Tip-ins

A Last Gasp Victory. Three nights before Wake Forest thwarted Duke's move to the top of the polls with a 69-68 upset last week, the Blue Devils' student section suffered a humiliating defeat of its own against Brown. When Bear forward James Joseph fouled out late in an 89-71 loss to the Blue Devils, the students began crooning their customary rolling "Ooooh," which they planned to punctuate with a "See ya!" as soon as Joseph sat down. Only Joseph wouldn't sit. He stood for the game's final 2:44—which took some 13 minutes—while the Dukies got woozy with what must have been the longest "Ooooh" in Cameron Indoor Stadium history. As Joseph ran off the court at the end of the game, the students finally yelled "See ya!" but they knew they had been faced. "He had us scouted," said one disgruntled Duke fan. "I can't believe it."

What the H? What upperclassman would you say has the highest winning percentage in Division I? Duke's Grant Hill? North Carolina's Eric Montross? Wrong on both counts. The honor goes to H Waldman, a junior guard at St. Louis. (The name H, by the way, was a compromise reached by his mother, who refused to name him Herb, after his father.) Waldman started his career at UNLV, where he was 60-3, before transferring to St. Louis, where he was 14-0 at week's end.

It's a Jungle in There. Rice junior Kirk Johnston, a double major in biochemistry and German, was named the Southwest Conference's "best-dressed" fan by The Dallas Morning News last season. It makes you wonder about the rest of the SWC spectators. Johnston wears a ratty grass skirt and war paint to every game, in honor of Rice's Autry Court, dubbed the Jungle Gym for its legendary heat and humidity.

A Pox upon Him. Oklahoma center Ken Conley had a rough 1993, in which he underwent knee surgery in July, came down with chicken pox in November and broke a finger (requiring 22 stitches and four screws) in December. The new year hasn't been kinder. He made it till Jan. 10 before separating his shoulder in a game against Kansas. "What I need," says Conley, "is a six-leaf clover."

Breaking the Habit. By losing to Stockton State and Montclair State last week, Division III Rutgers-Camden ran its NCAA mark for consecutive losses to 49, knocking sister-school Rutgers-Newark and its 47 straight defeats (suffered between 1983 and '85) out of the record books. In the two years since Camden's last win (74-73 over Ramapo on Jan. 18, 1992), the Pioneers have tried many things to recapture the je ne sais quoi of that victorious night. They've moved their bench, for instance, and leading scorer Cetshwayo Byrd (20.8 points a game at week's end) has tried to do his part. "I make sure I put my clothes on in the same order as I did the last time we won," he says. "Then again, maybe it's time for me to change it up."

PHOTO

BILL BAPTIST

Johnston is the Jungle Gym's fashion plate.