UAB unconventional

By Joy Ludwig Mar 25, 2004

Common sense suggests the NCAA St. Louis Regional is opening perfectly for Kansas University’s men’s basketball team.

Ninth-seeded Alabama-Bir-mingham is next on the schedule. It’s the second straight game where the lowest possible seed has advanced to meet KU.

Regardless, KU coach Bill Self, while stopping short of saying he would have rather played top-seeded Kentucky, the team UAB stunned Sunday, did say the Blazers could cause more fits when the two teams meet at 6:10 p.m. Friday at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

“From a matchup standpoint, we probably matched up with Kentucky better because they were conventional,” Self said following KU’s 78-63 victory over Pacific Sunday. “But then again, (UAB) will have some strengths over us, and we’ll have some strengths over them.”

UAB (22-9) does play an unfamiliar style. Second-year coach Mike Anderson, once a long-time assistant of former Tulsa and Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson, adopted the “40 minutes of Hell” scheme made famous by his former mentor.

UAB plays an in-your-face defense and run-and-gun offense — strategies that led to a 102-100 victory over Washington in the first round, and a 76-75 victory over Kentucky in the second round.

“They get after you,” Self said. “That’s unconventional. We don’t have anybody in our league that played that way, and we haven’t played anybody all year long that’s played that way. We’re going to have to do a really great job of preparing this week to get ready.”

The Blazers, the last remaining of the six Conference USA teams invited to the NCAA Tournament, bring a balanced scoring attack led by Mo Finley, Gabe Kennedy and Demario Eddins. All three average better than 10 points per game.

UAB is the third straight lower-seeded team KU will be playing in this year’s tournament. But, in the same breath, the Blazers are a team that topped Kentucky, tapped by the selection committee as the No. 1 of the top tourney seeds.

“You can’t take any teams for granted right now,” KU senior Jeff Graves said. “You’ve got to respect everybody.”