University of Virginia Library

17-48 In 58 Years

Cagers Meet Duke

By Winston Wood
Cavalier Daily Staff Cynic

The 66th game in a basketball
rivalry that stretches back to 1911,
Virginia and Duke will open their
1969 ACC schedules down in
Durham Saturday evening at 8 p.m.
in Duke Indoor Stadium. Having
won only 17 of those 66 games
with the Blue Devils, the Cavaliers'
chances of repeating last year's
81-75 upset in the premier game of
the '68 season are infinitesimal
considering the state of Virginia
basketball right now.

Fresh from a 72-49 drubbing at
the hands of southern independent
Georgia Tech, the Cavaliers will be
hard pressed to come up with a win
over the ACC dark horse Blue
Devils.

Duke is led by three of the
finest ball handlers in the conference
this year in 6-10 Randy
Denton, 6-7 Rick Katherman, and
5-10 Dick DeVenzio. In an unimpressive
debut against VPI Monday
they squeaked by the Hokies,
66-63, in two overtime periods of
stolen passes, missed shots, and
frequent turnovers. Their three big
men Denton, DeVenzio, and Katherman
took 90 per cent of the
shots, with Denton Icing it with a
three point play.

Under new head coach Bucky
Waters, the Blue Devils weren't
given much of a chance by the
oddsmakers to do a lot of damage
in the ACC this year, which many
consider to be the toughest league
in the nation. However, with
percentage shooters like DeVenzio
and Katherman they cannot be
discounted as favorites Saturday
night.

Virginia, on the other hand,
doesn't have such a trio of exceptional
ball handlers, and the odds-makers
didn't give the Cavaliers a
snowball's chance in Hades to win
more than four games this season.
As a team they have little actual
game experience and are consistent
only in that they will be consistently
the underdog.

One bright spot that arises from
all the pre-season gloom is guard
Kevin Kenelly, who Coach Gibson
credits with a great performance
against Georgia Tech. Teaming up
with Chip Case in the backcourt, he
should take up some of the slack
left by graduation losses.

Gibson was "fairly pleased"
with the game against the Yellow
Jackets, especially the first 17½
minutes. After that, in the closing
minutes of the first half, according
to Gibson, the Cavaliers lost their
poise. In the second period they
were forced to play catch-up
basketball, but because of cold
shooting and frequent turnovers
they couldn't come back, to win it.

Against Duke tomorrow night,
Gibson intends to use the same
game plan of patterned offense and
slow, steady ball control that
backfired down in Atlanta Monday.