First Round

By Harold Bechard

Salina (KS) Journal

Sports Editor

WICHITA- The crowd of 10,666 waited... and waited... and waited some more for Kansas to blow out Mississippi here Friday night.

They'll have to wait until the next time the two teams meet.

No, Kansas didn't lose to the Rebels in the sub-regional portion of the NCAA's Midwest Regional at Henry Levitt Arena, but the Jayhawks got the scare of their lives.

Kansas edged Mississippi, 69-66, but not before the Southeastern Conference team came roaring back from a 12-point deficit with eight minutes left to cut the lead to a single point.

The victory, not a masterpiece by any means, improved KU to 23-7 for the season and advanced the Hawks into a second-round game Sunday afternoon against fifth-ranked Arizona State. In the second game Friday, Wichita State hammered Southern, 95-70; and will meet Iowa Sunday at noon.

Ole Miss, just 16-13 for the season, was like a persistent door-to-door salesman- always coming back for more. Playing a tenacious man-to-man defense, the Rebels frustrated KU at nearly every turn.

“We started off tight and never really got loosened up until the second half," KU coach Ted Owens said. "But I can tell you that we'll play better against Arizona State simply because we're going to have to."

There almost wasn't an Arizona State to get ready for. After grabbing a 52-40 lead with 8:48 left in the game, Mississippi came back with a rush. The Rebels pulled within eight points at the 3:09 mark and then closed to within two points (62-60) on buckets by Chris Barrett and a fielder by All-SEC player Elston Turner.

Booty Neal gave KU a 64-60 lead with 41 seconds left on a driving layup, but Ole Miss came right back when Turner scored 12 seconds later.

KU's John Crawford was then fouled by Cecil Dowell with 22 seconds left. Crawford knocked down both charities to give the Jayhawks a 66-62 advantage, but Roger Stieg tipped in a MU miss to close the gap to two points again.

Tony Guy hit a free throw with 11 seconds left to give Kansas a 67-64 lead, and after Turner put in a layup with four seconds remaining, Guy sank two more charities with just two seconds left on the clock to insure the victory.

"I have to give a lot of credit to our team for coming from behind like they did," Mississippi coach Bob Weltlich said. "I thought we played well enough to give us a chance to win, but Kansas is very deserving. They made the right plays under control and deserved to win."

Darnell Valentine, who led KU with 15 points, played in Wichita for the first time since he left Wichita Heights High School in 1977. The 6-2 senior received a standing ovation when the KU starting lineup was announced.

"I think the whole team was appreciative of the way the crowd responded to us," Valentine said. "It's nice to come back for something like this."

Valentine led a parade of KU players in double figures. He was followed by Guy with 14 points, Crawford with 12 and Art Housey and David Magley with 11 each. Turner and Stieg paced Mississippi with 22 and 17 respectively as the Rebels made their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

The big news in the second game wasn't the final score of the Wichita State-Southern game. The outcome was never in doubt after the opening moments of the second half.

The main interest was the case of Ozell Jones, Wichita State's 6-11 sophomore center, who was a starter for the Shockers. Jones was declared ineligible last week because of a transcript technicality and had asked for an injunction from U.S. District Judge Patrick Kelly so he could be reinstated to the team until a complete trial could be held.

But Kelly denied the injunction and Jones has been lost to the WSU team for the remainder of the season. Jones earlier had obtained a 10-day restraining order in federal court that allowed him to play in the Missouri Valley Tournament, but his season came to an end Friday afternoon when Kelly declined to extend the order.

So with Jones on the bench, the Shockers have dedicated the rest of their games this season to their teammate.

"We dedicated this game and the rest of our tournament to Ozell," WSU coach Gene Smithson said. "It's something the kids feel strongly about and it's something I feel strongly about."

The Shockers didn't need Jones against Southern. WSU still outrebounded the Jaguars, 44-36, and also hit a sizzling 58 percent from the field. Sophomore forwards Cliff Levingston and Antoine Carr led the winners with 23 and 18 points respectively. Levingston also pulled down 14 rebounds as the Shockers improved their record to 24-6. Alvin Jackson scored 21 points to pace Southern, which ended its season at 17-11.

First Round

LOS ANGELES (UPI)- Randy Reed scored 24 points and Kansas State overcame a nine-point halftime deficit Thursday night en route to a 64-60 victory over San Francisco in the opening round of the NCAA West Regional.

Kansas State, 22-8, moved into the second round and will face No. 2 ranked Oregon State Saturday. San Francisco finished its season with a 24-7 record.

The Kansas State-Oregon State game will be televised by KARD-TV (channel 3) beginning at 2:30 p.m.

The Wildcats shot just 44 percent in the opening half and fell behind 34-25 at intermission. But they inched their way back early in the second half and pulled within 50-48 with 7:30 remaining.

San Francisco maintained its 2-point lead until 3:07 when Kansas State center Ed Nealy hit two free throws to tie the score 58-58. San Francisco regained the lead, 59-58, on a free throw by Ken McAlister.

