Krugers relate lessons of the past

Wednesday, March 14, 2007 | 7:21 a.m.

UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger remembers plenty from the 1994 NCAA tournament, when he steered Florida to the Final Four in Charlotte, N.C.

Kevin Kruger, then the 10-year-old son of the Gators' boss, also has fond memories of the crown jewel season of his dad's career.

Now the fifth-year senior floor general of the Rebels, Kevin Kruger can still see Connecticut forward Donyell Marshall missing two late free throws, which allowed the Gators to beat the Huskies in overtime.

"I remember almost losing to James Madison," Kevin Kruger says. "And I remember Pennsylvania had an unbelievably quick guard. I can't remember his name, but I learned a move from him that I still use to this day."

The author was Penn guard Jerome Allen. The move is a simple double maneuver: a jerk one way, then a zip the other.

"It's great," Kevin Kruger says. "If it's done right, it's really effective."

UNLV (28-6) has been very effective this season, thanks to the pair of Krugers. The seventh-seeded Rebels will play 10th-seeded Georgia Tech (20-11) at 9:25 a.m. Friday in the first round of the NCAAs at the United Center in Chicago.

The Rebels haven't won an NCAA tournament game since 1991, when they advanced to the Final Four in Indianapolis before losing to Duke. Since then, UNLV has dropped first-round games in 1998 and 2000.

Lon Kruger's past three NCAA tournament teams, all at Illinois, have won first-round games before losing in the second. He is 11-9 lifetime in college basketball's marquee event.

"The further you go, the distractions slightly increase for players, coaching staff, everyone," says Lon Kruger, slightly smiling. "That's a good problem to have, though."

In his fourth season at Florida, Kruger transformed the moribund program from a Southeastern Conference also-ran into a national contender. He won SEC coach of the year honors when the Gators went 12-4 in the league's East Division.

They were seeded third in the NCAAs and opened the tournament against 14th-seeded James Madison in Long Island, N.Y. Florida squeaked by with a 64-62 victory.

"Went right down to the wire," Kruger says. "Greg Williams hadn't taken, or made, a lot of 3-point shots for us on the year, but he hit one with a few seconds to go. It was critical."

Penn, as an 11 seed, upended sixth-seeded Nebraska on the other side of the bracket. Florida then beat Penn, 70-58, as Kevin Kruger ogled Allen's every jitterbug move.

The Gators moved onto the East Regional semifinals in Miami to play second-seeded Connecticut, and Marshall's errant free-throw attempts allowed Florida to win, 69-60, in overtime.

"I think there were 3.5 seconds left, and he missed both free throws," Lon Kruger says. "That could have been it."

Says Kevin Kruger: "In overtime, Craig Brown hit consecutive 3-pointers to give us a big lead."

Florida then received some good fortune, something that usually helps higher-seeded teams move along in the tournament, when ninth-seeded Boston College beat fifth-seeded Indiana in the other East semifinal.

Lon Kruger points out that Boston College had upended No. 1-seed North Carolina in the second round.

"So we're playing a nine" instead of the top seed in the East Regional final, Lon Kruger says. "That's the nature of the tournament. You look down there and say, 'Oh, gosh, we gotta play Kansas in the next round.'

"It might not be Kansas. It might be the upset winner. That's what happened for us in that particular game. But it was a real good game with BC. Went down to the wire."

Florida won, 74-66, to advance to the Final Four and play Duke in Charlotte.

"BC had Howard Eisley," Kevin Kruger says. "We were up three, and he dribbled downcourt and tripped over his own feet at midcourt (and) lost the ball. That sealed the game for us."

The Blue Devils defeated the Gators, 70-65, and then lost to Arkansas for the national championship.

To this day, Kevin Kruger sees the official who called Florida guard Dan Cross for a late charge that - well, he doesn't want to say much more than that.

"He," Kevin Kruger says, nodding back at his father who was being interviewed at the Thomas & Mack Center, "would get mad at me" for being critical of a ref."

Lon Kruger expects the tournament games to become more physical. Each possession, he says, must be played with more significance.

"But you're always after that," he says, "a more physical game."

Kevin Kruger says it's just another game, even though it obviously isn't.

"You can get distracted," he says. "We're looking at it like a four-team tournament. In our bracket, we have Georgia Tech, Wisconsin and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Each weekend, we have to win a four-team tournament."

Win two of those mini-tournaments, and Lon Kruger will return to the peak he scaled in 1994.