"If I miss a game, it'll be because the timing is such that that (college) game will be during (a Heat game)," he said. "But if I can avoid that, I'll try to avoid it."

Riley is scouting college players at the insistence of Heat owner Micky Arison. Riley said the conference tournament were very profitable from a scouting standpoint.

"I watch a lot of film, and we have it set up here where it's very easy to watch film," Riley said, "but when you get up and close and you feel the presence of a player and you see the presence of a player. You see every little nuance and so I think it's essential to be able to have that feeling about them.

"When you bring them in here for workouts they won't work out, they won't work out hard, they won't be competitive. So you either go on film or what you saw. So from that standpoint I thought it was very beneficial to see these guys."

Riley saw the Southeastern Conference and Conference USA Tournaments on Thursday, the Big 12 on Friday and the Atlantic Coast Conference on Saturday. Among the players Riley scouted are Kansas State forward Michael Beasley, Memphis guard Derrick Rose and LSU forward Anthony Randolph. Riley hasn't yet started doing in-depth research on players.

"(You begin) that process when you really start doing interviewing and background work, which will be very extensive," he said. "It has to be. We usually do a good job of that. We hire agencies to do the background work, have people call all of the particular people close to the program, former assistant coaches or whatever. That becomes very extensive."

MAVS 98, HEAT 73: Miami fell behind 9-0, 19-2 and 28-6 and never got back in the game Sunday. The Heat dropped to 11-54 overall while losing its eighth consecutive games and its 35th in its last 38.

But even as Dallas built a 30-point lead at 81-51 the Mavs had a bit of an insecure feeling.

"You still feel the jitters from the Finals walking into the building through those doors," guard Jason Terry said.

Of course, point guard Jason Williams was Miami's only key player from that series to play Sunday. Center Shaquille O'Neal has been traded, as well as Antoine Walker. Dwyane Wade is injured. So is Alonzo Mourning and Udonis Haslem. Guard Gary Payton is out of basketball. Swingman James Posey is in Boston.

By the way, Miami's 30-point first half (it trailed 52-30 Sunday) was its lowest-scoring half of the season, lowering the bar from the 31-point first half it had against New Jersey in its Feb. 1 loss, 94-85.

Miami's 73 total points was also a season low, beating the previous of 74 in a 96-74 loss to Washington on Dec. 29.