WAC teams face big challenges

Steve Carp

Monday, March 8, 1999 | 10:05 a.m.

While Utah's Rick Majerus was basking in the glow Sunday of his team's Western Athletic Conference championship, the NCAA Tournament selection committee was rewarding the Utes' school-record 22-game winning streak by making them a No. 2 seed.

That would've been fine with Majerus. Except his team happens to be the second seed in arguably the toughest of the four regionals. Utah, 27-4, is the No. 2 in the Midwest, a region that includes six major conference tournament champions, including Kentucky, Kansas, Rhode Island, North Carolina-Charlotte and Michigan State.

The Utes will travel to New Orleans and will meet No. 14 Arkansas State in the first round Friday.

"We felt Utah had played their way into the No. 2 seed with their record and their streak," committee chairman C.M. Newton said after the pairings were announced Sunday.

The WAC did get three teams into the Big Dance, with Tulsa and New Mexico joining Utah in the field of 64, which begins play Thursday. And while the Golden Hurricane and Lobos got at-large bids, those bids came with a high price tag.

New Mexico stayed in the West, but it was seeded No. 9 and faces a tough opening-round contest Thursday in Denver against eighth-seeded Missouri. Should the Lobos survive that one, they'll likely have to go against Connecticut, the No. 1 seed, come Saturday. The Huskies drew Texas-San Antonio for their opener at McNichols Sports Arena.

Tulsa's task may be even more daunting. Bill Self's team also drew a No. 9 seed, but they were shipped to the East region and will have to face the College of Charleston in their opener Friday.

Should Tulsa survive, it would have earned the right to face Duke, the nation's top-ranked team and the No. 1 seed in the East. And in Charlotte, N.C., no less.

"We deserved a three for sure, maybe a two," Majerus said prior to Sunday's announcement of this year's field. "The record speaks for itself."

It also speaks to a possible rematch with Kentucky, Utah's nemesis of the '90s. The Wildcats are the No. 3 seed and will play Big West champ New Mexico State. Should Utah and Kentucky move on, they would square off in the regional semifinals March 19 at St. Louis.

Utah and Kentucky have met four times in the NCAAs over the last six years and the Utes have lost all four.

But first, the Utes would have to get past a difficult second-round matchup against either Washington, with 7-foot senior center Todd McCullough, or Miami, Ohio and its All-America forward Wally Szczerbiak.

Tulsa, which brings a 22-9 mark into its opener with Charleston, knows its work is cut out for it.

"I honestly thought they deserved a better seed than eight," Self said of 28-2 Charleston, which went undefeated in winning the Southern Conference. "They're a very good team which is playing really well right now.

"I saw them on television earlier this season and they really get after you. They're a very quick and athletic team."

This will be Tulsa's fifth trip in six years to the NCAAs. The last time TU was there, in 1997, it beat Boston University, then lost to Clemson in the second round.

New Mexico, which was awarded an at-large bid despite a poor power ranking, will meet Missouri for the first time. However, coach Dave Bliss is an old adversary of Mizzou's Norm Stewart, having done battle many times with Stewart when Bliss was at Oklahoma.