Kansas State then claimed the lead for good with 2:16 remaining on a field goal by Rolando Blackman.

San Francisco had a chance to tie the game with five seconds remaining but Quintin Dailey missed a 10-foot jump shot. Ed Galvao sank two free throws with no time remaining for Kansas State.

Reserve Les Craft added 10 points for the Wildcats, who finished second behind Missouri in the Big Eight Conference.

Dailey led San Francisco with 20 points and Wallace Bryant added 15.

"When we fell nine and 11 points behind I was beginning to wonder," said Kansas State coach Jack Hartman.

"It takes a lot of poise to show patience and not try to catch up in a brief period of time. I thought our players did a good job of controlling that urge."

Second Round

LOS ANGELES (UPI)- As Rolando Blackman faked to his left and went up for the 18-foot baseline jumper, he had only one thing in his mind- hitting nothing but net.

The Kansas State guard's concentration was so intense that he said he never saw the two Oregon State defenders swarming over him Saturday. He looked surprised when writers told him of the two defenders. And his shot was perfect, nestling into the net with two seconds remaining to lift the Wildcats to a stunning 50-48 victory over second-ranked Oregon State in the second round of the NCAA West Regional playoffs.

It was the first time Kansas State had led in the game after falling behind the Beavers by seven points at halftime and 11 points five minutes into the second half.

Kansas State, now 23-8, advanced to the regional semifinals at Salt Lake City and will face Illinois, a 67-65 winner over Wyoming in the second game in Pauley Pavilion.

The Wildcats made it clear the shot that kept alive their Cinderella season was not just a desperation heave.

"It was a planned shot," said Blackman.

"We went into the delay game with about 1:50 or so left. I felt real good about the shot. When it left my hands, I knew it was in.

"We feel absolutely super. We worked very hard and put our hearts out. We feel good about going on."

Kansas State Coach Jack Hartman was jubilant with his team's performance.

"The key to the game was the that we were able to stay within reach although we didn't play well," Hartman said. "The guys executed that last play perfectly. It was perfect timing and Blackman showed perfect poise."

Blackman, a 6-foot-6 senior guard from Brooklyn, N.Y., and a member of the U.S. Olympic Team, took a pass on the baseline with four seconds remaining, faked once and lofted his winning shot.  A desperation shot by Oregon State at the buzzer fell short.

The Wildcats, who finished tied for second behind Missouri in the Big Eight, tied the game at 48-48 with 3:23 remaining on a pair of free throws by Ed Nealy, setting up the dramatic conclusion. Nealey's free throws capped a 16-6 Kansas State spurt in a span of 7:41.

With two minutes remaining, Oregon State's Charlie Sitton missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw situation and Kansas State then held the ball for the final shot.

Oregon State had been ranked No. 1 in the nation for most of the year and finished in the No. 2 spot with a 26-1 record after losing its final game of the regular season to Arizona State.

Blackman led the Wildcats with 14 points, while Tyrone Adams added 12 and Nealy, who battled Oregon State star center Steve Johnson under the boards throughout the game, finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.

The Beavers were paced by Johnson's 16 points before he fouled out with 3:23 left in the game. Guard Ray Blume added 10 points for Oregon State.

Second Round

By Harold Bechard

Salina (KS) Journal

Sports Editor

WICHITA- The list of scalps in the NCAA Basketball Tournament continues to grow. Nationally-ranked teams such as DePaul, Kentucky, Louisville, Oregon State, Iowa and Wake Forest have fallen by the wayside after just two rounds.

Add fifth-ranked Arizona State to that list.

The Sun Devils fell farther and landed heavier than any of the nation's powerhouses over the weekend when Kansas hammered them, 88-71, here Sunday afternoon in the second round of the Midwest Regional.

Arizona State entered the game with a glossy 24-3 record and the owner of a 20-point win over Oregon State last week. But Sunday afternoon, the Sun Devils were no match for KU guard Tony Guy and Co.

Guy was brilliant. The 6-6 Junior from Towson, Md., poured in a career high 36 points, including 21 in the first half when the 19th-ranked Jayhawks raced to a stunning 45-29 lead in front of a jam-packed crowd of 10,666 in Henry Levitt Arena.

"The shots were there and I took them," said Guy after the game. "But I have to give credit to my teammates for getting me the ball."

When Guy got the ball, he knew what to do with it. He hit 13-of-15 shots from the field and 10-of-12 from the free throw line, grabbed five rebounds and made four steals.

"Tony has played a lot of great basketball for us, but this was his finest hour," said KU coach Owens, who then added, "but we'd like to have a couple more of them just like it before the season is over."

Arizona State coach Ned Wulk echoed most everyone's feelings, who were in Levitt or tuning in on a regional television broadcast, when he said, "Guy just murdered us early and played an outstanding game."

The win boosted the Jayhawks to 24-7 for the season and into a matchup against Wichita State next Friday night in New Orleans.

