Off to best start in 14 years Page 6 THE BATTALION | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, ISii Symptoms of basketball fever in Aggieland Wi DAVID WALKER Staff Sports Writer Slowly but surely basketball fever is catching around Aggieland and the reason is because the Texas Ag gies are off to their best start in 14 years. The Ags 11-4 season mark is the best at this point in the season since 1960 when the Aggies won their first 10 in a row. They are also off to their best Southwest Conference start since 1969 when they won their first five and eventually won the SWC championship. Coach Shelby Metcalf warns that it is a little early in the season to start championship talk. “I’d rather not talk about our good start now be cause in 1966 we won our first seven conference games but we didn’t win the championship.’’ One major aspect of the Aggies 3-0 conference record is that two of the victories have come on the road. Rice and Texas Tech, and that’s no easy task. i x*x ; 'iii *>X Xr*' Houston Oilers choose Hardeman in 2nd round HOUSTON (AjP) — Texas A&I’s bragging, poetry-spouting fullback Don Hardeman, picked in the first round by Houston in Tuesday’s Na tional Football League draft, made his debut here Wednesday with a few predictions. “I’ll make Oiler quarterback Dan Pastorini all pro with my blocking and my catching,” Hardeman said for openers. “I can do everything.” Hardeman showed up at the Oil ers draft headquarters Wednesday as the NFL draft went into the final stages and quickly became the center of attention. “If I touch the ball seven times. I’ll put it in the end zone twice,” Hardeman added, noting he had scored 18 touchdowns his senior year in leading Texas A&I to the NAIA Division I national champ ionship. “I really scored more, but some of them were called back,” he said. Hardeman said he was known on the A&I campus as a Muhammad Ali type football player because he Club Sports RUGBY The rugby team is encouraging any interested people to join. Prac tice is daily on the drill field at 5 p.m. Three teams are being formed and everybody will get to play. The sides next match will be Feb. 15 against the newly formed Hous ton Strikers. SOCCER There will be a general meeting of the Soccer Club Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Rudder Tower. Officers will be elected for the coming year. There will be discussion of several upcoming games, the Baylor spring Tournament and plans for building new goalposts. PISTOL TEAM Curt Prudhomme is trying to form a pistol team. A coach is availa ble. Meeting place has not been de cided on yet. For information or to join call Prudhomme at 5-4077 after 7:30 p.m. WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Coach Kay Don’s troops will travel to Beaumont this weekend to participate in the Lamar Tourna ment. The gals are 2-2 on the season thus far including an impressive 99-16 win over Rice and an 87-40 win over Sam Houston State in a scrimmage on Tuesday. liked to predict when he would score a touchdown. How often was he right in making a touchdown prediction, Hardeman was asked? “Every time,” he said. Hardeman was the second choice of the Oilers in Tuesday’s first round. Houston picked Jackson State linebacker Robert Brazile ear lier in the first round. While Hardeman was entertain ing newsmen Wednesday, the Oil ers continued the draft process, ad ding Rice placekicker Alan Pringle to their picks in the 10th round. Pringle, highly rated among this year’s crop of college kickers, made 20 of 29 field goals during his career at Rice. Hardeman said heavyweight champion Muhammed Ali was one of his heros and he had even written a poem about Ali. Cautioning newsmen that he had the poem copyrighted “somebody can get any money off it,” Harde man said “Are you all ready for this? Tin a poet and everything.” After reciting the lengthy poem, in tru Ali sing-song fashion, Harde man said “I add on to it as I go. I may say it different next time, but that’s all I can remember off hand. ” Hardeman was an all-conference linebacker his junior year at A&I and then shifted to fullback his senior year and gained 1,547 yards rushing. The victory over Tech was the biggie as the general consensus around the SWC is that if you can beat Tech at Tech you can beat any body, anywhere. Metcalf said, “The Tech game wasn’t our best game of the year, the second Va. Commonwealth game was, but it was definitely our biggest game so far.” The Aggies current four game winning streak is the longest in over two years and with a victory over the Longhorns Saturday in Austin the string would be the longest since 1970. Statistically the Aggies aren’t ex actly tearing up their opponents. The Ags are averaging 76.4 points per game while their foes are hitting 72.5 per game. A&M also has a slight per game rebounding average over their opponents, 40.3-39.3. But as someone once said, statistics are for losers. Besides the obvious importance of an Aggie victory Saturday another important side light is that they East paced by Lewis in All-Star Aggie Cinema presents Where mere you in VS? would probably rate, or at least A&M Opponent Att. Hi Scorer Hi Rebounder should rate. a top 20 ranking. The 84 Texas Lutheran 74 2,280 Davis, 24 Davis, 15 Ags received votes in last week s 84 Houston Baptist 77 2,884 Parker, 22 Parker, 13 poll but not enough to break into the 83 Oral Roberts (OT) 84 5,535 Davis, 19 Davis & Parker, i elite group. 98 Virginia Commonwealth 84 3,331 Parker, 21 Davis, 12 55 Indiana 90 17,700 Floyd, 11 Thornton, 7 Name Sonny Parker Games 15 Pts. 225 Ave. 15.0 Reb. 87 Ave. 5.8 67 Northwestern* 55 5,000 Parker, 19 Davis, 8 Barn' Davis 15 206 13.7 115 7.7 69 UT El Paso* 71 5,000 Parker, 18 Davis, 8 John Thornton 15 144 9.6 88 5.9 62 Fairfield* 57 4,800 Davis, 15 Davis 6r Mercer,S Mike Floyd 15 128 8.5 20 1.3 84 Virginia Commonwealth* 70 5,412 Parker, 27 Thornton, 11 weDD Williams Hay Roberts 15 85 7.7 5.7 34 26 2.3 1.7 80 UN Las Vegas*** 78 5,673 Parker, 14 Davis & Joseph, 9 Jerry' Mercer 15 71 4.7 89 5.9 72 Houston * 92 8,825 Thornton, 18 Davis, 13 Chuck Tone 14 60 4.3 19 1.4 101 Sam Houston State 71 3,516 Thornton, 19 Mercer, 18 Gates Erwin Cedric Joseph 11 15 45 48 4.1 3.2 17 41 1.5 2.7 64 Rice* 61 3,821 Parker, 14 Mercer, 9 Mike Williams 7 9 1.2 1 0.1 81 TCU* 69 7,720 Parker, 15 Mercer, 10 Doug Mezger 3 1 0.3 4 1.3 62 Texas Tech* 55 9,112 Davis, 21 Davis, 6 F SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (AP) — Eastern Division Coach Kevin Loughery says teamwork produced the 151-124 victory over the West in Tuesday night’s eighth American Basketball Association All-Star Game. “Everyone on our team played great, but when things got close, my New York players struck for the quick points,” Loughery, coach of the New York Nets, said. Loughery brought with him Julius Erving, who connected for 21 points, Larry Kenon who claimed 12 and Brian Taylor 21. Billy Paultz added four points to the East total. But it was 6-foot-1 Freddie Lewis of the St. Louis Spirits, one of the shortest on the East squad, who led the charge with a 26-point effort and ten assists. Newsmen voted him the most valuable player. Davis, in top form Barry Davis picked a good time to come out of his slump, as he led the Aggies in scoring and rebounding in Tuesday’s 62-55 win over Tech. 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