Are the North Carolina basketball fans like elephants? Do they never forget? Danny Manning, for one, figures them for big ears and long trunks.
Carolinans booed the Kansas All-American two years ago when the Jayhawks played North Carolina State in his former hometown of Greensboro, and he’s counting on more of the same when KU meets the Wolfpack on Saturday in Raleigh.
“Yeah, I’m expecting it again,” Manning said. “Hopefully, it won’t get to me where I don’t play well.”
Tipoff is 3:10 p.m., Lawrence time, Saturday at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum. It’s an ABC national telecast and will be shown live on channels 2, 9 and 49.
Manning did not play well in that ’85 game in Greensboro. Kansas won, 71-56, but the 6-10 forward scored only eight points. He missed five of seven shots from the floor.
But Manning was a sophomore then. He’s a senior now and has experienced much more derision on enemy floors since then.
“Hell, he gets boos at Missouri,” KU caoch Larry Brown pointed out. “I don’t think that’s gonna bother him.”
For that matter, the N.C. State fans will probably boo Brown as well, considering he played collegiately at arch-rival North Carolina. Be that as it may, Brown will worry, as usual, only about his team’s performance.
In general, Brown hasn’t been pleased this season, although the Jayhawks were impressive in last Saturday’s 110-72 win over Rider and have had sound practice sessions this week.
“We’re better than we were two weeks ago,” Brown conceded, “but I don’t know if we’ll see that progress when we meet North Carolina State.”
Menawhile, it’s hard to tell what kind of progress the Wolfpack has made in the last two weeks because they haven’t played a college opponent since Dec. 2.
“We’re anxious to get back into action,” N.C. State coach Jim Valvano said. “I wish we had a few more games before we had to play a team like Kansas.”
The Wolfpack walloped Vermont, 108-58, and trounced Tampa, 85-60, before going into hibernation that didn’t end until an exhibition game against Marathon Oil on Wednesday night.
State won the exhibition, 122-87, as guard Vinny Del Negro scored 22 points and freshman Rodney Monroe added 21. But the big news was the return of freshman point guard Chris Corchiani from a bout with mononucleosis.
Corchiani, the all-time leading scorer in Florida prep history – he’s from Hialeah – played 15 minutes against Marathon Oil and had eight assists. The 6-0 yearling had 20 assists in the first two games, and is expected to start against Kansas.
With Corchiani healthy, Valvano has no point guard question marks whereas Brown still hasn’t completely decided who’ll man that important spot for the Jayhawks.
Juco transfer Lincoln Minor started the first seven gamges there, and nhas now switched permanently to off guard. Junior Scooter Barry opened at the point against Rider. And now juco transfer Otis Livingston has the nod for Saturday.
“I’m getting a better feel for what the (point guards) can do,” Brown said. “I truly believe Otis is going to have to step forward, and we’ll bring Scooter off the bench. Otis has always played that position and he feels more relaxed.”
Chances are Clint Normore may see duty there, too. Normore was a reserve point guard for two seasons at Wichita State. But he gave up the sport for football, and transferred to Kansas when WSU dropped football. Normore joined the KU basketball team on Monday, and will be suited up – he’ll wear No. 4 – on Saturday.
Notes
Chucky Brown, a 6-6 junior forward, leads the Wolfpack in scoring (21.0) and rebounding (9.0) after the two games…KU has won three straight from the ‘Pack, including last year’s 74-60 decision in Kemper Arena…the last game in the current series will be next season in Allen Fieldhouse…after Saturday, KU won’t play again until the ECAC Holiday Festival on Dec. 28 and 30 in New York City…
