Postseason a tale of two tournaments for 2 locals

Adam Candee

Thursday, March 20, 2003 | 9:18 a.m.

The frigid obscurity of a 7-22 redshirt freshman season at Wisconsin-Milwaukee does not begin to measure up to the burning spotlight of starting at point guard for Tennessee from your first day on campus.

Five years of paying dues in vapid eastern Wisconsin paid off for Las Vegas High graduate Ronnie Jones last week, though, when he received some special footwear after his Panthers (24-7) won the Horizon League title and its automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

"We've got our dancing shoes on and we've finally got a chance to get in there and dance," Jones, a 1998 Las Vegas alumnus, said this week.

For former Sun All-State player of the year C.J. Watson, however, the rainbow of a standout freshman season in the Southeastern Conference ended with an empty pot when Tennessee did not see its name pop up on Sunday's tournament selection show. The Volunteers instead took the consolation prize of a bid to the National Invitation Tournament.

"It was kind of disappointing that we didn't get in, but life goes on," Watson, a 2002 graduate of Bishop Gorman, said Monday.

For Jones, it goes tonight in Indianapolis, when 12th-seeded UWM -- a trendy office pool upset pick -- faces fifth-seeded Notre Dame in the opening round. The Panthers upended favored Butler (which still received an at-large bid to the NCAAs) in the Horizon League final in Milwaukee, in front of a crowd of 10,115.

Combine that large crowd with earlier games against powerful Wisconsin, Georgia, and Southern Illinois, and Jones said the Panthers will not be intimidated.

"We look at Notre Dame as just being a taller Butler," Jones said.

Jones scored 16 points in the Horizon title game win, a vindicating outing for a player who went from a freshman sensation to a sophomore benchwarmer, and back to a standout performer in his final two seasons.

Brought to UWM by Ric Cobb, Jones said he never became comfortable with his second head coach, Bo Ryan, and a more restrictive offense.

"It was hard because I felt like I should have been playing more than I was," Jones said. "My teammates all kept confidence in me and I had to get confidence in myself."

When Ryan left to take the head job at Wisconsin, Jones returned to a starting role as a junior and earned second-team All-Horizon honors under current coach Bruce Pearl. Jones averaged 10.6 points and 3.1 rebounds as a senior, receiving no individual awards but savoring the biggest team honor a mid-major school can earn.

"We're getting a lot of attention and a lot of exposure," Jones said of UWM's berth in the NCAA tournament. "It's just been really good for our school to put them on the map."

No one needs to point out SEC power Tennessee on the college sporting landscape, but Watson said the high-profile Volunteers knew they would not receive an NCAA bid when they saw SEC mates Alabama (17-11) and Auburn (20-11) get in as at-large teams.

Tennessee went 1-2 against those bubble teams, including a 66-53 loss to the Tigers in the SEC tournament. Quality wins against Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi State were not enough for Tennessee.

"It was just out of our hands," Watson said. "There was nothing we could do about it."

What Tennessee could control, it did not Tuesday night in Knoxville. The Volunteers dropped a 70-60 decision to Georgetown in their first-round NIT contest. Watson scored 10 points, but also committed five turnovers.

"We had way too many turnovers in the game," Tennessee coach Buzz Peterson said. "It reminded me of the way we were playing in November. C.J. Watson usually takes better care of the ball than he did tonight."

Judging by Watson's selection to the SEC All-Freshman Team, the rest of the conference agreed with Peterson's assessment of his point guard's strong year. Watson averaged nine points, and ranked at the top of the SEC with 5.6 assists per game.