University of Virginia Library

Carolina's Smith Levels Blast
At "Loser's Tourney" Critics

By Randy Wert
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

University of North Carolina
head basketball coach Dean Smith
wasted no time in protecting the
stature of his Tarheels' National
Invitational Tournament
championship.

Standing in the limelight along
with tournament Most Valuable

Player Bill Chamberlain in the UNC
locker room shortly after the 'Heels
had conquered Georgia Tech 84-66,
Smith struck out at critics of the
annual Madison Square Garden
get-together, saying, "First of all
gentlemen, I want to comment
about statements that this is a
tournament for losers. When you
consider how many teams there are
across the country, and how many
games between them are decided by
a point or two....then you see how
even many of the teams are with
those in the NCAA tournament."

Smith's retorts were directed at
those who insist that the 34th NIT
was one of runners-up. "We've all
got winning records," pointed out
the coach after reminding everyone
that his Tarheels had lost the ACC
playoffs by one point, qualifying
South Carolina for the NCAA
berth, after carving out the best
regular season mark in the league.

Possibilities

"And I believe," Smith went on,
"Providence lost by a single point
to Villanova. If Providence had won
they might have been there (the
NCAA tournament in Houston) and
Villanova might have been here.
But then," said Smith, whose team
was eliminated in the first round of
the New York City classic last year,
"We're gratified to be back this
year, especially the way we did
then."

UCLA coach John Wooden had
several enlightening comments to
make after his 68-62 win over
Villanova's Wildcats in the NCAA
finals in Houston's Astrodome.

Almost Wrong Decision

Wooden said that his showdown
strategy almost backfired on him,
"but that's the chance you take
when you try that. I didn't think
they could beat us man-to-man,"
said Wooden. "We went to the
slowdown to bring them out of
their zone defense and it worked. It
did hurt our momentum but that's
a gamble you have to take."

Losing by twelve during the
slowdown, the Wildcats began
picking up loose balls and forcing
turnovers to come back within four
of the Bruins. "It made our fellows
scrap harder," said Villanova coach
Jack Graft.

Longtime advocate of the
college 30-second shooting rule,
Wooden said that this crossed his
mind when he ordered the
slowdown. "I thought about that
during the game." said Wooden, "I
was hoping they wouldn't come out
and we could just hold the ball all
d."