NEW YORK — It probably wasn’t the type of attention the attention-starved NIT wanted, but the mere presence of the Fresno State Bulldogs in New York turned out to be almost as noteworthy as other stories, such as the all-Big Ten final between the Gophers and Penn State.
The season has been an unending string of scrutiny for coach Jerry Tarkanian. Guard Chris Herren checked himself into a substance abuse rehab program. Guard Rafer Alston was convicted of misdemeanor battery for assaulting his girlfriend. A grand jury continues to investigate point-shaving allegations. All this led to a “60 Minutes” segment on March 15 that detailed Fresno State’s malfeasance, both alleged and proven.
And that was before senior center Avondre Jones and redshirt freshman Kenny Brunner were arrested for an incident in which they threatened a former Fresno State student with a gun and samurai swords before robbing him. Jones’ subsequent dismissal (Brunner is sitting out this season because he transferred, and is suspended indefinitely) meant that only two of the Bulldogs’ 10 scholarship players have managed to stay eligible for the entire season.
That further embarrassment didn’t stop Tarkanian from inviting “60 Minutes” ax-man Mike Wallace — the interviewer for the Fresno State segment — to the Bulldogs’ semifinal game with the Gophers. Wallace did indeed show up, and talked to Tarkanian before the game.
Tarkanian told a New York newspaper he invited Wallace to attend the game because he thought the “60 Minutes” story was unfair and he “wanted to blister (Wallace) in person.”
Captain of the ship
For the second time in as many postseason tournaments, Gophers forward Miles Tarver missed an easy slam dunk, this one against Penn State in the NIT final on Thursday.
Fortunately, Tarver’s timing on his jokes has gotten much better.
It’s well known now that Tarver compared the Gophers’ fortunes to that of the Titanic after a loss to Michigan earlier this year, and that he was promptly banned from talking to the media.
But on the heels of the Gophers’ resurrection in the NIT, and the triumph of “Titanic” last week at the Academy Awards, the situation couldn’t have been any riper for Tarver to atone for his error.
“Now that I’m a captain, I feel I can say what I want,” Tarver told a few hundred Gophers fans who had gathered for a victory celebration at Coffman Union on Friday. “I just want to end on this note since it got me into a lot of trouble earlier:
“The Titanic has risen.”
Not illegal, but it doesn’t help
Perhaps it’s because it didn’t have its full complement of players together for a significant period of time this season, but Fresno State fell apart in the second half of its game with the Gophers, then was blown out by Georgia in the consolation game on Thursday.
Against Minnesota, the Bulldogs blew an eight-point second-half lead thanks to wild shot selection, turnovers and technical fouls.
Forward Winfred Walton was particularly shot-happy, missing 11 of his 14 shot attempts, almost all from outside. Forward Terrance Roberson was slapped with a technical with 5:32 left and the Gophers down by four when he kicked Quincy Lewis as the two were trying to untangle from each other. The Gophers immediately went on an 8-0 run.
“One of their problems is they don’t play team ball,” Gophers forward Sam Jacobson said. “They play more of a one-on-one game because they’ve got such athletic players. Down the stretch I think that hurt them.”
Off the dribble
ù The Gophers-Penn State final was the first all-Big Ten championship game in the NIT since Indiana beat Purdue in 1979.
ù Jacobson scored 47 points in the two games at Madison Square Garden, giving him 1,709 for his career. That put him in fifth place on the school’s all-time scoring list, five points ahead of Kevin McHale.
ù The Gophers’ late-season run got them to the 20-victory mark for the sixth straight season.