The Top 20

In Coach Ray Mears" scheme of things, King plays the high post and Grunfeld the left wing. Senior Doug Ashworth did a creditable job at the low post last year, but another New York recruit, 6'9", 225-pound freshman Irv Chatman, is being counted on to take over at that spot by midseason. Chatman wears 40-inch sleeves and has a 9�-foot arm span. The starting job at right wing also is being contested, and that is hard to believe because last season junior Mike Jackson shot 51%. But his rival, Terry Crosby, is no ordinary freshman. Crosby, 6'4" and 205 pounds, works the ball back and forth between his legs while he tries to decide which of his many moves to use. The little man being asked to run the show is 5'10" freshman Johnny Darden who, surprise, is a native Tennessean.

Their 103-98 victory over Kentucky last year was the kind of performance the Vols are capable of delivering regularly now. King had 20 rebounds to go with 24 points, Grunfeld scored 29, Jackson poured in 24 and Ashworth added 12 points and nine rebounds. Tennessee should be a Big Orange Menace.

5 MARYLAND

So which team has a secret service offense, employs the coach with the highest rankings in college basketball and knows the answer to that age-old question: What is a terrapin? If you answered the University of Maryland, proceed directly to Largo, Md.—if you can find it—and wait for the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament to arrive.

This is a team with more good guards than President Ford. Coach Lefty Driesell usually starts three of them: seniors John Lucas and Mo Howard and sophomore Brad Davis, a passer so accurate he could toss a basketball into a milk bottle.

In case you haven't noticed, Driesell's club finally has arrived as the UCLA of the East, a phrase that now has been translated into 17 languages. Lefty has had more teams (seven) ranked in the Top 10 than any active coach.

This year he should get No. 8, and in honor of that the Terrapins should hold a contest for a new nickname, because they are anything but turtles. With its three-guard offense, Maryland runs a layup drill the entire game. That is a major reason the Terps set an NCAA shooting percentage record last season when they hit .547 from the floor. Most teams' best shooter does not do that well. Lucas (.549), Howard (.565) and Davis (.580) all beat the team mark. Lucas was Maryland's leading scorer at 19.5 points per game, followed by Steve Sheppard (14.3), even though the muscular 6'6" forward started only about half of the time. Another returnee is 6'9" sophomore Chris Patton, who is recovering from a fractured wrist.

And there are a bunch of new faces, including Larry Gibson, a 6'10" freshman with a reputation for toughness, James Tillman, a District of Columbia product who is an extraordinary jumper, and Larry Boston, a 6'8" junior college transfer.

The Terps lost a lot of rebounding with the graduation of Tom Roy and Owen Brown, who were the main reasons Maryland was able to play three shorties at the same time. But Driesell is not overly concerned. In his 15-year coaching career, he never has had a team outrebounded over a season.

Last year the Terps were 24-5 and won the ACC regular-season championship, accomplishments they should repeat with four-year-starter Lucas settled in as the team leader. They will have ample time to work in the new recruits at a leisurely pace; Maryland plays nine of its first 10 games at home, most of them against opponents whose team symbols should be lilies. Then the Terps move into ACC play with an eye on the conference tournament, an event Maryland always seems to find a way to lose. This year, happily, it will be held for the first time at nearby Largo. To find it, go to College Park and ask someone.