8 FRESNO STATE THE BULLDOGS HOPE TO MAKE SWEET MUSIC WITH A 6'11" RAPPER IN THE POST

"Ask Tremaine Fowlkes if his practices were like this at Cal,"
says coach Jerry Tarkanian, smiling benignly as he surveys line
after line of exhausted players scrambling backward while
performing a defensive drill in Fresno State's South Gym. "Ask
Avondre Jones if they practiced this hard at USC. Ask Courtney
Alexander about Virginia. I'd like to know what they say."

The collective answer--Those practices (gasp) were nothing
(gasp) like this--should please Tark. At college basketball's
halfway house, where foundering former high school All-Americas
come for resurrection, there's a price to be paid for
redemption, and it's sweat.

"What we have here is a lot of talent that hasn't lived up to
its potential," says Tark, who has five erstwhile high school
All-Americas on his roster and two others, Alexander and
freshman Melvin Ely, redshirting this year. "In his second year
at Cal, Tremaine Fowlkes was a substitute. Avondre Jones was a
bust at USC. He's had three terrible years in college. But now
he is motivated and really working hard. Right now he is the
best center I've ever been around."

The 6'11" Jones, a rap singer of exceptional gifts, is
downplaying his interest in music because he says it has been
unfairly blamed for his past lack of commitment to basketball.
"That wasn't what was distracting me," says Jones. "I had a
bunch of problems at USC, and I made a lot of bad decisions. But
now I'm very focused on basketball because this is my last
chance. I have to make it work this year."

He'll have to, because the Bulldogs, who "couldn't get a rebound
against the Girl Scouts last year," according to Tarkanian,
don't really have a backup center. They are thick with talent at
other positions, though. Fowlkes, a 6'8" forward who was the
Pac-10 freshman of the year in 1994-95, is now eligible after
transferring from Cal, and 6'9" blue-chip forward Winfred Walton
should be eligible to play on Dec. 20 after transferring from
Syracuse. Add guard Rafer Alston, a juco transfer and New York
City playground sensation, and have them mesh with returning
guard Chris Herren and forwards Daymond Forney and Terrance
Roberson, and the Bulldogs could be formidable, especially if
everyone stays healthy and out of trouble. (The latter is no
minor consideration on this team: Alston has been suspended for
Fresno's first game because of an altercation with an
ex-girlfriend; Roberson and Forney were both suspended--Roberson
for two weeks, Forney indefinitely--for the always ominous
reason that they "failed to complete team requirements"; and a
grand jury is still looking into the point-shaving rumors that
implicated Herren last spring.)

Fresno fans may never see the likes of these Bulldogs again.
With Jones in his final season and Walton likely to go pro after
just one year, this is Fresno State's best chance to make a
splash in the NCAA tournament. Jones thinks the Bulldogs will
excel. "All this hard work has to pay off sometime," he says.
"It just has to." --K.A.

Returning Starters [Two]
Points per Game '96-97 82.8
PPG by All Returning Players 37.3