The Cavalier daily :: Wednesday, February 23, 1972 :: University of Virginia Library

Four fourth-yearmen who
have seen the Cavalier
basketball program ascend
from its nadir to the upper
echelons of the ACC and
national rankings this year,
play their last home game
against Pittsburgh, tonight, at
8:00.

Scott McCandlish, coming
off a dramatic performance
against Clemson, Monday, has
started each game for the
Cavaliers during the past three
years, setting a school
rebounding record along the
way. Tim Rash and Frank
DeWitt are two-year starters
and, with classmate Chip
Miller, the group has been
instrumental in the
resurrection of the program
during the past three years.

Followers of Cavalier
roundball fortunes will
remember three years ago
when McCandlish, Rash,
DeWitt and Miller joined Bill
Gerry to play the entire game
as the Wahoos upset Duke,
61-57. It was only the second
ACC win of the season, but
the Cavaliers went on to stun
North Carolina, 95-93, in the
first round of the tournament
and almost defeated eventual
champ N. C. State in the
semifinals.

The four will join forces in
the starting lineup for only the
second time ever, tonight, as
the Cavaliers seek their first
twenty-win season. Pitt has
won only 10 of 20 games so
far but upset wins over West
Virginia and Davidson prove
that the Panthers bear
watching. In a ceremony
before the game, the Wahoo
seniors will be presented a
plague by president of the
college Tom Bagby. Bagby,
incidentally, was the fifth man
on the first year team with the
players to be recognized.

Coached by Buzz Ridl, now
in his fourth season at the
school, the Panthers are led by
6-6 forward Bill Knight, a
sophomore who leads the club
in the vital categories of
scoring, rebounding and field
goal percentage. Academically
ineligible last season, the
ex-high school All-American
hits 54% from the field and
has a scoring average of 21.2.

Mickey Martin, a 6-5
forward, and Bill Sulkowski, a
6-8 center, join Knight up
front. Last year's freshmen
high scorer, Martin came off
the bench to start the last two
games, scoring 26 points
against Syracuse and 17
against Temple. The Panthers
dropped Syracuse, 109-99, but
fell to the Owls, 89-74. Martin,
oddly enough, had seen little
playing time up until last
week.

Sulkowski only recently
gained a starting berth also.
Coach Ridl's strategy early in
the season was to go with
experience but center Paul
O'Gorek and guard Cleveland
Williams, both of whom had
been seeing extensive duty,
were demoted during a recent
upheaval. With little hope of
improving on last year's 14-10
ledger, Ridl has lately gone to
some of his younger players.

Guards Kent Scott and Mike
Paul are two players that have
withstood the shakedown. The
big gun on last year's squad,
Scott chips in 16.9 a game this
season. Paul started the season
as a forward, but the advent of
Martin in the starting lineup
moved him to the outside.
Paul also shoots in double
figures hitting 11.5 points a
game.

Obviously, with the seven
people mentioned above, Pitt
has the raw talent to compete
strongly with many teams.
Consistency, however, seems
to be the Panthers' chief flaw
as they rarely have been able
to put good games back to
back. Despite an impressive
91-76 win over West Virginia
and a 91-78 triumph at
Davidson, Pitt has been unable
to beat the North Carolinas
and Princetons that grace its
schedule.

Shifting their lineup for the
second time in three games,
the Cavaliers will start Miller in
place of Jim Hobgood, who is
still not fully recovered from
an injury to his heel. As much
a reward to Miller for his
contributions during three
years on the varsity, the
substitution enables Hobgood
to rest up for more important
league games as the schedule
comes to a close.

The team returned to full
manpower against Clemson, as
Bob McKeag appears to be
shaking off the effects of a
bone injury. Hobgood's injury
should not keep him from
playing and a good showing
against the Panthers could well
give the team the extra
confidence it needs in facing
UNC, Maryland, and the ACC
Tournament in the next three
weeks.