The unpredictable skirmishes of conference play were now imminent, but Seton Hall coach P.J. Carlesimo still was not certain what to think. His Pirates had been in everyone`s preseason Top 10, even had been picked in one publication as the next national champ. Yet North Carolina already had routed them and they had failed to develop that temperament associated with his best teams.
Those teams were relentless, pugnacious, as rough as sandpaper and anchored by performers as steady as a metronome. Last year, when Seton Hall lost in the West Regional final to Nevada-Las Vegas, Anthony Avent and Oliver Taylor had filled that anchor`s role. Now they were gone and no one had stepped up to replace them. That is why Carlesimo-even with the Big East wars hard on him-still was not certain what to think and why he said, ”This team is more nutso. This is a much younger team. This is a more emotional team
(than last year`s).
”Anthony and Oliver never said boo. They were blue-collar kids who went to class, came to practice, did their work every day. They were very professional and set the tone. Look back, and we`ve had a lot of that type of kid. Very workmanlike.
”But this team has more of the other type. Some days this team is highly motivated, and other days they look like they`ve never been together. It has more mercurial types. Terry (Dehere, junior guard) can get on a roll and be spectacular. But every once in a while, you look out at him and go, `My, God! What happened to him?` ”
The Hall (to borrow its coach`s vocabulary) is still a bit nutso, but on Sunday, its made-for-TV meeting with Ohio State will be one of the opening acts on the Super Network. Never, back when the sun was shining and this game was created, did anyone expect the Pirates to be struggling along at 10-5 overall, fifth in the Big East at 3-4 and glaringly absent from the national rankings. But that condition is hardly theirs alone.
They, in fact, can be viewed as a fitting metaphor for this convulsive college basketball season that is hiccupping along with all the uncertainty of the economy. Duke and UCLA, Oklahoma State and Indiana, Kansas and Ohio State- those top six teams in the polls are performing consistently. Below them, the situation is about as firm as a lemon meringue pie.
Michigan, for one example, took Duke into overtime before losing, and that propelled the Wolverines into Big 10 play with the aura of a title contender. But now, after five conference games, they are fortunate to have two victories; their five freshmen are looking not-so-fabulous; and the most hyped of them all-Chris Webber-has yet to dive for a loose ball or learn how to move without one.
LSU and Shaquille O`Neal, for another example, exited December with three defeats and looking bereft, then proceeded to lose the only conference game it has played at home. But in the treacherous Southeastern Conference, LSU has won three straight on the road, discovered a needed outside threat in former King star Jamie Brandon (its second leading scorer at 14.5 points per game)
and is beginning to look like a group that will be dangerous come March.
Down the road, in New Orleans, Tulane is ranked for the first time in 43 years in just its third season back in the business of basketball (the school temporarily dropped the sport in 1985). But up in Seton Hall`s neighborhood, Villanova remains unranked even though it shares the Big East lead and owns victories over No. 7 Connecticut and No. 13 Syracuse as well as over the Pirates and Georgetown. But then, in this season of the seesaw, those rankings hardly mean a whole lot, as the opening part of this week clearly showed.
On Monday, No. 22 St. John`s lost by 15 to Seton Hall. On Tuesday, No. 8 Kentucky lost by 22 to unranked Tennessee, and Syracuse lost by 10 to Villanova. On Wednesday, No. 6 Ohio State barely got by unranked Minnesota at home, UConn needed overtime to defeat 8-10 Providence, No. 10 North Carolina lost by 11 to unranked North Carolina State and No. 15 Alabama lost to unranked Mississippi. Toss in No. 16 Michigan`s Tuesday loss to Indiana and No. 17 Oklahoma`s Monday loss to Oklahoma State, and that`s seven of the Top 22 going down in just 72 hours.
”Those are 19- and 20-year-old kids running up and down the court with my paycheck in their mouths,” is what a coach finds himself thinking in moments of great frustration. It is also one good reason for this season of silliness.
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Three starters returned from Seton Hall`s team of a season ago, but that was only one reason the Pirates were regarded so highly in October. They also had a rough-hewn forward named Jerry Walker, ready to graduate from a sixth-man role, and a talented sophomore named Bryan Caver, poised to replace Taylor at the point, and a 7-foot-2-inch, 290-pound center named Luther Wright coming off a Prop 48 year.
The sheer weight of this talent pushed the Pirates up in the rankings, which they continued to grace while cutting through a schedule filled early with cupcakes. They would flounder only against Carolina, the single power team they faced before 1992. That 29-point loss was dismissed as an inexplicable blip, as just one of those nights that befalls many teams somewhere along the way.
Obscured, then, was a youthfulness dangerous to their coach`s paycheck and a lack of experience and cohesion that soon would grow evident. But Wright, whom Carlesimo had predicted would be a force, was struggling mightily, and Caver was having difficulty handling adverse situations in his first season as a starter. (”We protected him from that last year, only played him when things were going well,” says Carlesimo.)
Danny Hurley, Caver`s backup, was only a freshman, and further gnarling the backcourt was Dehere`s lingering wrist injury and absent shooting touch.
(”Put two new point guards with a two guard who`s not shooting well, and your backcourt`s bound to be shaky,” says Carlesimo.)
Arturas Karnishovas, the small forward, was also coming off an injury as the Pirates finally opened conference play at Pitt, where the Panthers beat them by nine. They rebounded to defeat Boston College and Miami, but then set off on a week that fully exposed them as an enigma.
First came a loss at Georgetown, where the traditionally inaccurate Hoyas riddled Seton Hall`s once-proud defense with 49 percent shooting and held the Pirates to 33 percent. Next came an overtime loss to Villanova at home, where Seton Hall blew an 11-point lead by missing 11 of 19 foul shots in the final 4:54 of regulation. Finally, again at home, came a loss to BC in a game that featured point guard Caver taking more shots than any of his teammates.
Only last Monday did the Pirates pull out of this funk with that victory over St. John`s and with a defensive effort that held the Redmen to 35 percent shooting. Still, in this season of uncertainty, it is not surprising to hear Carlesimo say, ”Most of our guys have been like tops.” He also could be speaking for many others on the seesaw.
”Now, can we survive like that? Yes. But I`m hoping we don`t have to go into every game wondering who`s going to be hot,” he says.
”We could be a really good team, but we could go the other way, too. We could be a young team that`s fragile and never gets consistent. I think we have enough here to struggle through that and be consistent by March. But I`m as anxious as everyone else to see what`s going to happen.”
