Come Play
VOLLEYBALL
Live Oak Nudist Resort
Washington, TX
(409) 878-2216
$g50
•Dotoy
TUESDAY
Al Seats
(Discount Tuesday) Features
Page 10
The Battalion
Tuesday, March 6,191
Battalion
Classified
845-0569
MANOR EAST
MANOR EAST MALI. 823-8300
m
REVENGE* E3 H 7*0 9*0
g The Art of Dunking
** SWC basketball teams well-acquainted with game-stopping shot
PLAZA THREE
ues<
| 228 SOUTHWEST PKWY 883-2457 |
HUNT FOR
RED OCTOBER *
BTEUA« , 531
DRIVING MISS
DAISY *
R 7*0 0:45
PG« 7t1» 0*0
PG 7:10 9*0
SCHULMAN SIX
I 2000 E. 29TH STREET 775-2483 |
oowNrowH l:. :: :; gg pG >dS0 0^0
AUSTIN (AP) — There is slam
ming, jamming, flushing and chunk
ing. '
1 here are 360s, reverses, wind
mills and cradles.
There are stupid ups, super
boosters and unlimited springs.
And there is shame.
Most ot all, dunking provides a
chance to inflict shame.
$1 DOLLAR MOVIES $1
ALWAYS
mmmm
BACK TO THE
FUTURE n*
- LOOK WHO'S
TALKING*
CHRISTMAS
VACATION
PG 7:10 9*5
PC 7*0 0*0
PG-13 7*5 10*0
O
WILL YOU BE GONE OVER
SPRING BREAK ?
MSC
Political
Forum
ABSENTEE VOTE
On Mon.-Fri. 8-5 at the following locations:
MSC Room 138 (Rep.) MSC Room 146 (Dem.)
*
CSISD Administration Offices 1812 Welsch
“In a game, when a guy talks noise
to me, it makes me mad,” says Texas
Christian forward Craig Sibley, who
has 31 dunks this season. “I want to
dunk on him. Like Oliver Miller.
.PCM.a 7:t6 9*6 He’s always talking.”
“The bigger the guy is, the better
it is to dunk,” says Baylor forward
Julius Denton. “One guy I like to
dunk over is Oliver Miller of Arkan
sas. He’s so big and so cocky.”
“It adds flamboyance, flair and
charisma,” says Southern Methodist
coach John Shumate.
“I love it,” says A&M coach John
Thornton. “I think it’s one of the
most exhilarating tilings you can do
to a team — if you can do it.!’
Milam Elementary School 1201 Ridgedale
*
Bryan Court House
Texas Ave & 6th St.
IT'S FREE!
All you need is your Brazos County
Voter's Registration Card
For more information call 361-4124
TODAY
©AY!
Steel Magnolias (PG)
3 Academy Award Nominations
7:00
9:15
Hard to Kill (R)
7:30
9:30
War of the Roses
7:05
9:20
POST OAK THREE
1500 Harvey Road
693-2796
Born On The Fourth Of July (R)
8 Academy Award Nominations
8:00
MADHOUSE (PG-13)
7:30
9:30
NIGHTBREED (R)
7:15
9:15
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR SERIES
Wednesday, February 1
“The Study At}
A Panel Discussion Feat
206-12:30 to 2:00 pm
Experience”
dy Abroad Participants
Thursday, March 8 - Evans Library 204C -12:30 to 2:00 pm
“Eastern Europe’s Transition: The Case of Czechoslovakia
and Romania”
Presentations by:
Dr. Betty Unterberger, Professor, Department of History
Dr. Dinu Giurescu, Visiting Professor, Department of History
Tuesday, March 27 - Rudder Tower 601 -12:00 to 1:30 pm
“Internationalizing Higher Education”
A Presentation By:
Dr. William H. Mobley, President
Texas A&M University
Wednesday, April 4 - Rudder 404 - 12:30 to 2:00 pm
“A Jordan Fellowship - The Experience of a Lifetime”
A Panel Discussion Featuring Former Jordan Fellowship Re
cipients
Tuesday, April 24 - Rudder 504 - 12:30 to 2:00 pm
“The Senior Fulbright Award - A Door To The World”
A Panel Discussion Featuring Former Senior Fulbright Awar
dees
Sponsored By:
THE FACULTY SENATE INTERNATIONAL
PROGRAMS SUBCOMMITTEE
THE OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION
PHI BETA DELTA INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY
“When you’re losing,” says Texas
Tech guard Jerry Mason, “it’s just
another layup.”
