The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 25

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ifev I ml Furman looks past the numbers to find its head men's basketball coach. By Abe Hardesty Staff writer Twice during the past eight years, Joe Cantafio guided an overachieving Virginia Military team into the Southern Conference Tournament finals. "We were that close," says Cantafio, holding an index finger an inch above the thumb, "to an NCAA (Tournament) bid." On Monday, Cantafio believes he moved a step closer to that invitation. Cantafio, 42, was introduced as Furman's head basketball coach, a position he accepted after a weekend meeting in Roanoke, with Furman athletic director Ray Parlier. The Pennsylvania native becomes the 14th man to step into the job, and the first to do it after coaching against Furman for more than a decade.

See Coach, Page 5D Players: 'It's a no-lose situation' Paladins pleased with choice to succeed Butch Estes. By Tim Peeler Staff writer First impressions are lasting, and the Furman basketball players have nothing but good things to say after their first meeting with the man selected to be their new head coach, former Virginia Military Institute coach Joe Cantafio. The players already knew a little bit about the coach, because he was a Southern Conference opponent. And they liked what they knew. "The first time I heard his name, I said to myself, 'Now that is someone I would like to see get See Players, Page 5D STAFF OWEN HILEY JH Newly named Furman basketball coach Joe Cantafio (left) and Furman President Dr.

John Johns 1 IJ ljl roll on Final Four road full of detours om NIT i By John P. Lopez Houston Chronicle LANDOVER, Md. The NCAA Tournament is beginning to heat up. Forget about the cool breezes that swept through the Midwest Regional over the weekend, bringing along the cold, hard truth for UMass and Oklahoma State. And forget about lamenting the frigid temperatures that brought unseasonable snow to the East Regional, where North Carolina, Nebraska and Temple were put on ice.

Wichita? Ogden? Long Island? The NCAA Tournament is headed for warmer climes and, surely, even hotter times. The road to the Final Four in Charlotte, N.C., continues this weekend at Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles and Knoxville, where 16 teams hope to pick up where they left off over the weekend. The first rounds of the madness did indeed give the NCAA Tournament a strange start, leaving the Sweet 16 with an unusual look of old hands, frisky pups and stately institutions surprisingly left out. Start with the institutions. The North Carolina Tar Heels, the defending champs, are out.

They were victims of Boston College and hearts made of steel. Out, too, is UCLA, which once upon a time was a perennial NCAA monster, but has the tournament life expectancy of a moth. Also out is Kentucky, a longtime, big-time power that this time cowered under the brawn of Marquette? It's true. Also out are Massachusetts, California and Oklahoma State, all once considered Sweet 16 contenders, but left out in the cold. The focus turns to such hot cutting-See Road, Page 2D '111 Clemson shoots 72 percent from the field in second half to pull away from West Virginia in 96-79 second-round victory.

By Tom Layton Start writer MORGANTOWN, W.Va. Country roads, take me home? The Clemson Tigers may have been playing string music here Monday night, but home was the farthest thing from their mind. The Tigers enjoyed their best shooting in a road game in 10 years when they beat West Virginia 96-79 in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament. This was the kind of road trip that makes a team hate to have to come home, and this time they won't have to. They will play Vanderbilt (a 78-59 winner against New Orleans) in a quarterfinal game Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn.

The game is tentatively scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Clemson hit 65 percent of its shots against West Virginia and came up with 67 percent of the game's rebounds. "When people shoot the ball like that and rebound like that," said West Virginia coach Gale Catlett, "they can go as far as they want to go." Clemson hit 59 percent in the first half, after which Catlett told his team, "There's no way they can shoot that well in the second half." He paused. "I was right. They were better." Clemson hit 72 percent in the second half, including eight of nine in a 21-5 run af See Tigers, Page 2D 4ey influence guided Furman Hiring a head basketball coach whose previous team had lost 146 games and won only 80 might require some explanation, and Furman had one Monday when it announced Joe Cantafio as its new coach.

Cantafio's eight-year record at VMI was 80-146. His teams record against Furman was 5-14. So what was Furman's thinking? John Block, Furman's faculty chairman of athletics, told a combined gathering of press and supporters Monday that Furman's leadership deckled the reason Furman basketball had come to have such a special place was that the late Lyles Alley had shaped what it should be. Block praised Alley's emphasis on success in academics as well as in his sport and commended "his unchallenged integrity, his unremitting loyalty to players, family, friends and Furman." That aimed Furman athletic director Ray Parlier toward persons with head coaching experience at a level comparable to Furman's. And his search led him to Cantafio, who said Monday that being offered the Furman job "was like a dream come true.

