Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 1981)
-81 Sports 1111— l—JAA | | AAUIWIN TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1981 r ciye a Monday 11/30/81 I a.i. 11 p.ii II p,«. 10 a.i, THE ABWtWTf North Carolina picked to win 1982 NCAA basketball crown United Press International NEW YORK — The road to the NCAA championship may well begin along Tobacco Road. North Carolina, one of the kingpins of college basketball, has been named the No. 1 team in preseason balloting by UPI’s Board of Coaches. The Tar Heels, who lost to In diana 63-50 in last season’s cham pionship game, are in strong posi tion to at long last provide Coach Dean Smith with that elusive NCAA title. Anchored by an imposing front line and a gifted freshman class, North Carolina was awarded 20 first-place votes and 574 total points by the 42-member panel of coaches. UCLA was a tight second with 11 first-place votes and 556 points followed by No. 3 Kentucky (four first-place, 521 points). No 4. Louisville (three first-place votes, 409 points) and No. 5. George town (three first-place votes, 399 points). , The rest of the Top 10 is: No 6. Virginia (one first-place vote, 293 points), No. 7 Wichita State (285), No. 8. Iowa (255), No. 9 DePaul (247) and No. 10 Minnesota (191). Smith enters his 20th season at North Carolina. One of the game’s most innovative and respected coaches, he has won 20 or more games 11 straight years and been to the Final Four six times. But ubiak s status still unknown i subsidy merit, — $19. mues raise 41): ;aid tiicfei get. Wilson says Ags ready RITCHIE PRIDDY Sports Editor percentc e Texas Longhorns are com- to town, and if that isn t h to get the Aggies fired up ursday’s game, nothing is. ead coach Tom Wilson said lay in his press conference le wouldn’t have any trouble g his players motivated for game. Injuries, however, play an important part in the meeting between the Lon- p | ns and Aggies. 'ilson said the status of Aggie terback Gary Kubiak remains -to-day mystery. Kubiak in- his right shoulder against and has not worked out with jeam, and Wilson said he may ow his quarterback’s situa- until game time Thursday. ie status of Gary Kubiak will ably be questionable up until time, Wilson, said. “We to have him throwing the a little bit today. His shoulder adly bruised and very sore, re just not going to know until let him out there and see how Isponds." iked if he thought Kubiak d be ready, Wilson replied: always been a positive per- :oI am going to say that he will Jady. He needs to be and I am ing very strongly that he will iCIAL ENINS ice sing Butter a r )f any e feel one-hundred percent er,” Kubiak said Monday t. “Yesterday I couldn’t move achbut today I can. I feel good it my chances. ” case Kubiak doesn’t play rsday, Wilson said he will ttle John Elkins and Marvin ley at quarterback throughout game. /don’t know if we woidd alter- them every play, but we dd alternate them quite a bit ing the game.” Ikins was also hurt during the game when he was tackled r along gain in the fourth quar- Wilson said Elkins suffered a d concussion but is all right “I think his strength is throwing the football,’’ Wilson said of the sophomore quarterback. “He’s got a strong arm. He’s a strong runner, not nifty, though. He’s similar to Kubiak in the type of runner he is.’’ “Of course, Marvin is classified as an option runner.’ Elkins has seen little playing time. He’s carried the ball five times for 22 yards, but has not completed a pass in five attempts. Wesley saw his first action against TCU, carrying the ball five times for 13 yards. However, the quarterback situation is not the only one bothering Wilson.’’ “We’re still questionable in a lot of areas,” he said. “We held Hec tor, Little and Cannon out of the TCU game. However, they’ve all worked out this week and we anti cipate that they will be ready to play this week. “We probably received more injuries in the TCU game, overall, than we had in our nine previous games combined.” Wide receiver Burnis Simon and safety Chris Brown will miss the game Thursday. Simon suf fered a fractured ankle and will be operated on this week, Wilson said. Brown suffered a cracked vertebrae which ended his career. “We are very saddened about Chris with the fractured neck. Doctors say that he will not have any permanent paralysis and that pleases us a great deal,” Wilson said. “He will not be able to play football anymore, but that is not the important thing. The impor tant thing is that he he is going to be OK.” Wilson complimented his team on Saturday’s performance against TCU, saying the Aggies finally had some breaks go their way. “It was a good win for us,” he said. “I thought it was a good, solid game by the whole team - the offense, defense and the kicking game. We got some breaks in the game that we took advantage of. “I was very pleased to see our