University of Virginia Library

Big Four Teams Vie For Title

By John Markon
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Photo By Howard Weinberg

Bill Gerry Scored 24 Points, Was Ejected From UNC Game

Cavalier Guard Barry Parkhill Also Left Early In 80-75 Loss

Following last night's North
Carolina game and tomorrow's
clash with William and Mary,
Virginia's surprising basketball team
will have until a January 6 game
with Virginia Tech to practice,
contemplate the reasons for their
unexpected success, and ponder the
fate of the world in general.

Theirs is an assignment sure to
be envied by a few tired members
of other conference teams who face
backbreaking holiday schedules, a
prime example being this weekend's
Big Four Tournament in
Greensboro. Wake Forest, Duke,
N.C. State, and North Carolina are
all involved and, if you don't think
the entire state is choosing sides,
you don't know the basketball fans
down in "God's Country."

Off past performances UNC
would have to be rated the favorite
as the tourney opens. Tar Heel
Dennis Wuycik will enter the action
fresh off his selection as ACC
Player Of The Week and, as Virginia
fans must know, he has a capable
back-up crew. The remainder of the
Big Four are hurting. Duke was
rated highly and has disappointed,
Wake's first conference test was a
loss to Maryland, and State has
looked worse than that, losing
twice and being taken into overtime
by VPI in a game where six Hokies
fouled out.

Maryland and South Carolina
face each other tomorrow night in
Columbia with both teams boasting
unbeaten records. Although the
Terps are vastly improved from last
year, SC still remains a prohibitive
favorite. After Christmas, the
Gamecocks go to Madison Square
Garden for the ECAC's Holiday
Festival Tourney and the Terrapins
tangle with area rival Georgetown.

Clemson, still without a loss,
travels to Nashville, Tennessee to
try its luck in the Vanderbilt
Tourney. Tales Locke's Tigers will
face the host Commodores in
Friday's nightcap, while St. John's
and SMU open the evening. The
Clemson's are talking basketball
again but have to be rated
underdogs in this one. Should they
find a way to sneak past Vandy, the
20th ranked Redmen are certain to
be waiting for them.

In non-conference play, Virginia
Tech opens a drive to snap back
from a bad start with a big test
December 19 against South
Carolina in Blacksburg. The
Gobblers then travel to Washington,
D.C. around New Year's (not at all
a bad place to be) and claim the
favorite's role in George
Washington's Presidential Classic.

The toughest assignment?
Undoubtedly it's William and
Mary's date with UCLA on
December 29 in Pittsburgh's Steel
Bowl Tourney. No one really
expects the Indians to upset the
top-ranked Bruins but it will be
interesting to see what happens. If
nothing else the game will answer
the nagging question "Are Tom
Jasper and Jim Warns better than
Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe?"

To find out if Jasper and Warns
are equal to the challenge of Bill
Gerry and Scott McCandlish see
Thursday night's Virginia-W&M
game at U Hall at 8 p.m.