Dame’s Daimon Sweet said to the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune.

Monty Williams, whose Irish career ended earlier this season when doctors discovered an enlarged heart wall, suggested the uniforms were useful “just in case we had to play in the dark.”

The uniforms were a gift from a sporting goods company that wanted to test market the color on some unsuspecting team. Phelps, who has done this sort of thing before, agreed to give them a try.

Last Saturday, with No. 7-ranked Syracuse in South Bend, Phelps had his equipment managers issue the usual home white uniforms to the team. But when the Irish returned from warm-ups, the fluorescent green uniforms were hanging in each player’s locker.

Had Phelps been a sport about it, he would have worn a lime-green suit. As is, the Irish now have white, gold, kelly green, navy blue and neon green uniforms available for use. Now all Notre Dame needs is a winning record, something that isn’t going to happen this season.

Don’t be surprised if the Southwest Conference forms some kind of alliance with the Big East or Big Eight. Concerned that its national reputation is slipping, the SWC is considering a plan that would feature games between its members and those of the basketball-rich Big Eight or Big East.

As it stands now, the SWC has only two sure bets to receive NCAA tournament invitations: Arkansas, which joins the Southeastern Conference next year, and Texas. Houston and Texas Christian are NCAA possibilities. . . .

When the Big East-ACC Challenge returns next season, a likely and logical pairing will be Big East newcomer Miami vs. ACC newcomer Florida State.

Sad fact: After numerous threats against him and his pregnant wife, Marco Lokar announced Wednesday that he is quitting the Seton Hall basketball team and returning to his native Italy. Lokar’s supposed sin: He declined to wear an American flag patch on his uniform in support of U.S. armed forces in the Persian Gulf.

Comment: This is the problem with making college athletes walking billboards for America. Lokar was threatened and ridiculed for exercising a moral freedom of choice. He was no star. Lokar played in 16 games and averaged 3.1 points. But he, as well as all players, should have the right to disagree when politics makes an appearance on a game uniform.

Our top 10: 1) UNLV, 2) Arkansas, 3) Ohio State, 4) Indiana, 5) Duke, 6) Syracuse, 7) North Carolina, 8) Arizona, 9) Southern Mississippi, 10) Kansas.

Our waiting list: New Mexico State, Texas, Utah, Kentucky, St. John’s, Alabama.