The Cavalier daily :: Monday, December 18, 1972 :: University of Virginia Library

INASMUCH AS NOTHING SHATTERING happened on
the Charlottesville basketball beat this weekend, much local
attention was focused on other games around the country that
had more bearing on national basketball than the
Virginia-William & Mary clash.

Of primary interest was the Big Four Tournament, held in
Greensboro, N.C. Each December the four ACC powers in
North Carolina get together and unofficially decide who
is the best among them Last year, it worked fairly well N.C.
State beat Duke in the first round and North Carolina romped
over Wake Forest. In the finals the Tar Heels crushed the
Wolfpack, 99-68, thus establishing a superiority over the
league that was to last all season.

THIS TIME AROUND THE TOURNAMENT HAD
MUCH TO SHOW, David Thompson, the 6-4 sophomore
sensation who is leading both league and nation in scoring
among other things, was to make his debut against league foes.
Joining Thompson were Tom Burleson, first team All-ACC last
year and an Olympian last summer, diminutive backcourt star
Monty Towe, steady guard Joe Cafferky and JUCO transfer
Greg Hawkins. Besides these five there was Rick Holdt, a
clutch shooter for the first 39 minutes of any game.

After Sports Illustrated had given the Pack a joke award for
the "most dogs" on a college schedule,N.C. State coach Norm
Sloan was to reiterate that several times he had invited the
UCLAs, Marquettes, et. al. to Raleigh's Reynold's Coliseum
but had in effect been asked, "who are you?"

THAT'S ONE QUESTION DEAN SMITH WILL NEVER
ASK Norm Sloan. The Heels won the league championship last
year but the Pack has always been a thorn in their side.
Indeed, N.C. State upset North Carolina in the second round
of the 1970 ACC tournament and went on to topple South
Carolina, 42-39, in double overtime in the finals.

The Big Four this year was to determine who is at least
temporarily better. Friday night, in the preliminary games,
Wake Forest kept after the Wolfpack all game but still
succumed, 88-83. Duke, vastly improved this year (but who
isn't), led the Heels for most of their tilt, but North Carolina
broke an 86-86 deadlock with just over a minute to go, and
held on to topple the Devils, 91-86.

Around about nine the big game took place. Before the
game you might have been led to expect two outcomes: a
North Carolina win by a narrow margin after a close game
dominated by the young Wolfpack's mistakes, or a North
Carolina State romp that would clearly establish once and for
all the new order in the ACC.

THE HEELS, NOT SURPRISINGLY, took the early lead,
29-26. Mr. Sloan gushed after the game, "I've never seen such
effort and such a low score" The lead was North Carolina's
until with 8:18, who else but David Thompson hit a Jumper to
give the Pack a 51-49 lead that it was not to forfeit. The final
score, 68-61, was not included in my list of possibilities above.
The fact that the Pack kept a cool head in a close ball game
with the best team in the league (going on past record) is both
impressive and sad. Impressive for N.C. State fans and sad for
the rest of the league.

Thompson, for the first time so far this year, was stopped.
The Shelby, N.C. flash only had 19 points, best for his team,
but far below his 34-point average. Bobby Jones and
sophomore Ed Stahl, subbing for the injured Donald
Washington, had 18 an 16 points. Dean Smith, polite in defeat,
complimented the Pack, "They played a great second half.
Now I know why they're ranked so high".

PRINCETON, THAT MYSTERY TEAM that beat
Virginia, Davidson and tough Rutgers and lost to Villanova
and Penn State had another surprising weekend. Pete Carril,
who admittedly loathes the stall, employed one against Florida
State, the second-ranked team in the country, and came away
the victor in a 61-59 slowdown. It kind of makes you feel
better about Princeton's triumph over the Cavaliers but, now
you find out that Marshall's Thundering Herd smashed the
Tigers, 78-64, Saturday, and you're right back where you
started. How good is Virginia and how good is Princeton?

The first answer is easy. Virginia is presently good enough
to have beatenW&L, VMI, Wake Forest and William & Mary. It
makes the same mistakes that it has made all year, Barry
Parkhill has shot poorly all season, Lanny Stahurski is no
solution to the Cavaliers' height problems and Gus Gerard has
yet to have a second half any way similar to any of his first
halves. Personally, I didn't like the way the 'Hoos played
Saturday, but I'm not foolish enough to think that a team that
won 10 of its 21 wins by 10 points or less last year, has to play
any better than it has to in order to win.