Friday, March 13, 1998 The University Daily Kansan Section B • Page 7 Commentary Big Dance dream already a reality for some teams All teams in the NCAA Tournament share the dream of advancing to the Final Four in San Antonio. But a few teams' dreams already have come true by just making the 64-team field. One of those teams is the Prairie View A&M Panthers, Kansas first round opponent today in the Midwest region. With an RPI rating of 263, the No. 16-seeded Panthers' chances of running the table and winning the National Championship, according to analyst Danny Sheridan, are about five gazillion to one. A No. 16 seed has never upset a No. 1 seed. Considering that fact, at least four teams in the tournament are just happy to be there, regardless of whether they win. They are consumed with the experience of being a part of the Big Dance, Harold Blevins, head basketball coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, reminded me of that yesterday during an interview. Adam Herschman sports@tansan.com Blevins, whose team is a member of the same conference as Prairie View A&M, answered questions and shared his thoughts about the Panthers and how schools from smaller conferences After 20 losing seasons, the 13-16 Panthers have arrived at the promised land. promise land. With only three-and-a-half athletic scholarships, they reached the NCAA Tournament by winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Kansas has 13 scholarship players. Blevins said one of the goals of small-conference coaches was to just make it to the NCAA Tournament. "We just don't recruit the same type of athletes." Blevins said. "Kansas recruits All-Americans, we recruit All-District and All-State." Kansas has six McDonald's High School All-American's, Prairie View has none. The Panthers, however, led by coach Elwood Plummer, have some solid players who play an exciting up-tempo game of basketball. Six-foot-three guard Tamarron Sharpe is the No.1 player on offense. He is joined in the backcourt by 6-foot-1 guard King Whetstone. The starting frontcourt is undersized — 6-foot-8 center Aron Thompson is the Panthers' tallest player. Forwards Julius Marble and Kevin Bell average about 10 points per contest. These statistics may not be phenomenal, but Prairie View A&M got the job done in the conference tournament. In the conference finals, the Panthers trailed regular-season conference champion Texas Southern by 20 points. But they rallied behind an 18-point performance from Sharpe and 17 points from Bell to pull out the victory 59-57. Instantly, the Panthers were-beamed into households across the country by ESPN, dancing at midcourt with smiles from ear to ear. You could tell how much it meant for them to make the NCAA Tournament. Although the basketball team has enjoyed success this year, the Panthers' athletic program has not had much to celebrate in past years. The football team has lost 77 consecutive games, and the basketball team hasn't had a winning season since 1978. In 1992, the basketball team was 0-28, and the following season it was 1-26. Prairie View A&M basketball has come a long way, however, overcoming obstacles such as not being able to offer scholarships for more than a decade. Many Kansas fans will watch the Jayhawks take on the 36-point underdog Panthers and will dream of Kansas' 'next opponent. But for the fans cheering on the Prairie View Panthers' first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, the dream already has come true. Herschman is an Minnetonka, Minn., junior in journalism. Turnovers, boards oust Owls early West Virginia offense leaves holey Temple feeling desecrated BOISE, Idaho — Temple's trademark matchup zone proved no match for West Virginia. The Associated Press The taller No. 10-seeded Mountaineers passed the ball through, over and around the No. 7-seed Owls and used an effective full-court press to hand Temple its worst loss in NCAA Tournament history, 82-52, yesterday in the first round. Temple, 10-4 in opening-round games under coach John Chaney, had never lost to a lower-seeded team in the first round. West Virginia (23-8) advanced to tomorrow's second round against the winner of the game between No. 2 Cincinnati and No. 15 Northern Arizona. The Mountaineers' best tournament showing came in the 1959 Jarrod West led West Virginia with 15 points and Brent Solheim added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Brian Lewin also had 10 rebounds as the