The Cavalier daily :: Tuesday, November 25, 1969 :: University of Virginia Library

Try to remember the time in
December '68 when Virginia's
Cavaliers opened with an
eye-popping 113-92 upset of
Southern Conference dark horse
Richmond. Then, after a narrow
loss to unbeaten George Washington,
eventual runner-up to Davidson
in the SC, the lightly regarded
Cavaliers knocked off undefeated
South Carolina and once-beaten
Duke consecutively.

Hope was building. It looked as
if Virginia might wind up with its
first winning season in 16 long
years. Already Bill Gibson, off to
his "best start," was being touted
for ACC Coach of the Year, Tony
Kinn was everybody's hero, Storm-in'
Norman Carmichael was Charlottesville's
best boxer and Frank
McGuire was a wet chicken. And
what's more, long dormant fans,
not just spectators, came out of
hibernation and began rooting for
the Cavaliers. Some even said they
"couldn't wait" for Co-Captain
Chip Case, hurt in the initial minute
of the GW loss, to return to the
lineup so Virginia could "really get
good."

But the Cavaliers never were
destined to "really get good" as a
combination of injuries, loss of key
personnel, team dissension, a
devastating 91-61 loss to UNC and
the nation's 15th toughest schedule
too its toll and Virginia wound up
with a mediocre 10-15 ledger, still
the best record in six years of
Coach Gibson's reign.

This year it looks as if the
Cagers will once again have a sure
shot at the national rankings. All
they have to do is bump off
Georgia Tech, Duke, South Carolina
and UNC in its first six games
and go, maybe, 5-1 (accounting of
course for the normal upset of
nationally ranked teams by some
nonentity such as VMI or Penn).

Unfortunately, Coach Gibson's
charges will only be favored in one
or, possibly, two of its first six
games. The Cavaliers, according to
pre-season predictions, will be
favored in no more than six of their
scheduled games this season. But
the situation is nearly identical to
that of last winter, and, with
another good opener, perhaps the
cagers can put together a reasonable
facsimile of last year's start. The
first chance to quell or compound
this quandary of sorts will come on
December 1 when the Cagers travel
to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech,
where they will assume the role of
the underdog.

The Yellow Jackets return four
starters from last year's 12-13
squad, including 6-9 center Rich
Yunkus who is already rated the
best big man in Georgia Tech
history. As a sophomore last year
Yunkus led the team in scoring and
rebounding with 24.1 points and 11
rebounds per game.