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CONTENTS
Feb. 26-Mar. 4, 1933
February 12-17, 1934
January 9-15, 1938
January 3-8, 1955
December 7-13, 1959
December 7-12, 1964
December 9-15, 1979
December 11-17, 1989
January 1-6, 1990
February 21-27, 1999
Basketball Week in Time – I
Basketball Week in Time – III
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Basketball Week in Time Archive – II
February 26-March 4, 1933
Based on "Basketball" in Time, March 13, 1933
Basketball is the most popular winter team game in the U.S. In many colleges, next to football, it is the most profitable. By last week the principal leagues in the U.S. had reached their crucial games.
Princeton team 1933
Fritz Crisler, Princeton
Forrest "Aggie" Sale, Kentucky
Piggy Lambert, Purdue
Ed Lewis, Oregon State
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East
- Princeton's defeat of Columbia 35-24 almost certainly assured that the Eastern Intercollegiate League championship would be decided by a playoff between the Tigers and Yale, which finished its season by beating Cornell 46-22.
- Since its formation in 1902, the EIL has had five playoffs and Princeton has been in all of them, including last year's thrashing of Columbia.
- Coach Fritz Crisler's Tigers have "long lean" forwards, Ken Fairman and John Seibert, who are the high scorers of "a team which often plays lazy basketball" but beat league-leading Yale 46-26 two weeks ago.
- Princeton must defeat Penn in its last game this week to force the playoff with the Eli, which are coached by Elmer Ripley, who was a "crack professional" on the Celtics before 1929.
- Under Elmer's direction, roundball has become so popular at Yale that 2,200 chairs in the new Payne Whitney Gymnasium aren't enough. Next year, the chairs will be replaced by benches to seat 3,500.
Southeast
- Kentucky, "a perennial runner-up in the Southern Conference," was the team to beat at Atlanta as the 13 teams in the new Southeastern Conference played their first tournament.
- Mississippi State, "a dark horse in the upper half of the draw," got to the finals but were clobbered by the Wildcats 46-27.
- Ralph McGill, sports columnist for the Atlanta Constitution, put all five Kentucky starters on his All-Conference team. Others agreed on only two: Ellis Johnson, "stocky, cat-footed G, who fed the ball to 6' 3 1/2" F Forrest ('Aggie') Sale."
South
- The remaining teams in the Southern Conference gathered in Raleigh NC for their tournament.
- "Five South Carolina sophomores, four of whom played together at Athens (Texas) High, led by a tall clever F named Benny Tompkins and his left-handed high-scoring brother Freddy, ran up a lead of 15-6, then loafed until North Carolina ... passed them, 18-15 at half time. South Carolina, completely upset, failed to score for 20 minutes; then scored six points to tie in the last four minutes, won the game 34-32 in the second extra period."
- The Gamecocks then beat Duke 33-21 for the title.
Midwest
- The two Ohio State–Purdue games have been the most exciting of the Big Ten season.
- "In the first, an Ohio State player committed a foul which seemed to Purdue's wiry, black-haired Coach Ward ("Piggy") Lambert so dastardly that he rushed out on the floor to protest. Purdue got two free shots but Ohio State got one for Coach Lambert's indiscretion. Purdue's two throws tied the score; Ohio's broke the tie and won the game."
- "Last week there was talk of 'severing relations' between Purdue and Ohio. After their second game, which Ohio won 29-17, police had to shield Ohio State's Bill Hosket from a Purdue crowd."
- Ohio State had to share the Big Ten championship with Northwestern because the Buckeyes were upset 40-28 by Indiana's "erratic team" in their last game.
- High scorer in the Big Ten this year is Joe Reiff, Northwestern F, "who helps pay his way through college by sweeping out the lobby of Patten Gymnasium at 40 cents an hour." He broke Purdue's Johnny Wooden's year-old conference record of 154 points in a season by 13.
- At Iowa, basketball outdrew football this year 95,000 to 66,000 including a record crowd of 9,500 against Ohio State.
West
- Oregon State needed one more win to clinch the title of the northern division of the Pacific Coast Conference. The foe was Oregon, "divison tailenders, who had won only two games all season." Nevertheless, the Ducks led until the final 20 seconds when Red McDonald, State G, sank a FT to send the game to OT. The Beavers won 32-27 in the extra period.
- Oregon State will now play Southern California, the southern division champions, in the best-of-three playoff. OSU's 6'5" captain and C, Ed Lewis, "league record-breaking scorer," has a week to get ready for the tip-off against the next best C on the coast, SC's Lee Guttero, and the Trojans' "crack F" Jerry ("Little Nemo") Nemer.
- Washington will not win the PCC championship for the first time in five years.
