University of Virginia Library

On The Inside

State Hurdles
Another Obstacle

From Doug Doughty

IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE anyone who was seriously
surprised by the outcome of Saturday afternoon's contest
between N.C. State and the University down in Raleigh. Sure,
the margin of victory was just a scant five points and could
quite easily have been only one. But the fact remains that the
Wolfpack hurdled one of the last obstacles in the way of an
ACC regular-season championship.

Why are the Wolfpack so good?It's generally realized that
David Thompson is the number one sophomore in the country
and that he is the pivot around which a mediocre team (16-10
last year) has become the second best and, who knows, maybe
even the best team in the country.

BUT THOMPSON IS NOT THE ONLY KEY to North
Carolina State's success. First of all, there's tall Tommy
Burleson. Burleson, measuring about 7-3, led the conference in
rebounding last year and was second to Barry Parkhill in
scoring. He's ahead in rebounding again and is fast approaching
a spot in the top five in scoring, despite relinquishing much of
the offensive responsibility to Thompson. Even when he
doesn't produce (only 14 points, one rebound) he's nice to
have around Lanny Stahurski, the Virginia center who's
matched up against Burleson several times, said after the game;
"He's pretty intimidating just being there."

Coach Norm Sloan also has some other pretty fine
basketball players on his club, the guards Joe Cafferky, Craig
Kuszmaul and Mark Moeller, and forwards Rick Holdt and
Greg Hawkins. But the one player on his club you have to fear
the most is the least awesome. "Monte is our MVP" said
Thompson earlier in the year and it is not difficult to see that
5-6 Monte Towe is what makes the Wolfpack run. His
ball-hawking Saturday was costly to the Cavaliers in the early
part of the game and his long-range shooting prevented a
comeback around halftime. His feats in the first Virginia-State
matchup are almost legendary. Playing with a broken nose,
Towe almost beat the Cavaliers singlehandedly.

DESPITE THE PLAY OF TOWE, BURLESON AND
THOMPSON, the best player out on the court Saturday was
Parkhill. Coach Gibson has often said, "there's no other team
in the country on which a player has to do as much as Barry
Parkhill." This statement is unquestionable. Parkhill easily
handled the ball four times as much as any other Virginia
player Saturday and made a shambles of the State press as he
brought the ball upcourt flawlessly.

There was much talk about something which the big city
newspapermen, notably Paul Attner of The Washington Post,
called the "slump". Made out to be something like the
bubonic plague, the "slump" was defined as the sub-40 per
cent shooting of Parkhill and Charlottesville was supposedly
dumbstruck over developments in Parkhill's shooting. Well,
Mr. Attner, the "slump" is now officially over. Parkhill hit
eight of 18 against both Clemson and West Virginia (six of
seven in the second half) and nine of 16 against the Pack. For
my money, with the Cavs running their spread offense
Saturday, I would have been perfectly content to sit back and
watch Parkhill take every single shot.

PROBABLY THE BEST THING YOU CAN SAY about
Parkhill's play Saturday was that State coaches assigned no less
than four men to Parkhill at one time or another and not a one
succeeded against the Cavaliers' "pistol". Joe Cafferky had
four fouls while covering BP, Mark Moeller three, Craig
Kuszmaul three and, when he had no choice, Sloan put
Thompson on Parkhill the last 2:45 of the ball game.
Thompson fouled Parkhill twice and allowed five points.

ONE OF THE DECISIONS THAT COACH GIBSON will
have to make after the State game is what to do with Andrew
Boninti. Boninti played the last four minutes of the first half
and started (a first) and played the entire second half. In that
space of time, Boninti made six of six shots from the field, six
of seven from the line, had three steals and committed only
two turnovers. The 6-3 second-year man didn't play much
against North Carolina but said after the game when asked
about it, "it was a big game and, you know, I usually come in
and have a couple of turnovers." Only two turnovers in 24
minutes was just one of Boninti's astonishing feats Saturday.

TUESDAY NIGHT AGAINST NAVY Coach Gibson will
have to decide whether to start Al Drummond, Boninti or
possibly Steve Morris. Drummond has been starting and thus
should probably get the nod on experience. But Coach Gobson
has proved to be a little less than satisfied with "Drum's" play
lately as witnessed by his starting Morris Wednesday against
West Virginia and the fact that Drummond only played 13
minutes against the Wolfpack. Drummond is an accomplished
ballplayer but the offense runs with considerably more flair
when Boninti and Morris ate in.

The last time the Wahoos lost to State, the effects lingered
on throughout the Maryland game three days later. This time
around it is hard to see the Cavaliers making the same mistake.
Stahurski said afterwards, "The loss will make us more
determined against Navy." An away game against the
second-ranked team in the country will be the hardest task
that Virginia will have all year.