Sports
Wednesday .January 25, 1984AThe Battalion/Page 15
1 Basketball
vs. Texas
at G. Rollie White
Women 5 p.m.
Men 7:30 p.m.
Where is support?
G. Rollie While Coliseum was once
known as the Holler House on ihe Brazos.
Few things evoked more fear in the heart
of a basketball coach than the thought of
making a road trip to College Station.
It was in G. Rollie that unfortunate teams
were given the task of facing the Dean of
Southwest Conference basketball, his stu
dents and a 12th Man numbering about
7,000.
Coach Shelby Metcalf vanquished many a
foe — 40 of his last 47 — with past teams that
earned names like “The Wall.”
But part of the strength of that wall was
and always will be the the 12th Man — the
undying support of the student body for
their team.
Metcalf has seen that support come and
go in his 21 seasons at the helm of the
Aggies, but usually the support was there
when the team needed it.
Lately, however, it seems that if there is a
crowd it is there more in body than in spirit.
At limes the 12th Man gets into the game
like it was the sixth man on the basketball
squad, but not often enough.
On January 7 I was in Fayetteville,
Arkansas for the Texas A&M-Arkansas
game. There was a full house in Barnhill
Arena for that game and Barnhill is much
larger than C. Rollie.
That day it seemed much louder, too.
Sure it’s easier to give enthusiastic sup
port to a team that is ranked No. 11 in the
nation, but the young, inexperienced team
that needs support the most.
And, as Metcalf said, “experience is some
thing you just can’t buy.”
“They’re improving and they’re working
hard to earn the crowd’s respect,” he said.
“We need to gain everyone’s respect and we
need a crowd.
“We had a responsive crowd against
Houston and they helped us a lot against
TCU.”
The results of the Houston and TCU
games proves how essential a supportive
crowd is to a good basketball team.
The Aggies are a good basketball team
already, and with a crowd behind them, they
become great.
Just look at the results.
All that is necessary to maintain and in
crease upon those results is for the crowd to
be consistent — to develop spirit and enthu
siasm — to make C. Rollie what it once was:
The Holler House on the Brazos.
(Bill Robinson is the Assistant Sports Edi
tor of The Battalion and is a senior journal
ism major.)
c
r
’ll
gqies face dynasty
By BILL ROBINSON
Assistant sports editor
When someone mentions a
asketball dynasty, most often
he term evokes thoughts of
ten’s teams like Kentucky,
JCLA, DePaul and North Caro
lina.
It is rare that anyone consid-
irs a women’s team when asses-
ing dominance in the sport.
But there have been quite a
ew women’s teams that could
lave competed effectively
igainst a large number of men’s
rdinal! 1 )as * cet * ja ^ programs at major
Universities.
Consider The University of
exas.
Coach Jody Conradt has lead
he Longhorns to a top 20 finish
ach of the last six seasons and
her teams at Texas have amas-
ed a 228-43 record.
Awesome.
Awesome is the only word
that can be used to describe the
No. 1 Texas team that comes
into G. Rollie White tonight at 5
to face the Texas A&M women.
Aggie coach Cherri Rapp
agrees with that assessment.
“Texas doesn’t have a weak
spot on their whole team,” Rapp
said. “We will try to pressure
their guards. Hopefully this will
make them make turnovers and
we’ll get some easy baskets.”
And pressure on the Texas
guards is essential to prevent
them from getting the ball inside
to All-America center Annette
Smith.
The Aggies are also strong at
mter this season and that
Michell Tatum scored 18
C oints and pulled down 8 re-
ounds Saturday against Arkan
sas in a 69-63 loss.
That decision dropped the
Aggies to 1-3 in conference but
Rapp is still optimistic about
Texas A&M’s chances.
“Any team can beat any other
team on any given night,” she
said.
But it will be the toughest bat
tle the Aggies have faced all sea
son — almost of David and
Goliath proportions — because
the Longhorns are at the point
where they have little to gain but
everything to lose.
Tonight is Texas A&M’s final
home game of the season. The
Aggies close out their schedule
in Lubbock Saturday against
A&M faces Texas
Photo by DEAN SAITO
Coach Shelby Metcalf looks
at Aggie comeback against
By BILL ROBINSON
Assistant sports editor
Over the years the rivalry be
tween Texas A&M and the Uni
versity of Texas has not been as
intense on the basketball court
as it has on the football field.
Perhaps that is why the series
statistics are so even over the 67
years since the teams first faced
each other for the opening tip-
off.
On paper there are many
similarities between the Aggies
and the Longhorns.
To look at shooting, scoring
and rebounding statistics, it
would seem that the two teams
are fairly evenly matched. And
if the youth and inexperience of
each team is considered that
assessment becomes even more
plausible.
While the Aggies have posted
a respectable 10-7 record this
season, 3-3 in the Southwest
Conference, Texas’ record is a
dismal 5-11, 1-4 in conference.
And the Aggies have a five-
game win streak against Texas
dating back to the 1980-81 sea
son. What’s more, the Lon
ghorns are in the midst of a 17-
game conference road-game
losing streak dating back to
January 9, 1982. They have won
only one on the road since that
date.
Coach Shelby Metcalf said
the game should prove in
teresting.
“I’d just like to keep that (the
streaks) intact,” Metcalf said.
“It’s going to be a tough game
for us.
“They played Arkansas real
close and had a 25 point turnar-
Even so, the Longhorns ha
ven’t been noted for playing out
standing basketball this season
and that turnaround came
against a Baylor team that has
lost 11 straight and is shooting
just 38 percent from the floor.
But the Aggies can’t afford to
be lazy.
Texas A&M needs to contain
the Longhorn’s 6-4 forward
Carlton Cooper, who is averag
ing 17.9 points while pulling
down 9.4 rebounds each game.
Other threats are 6-8 center
David Seitz and 6-3 guard Mar
cus Bolden.
Guards Todd Holloway and
Kenny Brown continue to lead
the Aggies in scoring and team
rebounding is second in the con
ference.
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