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Elmer Ripley, Yale
Yale Payne Whitney Gymnasium
Ellis Johnson, Kentucky
Freddy Tompkins, South Carolina
Joe Reiff, Northwestern
Lee Guttero, USC
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Based on "Basketball: Midseason" in the February 19, 1934, issue of Time.
College basketball produces no national champion. A winter sport which in some parts of the U.S. amounts to a seasonal hysteria, it is played almost entirely within regional leagues. The argument of each league that it has the best team in the land is more footless than most such controversies, since the strongest teams play on courts of different sizes under rules differently interpreted.
Eastern teams play a cunning, fast game, usually with spontaneous maneuvers. The larger Western courts develop long passers, elaborate strategies. Midwest and Pacific Coast play a hard-hitting game. Referees there are free-&-easy in interpreting the rule against blocking, thus favoring the offense. In New England the blocking rule is severely enforced. To a lesser degree the same is true in East, South and Northwest.
MIDWEST
"Whether or not they offer the best basketball in the U. S., Midwest games stir up most excitement and draw biggest crowds. Farmers from miles around drove into Lafayette, Ind. for last week's game between Iowa and Purdue." The Boilermaker juggernaut steams toward the Big Ten Championship with five scoring players all from Indiana, "a state so basketball-mad that business practically stands still during the finals of the annual tournament of 800 high schools." "The Purdue style is for the whole team to break fast, rush down the floor at once and shoot. Usually the defense takes care of itself." However, that style failed as Iowa upset the home team 38-36. The Hawkeyes then lost 35-29 to Northwestern, at best only a fair team. Wisconsin trounced Ohio State 42-23, then upset Minnesota 31-30 before a crowd of 12,500. UM's 19-year-old 6'4" C Gordon Norman has piled up 81 points in nine games.
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Wisconsin Badgers 1934 |
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Kansas used a deliberate style to beat Oklahoma 22-16 to tie the Sooners for first place in the Big Six.
"Notre Dame, coached by famed George ("Doc") Keogan, belongs to no conference, barnstorms the country knocking off conference top-notchers. Its winning streak of 22 games was broken by Pitt this season. When Notre Dame plays, everybody watches Ed ('"Moose") Krause who, besides being a crack football tackle, is one of the flashiest basketball centres in the U. S. He shoots one-handed, pops them in from 15 or 20 ft. With two Pitt men covering him throughout the game, he scored 10 points."
THE EAST
"Most basketball fans would like to see a game between Notre Dame and College of the City of New York, often called the two best teams in the U. S. Like Notre Dame, City College belongs to no conference, beats nearly every team it meets. For the last three years it has lost only two games out of 41, none so far this season. Also like Notre Dame, it has a whirlwind centre, temperamental Capt. Moe Goldman who, in a furious game with Temple, was knocked unconscious in the first half, returned in the second to score the eleven points which won the game." Coach Nat Holman's 15-year record at CCNY is 173-41.
"In 1908 Harvard quit the Eastern Intercollegiate League in a huff. This season it returned, and so far has lost every conference game played. Princeton, an early favorite, slumped after the Christmas holidays. Most of its first-stringers are seniors playing their third season and apparently bored with the game. Tied for first place are Penn and Yale, last year's champion."
SOUTH
"From Kansas, where lives the inventor of basketball, Dr. James A. Naismith, went jovial, jowled Adolph Rupp to teach the University of Kentucky boys how to play. He taught them so well that in three years they won 64 out of 72 games, and last year the Southeastern Conference. Last week, undefeated for the season, his team moved toward another championship by beating Alabama 26-to-21."
SOUTHWEST
TCU F Richard Allison, 6'5" 200 lb, has scored 86 points this season. He has sparked the Horned Frogs to the lead in the Southwest Conference.
Rocky Mountain teams play a variety of styles. Utah and Montana play "a slambang, helter-skelter game resulting in high scores." Colorado and Wyoming tend toward "conservatism and tight defense." Wyoming leads the Rocky Mountain Conference with an undefeated record. The Cowboys feature a brother tandem: Coach Willard "Dutch" Witte and left-handed F Les Witte. He scored 17 points in each game of a doubleheader against Colorado College to bring his four-year total close to 1,000.
FAR WEST
California and Washington lead the Southern and Northern Divisions of the Pacific Coast Conference respectively. However, Southern California "provides more entertainment." One of Coach Sam Barry's stratagems is to have his guards bark like seals, in an effort to disconcert the opposing forwards." USC split a doubleheader with Cal.
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January 9-15, 1938
Based on "Point a Minute" in the 1/24/38 issue of Time
"Meeting in Chicago last spring the rulemakers ... gave basketball the most drastic alteration in its 46-year history. It removed the afater-goal centre jump ... This year, under the new rule, the ball, instead of being brought to the centre and tossed up after each goal, is automatically given to the team just scored on – for a throw-in from out of bounds just under the basket. This speeds up the game, adds about seven minutes of playing time, reduces the advantages of tall fellows over short ones, results in more spectacular tries for baskets and larger scores."
