Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 21

glggrfe SCORECARD EIC SPORTS DIGEST CLASSIFIED April 2, 1985 TUESDAY Villanova shocks Georgetown Paul Borden 'jg X'il 3 I -d I fi Wildcats dethrone Hoyas 66-64 Box score, Page 2 'Super sub' keys Villanova, Page 4 By PAUL BORDEN C-L Assistant Managing EditorSports LEXINGTON, Ky. They just don't make dynasties the way they used to. Georgetown's Hoyas, touted as one of the greatest college basketball teams of all-time, ranking up with Kentucky's champions of 1948, '49, and '51, San Franciso's 1955 and '56 clubs, the UCLA teams of Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, and Indiana's unbeaten '76 champs, saw its reign end here Monday night. Villanova, unranked, unappreciated, and unafraid, did the work, beating the Hoyas 66-64 for the NCAA championship in what will go down as the greatest and considering Georgetown's unpopularity with the fans most popular upset in tourney history. This one outranks even North Carolina State's 54-52 triumph over heavily favored Houston two years ago in Albuquerque, N.M.

Nobody was putting Houston in the illustrious company that was being accorded Georgetown just two days ago. And, frankly, nobody was putting Villanova up there with North Carolina State either. But the Wildcats, at 25-10 now possessors of the worst record of any NCAA champion, never let that interfere here. "Their dynasty is great, all the accolades are great, but there was intimidation going along with their dynasty," said Villanova guard Gary McLain. "I felt there was no room for intimidation tonight.

The two teams that were out there played with a lot of heart. We play ed with a lot of heart tonight. That's what got us over the hump." That, and tournament-record shooting. The Wildcats shot an incredible 78.6 percent from the field, hitting 22 of 28 field goal attempts 9 of 10 in the second half. They darned near bested the individual record for shooting set by UCLA's Walton 12 years ago when he hit 21 of 22 against Memphis State.

As it was, they shattered both the record for a championship game (67.4 percent, 31 of 46, by Ohio State against California in 1960) and for the tournament itself (75.0 percent, 33 of 44, by Northeastern in a first-round game against Virginia Commonwealth in 1984). "I thought we played good defense at times," said John Thompson, whose Hoyas had held four of their previous five tourney foes to under 40 percent from the field. "They deserve the credit. They took good shots." That was, of course, crucial to the victory. But what Rollie Massimino had felt would be the other key, holding down the turnovers, never really came about.

His Wildcats committed 17 to Georgetown's 11. Yet only two of those were charged against McLain, the senior point guard charged with the bulk of the ballhan-dling against Georgetown's hassling, hustling defense. "Gary to me was probably the most unsung player in the whole tournament," said Massimino. "He had seven See Wildcats, page 3C seems satisfied ivith 64-team format LEXINGTON, Ky. The game itself will change next year most assuredly a 45-second shot will be approved by the rules committee this week but the NCAA Tournament itself is likely to remain the same for many, many years.

That was the word Monday from Vic Bubas, commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference and outgoing chairman of the tournament committee. There could be some fine tuning, of course, but the 64-team format will be used far beyond the original five-year commitment. "Look at the alternatives," Bubas said. "Coaches wanted to do away with byes (which higher seeded teams received in 48-and 53-team fields), so you're looking at 16 or 32 teams. I think we've gone way past that.

"Anything bigger than 64 just doesn't seem reasonable. The committee feels there should be some reward for season play." With one in every three Division I teams in either the NCAA or 32-team National Invitation Tournament, cynics might scoff at that latter. True, the regular season no longer carries the weight it did when the NCAA field was limited to conference champions and selected independents. But there are others who make a case for opening up the tourney to all 282 Division I members. Bubas doesn't feel that is necessary.

