University of Virginia Library

Wild Crowd

Duke's Indoor Stadium,
now the oldest arena in the
ACC, should be left off the
itinerary of anyone touring the
campus as the 'Hoos well know
after dropping a 101-69 verdict
there last year. The crowd, sure
to be around 9,000, always
provides their beloved Blue
Devils ample oral backing.

This year, however, maybe
Devil mentor Bucky Waters
needs more than a little yelling.
Graduation took his star center
Randy Denton and a host of
other quality performers and
his hot-shot guard Jeff Dawson
transferred to Illinois. In their
opener the Iron Dukes barely
squeezed past Richmond, a
team not mentioned in
anyone's Top Twenty.

Probable Duke starters are
guards Gary Melchionni and
Pat Doughty forwards Richie
O'Connor and Alan Shaw and
Center Dave Elmer. Main
offensive threats in this group
are O'Connor, a deadly streak
shooter, Shaw and Melchionni,
an excellent playmaker and
probably the best all-around
player on the Devil squad.

The defection of Dawson
left a king-size hole at guard in
Waters' program and, while he
rushed into the recruiting
market to try to fill it, he
could find himself in trouble
this year when and if
Melchionni gets in foul trouble
and will be the proverbial
hurting honcho should
Melchionni snap a tendon or
something.