SoCalHoops College News

Frenso State: "Between The Madness"
Documentary Tomorrow Night--(Nov. 25, 1998)

Tomorrow night on Fox Sports West (we're not sure if it's FSW2 or just Fox Sports West--check your local listings) at 8:00 p.m. you'll be able to see Fresno's version of "Hoop Dreams," which focuses on Jerry Tarkanian and his Fresno State basketball team from last season, including all the nonsense with Avondre Jones, Kenny Brunner, and the rest of the troubled program last year. The film is said to be a "startling inside look into what happens to a school that sells its soul in the hopes of winning a national championship," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.  Of course the S-T is wrong, because the team made the NIT but didn't win it, which is a far cry from "winning a national championship."

Recall that last year, and for the few seasons prior, Tarkanian began to assemble a group of talented but high-risk players, guys who couldn't cut it either academically or behaviorally at other institutions and we got second and third chances at Fresno State. The film opens optimistically with the No. 8-ranked Bulldogs taking the floor for Midnight Madness. But Tarkanian's team quickly begain to deteriorate through a seemingly endless array of drug and alcohol suspensions, academic problems and other troubles, and finished 18-11,  not a bad record overall, but not enough to reach the big dance, and so the team ends up in the post-season NIT, losing in the semifinals.

The film takes us along for the entire season,  through practices, in the locker room, with the players as they study, and on the road. The film features the players, coaches, and even players' girlfriends talking candidly and openly, and even features a segment where CBS 60 Minutes and Mike Wallace show up and tell Tarkanian, "You won't be disappointed."  Of course, we all know what Mike Wallace did to the Fresno program last year, and to say it didn't help matters, is an understatement. 

You won't want to miss this, so check your local cable listings for the time and channel on Thursday evening.

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