"If the centre jump is the news-of-the-year in basketball, John Bunn is the man-of-the-year."
- Bunn, the coach at Stanford, played and coached at Kansas under Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, who in turn learned the game directly from Dr. James Naismith himself.
- When Bunn took over at Stanford in 1930, the game was regarded as "sissy" there.
- He began experimenting with a "jumpless game." In 1934, he convinced Southern Cal Coach Sam Barry to join him in pushing for the new style of play.
- "Last year, while the Big Ten gave the new game a test and others followed suit, Bunn took his boys on a transcontinental tour during Christmas vacation." They beat every team they faced, both with the old and the new rules. In Manhattan, playing under the national rules of the time, Stanford broke the two-year winning streak of Long Island University.
Bunn's star player is Angelo Henry "Hank" Luisetti.
- The son of a restaurant chef, Hank "is considered so superior to all other basketball players this year that he is one of the few basketball subjects over which there is no controversy."
- Luisetti was born in the same San Francisco neighborhood that produced baseballers Joe Di Maggio, Frank Crosetti, and Tony Lazzeri.
- "A clever passer, spectacular dribbler, amazingly accurate marksman (with either hand or both), he has effected some of the most exciting scoring sprees ever witnessed by modern critics."
- As a sophomore, Luisetti scored 32 points while playing 32 minutes in the Conference championship game. That same year, he produced 24 points in eleven minutes.
- He scored 826 in two years of varsity play, breaking the three-year record of 632 set by Robert Meaney of Lehigh in 1928-30.
- In this, his senior season, Hank set the all-time college record of 50 points in a Christmas-holiday romp over Duquesne, 92-27.
Last week, Stanford played a two-night series against Southern California.
- USC has been dubbed "the University of Indiana at Los Angeles" because its entire starting five and four substitutes are from Indiana.
- In the first game, Luisetti and Art Stoefen led the 64-54 victory.
- The next night, suffering from an eye injury, Hank tallied only 13, and USC prevailed 49-48.
Bunn is in his last season as coach since he will become dean of men at Stanford next year. He summarizes his success like this: "Hank Luisetti is the young man who made a coach out of John Bunn. He'd make a coach out of anybody."
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John Bunn
Hank Luisetti
Sam Barry
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Based on "Scoreboard" in the January 17, 1955, issue of Sports Illustrated
Record Setters
- George Linn, Alabama F, grabbed the RB off the North Carolina backboard in the last seconds of the first half. He threw the ball overhanded through the basket 84' 11" away for the longest FG on record.
- Furman defeated The Citadel 154-67 to set the new national major college scoring standard.
Upsets
- Georgia Tech broke Kentucky's 129-game home winning streak, 69-game conference streak, and 32-game winning streak at all venues. (The Cats withdrew from the 1954 NCAA tournament because of ineligible players.) The Yellow Jackets, only 2-5 coming into the game, beat the #1 Wildcats 59-58 on G Joe Helms's back court steal and jump shot with 11 seconds left. The Engineers claimed their first victory over UK since 1940. Tech coach John "Whack" Hyder proclaimed: "We'll live on this one for a long time." Adolph Rupp's last loss in Lexington had been January 2, 1943, to Ohio State, 45-40.
- St. Francis (Loretto PA) surprised #3 Duquesne 82-72. Maurice Stokes talled 24 to lead the Saints. Duquesne welcomed back Dick Ricketts, who had been out for a week with a sprained ankle. Ricketts threw in 16 in the first half but went scoreless in the second. The Dukes lost Sihugo Green, the game's high scorer with 26, and Mickey Winograd to fouls late in the game.
- #8 George Washington fell to #13 Richmond, 72-67. The Spiders' Warren Mills contributed steals, dazzling floorwork, and 23 points.
- UCLA may fall from its #10 perch after splitting a doubleheader at Stanford. The Indians won 61-56, while the Bruins prevailed 91-75 the next night.
SEC
- Tulane rolled over Florida 85-74 in Gainesville. Towering C Jim Nowakowski with 22 and G Hal Cervini with 17 led the Green Wave. Bob Emrick's 24 topped all scorers for the Gators.
- In the companion game in the SEC's paired scheduling system, LSU lost to Georgia in OT in Athens. Morris Dinwiddie's FT tied the game for the Bulldogs in the last seconds 68-68. Georgia then scored the first four points in OT on their way to a 76-70 victory. LSU and Tulane will now swap opponents Monday night to complete their southeastern road trip.
Other Results
- #2 North Carolina State used its height advantage to outlast Duke 96-91. Vic Molodet's 33 points and a combined 54 points from giant centers Ron Shavlik and Cliff Dwyer allowed the Wolfpack to fight off a Devil comeback after leading by 18 at the half.
