The Week January 4-10

EAST

Either Penn or Princeton has won the past 13 Ivy League titles, but if last weekend was any indication that domination may be coming to an end. Previously winless Brown knocked off the Quakers 76-75 and then the Tigers 58-53 in Providence. Ira James scored the Bruins' last six points against Penn, and Steve Bowman made his first five second-half shots to open up a 40-34 cushion that Princeton couldn't overcome. "We had no doubts we'd pull off a big win sooner or later," said Brown's rookie Coach Mike Cingiser, whose team had lost 11 straight. "The team never lost confidence during the long losing streak. They actually looked forward to this weekend for the past week."

St. John's, which had inched into the national rankings, was humiliated 74-42 by Georgetown as a capacity crowd of 19,591 at Madison Square Garden made what The New York Times described as "the buzzing sound that comes when many people find it difficult to believe what they have just seen." St. John's trailed 41-9 after 14:35 as Coach Lou Carnesecca, not known for his glacial calm, sat in silent awe of the Hoyas—most notably, Guard Eric Floyd (16 points), freshman Center Pat Ewing (nine points, six rebounds) and the preparation of Coach John Thompson. "That was one of the great, great games," Carnesecca said. "If a coach wanted to have a perfect game, that would be Georgetown's: passing, screening, defending, quickness, you mention it." In the nightcap of that evening's Garden doubleheader, Wichita State crushed Iona 97-78, but the victory, like another Shocker win during the week, was obscured by speculation that the school was about to be penalized by the NCAA for recruiting violations. "We're not going to deflate the air in the basketballs," said Athletic Director Ted Bredehoft. "We're not going to decrease the price of the basketball season tickets. Not even a Kansas tornado could set us back."

Two other perennial powers, Notre Dame and Louisville, received rough treatment in the East. The Irish, slipping to 2-8 for the season, lost at LaSalle (66-61) and Virginia (87-54); the Cardinals were upset 75-74 at Virginia Tech. Calvin Oldham scored with two seconds left to account for Tech's margin of victory, but Louisville had a hand in its own demise by missing the front end of four one-and-ones in the last 2:24. "If you can't make free throws, you don't deserve to win," said Louisville Coach Denny Crum, whose Cardinals lead the Metro Conference in missed free throws. "These are major-college players. They should be able to make free throws. If we make them, we win easy."

Villanova remained unbeaten in the Big East—but barely. Getting assists from the bench, the Wildcats beat Boston College 54-53 and Syracuse 84-83 in overtime. Having been demoted to eighth man because of his .393 shooting, erstwhile starter Frank (Happy) Dobbs regained both his touch and his nickname by making seven of eight outside shots in the first half against BC. Gary McLain sealed the win with two free throws at 0:21. With Wildcat scoring leader Stewart Granger missing his first six shots and star Center John Pinone fouling out against Syracuse, Villanova turned to Aaron Howard, who sank an 18-footer to force the game into OT. Whereupon Granger made a basket and two free throws. "Even if I miss one, two or three shots, I'm the kind of player who'll keep shooting," he said. "I just kept calm. I knew they would start dropping."

San Francisco defeated South Carolina 72-71 in a bizarre overtime game. With the score tied at 69 and San Francisco holding the ball for a last shot, Referee Frank Buckiewicz warned the Gamecocks for refusing to come out of their 2-3 zone and put pressure on the ball. Only one player, Guard Gerald Peacock, defended aggressively, and with 11 seconds left, Buckiewicz called a technical foul, causing South Carolina Coach Bill Foster to blow sky-high. USF's Eric Slaymaker sank the free throw resulting from the technical, and with eight seconds left, he made two foul shots. The Gamecocks got a basket with two seconds to go; then the Dons used up the remaining time by deliberately throwing an inbounds pass off the back of Gamecock Jimmy Hawthorne and letting the ball roll out of bounds. Stunned by the play and enraged by the refereeing, Foster rushed onto the floor. In the ensuing welter of coaches and law enforcement officials, Foster and his San Francisco counterpart, Peter Barry, nearly came to blows. "The problem was that there were some people with differences of opinion," said Barry.

While North Carolina and Virginia were competing for No. 1 in the polls (page 26), another ACC power, North Carolina State, beat Southern Mississippi 46-45 and Georgia Tech 55-49 with clutch play in the closing seconds. Dereck Whittenburg's free throw with 0:02 left defeated the Golden Eagles, and Thurl Bailey's dunk at 0:25 clinched the victory over the Yellow Jackets.

Louisiana Tech, top-ranked in women's basketball, beat No. 2 South Carolina 71-58. In winning their 47th straight, the Lady Techsters, 13-0 this season, were paced by Pam Kelly's 14 points and 10 rebounds. The exhausted Lady Gamecocks, who were outrebounded 45-25, were playing their fourth game in six days since the controversial departure of Coach Pam Parsons, who had been replaced by her assistant, Terry Kelly.

MIDEAST

Early indications from the Big Ten are that the league will have another of the topsy-turvy races that have been its trademark in recent seasons. In the opening week of conference play, the defending national champions were beaten twice, one winning team was outshot 56-33, another didn't make a field goal for more than 13 minutes, one player had a two-point game and then a 34-point game, and coaches displayed early signs of tournament temper.