The Battalion
SPORTS
9
Tuesday, January 31,1989
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FROM STAFF & WIRE REPORTS
DALLAS — A panel of media
who cover Southwest Conference
baseball agreed unanimously on
Texas as the favorite to win the
league championship in 1989.
The baseball season begins Friday
with Baylor hosting Hardin-Sim-
mons University.
On a scale of 8 points for first, 7
for second, etc., Texas received 72
points from the nine-member panel.
Texas A&M finished second in the
poll with 60 points, followed by Ar
kansas with 57 points.
From there, the race for the antic
ipated fourth position in the SWC
post-season tournament gets ex
tremely close. Houston, an NCAA
region runner-up to Texas at Austin
in 1987, got the nod for fourth place
with 35 points.
Texas Tech, with a bevy of power
hitters returning, was chosen to fin
ish fifth with 32 points, while Baylor
edged TCU for the sixth position in
the poll with 26 points.
Coach Lance Brown’s Horned
Frogs were tabbed seventh with 24
tallies. Rice was the eighth choice
with 18 points.
A year ago, the media panel
picked the^ top three finishers —
Texas, Texas A&M and Arkansas —
all of whom got NCAA post-season
bids. Texas and Texas A&M ad
vanced to within one win of earning
a spot in the NCAA World Series at
Omaha.
Baylor follows its debut on Friday
with a doubleheader on Saturday,
also against HSU. Texas Christian
and Texas Tech open on Saturday.
The Horned Frogs travel across Fort
Worth to meet Texas Wesleyan, and
Texas Tech’s Red Raiders host New
Mexico.
Texas opens on Sunday with its
unofficial lidlifter in the annual Var
sity-Alumni game at Disch-Falk Sta
dium. Texas Tech plays a double-
header against New Mexico on
Sunday.
Texas A&M begins its season Feb.
10-11 with a three-game series at
home against Pan American.
Texas, Texas A&M and Arkansas
have been mentioned in several na
tional preseason polls'. Baseball
America magazine ranks Texas
ninth and A&M 11th while the
ESPN/Collegia te Baseball poll lists
Texas at sixth and A&M 13th. Ar
kansas is 20th in the ESPN poll. The
Sporting News ranks A&M 18th in
the country.
Oklahoma
as Illinois,
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Ok
lahoma coach Billy Tubbs, an ad
mirer of the great explorers such
as Christopher Columbus and
Magellan, has reached uncharted
territory with his Sooners.
They’re ranked No. 1 in The
Associated Press college basket
ball poll for the first time in the
school’s history.
“It’s something I’ve always
wanted to do,” Tubbs said Mon
day. “I guess you could say it’s a
dream come true.
“You always want to coach the
No. 1 team in the nation, even if
it’s just for a day. You’d like to
coach it forever, of course. I think
it’s something you work for, and
it came true. I’m happy about
that.”
The Sooners, 17-2, were
ranked fourth a week ago but
jumped to No. 1 after victories
over Colorado and Nevada-Las
leads AP top twenty
Georgetown falter
Vegas, and losses by the top three
teams.
Illinois, which became No. 1
for the first time in 37 years, held
the top spot for just one week as
the Fighting Illini lost to Minne
sota 69-62 before rebounding for
a victory over Indiana.
When Illinois lost Thursday
night, it appeared Georgetown
would move up one place to the
top spot, but the Hoyas were up
set by Louisiana State 82-80 on
Saturday. _
To show the wide range of
opinion on who deserved the top
ranking, six teams received first-
place votes.
North Carolina, 18-3, jumped
from seventh to third with four
first-place votes and 1,074 points,
19 more than Arizona, 15-2,
which improved two places and
was named No. 1 on one ballot.
Missouri, 18-3, stayed fifth.
The Tigers had three first-place
votes and 1,048 points.
Georgetown, which fell to 15-2
with the loss to Louisiana State,
dropped from second to sixth
with 1,019 points and the final
first-place vote.
Louisville was seventh with
1,011 points after having its 14-
game winning streak snapped
and falling to 14-3.
Florida State, 16-1, moved
from 11th to eighth with 797
points and Iowa, 15-3, jumped
from 12th to ninth with 651
points, 13 more than Seton Hall,
18-2, which rounded out the Top.
Ten after being ninth last week.
Michigan dropped one spot to
lead the Second Ten and was fol
lowed by Duke, North Carolina
State, Syracuse, Ohio State, Ne
vada-Las Vegas, Indiana, West
Virginia, Louisiana State and
Stanford.