- #11 Maryland will move up in the poll after extending its winning streak to seven with victories over South Carolina (68-51), Virginia (78-65), and Clemson (71-63). Bob Kessler was the offensive star for the Terps.
- The Big Ten began conference play. #7 Illinois romped 99-75 over defending conference champ Indiana in the Illini's league opener despite Don Schlundt's 34-point outburst. The Hoosiers had bounced Michigan 95-77 in their conference debut. Minnesota lost its opener to Northwestern 74-72, then nipped Iowa 81-80 on a FT by sophomore reserve Dave Tucker with 12 seconds left.
- #6 Missouri began Big Seven play with triumphs over Kansas 76-65 and Nebraska 69-57.
- #12 Dayton scored seven straight in the last minutes to upend Villanova 59-52. Earlier in the week, the Flyers bested Canisius 68-54.
- #10 Utah won two Skyline Conference games, over Denver 82-58 and New Mexico 69-59.
- #5 San Francisco, the defending NCAA champs, downed St. Mary's 51-37 to run its record to 9-1.
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Georgia Tech-Kentucky action
Maurice Stokes
Dick Ricketts
Sihugo Green
Ron Shavlik
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Jerry Lucas
Walt Bellamy
Darrall Imhoff |
December 7-13, 1959
Based on "Basketball's Week" by Mervin Hyman in the December 21, 1959, issue of Sports Illustrated.
MIDWEST
Ohio State has established itself as the team to beat in the Big Ten. The "rangy Buckeyes" trounced Butler 99-66, then polished off St. Louis 81-74 for their fifth straight. "Talented sophomore Jerry Lucas gave away two inches to St. Louis' 6' 10" Bob Nordmann and beat him off the boards while scoring 30 points." Sharpshooting G Larry Siegfried, when not lobbing the ball to Lucas, threw in 22 of his own. Meanwhile, Indiana, the preseason favorite, was shocked by Missouri 79-76. Joe Scott's 31 and a lockdown of IU's Walt Bellamy, who scored only 6 before fouling out early in the second half, created the upset.
"Hardly pausing to ponder its loss to Ohio State," St. Louis played rude hosts to Kentucky, 73-61. Unlike OSU, KU didn't have anyone big enough or tough enough to handle Nordmann underneath the boards. Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati's Big O, scored 36 and 48 over double- and triple-teams in routs of Miami of Ohio (89-58) and St. Joseph's (123-79). Detroit, "a darkhorse among midwestern independents, turned loose brilliant sophomores Charlie North and Dave DeBusschere" in downing Iona (85-67) and Purdue (84-63).
SOUTH
Louisiana Tech ended Mississippi State's 18-game winning streak. Tech employed a tight zone and let Jackie Moreland carry the O. Meanwhile, Auburn edged Florida State 62-58.
North Carolina and N.C. State won the Carolina-Kansas challenge. The Tarheels smothered the Jayhawks 80-69 behind Harvey Salz, York Larese, and Lee Shaffer while North Carolina's State U. upended Kansas State 66-59. The next night, NC polished off KSU 68-52 but Kansas salvaged some midwest pride by defeating the Wolfpack 80-58.
Jerry West scored 62 as West Virginia drubbed Richmond 84-62 and Penn State 104-74.
THE EAST
Pittsburgh won its own Steel Bowl Tournament. The Panthers eked out a 74-73 win over St. John's before dispatching crosstown rival Duquesne 75-44 in the finals. Holy Cross "unveiled its much-publicized sophomore whiz, Jack Foley, and his 25 points helped the Crusaders hold off challenging Yale 85-84."
SOUTHWEST
Texas hit 51% of its shots to swamp Tulane 94-71 as Jay Arnette tallied 25. Texas A&M romped over Houston 67-49. SMU "flexed its muscles" by beating Oklahoma City 67-56 and Vanderbilt 86-67. "But the bubble burst for Baylor, which fell before Memphis State's speed, 71-56. Arkansas also faltered, bowing to swift, sure Mississippi 78-63."
THE WEST
Defending NCAA champion California won its 18th and 19th straight – easily over San Francisco 65-40 but tighter over San Jose State 54-43. SJSU's Dennis Marc held "big, rough" Darrall Imhoff to only four FGs. USC and UCLA rudely hosted Oklahoma State and BYU. SC "riddled OSU's usually tight defense 73-50, then pounced on Brigham Young 79-61." UCLA had little trouble with the Cougars 62-42 but OSU salvaged a win for the visitors, 52-48.
New Mexico broke its 17-game losing streak by upsetting archrival New Mexico State 68-63. Allen Holmes, "Globetrotter-type dribbler, mesmerized Wichita with his zigging and zagging, and by the time the Shockers figured out how to keep up with him the game was over and Holmes scored 27 points" in a 103-80 victory.
