THE WEEK

EAST

"Notre Dame and Austin Carr," reflected Guard Chris Ford of Villanova. "If you can't get super up for that game then there's something wrong with you." Villanova shot to a 32-16 lead after 12 minutes, and a howling sellout crowd shook the dust in the Palestra. With Ford passing for 11 assists and his small front line managing 42 rebounds, the Wildcats whipped the Irish 99-81 and fully expected to climb the national rankings. Next on the schedule was La Salle without Ken Durrett, who had injured his right knee early in the week. Super up. Durrett was even crying as he watched his teammates leave the dressing room before the slaughter. Super down. Bobby Fields took over the offense and scored 16 points in the first half against Villanova's zone. The Wildcats switched to a man-to-man in the second half, and Fields threw in 14 more. When the game ended Durrett celebrated LaSalle's 73-69 upset win by waving crutches over his head.

Fordham's Charlie Yelverton turned a stolen pass into a score with 50 seconds left and hit two foul shots with 24 seconds to play as the Rams beat St. John's 76-72. Harvard and Columbia were tied for second place in the Ivy League, with 5-1 conference records at the start of the week. But on Friday, Crimson Captain Dale Dover scored in the last seconds to send Columbia down 73-71. Harvard then won its seventh game in a row—its longest winning streak in 13 years—by beating Cornell 80-60. "We're getting our confidence now," said Coach Bob Harrison. "We're still definitely in the Ivy race."

Harrison means he is behind Penn. The Quakers continued unbeaten after pleasant evenings with Brown and Yale. And the Dukes of Duquesne rolled on, beating Providence 85-80 and Rhode Island 116-95.

1. PENN (20-0)
2. DUQUESNE (17-2)

SOUTH

Phil Carter is Jacksonville's antihero. He is a guard who seldom scores because he seldom plays, and he has a button-wearing Phil Carter Fan Club that gathers in a section of the Jacksonville Coliseum known as Carter's Corner. Last week he managed to please his followers by winning $621 in a radio contest—Carter recognized dialogue from an obscure movie and made his prizewinning call before departing for practice—and then delighted them again by going scoreless as usual in Jacksonville's 111-93 win over Loyola of New Orleans. Artis Gilmore, as expected, was responsible for the Dolphins' 31st straight home victory. He got 24 points, blocked 11 shots, managed 28 rebounds and drew praise from Loyola star Ty (The Guy) Marioneaux. "I've never played against anyone as strong and with such jumping ability in my life," he said. "And I'm not sure I'd want to again, either."

Three days later Warren Mitchell, coach of William & Mary, collapsed his entire defense on Gilmore and held him to just two points. "They didn't show us any class," one of Mitchell's players said afterward. "They tried to make a mockery of the game. They are a bunch of showboats, and I hope they lose every game they play." Jacksonville beat the Indians 100-69.

Coach Joe Stowell of Bradley reacted to the Dolphins with more humor. He sent Frank Sylvester, at 5'4" the smallest major college starter, to jump center against Gilmore at the start of the second half. Bradley lost the tap and the game 89-79.

A few weeks ago Adolph Rupp made it clear that he was not looking forward to playing Florida in Gainesville. "Their gym is hardly worth the gas it would take to burn it down," he said. As it turned out, Rupp did not make the trip to Gatorland. He stayed home with what has become something of a chronic foot ailment, and just as well. His Wildcats were smacked with their second conference loss 74-65.

Georgia Tech lost twice last week, and its pep band was partially responsible for one of the defeats. "It plays that Dixie," said Florida State's Vernell Ellzy. "All about the fields of cotton. That means slavery to us, and we don't like hearing that song." The predominantly black Seminoles won 81-76. North Carolina then shattered Tech 87-58. Surprisingly, after the game's first nine minutes, the Tar Heels were seven points down. Dean Smith replaced the entire starting lineup, and the reserves promptly rolled off seven straight points. "We're more balanced," said Forward Bill Chamberlain. "When the going got tough last year we gave the ball to Charlie Scott. All the pressure fell on him." Still feeling no pressure, North Carolina defeated Clemson on Saturday 86-48.

