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NCAA Tournament

They're ready for spotlight

The NCAA Tournament annually turns lesser-known players into talked-about names. This year's crop is lining up.

By BRIAN LANDMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 15, 2001

[AP photo] A UCLA player wears "attitude" on the back of his basketball shorts during practice for today's NCAA first round tournament game against Hofstra.

ATLANTA -- For senior guard Shernard Long, the NCAA Tournament represents a quixotic crusade.

Shernard who?

Exactly.

Although he spent his first two seasons as a budding star at a Big East power, the sudden death of his mother prompted him to transfer to a school back home so he could be with his family and put his life together.

But Georgia State, overshadowed in Atlanta by Georgia Tech and nearby University of Georgia, is an uncelebrated member of the Trans America Athletic Conference.

Long was a long way from the spotlight.

"From Game 1 this year, it's been a personal goal of mine to show people that just because I left Georgetown doesn't mean my game fell off any," he said.

Here's his shot to jump back into the public's consciousness. The NCAA Tournament affords unheralded players the opportunity, even if it's for one shining moment, to prove they possess the skill and acumen of their more famous collegiate peers.

Who had heard of Valparaiso's Bryce Drew before his last-second three-pointer upset Mississippi in the 1998 tournament? Who knew much about Weber State's Harold Arceneaux before he scored 36 in a win against North Carolina in 1999.

So, who's next?

It could be Long, a senior guard who averaged 18.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.5 steals. Or it might be Iona senior center Nakiea Miller, Eastern Illinois senior guard Kyle Hill or sophomore forward Henry Domercant, or even St. Joseph's junior guard Marvin O'Connor.

Any could emerge from the shadows.

"Shernard Long can shoot the three and he can take you off the dribble. Now there's not a lot of guys in the country who can do both of those," said Georgia coach Jim Harrick, whose Bulldogs lost their opener to Long and GSU 91-79 in Athens. "He has a chance to be a pro."

So too does the svelte 6-10 Miller, who is the most intimidating big man for Iona since Gaels coach Jeff Ruland played there in 1980. Ruland, in fact, has let Miller wear his number, 43.

"I don't hand that out to just anyone," Ruland said.

Miller averaged 15 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3 blocks and shot 67.1 percent from the field -- second nationally. He had 15 rebounds and matched a career high with 24 points in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament finale against Canisius.

"I've worked hard this year," said Miller, hoping to do more than he did in a 2000 NCAA Tournament loss to Maryland, when he scored 12 points.

Don't bet against him.

"I remember getting ready to play them last year and we thought he really had a lot of ability and was a great rebounder," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "I've always felt that there's guys who go to whatever level and, because they get a chance to play right away and play without any pressure because they're by far their team's best player, in two years they're probably just as good as the so-called 'bigger-team' players that were signed at the same time."

Don't think that Arizona, among the favorites to reach the Final Four, isn't impressed with the Eastern Illinois tandem of Hill and Domercant.

The Wildcats have to be.

They not only were first and second in the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring, they were third and fifth in the NCAA at 23.5 and 22.9 points, respectively.

Even a player like O'Connor, the star for the No. 22-ranked St. Joseph's Hawks, is a victim of underexposure. In a recent game against Atlantic 10 rival LaSalle,O'Connor scored 18 points in the frenetic (final) 57 seconds.

"If we tried to do that right now with just Marvin in the gym, I don't think you could do it," Hawks coach Phil Martelli said. "I don't think you could possibly do it. He hit guarded shots, and that speaks to the competitive nature of the kid. ... I've never seen anything like it and I don't think I ever will (again)."

Can you imagine the avalanche of publicity if O'Connor played for Michigan State or Duke?

Or if Long played for North Carolina or Kentucky?

The world would understand why Georgia State coach Lefty Driesell, as he watched the ACC tournament semifinals between Duke and Maryland, would say:

"He can play with any of these guys."

We shall see. Finally.

---

Waiting to be discovered

Player, (School)	Pos,Yr.	Statistics
Dan Dickau (Gonzaga)	PG Jr.	18.3 pts, 6.6 assists
Henry Domercant (Eastern Illinois)	F So.	22.9 pts.
Brian Heinle (Cal-State Northridge)	C Sr.	20.2 pts., 9.5 rbs., 3.9 blocks
Kyle Hill (Eastern Illinois)	G Sr.	23.5 pts.
Sean Lampley (California)	F Sr.	19.7 pts, 7.1 rbs., 3.2 assists
Shernard Long (Georgia State)	G Sr.	18.3 pts., 4.4 rbs., 2.5 steals
Tito Maddox (Fresno State)	PG Fr.	14.0 pts., 8.3 assists
Chris Marcus (Western Kentucky)	C Jr.	15.9 pts., 11.6 rbs., 3.2 blocks
Nakiea Miller (Iona)	C Sr.	15.0 pts., 8.7 rbs., 3.0 blocks
Marvin O'Connor (St. Joseph's)	G Jr.	21.6 pts
Ryan Sears (Creighton)	G Sr.	11.1 pts, 4.3 assists

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