Underdog Flames not fazed

NO. 13 SEED LOOKS TO MAKE NOISE AGAINST KANSAS

(3/18/04)

Being a No. 13 seed and going up against perennial power Kansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament is reason enough to be worried.

In addition, the UIC Flames are undersized and are playing in Kansas City’s Kemper Arena, just a short drive from Kansas’ campus.

However, UIC’s 6-foot-5 bruising power forward Armond Williams made a bold prediction.

“I see this as an upset game,” said Williams (pictured). “It’s going to be a big crowd. I love it. Our confidence is going up. We won’t let the crowd and the hype get to us. They’re human guys like us.”

Kansas fans scooped up many of the remaining tickets for Friday’s game early in the week.

“Kansas will have its fans,” Collins said, “but we don’t play the fans. Our kids just like noise. They don’t care who’s cheering for whom. They just like to see people.

“It’s going to be a difficult game, because of the size factor.”

Kansas (21-8), ranked No. 15 in the nation, has three key players 6-foot-9 or better, including a First All-Big 12 selection in Wayne Simien, who averages 17.8 points and 9.1 rebounds per contest. His season highs are 31 points (against Missouri in the Big 12 tournament) and 17 rebounds (against Texas Tech on Feb. 7). The Flames will need to limit his touches in the post and be physical with him.

He is one heck of a player,” Collins said. “We need to contain him, and we can’t let any of the other guys get off on us either.”

Six-foot-9 senior Jeff Graves starts at the center position and has been seeing increased minutes of late. He averages 6.1 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest, but his scoring average is up to 11.0 points in the last four games.

Six-foot-11 freshman center David Padgett is one of the first Jayhawks off the bench and provides 6.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per outing.

UIC (24-7) needs big games from Williams (11.8 points, 5.9 rebounds per game) and sophomore Elliott Poole (5.2 points, 4.5 rebounds). Poole could especially be vital, due to his 6-foot-7, 255-pound frame and the upward turn in his play as of late.

“I feel I can show my quickness [in the post] to and do other things to help us come out to win,” said Poole, who had 10 points in the Horizon championship and was named to the all-tournament team. “Right now, I consider myself as a senior. I’m going to play like I’ve been here before.”

Senior starting center Joe Scott can gave UIC a nice boost, if he can establish himself offensively early in the game and stay out of foul trouble. He can be a shot-blocker on the defensive end.

Kansas also has a solid perimeter corps, led by junior point guard Aaron Miles and junior swingman Keith Langford.

Miles rates just below UIC’s Martell Bailey in assists at 7.2 assists per game. He averages 9.2 points per contest.

Langford is an athletic player who looks to slash his way to the basket, but he can also drain the three-pointer. He averages 15.8 points per game and converts 48 percent of his shots overall and 37 percent from beyond the three-point arc.

Freshman J.R. Giddens is the Jayhawks’ top three-point shooter at 40 percent efficiency and is averaging 10.7 points per game.

Junior guard Michael Lee comes off the bench and adds 5.1 points per game, but it’s his defense that gets extended minutes. He will likely be one of the defenders trying to slow down Flames’ star Cedrick Banks.

Banks and Bailey will need to improve upon their recent performances. Banks, who is averaging 18.5 points, struggled offensively in the Horizon League championship game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

“Offense isn’t the only part of my game,” Banks said. “I move well without the ball, and I played good defense out there against Milwaukee.”

Bailey (pictured) hasn’t been himself in the last two games. He committed 17 turnovers during UIC’s run in the conference tournament and hasn’t been sharp offensively. He will need to be focused for the Flames to have a shot.

“We have an opportunity to prove ourselves,” said Bailey, who is second in the nation at 7.9 assists per game. “I feel we’re the underdogs, but underdogs upset people, so we feel if we play they way we’ve been playing all year, we can get a win.”

The Flames are also hoping to get contributions from its bench—Poole, forwards Aaron Carr and Josip Petrusic, guard Marcetteaus McGee, and 6-9 swingman Jovan Stefanov.

Kansas, although successful the last 20 times it has played in the first round of the tournament, has had to sweat out first-round games in the recent past.

“In the previous years, our games against Utah State, Holy Cross and Cal-State Northridge were all games where they gave us a run for our money,” Simien said. “We have to go out and be ready and not look past UIC by any means. Our mindset right now should be on UIC. The past few first round games have been pretty close no matter who we played.”

Kansas coach Bill Self is familiar enough with the Flames to know it won’t be easy.

UIC has won 12 in a row and won their league,” Self said. “They will be as tough a 13-seed as there possibly is, they could be a better seed than that.

“All of his Jimmy’s teams are tough and they can guard. They will take care of the basketball and they play as tough as anybody we played against.”

Just as in 2002 when the Flames lost to Oklahoma by just eight points in Dallas, Collins expects his team to be fearless when it takes the floor.

"We’ll throw caution to the wind as far as fear goes,” Collins. “We need to execute and not be foolish with the basketball and take high percentage shots.”

BURRAS LEAVES ISU: Six-foot-five sophomore forward Chris Burras. The former Leo star averaged 4.4 points and 3.0 rebounds per contest with Illinois State, which ended a disappointing 10-19 under coach Porter Moser.

He missed the last five games of the season for failing to comply with team guidelines.

Burras was recruited by UIC coach Jimmy Collins and the Flames could be an option for him. Burras considered UIC and Loyola among others before signing with the Redbirds. If he goes to a Division I school, Burras would have to sit out a year, but would keep two years of eligibility.

FRIDAY’S GAME AT A GLANCE

Site: Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Mo.

Date: Friday, March 19, 2004

Game time: 8:55 p.m. (approximate)

TV: WBBM-Ch. 2

TV talent: Craig Bolerjack (play-by-play), Bob Wenzel (analyst)

Radio: WMVP-AM 1000

Radio talent: Dave Wills (play-by-play), Dick Nagy (analyst)

Coaches: Jimmy Collins, UIC; Bill Self, Kansas

Series history: First meeting

Postseason history: UIC is 0-2 all-time in the NCAA tournament, falling to Charlotte 77-62 in 1998 and to Oklahoma 71-63 in 2002. … Kansas is 70-32 all-time in the “Big Dance” with 12 Final Four appearances and two national championships. The Jayhawks were national runners-up last year after falling to Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse 81-78. Current Bull Kirk Hinrich was the point guard at KU last year.

Note: The winner of this game will play the winner of the Providence-Pacific game on Sunday afternoon at 3:50 p.m. (approximately)