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'40 minutes of hell' ready
to roll
By The Associated Press
Season of torture prepares UAB
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A few days in Coach Mike Anderson's grueling
conditioning program, and Mo Finley wondered if basketball at
Alabama-Birmingham was really worth this kind of pain.
Drills with a water-filled ball, a shapeless blob that's
impossible to grip or grab. Full-speed sessions with a heavy
medicine ball. And then there were those torturous suicide
sprints.
Instead of going baseline to baseline, Anderson pushed the
bleachers back and had his players sprint from one gym wall to
the other, concrete to concrete. Not just once or twice, either.
They ran dozens of those gut-busters.
"You couldn't really appreciate it at the beginning," Finley
said Thursday. "I guess the proof is in the pudding. We're
winning. We're here now."
UAB (22-9) is in the round of 16 for the first time since 1982,
facing fourth-seeded Kansas (23-8) in the semifinals.
Third-seeded Georgia Tech, the top seed left in the regional,
plays another upstart, 10th-seeded Nevada, in the other game.
It would be easy to mistake the ninth-seeded Blazers as another
underdog, one of those cute little surprise teams that's found
in every NCAA tournament. Just as it was easy for college
coaches to overlook Finley, who is generously listed at
5-foot-11.
But anyone who underestimates Finley or the Blazers will soon
find themselves roadkill, plowed under by UAB's "40 Minutes of
Hell" defense.
Look at Kentucky. The Wildcats were the top seed in the
tournament, looking to win its eighth NCAA title. Now they're at
home, beaten by Finley's game-winning jumper with 12 seconds
left last weekend.
"Personally, I felt that we were just as good as everybody
else," Finley said. "We have put the work in to be successful.
The bottom line is, once the tournament starts, you have to play
the game. It isn't about what's on the jersey, but it is about
your effort."
And trust the Blazers, few teams worked harder than they did.
Anderson got his press-'em-until-they-drop philosophy from Nolan
Richardson after playing for him at Tulsa and then serving as
his assistant for 17 years. It's a frenzied, up-tempo style
that's fun to watch - whose jaw didn't drop at Ronell Taylor's
steal and behind-the-back flip to twin brother Donell for a dunk
against Kentucky? - but few teams have the energy to run it
these days.
Sure, the Blazers substitute freely, with seven players
averaging 18 minutes or more. But the only thing that can
prepare a team for that all-out style is hard work. Lots of it.
"You have to be extremely mentally tough to come in every day,
day in and day out, and try to do what coach Anderson asks,"
Finley said. "Physically, I guess you can always do a little
more than you thought you could. If you are really tired and the
dog is behind you, you will still find a way to run away if you
are afraid of dogs."
Though Anderson's players had their doubts when he arrived two
years ago, they've bought into his madness. After all, his
system works. The Blazers won 20 games for a second straight
season, shared the Conference USA regular-season title and went
from the NIT last year to the NCAA tournament.
Now a program that is celebrating its 25th anniversary is facing
one of college basketball's elite teams in the round of 16.
"They gave us an underdog role, they gave us a Cinderella
slipper," Anderson said. "I think we're a good basketball team.
I really do. Particularly the day we played Kentucky, we played
some pretty good basketball."
He won't get an argument from the Jayhawks.
To give his team an idea just how stifling UAB's press is,
Kansas coach Bill Self put eight defenders on his starters
during practice this week.
"All five guys are covered, you have guys guarding you and you
have coaches screaming at you to get open. You're looking like,
`I can't,"' Keith Langford said. "I'm pretty sure it will help
prepare us. It was just surprising to me that Coach felt the
only way they could simulate their press was to put eight guys
on the floor."
Even that might not be good enough, though. When Finley and
Sidney Ball heard Kansas had practiced eight-on-five, they
looked at each other and smiled.
"We're not going to have seven players on the floor," Ball said.
"I think you can try to simulate what's going to happen, but it
is not realistic."
The Blazers aren't the only team here that plays nasty defense.
Georgia Tech (25-9) is allowing less than 40 percent shooting a
game, and its defense powers its entire game.
But just like UAB, Nevada (25-8) is no ordinary underdog. It
beat defensive-minded Michigan State and then knocked off
second-seeded Gonzaga.
"Sweet 16, Elite Eight, WAC champs - we tried to treat everybody
the same," Wolf Pack coach Trent Johnson said. "Have a lot of
respect but play with a level of confidence. And yes, a level of
arrogance. Respect our opponent, show class and go on from
there."
Copyright 2004
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:49:46 AM
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