COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S AND WOMEN’S FINAL FOURS : Speed Demon : North Carolina’s Marion Jones Gets Tar Heels Out Front Fast

RICHMOND, Va. â€”  Much, probably too much, is made of height in basketball.

The fact is, speed and quickness can still break the hearts of the tallest giraffes. Just ask the 31 foes of North Carolina’s women’s team whose dreams of victory were stolen by Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks and Chapel Hill, N.C.

Jones is the freshman point guard for the Tar Heels (31-2), who play Purdue (29-4) here Saturday at the women’s Final Four. In the first semifinal, Louisiana Tech (30-3) plays Alabama (26-6).

When you play basketball against Marion Jones, hold onto your wallet.

The greatest female high school sprinter in U.S. history, she’s now the fastest player in women’s college basketball. If opposing coaches had their way, she would be forced to wear ankle weights, just to keep it fair.

Said Virginia Coach Debbie Ryan, “When North Carolina beat Connecticut at the East Regional, Marion stole the ball from Carla Beruby at half-court, and she had her layup underway literally before Beruby got turned around.�

Said Jim Foster of Vanderbilt, “When you play North Carolina, you go in figuring Jones is going to get about three uncontested layups, and in close, low-scoring games, that’s huge.�

Jones, at 5-10, had 105 steals this season and is already sixth on UNC’s all-time list, with three seasons to go.

She averages 14.3 points and, largely because of the layups she gets with her speed and quickness, is shooting 53.1% from the floor.

Said Foster, “If you’re guarding her and you let her get that dribble underway, you’ve got a big problem. To her, that first basketball step is just like coming out of the starting blocks.

“It’s explosiveness, that’s her training in sports--and she’s carried it over to basketball. Her basketball skills really aren’t particularly great, but her foot and hand speed make up for a lot.�

Ryan added, “She changes your preparation for a game. Because of Jones, you don’t play North Carolina like you do other teams. If one of your wing players has the ball, she absolutely can’t pass it to the top of the key, not if Jones is there.

“She’s a great anticipator. She’s getting really good at picking her spots to turn on that speed. She’s one of the quickest players I’ve ever seen, and her flat-out running speed . . . I’ve never seen anything like it.�

Makes you wonder if Carl Lewis ever considered basketball.

Jones’ speed, as well as senior Tonya Sampson’s--she leads the Tar Heels with 112 steals--has not only been an equalizer for North Carolina, it has put the Tar Heels in the Final Four.

North Carolina got here by beating Connecticut in the East final, 81-69, despite being outrebounded, 40-34. With Sampson and Jones, however, North Carolina forced 30 turnovers. And Jones had four steals, Sampson six.

Jones had eight steals in her first and third games for North Carolina. So what does she think about her team being in the Final Four?

And what does North Carolina Coach Sylvia Hatchell think of her Southern California recruiting prize?

No comment. That’s right.

Hatchell wasn’t talking Thursday, and The Times was not allowed to speak to Jones. The explanation? “We’re too busy.�

Jones won nine state high school track and field championships at Oxnard Rio Mesa and Thousand Oaks High, in the 100, 200 and long jump.

She’s not only the national high school record-holder at 200 meters, at 22.58 seconds, but she ran eight of the nine fastest 200s ever. She had a best of 11.14 in the 100, .01 off Chandra Cheeseborough’s record, and six of the fastest 11. She took up the long jump her senior year and leaped 22 feet one-half inch--tying the third-best mark ever.

This spring, according to North Carolina’s sprint coach, Curtis Frye, Jones will run the 100, 200, maybe the 400, and will compete in the long jump.

And naturally, Frye wonders if the basketball season will ever end.