THE WEEK
MIDWEST
At the beginning of the week two Kansas students slipped over to Manhattan with the idea of kidnapping Touchdown VII, Kansas State's $50 wildcat mascot. By mistake they made off with Kansas, a $2,000 specimen belonging to the zoo. The Jayhawk basketball team didn't do very well, either. Twice it dissipated 11-point leads and K-State finally won 77-68 behind the hot second-half scoring of Steve Mitchell and Ernie Kusnyer. Then Kansas State downed Oklahoma State 74-64 and that, coupled with Kansas' 90-78 upset of Iowa State, put the Wildcats atop the Big Eight in a tic with surprising Colorado, a 90-69 winner over Oklahoma.
By tradition, Nebraska fans must stand up until their team scores. Against Missouri they were on their feet for very nearly seven minutes and by the time they sat down the Cornhuskers were behind 17-0 and on their way to a 78-65 loss. For TV purposes the game had been moved up to a noon starting time, which led Nebraska Coach Joe Cipriano to remark: "We just finished breakfast and our conference commissioner isn't even up yet. We should be giving away Grape Nuts as door prizes."
Indiana, unbeaten in the Big Ten, began its week by beating Michigan State 97-89 but found itself in serious trouble against Michigan. High-scoring Forward John Ritter fell heavily, complained of blurred vision and left after only eight minutes. Steve Green, the other forward, fouled out with 18 minutes to play. That left it up to Tom Abernethy, a 6'5" freshman with just 38 seconds of varsity playing experience. Naturally Abernethy came through, scoring 12 points on six field goals, and playing solid defense as Indiana won 79-73. Minnesota's title hopes then rose another notch when the Gophers beat up-and-down Michigan State 93-77. And Northwestern finally made it in the Big Ten, beating Wisconsin 74-73. Northwestern is now a lofty eighth (1-3) while Wisconsin is 10th (1-5).
"We are making a lot of errors and I need stabilization out back," said Butler Coach George Theofanis as he benched 6'6" junior Marty Monserez. "It hurt my pride," said Monserez. Aroused and eventually unleashed, Monserez scored 18 against Wabash, seven against the Air Force and 21 in last week's 87-58 victory over DePauw. "I stand there and hear the starters introduced and I am insulted," Monserez said. "The more I sit, the madder I get. When I go in I'm ready to explode."
1. MINNESOTA (13-2)
2. MARQUETTE (14-2)
WEST
Arizona's Kiddy Korps—four starting freshmen and a junior—found a way to grow old against Brigham Young's Yugoslavian Yo-Yo, 6'11" Kresimir Cosic. Almost with a yawn Cosic spent the night putting on tiny fakes and putting in 18-foot bank shots (13 of 25); when he wasn't, he could be found at the foul line (10-11). BYU won easily 93-79. Arizona State set up a man-to-man defense against Cosic two nights later. But BYU came back with a 2-3 zone, discovered that the Sun Devils couldn't shoot over it and ran away with an 81-67 victory. As for the Kiddy Korps, well, youth is resilient. They regrouped in time to outrun Utah's running Utes 89-86 after Utah had upset Arizona State 87-77.
The game should have been played at the OK Corral: Pepperdine's William (Bird) Averitt against Cal State's Raymond Lewis, both ranking just behind Fly Williams among the top major college scoring leaders. In the final of the Cal State Invitational they both came out firing blanks. Averitt, No. 2 with a 32.7 average, managed but seven points in the first half. Sophomore Lewis had just eight—hardly right-on for a guy with a 31.2 average. Finding the range in the second half, Lewis pumped in 26 points, finished the night with 34 and Cal State won 87-80. That moved him past Averitt (32.5 to 31.7), who scored 26.
New Mexico overcame first-half jitters to defeat Wyoming 70-56, and Colorado State threw away the ball 25 times as it lost to Texas at El Paso 57-49. Oral Roberts" Al Boswell scored 17 points to lead the Titans past Pan American 87-68.
1. UCLA (16-0)
2. LONG BEACH STATE (15-1)
EAST
Sluggish after losing to UCLA, Providence was tied by Massachusetts at halftime but finished in a frenzy to win 91-78. Then, after what Coach Dave Gavitt labeled the worst practice he's ever seen, the Friars went on East Coast TV, hit on their first nine shots from the field, used five different defenses and needed it all to stave off Jacksonville 87-84.
