Texas A&M The Battalion Sports November 9, 1982 'Page 7 EBON'S * T °fJ re were l rrrived, tb njuredouli on," he si njuredwa pitals in ik )ne h jured a mts fm d West Jail- at the see from neaA Base ® Weltlich faces rebuilding year Rice, SMU, Texas optimistic By Frank L. Christlieb Sports Editor DALLAS — Dave Bliss says the sheep will wander no more. Whereas his SMU Mustang basketball team found the going rough at times within a crowd of Southwest conference wolves last year, Bliss doesn’t look for such a stormy season in 1982- 83. ‘We didn’t have the experi ence we needed last season, so we were sheep wandering in the desert half the time,†Bliss said at Sunday’s preseason meeting of SWC coaches in Dallas. “Now, we have a little bit more direction and that makes it a little more fun.†Any change from last season will be fun for the Mustangs, who finished 6-21 overall and 1- 15 in the Southwest Confer ence. SMU’s only victory of the conference season came by' a score of 67-66 over the Houston Cougars, who have been pre dicted to win this year’s SWC crown over Arkansas, TCU and Texas A&M. Bliss returns all Five starters from last year’s squad, with 6-6 forward John Addison’s 12.9 points per game the highest re turning scoring average. SMU’s starters in 1981-82 included three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior. '“It’s kind of a Catch-22 from our standpoint, because we weren’t realy experienced enough to do a heck of a lot of shifting with ideas,†Bliss said. NOTICE Look for our ad in Thurs Battalion Larry & Swede 693-6030 SMU’s Larry Davis should be one of team’s leaders “So we played more of a patient waiting game, hoping the other team would make more mis takes than we did. A lot of times they did, but a lot of times we would still come up second in the game.†The key to the Mustangs’ sea son lies in the fact that this year’s squad contains better ath letes, Bliss said. “The major ting that I think will change with our basketball team is that because we have better athletes, therein lies the hope,†he said. “That’s because if you get behind and you don’t have good athletes, you can’t c^tch up. If you start the game and you don’t have good ath letes, you can’t get ahead. “I think that having a little better athletes now, you can go out and extend yourself a little Rice coach Tommy Suitts says Owls will be stronger bit more and be more commit ted to winning the basketball game. If I were to summarize it, I’d say the commitment (on the team) is entirely different.†Bliss said either Koncak or sophomore redshirt Kolin Page will start at center for the Mus tangs. Larry Davis, a sopho more from Lufkin, returns at power forward after averaging 11.9 points a game last season. Our players have competed for the other forward position: junior transfer Craig Garrett, junior Chuck Anderson, sopho more Reginald Pink, who start ed last season, and Carl Wright, a freshman from Dallas. Wright’s older brother, Rynn, played at Texas A&M through the 1980-81 season. Bliss said senior Dave Piehler, the only senior on the squad helium tk fuel ® Is per squ* ids short ‘vent seriot ■eeze phi ;igned to ivoid seriot ozen engit launch I first miss# ib is to can itellites in' worked s launch p* hnicians| irked on tl* d shuttle^ s first HI Challeij und test! 10 Fulltime 15 Parttime Delivery men needed. Must have car. Paid commission daily. Flexible hours. $3.50 a hour plus 6% commission. Apply in Person Chanello’s Pizza 301 Patricia CHRISTMAS MONEY! 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Depth and rebounding, he said, will be improved as well. “I would like our team to be not so excited about the fact that we have great athletes, be cause we don’t have the best athletic team in the league,†Bliss said. “But we have good enough athletes that we can compete with those teams and still use our head.†At Rice, Tommy Suitts be lieves the Ricky Pierce-less Owls will have a solid squad after fin ishing 15-15 during the past season. Pierce, who has since found a home with the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, averaged 26.8 points a game for the Owls. But Suitts finds optimism common among his players. “I think that going into last year,†he said, “everyone on the team felt like we’d be good and was sort of optimistic. This year, we know we can win. We beat too many good people last year for us not to win this year.