Aggie fans barking up wrong tree; Metcalf deserves patience
Talk about being in a tough position.
Losing nine of the last ten games — four
in a row — and facing conference leader
Texas next is hard on Shelby Metcalf. With
the rest of the guff he’s catching from
sportskind, he couldn’t be blamed for
taking a game off.
But as needed as it might be, Metcalf
doesn’t have that option. He’s a college
coach — an Aggie coach straining to keep
his footing on a slippery mountainside.
And any such unruly behavior would send
him reeling down the side.
Metcalf is getting rained on heavily right
now. Not just by opponents — they’re just
sprinklers turned on during a gulley-
washer.
The real rain is falling from those big,
dark and heavy clouds of grumblers that
have seen enough of Metcalf and his juco
transfers, too many mediocre seasons, and
not enough big-name talent.
After 25 full years at A&M, Metcalf has
undoubtedly established some coaching
tenure. Winning five outright conference
crowns outdoes everyone else during his
time here.
But with SWC basketball having a tough
time doing anything on the national scene
|!r!f
! Jerry
Bolz
Assistant Sports Editor
since Houston’s impact in 1983 and 1984,
people are getting a little stir crazy.
Unfortunately for the coaches, most of the
attention is focused on them, and nowhere
in the nation are basketball coaches getting
a harder look than in the SWC.
Focusing a little more narrowly, those
who have been around the longest tend to
get the first look — that arrow points down
the path to the Silver Fox.
It seems unfair that those who have
proved they can win over decades get so
much speculation when the won-loss record
isn’t satisfactory. But it’s understood.
People often prefer to wipe the slate clean
rather than turn what they already have
into something worth keeping.
So Metcalf is caught underfire for a slow
start and expected to come up with results
soon — in thought if not in word — by
Aggie fans ranging from students to sports
writers.
The wave has welled, but probably not
for the first or last time. In 25 years, you
can assume there’s been grumbling on
plenty of occasions about getting a new
basketball coach.
The word is that Metcalf is out-of-date,
past his prime and over the hill. His style is
older than G. Rollie and he can’t keep up
with the rest of the conference and nation.
No way. I can’t go for that.
Spending 25 years at a school doesn’t
cause a coach to lose track of what’s going
on in a sport. Metcalf has amassed a full
load of information on college basketball
from coaching technique to recruiting to
simply helping out players.
Metcalf hasn’t lost track of anything. He
has coached in the way he felt would be
most competitive with the resources he’s
had. Lately that hasn’t been very much.
He needs help to turn this program into
any kind of powerhouse. Much of that help
is coming with high school recruits Metcalf
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has redshirted for next year, and hopefully
he’ll get a few more this recruiting season.
But the athletic department needs to
stand behind Metcalf in building a good
program. The man has a lot of wisdom with
the sport, but that can only take him so far.
A&M must have a solid recruiting effort.
And top recruits want to go where they
can get some exposure. G. Rollie White just
isn’t the hot spot for basketball that it might
have once been. A&M needs a new place to
play, somewhere that can hold more than a
handful of fans. They need the support of
the athletic department and the school for
that.
The list goes on but a coach can’t do
anything to build a team without
cooperation.
After the Texas Christian game, Metcalf
put in a new offense he had planned to save
for next season. Since then the Aggies have
won one game.
The offense is supposed to be a running
game much like Oklahoma or Nevada-Las
Vegas uses. And it would take a team with
the talent like OU or UNLV to win games
after changing offenses mid-season. The
Aggies don’t have that talent yet.
However it happened, A&M has gotten
into a habit of stacking the basketball court
with transfer students. There have been
some great ones come through A&M and
there are some here now. But they aren’t
here long enough to learn each other’s
names before their eligibility is over.
Metcalf understands this.
For a while, the juco quick fix was the
thing to do in the conference. Zap — you
have a competitive team. But it’s just like
microwave stew — it gets hot quick but
there are always some cold spots, and the
ingredients aren’t together long enough for
the flavors to mix well.
Metcalf knows he needs a conventional,
slow-cooking recipe that may take time to
get hot, but stays hot. One that isn’t good
without all the ingredients. Sure, the
carrots may be your favorite, but theyjust
aren’t the same without the potatoes,
onions and beef.
Metcalf is not fading away — he’s on the
way. But he needs respect and support by
the fans and the school.
Aggies may want quick results in A&M
basketball. But deep down we know it’s not
the way.
Shelby has been around long enough to
know what he needs. This time is harder on
him than anyone. Let’s give him a break —
even if it’s not a game off.
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