The Cavalier daily :: Wednesday, January 31, 1973 :: University of Virginia Library

Cavalier basketball this year
is certainly hard on Virginia
fans. Why, one game, the
weather is fair and all the fans
come out of the woodwork,
and then by golly, the team
turns around and plays poorly.
Is it any wonder that the most
vocal Cavalier rooter one day is
the team's greatest detractor
the next day?

Answer? No, it is not any
wonder at all. Although it is
their prerogative, it is sadly
characteristic of the
University's athletic fans.
Everything is peachy while the
team is 18-1 and headed for
glory, but as soon as a few
clouds appear in the sky,
coaches, strategies, and players
are hypothetically traded and
altered.

For many of the skeptics
we found, the Maryland game
was the decisive bit of evidence
in their case for ineptitude and
inconsistency. Beating Carolina
may have won a respite for the
squad, but it is quite possible
that only a shutout of the Tar
Heels could have prevented the
Clemson loss from being fuel
on the detractor's fires.

A few points must be made.
Certainly, the team and the
fans were embarrassed at
Maryland, but who will
remember the 21 point blush
administered to the Terp's
top-ranked babies last year in
the opener? Those goons came
back to win the National
invitational Tournament while
we watched from the motel
rooms. The comparison is, we
think, valid. The Terrapins
were extremely young, but
improved steadily all year,
and by the second time we
played them in the finale,
edged our veterans, however
shakily. This year, we may have
lost four low-point output
men, but along with them went
about 12 man-years of ACC
experience, invaluable in the
various league pressure cookers
known as "home court."

Currently, we have replaced
these grads with a junior, a
soph, and a freshman, all
fledglings in the ACC soup. We
are young. We play
inconsistently. We get
embarrassed by the third-ranked
team in America on their home
court. The roles were merely
reversed. Whereas Maryland
improved all season last year,
the Cavaliers played at the
same level throughout the
campaign, except for a
mid-season slump blamed on
Barry Parkhill. Consequently,
the Terps caught up to us by
tournament time, and the great
rematch proved that the baby
Terps had arrived.

Gibson's Cavs are following
a different script this year. No
eleven game win streaks. No
national rankings to protect.
But every game they get better.
They are inconsistent. But it
takes time to mold a good
unit to play in ACC pressure,
and mistakes will be made until
the bugs are out.

Speaking of inconsistency,
Mr. Parkhill's name comes to
mind. He is shooting a weak
37 per cent from the floor,
fouling out in key games,
scoring two against Maryland,
and generally playing
inconsistently, out of
character. "What is wrong with
Parkhill" has ironically taken
place of "BP is AA" and he
doesn't like it; nor does Bill
Gibson, although neither are
worried. Those who missed the
State game have not seen Barry
play well this year. Generally,
as Barry goes, so go the
Cavallers. The youngster of the
starting squad last year, all he
had to do was go crazy on the
court and win himself
All-Everything honors. This
year, however, his task is
different. He is the old man
now. He must, with Jim
Hobgood, take a bunch of
inexperienced fellows with
admittedly great potential, and
make them play together with
poise. Not only is he
responsible for every aspect of
the offense, but he has found
time to play better defense.

Our personal solution would
be not to stop him from
shooting the ball if he can't do
any better than 40 per cent,
but to make him keep it more.
Don't bother him with details
like making certain the ball
gets to everyone equally. Give
Barry Parkhill the ball and send
him into the bucket every
time. He has never been known
for his long range bombing.
But his arsenal of shots from
inside 15 feet is so great that
he doesn't need to go farther
out. He can drive dozens of
ways, pull up, twist, shoot off
balance, and draw fouls with
the best of them. But this
driving, acrobatic Mr. Parkhill
has largely disappeared with
the exception of a thrilling, but
abbreviated glimpse against
State. Send him back to the
land and the baseline, and
Virginia will begin to roll.

Next to Carolina, where the
"inconsistent" 'Hoos merely
convincingly beat the third
ranked club in the country on
their home court, on which
they had been beaten once in
the last three campaigns.

What all of this is to say is
that the Cavs may not be
ranked this year, but there
is no reason why they cannot
beat State, Carolina, and
Maryland in University Hall,
and make a lot of noise in the
Tournament. The youngsters
are getting better every game,
and BP is coming ground now
that the slack is being taken
up. Unlike last year, our
progress is on a steadily uphill
line rather than the mid-season
valley. We are on a course to
peak in Greensboro. And after
all, that's all that counts.