Attitudes on altitudes.
Some coaches don’t like the dunk.
Former Texas coach Bob Weltich re
portedly once told a player if he
missed a dunk he should just keep
on running.
Some tolerate it. “I don’t have
anything against a good, solid dunk,
a sound dunk,” says Texas Tech
coach Gerald Myers. “When you go
in double- pumping, twisting, show
ing off, I don’t like it. Maybe the fans
like it.”
Some coaches like it, more so if
their teams could do it. “We’re land
lubbers,” laments Shumate. “My phi
losophy? Don’t miss it.”
Some plain love it. “I think it’s the
greatest shot in basketball,” says Ar
kansas coach Nolan Richardson.
“Any time they have a chance I want
them to flush it.”
It’s fraught with danger. Aside
from the assortment of sprained an
kles and twisted knees — lessened
somewhat because players can pro
tect themselves by hanging on the
rim — Shumate tells of the pickup
game he played as a high school stu
dent oh a New York City play
ground, in which a dunker was un
dercut and fell to the asphalt,
breaking his neck. At Robert Morris
College in 1984, center Roy
“Dunkenstein” Dudley, slamming in
practice, caught two teeth on the net.
Made the dunk, lost the teeth.
But danger’s not why the shot was
banned in the college game in 1967.
With the emergence of giants like
Lew Alcindor, the rule-makers
feared it would become too easy to
lob it inside to the big men, who
would score at will.
In 1976, the dunk was back.
In the Southwest Conference, its
role is mixed. Most teams have dunk
drills, in which the front-line players
practice going strong to the basket,
dunking balls in rapid succession.
Some teams, like SMU and Texas
Tech, don’t have a dunk play in their
Battalion Hie photp
The art of the dunk, Texas A&M style: Former Aggie forward
Winston Crite (left) and current center David Harris (above).
repertoire because they don’t feel
they have anyone who can handle
the job. Houston has four plays.
“But we don’t hardly run them,”
moans Cougars forward Darrell
Mickens.
Most of the dunks you see in the
SWC are on breaks, rebounds and
inside moves. Impromptu stuff. All
the called dunk plays are lob passes
inside. TCU has guard Tony Ed
mond lobbing to the 6-6 Sibley,
whose vertical leap couldn’t be mea
sured, TCU officials say, because
their weight room only has a 12-foot
ceiling.
“The dunk isn’t the hard thing,”
says TCU coach Moe Iba, “it’s get
ting the ball there.”
Assuming a team has a leaner with
control and good hands, me play
works in two situations. Against a
man-to-man defense, the dunker
uses a screen or cutback to break for
the basket. Against a zone, a three-
point threat helps because it spreads
the zone out, making it easier to
screen the middle man in the zone
and free the cutter. And ...
“Somebody has to go to sleep,”
Myers says.
Myers says the best way to deter
the lob is to play the passer. “When
he picks up the dribble,” he says,
“you stick him.”
“It wouldn’t work but about twice
a game. Then teams start scouting it.
Teams hate to be dunked on. They
might spend more time preparing
for stopping the dunk than your of
fense.”
Texas’ fast-break style and three-
point shooting would seem to create
plenty of opportunities for dunks.
But they don’t. Even two of the
teams who aren’t looked at as dtink-
ers have outdunked the Longhorns
in Austin. Texas Tech outslammed
Texas 5-2; Baylor 6-2.
