Sunday, March 19, 2000

Tulsa steals into spotlight

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UC opponent flies below ESPN radar

BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Tulsa's David Shelton (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        NASHVILLE — The number was circled Saturday on the University of Cincinnati blackboard.

        403.

        That's the number of steals generated by Tulsa's defense this season. As UC's Ryan Fletcher said, “We've got (232), and I thought that was a lot.”

        Tulsa may be the best 30-4 team never seen on ESPN, thanks to the Golden Hurricane's contract with the newly-aligned Western Athletic Conference.

        These guys are the Cincinnati Bengals of NCAA basketball, playing on national TV just once this season — and that game went to only 60 percent of the country. At least one UC player said Saturday that he didn't know Tulsa was in Oklahoma.

        “We didn't get as much publicity as we wanted or deserved,” Tulsa senior guard Tony Heard said. “I don't think that hurt us. It more or less helped us. We snuck up on people. They knew we were a good team, but they never really saw us play, so they really weren't prepared for us.”

        Here's a team that lost four games by a total of seven points, a program that has the nation's 17th best winning percentage since 1994 at .707. And the coach still has to talk about seeking “validation” in today's NCAA second-round game against the Bearcats.

        “From coast to coast, Tulsa is thought of as a nice program,” Tulsa coach Bill Self said Saturday. “But what have they really done to validate so they can be amongst the elite? We don't get a chance to play Cincinnati once a week or once or twice every two or three weeks, so we have to make the most of the opportunity when we get them.

        “This is important for us to play a top five team with a nationally recognized coach and all those things to put us on the map. “I guarantee you, in a lot of people's minds (when) we start the season next year, Tulsa will be one of those teams under the top 25 getting a few votes no matter what we do even (today). So if we can play well the rest of the way, or play really well (today), at least we'll be fresh in everyone's mind.”

        Try naming a player in the starting lineup, and you've probably got problems. The leading scorer, Cincinnati native David Shelton (Western Hills High School), is their sixth man. Four starters average between 11.5 and 10.9 points per game.

        “They like to make that extra pass to get a great shot instead of just a good shot,” Self said. “You can go around the locker room and if you ask, 10 of the 13 will say, "Yeah, I should be playing more, I'm getting the shaft,' but they like winning more than playing minutes.”

        They win because they've bought into Self's defensive philosophy. He worked under three of the best defensive coaches in the country in Leonard Hamilton and Eddie Sutton at Oklahoma State and Larry Brown at Kansas.

        “Everybody wants to be known as a good defensive player on this team,” Heard said.

        Senior forward Eric Coley called his teammates “blue collar,” and he should know. Coley is a native of upstate New York who moved to a farm in Eufaula, Okla., when he was in junior high. He ropes calfs in his spare time and boards his roping horse, named “Gray,” near his campus apartment.

        Coley has 113 steals this season. He fits into a scheme his coach said has “little margin for error, when you start four guards around a big guy and don't have a (NBA draft) lottery pick. What we do have is tough, hard-nosed kids, all who can pass.”

        With the 6-5 tandem of Coley, Shelton and Marcus Hill grouped around 6-10 Brandon Kurtz, the Golden Hurricane re ly on good, quick hands. Tulsa forces 20.7 turnovers a game, but also commits nearly 16 per game. In three losses they had 18 turnovers, 16 in the other.

        Told that UC had Tulsa's steals on its mind, Self said, “Maybe I should put up their (215) blocked shots.”

        But if their shots are blocked today, at least Tulsa will be on CBS instead of MIA.

        Tournament game coverage at Cincinnati.com/madness
        Join the discussion in our College Sports forum

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