UMass pair gets back together
Padilla, Travieso linked
By Peter May, The Boston Globe Staff, 7/22/1999

SAN JUAN - They aren't the fixtures they were at the University of Massachusetts. Those days are long gone for Edgar Padilla and Carmelo Travieso. They are spare parts here, trying as best they can to hold together Puerto Rico's hopes in this final men's basketball pre-qualifier for the 2000 Olympics.

Neither starts. Both average around 15 minutes a game and it can be quality time, depending on the flow. Padilla is averaging a scant 1.8 points but also a team-high 3.5 assists. Travieso hasn't lost his affinity for shooting (he has yet to get to the free throw line in 72 minutes) and is averaging 6.4 points a game, fifth highest on the team.

Padilla is still trying to get back into playing shape, having been idle for six weeks in the Superior League season here when he refused to accept a trade from Isabela to Aibonito. He subsequently ended up with Guaynabo. Travieso just got back from six months in the pit of the New York Mercantile Exchange, selling futures. He was a late add-on when another player came up injured. He plays for Morovis in Puerto Rico.

Photo
Travieso & Padilla stretch it out at a UMass practice.
While they play on different club teams, and sometimes even in different countries, they remain forever linked by their birthdate (May 9, 1975), their UMass days, and yet another stint on the national team.

''We keep in touch as much as we can,'' Padilla said prior to tonight's huge game with the United States. ''But when he was in New York, I was [playing] in Poland. We don't see that much of each other, but here we are again.''

They were teammates in the last Olympiad, but neither remembers the experience with any degree of fondness. They rarely played. The team was 2-5 and finished 10th. Travieso played on the Puerto Rican team last summer in the World Championships in Athens.

This time around, things are different. The team hired a new coach after a disappointing loss earlier this year in a tournament in Cuba. Julio Toro is widely regarded as the best coach on the island. In 20 years of coaching, he has had 12 champions. He also had a stint as the national coach of Venezuela.

''In 1996, that was a tough situation with the coach,'' Padilla said. ''It wasn't good for me or Carmelo. Now, it's totally different. The atmosphere is different because of the coach. He is the best coach in Puerto Rico by far. It's like comparing Pat Riley to a high school coach. The team is playing loose, there's no negative stuff, and for me and Carmelo, it's good because he likes our game, the way we play.''

Says Travieso, ''I like this team a lot better because the coach gives us more opportunities to do what we do best.''

Photo
Travieso, Padilla & Calipari at the Final Four in 1996.
They were, of course, almost automatic in Amherst. The team won. They played all the time, or so it seemed. As juniors, they helped lead the Minutemen to that storybook 35-2 season and a spot in the Final Four. They stuck around for another year after John Calipari and Marcus Camby left for the NBA and the riches it inevitably brings.

Both players said they got a kick out of watching the rejuvenated Camby play so well during the NBA playoffs.

''I was really happy for him,'' Travieso said. ''I always had confidence in him. I knew how good he was.''

Padilla agreed.

''I watched every game. I played with him for three years and I knew his capabilities had not come out,'' Padilla said. ''I knew he belonged in that league. I knew he could score, they just didn't run any plays for him. Hopefully, this will give him the confidence he needs to take it to another level, which I think he has the skills to do.''

Last night's 80-75 victory over Canada, thanks to a complicated tie-breaker system, allowed the locals to avoid the United States in Saturday's semifinal game, which is critical because the two winners that day get automatic berths in the 2000 Olympics. This is the last international fling for many longtime members of the Puerto Rican team, including Jose Ortiz, who briefly played for the Utah Jazz, and, possibly, Jerome Mincy, who played collegiately at Alabama-Birmingham in the 1980s.

For Padilla and Travieso, however, the basketball will go on. Padilla, whose wife has two years remaining in law school in Ponce, said he hopes to play next season either in Spain or England. Travieso said he, too, was considering playing overseas, but also wanted to keep a hand in high finance.

''I spent six months at the exchange,'' he said. ''I was putting my finance degree to good use. I was a clerk, learning the ropes. I like numbers, finance. I always wanted to do that.''

Right now, the only numbers that count are the ones on the scoreboard here at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum. Padilla and Travieso are looking forward to tonight's sold-out game against the United States. ''It should be fun,'' Travieso said.

That Puerto Rico knows it will avoid the US Saturday, and instead will face a rematch with Canada with the Olympic berth on the line, should only add to the fun.


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