†The Owls made a noisy en trance onto the college basket ball scene when they defeated nationally ranked Hawaii, San Francisco and North Carolina State to win the Rainbow Classic early last season. After the Owls lost to LaSalle and Pepperdine in a previous tourney, the vic tories in Hawaii were an unex pected surprise for Suitts. This season, senior forward Kenny Austin will be the Owls’ team leader on both offense and defense. Although Austin has always been among the team leaders in several statisti cal categories, he’s been over shadowed by Pierce’s success. “I think Kenny Austin is one of the better players in the con ference,†Suitts said. “Nobody appreciates how good he is be cause he doesn’t score a lot of points. “I think that’s a shame. He’s been our second-leading re bounder for three years — sec ond only to Ricky Pierce. He’s been our second-leading scorer See SWC page 10 Rice will depend on senior center Donald Bennett (00) for scoring punch this season, as the Owls must strive for success without four-year team leader Ricky Pierce. Aggie forward Claude Riley (13), Texas A&M’s senior leader this season, shoots over Bennett in an Aggie victory at Autry Court in Houston last season. HUMBLE HOMETOWN CLUB FIRST MEETING TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9 7 P.M. ROOM 701 RUDDER TOWER Everyone from the HUMBLE-KINGWOOD- ATASCOCITA area is invited. For more information call CHRIS SLAVER 260-0581 JEFF’S PERFORMANCE CENTER 1801 Cavitt • Tune-Ups • Carb Repairs • Starters • Alternators • Clutches • Brakes • General Auto Repairs • Performance & Efficiency Mods •. Stock & Custom Engines • Corvette Repairs of all Types • Hi-Performance Parts & Accessories • Ail Work Fully Guaranteed Bryan 822-4934 AN OPEN STATEMENT TO THE STUDENTS, FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF OF TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY FROM: The Undersigned Christian Campus Ministers REGARDING: The ‘‘Christian Update Forum†of Probe Ministries Since inquiries continue to be raised regarding our relationship as established Christian Campus Ministers at Texas A&M with the “Christian Update Forum,†and Since on occasion it is apparently at least suggested that the “Christian Update Forum†is supported by all the Christian Campus Ministers on campus, if not explicitly, at least implicitly, Let it be hereby known that... 1. 4. Most of us have never been approached directly for such support in any way, and therefore we could not lay such claim to support even if we wished to do so. Since we are very unsure in what manner they intend to “reflect historic Christian perspectives,†as their literature suggests they will do, we find it impossible to say that it will reflect views to which we could lend our name. We recognize the right of any professor to invite guest lecturers of his/her own choosing into the classroom — and we gladly accept such invitations when extended to us — but we recognize among ourselves that, without dividing a fundamental unity in Christ, there remain diversities of views on how Christian faith relates to almost any discipline or area of life. We must, therefore, respectfully suggest that whatever views are extended through Probe Ministries may not be the same as the views that other Christian traditions may hold... just as we must, in any presentation we make, recognize that we represent one strand of a much larger Christian tradition that has been spun out over the years. We must make this statement to be sure that the views expressed are held accountable by those traditions from which the lecturers come, which may not be the same views that we would hold. Since this “disclaimer†could be perceived by some to further divisions which are already too numerous in Christendom, let it be known that we who serve in the continuing Christian Campus Ministries at Texas A&M would gladly continue any discussions begun in the visit by Probe Ministries from the perspectives and viewpoints of our own traditions, not with the intention of further dividing, but rather with the intention of enriching and amplifying the Christian vision as part of the larger education that is being offered at our great university. Michael Nelson Miller Campus Minister For United Presbyterian Church Presbyterian Church, U.S. United Church of Christ Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Hubert Beck, Lutheran Campus Ministry J. Mark Wilburn Chaplain Episcopal Student Center Leon Strieder Director of Campus Ministry St. Mary’s Student Center (Roman Catholic)