.The Battalion
SPORTS
^Wednesday, November 8,1989
Sports Editor Tom Kehoe 845-2688
The Cowboys won,
but let’s remember
it’s a loong season
finally happened.
B<ot many people around the league, or
the nation for that matter, thought it ever
would.
But it did.
The New and Improved Dallas Cowboys
has its very first mark in the win column.
More impressive is the fact that they picked
up the win against long-time division rival
Washington.
life is sweet.
■ 'll admit I had little faith in the Cowboys’
ability to post a win after their 0-8 start, the
worst in franchise history. I had visions of
an 0-16 mark looming on every sports page
around the country. I mean, last year’s 3-13
record was bad enough, but the possibility
of a fat goose egg under the win column
sent cold chills down my spine.
The last game the Cowboys won before
Sunday’s victory was in RFK Stadium over
the Redskins. It was Tom Landry’s last
victory as the Cowboys’ head coach.
■Ironically, Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson
received his first regular season victory in
the same place over the same team.
■Gould this be a sign?
■‘It’s been a hard, frustrating year and
there will still be some rocky days ahead,
but the future of the team is bright,”
Johnson said after the win. “Now we can go
about our business.”
tnd just what is the Cowboys’ business?
ome would say, theoretically, that
winning games is Dallas’ business. If that’s
the case, I’d say Johnson and the
organization are about to go bankrupt,
■fhe Cowboys had such high hopes at the
dose of preseason. They were 3-1 and were
talking about the possibility of going .500 in
1989.
■Instead, they lost eight straight.
K hen came the Redskins.
re the Cowboys really improving, or is
Washington just a lousy 5-4 team?
■gMy guess is the latter.
“The defense is really starting to come
See Rasmussen/Page 8
1989 season begins for Metcalf, Aggies
Ags hope to start
year on right foot
By Richard Tijerina
and Clay Rasmussen
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M Coach Shelby Metcalf has
some big questions he needs to answer
about his basketball team in 1989.
Can the Aggies pick up where they left
off last season, when they had the best re
cord in the Southwest Conference over the
last half of the year? Can the Aggies find a
replacement for All-SWC forward Donald
Thompson, last year’s leading scorer and
rebounder? And how much can Metcalf de
1988-89 SWC Final Standings
T*«fn
Arkansas
Texas
TCU
Houston
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
SMU
Rice
Saylor
SWC Record
25-7
• 25-9
17-ia
17-14
1S-14
13-15
13-1:6
.. 12-16
5-22
pend on the new faces in the Aggies’
lineup?
It’s a pretty long list for Metcalf, consid
ered “the dean of SWC coaches” because
he’s in his 27th year as A&M’s head coach
— the longest tenure of any other SWC
coach.
“We have more experience back than
we’ve had the last few years, but we lost our
top scorer and rebounder and one of oyr
better shooters,” Metcalf said. “Our success
hinges on how soon (junior college transfer
David) Harris can acclimate himself to Divi
sion I basketball.
“He is essential to us.”
Harris, along with two other newcomers
to the A&M roster, will be counted on heav
ily in 1989.
Harris was a second-team JUCO All-
American last year. Freshman David Peter
sen, a brother of former Houston Rockets
star Jim Petersen, was the top-rated high
school player in Minnesota last season.
Freshman Brooks Thompson was named
the prep player of the year in Colorado.
The three new Aggies will be joining a
team that brings back four of its five top
scorers from 1988.
Senior Tony Milton (12.5 points/4.2 re
Photo by Mike C. Mulvey
A&M’s Ray Little (43) dunks over two Arkansas defenders last year. Little
is expected to be one of the Aggies’ team leaders in 1989.
bounds/5.3 assists), junior Lynn Suber (10.8
points), senior David Williams (8.6 points,
4.5 rebounds) and junior Freddie Ricks (9.2
oints/3.0 rebounds) return this season. All
ut Suber were starters in 1988.
The Aggies started off poorly in 1988.
They suffered through a 1-7 first half of
the SWC season. A 58-51 defeat by Texas
Christian prompted Metcalf to redesign
A&M’s offense into a more open, fast-break
philosophy.
The Aggies rebounded in the second
half of the SWC season. They lost only to
Houston 86-82 on their way to a 7-1 confer
ence record. A&M averaged 80.1 points per
See Basketball/Page 8
Coaches tab Hogs
as SWC favorite
DALLAS (AP) — The Arkansas Razor-
backs were picked by Southwest Confer
ence coaches on Tuesday to successfully de
fend their league basketball title, and as far
as Texas coach Tom Penders is concerned,
the Hogs will make it all the way to the
NCAA’s Final Four.
“Arkansas has no weaknesses,” Penders
said. “They are the best team we played last
year. You’ll very definitely see them make
the Final Four.”
Arkansas received seven of nine first
place ballots. Nolan Richardson of the Hogs
and Texas A&M’s Shelby Metcalf gave
Houston the other two first place ballots.
Baylor coach Gene Iba seconded Pen
ders’ notion that the Hogs could be good
enough to play for the national
championship.
“Arkansas had a great team with Sidney
Moncrief years ago but this one is better,”
Iba said. “There’s no doubt in my mind Ar
kansas will be in the Final Four.”
Richardson laughed when told about
Penders’ bold pick.
“That Tom,” Richardson said. “I think
I’ll predict he’ll make it also and we will
probably play each other in the finals.”
Arkansas was picked first in the nation by
The Basketball News and Richardson said
he doesn’t mind all the preseason top-bil
ling.
“I love it,” Richardson said. “I’ve been
under pressure all my life so that’s no big
deal. We do want to win the conference
championships but our goal is to win a na
tional championship. Getting to the big
party (The Final Four) means a lot to me.”
Richardson said his team was “the best
group of guys I ever had, the best team. We
are deep.” .
Richardson said the Hogs will have to be
better because the conference overall has
been upgraded.
“The Southwest Conference is twice as
good as it has ever been in the history of
Southwest Conference basketball,” Rich
ardson said. “I’ve never seen as many teams
capable of winning it all. From top to bot
tom, this conference will be playing some
bigtime basketball. The rest of the country
will find out this year that we play basket
ball, notjust football.”
Arkansas had 78 points, followed by
Houston 71, Texas 66, Texas A&M 53,
Texas Christian 43, Rice 32, Texas Tech
30, Southern Methodist 21 and Baylor 11.
V:
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