"I'm immensely proud of Kansas basketball and not just University of Kansas basketball," Owens said. "There are only sixteen teams left and all three of our state schools are still in the running."

Kansas and Wichita State will meet for the first time since 1955.

KU's objectives against the powerful Sun Devils were to crash the backboards and clog up the inside game of 7-0 center Alton Lister. The Jayhawks accomplished both, grabbing a 43-37 rebound advantage and holding Lister to just 12 points and 7 rebounds.

"Our problem was that we got nothing from the offensive backboards ...absolutely nothing," Wulk said. "We played a horrendous game and it couldn't have come at a worse time."

It was a 21-21 game through the first 10 minutes and Guy had already totaled 14 points when the Jayhawks made their first run. KU outscored the Devils, 10-2, to lead 31-23 at the 6:04 mark and then reeled off 10 straight points in the final 2 ˝  minutes of the half to take a 16-point lead into the locker room.

The Sun Devils, who ended their season with a 24-4 record, gave KU fans a few anxious moments early in the second half when they closed the Jayhawk advantage to just nine points on a couple of occasions and had the ball.

But along came Guy with a pair of field goals and David Magley followed with a breakaway layup to give the Jayhawks a 53-38 lead with 14:26 left. Arizona State was never closer than 13 points the rest of the way and the game turned into such a runaway (24-point margin at times) that NBC-TV switched away from the game midway through the second half.

"This is the greatest moment of my life," said Guy, who was named the MVP of the game by NBC with more than 10 minutes remaining. "I was pretty nervous before the game started, but when I'm real nervous, it brings out the best in me."

And now it's on the New Orleans and the much-awaited meeting with Wichita State.

"Wichita State is a very good basketball team and we're looking forward to playing them," KU guard Darnell Valentine said. "It'll be nice to play against Antoine (WSU's Carr). He was a teammate of mine in high school."

Guy's individual performance overshadowed the fine play of Valentine and John Crawford. Valentine ended the game with 16 points, seven assists and three steals, while Crawford scored 18 points, grabbed seven rebounds and slammed home three dunks.

The lone bright spot for Arizona State was sophomore Byron Scott's 32 points. The 6-3 guard pumped in 15-of-22 shots from the field.

Second Round

By Brad Catt

Salina (KS) Journal

Sports Writer

WICHITA- Lute Olson is generally regarded as one of the nation's finest collegiate coaches. The Hawkeye boss, who guided his team to the Final Four last year, has been named Coach of the Year in the Big 10 Conference each of the last three seasons.

But it was a rare mistake by Olson which led to 12th-ranked Iowa's 60-56 loss to Wichita State here Sunday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA's Midwest Regional. With the score deadlocked at 56-56 with five seconds remaining and WSU's Antoine Carr at the free throw line to shoot the front end of a one-and-one, Olson ordered reserve guard Bob Hansen to call a timeout. Hansen's request was granted but Iowa was subsequently assessed technical foul because the Hawkeyes had spent their fifth and final allotted timeout 12 seconds earlier.

"I called the timeout- the big error was obviously mine," Olson said.

"There was a lack of communication. It's obvious I thought we had a time out left or I wouldn't have called for one."

Carr missed his free throw attempt, but senior guard Randy Smithson sent the capacity crowd of 10,666 at Henry Levitt Arena into a frenzy when he sank both technical shots to give the Shockers a 58-56 lead.

Carr was then fouled on the inbounds pass and sank a pair of free throws with three seconds remaining to give Wichita State its final four-point margin.

Smithson, a 6-3 senior, called his free throws "the biggest I've ever hit."

"I like being in that situation- I really do," he said. "But I thought Antoine would hit his. I didn't think I would have any pressure on me. Then (after Carr missed) I realized 'hey Jack, it's up to you.'"

The victory advanced Wichita State into next week's Midwest Regional in New Orleans. Wichita State will carry a 25-6 record into Friday's battle with Kansas.

But for a long time Sunday, it appeared the Shockers would be buried in front of their home fans. Iowa rode the hot outside shooting of Vince Brooking and Kenny Arnold, and the inside power of Steve Krafcisin to a 36-25 halftime lead.

And when the Hawkeyes scored the first two buckets after intermission to up their advantage to 15 points, it appeared Wichita State was headed for elimination in this prestigious tournament.

"It looked like we were out of it," acknowledged WSU forward Cliff Levingston.

But it was Levingston, along with Carr, who sparked the Shocks on a tear which saw them tally 15 unanswered points to deadlock the game at 40-40 with 11:40 remaining.

Iowa, which went 8:49 without scoring during the dry stretch, finally got itself untracked again and the Hawkeyes never trailed until Smithson canned his free throws with five seconds left.

Iowa looked to be in excellent shape when Steve Waite tallied a three-point play at the 3:35 mark to give the Hawkeyes a 56-52 lead.

After Levingston cut the deficit to two with a short jumper from the baseline, Iowa went into an all-out delay. But the Hawkeyes ran the delay game poorly as they committed three turnovers during a 53-second span.

