Attacks change face of college hoops

Steve Addy

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2001 | 10:04 a.m.

DENVER -- After their summer dormancy, college basketball teams return to the practice court Saturday. But they'll be coming back under tragically different circumstances than the last time they played.

Four weeks after the terrorist attacks on the nation, and amid the ongoing U.S. military response, coaches might also have to serve as counselors and teachers to their players in the days ahead.

Some players will be distracted, at the least, if not experiencing fear and foreboding. Concentration on passing drills and defensive technique might be slow coming.

Certainly, all parties will have a drastically altered view of basketball's significance in the grand scheme of things.

"If you don't have a somewhat different approach to things since Sept. 11, you're probably not paying too close attention," UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour said Tuesday at Mountain West Conference media day.

"It's obvious that real life is what it's all about. The tragedy affects all of us. It's a different world than the one we started with," he said.

"I'm not going to sit down and give our players a history lesson, but we'll talk about different things and proper prospective. What we're doing in basketball is a wonderful opportunity. But it's not the most significant thing in life."

Many MWC coaches said they will discuss the events with their players. Some have already done so informally.

New Mexico coach Fran Fraschilla, a Brooklyn native to his core, is dealing with the sorrow in a way too common to many New Yorkers.

Jimmy Quinn, one of Fraschilla's student managers at Manhattan College in 1994-95, died in the World Trade Center, where he worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, a securities brokerage that lost more than 700 employees.

"He was from my neighborhood in Brooklyn. I was sort of the reason he went to Manhattan College," Fraschilla said. "I talked to his mom last week.

"Everyone from New York or New Jersey I've spoken with in the past four weeks knew somebody in the building who either got out or didn't get out. I have two assistants (Joe Dooley and Darren Savino) from New Jersey, and (guard) Eric Chatfield is from New York, so it really hits home for us."

Fraschilla said the team will discuss the tragedies openly.

"We'll talk about it, because I want them to understand there's a lot more important things than basketball," he said. "I think we've all changed, especially those of us who travel a lot.

"Getting on that first flight, the Sunday after the attack, I was much more aware. I looked around (the plane) and thought if somebody jumps out of their seat, what will I do?"

Wyoming coach Steve McLain said his team will likely take charter flights all season, mainly to avoid long delays at airports, not out of fear of terrorist acts.

"I think you have to address it, because it affects everybody's life," McLain said. "But I kind of live by this: I don't fear anything that I can't control, and I think our players are like that. I don't think you can live in fear. We're not a society that likes to live that way."

San Diego State coach Steve Fisher was at the airport in San Diego, waiting to board a flight to Newark, when the hijackings occurred.

"I went home and met with some of our players," Fisher said. "As coaches, I think that's part of what we're here for. None of us wants to live in absolute fear, but one must also be aware that this world is different than it was a month ago."

Spoonhour hopes his team will be able to put aside the outside world when it's on the court. He feels basketball could serve as an oasis for his players.

"They might be distracted," he said. "But once you're on the floor, practicing or playing, you have a period of time where you're busy thinking about (basketball). Then you've got the rest of the day for real life."