Nov. 19, 1999
By TIM WHITMIRE
AP Sports Writer
LEXINGTON, Kty. (AP) – Rick Majerus is not happy to be in Kentucky for thesecond round of the Preseason NIT.
Don’t get him wrong. He’s not upset that his 16th-ranked Utah team won itsopener Tuesday over Arkansas State.
And he doesn’t mind playing No. 14 Kentucky, even though the Wildcats haveknocked the Utes out of the NCAA tournament four times this decade, including avictory in the 1998 national championship game.
It’s that when he committed his team to play in the 16-team Preseason NIT,Majerus was promised the Utes would play at home in the first and secondrounds.
Instead, Utah, winner of five straight Western Athletic Conference titlesand national runnerup two years ago, plays at hostile Rupp Arena on Fridaynight, with the winner advancing to the semifinals in New York next week.
Majerus blames the schedulemakers at ESPN, which is broadcasting thetournament.
“I’m upset about it,” he said Thursday. “It was driven by TV. ESPNdoesn’t want us on TV, or doesn’t want us back in New York.
“The business decision was maybe they felt we don’t have the televisionaudience,” he said. “Maybe there aren’t a lot of Mormons in New York. Maybethey sell a lot of beer ads, and we don’t appeal to that audience. We’re not apizzazz team. We don’t go airborne for any dunks.”
Officials at ESPN did not immediately respond to a request Thursday forcomment on Majerus’ charges.
If the Utes are to buck the odds and make a Madison Square Gardenappearance, they’ll have to get by Kentucky, which advanced with a 67-50 winover Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
“When you can sub five at once” – as Kentucky coach Tubby Smith did duringthat win – “you know you’ve got talented players,” Majerus said.
Freshman big man Marvin Stone debuted with 12 points for the Wildcats, whilecenter Jamaal Magloire had 11 points and nine rebounds. Smith was concerned,though, that Penn grabbed 13 offensive rebounds to just 11 for Kentucky.
“Against Utah, we’ll have to play a much better game, especially in some ofthe boxing out and rebounding, because they’re very aggressive, very strong onthe boards,” he said. “I didn’t see any of the gang rebounding that we’regoing to need against a Utah team.”
The Wildcats also were tentative offensively, shooting just 40.7 percentfrom the field.
“We didn’t have much fluidity to (the halfcourt offense) and that’sprobably coaching, because we haven’t had a whole lot of time,” Smith said.”We’re going to have to make some adjustments in our motion offense tomaximize our players’ potential.”
The Utes opened with a 76-43 home win over Arkansas State on Tuesday,getting 14 rebounds from Alex Jensen and 14 points and seven boards from NateAlthoff. Against Kentucky, Utah will again be without starting forward HannoMottola, who is recovering from a torn knee ligament he suffered in a preseasonexhibition.
ESPN did not broadcast the Utah-Arkansas State game – more fuel for Majerus’grudge – forcing Kentucky to scramble for a tape of the local broadcast towatch on Thursday. One of those assisting in the effort was former WildcatScott Padgett, now a rookie with the NBA’s Utah Jazz, who sent a videotape byovernight mail.
Meanwhile, the Utes had already arrived in Kentucky. Showing how much herespects the home-court advantage, Majerus had his team travel Wednesday,running the risk of having to go back home for the second round if Penn hadupset Kentucky.
“Home is where the wins are,” he said.
Another home win for the Wildcats would give them a perfect 5-0 mark againstUtah this decade. The first four of those wins came in the NCAA tournament,where Kentucky has been Utah’s nemesis in the ’90s, eliminating the Utes in thesecond round in 1993, the third round in 1996, the regional finals in 1997 andthe title game in 1998.
Majerus said when the NIT informed him he likely would not get asecond-round home game, he was offered a chance to pick the bracket in whichhis team would play.
He chose Kentucky’s bracket, but not to renew the Utes-Wildcats rivalry.
“I picked Kentucky because it’s close to Milwaukee and my family, so theycan come watch the game,” he said.