"We played very unintelligently," Olson said. "That's not the way we normally play."

Wichita State was also having problems at the offensive end in the late going. But Levingston, who took game high honors with 25 points, got the contest tied with 1:12 left when he hit a six-foot jumper in the lane.

Iowa then held the ball until Kevin Boyle put up a 10-foot jumper with seven seconds left. Carr grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Brookins, which set up Olson's miscue from the bench.

Olson cited Krafcisin's foul problems (he exited with 5:36 remaining) as a contributing factor in his club's poor offensive play in the second half.

"Losing Krafcisin certainly hurt us," the Iowa coach said. "But the big thing was that we became far too conservative."

Olson also gave credit to the pro-Wichita State crowd for inspiring the Shockers.

"The crowd was a definite factor in the game," Olson said. "They gave them hope when there didn't appear to be any."

WSU coach Gene Smithson called the win a "fantastic" one.

"But our goal is not to stop in New Orleans," the Shocker coach said.

Regional Semifinals

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A sign toted around the Special Events Center by a pert Kansas State cheerleader told the story.

"Jack's Giant Killers," it read. And through three tumultuous NCAA West Regional games, they have been.

Coach Jack Hartman's K-State Wildcats changed the script in one notable fashion Thursday night, however. In place of the dramatic, last minute rallies that vaulted them over San Francisco and second-ranked Oregon State in the subregionals last week, the Wildcats bolted to an 11-2 lead and held on down the stretch to upset No. 19 Illinois 57-52 in the semifinals of the West Regional.

In the first semifinal match, No. 4 North Carolina, with Al Wood, James Worthy and Sam Perkins combining for 45 points, brushed aside frigid shooting hometown favorite Utah 61-56. Kansas State, now 24-8, and North Carolina, 27-7, will meet at 11:24 a.m. MST Saturday for the West Regional championship and a trip to the Final Four In Philadelphia.

"We knew we couldn't get into a full court game with Illinois," said Hartman, whose Wildcats were one of the last teams picked to fill out the 48-team field and have been the underdogs in all three tournament victories.

"We worried a lot about their board game. All in all, I thought we had an excellent 40 minutes of basketball."

Tim Jankovich, Rolando Blackman and Ed Nealy sank crucial free throws in the final minutes as Illinois, trailing the entire game, made a futile effort to penetrate K-State's zone defense but instead wound up sending the Wildcats to the foul line.

Near the end, many of Illinois' top guns were in foul trouble, and Mark Smith and James Griffin fouled out.

"We did a poor job against their zone," agreed Coach Lou Henson of Illinois, which goes home with a 21-8 record.

"Ordinarily we play well against the zone and have won all season against it. We just weren't sharp tonight. I'm not taking anything away from Kansas State, but we just didn't play well. Also, we got in early foul trouble and we couldn't do some things we would liked to have done offensively or defensively."

Nealy, Kansas State's bulky 6-foot-7 center, made victory possible with a game-high 14 rebounds against the taller Illini.

"If I get position, it's going to take a lot of effort to get around me," he said. "I watch the ball in flight and I can usually tell where it is going to come off the rim. We were trying to keep the ball outside and force a hurried shot. We let them take the 20-footer and if it went in, it wouldn't hurt us that bad."

Billed as a clash between two of college basketball's elite front lines, the North Carolina-Utah semifinal turned into a nightmare for the Utes.

While the Perkins-Wood-Worthy front line was scoring 45 points, Utah's trio of Danny Vranes, Karl Bankowski and Tom Chambers were scoring 26, about half their combined season average. Bankowski, ordinarily Utah's deadliest outside shooter, was almost totally ineffectual while scoring only two points.

"I have never seen Karl have a night like that," said Vranes, who did not score a bucket until about two minutes remained in the first half. "Usually, he can stick those jumpers in. And when he sticks them in, it opens it up more inside for the rest of the guys. They played great defense and really collapsed around us inside."

Trailing by as many as 12 in the first half, the Utes ignited the crowd by pulling to within two at halftime on Scott Martin's 49-footer at the buzzer, then knotted the score at 27-27 on the first bucket of the second half. But North Carolina was unstoppable the rest of the way and the Utes never got closer than four points.

"We tried to control the tempo to keep the crowd out of the game," said Tar Heel coach Dean Smith. "We couldn't get our break going so we decided to get it inside. Al Wood is a true All-America. His leadership was a big factor down the stretch. I think we are a good team playing well."

Utah Coach Jerry Pimm credited the Tar Heels with smart basketball.

"I thought North Carolina played smart. They got into the spread court game which gave them high-percentage shots," he said. "They were reading our defenses well. I was happy with our defense. Even late in the game we still had a shot."

Regional Semifinals 

NEW ORLEANS (UPI)- Ethan Martin scored 16 points to pace four Louisiana State University players in double figures Friday night and carry the fourth-ranked Tigers into the finals of the Midwest Regional with a 72-56 victory over Arkansas.