"You can't imagine the agony it's been for me," said Coach Mike Schuler of VMI. The reference was to the Keydets' losing streak. The team had dropped 24 games and was within reach of the alltime record of 37 set by The Citadel in 1954 and 1955. That is not the sort of thing a coach likes to be remembered for. Last Monday, just two days short of the streak's first birthday, VMI beat Richmond 73-63.

1. JACKSONVILLE (18-2)
2. N.C. (16-3)

MIDWEST

In recent years the students and citizens in Ann Arbor have believed that winning basketball came to an end at the University of Michigan when Cazzie Russell's eligibility expired. Last fall Coach John Orr insisted that the Wolverines could be successful again—with or without Cazzie—but when Michigan lost its first three games even the team itself wondered. By last week, however, the Big Ten was sorted out and, lo, there was Michigan, undefeated in the league and on top of the conference. Henry Wilmore, a sophomore, is most of the reason. Averaging more than 25, Wilmore dropped in 22 when his team slipped by Northwestern 82-81. In foul trouble against Purdue, however, he scored just 12 as the Wolverines shattered the Boilermakers anyway 81-74.

Marquette was troubled by fouls and gave evidence of strain in beating Detroit 81-67. "We're at a point now when the season is getting long," Coach Al McGuire said. "Maybe I'm pushing everybody too hard."

Inconsistent Notre Dame followed its loss to Villanova with a convincing 107-76 victory over DePaul. A zone kept Austin Carr from attempting a shot during the game's first four minutes. "We finally made him take some 35-footers, so he made the 35-footers," said Ray Meyer, DePaul's coach, reflecting upon Carr's 36-point performance.

Kansas Coach Ted Owens appeared for the Colorado game wearing a button proclaiming WE'RE NO. 1, IT'S A WAY OF LIFE. Then he watched his Jayhawks force 26 turnovers on the way to a comfortable 91-67 win.

1. MARQUETTE (20-0)
2. KANSAS (18-1)

WEST

"This is the poorest shooting team I've had in the 23 years that I've been coaching here. It doesn't seem that it should be, not with the big men we have up front. But I've been back through all the records, and this is the poorest." So said John Wooden after the two difficult evenings his top-ranked UCLA Bruins had just spent in Oregon. On Friday in Eugene, Sidney Wicks nearly cost the team its first conference defeat of the year when he drew a technical with UCLA down 65-63 to Oregon and less than three minutes to play. "I just blew my cool," Wicks said. Guard Henry Bibby did not. He stole a pass and scored the winning basket as the Bruins escaped 69-68.

"I thought the Oregon game would be a tremendous struggle," Wooden said, "and I thought that we'd beat Oregon State handily." He was wrong. UCLA fell behind State in the first three minutes and trailed until Curtis Rowe's free throws, with 28 seconds remaining, tied the score 65-65. State's inbound pass slipped off Freddie Boyd's fingers and out of bounds and, with four seconds left, Wicks scored from 20 feet out.

Meanwhile Southern Cal confused the pollsters by making the same northern swing look easy. Center Ron Riley and Guard Paul Westphal each scored 23 points to lead the Trojans past Oregon State 82-63. Riley and Westphal managed 43 more points the following night as USC hammered Oregon 93-78.

Because a few seniors had walked off and some sophomore prospects had not panned out, Coach Ned Wulk at Arizona State found himself in charge of an eight-man team. So he tried recruiting from ASU's 22,000 students. "It didn't work," Wulk said. "You think athletes have loused-up marks, but nobody who was tall or understood basketball had a good enough grade average." Wulk's minisquad forged ahead anyway, and was tied with Brigham Young and UTEP for the WAC title after wins over Colorado State 103-85 and Wyoming 81-76.

1. UCLA (18-1)
2. USC (18-1)