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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 12, 1987)
Thursday, March 12, 1987/The Battalion/Page 7 le Sports ro|Ags in underdog role lodoy against Duke 1 ho urs rJ 'P qualiy ays, consij '■me the* By Doug Hall Sports Writer ■PoffersfeH For the Texas Aggie Basketball Y oppon,, ujam, this afternoon’s 1:37 game ■ry caUsa l against No. 17 Duke in the open- m^mmci:ing round of the NCAA Midwest et long, jiBegionals could be a game of The uie - teri ■lot in his of years Rood feel ; uaiionof. :, f this sire says. “It: t you coni; hi can’t c hat does;; ?atbelts dJ that Kyncl ^t aerial se. ost imprJ the Four] »t year a; recalls,‘iJ and thouJ tall ships si and sails J :e all oftiiJ at was rm 1 for ksrr. kies, he sj a golf tq )f life is si] i red man Mother ng "tfli "I don't ree; out ictaws estyle an of bom alread' ane place • gettini tving a i joying ip nd." )is Jnderdogs — Take II. ■ Take I, of course, took place Hst weekend at the Southwest ■onference tournament in Dallas Bhere the Aggies, whose confer ence record of 6-10 earned them He last-place seed in the eight- tc sm tourney, pulled off three straight victories and walked away with the tournament Hampionship. I In doing so, the Aggies also earned an automatic bid to the jjfCAA tourney and the right to fate Duke in today’s game that will be played at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. ■ The 64-team field is broken down into four regionals — East, Southeast, West and Midwest, ■he 16 teams in each region are ■ten seeded according to season ■cords and national rankings. I The No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional is No. 2-ranked In diana. Duke, whose season record ■as 22-8, earned the Blue Devils a No. 5 seed. I Texas A&M Head Coach Shelby Metcalf, winner of 397 pines in his 24-year career at &M, however, said the Aggies sweep in Dallas last weekend gave him and his players a lot of satis- nction. ■ “Anything can happen in a tournament,” Metcalf said. ”1 feel Ike us receiving a bid to the NCAAs is a just reward for a lot flf hard work and patience on the ■art of our guys.” ■ For the Aggies to come out ?ahead against the Blue Devils, Hough, Metcalf said his team ■eeds to continue to work hard cm defense, continue to rebound |ttrong and shoot a high percent age from the floor. Success in those three areas enabled the Ag gies to win last weekend’s games against TCU, Texas Tech and Baylor. Metcalf said although A&M and Duke have never met on the basketball court, playing the Blue Devils will not be unlike playing many of the other teams the Ag gies faced over the season. In other words, the Aggies will have to use tenacity to overcome a height disadvantage. “It’ll be just like other teams we’ve faced,” Metcalf said. “We’ll give up height at all five positions. But we’ll just try to do our best.” The Blue Devils are led by sophomore forward Danny Ferry who leads the team in scoring (14.4 per game) and rebounding (8 boards per game). Duke’s other probable starters are 6-5 forward Robert Brickey, guards Tommy Amaker and Quin Snyder and center John Smith. The Aggies, on the other hand, will counter with senior Winston “Mr. Tournament” Crite. The 6- 7 forward, who will play in his first NCAA tourney, averaged 24 points a game last weekencf— in cluding 30 points against top- seeded TCU. For the third time in four years, Crite earned All- Tournament honors and was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament. This year’s bid from the NCAA marks the sixth time the Aggies have played in the nation’s top basketoall tournament. Metcalf, who has coached in five of those playoff seasons, last took the Ag gies to the NCAAs in 1980 when the intimidating “Wall” of 6-8 Vernon Smith, 6-6 Rynn Wright and 6-11 Rudy Woods led A&M to victory in its first two games be fore losing to eventual national champion Louisville in overtime. The quotable Metcalf, how ever, appears to enjoy the under dog role. “Don’t count us out,” he said. “We’re definitely going to take our slingshots with us.” Today’s game will be televised live by KBTX-TV Channel 3 be ginning at 1:30 p.m. Proposal to ban Yeoman from UH fails to surface at school meeting HOUSTON (AP) — A proposal to ban former football coach Bill Yeo man from the University of Houston didn’t surface Wednesday at a spe cial meeting over the school’s em battled athletic department, officials said. Bruce Oppenheimer, chairman of the athletic advisory committee and a political science professor, earlier said he wanted to pass a resolution calling for an end to Yeoman’s relationship with the school. But “there’s no recommendation regarding the status of Bill Yeo man,” he said after the committee met in closed session for 2‘/2 hours. The 16-member group asked him not to divulge details of the meeting, he said. “It was a long, hard session,” he said, responding briefly to reporters’ questions. The committee is made up of faculty, students and alumni, none of whom has the authority to oust Yeoman. Yeoman quit as football coach at the end of the 1986 season and now works for the school president as a fund-raiser and is paid $103,000 a year. Oppenheimer repeatedly refused to disclose what recommendations the committee would send to school President Richard Van Horn. Ath letic Director Rudy Davolos also would not comment on the dis cussion. The no-Yeoman movement bdgan after reports