In the opening game of the double-header, Wichita State got a pair of 23-foot baskets from reserve guard Mike Jones in the final 46 seconds to defeat intrastate rival Kansas, 66-65, and advance into the regional final Sunday against LSU.

Durand Macklin added 15 points, Greg Cook had 12 and Leonard Mitchell 10 to help LSU post the first 30-win season in the 73 year history of its basketball program.

The Tigers, now 30-3, used win No. 30 to avenge one of its three losses this season- an 86-76 setback at the hands of Arkansas last November in the Great Alaskan Shootout.

The victory also came in front of a crowd of 34,036- the largest ever to see an NCAA tournament game.

LSU capitalized on early foul problems by Arkansas center Scott Hastings to all but put the game away in the first half.

The Southwest Conference champion Razorbacks trailed only 8-6 with 12:03 remaining in the first half, but Hastings, the Hogs' leading scorer and the two-time all-conference pick, was called for an offensive foul at that point- his third of the game- and he was removed by Coach Eddie Sutton.

With Hastings, who collected 25 points and 14 rebounds in the November win over LSU, on the bench, the Tigers' own center Cook took over with his first eight points in the next four minutes to trigger a 14-4 spurt that put the Southeastern Conference school on top 22-10.

Howard Carter added four more points to help LSU pad its lead to 28-11 and the Tigers carried a 34-18 edge into the locker room at intermission.

Martin then scored 14 of his game high points in the second half to help LSU build leads of up to 23 points in coasting to its 15th victory without a defeat in the state of Louisiana this season.

The Tigers are 14-0 on their home court in Baton Rouge and now 1-0 in New Orleans.

Hastings and Darrell Walker each scored 14 points to pace Arkansas, which finished its season at 24-8. U.S. Reed added 10 points for the Razorbacks.

In the earlier game, Jones gave Wichita State a two-shot streak in the final 36 seconds Friday night to help the Shockers end 26 years of frustration with a 66-65 victory over ultrastate rival Kansas.

Jones hit a pair of 23-foot shots to rally Wichita State from a three-point deficit in the final minutes in carrying the Missouri Valley school to its first victory in five meetings with Kansas.

"Mike is a streak shooter," Wichita State coach Gene Smithson said. "When he has confidence and is in his rhythm, there's not a finer shooter around from 15 to 18 feet. They were giving us the shots on the left-hand side of their zone. They were packing it inside to keep the ball away from Cliff and Antoine (forward Levingston and Carr) as they were loading the right to keep the ball out of my son's (guard Randy) hands.”

"We needed someone who could put the ball down from that spot and Mike tickled the twine when he had to."

Jones had a feeling he would play a vital role in the outcome.

"We were looking to go to Randy," Jones said, "but I kind of figured it'd be me taking the last shot. They were all over Randy- I was looking forward to shooting it."

With Kansas leading 65-62 with 1:15 remaining. Darnell Valentine missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Wichita State went down court and Jones hit his first basket with 46 seconds remaining from the NBA three-point line on the Superdome court to pull the Shockers within one point

Kansas then made a length-of-the-court inbound pass to Valentine, but the senior guard, playing for the first time in his career against his hometown university, blew a layup with 28 seconds left.

Cliff Levingston rebounded the ball and Wichita State played for one last shot- the 23-footer from the same spot by Jones with two seconds remaining.

The shot gave WSU its first victory ever against its upstate rival in the first meeting between the two teams since 1955.

Levingston scored 18 and fellow forward Antolne Carr 16 to help Wichita State run its record to 26-6. Valentine scored 21 points to pace Kansas, which saw its seven game winning streak come to an end, finishing the season at 24-8.

Valentine scored 10 of his points in the second half to stake the Jayhawks to a 59-55 lead with 7:02 remaining. But Levingston pulled Wichita State to within two points on a basket off an offensive rebound 20 seconds later and Carr converted a three-point play with 6:16 remaining to give the Shockers the lead at 60-59.

Wichita State then went 5:30 without a field goal, being outscored 6-2 by Kansas to fall behind 65-62, before Jones ended the drought with his two long-range bombs.

Regional Final

SALT LAKE-CITY (AP) Sixth-ranked North Carolina’s towering front line was "very imposing inside," said Kansas State Coach Jack Hartman following his team's loss to the Tar Heels. “They were more than we could deal with." (video)

North Carolina's 82-68 win the final game of the NCAA West Regional advances the Tar Heels into the Final Four in Philadelphia next Saturday.

They'll play the winner of the Virginia-Brigham Young Eastern Regional finals.

Rolando Blackman, who led the Wildcats with 21 points, assessed the loss by saying, "Basically, I thought Carolina shot the ball extremely well. We didn't. We had some bad streaks. We weren't attacking their defense."

Hartman said Blackman, who scored only six of his points in the first half, "didn't get up enough shots early."

"As a whole he fought hard and was looking for the ball, especially near the end," Hartman said.

