Two-Step Program

Here’s the latest out of Columbus, Ohio, where, to honor the college basketball team’s stunning success this week, city officials are reenacting Paul Revere’s ride and dumping tea into the Olentangy River.

The soup du jour, naturally, is chow-da.

Ohio State’s first Final Four appearance in 31 years has not been the byproduct of some strategic think-tank paradigm as much as it has been windfall from a 1996-97 hissy-fit on the Eastern Seaboard.

More than two years ago, Boston College Coach Jim O’Brien got into a WWF-decibel encounter with administrators over the tightening of admission standards--standards that cost O’Brien prized recruits.

It kept the presses humming at Boston-area papers.

O’Brien either quit in a huff, or was fired in a huff, if you believed one report--O’Brien vehemently denied it in the issuance of court papers--but the point is one university’s fiasco ultimately became Ohio State’s ticket to St. Petersburg, Fla., and a national semifinal showdown Saturday against Connecticut.

Eighty years after the New York Yankees stole Babe Ruth, Ohio State is on the threshold of pilfering an NCAA title from Beantown.

Give the Buckeye brass credit for locking up O’Brien, even if he was the school’s third choice to replace the ousted Randy Ayers and some fans thought they were getting Jim O’Brien, the Kentucky basketball assistant of the same name.

Ohio State Athletic Director Andy Geiger knew it was a gold-mine hire because, for one, Indiana’s Bob Knight phoned to say it was.

O’Brien was Gift No. 1 from Boston.

Brooklyn-born but educated at BC, where he played guard for Coach Chuck Daly, O’Brien thought Allentown, Pa., was the West when he uprooted his Boston College staff and headed to Columbus in 1997 to begin repair work on a program trying to turn the wheels on a four-year losing skid.

O’Brien’s arrival policy was scorched-earth, as he got rid of several players unwilling to get with the program.

Meanwhile, in Boston, a star holdover from the O’Brien regime, point guard Scoonie Penn, had misgivings about O’Brien’s departure.

“The way the program was going, I didn’t know if I wanted to be a part of it any more,” Penn said.

In fact, Scoonie scooted, transferring to Ohio State, where he was required under NCAA rules to sit out the 1997-98 season, O’Brien’s miserable first-year campaign. The Buckeyes lost 17 consecutive games in one stretch and finished 1-15 in the Big Ten Conference.

“The hardest part was watching the guys go 8-22, knowing there was nothing to do to help them out,” Penn said.

How good was Scoonie, a local star from Salem, Mass.?

Boston College was 9-19 the season before Penn arrived. With Penn starting every game as a freshman, the Eagles went 19-11 and defeated Indiana in the opening round of the 1996 NCAA tournament.

Boston College won the Big East tournament the next year, with Penn earning most-outstanding-player honors.

Penn’s impact on Ohio State has been nothing less than transforming. Not only could the kid play, he could lead. He joined a lineup that already included a star guard, sophomore Michael Redd.

“You’d think there was a potential problem area,” O’Brien said. “Because, unquestionably, Michael was the man, if you will, last year.”

Instead of a fight over press clippings, Penn won Redd over by sheer force of his play and personality.

Penn could not play last season, but he could practice.

“Coach used to have me chase [Redd] around,” Penn remembered, “and sometimes we would get into it, push each other, throw elbows. It was good.”

Redd and Penn have teamed to become one of the top backcourts in the country, a dominant one-two punch in the Buckeyes’ tournament run.

In a four-game sweep of Murray State, Detroit, Auburn and St. John’s, Penn and Redd accounted for 52% of Ohio State’s points.

Resentment?

“Every play he makes is like, ‘wow,’ ” Redd says of Penn.

Redd had other reasons to welcome Penn.

“People used to call us the ‘Suckeyes,’ ” Redd said.

Penn is the leader, knows he’s the leader and wants to be the leader.

“The team looks to me for that,” he said. “They know I have no problem taking that responsibility. Basically, they’ll send me to the front line. They put it all on me.”

Penn was Gift No. 2 from Boston, a 5-foot-10 court comet with the cutesy nickname. James Penn’s mother, Allegra, tagged him with Scoonie, a morph of Scooter, taken from James’ favorite snack, Scooter Pies, and Unie, an ode to his being the family’s first-born male. In the throes of last year’s 8-22 heartburn, O’Brien kept telling everyone, “Wait till we get Scoonie,” a tough off-the-court sell to those who saw the unimposing Penn in street clothes.

O’Brien knew.

“Scoonie is the prototypical point guard,” O’Brien said. “He has a very high basketball IQ, in addition to his physical talent. He’s everything you’d like to have in a guy who’s going to be in charge of your team.”

It didn’t take long to convert the congregation last December after Ohio State knocked out Alabama Birmingham, North Carolina State and Mississippi at the Puerto Rico Classic.

Then came one defining stretch of Big Ten play, when the Buckeyes, after a tough five-point road loss to Michigan State, won at Illinois, at Purdue, beat Michigan at home and won at Iowa and at Indiana, where Ohio State had been 2-24 at Assembly Hall.

“There were a lot of games like that where we’d come back in the locker room as coaches and say, ‘Can you believe the way we just played?’ ” O’Brien said.

O’Brien kept waiting for the other high-top to drop. When Ohio State started 13-4, he wouldn’t admit to the likelihood of a winning season. When the Buckeyes notched their 18th win, he wasn’t convinced the team was NCAA tournament worthy.

When reminded of his cautious tone at a South Regional news conference, O’Brien broke into smile and said, “Are we in yet?”

O’Brien had other fanciful rides in 11 seasons at Boston College. His 1994 team came within minutes of a Final Four berth before losing to Florida.

But you’re guessing the midlife unfolding of this Ohio State treasure map will have sentimental staying power.

O’Brien has long been revered in the ranks for his straight-shooter approach and personal fortitude after the 1991 death of his wife, Christine, which left Jim to raise two teenage daughters, Erin, now 23, and Amy, 22.

“I’m not sure it was me who got them through it or them who got me through it,” O’Brien said.

The BC backlash hurt because O’Brien thought his reputation was besmirched. His departure was ugly, and public, based on BC Admissions Director John Mahoney’s refusal in part to admit two Boston-area recruits, Elton Tyler and Jonathon DePina, both of whom were NCAA qualified academically but did not meet new university standards. There were suggestions of racial bias against the players, both African Americans.

O’Brien sued his alma mater for slander and breach of contract, but settled out of court in May 1997, a month after accepting the Ohio State job.

“The stuff at BC has been very well documented,” O’Brien said. “For me personally, it’s no longer about anything to do with Boston College, it’s all about Ohio State, and I’m very happy for that.”

Yet O’Brien left a sizable chunk of his heart at BC. He, not Scoonie Penn, holds the school record for assists with 18.

“You just have a sense that maybe it’s time to go,” O’Brien said, “and I had gotten to that point at BC. There was some dissatisfaction on both sides. It wasn’t about who was right or who was wrong.”

O’Brien didn’t leave Boston empty-handed.

He took the ball, his staff, and Scoonie, his go-cart point guard.

Boston fans, still mourning the loss of Babe Ruth, may be left to bellow a familiar refrain:

“Curses!”

SATURDAY

CONNECTICUT vs. OHIO STATE, 2:30 p.m.

DUKE vs. MICHIGAN STATE, 5 p.m.

* ROBYN NORWOOD: Duke unbeatable? Cincinnati knows it isn’t true, but Bearcats didn’t get chance to prove it again. Page 6

* NOTES: Page 6