March 20, 2000
By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Leonard Hamilton has spent 10 years at Miami, tryingto build the Hurricanes into a top basketball program. Bill Self cravesnational exposure for Tulsa, which consistently finds its way to the NCAAtournament.
Both coaches might be about to get what they want.
Hamilton’s Hurricanes upset No. 3 seed Ohio State 75-62 in the SouthRegional on Sunday to reach the round of 16 for the first time. They will playTulsa, which beat No. 2 seed Cincinnati 69-61 to reach its third regionalsemifinal in seven years, on Friday in Austin, Texas.
“Each time we win a game, each time we take another step forward, we’remaking history for our basketball program,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton, a candidate to replace Bobby Cremins at Georgia Tech, hasn’t hadit easy at a school where football rules and the basketball team doesn’t havean on-campus arena to play its games.
He convinced Johnny Hemsley, Vernon Jennings and center Mario Bland to helphim four years ago, a decision that paid off this weekend for a program thatnow has as many NCAA victories (three) in the past two seasons as invitationsto play in the tournament.
“People now are beginning to realize we’re a good basketball school,”Bland said. “It does feel good.”
The Hurricanes ended Ohio State’s bid to return to a second straight FinalFour with their trademark – physical play and good shooting. Hemsley andJennings helped harass Ohio State guards Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd intohorrible nights as the duo combined for just 12-of-31 from the floor. Pennscored eight of his 19 points late in the game after Redd fouled out.
Ohio State (23-7) tied the game at 50 late in the second half, only to seeMiami respond with a 14-0 run to seal the victory.
Buckeyes coach Jim O’Brien was disappointed that the end finally came forhis team, but he was happy for Hamilton, who used to call him regularly foradvice when he was still at Boston College on reviving basketball at a school.
“Leonard has done a magnificent job with that program,” O’Brien said.
Now the sixth-seeded Hurricanes (23-10) are thinking about how far they cango as they work for a tradition that can stand with schools like Kentucky orConnecticut.
“We think we can win the whole thing,” Salmons said.
For that to happen, Miami will have to do something No. 7 seed Tulsa hasn’tdone – win in the semifinals. The Golden Hurricane (31-4) were routed by No. 1Arkansas in 1994 and by No. 2 Massachusetts in 1995 in the round of 16.
“These guys are self-motivated, but we do operate best when we feel ourbacks are against the wall no question about that,” Self said.
If Cincinnati and Ohio State had won, it would have set up the first meetingbetween the schools in 38 years. But the Bearcats, who beat Ohio State in 1961and 1962 for their two national titles, couldn’t pull off their end withoutinjured center Kenyon Martin.
Senior Ryan Fletcher said it’s tough not thinking of what could have beenfor a team that spent much of the year ranked No. 1 in the country.
“Having Kenyon we probably wouldn’t even be in Nashville. We’d probably bea No. 1 seed in Cleveland,” he said. “It’s something that happened. You can’tchange it.”
With the All-American center out, Cincinnati (29-4) changed its offense.Huggins said that resulted in tougher shots than the Bearcats took all season.If Martin had played, he would have guarded Tulsa forward Eric Coley, whoscored 16 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds.
Tulsa jumped out to a 16-point lead in the first half, only to see theBearcats play their way back into it.
But Cincinnati got too anxious and tried to pad its 50-45 lead. Quick shotsled to Tulsa baskets as The Golden Hurricane put away the game with a 14-0 run.That was when the Bearcats missed Martin the most.
“We probably were looking for him a little bit or wishing he was there,”Huggins said.