bch@unc.UUCP (Byron Howes ) (01/16/84)
Since there hasn't been much traffic on this group beyond a somewhat out-of-date netnews poll, it's time to stir up folks again with some comments on recent events. While I am certainly biased, it seems to me that North Carolina has proven it deserves a #1 ranking (despite Kentucky's having been blown all the way back to Rupp Arena by Auburn) by virtue of back-to-back wins over the #5 and #12 teams in the country on *their* home courts. Sam Perkins is making a strong bid to replace teammate Michael Jordan as player of the year in anybody's poll. Still, expect Carolina to go through its annual mid-season slump sometime in the next month. I can't believe that any team is going to make it through the season unbeaten. DePaul's rout of Ala-Birmingham insures they'll be ranked #2, though they are a hard team to evaluate. From what I've seen of them they are a typical DePaul team: excellent shooters and garbage players (that's a compliment) but somewhat slack on defense and discipline. Of course, Ray Meyers is everybody's sentimental favorite in his last year. Georgetown got hit by Villanova in 2 OT. The Big East conference, while not the overall power conference that it was last year seems still to be playing quality ball. Considering that John Pinon has gone on to better things, one would have thought that Pat Ewing would have had a field day on the front line. Not so. Villanova is a well disciplined club and Fred Brown is still looking for members of the opposing team to pass the ball to. I can't take Houston seriously. (I'm certain I'll live to eat those words.) They seem to have gotten over team dissention and defections, but with all the talent they have they ought to be rolling over the teams they're playing. Guy Lewis gets my vote for greatest non-coach of the year, though N.C. State's Jim Valvano is in close contention! (Are these the same two coaches who were in the NCAA finals last year?) Up from the ranks of the non-coaches is Lefty Dreisel. Maryland has an excellent team but lacks depth. Lefty has been doing a more than adequate job of coaching, probably because for the first time in as long as I can remember he has a team that can *be* coached. (Everyone seems to forget that Dreisel has the second highest winning percentage in the ACC.) UTEP is a completely unknown quantity to me. I haven't seen them play at all, but by all reports they are quite good. Has anybody seen them? UNLV needs to get into another conference. They may be good, but they can't prove it with the schedule they play. I've only seen them play once and they look like a typical Tarkanian team (second cousin to a typical Ray Meyers team.) I realize that bump-run-and-shoot basketball is a popular style, but it tends to fold up and go home in the face of intense and skilled defense. Finally, (and this more for the local area) N.C. State is in *big trouble.* All of the basic skills which held them in good standing in the pre-season seem to have disappeared. They don't have that much less talent than the rest of the ACC and there isn't any reason they should be 0-5 in the conference, save that they're doing weird things. My own guess is lack of coaching. Why is Lorenzo Charles wandering out somewhere around mid-court when he is most effective underneath? Why isn't anyone setting screens for Terry Gannon? Where is the control and patience that marked this team the end of last season and the beginning of this one? Anyone have an answer? Flame away, I love it -- Byron Howes UNC - Chapel Hill (decvax!duke!unc!bch)
mauney@ncsu.UUCP (Jon Mauney) (01/17/84)
I would like to take this opportunity to explain Coach Valvano's strategy for the NC State Wolfpack. You must understand that a winning coach usually tries to repeat his success by doing whatever he did last time. When Norm Sloan won the championship he had an amazingly tall center and an amazingly short guard, and when those players graduated he recruited more of the same. Last year, NCSU got off to a poor start, but finished red-hot. (well, hot enough to win, anyway) This year, Coach V figured that he would probably have a regular season conference record of 7-7, so he says "why not lose the first 7, then we can finish with seven straight wins, which will set us up for another tournament sweep." This strategy, coupled with a guard even shorter than Monte Towe, should put the Wolfpack in position for a gold medal in LA this summer. I'm surprised you didn't realize this yourselves. -- _Doctor_ Jon Mauney, mcnc!ncsu!mauney \__Mu__/ North Carolina State University
pector@ihuxw.UUCP (01/17/84)
Byron, Given that my love for the ACC and the SEC could be held in one hand by one of the zillions of angels that stand on the head of a pin (metaphorical way of saying that I dislike all teams in both conferences), I hope that my opinions do not seem biased. North Carolina (seems a contradiction in terms for anything south of the Mason-Dixon line) will do their usual choke in the playoffs. A good Yankee team will teach them the fundamentals they lack at that time. The same hold true for Kentucky which by the end of the season will be (as usual) Kentuckered out! Given these facts, it is a waste of good hot air to deven mention or give a hint of even the mere existence of these two conferences. 'Nuff Said. I wish I could say DePaul is going to take it all. I know that at the end of the regular season they will be ranked No. 1. But, who cares for that? That has happened 2 or 3 times in the past few years, and they have gone on to choke in the first round of the playoffs. I hope DePaul pulls it off for Ray Meyer, but I don't think they'll do it. I agree with you about their lack of discipline. Who will win it all? At this time, I'm undecided and will not comment. Go Northwestern! Scott Pector
jimph@ihuxv.UUCP (01/17/84)
I only have two responses to your article. The first is that North Carolina is certainly deserving of their no. 1 billing (which is more than I can say for DePaul's no. 2 ranking). The second has to deal with DePaul (since they are my favorite big-time college team). I don't agree at all with your assessment of their team. The way I see it, they are not that great a shooting team, merely a good shooting team. Kenny Patterson can't shoot to save his life. Jerry McMillan is an excellent shooter and Tyrone Corbine can shoot very well. None of their centers is a good shooter. Secondly, their team defense is very good. The two guards are extremely quick (as were the New Jersey connection, Clyde Bradshaw and Gary Garland) and they play a very effective switching defense. The thing they lack the most is a Terry Cummings, the excellent big man, even though Dallas Commegys (sp?) is certainly as far along as you would hope for a freshman to be. All in all, it should be an intersting season the rest of the way.