offensive team control the ball on the ground. TCU ran more offen sive plays than we did but, at the same time, we had the ball quite a bit longer than they did.” Wilson said that the defense played one of its better games against TCU, especially consider ing the Frogs’ passing ability. “Defensively, I thought we played one of our sounder football games, particularly against a pas sing football team. It was one of TCU’s lowest productive games of the year.” Wilson said that the coaching staff challenged the team at half time. “They have been a very big comeback team in the fourth quar ter. So, we allowed TCU to have the wind and the ball in the third quarter. We felt that we had to keep the point spread at least 13 and stay even with them in the third quarter to win, which we were able to do.” The coaches chose junior full back Earnest Jackson as the offen sive player of the game. He rushed for 219 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns. He also caught one pass for 40 yards. Junior linebacker Bobby Strogen was named defensive player of the game. Strogen inter cepted a Reuben Jones pass in the endzone to kill a TCU drive. He also had five tackles. Junior placekicker David Hardy DUPLICATING DEADLINES ? Our duplicating systems will give you offset quality copies, without the hassles of offset printing! Come by and compare our quality and prices - you’ll see why we’re called the electronic piintshop. kinko's copies 201 College Main College Station 846-8721 the NCAA crown has never been his. The Tar Heels, although losing forward Al Wood through gradua tion, come back with two tough big men in James Worthy and Sam Perkins and an able point guard in Jimmy Black. And Michael Jor dan, one of the most ballyhooed freshman in the country, will strengthen an already outstanding team. Completing the Top 20 is: No. 11 Indiana, No. 12 Tulsa, No. 13 Georgia, No. 14 Wake Forest, No. 15 Missouri, No. 16 San Francis co, No. 17 Alabama-Birmingham, No. 18 Louisiana State, No. 19 Arkansas and No. 20 Nevada-Las Vegas. Balloting was based on 15 points for a first-place vote, 14 for second place, 13 for third, etc. UCLA, under new coach Larry Farmer, has one the nation’s best backcourts in Rod Foster and Michael Holton and extraordinary depth at forward. And there is now height in the middle with 7- foot recruit Stuart Gray. was voted special teams player of the game. Hardy tied Tony Frank lin’s record of three field goals in one game. The three field goals against TCU was the second time in his career he’s done that. TCU is out of the way and now is the time to think of Texas, Wilson said. “I don’t think our football team has to worry a great deal about looking at last week’s TCU per formance, or looking ahead to the bowl game,” he said. “The only thing that is on our mind is Texas. “It’s been said many times that anyone that comes to Texas A&M, either as a football player or as a student, knows the importance of the A&M - Texas game. “Our players are excited about it, very much looking forward to it. I feel that we are to the point now where we are a very competi tive team and we look forward to the challenge that lies ahead of us.” Wilson talked to his players last week about the rumors of his re moval, and he told them not to get involved in it. “I told them that I didn’t think they should be concerned about it,” he said. “I know that they are concerned about it, though. They wouldn’t be human if they didn’t think about it some. But, at the same time, we as coaches and we as a football team have said that we are not going to talk a great deal about it. ?ALPHA PHI OMEGA 1 FOOTBALL MUMS! FREE DELIVERY on campus & to two off campus dist. centers MANY STYLES & PRICES On Sale MSC, Commons, Sbisa 1 a.m. to 1 p.m. 4 p.m. to 6 p.m Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday APO... WE DELIVER!! “Only a turkey should be stuffed like this on Thanksgiving” There’s a better way to get there this Thanksgiving. Greyhound is going your way with trouble-free, economical service. You can leave directly from campus or other nearby locations. Most schedules have stops at convenient suburban locations. And talk about comfort. You get a soft, reclining seat and plenty of room for carry- on bags. So next trip, go with the ride you can rely on. Go Greyhound. Friday College Station Lv 2:39p 4:00p Waco Ar 5:00p Dallas Ar 7:35p Houston — NW Ar 5:50p Houston GH Terminal Ar 6:1 Op Sunday Dallas Lv 1:35p Waco Lv 4:20p Houston GH Terminal Lv 5:30p Houston NW Lv 5:50p College Station Ar 6:41p 7:45p For convenient daily service and complete information call 696-0209. Schedules operate every weekend except during holidays, exam week and semester break Prices and schedules subject to change. Some service requires reservations. ® And leave the driving to US. 01981 Greyhound Lines, Inc. ***********^*********************