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Texas A&M
The Battalion Sports
November 8, 1982 Page 11
Cream of the crop
Lewis’ Cougars favored to win league basketball crown
Arkansas’ Darrell Walker
part of top backcourt duo
Center Joe Kleine to take
center spot for Razorbacks
by Frank L. Christlieb
Sports Editor
DALLAS — C'.uy Lewis hasn't
chosen his starting guards,
Eddie Sutton lias his youngest
team ever and Jim Killingsworth
has to figure out a way to sneak
his talented team past several
others and onto the top rung of
the Southwest Conference
ladder.
But don’t let these guys fool
you. When the final buzzer
sounds at the end of the last
game of the regular season,
Lewis, Sutton and Killingsworth
may be so tightly bunched to
gether that they and their play
ers won’t have room to breathe.
Or it may just turn out to be a
runaway. After all, Lewis and
the Houston Cougars did make
it to the Final Four last season
before losing to North Carolina
68-63 in the semif inals. And af
ter all, no matter how young or
old his players may he, Sutton
and the Razorbacks always man
age to win their share of games.
And look at “Killer” Killing-
sworth’s Horned Frogs. In
guard Darrell Browder and f or
ward Doug Arnold, TCU has
the top two returning scorers in
the conference.
While spectators cry that the
league won’t be the same with
out Rob Williams, Ricky Pierce,
Terry Teagle, Scott Hastings,
LaSalle Thompson and Clar
ence Swannegan, the coaches
have only one reply:
Hogwash.
New names, they say, will
crop up in place of those old
cliches that have been bandied
about for the past four years.
Names like Browder, Arnold,
Akeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drex-
ler, Larry Micheaux, Darrell
Walker, , Joe Kleine, Claude
Riley, Reggie Roberts, Kenny
Austin and Bubba Jennings will
replace those oft-used names
that have now drif ted on to big
ger and better things.
The consensus at Sunday’s
annual preseason meeting of
SWC coaches in Dallas indicated
strong belief that Lewis’
Cougars would be the 1983
league champions, with Arkan
sas, TCU and Texas A&M the
probable challengers. Lewis said
the league, as always, should be
competitive.
“Most of the starters f rom last
year are returning,” he said. “I’d
say at least 70 percent of last
year’s starters are coming back,
which means that the league is
going to be experienced, well-
balanced and strong from top to
bottom. It’s not only hard to pick
the champion, but it’s hard to
pick the cellar team, too.
“In a league like this that’s so
well-balanced, you can go from
top to bottom in a hurry. Or
maybe from bottom to top. I
think our league will be one of
the best-balanced leagues in the
country.”
Here is a breakdown of each
SWC coach and his ideas on the
1982-83 basketball season. The
teams are listed in the league’s
order of finish as predicted by
media representatives at Sun
day’s meeting:
HOUSTON, Guy Lewis:
With his guard situation up in
the air at this point, Lewis can’t
figure out why everyone’s in an
uproar about his Cougars. But
leave it to Lewis to find an effec
tive backcourt combination if
not before the season, at least
during the Coogs’ tough non
conference schedule.
Guards or not, Lewis does
have the scoring strength and
rebounding of center Akeem
Olajuwon, forwards Clyde
Drexler and Michael Young and
center Larry Micheaux. Drexler
led that bunch by averaging 15.2
Rice forward Kenny Austin
leads an experienced squad
points and 10.5 rebounds a
game during the Cougars’ 25-8
season in 1981-82.
“Houston is the only place in
the country that can lose its two
starting guards — and its top
two reserve guards — and every
body thinks that they’re im
proved,” Lewis said. “It doesn’t
make sense.
“We’re going to be a good bas
ketball team — if we ever find
out who our starters are. I think
we’ve got good bench strength
and I should be able to play eight
or nine guys.
“The only thing that worries
me is that all of our big guys are
on one end of the court and the
basketball starts at the other end
of the court — and there’s 94
feet in between,” he said. “If we
can get around the double
teams, the presses, the traps and
the harassment from experi
enced guards, and get the ball to
Akeem, Micheaux, Drexler of
Young, then we have a pretty *
good chance of having a good
basketball team.”
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Claude Riley tops list of
returning SWC rebounders
Lewis said he knows Arkan
sas, TCU and T exas A&M will
be hot on the Cougars’ path
throughout the season.
“You’re going to have to win it
on the floor,” he said. “U you
could just mail in your ballots
and award Houston the cham
pionship, I’d be grateful. But 1
know that’s not the way it’s going
to be. We’re going to have to go
out there and do it ourselves —
or whichever other team will do
it.”
Lewis said he’s looking for
ward to witnessing the improve
ment of Olajuwon, the Cougars’
7-foot center from Nigeria. Ola
juwon, who’s been playing bas
ketball for only three years, av
eraged 8.3 points and 6.2 re
bounds a game last season.
“I’m very, very enthusiastic at
how much he’s improved, and
I’m very, very disappointed that
he hasn’t improved more,”
Lewis said, “He has made some
improvement and is a better bas
ketball player than he was a year
ago.
“He’s still not dominating like
you would want a 6-1 1 player to
he. He’s still learning the game
and he’s going to be a much bet
ter player in the future.”
Lewis, who will earn th 500th
victory of his UL1 career with the
Cougars’ first triumph this sea
son, described his guard situa
tion as “muddled.” He said in
experience in the backcourt may
be a problem in the first few
games.
“There are about live or six
players on about the same level
of play,” Lewis said. “And 1
don’t like that. 1 want one or two
of them to rise above the pack. I
would really like to know now
who my starting guards are
going to be in our first game.”
ARKANSAS, Eddie Sutton:
Sports Illustrated visited the
Arkansas campus last week to
line! out about Sutton’s 1982-83
team. But a la the usual, Sutton
says he doesn’t know why any
one would have any interest in
his squad.
“I could not believe that they
would come to our campus after
we lost five seniors,” Sutton said.
“This is the youngest basketball
team I’ve ever coached. I said,
'Why would you come?’ and the
guy said, ‘tradition.’ I guess that
is important in any game you
play.
“We’re not very good right
now. I think we’re going to get
better. It’s the most inexperi
enced and youngest basketball
team that I’ve ever coached at a
major-college level.”
Sutton has two top starting
guards in Darrell Walker and
Alvin Robertson, plus Joe
Kleine, a transfer center from
Notre Dame who will be the
Razorbacks’ starter in place of
Scott Hastings.
“There are a lot of question
marks about the Razorbacks in
1982-83,” Sutton said. “But still,
1 like our basketball team. I like
the chemistry of our ballciub. I
don’t think I’ve ever had a team
work any harder during the first
three weeks of practice than this
group has.
“It’s a great start when you
have Robertson and Walker, be
cause ... they’re as good as any
backcourt combination in col
lege basketball. If we get any
kind of play (under the basket),
then we can be competitive in
the conference race.”
Sutton said Kleine, a 6-11,
250-pounder from Missouri,^
won’t be as versatile as Hastings. _£!
“Kleine’s not as good as you £.
think he is, and he’s certainly not £
as good as our fans want him to
be,” Sutton said. “But in time, 1 t
think heTl be a big-time center. S’-
“Joe’s a different type of play- £
er than Hastings. He is not as *
good as Scott Hastings, but in £
time, he may be. Kleine is strictly
an inside player, whereas Hast- £
ings could play at the forward T
position.”
Sutton, who after last season £•
>;
See SWC page 12
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