COLLEGE BASKETBALL
ARE THEY OVER YET?
Holiday Classic Roundups and Downs:
Toto, This Can't Be Kansas. At the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, champion Pittsburgh beat Arkansas 114-82, Arkansas beat California 74-58, Cal beat Florida 83-80, Florida beat Hawaii 115-83. Total point differential: 83. Hawaii lost in overtime to Kansas 81-80. Somewhere over the Rainbow.
Dating Game. In the Chico Invitational, third place went to Carroll, fifth place to George Fox. Excuse me, do you come here often?
The Stat Is Familiar. Indiana won its 13 th straight Indiana Classic in Bloomington, in which its tourney record is 26-0 and its average winning margin 25.3 points, following which, Indiana won its fifth straight Hoosier Classic in Indianapolis, in which its record is 10-0, its average winning margin 25.0 points. Next year's guests...Carroll and George Fox?
The Bill Parcells Memorial Bucket. To the Fordham Rams who, leading Wichita State by eight points with a second left in the final of the Wichita Shootout, dumped the contents of a watercooler over coach Bob Quinn as a Shocker hit a three-pointer. That cost the Rams a two-shot technical—which Wichita converted—and ball possession, which Wichita used to fire up another three-pointer. This one hit nothing but net and would have tied the game if a referee had not ruled that time had expired. "I was livid," said Quinn. Not to mention wet.
Man of the Holidays. Dennis Hopson of Ohio State, who scored 36 points against Arkansas, 28 against Kansas and 36 against Florida in the Rainbow, added 24 rebounds in the three games and clinched the Buckeyes' 88-84 consolation game win over Florida with a 25-foot three-pointer.
Mann of the Holidays. Tie: 1) Don Mann of Murray State, MVP of the Bayou Classic, despite being 5'9" and on the only team in the field with a losing record. 2) Anthony Mann of San Francisco, a member of the Met Life Classic all-tournament team despite shooting 3 for 13 in the Dons' loss to Utah State in the final.
Manning the (Ticky Tack Foul) Exits. Kansas's Danny Manning fouled out of the Jayhawks' Rainbow losses to Pitt and Ohio State and was whistled for three in the first 11 minutes against Hawaii before again being excused on violations. Finally, KU coach Larry Brown became so incensed he demanded the referees be removed in the middle of the game. Florida coach Norm Sloan called the officiating "the worst in a tournament I've ever seen in my life," and Hawaii coach Frank Arnold had to apologize all around. Don Ho could not be reached for comment. Aloha-ah!
One For The Thumb. When the holidays were over, Iowa had won the Great Alaska Shootout, the Amana-Hawkeye Classic, the Anteater Classic and the mythical state championship (having beaten Iowa State and Drake).
ELMO
Constantly on the lookout for a successor to Auburn's long-departed Charles Barkley in the mirth-and-girth department, Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal turns up 6'11", 285-pound Georgia signee Elmore Spencer, who was up to 290 this summer, training on baked beans and pizza. Elmore is known variously as El, Mo, Elmo—"I never get the full pronunciation," he says—and Ski, after fibbing to his teammates at Atlanta's Washington High that he could snow-ski.
Forget Elmo's 24 points and 14 rebounds a game. And his habit of yelling at his coach—"I was in the clarification process," Elmo told Bradley. It's Elmo's outlook on life's basics which bears remembering. "I've always liked sports," he says. "If you're tall and you don't, people think you're gay.... I have a girlfriend. She's 5'11". Then there's this other girl, 5'5"...sort of the Barbara Walters of the situation. I go to her when I need a comment, some advice. We men need someone to turn to when women confuse us. It keeps us from jumping off buildings."
By the way, wish Elmo a happy birthday. He turned 17 last month.
WHY NOT AUBURN?