Kansas State's Ed Nealy, who led the Big Eight in rebounding this season, was held to one rebound in the first half and had three fouls against him before intermission.

"After I picked up my third foul, I couldn't be as aggressive," Nealy said. "I had to lay back a little.”

"We knew coming into the game they were going to be tough to handle inside," the beefy 6-foot-7 Wildcat center said of North Carolina's front line- 6-foot-9 freshman sensation Sam Perkins, James Worthy, 6-9, and Al Wood, 6-6, who was named the tournament's most outstanding player.

Hartman said, "Their inside people are very quick and they have good size, especially in comparison to us. They were very difficult for us to contain."

"The closing of the first half was the key to the game. We had closed to within three inside of four minutes. We were beginning to think we were on a roll and didn't firm up at the other end of the court. At that point, North Carolina fired up and attacked."

North Carolina led 42-29 at halftime. Said Nealy, "We're glad to have had the opportunity to play to get into the Final Four. North Carolina outplayed us today and they deserve to win and go on."

Regional Final

NEW ORLEANS (AP) Coach Dale  Brown's joy over Louisiana State University's Midwest Regional championship was tempered by the realization that his team must now face Indiana for the national championship.

LSU whipped Wichita State 96-85 in the regional championship game Sunday, breaking the game open with a 14-0 scoring surge midway through the first half. Three minutes into the second half, LSU opened a 22-point advantage, 57-35.

Wichita State pared that to nine points three times in the final 54 seconds of play, but never seriously threatened.

"This is the happiest moment of my athletic career, but I still realize that we have some things left to do," he said. "We have now reached four of our five goals for this season. We have bettered our record of last year; we have won the Southeastern Conference championship; we received an NCAA bid, and we have now made it to the Final Four. Our fifth goal is to win the national championship."

LSU beat Arkansas 72-56 Friday night to win the right to play Wichita State for the regional championship. Wichita State beat Kansas 66-65- the first time in 25 years the teams have met, although they are only about three hours apart.

"We missed several easy shots early, and we gave them too many offensive boards," said Gene Smithson, Wichita State's coach. "We didn't get our share of the easy buckets, and LSU got their share," he said.

Brown's joy was also tempered by concern for his star forward, Rudy Macklin, who was named the tournament's most valuable player after scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds against Wichita State.

A ball hit Macklin on the end of the little finger of his right hand, dislocating the finger and causing a cut that required three stitches.

"You can't play basketball with one hand," Brown said, expressing hope that Macklin would be ready for Indiana Saturday.

Although the game was a matchup of powerful front lines, both teams got scoring punch from their guards. LSU point guard Ethan Martin got 13 points to go with his 10 assists. Wichita State's Randy Smithson got 18 points and five assists.

But the big men dominated a rough, bruising game.

Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston accounted for 41 points and 15 rebounds for Wichita State. Macklin, forward Leonard Mitchell and center Greg Cook accounted for 57 points and 23 rebounds for LSU.

National Championship

Sports Illustrated

April 06, 1981

Curry Kirkpatrick

In the end it was North Carolina that Bobby Knight shoved up against the wall in Philadelphia. Let that be the story of Indiana's 1981 NCAA championship, not the tawdry tale of Knight's scrap two nights before. The 63-50 beating the Hoosiers administered to Carolina on Monday night in the Spectrum was not so much a win as a wearing-out. This unrelenting team performance couldn't be upstaged by individual heroics. Not by the wondrous leadership of Isiah Thomas and his game-high 23 points. Not by James Thomas, who was off the bench and on the boards and everywhere that the Tar Heels' star marksman, Al Wood, was sure to go. And certainly not by the Challenge at Cherry Hill, in which Knight roughed up an LSU fan who had called him names in a New Jersey hotel lounge. After Knight shoved him, the fan landed in a wastebasket.

On Monday night the coach made his presence known in more subtle, but equally forceful, ways. With the Hoosiers behind by eight points (16-8) midway through the first half and looking surprisingly vulnerable, he sent in the 6'3" Jim to join the 6'1" Isiah for an all-sophomore, all-Thomas backcourt. On offense. Guard Randy Wittman moved to the wing, where he "took what I could get" in the way of shots. That turned out to be four bombs that shredded the Carolina zone and gave the Hoosiers a 27-26 halftime lead, their first of the game.

The defensive adjustments forged by the entrance of Thomas, J. were even more important. When he moved in to guard Wood, Landon Turner switched over to guard Center Sam Perkins, who had scored seven points in the first 9˝ minutes. Now, Knight had the matchups he surely wanted all along.

Indiana "plays five guards- one point and four pulling," another coach had said jokingly earlier in the tournament, although such a definition neglects the contributions of Thomas, J., who has both size and speed. "We just kept pounding away," said the 6'10", 241-pound Turner more accurately.

