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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 1993)
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B7 Texas A&M basketball schedules Men November 16 Red Army* 28 Bucknell December 1 Kansas State (Prime-TV) 6 Montana State 8 Nevada-Las Vegas 18 Nothwestem 20 Texas Southern 22 Seton Hail (Prime-TV) 30 Loyola Marymount Januaru 3 Soutn Alabama 5 Northern lUinois 12 Texas 16 Rice (ESPN2) 19 Houston 22 Siena 25 TCU (Prime-TV) 29 SMU (Raycom-TV) February 2 Baylor 5 Texas Tech (Raycom-TV) 9 Oral Roberts 12 Texas (Raycom-TV) 16 Houston 20 Rice (ESPN2) 23 TCU 27 SMU (ESPN2) March 1 Baylor (Prime-TV) 5 Texas Tech 10-12 SWC Postseason Classic (Prime, Raycom, ESPN-TV) *Pre-season game Women November 18 VSS Kosice Slavakia* 20 Houston Flight* 27 Arizona State 30 Texas Southern December 4-5 Lady Aggie Invitational (U. of Portland, Cincinnati and Missouri-Kansas City) 7 Lamar 18 Oklahoma 21 Califomia-Irvine 29 Louisiana State 31 Tulane January 3 Oklahoma State 11 Texas 15 Rice 19 Houston 23 Sacramento State 26 TCU 29 SMU February 2 Baylor 5 Texas Tech (Prime-TV) 9 Texas 12 Rice (Prime-TV) 16 Houston 18 Oral Roberts 23 TCU 26 SMU March 2 Baylor 5 Texas Tech 11-13 SWC Tournament — Bold letters denote home games ITS COMMA BE A GREAT YEAR TC.ftOUlE/ Southwest Conference Coaches Men 1. Texas 2. Texas A&M 3. Baylor 4. Houston 5. Texas Tech 6. Rice 7. TCU 8. SMU Women 1. Texas Tech 2. Texas 3. SMU Texas A&M 5. Houston 6. Baylor 7. Rice TCU Associated Press National Men 1. North Carolina (61)* 2. Kentucky (3) 3. Arkansas 4. Duke 5. Michigan 6. California 7. Louisville 8. Temple 9. Kansas (1) 10. Minnesota 11. Oklahoma State 12. Indiana 13. UCLA 14. Georgia Tech 15. Georgetown 16. Virginia 17. Illinois 18. Arizona 19. Cincinnati 20. Syracuse 21. Purdue 22. Massachusetts 23. Vanderbilt 24. George Washington 25. Florida State Women 1. Tennessee (34) 2. Vanderbilt (34) 3. Iowa (2) 4. Louisiana Tech (1) 5. Auburn 6. Stanford 7. Penn State 8. Ohio State 9. North Carolina 10. Virginia 11. Southern Cal 12. Colorado 13. Western Kentucky 14. Texas Tech 15. Stephen F. Austin 16. Kansas 17. Georgia 18. Connecticut 19. Alabama 20. SW Missouri State 21. George Washington 22. Mississippi 23. Maryland 24. Oklahoma State 25. Purdue Others receiving votes: Wisconsin, Marquette, Northwestern, Texas, Xavier, Ohio State, Texas Washington, Clemson * parenthesis denotes first place votes College hoops hype begins bevy of basketball Y es, folks, it's that time of the sports year again. In gyms across the country, players are running wind sprints, practicing their turnaround jumpers, shooting free throws and working on the pick-and-roll. Broadcasters Dick Vitale and Billy Packer are filling out their All-American teams and ex changing hair growth tonics. As of October 31, the 1993-94 college basket ball season has begun. When we last checked in on the college bas ketball front, North Carolina won a dramatic 77-71 championship game over Michigan to take the men's title, while Texas Tech rode the shoulders of Sheryl Swoopes to an 84-82 win over Ohio State in the women's championship. Whether or not either team can repeat is subject to debate, but that sort of conjecture is what the preseason is for. During the off-season, there were two little-publicized but very impor tant rule changes made in men's col lege basketball. The shot clock has been reduced from 45 to 35 seconds per possession, which should mean an extra 15 to 20 shots per game. Any way you cut it, the men's game is going to be played at a faster pace this year because of the shortened clock. Bench strength and speed will be even more important than they already are. Teams that have quality depth to back up the starters will also benefit from this change. The change would immediately seem to favor teams which play a up tempo, pressure-oriented style, a la Kentucky, UNLV and Arkansas. An other change from last season, one that will also affect the women's game, is that in the last minute of the game, the clock will be stopped after a made bas ket and restarted when the ball is in- bounded. Previously, a team with no timeouts at the end of a game was at a serious disadvantage because the other team could hold the ball out of bounds while the clock continued to run. This will no longer be the case. This change will give each team more possessions at the end of a game, which in turn could lead to more buzzer-beating fin ishes. These endings are college bas ketball's lifeblood. Each season, there seems to be one team that is head and shoulders above the rest and the others spend all sea son trying to knock this Goliath off. This year. North Carolina appears to be that team. Four starters return from last year's champions, including center Eric Montross and guards Derrick Phelps and Donald Williams. The Tar Heels also have quality depth at every position and brought in a fantastic freshman class. All of the pieces are in place for a second straight title, but the great thing about college basketball is that nothing ever goes as planned. Who could have forecast N.C. State winning it all in 1983? Or Villanova in 1985? All it takes is for a team to come together at the right time and anything can happen. However, in basketball more so than any other team sport, one player can mean the difference between mediocrity and excellence. Sheryl Swoopes was a perfect ex ample of this. Her ability to score, re bound and pass forced the opposition to double-team Swoopes constantly, which left teammates open for easy scoring chances. Without Swoopes, Texas Tech would have been a good team, but not NCAA champions. The Red Raiders will find out exactly how much they'll miss her this season. Perhaps the one thing that sepa rates college basketball from college football in popularity is the post-sea- son NCAA Tournament. It gives teams which may not have had great regular seasons a chance to prove just how good they are. Unlike football, the basketball tour nament forgives early season stumbles and rewards a team that plays a diffi cult schedule with a shot at the title, assuming the team has a somewhat decent record. It also gives teams from small conferences the opportunity, however slim it may be, to win a na tional title. More often than not, these smaller schools get beaten in the first round, but the excitement that is generated by a Santa Clara beating Arizona in last season's March Madness is what makes the tournament great. Beginning on November 17 with the preseason NIT and ending on April 3 and 4 with the women's and men's title games, this college basket ball season promises to be a great one. With the rule changes that have been implemented, it should be differ ent from any season in recent years. Can North Carolina and Texas Tech repeat? Will Michigan finish second for a third straight year? Will Dick Vi tale shut up long enough to take a deep breath? These questions and many others will be answered in the months to i come. Let the games begin. WILLIE CORRINGTON Sportswriter