Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Carolina j; Uclar Ily JAMES P. HERSH The big men have graduted from. . UCLA . and North Carolina State, but that should not stop those two teams from fighting for the national title again this year. After all, Norm Sloan, .even without 7-4 Tom Burleson, still has David Thompson upon whom to build his team, and out on the West Coast John Wooden still has nothing to worry about, even though he probably will have some anxious moments without Bill Walton around to reassure him. It seems strange to call the Bruins' anything but the defending national champions. But after seven years at the top State knocked the Bruins off last year, and for the firt time in quite awhile UCLA is going into a season as something other than the best team. However, the Bruins have the talent back to regain the top spot, even though the Wolfpack will again challenge them. UCLA undoubtedly has the edge on depth, but any team that has Thompson has a shot at winning every game they play. So the prognosis has to be that the Bruins are the better team, but don't put too much money on it, or against Thompson. Teams just a step in back of UCLA and State are Indiana and Carolina. Indiana is listed as the class of the Midwest with all Its starters returning from a team that was 23-5 last year and won the tournament of conference runner-ups following their Big Ten season. All college basketball followers expect the Hoosiers to make it to the NCAA final round, like they did two years ago. Carolina is being underrated. by everyone, mostly because Frank McGuire refuses to say how good Tommy Boswell is. If Boswell is, as good as everyone on this campus thinks he is, Carolina could challenge UCLA and North Carolina State. Even If he flops, which no one thinks he will, USC will still be good enough to be listed In the top ten just because four starters return from ai team that should have made the regionals last year. H owever, at least one publication has noticed Boswell and expects him -to make the Gamecocks one of the nation's to p teams. Basketball Weekly, which rates Carolina fourth, calls Boswell "a new big man few. have heard of but none will forget." Rounding out the top ten are KCansas, Alabama, North Carolina, Louisville, Marquette and Memphis State. All are solid teams, but none are In the class of the top four. UCLA has top players at ist steps' be) every position, with the possible exception of the Walton-depleted center spot. Dave (The Spider) Meyers, a two-year veteran, is back at forward, joined by Marques Johnson, who starred on oc casion last year when he was a freshman. Johnson, a sure starter, will miss part of the season because he came down with hepatitis in the fall. Richard Washington, .6-9, will be Johnson's replacement for the time being, and will also be the reserve for starting center Ralph Drollinger, a. seven-footer who performed well when he replaced Walton at times last year. At guard the Bruins have Andre McCarter and Pete Trgovich as veterans. In reserve are sophomores Gavin Smith and Jim Spillane and freshman Ray Townsend. Th Bruins, even missing the proven big man they have had ever since Lew Alcindor days, seem to be a shoo-in in the Pacific-8, which annually gives them a free pass to the NCAA play-offs. This year should be no different, other than the Bruins may not take the NCAA championship for granted anymore. With that incentive they should be more hungry than in the past several years, and it should lead to their victory over teams like N. C. State, Indiana and Carolina. ke UCLA, North Carolina State is beginning to get a .freputation as a perennial power, at least in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Last year it had a hard time when it played Maryland, but other than that it almost waltzed through its ACC schedule. This year, mostly because Moses Malone decided to be. a pro in the American Basketball Association instead of in - the ACC, the Wolfpack should again find their schedule filled with wins. In addition to Thompson, who has been one of the two best basketball players in the country for two years, Sloan can count on last year's starting guards-Monte Towe and Mo Rivers--and Tim Stoddard and Phil Spence, both experienced forwards, to do steady, If unexceptional, Jbs. Replacing Burleson cud be a problem, and the Wolfpack have no one near his size to replace him. However, with the experienced playeus he does have, Sloan shoiuld be able to' throw a tall warm bodge n the floor aJstill have- a tremendous 40win, f not a national champion. A popsibl replacement for Burleson is 0-7 Kenny Carr, a freshman from Washington, D.C. In the Midwest Indiaana plays probably the most rugged defensive baketbell In the country. With Knight, noted as a innagh npinarian Und 1ifpac The Gamecock Top Twenty 1. UCLA 2. North Carolina State 3. Indiana 4. Carolina 5. Alabama 6. Kapsas 7. North Carolina 8. Louisville 9. Marquette 10. Memphis State 11. Notre Dame 12. Maryland 13. Pennsylvania 14. Southern California 15. Houston 16. Oral Roberts 17. Kentucky 18. Nevada-Las Vegas 19. Providence 20. Clemson ever since he coached at Army, teaching the Big Ten that defense is not a word to be fdtgotten after football season, the Hoosiers have been near .the top of the conference for several years. - Two years ago the Hoosiers made it to the final round of the NCAA's with a senior center Steve Downing, and a talente group of underclassmen. . Those