Mountaineers controlled the boards, 44-22. "Experience set in. They start five seniors and it shows." Temple's Rasheed Brokenborough said. "We're veterans who've played a lot of games, and we wanted to come out and make sure it wasn't the last game for us," said Solheim, who like the rest of his team is playing his first NCAA Tournament. Temple shot just 32 percent in the first half, starting out 3-of-19 while West Virginia reeled off 11 unanswered points for a 24-8 lead that soon stretched to 18 points. West Virginia scored the game's first nine points and never looked back. "They never stopped shooting the ball," Chaney said. "Our rebounding was absolutely horrible. It was mind-boggling that could happen." Three-point shot gives Cincinnati NCAA win The Associated Press Each time the Bearcats took the lead, the Lumberjacks had an answer. Bobby Brannen, the offensive threat for Cincinnati with 24 points, made one of two free throws, putting the Bearcats ahead 62-59 with 24.7 seconds to play. BOISE, Idaho — Finally, a long shot went in for Cincinnati, and the Bearcats survived the long-shot challenge of Northern Arizona with a harrowing 65-62 first-round victory in the NCAA West regional. regional. D'Juan Baker, 4-14 from the field, sank a three-point shot with 3.6 seconds to play yesterday as the Bearcats avoided becoming the fourth No. 2 seed to fall to a No. 15 seed. Northern Arizona, a 15-point underdog in its first NCAA Tournament, frustrated the bigger, stronger Bearcats (27-5) with a pestering defense and a patient offense as the crowd at BSU Pavilion roared its approval. Cincinnati tried to get the ball to Brannen. Instead, it went to Baker, who made the shot. But Northern Arizona's Michael McNair calmly sank a 22-foot three-point shot to tie it 62-62 with 17.4 seconds left. Kawika Akina, the quick point guard who had seven steals, tossed up a desperate three-point shot at the buzzer that bounced off the front of the rim. The Bearcats outrebounded the Lumberjacks 42-27, but Cincinnati outscored Northern Arizona 22-9 on the offensive boards. The Bearcats, ranked No. 9 nationally, entered the game as arguably the hottest team in the tournament with nine straight victories, but they made just three of their first 14 shots and were 7-29 at halftime. Before his big shot, Baker was only 2-8 from three-point range. The Bearcats tried to take the lead three times, but then the Lumberjacks scored seven in a row to go ahead 53-47 on an offensive rebound with 9 minutes and 24 seconds to play. A 3-pointer by one of the nation's top long-range shooter, Andrew Mavis, put Northern Arizona on top 56-53 with 6 minutes and 38 seconds remaining. Brannen's missed free throw opened the way for McNair's gamey three-point shot. PLANNING A TRIP? 20% OFF TRAVEL, FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AIDS & AUDIO BOOKS FRIDAY, APRIL 3 - SATURDAY, APRIL 11 Mt. 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Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 Pro *Automate and configure the development environment to suit your needs - Quickly create Active Document servers, and automation objects, and build use ActiveXTM Controls through MFC and wizards - Develop client/server applications when working with multiple databases through support for the latest version of Open Database Connectivity (OBDC) $99.95 Available Now at the UTC... *Deliver fast, small, robust 32-bit applications for Windows 95 and Windows NT *Create powerful database applications union technology center Level 3, Burge Union ● 864-5690 Mon-Th 8:30-7:00 Fri 8:30-5:00 Sat 10:00-4:00 The men of Phi Gamma Delta wish you the best in your endeavors after you exit from our daily lives. Ah, the sweet days of your well-contrived poetry, and the snowy white of the toilet paper that covered our rooms; these are the days that we will miss. Could we every forget furniture wars that manifested from our burgeoning relationship in the year of our Rock Chalk betrothal? I must address the three women who endured us from the start. First, there is Cook, the ray of sunshine that greeted us with each passing practice. Second comes Brookard, the raggedy girl that encapsulated our hearts with a keen sense of the obvious. At last, Danner, the bittersweet sound of the whip that cracked when the boys became distracted. Oh yes, these are the days that we will remember and hold close to our bosom. Love, Colby, Stephen, and the men of Phi Gamma Delta