Wackiness remembered, wishes revealed and assorted bits of dementia as the calendar turns and college basketball heads into its second season . . .
– The game`s august rulemakers have yet to figure out just what to do with post play, where arm wrestling is the norm and everything short of blackjacks is legal. Nor have they reached a consensus on perimeter defense, where the barest hand check is often enough to earn a whistle. But, thank goodness, they did manage to settle one burning issue, and before this season started added rule 3-5-a that reads: ”A player must keep his team shirt tucked in his game pants.”
– The game`s reformers, who soon gather in Anaheim for the NCAA convention, will have a chance to show their intentions are legit and to not quit after cosmetic alterations. They will have that chance when they vote on a proposal that would prohibit recruits who have not met Prop 48 requirements from (1)
signing an early letter-of-intent and (2) receiving a paid campus visit before the November period when those letters can be signed.
A proposal well worth passing, it was recommended-you might be surprised to hear-by the NCAA`s Recruiting Committee.
– ”Taking Control of Your Hair Loss: Men`s Struggle With Nature” was the name of the tape sitting on the desk of Michigan State coach Jud Heathcote.
”It`s for (Purdue coach Gene) Keady, but I haven`t had time to send it to him yet,” explained the Spartans` leprechaun.
– Miami, by the way, dropped basketball in the early `70s, resurrected it in
`85, and totaled 86 victories in the six full seasons that have passed. In this, its first season in the Big East, its opening conference games are at UConn, at St. John`s, at Seton Hall and at Syracuse, who-last year alone-totaled 94 victories.
– The Hurricanes will not win a conference game this season. Northwestern will. The Wildcats, in fact, look good enough to lose their seven-year lease on the Big 10 cellar, yet that never-ending question (at least to those who care about these things) is sure to endure. And forget Duke here. If Stanford can do it consistently, why can`t Northwestern?
Stanford, you see, has managed five straight winning seasons, has appeared in four consecutive postseason tourneys, won last year`s NIT championship and heads into the new year with a record blemished only by a loss at Michigan State. So (and forget that dumb ad here) go ahead and ask why.
”I`ve always had a pro in the program,” offers Stanford coach Mike Montgomery, the overseer of its string of success. He is speaking of the Nuggets` Todd Lichti, of Australian Olympian Andrew Vlahov, and of Adam Keefe, his current forward who could end up a lottery pick. The last Wildcat to grace the NBA, in contrast, was Billy McKinney, whose final season in Evanston was 1977.
”Our league,” continues Montgomery, ”has also been down a little. There are some (schools) that just haven`t done the job. Now we have beaten UCLA (five times) and Arizona (three times), but if you just stay ahead of those other teams, you`re going to be in good shape. I tell you, though. I wouldn`t want to play in the Big 10.”
The coaches and talent he would have to face there account for part of his feeling, but there is also this:
When his Cardinal lost at UCLA last season, more than 5,000 of Pauley Pavilion`s 12,500 seats were empty, and when they lost at Southern Cal, only 3,471 of the L.A. Sports Arena`s 15,500 seats were filled. They also played in half-empty joints at Arizona State and Washington State, and when they won at Washington, the attendance was a paltry 2,756.
Now the attendance at Wisconsin, when Northwestern lost there, was 10,042, which was not only a mere 1,700 short of capacity. It was also the smallest crowd the Wildcats faced during their journey through the Big 10.
– He is not going to end the season as an All-American, but if this scribbler`s starting a team, he wants it to include Duke`s Grant Hill. ”A great player. Not a good player. A great player,” is how he is described by Mike Krzyzewski, who carefully guards superlatives.
– But I`ll take a pass on Christian Laettner, the Blue Devil who will end the season as an All-American. The scribbler likes to look someone in the eye when speaking to him or her, and the way Laettner`s nose is pointed now, that would be difficult even if he were 4-11 instead of 6-11.
– A little-noted knee injury has already ended the season of Utah forward Josh Grant, so don`t expect Rick Majerus` Utes to encore last year`s miracle (it ended with them 30-4 and losers to UNLV in the West Regional). Yet the nickname ”Chicagoland West” still fits this team, whose roster includes Tyrone Tate of Weber High, Byron Wilson of Gary (Ind.) Wallace, Kelly Walker of Waukegan East, Thomas Wyatt of East Aurora and Antoine Davison of Collins. – All sorts of attention has already cloaked the Fab Five, Michigan`s quintet of talented freshmen. Less attended have been the half-dozen freshmen who will be performing for No. 5 UConn this weekend at Illinois. But take a peek at them, and especially at 6-foot-8 1/2-inch forward Donyell Marshall. You`ll be giving yourself a sneak preview of March, when countless coaches will be saying, ”Connecticut`s one of those teams no one wants to play in the tournament.”
– Wisconsin-Green Bay is another one.
– You might think that Michigan State-undefeated, underpublicized and ranked No. 9-is tired of hearing about its fabulous in-state neighbor. ”Yeah. I guess you could say we`re tired of hearing about them,” says Spartans center Mike Peplowski. ”But the more I hear, the more upset I get, and the more I work, and the more I want to make sure we`re the best team in Michigan when we play them. It`s a pure rage to be ready, and you can`t ask for more than that.”
”January 29th,” Spartans guard Mark Montgomery says simply. ”Everyone here knows the date ofthe game.”
– Oh. Getting back to the new neatness rule. The scribbler still has trouble not laughing when he hears referees screaming, ”Tuck your shirt in, No. 33. Tuck your shirt in.” Which they do. Honest.
– But, finally, the quotes of this half-season were uttered in the bowels of Madison Square Garden. There, after his team defeated St. John`s, Indiana coach Bob Knight was extolling hunting, something (he advised) ”that you do while walking across grass and fields, which you people here know nothing about, and where you use a gun to shoot animals, not people like you do here.”
He was in high spirits, carrying on good-naturedly and to the amusement of many, and now he promised to take St. John`s coach Lou Carnesecca out when he is in Bloomington for a game next season.
When Carnesecca appeared moments later, Knight repeated that promise, booming out, ”I was just telling these guys I`m takin` you huntin` when you come to Bloomington next year.”
”Is that right?” Carnesecca rasped without missing a beat. ”Well, the first thing I`m going to shoot is you.”