underclassmen have gown up now and they should be set to challenge the nation's top teams. Junior guard Quinn Buckner, who had an off-year last year, has now decided to'spend his time exclusively on basketball, rather than splitting his time between football and basketball, as he did his fresh man and sophomore years. Along with Buckner the Hoosiers have 6-7 senior Steve Green, who averaged 16.7 points last year, and forwards ScottMay, 12.5, John Laskowskl, 12.5, and Tom Abernathy, 5.7. Also returning is the team's top rebounder, 6 11 sophomore Kent Benson. Knight's biggest problem may be finding someone to go along with Bcknr in the backcourt. Laskowski, a reserve last year, may be moved to the backcourt in front of Jim Crews, a freshman starter last year who averaged Ip oumbia ,meanwhile, the fans will get a chance to see i tusoph@more starters for arlina last year can blend with Boswell to break back into the top ten In the nation. The Gamecocks will miss Brian Winters, now plaig In Los Angeles for the Laers, but what the Gamecocks have haAki nn ln Stop1 English, the co-captains, are the team's top returnees, and Bob Mathias, Nate Davis and Mark Greiner make the frontcourt deep. Jimmy Walsh, a senior, gives the backcourt experience, while Jackie Gilloon and Billy Truitt should pray a lot as freshmen. Alabama, no longer con sidered. just a football school has improved its basketbal program so that it has gone from 4-20 in 1969 to 22-4 last year. They should be even stronger this time, with just one starter graduated from last year's squad. Leon Douglas, 6-10, is the Tide's proven big man, averaging 15 points and almost 10 rebounds last season. Charles Cleveland, 17.1 average, is their top shooter, and the other returning starters are Charles Russell and T. R. Dunn. Kansas made it to the NCAA final round, where it lost to Marquette last year, and it should make it back there again. The Jayhawks top players are forwards Roger Morningstar, Norm Cook, guard Dale Greenlee and centers Danny Knight and Rick Suttle. North Carolina seems ready for another year in the top ten, and it is only normal that the ACC have two or three teams in the top ten. The Tar Heels have lost Bobby Jones and Darrell Elston to graduation, Donald Washington is ineligible because of grades and veteran guard Ray Harrison will miss most of the year because of illness. But Dean Smith' still has players like Walter Davis, Ed Stahl and Mitch Kupehak to make North Carolina the second best team in the con ference. Louisville, after making the NCAA final round two years ago, sagged to 21-7 last year, but it should be back in the top ten this time. With a big man, 6-9 Bill Bunton, the Cardinals should be able to rebound better this year, and Allen Murphy, at 6-5 the top scorer with 16.6 pints last year, and Missouri Cnference player-of the-year, Junior Bridgeman, a guard, should make the Car dinals a tough team. Al- McGuire always makes his team exciting and among the best in the nation. Even without Maurice Lucas, the latest Marquette un derradateto go to the pros, the arriors have Earl Tatum, Lloyd Walton and Bo Ellis returning from last year's NCAA runner-up team, as well as Butch Lee, one of the most higlyrecuiedfreshmen With two gopd gurds-Bill Cook and Dexter Reed returning, Memphis State should find its way hack to the teams top ten in the country. Some top junior college transfers have also been signed, such as 6-9 Marion Hillard, as well as top high school pick 6-9 John Gunn. Notre Dame has lost John Shumate and Gary Brokaw to the pros, but e Phelps can count on A an Dantley, Dwight Clay, Bill aterno and Ray Martin, all of whom played a lot last year when the Irish were 26-3. Maryland was outrecruited to Moses Malone by the pros, but Lefty Driesell still has Maurice Howard and All ,America John Lucas in' the backcourt, although frontcourt starters Tom McMillen and Len Elmore have graduated. The top team in the Ivy League, Pennsylvania, has top frontcourt players in Ron Haigler, 17.4 points and 10.6 rebounding average last year, and John Engles, who should guide it to their league title again. Southern Cal has played second to UCLA in the Pac-8 for so long it is hard to imagie them finishing anywhere es. They probably won't this year, either. Team leading scorer, guard Gus Williams, 15.5, is the top returnee. Perennial Southwest power Houston has Louis Dunbar, 6-9 guard forward, Maurice Presley and Otis Birdsong back, along with high schol all-America Tony Smith from Saginaw, Mich. Oral Roberts, now con sidered a true basketball power, has a lot of junior college transfers and two proven starters--6-5 Al Boswell, 18.4 points, and Duane Fox, 6-7. Kentucky, which struggled to 13-13 last year, shoul &nd their way back to respec tability with SEC top scorer Kevin Grevey, 21.9 points per game, Jimmy Dan Conner, Bob Guyette and Mike Flynn, all starters a year ago, returning. When Jerry Tarkanian left Long Beach State It was only a matter of time until he had a national contender at Nevada Las Vegas. Last year it was 20 6 and this year should be as good. Five juniors, sophomores last year, played a lot and should make up for the grauatonof top scorers Boby Foreceand Jimmie Baker. Providence -lost Kevin Stacom and Marvin Barnes.to gramatIon, but the Friars bad a good recruting year and game. Clepmon, as painful as It Is to admit,Is now a good ha*ksthan team.' Wayne RollIns, 7-1 aophomore, is the team's p'st player.