ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Entering the 1994 NCAA Tournament as a heavy underdog, you might think that facing the No. 2 seed in the Southeast and the regular season champion in one of the most difficult conferences in the nation would be your most pressing concern. Not so if you are the Texas Southern Tigers.
Following its practice at the Thunder Dome Thursday night, Texas Southern used its press conference to complain about where it was assigned to stay in Florida for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
"It's beyond my wildest imagination that any team in a 64-team tournament would have to stay in a Comfort Inn," said Texas Southern head coach Robert Moreland. "It's mind-boggling."
Moreland and the Tigers will face the second-seeded men's basketball team tonight at 7:35 p.m.
The two teams each won their conference's regular season championships. But because the Blue Devils captured the more highly-regarded Atlantic Coast Conference and Texas Southern took the smaller Southwestern Athletic Conference, Moreland believes that his team was assigned to a lesser hotel.
"Nothing is set up for the little man, but it doesn't necessarily have to keep us down," Moreland said.
According to a front desk clerk at the Comfort Inn where the Tigers are staying, the rates for a single-occupancy room are $65.00 per night for single occupancy and $75.00 for double occupancy. The Clearwater hotel has a 20x15 open courtyard as well as a pool, jacuzzi and fitness room. Texas Southern is also provided by the hotel with a deluxe continental breakfast each day and van transportation to and from the airport, the clerk said.
"I guess when you're growing up as a little kid, and you watch March Madness on TV, you think it's the greatest thing in the world," Texas Southern junior forward Anthony Jones said. "I guess coming in, I expected [to be treated like] royalty. I can afford to stay in the Comfort Inn. It gives us a little more motivation."
The source of the Tigers' agitation becomes clearer when their accommodations are compared with those of the Blue Devils. The Hyatt Westshore where Duke is staying is located on a 65-acre nature preserve and has been the choice of many professional football and hockey teams, according to a clerk at the front desk.
The clerk said the cost of the rooms where Duke is staying is $194 per night and that the hotel offers 24-hour in-room dining service, a full health club with facilities for racquetball, tennis and basketball, as well as two pools, one of which is heated.
Even if Texas Southern has not been afforded the respect it feels it deserves from whoever books the hotels for the schools, the Blue Devils certainly appear to respect the Tigers.
"We know they have a very good perimeter game -- kind of like a Temple," said Duke sophomore guard Chris Collins. "They have good perimeter players, good scorers. Hopefully, we will be able to come out and play with a lot of emotion on defense."
"I really like their team," said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. "The fact that they're from a different conference or a different area of the country is irrelevant to me. I respect everybody who does a good job of coaching and he does and he's got good players."
Texas Southern hopes to prolong its stay in St. Petersburg, and by doing so is eager to avoid a repeat visit to the Comfort Inn.
"I feel if we beat Duke and win in the next round, and go to Tennessee, I don't think we'll be in a Comfort Inn," Texas Southern junior center Aaron Warren said. "I'm looking forward to that."
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