Columnist Steve Carp: Utah, Xavier hit stride after stumbling early

Steve Carp

Friday, Jan. 29, 1999 | 10:18 a.m.

Steve Carp's college basketball notebook appears Friday. Reach him at carp@lasvegassun.com or 259-4087.

After struggling early, two of the nation's better programs have righted themselves and are deserving of being back in the spotlight.

Oh, you forgot about Utah and Xavier, didn't you?

Back in November and early December, the Utes and Musketeers, members of the preseason top 25, were trying to sort things out. Rick Majerus was reloading in Salt Lake City and Skip Prosser was doing the same in downtown Cincinnati.

But now it is the end of January and both teams are starting to hit their stride.

Utah is arguably the best team in the WAC right now with an unblemished 5-0 mark in the Pacific Division and a 15-4 overall record. Xavier is a perfect 7-0 in the Atlantic 10's West Division and 15-5 overall after falling 87-77 Thursday night to No. 5 Cincinnati.

When Utah gained the services of Tony Harvey in December after he sat out the first nine games for academic and disciplinary reasons, it made a huge impact. Suddenly, the Utes were more athletic and had someone other than Andre Miller who could make plays on his own, if necessary.

Not coincidentally, Utah is undefeated with Harvey in the lineup. The Utes have won 10 straight going into Saturday's game at Texas-El Paso.

"He's giving us scoring and also a defensive lift," Majerus said of Harvey, who is averaging just under 10 points coming off the bench and is coming off a career-best 19-point effort in Monday's 87-74 win over Fresno State. "What Harvey gives us is another sub."

Majerus really is pleased with the way the team's chemistry has evolved over the past month. Remember, this was a team that lost two key starters in center Michael Doleac and off-guard Drew Hansen while also losing two key backups -- Britton Johnsen and Trace Caton -- to Mormon missions.

"We're starting to jell," Majerus said. "I ask our guys to play two positions and they're working well together. I think we're playing good defense and we're doing a nice job of blending at the defensive end.

"I like the direction the team is moving in right now. We're sharing the ball and playing good basketball."

Xavier can attribute its turnaround to three seniors -- James Posey, Gary Lumpkin and Lenny Brown -- all of whom are playing some of their best ball while providing much-needed leadership.

Where things got away from the Musketeers was in Puerto Rico over Thanksgiving when they lost to Pittsburgh and San Francisco back-to-back, then lost to Purdue and Toledo two weeks later to stand 5-4.

Since then, the seniors have taken charge, the team has responded and Xavier was riding a gaudy 10-game win streak into Thursday's 'Crosstown Shootout' against UC.

Brown's averaging 17 points a game, Posey's averaging 15.2 points and 9.6 rebounds and Lumpkin is averaging 11.8 points and 3.4 assists.

But Xavier also is getting contributions from some of its younger players. Sophomore Maurice McAfee had 16 against Virginia Tech and freshman Lloyd Price had 13.

"I talked to Rick when we were 5-4 and we talked about our clubs," Prosser said. "In our situations, people underestimated our senior losses. We lost Darnell Williams, who was our leading scorer, with an injury. But our younger players have gotten experience and our other seniors have stepped up their leadership."

Keep an eye on Utah and Xavier in the coming weeks. Both are hitting their stride and both coaches believe their best basketball still is to come. And look for them to be back in the polls come Monday.

* GREAT RIVALRY: How big was the Crosstown Shootout?

"I knew it was a big game when the priest talked about it in Mass," Prosser said. "He talked about how we won the last two games and it would be a tribute to the Holy Trinity if we could do it again."

The game, played at UC's Shoemaker Center, was a hot ticket, especially for Xavier fans. The school was allotted only 150, with the players, coaches and school officials getting the entire cache. That meant XU students were on their own, and none too happy about it.

* THE ANTI-700 CLUB: San Jose State's Phil Johnson has the Spartans playing better-than-.500 ball in late January (10-9 after defeating Hawaii 70-55 Thursday night), which might be enough to get WAC Coach of the Year honors, considering SJS was a blight on the conference a year ago at 3-23.

But no matter what happens the rest of the way, Johnson can always tell about the year he beat both Jerry Tarkanian and Don Haskins, each with more than 700 Division I wins, within nine days. The Spartans beat Fresno State Jan. 9, then won in overtime against UTEP on the 16th.

* NO ASTERISK REQUIRED: While some are downgrading UNLV's 95-88 overtime win over Lee Nailon-less TCU last Saturday, Tulsa coach Bill Self wasn't ready to hand back his team's 72-62 win over the Horned Frogs Monday.

Nailon was forced to sit in the stands at the Reynolds Center as the WAC upheld his one-game suspension, the result of Nailon punching the Rebels' Mark Dickel 34 seconds into the game.

"We're not going to give it back or put an asterisk next to it," Self said of the win, which improved the Golden Hurricane to 16-5 overall, 4-2 in the Mountain Division. "Nailon's a good player, no doubt about it. But teams have to play all the time with guys injured or sitting out for one reason or another.

"Is TCU a better team with him? No doubt about it. But I don't think you should take it away from our guys either."

* THE FRAUD FIVE: As promised, both Tennessee and Massachusetts returned to the nest after trying to tell the world they were legit. UMass' loss to Fordham Tuesday and Tennessee's loss to Florida proves that neither should be forgotten when it comes to being fraudulent.

And for the Volunteer fans who point to the Gators being a top-25 team, the reply here is, "If you're as good as you say you are, how come you can't beat a ranked team?"

Here's this week's bogus bunch:

1. New Mexico (16-4) -- Road-kill Lobos better not get caught looking ahead to Utah Monday.

2. Massachusetts (9-10) -- Maybe that win over Kansas was a fluke after all.

3. South Florida (9-8) -- What happened to all of Seth Greenberg's talent?

4. Tennessee (13-5) -- Welcome back, Jerry. We missed you.

5. Washington (11-7) -- Huskies continue to bark up wrong tree.

* HOOP DU JOUR: While everyone in the Big 12 was talking about Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma State, Nebraska has sneaked up on the field by winning five in a row, including Wednesday's 84-69 rout of the fading Jayhawks. Senior center Venson Hamilton posted his 10th double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds against Kansas. ... The WAC has been stuck at No. 11 in the RPI conference ratings virtually all season. But the Mid-American Conference has flip-flopped spots with the WAC, as the MAC is No. 11 with the WAC at No. 10. ... Usually, Super Bowl Sunday produces some pretty good college hoop matchups for TV. Not this year, though UCLA-Washington at 12:30 p.m. on Channel 13 might be interesting.