University Southern California Trojans
East Sub-Regional Notebook
March 16, 2001 | Men's Basketball
March 16, 2001
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) - Kentucky's rough start to an ambitious schedule has coach Tubby Smith rethinking his approach.
"The schedule this season was just brutal," Smith said. "Looking back on the schedule, I'd probably change some things because it probably was too tough."
The Wildcats opened with losses to St. John's and UCLA in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. Then, Kentucky beat Jacksonville State, lost to Penn State, and beat both North Carolina and Eastern Kentucky. But losses to Georgia Tech and Michigan State had the Wildcats reeling.
Adding to the tough start was the fact that the Wildcats have just one senior - point guard Saul Smith.
"This is one of the youngest teams in the history of Kentucky basketball," Tubby Smith said, "A lot of people didn't realize this. We got off to a tough start and it took us a while to bond as a family and team."
Four of those five losses were to teams that made the NCAA tournament, and the Wildcats (23-9) rallied to win 20 of their last 24 games heading into their second-round game Saturday night against Iowa (23-11) in the East Regional.
"The lowest point for us was when we were 3-5 and we weren't playing well," junior forward Tayshaun Prince said. "We played a few tough teams at the beginning, but we were able to rebound."
When the NCAA tournament selection committee is deciding on at-large berths, a lot of focus is placed on strength of schedule. Tubby Smith said teams that try to be too ambitious can hurt themselves in the long run.
"Scheduling can be a catch-22 for mid-major and low-major schools because it puts a lot of pressure on them," Smith said. "You want to prepare your team the right way, and not start off with a string of losses. You don't want to give your team the final exam on the first day. You want to build your team up to the conference tournament and to the NCAAs."
CULTURE SHOCK: After four years in Boston, Jonathan Beerbohm still hasn't picked up the New England accent.
Beerbohm, a senior forward for Boston College, came from his small hometown of Fairbury, Neb., looking to experience big-city life on the East Coast.
"I still don't speak Boston, though," Beerbohm said. "My mom said I've caught on to a few words, but I don't know. It's a weird kind of language out there."
Beerbohm said one of the major differences was the amount of people.
"The biggest city we have back home has like 300,000 people," he said. "Out there, it's like two million. So that was pretty different for me to see."
Getting around the city also provided Beerbohm with another experience.
"It was like culture shock for me," he said. "I had never taken a taxi or the subway system. It was all new to me."
HURTING HAWKEYES: Injuries seem to be a recurring headache for Iowa.
Already without leading scorer Luke Recker and backup Ryan Hogan, freshman Brody Boyd bruised a knee in the Hawkeyes' victory over Creighton on Thursday. But coach Steve Alford was optimistic about having Boyd in the lineup for Saturday night's game against Kentucky.
"The X-rays were negative, which is very fortunate for us," Alford said. "We're hoping that through rest today, he'll be ready to go. He looked better this morning, and hopefully it will improve even more tomorrow."
Recker has been sidelined since breaking his right kneecap on Jan. 27, and Hogan has missed nine games with a knee injury. The Hawkeyes lost seven of nine after Recker's injury, but have rebounded to win five in a row.
"We've gone through a lot of adversity this season," Alford said. "We were going pretty well at 17-4 and then we lose our All-American guard and 10 days later we lose his backup. But we've been able to bounce back."
JOIN THE CLUB: Sam Clancy needs four points to join Southern California teammates Brian Scalabrine, Jeff Trepagnier and Brandon Granville as 1,000-point scorers.
Clancy, a junior, scored 22 in the first-round victory over Oklahoma State, and has 996 for his career going into Saturday night's game against Boston College.
Scalabrine is at 1,411, seventh best in school history. Trepagnier has 1,085, tied with Paul Westphal for 20th place. Granville scored 14 points in the first-round victory over Oklahoma State to give him 1,013 for his career.
By DENNIS WASZAK Jr.
AP Sports Writer
