With controversy swirling around it, the men's basketball team begins the National Invitation Tournament at 7:30 tonight in Rec Hall. The first-round game with Marquette will be nationally televised by ESPN.

Coach Bruce Parkhill, who said he "(didn't) think there is any decision" about whether the men's or women's team should play in Rec Hall, tried to tone down his comment yesterday at a media conference.

"I think people have to realize I didn't know anything about the situation and secondly, and probably most importantly, I was interviewed right after I experienced one of the biggest disappointments I've ever experienced professionally," Parkhill said. "My comments were in no way intended to offend or be insensitive.

"The misfortune is that it has become a gender issue," he continued. "Controversies like this really tend to build walls and create animosity, and I don't think anybody wants or need that now. This is not a gender issue."

Gender walls or not, Parkhill and the Lions (21-8) will have to put the controversy behind them when they take the court tonight. Marquette (15-13), which lost in the quarterfinal round of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference to Evansville, boasts three players who average in double figures.

The Warriors most often go to 6'3" senior guard Tony Smith, who is averaging 23.8 points per game. His season high is a 44-point performance in a 82-65 loss to Wisconsin on Feb. 19. Parkhill called him a "pro."

"Smith is their go-to guy," the seventh-year Lion coach said. "But they have some other kids that can hurt you . . . You can't leave off (another player) to help on Smith because he's the great outside shooter."

The Warriors beat NCAA-bound Notre Dame earlier in the season, but lost 79-76 later in the year. The Warriors rank 22nd nationally in field goal percentage defense with a 42.7 percent average.

"They mix up their defenses and are very solid defensively," Parkhill explained.

The Lions' leaders, of course, are center Ed Fogell (15.4 ppg), James Barnes (11.1) and Freddie Barnes (10.6). But Parkhill said the key to the game will be the Lions' defense.

"It will be big because Smith can go off, (Trevor) Powell can go off and they have three or four guys that can really score," Parkhill said. "We just want to play as well as we can play. Obviously we don't have a lot of time to prepare for another team, and so we just want to do what we do well."

Along with playing solid defense, the Lions will also have to cut down on turnovers. Against George Washington in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament they committed 22 turnovers. In the semifinals against UMass they committed 23.

"We turn the ball over too much," point guard Freddie Barnes said. "In the two games in the Atlantic 10 tournament we were fortunate enough to win one, but I think turnovers kept us out of the NCAA tournament."

Disappointment last week and the off-court controversy this week may have distracted the Lions, but Parkhill believes his team will be ready. Barnes said the Lions have bounced back from the loss to Massachusetts.

"The first couple days after UMass practice was kind of tough to go through," he said. "No one really had that intensity that we need, but I'd say the last two or three practices have been real fine. And I think we're getting back to our form."