earlier this week re vealed Houston boosters raised money so Yeoman could give up to $500 cash to some players, depend ing on need. “Are we going to live in the past and run the sort of program where this sort of activity is tolerated, or are we going to run a program in the corretet way?” he asked. In a memorandum released Mon day, Baytown businessman Frank Terry said he helped raise $10,000 after Yeoman asked for his help. The memorandum was part of an in-house investigation conducted by a Houston law firm in response to al legations that Yeoman and his assis tant coach violated National Colle giate Athletic Association rules by paying players. In a report conducted by the same irm and made public last week, Yeoman said he occasionally gave players money for humanitarian reasons, but never more than $35. In the report, Terry says he gave Yeoman $3,U00 prior to the 1982 or 1983 season. On another occasion, Terry collected about $4,000 from about six boosters. Yeoman, who resigned last fall af ter heading the Cougars for 25 years, has refused to comment, but Van Horn has defended him, calling his career “long and distinguished.” The in-house investigation was conducted after several former play ers said that while on the team they received cash. Ags sweep Creighton in softball The Texas A&M softball team swept a double-header with Creighton, 1-0, 6-2, Wednesday in Norman, Okla. The third-ranked Aggies im proved their record to 8-2 with the wins. In the first game, second base- man Julie Smith led off with a triple and scored on a passed ball to give A&M the only run it would need. Shawn Andaya pitched both games and raised her record to 5- L In the second game, A&M got its first run in the fourth inning when Julie Carpenter scored af ter a single by Renee Blaha. Third baseman Judy Trussell reached on an error to bring home Blaha and center fielder Erin Newkirk, who also reached on an error. Pinch hitter Zina Ochoa singled to bring in Smith. The Aggies will take on North ern Illinois today in the first round of the Sooner Invitational held in Norman. Ex-Villanova guard admits to cocaine use in Final Four NEW YORK (AP) — Gary Mc Lain, the sparkplug guard on Villa- nova’s 1985 NCAA championship team, said he used cocaine during the Final Four that year and was high when the Wildcats visited the White House. McLain detailed his drug depen dency and subsequent rehabilitation in a first-person story in the March 16 edition of Sports Illustrated. He said he was treated for drug abuse at the White Deer Treatment Center in Allenwood, Pa., last sum mer after he was fired from his Wall Street job. McLain, 23, said he used cocaine before several Wildcat games, in cluding the 1985 NCAA semifinal against Memphis State in Lexington, —— “I had played well on coke, I had played bad on it,” he said in the story, written with Jeffrey Marx of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader. “It didn’t seem to matter. So I did about a quarter gram of blow before the national semifinal in the bath room of Room 135 of the Ramada Inn, about three miles from Rupp Arena .... “I’d gotten it in my head that if we lost it didn’t matter. I just wanted the season to be over.” McLain scored nine points and had two assists as Villanova defeated Memphis State 52-45. The Wildcats then upset Georgetown 66-64 to win the national title, with McLain chip ping in eight points and two assists. Recalling the team’s visit to the White House, McLain said, “I was standing in the Rose Garden, wired on cocaine.” McLain said he had strange thoughts while watching President Reagan speak to the team. “I was standing a couple of feet behind him, looking in his hair, thinking, this guy has more dan druff than your average man. Thinking thoughts like, I could push him in the head, just a little tap, and make news across the world. That’s how high I was.” On his weekly radio show Tues day night, Villanova Coach Rollie Massimino said McLain’s revelations! were the “most devastating thing that has happened to me in 30 years 1 of coaching.” Phoenix Suns’ forward Ed Pinck ney, a college teammate and room mate of McLain’s, said Wednesday he was shocked by the story of Mc Lain’s drug use. “I really didn’t know he had this problem,” Pinckney said in an inter view from Boston. “The things I’m reading about don’t sound like the person I knew.” McLain said other Villanova bas ketball players smoked marijuana with him. He did not identify those teammates in.the story. In the article, McLain said Massi mino confronted him twice about suspected drug use in 1984. He said he managed to escape detection be cause players were never given a uri nalysis. commeti the Pe: s' adm. m font igs ofth nder, Jfl trial on ithatca* Constitution & Foreign Policy: A Question of Control Moderator Howard K. Smith ■Officially tnoKrv. . B bv the Commisston iho Bi< enrenntdi of «ht United Stales Consul tit ton #MSC Wiley Lecture Series Texas A&M University Ticket Information: Rudder Box Office and Dillards Ticketron Students: $6, $8, $10 Non-Students: $8, $ 10, $12 Spring Break and Beer By The Case Special^ Miller Lite Case $10. 40 12 oz. Corona Case $16. 25 , 12 oz. C 0 or's Light Qase $1 0 . 12 Buq^eis^ Cas^ $10.ao l2°z. 1600 Texas Ave. College Station, Tx. 693-2627 SPECIALS GOOD Thru Sat., March 21st Lone Star Case $7. 45 12 oz. Shaefer Regular Gr Light Case $5." 12 oz. 1219 North Texas Ave. Bryan, Tx. 822-1042 ■ INC.