A is for Acie Law IV, the Texas A&M guard who has gained renown as one of the nation’s best clutch performers. In the last four minutes of Big 12 games this season, he averaged 6.9 points and shot 66 percent, 73 percent on his threes and 84 percent from the free-throw line.
B is for Back From The Dead. Is there any better way to describe former Bulls pariah Tim Floyd, who has resurrected USC in just his second year at the school?
C is for Cameroon, the newest hoops hotbed. It is not only the birthplace of UCLA forwards Alfred Aboya and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Yannick Noah, the father of Florida’s Joakim, is also of Cameroonian (and French) decent.
D is for Derrick Byars, the 6-foot-7-inch Vanderbilt swingman who might be the least-known star left in the tourney. After he led the Commodores in scoring in the regular season (16.8 per game), the SEC coaches selected him–and not one of Florida’s many stars–as the league’s player of the year.
E is for Egypt, which is where the Saluki was a revered hunting dog as far back as 3600 B.C. Southern Illinois, located in the part of the state known as Egypt, adopted it as its mascot in 1951. Until then, the school’s teams had been known as the Maroons.
F is for Four, which is the number of different schools UNLV’s Lon Kruger has guided to the tournament. The others were Kansas State, Florida and Illinois. Lefty Driesell, Jim Harrick, Rick Pitino and Eddie Sutton are the only other coaches in history to take that many schools.
G is for Gibson & Gray, which is not a law firm. The 6-9 Taj Gibson, a freshman, is USC’s only true inside presence and must play well for it to succeed. The 7-foot Aaron Gray, a senior, is just the second 7-footer to play for Pitt and is equally important to its success.
H is for Height, which Georgetown possesses in abundance. The biggest of the Hoyas is 7-2 Roy Hibbert, an imposing stopper even though he is still a work in progress. But also averaging at least 10 minutes per game are 6-10 Patrick Ewing Jr., 6-9 Jeff Green, 6-9 Vernon Macklin and 6-8 DaJuan Summers. Green, by the way, is a budding star.
I is for Iron Man, which is an appellation tailor-made for Oregon point Aaron Brooks. The 6-foot senior averaged 37.2 minutes overall during the regular season and, in Pac-10 games, nearly 39.
J is for Julian Wright, the Homewood-Flossmoor grad and Kansas forward. The 6-8 sophomore is not only the most versatile Jayhawk, he is also a bowling nut who spends many free hours rolling games alone.
K is for Kentucky, the state where Tennessee guard and leading scorer (20.6 in the regular season) Chris Lofton was born. In his hometown of Maysville, says the school’s media guide, “His popularity … is rivaled only by fellow Maysville-area natives the Clooneys (George and Rosemary) and Miss America 2000 (Heather French).”
L is for Lithuania, the birthplace of 6-10 Texas A&M forward Antanas Kavaliauskas. He is not as heralded as Law, but he is both capable, which makes the Aggies potent, and capable of disappearing, which makes the Aggies vulnerable and the reason he is one of their keys.
M is for Money, which doesn’t always talk and here’s the proof. Butler’s 2006 athletic budget, $9,603,605, ranked 194th among the 330 teams playing Division I basketball. That same budget for Florida, whom the Bulldogs face Friday, was $78,177,776 and ranked fourth. Ohio State led the way with a budget of $101,804,848.
N is for Nonstop, which is the way North Carolina likes to play. The Tar Heels go deep, with 10 players averaging 10 minutes or more. They try to drain opponents by continually confronting them with fresh bodies and, in point Ty Lawson, have one of the nation’s fastest players from foul line to foul line.
O is for Offsprings of Famous Fathers, who are all over this tournament. UNLV guard Kevin Kruger is the son of his coach. Ohio State point Mike Conley Jr. is the son of former triple-jumper Mike Sr., who won the gold medal in that event at the 1992 Olympics. Georgetown’s Ewing Jr. is the son of former Knicks star Patrick Sr. Then there’s Florida, where Noah’s dad Yannick was the 1983 French Open champ, Al Horford’s dad Tito was an NBA journeyman and Taurean Green’s dad Sidney was the Bulls’ first-round pick in 1983.
P is for Power Guard, which is the position UNLV’s 6-6 Wendell White insists he plays. He made that clear Sunday after the Rebs upset Wisconsin, declaring then: “I’m not a three (small forward).” Whatever.
Q is for Quintet, which is what Oregon’s accomplished three-point shooters comprise. The Ducks’ bombers, and their three-point shooting percentages, are Tajuan Porter (43.7), Malik Hairston (41.3), Maarty Leunen (41.2), Aaron Brooks (40.4) and Bryce Taylor (38.4).
R is for Reunion, which will take place Thursday when UCLA plays Pitt. Bruins coach Ben Howland guided the Panthers before moving west and one of his proteges there was Jamie Dixon, who now guides them.
S is for Staying Put, which is what UCLA guard Arron Afflalo did. See, he entered this world at the UCLA Medical Center.
T is for Twenty-One, which is the number of times North Carolina has advanced to the round of 16. That is the most by any school, the Tar Heels this year breaking a tie at 20 they shared with Kentucky.
U is for Unknown, which is an adjective that can be applied to Memphis. Despite its glittering record (32-3), it compiled most of those wins in mediocre Conference USA and then advanced with victories over a hapless 15th seed (North Texas) and a midmajor (Nevada) (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text). No one is quite sure how good the Tigers really are.
V is for Very Carefully, which is the way Butler takes care of the ball. Since this is that time of year when coaches say every possession counts, it is significant that the Bulldogs ended the regular season as the only team in the country averaging less than 10 turnovers.
W is for Wink Adams, the UNLV guard who sat out the last portion of the Rebs’ Sunday win after getting mugged by Wisconsin’s Greg Stiemsma. He’s a blur and his return is crucial to his team’s chances.
X is for the ever-popular X Factor, an award that this March goes to Kansas guard and Crane grad Sherron Collins. He can be blindingly spectacular or staggeringly ineffective.
Y is for Young, the surname of USC forward Nick. The Trojans’ leading scorer (17.5), many thought he should have won the Pac-10 player of the year award that went to crosstown rival Afflalo.
Z is for Zooms, which is the way UCLA point Darren Collison moves about the court. No wonder. His father Dennis ran the 200 meters for Guyana at the ’79 Pan Am Games and his mother June (Griffith) ran the 400 for that country at both those Games and the ’84 Olympics.
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smyslenski@tribune.com
