University of North Carolina Athletics
Final Four coaches: The free advice is over
March 31, 2005 | Men's Basketball
March 31, 2005
By JIM LITKE
AP Sports Writer
All those treys being launched from all over the NCAA tournament map last weekend did wonders for college basketball.
But North Carolina coach Roy Williams admitted Wednesday they made him jumpy.
He's got Sean May, the best big man still standing in the Final Four, and he'd prefer to keep running his offense from the inside out. He doesn't even want to think about getting caught up in a shootout.
"The first thing I start looking for," Williams said, "is the closest exit I can sneak out."
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo would volunteer to escort him when their teams meet in Saturday night's semifinal. Ditto for Louisville's Rick Pitino and Illinois' Bruce Weber, whose teams play the opening semifinal. All three would welcome the chance, even if none came out and made the offer during an hour-long teleconference.
But there was little doubt all three wouldn't mind seeing enough traffic beyond the arc in St. Louis to fill an air controller's grid.
"I like it," said Weber, whose team put up almost three dozen 3s in a furious comeback win against Arizona in overtime. "When it first became a rule, it became a thing where it was used too much. I think last week was just unusual."
Pitino made 3-pointers the backbone of his shake-rattle-and-roll offense for years.
"I've been saying for seven years that the 3-point shot is too close," he said. "We shouldn't move to the NBA distance, but back to the Olympic line, because it would make for even better spacing on the floor."
But that debate will have to wait until the National Association of asketball Coaches holds its next coffee klatch. For the time being, shooting and defending the 3, protecting the ball, and keeping players calm and confident in late-game situations is more than enough for the coaches to worry about heading into the biggest weekend of the season.
The good news is that the coaches, except for Weber, are as experienced at Final Fours as experienced gets. The bad news is that the players, with one exception, have absolutely no Final Four experience.
Pitino, who won a national title at Kentucky, is back for the fifth time with his third program. Izzo, who won in 2000, is back for the fourth time in the last seven years. The long-suffering Williams, who brought Kansas to the closing weekend four times, is making appearance No. 5 as well.
Only Weber, at 48, is a newcomer. So naturally, he spent the last few days calling friends in the business for tips on what to expect. But the free advice stopped Wednesday.
"He's a 3-point shot at the buzzer from being perfect this season," Pitino said jokingly. "He doesn't need any advice from me."
Besides, all four coaches expect to be occupied just giving advice to their own squads. After scanning all four rosters, Izzo could find only one player who's even been to a Final Four, and that's his own Tim Bograkos, a fifth-year senior and former walk-on.
But all four teams are led by upperclassmen, which the coaches agreed was the difference in getting through what has been an upset-filled, last-gasp tournament. The top high school seniors and underclassmen continue to depart for the NBA, but the depth of talent and experience on the Final Four teams proves the top coaches, at least, have learned to adapt.
"If you look at the last six, seven, eight years, teams like UConn, I think all those teams had plenty of juniors and seniors. The only exception was Syracuse," said Izzo, with a nod toward Carmelo Anthony, "and they just happened to have one of the greatest players in the game."
And if your team doesn't have one of those, well, there's always Lady Luck.
Williams is not a superstitious sort, but he began a tradition of spitting in a river near the tournament site when he was an assistant at Kansas. He's been kidded about it often enough to chuckle, "maybe I should market it." And despite mixed results, with the Mississippi River nearby, Williams wouldn't rule it out. Anything for an edge.
"You never can tell," Williams said, "I just may sneak out and do it again."
