PRINT THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE

Monday, March 30, 1998

Majerus good fit at Utah

By HAL BOCK

Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO - In the button-down business of college basketball, pillowy Rick Majerus and his XXXL sweater have taken a mostly anonymous Utah team into the NCAA championship game tonight.

Majerus, who shops in the big and tall department, looks like he'd be more comfortable propped up against the corner cushion of a living room sofa than prowling a sideline. But he's the least unlikely part of Utah's Final Four equation.

This is a team that lost the highest scorer in school history and went further than it ever did when Keith Van Horn was around. It is a team composed of smart guys - Rhodes Scholar candidate Drew Hansen surrounded by academic All-Americans. And it is led by point guard who started his academic career as a Prop 48 student.

Andre Miller makes the Utes go, and he is Majerus' creation, recruited by him when few others were interested. When Miller's SAT scores came up short, the coach massaged his psyche telling him, "If this is the worst thing that happens to you in life, you will have a wonderful life."

And Miller became a wonderful point guard.

Majerus turned center Michael Doleac, a future surgeon, into a genuine NBA prospect. He imported Hanno Mottola from Finland and Jordie McTavish from Canada. He coaches around his Mormon players' missionary obligations, and he has found a way to prosper.

So how does he do it? With a few one-liners, a tongue in his cheek, and a firm commitment to his players and his sport.

There is, for example, next season's planned trip to Maui, Hawaii.

"We'll be there 10 days," Majerus said. "We're going to snorkel and we're going to body surf. If I wanted a hotel with a projector, I'd go to the Alaskan Shootout."

Ask Doleac about the one-liners.

"We don't hear the one-liners very often," the center said. "There might be one-liners but they're not quite as funny."

Majerus admits he can be tough on his players.

"Initially, when you play for me, I'm biting in my criticism," he said.

The bottom line, he said, is getting his players to improve and that's what he has seen with this team.

"This team constantly improved on a day-to-day basis," he said. "They like to play ball, and they wanted to prolong it."

Playing in the undercover WAC - "SportsCenter would have trouble finding highlights to show of us," Majerus said - Utah was the final unbeaten team in the country and takes a 30-3 record into the title game.

"Nothing works unless the players are good," Majerus said. "I play that Madden football game once in a while. That always works. You know, it works a lot better with better players. Andre is a very good guard and these guys are very smart at deployment. They have committed errors of commission rather than omission."

So what can Kentucky expect tonight?

"We are able to use several different alignments," Majerus said. "I don't know right now what look we are going to start out with. If Kentucky guesses right, that doesn't make much difference because we will change every time anyway."

How comforting that must be for Wildcats coach Tubby Smith.

Smith said he admired Majerus' sense of humor.

No problem, the Utah coach said.

"He makes so much money. If he gives me some money, I'll write a few lines for him," Majerus added.

The sense of humor probably came from a dozen years as an assistant at Marquette, the first six sitting next to witty Al McGuire, who explained that "Rick came out of the woodwork."

After a year as an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA, Majerus returned to Marquette as head coach for three years. Then, after two years at Ball State, he was hired by Utah in 1989.

Some people wondered if this was the right fit, a jovial coach bringing all those one-liners to Mormon country. Majerus shrugged that off.

"You are talking about it as if it is a Stepford Wives community," he said. "It's a big city with a small town environment. It's Green Bay, Wisconsin in the Rocky Mountains is what it is."

With Louie Anderson coaching the basketball team.