In the second half this is what the Indiana defense wrought: Thomas, J. and Turner held Wood and Perkins to five baskets and five rebounds between them. Ray Tolbert thwarted the dangerous James Worthy even more, spinning a one-hit shutout. In that final period, Worthy tallied one rebound and no points and fouled out with 5:07 to play and the game long gone. This was in severe contrast to the afternoon in December when the Tar Heels beat Indiana 65-56. In that game Isiah played so poorly Knight benched him.

Things went sour for Carolina immediately following intermission. Thomas, I., who had shot a pitiful 1 for 7 in the first half, stole a pass near midcourt and went in for the crip. Although Perkins got the basket back with an alley-oop drop-in, Indiana's little prophet with the balloon cheeks soon was off and away. Next Isiah fed Turner- 31-28. Then Isiah picked off another pass, this one intended for Perkins down low ("The ball was slippery," Isiah modestly said), and raced in to give Indiana a 33-28 lead. "The way they jumped on us there broke our backs," Wood admitted later. Two more Isiah baskets and it was 39-30. Isiah from the circle and Wittman, who finished with 16 points, off the glass made it 45-34 at 12:31. Meanwhile, at the other end of the floor it was obvious that the Tar Heels weren't going to pierce the Hoosier defenses if they played until July.

Knight's objective- "to break down" the other team psychologically and physically- was being realized all too clearly. Even when Wood, who would get 18 points, brought his team back to within seven with eight minutes remaining, all the Hoosiers did was spread out against Carolina's half-court traps and get the ball into Isiah's fast and sure hands.

The 1976 national champion Hoosiers, who were regarded as the terror of the age, beat their five tournament opponents by a total of 66 points. This edition beat its five foes by 113.

This was billed as a Big Top of Final Fours, a veritable Barnum & Bailey production featuring the game's most famous faces, talents and- college basketball being that most overcoached of all sports- brains. Imagine. Dean Smith! Bobby Knight! The Four Corners! General Patton!

The quartet of teams- Virginia and LSU filled out the hand opposite North Carolina and Indiana- had won 111 games all told, had hardly been tested in their regionals and had all peaked to become the four best in actual fact if not in the final poll. Too often the meek inherit the NCAA finals; this year, no. Here were the game's reigning giant, Ralph Sampson; its beaming cherub, Isiah Thomas; the Tar Heels' baseline of first-round draft-choice celebrities; and the Tigers' den of versatile, gold-jewelry-adorned athletes who had an edge, said one coach, "only if Sammy Davis Jr. shows up to referee."

Adding a bit of color to the usual gubernatorial wagering on the semifinal games (Dalton of Virginia put up a ham against a bushel of oysters from Hunt of North Carolina; Treen of Louisiana put up crawfish against popcorn and ripe persimmons from Orr of Indiana) was an agreement between the Charlottesville Daily Progress and The Chapel Hill Newspaper that the loser's hometown journal must print its Monday logo in the hues of the winning school, orange or blue.

Knight had prepared for LSU during Indiana's Mideast Regional victory over Alabama-Birmingham, a team similar in size and style to the Tigers. He had matched up Turner on Rudy Macklin (size and speed trump speed) and Tolbert on Leonard Mitchell (senior trumps freshman), and he wasn't about to be doubting his Thomases: if Isiah was delivered into foul trouble, Jim was sure to bail the Hoosiers out.

Thomas, J., whose middle name is destined to be No Relation, is a sophomore from Florida who used to be known as the only player Knight has recruited outside his Indiana-Illinois-Ohio power base. That was before he gained a new dimension by starring off the bench at two positions in the regional. But LSU Coach Dale Brown didn't know that. "The new guy. The guy we didn't even talk about," Brown called him after Thomas, J. replaced Thomas, I. and accomplished the little things- a couple of blocks and assists, a steal and defensive harassment, a team-leading nine rebounds- to key the 67-49 humiliation of LSU in the semifinals.

It didn't start as a blowout, though. Even with Macklin subpar (his split finger forced him to "re-catch" passes, as he put it) and the team shooting 40%, Brown had watched his game plan unfold perfectly. The Tigers were clawing on defense. Point Guard Ethan Martin had slithered his way to seven points and seven assists, had in fact contained Thomas, I., and had forced him to the bench with three fouls with 3:14 left in the first half. But now, with a 30-27 lead, Brown removed Martin "for a rest" and went into a delay game.

What LSU meant to do was spread its offense for only one possession. But, in fact, the Tigers never attacked at all. They didn't take advantage of a tight and anxious Indiana that was on the ropes and missing its leader as well as its easy shots. They didn't increase the lead to five or six or 10 points, which seemed within their reach. They didn't take one more shot before the end of the half.

"If they hadn't slowed it down...well, we were content to be down three," said Knight.

In the locker room, where the Indiana coach wins most of his battles, he won another. Instead of screaming at Turner and Tolbert (4 of 13)- "Ray's a hyper kid, he was in the ozone," Knight said- or eating a chair. Knight settled his troops, urging them to sit back, relax, "sprawl out." The Hoosier defense was intense enough; there would be no change in assignments. Offensively, the Indiana shooters were told to act with poise, not anxiety. "We had the shots, but we were goosing the ball up there. No finesse," Knight said later. "We played like we would get one point for hitting the backboard."

