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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 1977)
asketball cutback could hurt SWC MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 1977 ye^s troni now, the NCAA’s | on i basketball committee is [to introduce some bad news to |l athletic conferences and one 5 m could be the Southwest Con ference. Beginning with the 1980 national basketball tournament, only the 16 conferences with the best playoff records over the past five years will receive automatic qualifications. In the 1977 tourney, there were 21 au tomatic qualifiers and 11 at-large berths. The committee, which only re- Buttalion photo by Steve Goble rest of the SWC could be gready affected by the new NCAA ruling on playoff berths. 'he key to our situation at rests in the change of at- Be and how quick the nse k fcrs pick up the installation | netc offensive and defen- pproach to the game. 'e have some improving to spots, but I certainly feel ire better than most people us credit for being." — F A. Dry for ih ked rr thra ise hasij witk i lot oil ive soa| e definitely need to improve |eed at a number of key posi- ndwe need some immediate running back. ever, I was pleased with the I found at TCU and felt that uad responded well during training. We have some im- [g to do in spots, but I cer- [feel we are better than most give us credit for being. e e ®^have excellent depth at quar- tight end and in the defen- ■ We need help at running inebacker and defensive end. ‘nsively we’ve changed from a let to a veer attack. However, switd i Octi oonto wd le ki :nce. r tlie At tie. the! LI we will still make use of the drop- back pass in addition to the veer. I’m very pleased with the three some of Jimmy Dan Elzner, Steve Bayuk and Don Harris at quarter back. Jimmy Dan is a senior with an ex tremely strong arm. However, he missed much of spring drills with illness and therefore got behind. Steve Bayuk is just a good athlete. He’s a very tough runner and is a better passer than most people think. Don Harris has quickness and a talented arm. Quarterback is a highly competitive spot and it was a relief to find such quality there. We’ll have a good inside running attack, but we re still searching for that outside speed. Lorance Wills had an outstanding spring at fullback and I think it will be hard for anyone to displace him. He’s a good one. Duncan Still, a junior col lege transfer, gives us some depth there. Halfback is still wide open. Audie Woods and Raymond Williams were the top candidates in the spring. We could get some help here from in coming freshmen and junior college transfers. When you have folks like Mike Renfro and James Wright, you don’t worry as much about the receiving end of the passing game. Of course everyone knows about Renfro. He’s one of the best in the country and I honestly feel he will be worthy of all-American recognition. Wright is the complete player, the best college tight end I’ve ever worked with. He has the power to run over people, the speed to make you work to get to him and is simply devastating as a blocker. He has all-American qualities and I say that without reservation. Tony Accomando was shifted from running back to flanker in the spring and made the adjustment with ease. He’s a good football player despite his lack of size. And Mark Renfro, Mike’s younger brother, probably had the best spring of any of our receivers. That gives a good trip to build around. In the offensive line we have good size. But depth is a question mark. Tackles Donald Davis and James McMath, plus guards Mark Krug and Earl Reeves, are all in the 250- pound range. Center is still un settled. The main factor is that we’ve got to be able to establish the fact that we can run the football. Defensively we should be a solid unit and this must be the strength of our team until we can prove we can run the ball. We have six quality players at the interior spots in the line. Linebacker and defensive end could be a problem, but I feel we ll have a solid secondary. Ricky Wright and Perry Colson are returning regulars at corner- back. These young men are hungry to win. They have done everything we’ve asked of them. We’ve found youngsters who want to play and want to win. I feel we’ve taken the first step. „ Register for T our Economics 101 this week. ' m if id®’ .stf? f ills '' Come into McDonald’s®and find out how far a dollar can oo. You’ll j^et a gtxxl lesson in simple economics, and the best fexxi not much money can buy. m I McDonald's W4e do it all ftw you £) 1975 McDonald's Corp. Open at 6:30 a.m. (7:00 a.m. Sunday) Visit our new Drive-Thru Window cently voted in the rules, will meet again in 1979 to review each confer ence’s tournament performance the previous five years. If the new restrictions had been in effect for this year’s tournament, the SWC, the Ohio Valley and Ivy League, all with 1-6 tournament records for the past five years, would have tied for the 16th invitation. Other conferences which might be in jeopardy by the deciding year are the Pacific Coast Athletic Associ ation, which has a tournament per centage of .333, and the Big Sky, Mid-America and Missouri Valley conferences, with 37 per cent show ings. “The NCAA is committed to hav ing the best 32 teams in the tourna ment,’’ assistant executive director Tom Jemstedt said. “The committee felt obliged to devise a more de manding criteria to make sure the best teams are given a chance to compete.” Texas A&M basketball coach Shelby Metcalf termed the new selection process unfair. “I don’t think it’s fair. It should be based on what you do now, not what you’ve done in the past. But, I’m not worried about what is going to hap pen two years from now anyway.” The new procedures are subject to approval by the NCAA Executive Committee which met Aug. 11-12 in Greensboro, N.C. Eighteen conference champions now get automatic invitations. The 36-member Eastern College Ath letic Conference gets three berths for its three sectional champions, but the NCAA Council is reviewing the ECAC’s compliance with selection criteria. The committee could rec ommend it receive only two berths. Last year’s 32-team tournament enjoyed record receipts and atten dance. The 1977 tourney netted $5,378,825.50 with half going to the NCAA national office and the rest divided amongst the competitors. Just by qualifying, a team was guaranteed $35,387.03, in addition to travel and per diem expenses. 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