The NCAA East Region notebook …
PHILADELPHIA— Just like all college students, Southern Cal’s Jeff Trepagnier has the usual worries.
Grades. Money. Which party to go to on a Friday night. What his wife’s up to.
His wife?
Trepagnier, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound senior guard, went through one of the oddest basketball seasons in NCAA history.
The big-time talent with the 42-inch vertical leap eagerly showed up for his final season as a Trojan only to find out that the NCAAhad a few questions for him.
It turns out that Trepagnier had gotten a car loan co-signed by his girlfriend’s father — and that his girlfriend’s mom worked as a volunteer assistant at USC. In the NCAA’s mind, this looked as though the school was somehow — perhaps, maybe, you never know — slipping Trepagnier a little cash so he wouldn’t turn pro after his junior season.
The guard sat out the first 12 games of the season while the mess was being investigated. With his career on the line, he sat down with his family, girlfriend Malika Edmonson (a Trojan track star) and came to a decision: run off to Las Vegas, get married to his long-time girlfriend a little earlier than planned and see what the NCAA thought of that.
Apparently, loans co-signed by your father-in-law are A-OK. The 21-year-old Trepagnier re-gained his eligibility and went on to average nine points a game this season. In the NCAATournament, though, he’s hitting at a 16.3 points per game clip.
“It was very unfortunate it happened to him, but I think he’s back on track,”USChead coach Henry Bibby said Friday. “He did what he and his family felt they needed to do for his life. Jeff has been in love with a young lady for a long time. It pushed it up a couple days, that’s all.”
Trepagnier was then asked if his teammates had gotten him any wedding presents yet.
“I’m planning a big wedding after I graduate,” he said with a smile. “I’m still waiting on my presents from them.”
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comedy hour: The Blue Devils spent about as much time talking about USCon Friday as they did cracking jokes.
The hi-jinks got into high gear when Krzyzewski was asked about a perceived lack of respect for the Pac-10 Conference, which put four teams into the Sweet 16.
“I’ve always had the utmost respect for the Pac-10,” Krzyzewski said. “The fact is, there is a time difference and that has an impact on the game. But until they change where the sun rises and sets, there’s going to be some problems with some of the exposure they get.”
At that point, a reporter went to ask Duke’s designated quote machine, Shane Battier, for his thoughts on the matter, which was where Coach K stepped in.
“Next question, next question. He can’t answer any better than that. I’m not going to let him trump me!”a laughing Krzyzewski said. “ ‘The sun rising and setting’ was pretty damn good. He’s just sitting there saying, ‘I know I can do better.’
“No way.”
Later, when the players went to separate rooms, Battier was of course asked if he’d thought of a clever rejoinder.
“Considering that I still have to play for him a couple more games, I know when to bite my tongue,”Battier said.
The laughs shared by the Blue Devils came against a backdrop of intense pressure to reach the Final Four and proved that they aren’t too nervous.
“I think we’re a looser team than year’s past because we have younger players,”Battier said. “Although I think our guys are mature, we have the air of 19-20-year-olds. As a result, we’ll pull a lot more pranks. And on the court, I think we’re looser and we attack more.”
It helps too that Krzyzewski doesn’t mind joining in from time to time.
“Coach was pretty dominant out there with his jokes,”forward Mike Dunleavy said. “We’re overall just a pretty loose team. We’ve got some young guys, we’re kind of bouncy.”
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new and exciting: One of the reasons Krzyzewski can be so easy-going and relaxed, despite shooting for his ninth FinalFour appearance, is that some of his players have never been on this journey.
“When you see it through their eyes and experience it through them, it’s kind of nice,” Krzyzewski said. “Everyone looks at us as some crusty old group of men, but basically we have three sophomores and a freshman.”
That’s what makes each trip unique and special.
“I think if you take getting to an Elite Eight for granted, then you should not be coaching,” Krzyzewski said.
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williams wows ’em: Most everyone at Friday’s press conferences kept chattering about Jason Williams’ amazing show Thursday night, when he scored 19 straight points during the Devils’ 76-63 win.
As good as the sophomore guard is now, people wanted to know what Krzyzewski thought the first time he saw Williams, especially in comparison to some of Duke’s legendary point guards like Steve Wojciechowski.
“I thought he was quicker than Wojo when I watched tape,” Krzyzewski said, pausing for dramatic effect. “And he can jump higher. You know, he can shoot a little bit better than Wojo, too … .
“Now, if he can only learn to compete and defend like Wojo — which he’s doing — then he’s going to be a tremendous player,”concluded Krzyzewski of his first analysis of Williams.
“He’s an outstanding player right now and he’s going to get better.”
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annoying to all: The press conference wasn’t all fun and games, at least not until Krzyzewski started cracking more jokes about a situation that clearly annoyed him.
The trilling of cellular phones served as a backdrop to the Duke press conference one time too many, and the head coach called the reporters in question on the issue.
“Does that bother you as much as it bothers me when people get phone calls in here?” Krzyzewski said. “We have a rule on our team that there are no cell phones. Maybe that’s a rule you all should have during press conferences. The NCAAhas a lot of rules.”
He drew laughs when he suggested a possible punishment for the offenders — drug testing. The previous night, after beating UCLA, Duke’s players were held up for lengthy periods of time while the NCAA conducted its random drug screenings.
Later Friday, before the USC press conference started, the moderator asked if all cell phones could be switched off or set to silent alert.
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