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Based on "Basketball's Week" by Mervin Hyman in the December 14, 1964, issue of Sports Illustrated.
"The 1965 college basketball season was barely a week old and already the field was littered with important casualties. Rarely had so many suffered such ignominy so quickly. UCLA, the defending national champion, Davidson, Kansas, Duke, Seattle, North Carolina, Syracuse and Georgetown were all beaten."
Dave Bing
Rick Barry
Louie Dampier
Billy Cunningham
Ollie Johnson
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THE EAST
Penn State held Syracuse's Dave Bing to 11 points and sank the Orange 81-59. Bob Cousy's coaching is beginning to payoff at Boston College. John Austin canned 22 in the 104-76 win over Dartmouth and 32 more in the 89-71 upset of Georgetown.
Joe Lapchick's last St. John's team defeated Temple 60-50. Bill Bradley of Princeton tallied 29 against Lafayette (83-74) and 26 in a close win over Army (64-60).
Rick Barry, a New Jerseyite who found his way to Miami, went back north to play in the Steel Bowl. Barry poured in 55 points in a 136-119 shootout with Tampa, then poured in 75 more in wins over Duquesne 99-95 and host Pitt 85-71.
MIDWEST
UCLA's 30-game winning streak went down in flames at Illinois. The Illini shot a school record 58% in their 110-83 romp. Then the next night at St. Louis, IU started fine, leading by eight early in the second half. Then foul trouble set in and 6'10" Gil Beckemeier scored 23 as the Billikens won their third straight, 79-64.
Meanwhile, the Bruins found an easier time at Indiana State, where Coach John Wooden spent two years in the 40s. Gail Goodrich scored 29 in the 117-76 rout of the Sycamores. Miami (OH) had not beaten Cincinnati since 1957. Jeff Gehring and Charlie Coles each scorched the nets for 33 in the Redskins' 65-55 triumph.
SOUTH
Kentucky's "Little Kids," 6' sophomore Louie Dampier and 5'11" Randy Embry, scored 34 between them to hold off Iowa, 85-77. Ray Mears' Tennessee Vols, who finished second in the SEC last year, clobbered Richmond 97-66 behind 18 points by 6'8" JC All-American transfer Austin Robbins.
North Carolina's Billy Cunningham hit Georgia for 22 points and 24 rebounds, but the Tarheels still bit the dust, 64-61. Two days later, Clemson, losers to UNC 77-59 earlier in the young season, shocked the Bulldogs 72-60. Then NC spoiled Frank McGuire's ACC debut at South Carolina 82-71.
SOUTHWEST
TCU, losers of 15 straight dating back to last season, defeated Austin College 91-66 but fell back to earth against Ohio State, 84-79. SMU surprised Oklahoma City 89-76. OCU coach Abe Lemons called it "the worst game anybody has ever played for me" and added, "I hope SMU's the best team in the nation. If not, we're in trouble."
Seattle visited Oklahoma and came away with a split. After an hour and a half delay between halves when a blackout hit Norman, the Chieftains won 98-81. But Tulsa conked the visitors, 98-76.
WEST
San Francisco's Ollie Johnson pulled down 17 boards and fired in 20 as the Dons trounced Bay Area rival Stanford 77-50. It was USF's second straight over a Pacific Coast Conference team as Oregon State had succumbed 66-58.
6'6" Wayne Estes, "slimmer, siwfter and even more adept, was back at his old tricks" for Utah State, leading the Aggies to victories over Idaho State 107-60, Butler 88-74, and Loyola 96-69.
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Devin Durrant
Darrell Griffith
Kyle Macy
Andrew Toney
Sleepy Floyd
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WEST
- Upstart Weber State knocked off teams from three regions: Rhode Island (82-60), St. Francis of Illinois (96-67), and New Mexico (80-70).
- Portland coach Jack Avina told his squad, "You have a rare chance to climb a mountain. Take advantage of it." He was referring to the upcoming game against Oregon State. His Pilots did what he told them, jumping out to a 15-point lead and fending off a Beaver comeback to win 94-86.
- The finals of the Cougar Classic between host BYU and LaSalle produced a three-OT thriller. Kevin Lynam of the Explorers hit a corner shot with one second left in regulation to tie at 82. With two seconds left in the first OT, Scott Runia of the Cougars made a pair of FTs to make it 92-92. OT #2 ended 98-98. Finaly, BYU built a four-point lead and held on 108-106. Devin Durrant led the hosts with 24.
- Drake remained undefeated but just barely. Air Force, which had lost all three of its games by no more than five points, pulled into a 71-71 tie, then went cold to lose 78-73.
EAST
- "We played with an intelligence that wasn't there in our first three games." That was the evaluation of Penn coach Bob Weinhauer after his team's game with Duke. Intelligent or not, the Quakers lost their fourth out of four games, 70-57. Mike Gminski led the Blue Devils with 27.
