A Titanic challenge
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
In its first tournament appearance in 30 years, Cal State Fullerton will need to get up to speed quickly against Wisconsin.
OMAHA -- It's a matchup straight out of Aesop's Fables, only this time the tortoise is favored over the hare.
Cal State Fullerton, the up-tempo team that relies on quick guards, will meet plodding Wisconsin, with its giant-like men in the middle, in the opening round of the NCAA Midwest regional today at the Qwest Center.
No. 14-seeded Fullerton, champion of the Big West Conference and making its once-every-30 years appearance in the tournament, has no starters taller than 6 feet 5, but has an abundance of three-point shooting marksmen and is sixth in the nation in scoring at 82.6 points a game.
No. 3 Wisconsin, the Big Ten champion making its 10th consecutive appearance in the tournament, features three starters at 6-7 or taller, including 6-11 Brian Butch, and utilizes a suffocating defense that has limited opponents to a national-low 53.8 points a game.
Both teams are well aware that dictating tempo is the key to the game.
"They're definitely quicker than what we've been used to the whole Big Ten season," Butch said. "We've got to make sure we move our feet as 6-11, slow white guys. It's one of the challenges we've got to be adjusted to."
More likely, it will be Fullerton that has to adjust. The Titans have not been to the NCAA tournament since 1978, when the team made an improbable run to the Elite Eight, so the experience in itself is an adjustment.
Add in an opponent that is a perennial national power -- only Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Michigan State have played in more consecutive NCAA tournaments than Wisconsin -- from a national power conference and the task seems daunting.
"Everyone says you just have to speed them up and get the tempo going," Fullerton Coach Bob Burton said. "Well, it's not like people haven't tried to. These guys are the Big Ten champs. They're a big-time team."
Wisconsin uses a swing offense that is deliberate and relies on passing. Butch, the leading scorer with 12.5 points a game, is a key, but the Badgers are balanced. They had five different leading scorers in their first five Big Ten games.
"It's very hard to defend because it puts everybody in a position where they can score," Burton said of the Wisconsin offense. "I would much rather have them out there just cranking it up and trying to go as fast as they could. That would help us more."
