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Show it Wetendar Muck 27 The Dtlly Uttk Cfcroalde Utes Close Book on Remarkable Year foregone. It was nothing to. .cry about well was success season a The before the final buzzer in Louisiana. GREG BEACHAM Chronicle Sports Writer a 8 sr., .J P j. - high-five- (m.l:i I.- r X The Louisiana crowd roared in appreciation. There were smiles and s but no tears among Utes the as they headed for the locker room. The day before the game, Utah Coach Elaine Elliott put the school's quest for its first NCAA tournament straight NCAA tournament bid: these arc hallmarks of a standout II ' wrong-hande- n - Q 21-- 3r program. The Utes last bucket of the year was beautiful: with seven seconds to play, Julie Krommenhoek drove the lane, dribbled behind her back with d blinding speed and made a layup. record against one of the in the nation, the schedules tougher WAC champifirst regular-seasoschool a second in history, onship A - RUSTON, La. Eyes were dry when the University of Utah women's basketball team walked off the court. For most of the second half, the outcome of the game was LK win into perspective when she addressed the importance of the Utes' matchup with Southern ' Mississippi A tournament win "doesn't make us any better, and it certainly doesn't make us any worse," Elliott said. "One game or one moment doesn't define a program." Yet there was a single moment - 1 0 In Ofe- s?Ti i V n that defined this program. It occurred in a locker room at Thomas Assembly Center moments after the Utes' loss to the Lady Eagles. Not only did this moment define a program, it gave blinding insight on the importance of sports in the lives of the women who play them. "It was funny," guard Amy Alcorn said. "In the locker room, nobody was crying after the game, but when Coach Elliott started talking, everybody was bawling all of a sudden." l was able to go around the ' robm that night and tell each one of the girls something that they had .a. done to make this team better," CHUomcu Photo Spencer Young Elliott said. "That's the story of this Richelle Cleverley plants a forearm shiver on a BYU Cougar during year for me - the sacrifices that Utah's March 6 win at the Marriott Center. Cleverley, a senior point these girls made to make us a great team. guard, started 20 games in her final season and led the WAC in assists. 0 . UMass Is the Right Team at The Right Minute GREG BEACHAM Chronicle Sports Writer in Dicky V is an old, bald man who needs to get an honest job. The Wildcats are a young group of superb athletes in a system designed for superb athletes. Kentucky's full-cou- After their mauling of in East the Regional Georgetown finals last Saturday, the University of 86-6- 2 Massachusetts men's basketball team broke with a tradition: they didn't cut down the nets. After donning Final Four and doing the requisite interviews, ts the Minutemen left the court. UMass's cheerleaders removed the twine from the baskets. The team would have no part of it "This team expects more and wants more," Coach John Calipari told USA Today. "We'll celebrate tonight, but we want everyone to know this is just one step toward the final goal." The Minutemen's warmups have a unique phrase on printed on them: Refuse to Lose. It is this tenacity, this complete foreignness to the concept of defeat, that will propel UMass past the overrated Kentucky Wildcats and over whichever patsy makes the championship game. It is this philosophy that will give UMass its first national tide in school history. It's in vogue to call Kentucky one of the best teams in the history of college basketball. Dick Vitale is agog over the Wildcat bench, calling it a team by itself. Rick Pitino, say Top-2the cognoscenti, is. the Wonder Boy who can do no wrong. Well, they aren't, .Pitino isn't, and 0 FINAL Time pressure and w Chuohkm. Photo Because they can look so good against lesser opponents (which includes everyone but UMass, the New York Bulls and the 1969-7- forward pre-NGA- 92-8- 2 , everybody individually," forward Laura Fowler said. "Some of the things she said were things that nobody even knew she'd noticed." Cats1 Destiny Leading Them To NCAA's Promised Land Kentucky. Pitino, admireddespised for imposing his personal intensity (this is a man who called timeout in rage when the Wildcats allowed Utah to score consecutive baskets and cut Kentucky's lead to 16 points in a second half blowout) onto his players, finally has the hones to run on the track he's laid down. The Wildcats leave every challenger battered, bruised and bewildered. Keith Van Horn, whose Utes were dismantled ut Saturday. The result was a surprisingly sec MNinutemcn on page 19 .. Despite the loss, Kentucky's bench the Minutemen: r outscored them outrebounded them and outassisted them 12-What happened over the course of the rest of the season is what separates the 'Cats from UMass' brats. The Wildcats never struggled with close calls against feeble opponents like St. Joseph's and Xavier as did the Minutemen, nor did they lose to a 21-club as UMass did to a mediocre. 32-0- 10-- i Wildcats 101-7- 8 George Washington team. Kentucky's only two losses came to eventual Final Four qualifiers UMass and Mississippi State (in the SEC tournament championship game). This is not indicative of a weak schedule. Rather, it is the mark of a team on a mission: Bring the title back home to - 0 by Kentucky, said he didn't know just how overwhelmingly talented and deep the Wildcats were until they ss 2 of the season. What few people realize is that the Minutemen got exacdy zero points from their bench during the game. How did UMass's starting five manage to overcome the Wildcats? It really wasn't that difficult. As they are now, the Minutemen were the smartest, most fundamentally sound team in the country. They controlled the ball, prevented Kentucky from running, made very few important turnovers, took good shots and played solid position When Kentucky opened the season loss to UMass it was bapwith tism by fire; a clash between the two finest college basketball teams in the, land; H' .. The Kentucky team was tentative game Young So the tears finally flowed. Emotions were .released. This team of tough, customers and classy performers finally reached a catharsis. "There were times this year when we stepped on the floor and we weren't a better team at any spot," Elliott said. "We made individual see MUtesM on page 17 "That's what's important at the end of the day. It's the extra bit that you give of yourself that makes other people better." "It was so neat. She talked to and disjointed against the Minutemen, a mere shadow of the 32-- blistering blue-grablitzkrieg it has become. Yet the Wildcats' depth foreshadowed the all-oassault the Minutemen will have thrust upon them when the two teams battle again in a Final Four rematch vs. Spencer slot - 0 Knicks), everyone seems to forget that this is an incomplete team. The Wildcats, their athletic prowess aside, still lack leadership, poise and, most importandy, ball smarts. We saw these deficiencies most blatantly in Kentucky's first and last tournament games of the season. Everyone knows that UMass in the first defeated Kentucky intern T-Bir- Things will be different the second time around. Minutemen r v Lisa Thueson finds herself trapped between two during Utah's Dec 3 win over Southern Utah. Thueson, a juco transfer from Ricks, started all 28 games for the Utes and provided scoring from the small rt ing. defense. 1 JAMES JARDINE Chronicle .Sports Editor Loyola-Marymountesq- offense are tooled specially for this team of natural talents. When they're hitting on all cylinders, the Wildcats are frighten- 99 ' had crammed the ball down Utah's throat. "You could take their first group and they'd be No. 1 in the nation, then you could take their second group and they'd be second in the. nation," Van Horn said. It begins down low with the deceptively quick, deft passing, phenomenal forward Antoine Walker. Move around the horn and youll find Tony Delk, the likes of whose" jumpers haven't been seen in college basketball since some kid named Michael was scorching nets in Carolina. Bringing the ball down the court is Anthony Epps, Mr. Perpetual Motion, always finding a way to get to the ball. Off the bench come former Freshman of the Year Mark Pope in the post and the freshman Ron Mercer, the most highly sought Pac-1- 0 iron-hew- n after prep recruit last year. "This team has the best raw talent of any team I've coached " Pitino says. "The 1993 Final Four Wildcat team ie "Wildcats" on page 19 |