- Another Philly team, Temple, beat its ACC opponent, Wake Forest, 74-69.
- North Carolina freshman James Worthy scored 24 and grabbed 16 boards to spark the Tar Heels' 90-72 win over Detroit.
- It was close even if it wasn't exciting. Concordia (NY) edged Northeastern Bible 6-4.
MIDWEST
- Ohio State won 72-55 at West Virginia and then defeated Holy Cross before the biggest crowd in that school's history (4,000 sellout plus SRO). Kelvin Ransey has now scored in double figures in 68 consecutive games.
- Penn State also broke its home attendance record, but the 8,495 were disappointed when Syracuse scored a 85-72 victory. Rich Fetter's 24 wasn't enough for the Lions.
- Missouri blew a big lead but held on to down USC 78-75. Mizzou G Curtis Berry endured the "wolf talking" of Trojan G Purvis Miller. Miller was more than a talker, though, scoring 24 with 10 rebounds. But Berry got 23-11, including the game-clinching FTs with four seconds to go. Then Steve Stipanovich made both ends of one-and-ones at Butler to win 64-60.
- Iowa kept its record spotless with wins over Wichita State (81-62) and Iowa State (67-64). G Ronnie Lester canned 26 at Wichita and 23 against ISU.
- Denny Crum's Louisville Cardinals beat NC Charlotte 93-76 and Western Kentucky 96-74 to capture the Holiday Classic. Darrell Griffith had 28 and 20 in the two games.
MIDEAST
- Andrew Toney of Southwestern Louisiana joined the list of 2,000-point scorers with 32 in the Ragin' Cajuns win at Oregon 64-59.
- Kentucky pulverized South Carolina 126-81 at home behind Kyle Macy's 24 and Sam Bowie's 23. Then the Wildcats edged Kansas 57-56 on the road. Bowie had 17 points and 14 rebounds.
- Eric "Sleepy" Floyd tallied 21 and Craig Shelton added 23 but Georgetown lost to Indiana 76-69, the Hoosiers' 1,000th victory.
- Mississippi State got its act together in the second half at Florida for a 90-72 SEC victory. Kent Looney led the Bulldogs with 25. Rickey Brown, the nation's leading rebounder, had 21 boards and points.
- LSU will fondly "Remember the Maine," having throttled the Black Bears 103-81 to top the century mark for the third time in four outings.
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Mike Gminski and Sam Bowie
James Worthy
Kelvin Ransey
Steve Stipanovich
Ronnie Lester
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December 11-17, 1989
Based on "College Report" by William Reed in the 12/25/89 issue of Sports Illlustrated
- "When Lawrence Funderburke shocked the recruiting world by announcing he was going to Indiana because ... 'I need the discipline,' all sorts of bets were made about how long the willowy 6'8" F would last under Bob Knight. Well, if you predicted he wouldn't make it through Decemer of his freshman year, get ready to collect. After being kicked out of practice last Thursday, Funderburke cleaned out his locker and disappeared." The Hoosiers traveled to El Paso without him and defeated UTEP 69-66 to move to 7-0.
Lawrence Funderburke (after he transferred to Ohio State)
- After spending three seasons backing up Pervis Ellison at Louisville, 7' 265 lb Felton Spencer is taking advantage of his chance to shine now that Ellison has gone to the NBA. Last Saturday Spencer faced New Mexico's 7'2" C Luc Longley. Trailing at the half 31-29, Denny Crum challenged Spencer to keep the ball away from Longley. The Cardinals then blitzed the home team 38-7 early in the second half on their way to a 78-49 win, with seventh in eight tries. Spencer outscored Longley 14-10, outrebounded him 20-11, and blocked six shots to the Australian's four.
- Another NBA C prospect, 6'10" Tyrone Hill, led Xavier's 95-63 rout of Valparaiso. Hill averages 18.3 points and 11 rebounds for the 3-1 Musketeers. Thanks to Tyrone, Xavier is the favorite to cop the Midwestern Collegiate Conference title.
- Arkansas hosted its first challenging opponent of the season, Missouri. The students who began lining up outside Barnhill Arena at 7:30 am ordered 514 pizzas during their wait for tickets. However, they may have suffered heartburn as they watched their beloved Razorbacks absorb their first loss, 89-88, after five victories. The Tigers pounded the ball inside to 6'10" Doug Smith and 6'9" Nathan Buntin who scored 48 and grabbed 22 rebounds between them. The home team relied on the perimeter shooting of Lee Mayberry and Todd Day.
- "SMU defeated Texas-Arlington 36-31, proving that the 45-second clock and the three-point shot can't beef up the offense of bad teams. The go-ahead basket came when an intended pass went through the hands of SMU F Vernon Perdue and into the hoop. Fortunately for basketball, only 1,056 were in attendance at Moody Coliseum in Dallas." (Incidentally, the Texas-Arlington nickname is Mavericks.)