My feet haven't hit the ground yet." Ready answer That's all very well, but what about the 80-146 business? Cantafio is more or less glad you asked. He pointed out that Mike Schul-er, whose VMI teams won only 13 of 76 games in three years between 1970 and '72, later was named the National Basketball Association head coach of the year with Portland. Bill Blair, with a 48-59 record when he left VMI in 1976, is an assistant coach with the NBA's Indiana Pacers. Cantafio's best platform, though, may be Mike Krzyzewski's sequence. "People look at Mike Krzyzew-ski," he said.

"If you asked everyone in here to name five great college coaches, obviously he would be on everyone's list," since Duke won national championships under Krzyzewski in 1991 and '92. However, at the U.S. Military Academy (Army) for five years before he went to Duke, Coach K's first and last seasons had losing records. "Tom Butters (Duke athletic director) took a chance on Mike Krzyzewski. I hope I can accomplish half of what Mike Krzyzewski has accomplished.

That would be tremendous." What Cantafio was saying in so many words was that when Willie Shoemaker didn't win a horse race, it was more the horse's fault than the jockey's. While trying to be charitable with VMI's situation, Cantafio acknowledged that it will be easier for him to recruit good players to Furman. Cantafio, who has a ready wit, said one VMI player once told him, "'Coach, I cannot believe you talked me into coming to this Without a trace of a smile, though, he continued, "At VMI, I not only had to recruit kids, you have to 'recruit' them almost every single day. You have to re-recruit them. I think Furman University sells itself." Never applied "I've never applied for a job," he said.

"About five or six years ago Marshall University called me and I went up there. I knew from the get-go that I wasn't the guy for that particular type of job, that I couldn't fit in that particular job, although I think it's a great job for a lot of people." If sheer enthusiasm could do it, Furman will make it to the Final Four probably every other year. It would be difficult to visualize anyone with more enthusiasm than Cantafio demonstrated as he described Furman as one of the few places he had ever said he would like to coach. Furman's decision probably gave considerable weight to what Parlier said were telephone calls from John Wooden, the legendary retired coach from UCLA, and from Morgan Woo-ten, the nation's most famous high school coach at DeMatha, for whom Cantafio once had been an assistant. Parlier said Wooten told him that Cantafio was "the finest coach he's ever had the pleasure to work with," and that includes several former assistants who have become head coaches at big-time schools.

Parlier said UCLA's Wooden told him, 'What you have here is a rising A THE ASSOCIATED PBESS Boston College's Malcom Huckaby celebrates win over North Carolina Sunday 2f Visser uses press to handle Knight The Associated Press Every once in a great while, somebody in TV says something we can all be proud of. So, thank you, Lesley Visser. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" If she never opens her mouth again on TV, those words will have endeared her to thousands of reporters, referees, former players and unlucky bystanders who have been made objects of ridicule by Bob Knight. It happened after Indiana beat Temple 67-58 Sunday at Landover, in the second round of the NCAA tournament's Southeast Regional. Vis- THE NIT SECOND ROUND Monday Xavier (Ohio) 83, Northwestern 79, OT Clemson 96, West Vlrglnla7V VlllanovoK, DuquesneM Vanderbilt 78, NewOrleons59 Tuesday Tulane (18-10) at Siena (22-7), Gonzoga (22-7) at Kansas St.

18-12), 8p.m. Old Dominion (21-9) at Bradley (22-7), 8:05 P.m. BYU (22-9) at Fresno State (20-10), Third Round March 23, 24 or 25 O. Dominion-Bradley vs. Tulone-Slena Xavier vs.

Vlllonova Clemsonat Vanderbilt Gonzaga-KansosSt. vs. Semifinals At New York (Monday, March 28) 7p.m.and9:30p.m. Championship Wednesday, March Semifinal losers, :45p.m. Semifinals winners, 9p.m.

fc tt rs is te associated press ser, reporting for CBS, had the Indiana coach live See Visser, Page 5D Georgetown's bench knows it's over Third -round times to be announced. 31 NASCAR expands its starting fields 35 in the Winston Cup point standings who do not qualify in the top 34. A 37th starting spot is available for a car owner who has a past Winston Cup champion as driver. The three tracks are expanding their pit areas to accommodate the increases, said Winston Cup director Gary Nelson. The Goody's 250 NASCAR Busch Grand National race April 9 at Bristol also will be expanded from 32 to 34 cars.

Because of the entries of several new teams and a large class of rookie drivers, several key teams have failed to qualify at each of the four Winston Cup events this season. Among the victims have been Wally Dallenbach (driver for Richard Petty's team), Hut Stricklin and Ward Burton. By Mike Hembree Stall writer Responding to the fact that too many cars are vying for too few positions, NASCAR has expanded the starting fields for three Winston Cup short-track races next month. Two positions have been added to the starting fields for the April 10 Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) International Raceway, the April 17 First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway and the April 24 Hanes 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The base fields for the three races will expand from 32 to 34 positions, but the ultimate size of the fields can increase to 37.

Two provisional starting positions are available for team owners in the top Kjs.sjjW'.; tfa? THE 9S Three tracks will expand their fields.