“It’s not really a big dunking con
ference,” Denton says. “It’s a three-
point conference.”
“If you get hot and hit two or
three in a row, you can break some
one’s back,” Tech’s Myers says. “I
think the three-pointer is replacing
the dunk as the home run of basket
ball.”
‘T he other night we had a kid hit
nine (three-pointers),” Iba says. “It
changed the ballgame around. The
dunk is still a two-point shot.”
“The dunk doesn’t hurt as much
as it used to,” Texas coach Tom Pen
ders says. “The three-point basket
hurts more. We teach our kids that,
if someone dunks, to just blow back
down the floor while they’re cele
brating. In New York it seems a
good pass is just as important (as a
dunk). It may even drav^ more
cheers.”
Enough. That’s mostly coaches
talking. Listen to a player’s opinion.
“I think it’s still the dunk,” saji
Blanks, who sports “U Dunk F
plates on his black Corvette. “Well
damn. I don’t know. It’s close.
“Not as much stakes rides on tk
three. The three has not yet readied
the level of the dunk in terms ofes
citement. People say, ‘So what, lit
missed the three — it’s a 20-fooi
shot.’ The dunk is as sure as rain
When you miss, that’s when even
one goes crazy.”
Won’t anyone speak out positive!)
for the dunk? Yeah, you with tlie
polka dot hankie.
“The three-point shot is a nice
play, but people don’t get as excited
as when you flush.it,” Richardson
says. “They have signs for it. Lookat
Louisville — they’re getting KS pet-
cent of their figto!goals from dunks
Eighteen percent!”
Seventeen percent is the actual
figure — that’s still a little better
than one in six baskets — and it's
enough for fans on the loge level at
Freedom Hall to display cardboard
‘D’s at a record rate this season.
SWC teams aren’t that prolific,®
if they are, nobody’s counting. TCI
is the only conference school that
keeps track of dunks. Houston did
before Phi Slamma Jarnma wasdeac
tivated and Tech also did at one
time. Most don’t because their com
puter programs for statistics don't
include a category for dunks.
Branch fired
from coaching
at Lamar
Valvano contract buyout possible
BEAUMONT (AP) — Tony
Branch, who had a 7-21 season and
an overall mark of 19-37, was fired
as Lamar University head basketball
coach on Monday with two years re
maining on his contract.
Dr. Billy Franklin, university pres
ident, said, “We will be working with
him in the next couple of days con
cerning his future relationship with
the university.”
Franklin said in two years under-
Branch “things have not developed
as quickly as our program needed
them to happen. Coach Branch has
ed nil
conducted himself professionally
and has recruited student athletes
who have represented this university
responsibly.
“The program has not shown the
kind of improvement that one ex
pects in the second year. As the cen
terpiece of the university’s athletic
program, basketball requires major
improvement, and it must be accom
plished on a fa^t track without com
promising the program’s integrity,”
Franklin said.
The school hopes to name a new
coach by the end of March.
“Since our athletic director’s posi
tion is open (Dr. Sonny Jolly re
signed in January), as we recruit for
a basketball coach, if we find an indi
vidual who could fill both positions,
then that option is available,” Frank
lin said.
“We will put together a small
group of people as soon as possible
to assist us in the recruitment for the
head-coaching job.”
Branch, 32, replaced Tom Abate-
marco in April 1988 when Abate-
marco went to Drake University.
Branch has been an assistant at
Lamar, Tulsa, Purdue University,
Manhattan College and the Univer
sity of Louisville.
He was co-captain of Louisville’s
1980 national championship team.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Coach Jim Valvano’s lawyer
left North Carolina State Monday after proposing a
contract buyout labeled as “very difficult” by one uni
versity official wrestling with allegations of point-shav-
ing.