- "This week's raspberry for unsportsmanlike scheduling goes to Georgetown coach John Thompson, whose Hoyas rolled to a horrendous 112-39 sleepwalk over the District of Columbia. The excuse for this mismatch was that UDC coach George Leftwich, a high school teammate of Thompson's, had requested the game last summer. Sorry, but that's not good enough - unless, of course, such things as valid competition and entertainment value no longer count in college sports." (UDC's nickname is the Firebirds.)
- Syracuse also met a lesser team from the D.C. area, Towson State, before a far from capacity crowd in the Carrier Dome. Towson's Kirk Lee endured a series of attentive — and sometimes brutal — SU defenders. Lee is one of the secret stars of college basketball, a 6'3" G blessed with quickness, shooting range and a don't-mess-with-me attitude. He entered the game averaging 30 points, including a 26-point
performance against North Carolina. Lee got his points (21), but they came at a price. He missed 11-of-18 shots and spent much of the game on his back. Syracuse romped 105-75.
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Felton Spencer
Tyrone Hill
Doug Smith
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Based on "College Report" by William F. Reed in Sports Illustrated, January 15, 1990 and AP reports
"Unsurprisingly, the first week of January brought more upsets than the entire month of December. Syracuse, Illinois, Indiana and LaSalle all suffered their first defeats, leaving only Kansas, Georgetown, Oklahoma and Georgia Tech as major unbeatens – and who wants to bet that those four will escape January unscathed? In addition, LSU and Louisville were jolted in games they were supposed to win easily."
Malik Sealy
Chris Jackson
Ronnie Battle
Bobby Hurley
Jimmy Jackson
Sean Rooks
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East
- Syracuse, top-ranked at the start of the week after a creampuff December schedule, barely beat Pittsburgh before getting clobbered 93-74 by Villanova at home.
- Greg Harvey scored 19 points, Malik Sealy 18 and Jayson Williams 17 to lead St. John's (13-2, 2-0 in Big East) to its seventh consecutive victory, 77-65, at Boston College.
- Georgetown improved to 11-0 as Mark Tillmon's 3-point shot with
52 seconds left capped a career-high 39-point performance as the Hoyas held
off Providence 93-91. Alonzo Mourning added 23.
South
- Chris Jackson scored 25 points as LSU pulled away from Auburn in the second half to win 77-70. Auburn (3-9)
rallied from a 12-point deficit in the
second half and went ahead by one.
But Jackson scored six straight
points on a pair of 18-foot jumpers and
two free throws and the visiting Tigers (8-2) never
trailed again.
Ronnie Battle, who hit five 3-pointers,
led the home team with 27 points. LSU bounced back from its OT loss at Mississippi State Thursday night.
- Melvin Cheatum scored 19 points to
lead No. 22 Alabama, which overcame
an early deficit and put the game away
with a 24-6 burst in the second half for a
66-48 victory Saturday night over Mississippi.
- "During the first half of Arkansas's visit to Texas Tech, the horn on the overhead scoreboard came loose and fell to the floor, landing about a foot and a half from Razorback F Todd Day, who understandably flinched. ... Apparently rattled, Day scored a season-low nine points in the Razorbacks' 92-75 win."
- Bobby Hurley broke Virginia's second-half
rally with two keys plays on each end of
the floor, and 13th-ranked Duke (10-2)
survived John Crotty's 22 second-half
points to down the Cavaliers (8-2), 76-68.
- Dennis Scott scored 36 points, alternating
between outside jumpers and
drives, as unbeaten and 12th-ranked
Georgia Tech posted a 91-79 ACC victory over Wake
Forest.
Midwest
- Kansas, "a team that plays a reasonable preconference schedule," ran its record to 15-0 with a road win at Wichita State and a home victory against Winthrop. None other than John Wooden said this about Roy Williams' Jayhawks: "I've really enjoyed watching Kansas play. They're a team. I'd like to see more teams like that."
- "Two days after pulling off its shocking 71-66 upset of Louisville on the road, Cincinnati returned home and was upset 73-72 by Coastal Carolina. Still, the Bearcats were 8-4 at week's end, and their new coach, Bob Huggins, believes the program could be as strong as it was from 1958-59 through '62-63 when Cincinnati went to five straight Final Fours and won national titles in 1961 and '62." In the meantime, Huggins has to build a team with only eight scholarship players because of NCAA sanctions.
- In the Big Ten, freshman
Jimmy Jackson scored 17 of his 28
points in the first half as Ohio State notched its second consecutive Big Ten victory over a Top
25 team, defeating No. 20 Iowa, 79-73 after upsetting #9 Indiana Thursday night.
- The Michigan State Spartans are finding ways to
win, even with leading scorer Steve
Smith out with a broken finger.