"Essentially, we ha ve a 2 1 1-team field now and if you don't think so, just look what happens when some eighth-place team wins a conference tournament," Bubas said. "That puts them in the NCAA tourney. Only four conferences didn't play conference tournaments this year the Pac-10, Big Ten, West Coast, and Ivy League, and I think the Pac-10 is discussing holding one next year. "In effect those conference tournaments are the opening round of the NCAA tourney." If size of the field is no longer an issue, the "home court" advantage and exclusive use of dome stadiums for the Final Four matters are. The former problem, which has been noted by others before Bubas, is that if a team is not allowed to play on in its home arena, a school isn't likely to bid to host a regional or first- and second-round games.

Too, if a team is forced by rules to play its tourney games at sites a minimum number of miles away 300 or 400, for example attendance could be hurt. Notre Dame and Dayton played early-round games on their home floors this year with the Irish beating Oregon State and losing to North Carolina and the Flyers losing to Villanova. Georgia Tech won twice at the Omni in Atlanta, which could be considered its "second" home floor. The matter of the use of domed stadiums for Final Fours is an interesting one and sure to stir debate. Three times the finals have been played in such facilities in Houston's Astrodome in 71, the Superdome in New Orleans in '82, and the Kingdome in Seattle last year.

They are scheduled to return to the Superdome in '87 and the Kingdome in '89. Indianapolis is interested in getting the Final Four for the Hoosierdome. "There are pressures to go to bigger buildings," Bubas said. "Our research has found many fans say, 'We don't care where we sit. We just want to be The media can be better accommodated at bigger arenas.

"Yet at the same time I don't think we can turn our eyes away from the things that have happened here in Lexington." This city, the smallest to play host to a Final Four, has turned out magnificently for this event. The Final Four, Bubas noted, has sparked a revitalization of downtown here at least one hotel was built near Rupp Arena to attract the tournament and more than 3,000 volunteers, many without game tickets, have driven transportation vans, handled luggage and arranged for other special events for the visitors. There is also a certain flavor to the Final Four, a wholesome image different from the slickness of the NFL's Super Bowl production, that Bubas said should be retained. The Super Bowl is more like a Las Vegas showgirl. The Final Four is the girl next door.

Cities other than the handful that have dome facilities should have the opportunity to bid for her hand. Especially college towns like this one, though technically Rupp Arena here is not an "on-campus" arena with the University of Kentucky a half-dozen blocks away. "I don't think anyone on the committee has committed himself to which way we are going to go," Bubas said. "We'll have to sit down and say what we're going to do in the future." The issue actually won't be dealt with until the committee's '86 summer meeting. Final Four sites have been picked through 1990 (Denver).

No new ones will be added this year. The Associated Press Villanova's Dwayne McClain scores dunk over Georgetown's Patrick Ewing in first half. State replaces Vaughn with Paul By RUSTY HAMPTON Clarion-Ledger Sports Writer STARKVILLE Brenda Paul, who coached Berry College of Mt. Berry, to a 139-28 record the last five seasons, Monday was named head women's basketball coach at Mississippi State. Paul, a 1977 graduate of North Georgia College, replaces Eddie Vaughn, who served as acting head coach during the 1984-85 season.

Also Monday, State announced that Mike Nemeth has been named assistant athletic director for promotions and marketing, starting April 15. Nemeth, 30, has served as an assistant AD and sports information director at Northwestern University of Evanston, 111., the last two years. Before that, he was the football sports information director at South Carolina, where a major part of his job in 1980 was do is build one from scratch. That's what I've always wanted to do." Vaughn, who up until Monday had been recruiting as if he would be named head coach on a permanent basis, made no attempt to hide his disappointment. He was named acting head coach last August replacing Peg Collins, who resigned under pressure and felt he needed more than one year to prove himself.

Events of the 84-85 season didn't help, either. Vaughn, an assistant under Collins for two years, took over as head coach far too late to recruit for the season. Four days before the first game, freshman Mary Joyce Carr, projected to fill a key reserve role, was killed in an automobile accident. Then, in order, starters Polly Branch and Sandra Butler, both of whom will return next See Paul, page 4C publicizing Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers. Paul, who coached two years at Tennessee Wesleyan before going to Berry, said Monday by telephone that accepting the job at State "is a tremendous step up for me." Berry, with an enrollment of 1,500, is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Paul's teams finished fourth in the NAIA national tournament twice, and missed a trip to this year's tournament by one game. Her five seasons at Berry produced records of 32-5, 29-4, 29-4, 19-9 and 30-6. Mississippi State was 8-19 this year, and has won just two of 42 Southeastern Conference games in the last four years. "What I'm really looking forward to," said Paul, "is the opportunity to build a program. At Berry, I took over a program with a great winning tradition.