Art Kaminsky, Valvano’s attorney and agent, re
turned to New York after discussions over the weekend
with N.C. State officials of a possible buyout of Valva
no’s contract. Valvano has not been personally impli
cated in allegations that some of his players shaved
points for money, but has come under fire to step down
as head coach.
Valvano said he had not met with school officials to
discuss his contract on Monday.
“I have not been involved in any discussions, and
there weren’t any today,” he said, heading into practice
Monday afternoon at Reynolds Coliseum.
Junior guards Chris Corchiani and Rodney Monroe
said N.C. State counsel Becky French met with Wolf-
pack players Monday, but they would not discuss the
meeting.
“That was just between the school and players,” Cor
chiani said.
He said he would consider leaving N.C. State if Val
vano leaves.
“I would definitely have to reevaluate my situation,”
Corchiani said. “You play for a university and you’re
used to its support. And when you see your coach not
getting that kind of support, you wonder if it’s all worth
it.”
Calls for Valvano’s dismissal began after ABC News
reported last week that four players conspired to fix as
many as four games during the 1987-88 basketball sea
son. That report came after an admission by former
Wolfpack center Charles Shackleford that he accepted
nearly $65,000 while a student, in violation of NCAA
rules.
Shackleford has denied any role in point-shaving.
And Valvano insists he knew nothing of point-shaving
or improper payments.
“Mr. Kaminsky had come to Raleigh, requested to
meet with the university officials concerning the possi
bility of Mr. Valvano’s resignation, and he presented a
proposal to the university which was veiy difficult lor
us to respond to,” said George Worsley, vice chancelloi
for business and finance.
Valvano attended his team’s practice Monday, but
said only that he hasn’t been involved in any discussion!
about his contract.
Worsley would not say how much money Kaminsb
proposed to settle Valvano’s contract. The contract in
cludes a buyout provision that requires the universityto
pay Valvano $500,()()() if he is dismissed for anything
short of a felony conviction or a finding that lie person
ally was responsible for a major NCAA violation.
Sources close to the negotiations said the school isle-
gaily obligated to pay Valvano $875,000 if he is fired ot
asked to step down. The Charlotte Observer reported
Monday. Kaminsky has proposed a settlement of be
tween $500,000 and $600,000 and that the school has
offered $106,000, the coach’s base salary for one year,
the newspaper said. The newspaper also said Valvanou
due $250,000 from a Wolfpack Club trust fund anda
$ 125,000 annuity.
Worsley would not comment on the report or sat
what amount would be acceptable to school officials.
“The university has a very straightforward contract
he said. “I don’t recall the contract mentioning any an
nuity ... (the $500,000 buyout) would only come about
if Mr. Valvano is terminated. There’s been no dis
cussion with Mr. Kaminsky about terminating Mr. Val
vano’s contract.”
The contract allows Valvano to terminate it during
the 30-day period after the regular basketball season
ends. But it requires him to pay the school $500,000ii
he leaves to coach in the NBA or at a Division I basket
ball program.
Worsley said no further contract talks were sched-
tded with Kaminsky or Valvano.
“I’m planning to go to the Atlantic Coast Conference
tournament, and Mr. Valvano’s planning to coach
Worsley said. The basketball -tournament opens Frida)
in Charlotte.
Despite calls for Valvano to resign, Valvano’s sup
porters said he should stay at N.C. State.
Ch.
Sa
KRESS
thousar
tires an
lot of gi
pretty n
cept the
But 1
Bunny
little rac
Rank
ampng
Bunny
shining
the stel
Stallior
breedin
“He \
alive,” f
equestri
siring hi
Bunn
i he ch<
foals ar
winners
But it
perforrr
>ng enth
"He i
stood at
there’ve
standim
In 10
finish li
times a;
earning:
One c
ended t
SPORTS
Only the Battalion has sports writer Vince Snyder, and only
you can read his stirring thoughts on the sports world.
Whether it’s horseshoes or high jumps, Snyder’s your man.
Read his column in Wednesday’s Battalion.
1