Saturday, March 13, 1999
Majerus, Coles renew rivalry
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEW ORLEANS — Charlie Coles thought about the matchup with Utah in the second round of the NCAA Midwest Regional here and said:
“Rick Majerus is sitting back and smiling,” Coles said.
Majerus is Utah's coach, and Coles figures he's going to design a defense to stop Wally Szczerbiak, who scored 43 points in Miami's 59-58 victory over Washington Friday.
“Now, I've got a day and a half to teach my other guys how to score,” Coles said.
But don't be so sure that Utah, the No. 2 seed in the Midwest, will employee a gimmick defense on Szczerbiak.
“You don't want to win the battle with Szczerbiak and lose the war,” Majerus said. “At the end of the game, the scoreboard still says Miami.”
But Majerus didn't rule out using a triangle-and-two on Szczerbiak and Damon Frierson. They scored 55 of Miami's 59 points against Washington.
“We still have a day and a half to decide,” Majerus said.
Utah presents a tough matchup for Miami. The Utes start a frontline that is 6-foot-7, 6-10 and 6-11. Miami starts only one player over 6-6 (Szczerbiak). Utah (28-4) beat Arkansas State 80-58 Friday.
Coles and Majerus coached against each other when Coles was at Central Michigan and Majerus was at Ball State.
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