University of Virginia Library

On The Inside

Princeton Ball
Foils
Run And Gun

With Doug Doghy

PRINCETON, N.J. – If the Cavaliers are going to lose to
anyone, losing to the "Virginia of the North" doesn't hurt as
much. But, in all seriousness, there was nothing good that went
on Tuesday night at Jadwin Gym. Virginia went out the first
half and tied Princeton, 24-24, at the Tigers' own game and
then came back to lose at the Cavaliers' own style of play,
45-41 in the second half.

To blame the 'Hoos' loss on sluggishness is acceptable. The
Hooter did, "We were sluggish... we didn't appear ready to
play... we weren't mentally and physically alert," and almost
everybody else, who saw the game did. The Cavaliers didn't
even run on to the floor to start the second half; they walked.
You rarely see anything like that.

BUT WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT is the fact that
whenever the Cavs cross a certain mystical geographic line that
roughly corresponds to the Mason-Dixon, they play rotten
basketball. At Penn State, we played dreadfully last year and
lost. More visible in my memory is that debacle at Madison
Square Garden when the 'Hoos blew their NIT chances with a
first round loss to weakling Lafayette.

You would have thought this all ended when Virginia
stopped playing poorly on the road in the ACC, but all hell
breaks loose when we play northern teams. For Barry Parkhill,
especially, the trip to northern climes must be an onerous one.
Last year's NIT game probably cost him a spot on the first
team AP and UPI All-Americans, and Tuesday's may keep him
off of them again. All-American selectors look for consistency,
and as good as Parkhill may look against Wake, North Carolina
and Maryland, he's got to play well against all types of
competition to be considered.

BACK TO THE GAME and why this style of northern play
always hurts us. The Tigers came out in a steamy man-to-man,
keeping the Cavs from taking longer range shots and still
clogging up in the middle whenever the Cavalier ball-handler
pierced the lane. Big men Andy Rimol and Bill Kapler not
only grabbed most of the errant Cavalier efforts but they
intimidated the Cavs to such an extent with their
shot-blocking that even Parkhill and Gus Gerard, probably the
most fearless of the Cavaliers in the face of a possible block,
were stymied inside. Coach Gibson maintains that in addition
to a lot of hands up, "there was a lot of hacking inside." The
hacking wasn't always evident but the fact that the rangy
Kapler was blocking everything in sight was.

ACC teams, with the exception of Clemson, have such a
reliance on run-and-gun basketball that there is never much
opposition to a team that has at least limited success grabbing
the bound and running a break. Virginia could have run on
Princeton, indeed they did when the rebounds were latched
onto, but there was rarely anybody inside to get the rebounds,
and Pete Carrill's Tigers were so disciplined that Ted Manakas
and Brian O'Neill were always back to cover on defense.

I GUESS WHAT I'M GETTING AT is that there is an
absence of discipline in the ACC and that if anybody else,
except a far superior rebounding team that could have topped
the Tigers at their own game, had gone up to Princeton
Tuesday, they would have lost too. Princeton was not a better
coached team. But it appears that whenever a systematic club
like Princeton meets a run-and-gun club like Virginia, the
Virginia will have to grab a lead in the early going to keep the
Princeton from following its game plan.

Virginia, Tuesday, and North Carolina, last year, lost to
Princeton because they did not shoot well enough to grab that
lead. The Tigers could afford to be chintzy with the ball while
ahead. On the other hand, when North Carolina played Penn
in the Eastern Regionals last March, the Heels shot so well in
the early going, that Penn's system had to be abandoned and a
slaughter ensued.

Hooter practically admitted that when he gave his reasons
for abandoning the 3-2 zone that had stood his team in such
good stead at Winston-Salem Saturday. "If we had used a zone
tonight they would have held the ball. We could have used it if
we had got ahead." That pretty well explains it, Virginia blew
the only substantial lead it had, 6-2, and spent the rest of the
game hopelessly groping for the ball against an opponent that
would not give it away. To say Virginia played its ball game
in the second half is not wrong at all. The Cavaliers tried, but
were unsuccessful.

ADMITTEDLY, THERE WERE FEW BRIGHT SPOTS for
the Cavaliers: Al Drummond played very well offensively until
he injured his ankle with ten minutes left. Manakas was to
admit after the game "Drummond played effective defense,
but my shots were dropping and I got a few back doors on
him." Manakas scored 29 points, on 12 of 15 baskets from the
outside, and five of five from the line.

Wally Walker also showed a little more of his potential:
particularly beautiful was an assist of his on an 18-foot Steve
Morris jumper, and his shooting percentage should remain
pretty high if he keeps playing the way he has. But the
problem is that, if we're going to put Wally Wonder to good
use, a way has to be devised for him to take more than six
shots in 20 minutes as he did against Princeton.