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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 1980)
i nc; o/-\ i i aai-ioin rayw to WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1980 sports second guesses tony gallucci ■ til ut tlltlj nitteel ionstk| iicaliv| ics. riosco iinan lid B; dterni! it irniKl legte iiichatj m dot imil - Da t aby boi Is tta Intotlie of vjttl zombie I the In 'survi'i ta Ge»( By TONY GALLUCCI Sports Editor Last night, the ‘Dean’ of South west Conference coaches, Dr. Shelby Metcalf, got his 150th SWC win. It was a particularly sweet win. It came against a new found nemesis, Arkansas’ Eddie Sutton. In the short time since the SWC has been lifted from the dark ages by Mr. Sutton, too many people have turned to his often lead-lined golden throat for the low down on basketball in the Southwest. It is time that people recognize the class of SWC coaching. In these days of importing “out standing young coaches with marvelous track records” it is fit ting that the coaches who were winning in those dark ages are winning now, too. Let us briefly look at the top teams in the SWC. Texas A&M, coached by Metcalf, has taken on each of the other two leading con tenders and won, albeit on the home court. Arkansas’ only loss is to A&M as is Texas Tech’s, coached by the medieval Gerald Myers. Granted, the likes of Sutton, Texas’ Abe Lemons, SMU’s Son ny Allen and now TCU’s Jim Kil- lingsworth have had their mo ments. I can’t make excuses for either Baylor or Rice, but, if A&M wins the title this year it will be the third in six years. That’s a remarkable track record for a man who’s coaching is sup posedly out of date. He is also the first to put a SWC player on the pro-trading block and have him go in the first round in over forty years. Part way through his 17th sea son Metcalf has 262 wins against 176 losses. His 150 conference wins match up against 88 losses. He has produced four conference titlists, in 1964, 1969, 1975, and 1976. He has weathered only three losing seasons and four teams have crested 1 the 20 win • mark. Myers, the only other SWC coach left from before the Re naissance, also has a winning re cord at Lubbock. Houston’s Guy Lewis, having coached there since pre-Sutton days, has only been in the conference a few years. His record has dipped slightly since, dispelling the ram pant speculation that Houston would win ten SWC trophies in a row. Meanwhile, Metcalf keeps winning, and Lemons and Sutton keep their mouths open, keep in serting their feet and keep sport- swriters full of, well, quotes. I’ll match my collection of Met calf humor against Sutton’s or Lemons’ best anyday. Well laugh all the way to Indianapolis. Now that Arkansas has lost one, the pressure is on them. Sut ton had said before last night’s game the pressure was on A&M to win at home and thus now turns the gun on himself. Metcalf took a very young team last year and, coupled with the already developing hunger of the ‘you know’ kids, marched to 24 wins, including whitewashes of Kentucky, Indiana, Nevada-Las Vegas and San Francisco. Virtually the same team has already picked up 14 wins (plus an exhibition win over Australia) this year and appear headed for more of the same. Because of pre season ratings that may have been unrealistic (No. 3 by one magazine, No. 8 by Sports Illus trated, etc.) some folks were dis appointed by the five early season losses the team suffered. Three games, perhaps, should not have been lost. All should have been won if you ask the players, but two teams did show well against them — Iona and Minnesota. Those two teams currently have a combined record of 23-8. Neither team is ranked but on paper they might look as good as the Ags to a pollster. But then neither has had to rise above the dark ages or Sutton’s mouth to get where it is. Time waits for no one. Arkansas head coach Eddie Sutton gazes forlornly at the Coliseum clock as time runs out on his Razorback squad in their match last night against A&M’s ferocious defense and “The Wall”. Staff photo by Lee Roy Leschper Swimmers will host meets here Texas A&M’s swimming teams, both men’s and women’s, have meets this weekend. The men will face Southwest Texas State, and the women will swim against Southwest Texas State and Lamar in a triangular meet, at P. L. Downs Natatorium beginning at 7 p.m. Both squads are coming off losses to UT in Austin last Friday. The men lost 56-39 and the women went down by a score of 64-31. The teams now have identical season records of 1-2 Tracy Johnston, a sophomore from San Jose, Calif., broke two A&M women’s school records during the Texas meet and qualified for the AIAW Nationals. Her time of L07.8 in the 100- meter breaststroke broke the old mark of 1:09.6. In the 200-meter in dividual medley, Johnston swam a 2:09.8 to break the old mark of 2:11.3. — Mike Burrichler 4103 GUYS & GALS Sebring Products — Perms — Hennas Certified Hair Designers Texas Avenue S v Bryan Suite 208 846-5018 Three favorite nesting grounds- all close to A&M o Professional management by Brentwood Properties DePaul wins another tlieksf wB Meyer confused (1 alH lersoan United Press International Top-ranked DePaul plays only as I well as necessary and they are driv- jing Coach Ray Meyer crazy. “The way they’re playing, winning I by one and two points. I’ll be in the is nut house before the season is over” I Meyer said Tuesday night after De- Paul scored a 57-54 victory over Ala- 1 bama-Birmingham. The Blue Demons overcame late second-half jitters to'increase their perfect record to 16-0 and remain the only undefeated major college team in the nation. “We played our usual game — get up on somebody and then die’’ said Meyer. “When we had to play we played, but we’re still not a great team.” znhanezvour Hou6& Of Komi 16.95/doz. (i^ dehwj) coll 2 FREE Men’s high fashion denim jeans. COKES 846-3768 veryday! Watch tomorrow’s paper for BUY2 GET3RD ONE FREE The lean, lanky look. The back pocket stitching. The 10-oz. rugged 100% cotton denim. They add up to great looking jeans at a great price. Boot cut model in medium blue. Sizes 29 to 38. XPenney Now, two great ways to charge! Ts h dCPenney After-Inventory Sale Manor East Mall, Bryan • Shop ’til 9 weeknights