Steve Hocker, St. Bonaventure's 5'9" sophomore guard, took the first shot against Canisius and scored. In the first half he tried only one more. At intermission Coach Larry Weise told him: "Start firing. Shoot any time you're open." Hocker did, scoring seven of 10 more from the floor, and the Bonnies won 68-58.
Four minutes into a game against Canisius, Boston College Coach Bob Zuffelato called for a new ball. "That one is lopsided," he stormed. It didn't help. Canisius drew away in the second half and went on to an easy 78-58 victory.
"We're playing much better," said Holy Cross Coach George Blaney. The Crusaders had won four straight to bring their record to 8-8 and the school announced plans for a new 5,000-seat basketball arena. But then Holy Cross took on Boston University, committed eight straight turnovers during one stretch and was upset 75-66.
The Palestra in Philadelphia is a musty old brick arena. To Phil Hankinson, a Penn senior, it is Camelot. "I remember my first visit there four years ago," he said. "It was empty but my imagination filled in the rest." Imagine this: 16 points for Hankinson, 16 rebounds and real strong defense to lead Penn over La Salle 57-45 and to a fourth straight Big Five championship.
Temple Guard Rick Trudeau turned on his radio and heard that Coach Harry Litwack was retiring after the season. "He's a great coach and deserves a great season." Inspired, Trudeau had a career high of 21 points as Temple won 71-50 over Pitt.
Joe DiCocco went in against Duquesne with a pale 61.7% average from the foul line, and with 1:38 to play in a tight game the La Salle junior was 0 for 3 from the line. "I thought if they were going to foul anybody, it would be me," he said. Duquesne did, DiCocco twice converted one-and-one tries and La Salle won 69-67. So much for high-level strategy.
1. PROVIDENCE (12-2)
2. ST. JOHN'S (13-2)
SOUTH
For North Carolina it was a problem of vision. Lightweight Virginia, which had never ever won at Chapel Hill, caught the Tar Heels looking ahead, and then two days later Maryland caught them looking back. Presto! The Big Three of the Atlantic Coast Conference dwindled to two.
Concluding that North Carolina's pressing defense was too tough to dent with a frontal attack, Virginia went in through the back door with a spread-out offense, the long pass and the easy layup. The Cavalier spearhead was Barry Parkhill, who threw long—mostly to freshman Wally Walker, who scored 25—and hit short for 23 himself.
Not overlooking a good thing, Maryland's Lefty Driesell ordered up the same attack. It produced 38 points from Jim (Bozo) O'Brien, 24 over the part-time starting senior's average and 13 more than he had ever scored in a college game. Earlier in the week the Terps knocked off LIU 100-73 and Wake Forest 105-76.
Second-ranked North Carolina State remained one of the nation's two unbeaten major teams with a 98-73 victory over Furman. But Furman remained atop the Southern Conference by first beating Appalachian State 103-83 and then Davidson 102-94.
"Alabama has the best team I've seen since I've come into the league," said Tennessee Coach Ray Mears after losing to the Tide 72-56. The easy victory opened a two-game lead in the Southeastern Conference for Alabama, which earlier in the week topped Georgia Tech 89-83 and Florida 82-74, both on the road.
"We've got some guys playing for themselves and not for Florida State," said Coach Hugh Durham, who wasn't happy after beating Samford by only 47-34 and Southern Illinois by 78-73. "The next time we order uniforms, instead of Florida State we may have the names of those players printed on the back. That's who they're playing for: themselves."
Texas Tech dangled victory in front of hungry Texas, then snatched it away 73-64 in overtime, moving to a 4-0 lead in the Southwest Conference. Tech's Ed Wakefield went into the overtime with four points and came out with 14, which makes him either a very slow starter or a very good sandbagger. SMU and Arkansas are just behind Tech with 3-1 records. SMU slammed Baylor 81-69, and Arkansas, led by 34 points from Martin Terry, the SWC's leading scorer, downed TCU 90-75.
1. N.C. STATE (14-0)
2. MARYLAND (14-1)