Kirk Manns scored 20 points and
Ken Refield had 17 Saturday as the
Spartans held off Wisconsin in their
Big Ten opener to improve to 12-2.
- Purdue's
starting front line of Ryan
Berning, Stephen Scheffler and
Chuckie White combined for 22-of-24
field goal shooting, leading the Boilermakers
(9-3) past Northwestern (7-
4) in the Big Ten opener for both teams.
- DePaul defeated crosstown rival Loyola 71-56 by pounding the ball inside. 39 of the Demons' 44 second-half points came from baskets inside or FTs when fouled down under.
West
- "Following an 86-81 loss to Notre Dame last Saturday, Southern Cal was 12-28 in games decided by six points or fewer under George Raveling, who took over in 1986. The Trojans suffered another setback when their Jan. 13 date with Arizona State had to be moved from the Los Angeles Sports Arena to their campus's Lyon Center – an 1,800-seat student recreation facility – because of a scheduling conflict with Walt Disney on Ice. Portable seating will boost the Lyon Center capacity to 2,200. Wonder if the game will sell out ..."
- Sean Rooks' 18 points and Jud Buechler's
12 paced defense-minded No. 19
Arizona to an 81-61 victory over Washington
State on Saturday night, the
defending Pac-10 champions' third
straight home-court conference
triumph.
- Reserve David Butler scored all of his
19 points in the second half and four
teammates joined him in double figures
as No. 10 Nevada-Las Vegas maintained
its perfect record against San Jose
State (18-for-18) with a 100-80 victory.
Larry Johnson had 16 points and 15
rebounds, and Greg Anthony tallied 13.
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Alonzo Mourning
Todd Day
Dennis Scott
Steve Smith
Greg Anthony and Larry Johnson
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Based on "College Basketball" by Grant Wahl in the March 8, 1999, issue of Sports Illustrated.
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SI's pick for player of the year is Arizona PG Jason Terry. "No other player in the country is as crucial to his team's success. ... Terry heads a starting lineup that includes three freshmen ..." Coach Lute Olsen says: "If Jason wasn't here, we'd be 10-14. Given that he has so many inexperienced players around him, it's the best job I've ever had a PG do in my 26 years in Division I." Considering that Olsen's alumni include Mike Bibby, Steve Kerr, Khalid Reeves, and Damon Stoudamire, that's high praise indeed.
Terry's biggest rival for the honor is Utah PG Andre Miller. Other contenders are Connecticut's Richard Hamilton, and two players from Duke – Elton Brand and Trajan Langdon.
Some of the "mid-major" conferences held their tournaments last week.
- Samford thrashed Central Florida 89-61 to win the Trans America Athletic Conference and earn the school's first NCAA bid ever. The victory was the culmination of a two-year effort by Coach Jimmy Tillette who installed the Princeton Offense in the spring of 1997 when he took over the team.
- Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall issued a challenge to his new players when he was hired last April 2. "Those of you who don't believe we can get to the NCAA tournament next spring, don't follow me into this press conference." To understand the significance of his dare, consider that Winthrop had just finished 7-20, hadn't had a winning season since 1989-90 and had never finished in the top half of the Big South Conference in its 14 years in the league. The Eagles won the regular season title with a 9-1 conference record. Then they cemented the school's first NCAA bid by erasing a nine-point second-half deficit to down Radford 86-74 on Marshall's 36th birthday. "It's the best birthday present I've ever gotten," he said. "These guys are giving this young coach a storybook ending to a fairytale season."
- College of Charleston completed its second 28-2 regular season in the last three years with another #16 ranking. John Kresse's team defeated Appalachian State 77-67 to capture the Southern Conference tournament. Kresse hopes that his Cougars receive a better NCAA seed than 1997's #12. They upset Maryland then and hopes that will push them higher than #12 in the committee's eyes.
- George Mason clinched its first trip to the Big Dance in 10 years with a 63-58 win over Old Dominion in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament final. George Evans, the Patriots' star sophomore C, led the way as usual.
Other conferences wrapped up their regular seasons prior to conducting their tournaments.
- #1 Duke (29-1) defeated archrival North Carolina (#14) 81-61. William Avery led the Blue Devils with 24 while Brand contributed 17.
- #2 Auburn (26-2) edged Mississippi State 76-73.
- Laron Profit tossed in 32 as #5 Maryland upended Florida State 84-7.
- #8 St. John's (23-7) tumbled to Villanova 66-60 despite PG Erick Barkley's 19 points.
- #9 Cincinnati (25-4) clobbered Memphis 89-64.
- #10 Ohio State (22-7) fell to Penn State 98-85 in OT. Jon Crispin led the Lions with 29 to offset Michael Redd's 26 for the Buckeyes.
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Andre Miller
Elton Brand
Gregg Marshall
George Evans
Michael Redd |
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