Tulsa hot over seeding snub

Steve Addy

Tuesday, March 14, 2000 | 10:21 a.m.

Even before suiting up against UNLV on Friday, Tulsa has received its biggest break of the NCAA Tournament. Jerry Tarkanian and his Fresno State team will be thousands of miles away.

You can't blame the Golden Hurricane for wanting to avoid Fresno State in the postseason. The Hurricane's 29 wins tied Iowa State for the most in college basketball this season, but three of the team's four losses were to Tark's team, most recently in last weekend's WAC championship game.

In case you're wondering, if the two were to meet again, it would be for the NCAA championship, because Fresno is playing in the West Regional at Salt Lake City, and seventh-ranked Tulsa will be in the South to meet the 10th-seeded Rebels (23-7) at noon Friday at Nashville, Tenn.

But despite being shipped far away from its regular-season nemesis, Tulsa is not at all pleased with the NCAA selection committee. The Hurricane believed that its win total would make them a top-four seed.

"I am not excited to be a No. 7 seed, but I think our players seem to perform better when they have something to prove," said Tulsa coach Bill Self, who has prodded the club to a 71-26 mark in three seasons. "We have a team that has fought for respect all year long. We'll continue to fight for it."

The Hurricane has lost to Fresno State by two, one and three points, and its only other loss was a 60-59 setback at Oral Roberts on Dec. 11.

"We won 29 games, tied for the most wins in America, and all of our losses are last-possession losses," Self said. "I wouldn't think you'd have to go 31-2 to get a No. 4 seed, but that may be the case."

Tulsa senior guard Tony Heard said, "I was shocked at our seeding -- I thought we'd be higher. But now we have to roll with it and play hard. We'll have to go out and earn respect. Sometimes you have to look at it with a philosophy of us against the world."

"We knew we were going to get in, but our placement was disappointing," senior center Brandon Kurtz said. "But that's even more motivation for us."

Extra motivation is handy, but the No. 7 seed gives the Hurricane a dicier first-round matchup. UNLV finished strong with seven straight wins to claim a No. 10 seed, and the Rebels might have at least a slim psychological edge because they beat Tulsa twice in the WAC last season. In the tournament, 7 vs. 10 games are fertile upset territory.

"UNLV is a very hot team right now," Self said. "They're not the kind of team you want to be playing. I think our game will be one of the better first-round matchups. It's a coin-flip game.

"They've still got (Mark) Dickel, and he's really improved his shooting. (Kaspars) Kambala has come back nicely (from last year's season-ending knee injury) and I like the way (Trevor) Diggs shoots the ball. And that freshman (Dalron Johnson), he's a player."

Because the Hurricane like to push the offensive tempo like UNLV, the chances of a high-scoring shootout are good. That is why Rebels coach Bill Bayno plans to stress defense this week. Tulsa has terrific balance on offense, with six scorers averaging between 13.8 and 9.6 points.

"They go inside-out with Kurtz, (guard Greg) Harrington and (forward Eric) Coley. We've got to focus on those three guys and be ready for anything they throw at us," Bayno said. "We really have to stick with what got us here.

"I think their problems with Fresno State were strictly due to matchups. Hopefully we can give them some matchup problems, too."

* REBEL NOTES: After failing to be voted to the all-Mountain West first team, Dickel was the only MWC player represented on the AP All-America team Monday, gaining honorable mention. Coley of Tulsa was also honorable mention. ...

The Rebels received four votes in the final AP top 25 poll, one in the ESPN-USA Today poll. Tulsa finished 18th in the AP poll. ...

Rather than practice Monday, the Rebels had a meeting to discuss tournament procedures, and Bayno also spoke of the NCAA investigation into the program. A preliminary ruling could come today. ...

Here is a potential distraction for Tulsa. Self is being mentioned as a candidate for the Nebraska head coaching job after Monday's firing of longtime coach Danny Nee.