If only Elmo could join the Tigers, whose Frank Ford (221 pounds), Jeff Moore (242) and Mike Jones (225 with 22% body fat) were greeted at a game at Eastern Kentucky by a group of students with pillows under their shirts and the sign: WELCOME TO THE FAT BOYS.
MUGGING MUGGSY
Wake Forest would have beaten Georgia Tech 57-56 for its first ACC victory in 18 tries if the referees had not taken away a three-pointer that the Deacs' Muggsy Bogues made with 2:52 left in the first half. After a discussion at halftime the officials ruled Bogues' foot was on the line when he shot and changed the 26-24 Wake lead to 25-24. Regulation time ended with the score tied 56-all and Tech went on to win 65-59 in overtime. Come on. Get it right the first time, Zebes, or leave it alone. What do you think this is, the NFL?
DRIBBLES
Vanderbilt's 7-foot center, Will Perdue, wears size 21½AAAAAAA sneakers, the largest shoe ever made by Converse.
Moose Stubing, the California Angels' third base coach, last seen waving Bobby Grich home, is a referee in the Western Athletic Conference, where he's known as...a terrific third base coach.
Jeff Sagarin, the Indiana-based schedules and ratings maven, has a new computer game out called Hoops, in which you can match up any two of 220 teams of the past 37 years. Billy Packer, ever the promoter, added his own defensive ratings to the game. Wonder who would win Wake Forest '62 vs. St. John's '51? That is, Packer vs. Al McGuire.
Dean Smith said it: "If you make every game a life-and-death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot."
Weber State coach Larry Farmer started off 10-0 last season and received a Mercedes from grateful alumni. This season the Wildcats, favored to win the Big Sky, are 1-10, and Farmer may be checking the Mercedes' glove compartment for bombs.
As UC Irvine's Kevin Floyd, a 6'5" transfer guard from Georgetown, gets more PT, he is ruining the nickname of the Anteaters' tiny backcourt, the Troll Patrol.
Wisconsin coach Steve Yoder, after his team had North Dakota State down 71-49 and held on to win 81-76: "You know how bad it smells when you run over a skunk with your car? Well, we ran over it, and then we backed over it."
THE CHRISTIAN QUESTION
Brian Rowsom, North Carolina-Wilmington's much talked about 6'9" center, scored 35 and 36 points against Indiana and Southern Illinois, respectively, to win MVP honors in the Indiana Classic and last Saturday added 18 points and a school-record 19 rebounds against none other than his Colonial Athletic Association rival, Navy's David Robinson, in a 72-58 defeat. Bravo.
But what was Rowsom doing when he missed five of seven shots and was held to a paltry five points in the Sea-hawks' 62-59 loss to ACC? The league? No, the school: Atlantic Christian College.
CRYSTAL RALL
In the semifinals of the Beach Ball Classic high school tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Archbishop Molloy of New York City defeated Binghamton (N.Y.) 72-51 as star backcourtmen Kenny (Chibbs) Anderson, a Molloy sophomore, and King Rice, a Binghamton senior, scored 26 and 21 points, respectively. Clip this and save it: In March, 1990 North Carolina will win the NCAA title with seniors J.R. Reid and Scott Williams inside and junior King Rice and freshman Kenny Anderson outside.
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PHOTO
SCOTT CUNNINGHAM
The Georgia-bound, 285-pound Spencer will add bite to the Bulldogs.
TWO ILLUSTRATIONS
STATOSPHERE
81
The point swing between the last two Georgia-Kentucky meetings in Louisville. On Dec. 30, 1986, the Dawgs upset the Cats in Freedom Hall 69-65. Back on Feb. 27, 1956, in the Armory, Kentucky won 143-66.
SNEAKERS
MICHAEL SMITH, BYU's 6'10" returning missionary, spread his works—58 points worth—over the Cable Car Classic, then added 22 against Wyoming. On another mission was Seton Hall, whose 6'9" junior forward MARK BRYANT scored 24 points in the Pirates' 74-53 shocker over Georgetown.