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The South Regional notebook ...
NEW ORLEANS — When Penn State’s Crispin brothers, senior Joe and sophomore Jon, were youngsters growing up in New Jersey, there was a serious difference of opinion within the family.
You see, Joe was a Duke fan, while Jon was a fan of the UNC Tar Heels.
Joe latched on to the Blue Devils because a Jersey kid named Bobby Hurley was their point guard.
Jon pledged allegiance to the Tar Heels, simply because his big brother despised them.
“I took up Duke first,” said Joe. “So naturally, Jon became a Carolina fan. That was the nature of the two of us. We had some battles on the couch, talking trash to each other when the games were on TV.”
The Crispins will presumably be on the same page when the Nittany Lions take on the Tar Heels at approximately 5 p.m. EST.
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TRASH TALK:Temple’s John Chaney is a fan of the underdog and the under-publicized and loves the upsets that have taken place in this year’s NCAA tourney.
“If the talking heads had their way, all we’d see on TV would be Duke playing Duke every day,” said Chaney.
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MORE TRASH TALK: Penn State’s Joe Crispin said he isn’t worried about his school’s relative lack of basketball tradition.
“My high school team was garbage before I got there,” he said.
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NEW CHEER: The Texas band serenaded Temple’s huge Kevin Lyde with chants of “Dough-nuts, dough-nuts.”
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STREAKS:While UNC is in the NCAA tourney for a record 27th straight time, Chaney’s Temple team, which takes on favored Florida Sunday, is in the tourney for the 17th time in 18 years.
No one figured the Owls would make the tourney this season with 12 losses, but then they won the Atlantic Ten tourney. They’ve now won eight straight.
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YOU NEVER KNOW:When Chaney’s around his players can never relax.
“I might think I’m playing really, really good,” said Temple point guard Lynn Greer, “and then Coach will curse me out.”
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RECRUITING TALES: In 1983, Chaney tried to recruit a high school player from Long Island named Billy Donovan.
“I went to see him and he was great,” said Chaney. “Great shooter. Great vision. He had these big legs and he wasn’t fast, but he was so much in charge that no one even tried to steal the ball from him.”
Chaney spent a day with Donovan’s dad and won him over, but Billy still wound up at Providence.
“He wouldn’t guarantee me 25 shots a game,” said Donovan, with a laugh.”
Now, of course, Donovan is the young head coach at Florida. He’s 34 years younger than Chaney.
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MORE CHANEY WISDOM:Chaney said he learned from the late Al McGuire never to recruit kids with grass in their front yards.
“I learned to look for asphalt kids,” said Chaney.
“Asphalt kids grew up fast, they’ve seen problems and met problems,” said Chaney. “You tell an asphalt kid he can’t do something and he’ll say, ‘Yes, I can.’
“That’s the kids we have to recruit at Temple. We don’t get the McDonald’s All-Americans. I’ve flown places and heard that so-and-so coach was recruiting a player and got right back on the plane, ‘cause I knew I had no chance. Temple is not for everyone.”
But Chaney does get tough-minded players — like Greer, who led the nation in minutes played this season.
“On the playground, it’s not like you can ask for a substitute,” explained Greer.
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TARHEEL TIES: Penn State coach Jerry Dunn grew up in Raleigh watching ACC games on black-and-white TV in the ‘60s.
“I was an ACC fan, not so much a fan of any one team,” said Dunn. “I remember (UNC’s) Charlie Scott and (Duke’s) Jeff Mullins and Steve Vacendak.”
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‘TARHEEL’ TIES II: Penn State’s top assistant, Chuck Swenson, was once Duke’s director of basketball operations and also served terms as a Mike Krzyzewski assistant at both Duke and Army.
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SAME, BUT DIFFERENT:Donovan says there is no resemblance between this year’s Florida team and last year’s.
“Last year, we were young, athletic and deep,” said Donovan. “This year, we’re not as deep or talented, but we’re mentally tougher and more experienced. We’re hardened.”
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TOUGH TIMES: The year’s been especially tough on Donovan, whose wife gave birth to a stillborn child just before practice started this season.
“There’s been some real adversity,” said Donovan. “Hopefully, I’ve been able to show my players in some small way how you can deal with it.”
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