No. 1 seed Stanford aims to avoid another upset

Steve Addy

Thursday, March 15, 2001 | 10:29 a.m.

SAN DIEGO -- We'll find out today if top-ranked Stanford has really learned its lesson.

The Cardinal has been upset in the second round of the last two NCAA Tournaments, falling as a second seed to Gonzaga in 1999 and as a No. 1 seed last year against North Carolina.

So when Stanford tips off against No. 16 UNC-Greensboro this afternoon at Cox Arena, there will be many nervous fans and observers wondering if it could happen again, this time in the first round.

It would require an unprecedented upset, because no top seed has ever been beaten by a No. 16.

But you have to credit Stanford coach Mike Montgomery for facing the possibility head-on. There is a giant target on the Cardinal's back.

"We have not done very well in the tournament the last couple of years, so I sincerely hope we wouldn't look past anyone," Montgomery said Wednesday. "(Our players) know that if you don't play well, you're going to get bounced.

"There's no rule that a No. 16 seed can't beat a No. 1 seed. I believe there are a lot of good teams around the country. The upsets that people talk about are based more on an arbitrary (seeding) number in front of a team's name."

Senior forward Ryan Mendez promised that the Cardinal won't underestimate UNC-Greensboro.

"How can we overlook anyone when we've lost two straight years in the second round?" he said. "Every team earned the right to be in the tournament. If they didn't know how to make plays down the stretch, they wouldn't be here. We're not overlooking anyone."

Of course, that's what Stanford said last year.

They have been friends since coaching against each other in the Ohio Valley Conference (Huggins at Akron, Good at Eastern Kentucky) from 1984-89. Good's first game as Rebels coach was a 90-72 loss to Cincinnati on Dec. 16, when Huggins tried hard not to run up the score.

"Max is very qualified. (AD) Charlie (Cavagnaro) will have to decide whether he deserves the job or not," Huggins said. "(UNLV's) fans are used to guys playing hard and playing fast, and Max has a great knack for coaching that style."

Incidentally, Huggins said he isn't interested in the job.

"Nah, I'm retiring," he joked.

Pat Knight claimed on a San Francisco-based radio show that Davis "backstabbed" his father by accepting the interim job.

"I have been called worse than that," Davis said with a laugh. "People can say what they want about me. It's no problem. I know who I am. Being the head basketball coach at Indiana does not define Mike Davis. I'm not going to be distracted by anything people are saying about me."

But hopefully you got a chance to see St. Joseph's junior guard Marvin O'Connor, an Atlantic 10 first-team choice, and point guard Jameer Nelson, who led the A-10 in assists and was Sports Illustrated's national freshman of the year.

O'Connor averaged 25.5 points in his last eight games and played one of the greatest minutes of any player all season. He scored 18 points in the final 59.8 seconds of a 91-90 loss to LaSalle in the regular-season finale, compiling three 3-pointers, two layups and five free throws.

"This will be a chance for me and our team to get some national exposure," said O'Connor, who transferred from Villanova in 1998. "It's kind of unfair. All we hear is North Carolina and Duke, but there are other schools out there."

St. Joe's has been in the NCAA Tournament 16 times, but this was the Hawks' first at-large bid. Coach Phil Martelli said he will play a home-and-home series with Utah for the next two years.