A revived Tolbert roared out and slam-dunked a rebound, and the Hoosiers got the first 11 points of the second half. While Macklin and Willie Sims- who together missed 16 of 20 shots- and the other LSU shooters either walked or forced bricks or simply panicked. Turner scored on a turnaround, a layup three-pointer, a tip-in. At 36-30 Thomas, I. committed his fourth foul and left the game again. But LSU's Greg Cook missed a point-blank jumper, and Thomas, J. ripped the rebound off the iron to start a fast break that Turner ended with his fourth basket in a row.

At 40-34 the Indiana long knives came out. Ted Kitchel and Wittman buried two faraway jumpers apiece in a 12-2 run that made it 52-36 with 9:01 left. From Tiger rag to Tiger gag. LSU tried to recover too quickly. Its players were under duress and questioning themselves. Their shots wouldn't fall. Tap-backs, roll-arounds, lip-outs. "They broke our spirit," Brown said.

Seldom had a good, mobile team, seemingly in control of its destiny, gone so quickly, so quietly. Or been so devastated. Turner, who scored a game-high 20 points, held Macklin scoreless in the second half. Thomas, J. did likewise to Martin. During one agonizing stretch that began late in the first half, LSU went 9 for 21. Nine points, 21 minutes. "I get in foul trouble and everybody goes haywire," said Thomas, I.

Barbed wire is what North Carolina vs. Virginia had been in two previous matchups. The Tar Heels spent so much time figuring out how to control Sampson, they forgot how to control the ball with 13 and 16 point leads. "I don't think the down 13 trick will work again," UVA Coach Terry Holland said. When Carolina's Wood drove the baseline for a double-pump, no-look no-chance, oly-oly-oxen-free, reverse layup either over or under or between Sampson- no one was quite sure- the score was 74-58 Carolina with 1:13 remaining, and Holland was out of tricks.

It has been said that no mere mortal can beat the Dean of basketball three times in one season. After the ACC tournament, the gag was that Holland would take his 2-0 over Smith and go home. Certainly, though, the Tar Heels, who won Saturday's semifinal 78-65, laughing, would have lost if Sampson had played like the young Abdul-Jabbarian clone he's supposed to be. Or if Wood had broken both his legs. What was significant was not so much the adjustment Carolina had to make for the 7'4" Sampson, but what Virginia had to do against the 6'6" Wood.

The Cavaliers began and ended the first half in a zone, then moved to a diamond and one, then straight-up man-to-man. At least five different Cavs tried to guard or at least knock on Wood. Result: Al was 14 for 19 from the floor; 11 for 13 from the line; 39 points; 10 rebounds. A semifinal scoring record. "I didn't dominate," said Wood, being modest and wrong all at once. "It just so happens I had a short guy on me."

It just so happens that over a stretch of 10:28 late in the second half, Wood scored nine baskets and 22 points. The spree went from UNC up 39-37 to UNC up 74-58. Al Wood 22, Virginia 21. Say good night, Wahoos.

What about the big guy? In UNC-UVA I, Smith threw a collapsing zone at Sampson; in II, more man defense with help. This time Carolina combined the two and was more effective primarily because the 6'9" Perkins was able to combat Sampson virtually head-on, alone.

When the game was close- through the middle of the second half- the Tar Heels would constantly switch defenses, and when Perkins himself wasn't denying Sampson room- "I've learned how to touch him, to use my arms and hands," Perkins said- he got help from Worthy in from the wing or 6'1" freshman swing-man Matt Doherty sagging down. After 10 to 15 seconds of not getting the ball each time down the court, Sampson's resolve visibly weakened. He was flat-footed, standing around. Perkins matched his stats exactly, 11 points and nine rebounds. But Perkins was 4 for 7 from the floor and Sampson 3 for 10. Late in the game Sampson even leaned against the basket post in a way that caused Wood to ask after his health.

Offensively, the Virginia center got little help from the perimeter- Jeff Lamp and Jeff Jones shot 12 for 31- and, though Lee Raker did his usual escapee-from-M*A*S*H routine, his 13 points were not enough.

Bottom line: Holland and the Cavs were as unable to deal with Sampson's offensive difficulties as they were with Wood's offensive brilliance. "He was so aggressive with the ball," Lamp said. Yes. Wood off the glass. Wood to the end-line. Wood out front. Wood had gotten 33 points against Virginia the last time, so the Cavs were aware of the danger. "We got beat by a great player having a great day," Holland said.

On Monday night it was back to Biblical times, in a manner of speaking. For much of the weekend Isiah's thunder had been stolen by Wood, by another guy on his own team with his own name- and by a wastebasket, for goodness' sake. On Sunday, Thomas was asked if Knight had ever thrown him into a wastebasket. "Not yet," he said.

Well, after grinning all over the Spectrum and bearing the national championship away, what else could a nice and easy fellow like Thomas, I say?