Flames not steamed by foe
UIC coach happy about tournament berth even with Kansas as opponent in K.C.
Jimmy Collins didn’t send any nasty e-mails, cards or letters to NCAA Tournament committee members Sunday night.
Illinois-Chicago’s men’s basketball coach was too happy about his 24-7 team earning a bid to the tournament to stress out about the fact his Flames must play Kansas University in a first-round game at 8:55 p.m. Friday at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.
“Well you know what? It’s like life,” Collins said Monday in a phone conversation from his office at the inner-city Chicago commuter school. “People tell you, ‘Hey, it’s tough, but it’s fair.’
“It’s tough we have to play Kansas in Kemper. It’s fair we get the opportunity to play in the tournament.”
Collins, who has led the Flames to two tournament berths in three years — UIC lost to Oklahoma, 71-63, in 2002 — understands the NCAA’s pod format rewards teams like KU by keeping them close to home.
In fact, three of the tourney’s four No. 4-seeded teams will be playing close to their campuses — Wake Forest will play in Raleigh, N.C., and Cincinnati in Columbus, Ohio, but Maryland has been assigned to faraway Denver.
“The NCAA went to this format a few years ago to put top teams closer to home. Kansas is certainly a top team in NCAA Division One basketball,” Collins said. “I think it’s fair. I am not going to ever tell my kids it’s not fair. I’m going to tell my kids it’s an opportunity.”
This actually will mark the third straight single-elimination game the Flames have played in enemy gyms.
The Flames won the Horizon Conference tournament championship, earning an automatic NCAA bid, by beating Butler at its gym in Indianapolis and UW-Milwaukee in its building in Milwaukee.
“It helps a lot,” Collins said of those two games preparing the Flames for the KU game. “Our kids just feed off people whether they are for them or against them. They just want to see bodies in the stands.”
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Printable tournament bracketThis marks the Flames’ third appearance in the NCAAs under eighth-year coach Collins, a former University of Illinois assistant under Lou Henson and a former Chicago Bulls’ player.
UIC fell to UNC Charlotte, 77-62, in 1998.
UIC has three senior starters who actually might return to play again next year. Guards Cedrick Banks (18.7 ppg), Martell Bailey (8.1 assists per game) and Armond Williams (11.9 ppg) had to sit out their freshman seasons and lost a year of eligibility for academic reasons.
“They were Prop 48 causalities,” Collins said. Another was sophomore forward Elliott Poole (5.0 ppg), who also sat out his freshman year. “They will have an opportunity to complete a fourth year next year if they graduate this summer. These kids are on target to graduate. We think they’ll all be back.”
About 500 fans watched the selection show with the team Sunday at a party at Chicago Circle Center
“People are extremely happy,” Collins said. “Our administration and fans have rallied around us.”
He told the Chicago media he had high hopes for his Flames versus KU.
“Initially I was just happy to be in the Big Dance,” Collins said. “And since it’s Kansas that we’re playing, I think that’s a pretty good draw for us. Anyone we drew was going to be a tough team. We’ll just try our best to beat them. We’re not going to be playing the fans. Our kids like noise. They like playing when it’s loud.”