But what I really want to INSIDE No. 1 ranking no shock to Greenville's Hubal Lipps, Rice to be honored at Hall of Fame banquet i Delta State sweeps pair from Carey. Page3 Forest Hill holds off Murrah for crown. Under Hubal, Greenville's only state tournament appearance came in 1983, when the Hornets went 29-7 and finished third in the state Class AA event to champion Pascagou-la and runner-up Hattiesburg. Last season, Greenville was derailed in the North fississippi Class AA playoffs with two losses to Starkville.

A lack of pitching depth, as much as anything, prevented Greenville from a state title the last two seasons. That's not the case this year. "Our strongest point has been our pitching staff," said Hubal. "We can go six deep. We don't have the No.

1 and No. 2 flamethrowers we usually do, but our pitching is a lot deeper than in the past That hurt us in the playoffs the last two years. We just ran out of pitchers." Through 10 games, senior right-hander Ri-cardo Graves is 3-0 with a 1.61 earned run average. Sophomore right-hander Willie Dukes (4-0, 1.85 ERA) and junior right-See Greenville, page 4C By LEE BAKER Clarion-Ledger Sports Writer Two outstanding wide receivers, Louis Lipps of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jerry Rice of Mississippi Valley State University, will receive special recognition tonight at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame banquet. Lipps, a former Southern Mississippi star who was selected as the National Football League's 1984 Rookie of the Year, has been selected as the state's Professional Athlete of the Year and Rice, an NCAA Division I-AA first-team All-America, has been chosen as Amateur Athlete of the Year.

The banquet, getting under way at 6:30 in the Coliseum Ramada's Empire Ball Room, is jointly sponsored by the Jackson Touchdown Club and the Central Mississippi chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. The main order of business will be induction of five great athletes of the past Don-nie Kessinger of Forrest City, an All-America in both baseball and basketball at Polls, Page 2 By BILL SPENCER Clarion-Udger Sport Writer In five previous years as the Greenville baseball coach, Joe Hubal never uttered the words state championship before the season. Well, 1985 was different. A state Class 5A championship was Hubal's main topic of discussion in preseason talks with his players. Thus Hubal didn't flinch Monday when he learned Greenville has replaced Meridian as the No.

1-ranked team in The Clarion-LedgerJackson Daily News poll. Hubal lost just two seniors from last year's 27-5 squad and anticipates a fabulous season. "We're real glad to be No. 1," said Hubal, whose Hornets are 11-0 following Monday's 9-2 victory over fellow District 3 Class 5A member Clarksdale. "For the first time since I've been at Greenville, we talked about winning a state championship before the season.

We set our goals and expectations a little higher this year. Hopefully we can achieve that goal at the end of May." Ole Miss; Tommy Neville of Montgomery, an All-America in football at Mississippi State; Riley Smith of Greenwood, an All-America in football at the University of Alabama; Jack Spinks of Toomsuba, first black from a Mississippi college to play in the National Football League, and the late Bob "Bull" Sullivan of Aliceville, a Little All-America in football at Union (Tenn.) University and for 16 years coach at East Mississippi Junior College. Presentations to Lipps and Rice will be made by Doug Elmore, president of the Jackson Touchdown Club, and the Hall of Fame inductions by Mitch Lavinghouze, president of the Central Mississippi chapter of the National Football Foundation. Lavinghouze also will make the presentation of the Contribution to Amateur Football Award to Bob Hartley of Starkville, longtime sports information director at Mississippi State University, and the Distinguished See Fame, page 4C Rangers cut Yost; it Yost; JaxMets fall 5- I 115-3. I Page 51.