The South Bend Tribune du lieu suivant : South Bend, Indiana • 26

The South Band Tribune, Tueidoy, March 1 980 'r-i vv Notre Dame coach thinks Indiana or Duke could be teams to watch The team with the most momentum, rather than talent, should emerge as the NCAA champion, says Notre Dame-coach Digger Phelps, -who includesthe-Irish as a favorite for this years title. The Irish, coming off the 76-74 upset over top-ranked DePaul and a road win at Dayton, are in excellent" shape for the playoffs, according to Phelps. Notre Dame drew the fourth seed in the NCAA Midwest Regional and will have to travel to Lincoln, to await the winner of a first-round game between Missouri and San Jose State. Phelps said because the Mideast was so loaded with top teams, he was not surprised to be going out of lus region. 1 The key to this is not only whom you draw or how strong you are but how much momentum you have going into the tourney, Phelps said.

I think we came Tourney a matter of momentum -till L. iltA IaAIM 4a Kaa4 Im Phelps said DePaul may still be the team to beat in the playoffs, despite the Blue Demons loss to the Irish and an injury to senior forward Jim Mitchem. he said. But when Duke is coming off the ACC tournament victory andJndianaJiaswonthe Bigjen with a rush at the end and they are both going to be very tough. Digger Phelps on momentum.

Look at Michigan State last year. They werent ranked No.l but they entered the playoffs with a lot of jnomentunullPhelps explainedJTheyjtormed through the tourney. No one was within 11 points of them. I dont think a team has carried that much momentum in the history of the tourney, not even UCLA." Phefps said teams like Duke and Indiana will enter the NCAA playoffs with the most momentum and are strong candidates for the final four in Indianapolis later in the month. He said he is not ruling out his own club or DePaul.

But Duke is coming off the ACC tournament victory "They're strong, very you get to the tourney, everybody starts out the same and you still have to win four or five games in a row to win the championship." The Irish took Monday off for exams and scheduled their first tourney preparations for today. For one of the few times all season, Phelps said his team has enjoyed good health for more than two games. Weve been hurting all year long but were in good shape for the playoffs, Phelps said. We played some very good defense against Dayton, and I think the job Orlando (Woolndge) did on (DePauls Mark) Aguirre in our victory the other night was a tremendous effort." on strong at the end, with the win over DePaul and winning at Dayton, so were in excellent shape. Notre Dame, 22-5, reached the final four for the first time in Phelps career two years ago.

The Irish lost to eventual NCAA champion Michigan State in the finals of the Mideast Regional last year. Although this will be the seventh straight year Phelps and Indiana has won the Big Ten with a rush at the has taken a team to the NCAA playoffs, he has never end, lie said, and tb- are both going to be very won the championship. tough. 26 Irish will play at 4:23 in NCAA LINCOLN, Neb. Notre Dame will play the second game of EST, in -the, swJoiiClrouiiu Midwest NCAA tournament Saturday.

The game on the Nebraska fieldhouse floor will be against the winner of Thursdays first round Missourl-San Jose State game. It will follow the 1:53 p.m. opener that will match Louisville against the Kansas State-Arkansas first round winner. Argos and Clay best in North Argos grabbed off the third spot, Clay finished sixth, Valparaiso 10th and LaSalle 12th among the northern Indiana teams in the final top 20 of the season in the Indiana Associated Press high school poll Argos is undefeated in the last 49 regular season games. Clay has a fancy 19-2 record, Valpo is 18-2 and LaSalle is 16-4 heading into sectional tourney action.

Unbeaten Anderson Highland was voted the top team and will open sectional tournament play tonight. The No. 1 position has seemingly been jinxed in recent years. The last time the No.l team in the final Associated Press poll went on to capture the state championship was in 1971, when East Chicago Washington rolled through a perfect season en route to the title. State champs Indianapolis Washington in 1969 and East Chicago Roosevelt in 1970 were also ranked No.

1. But after 1971, each team that started the tourney from the No.l position has come up short. Highland would like nothing better than to reverse that trend. I dont ever like to lose," said Jerry Bomholt, who took over at Highland after the death of Coach Bob Fuller early in the season. The kids have handled the ranking and notoriety and publicity very levelheaded.

People have talked about our undefeated season, and really, you have to be pretty lucky for that, said Bomholt, whose Scots open tonight against unranked Alexandria. But we go by the saying that we fear no one but respect everyone. We are thoroughly prepared for any situation, so what it gets down to is that if we execute like we should, weU win. If not, well get beat. Three other teams will start tourney play unbeaten this week, including second-ranked New Albany and No.3 Argos.

Each maintained their positions this week behind Highland in the final AP ratings. Highland polled 12 of 16 first place votes for 312 of a possible 320 'rating points from APs statewide board of sports writers and broadcasters. New Albany got only one first-place vote but polled 270 rating points, and Argos, a member of last years final four, stretched its regular-season winning string to 49 games and received three first-place votes for 221 points. The fourth unbeaten team is Whitko and it jumped two spots to the No.13 ranking. The top 10 teams this week were unchanged from a week ago, with" -Marion still, ranked fourth, Jollowed byJVndrean, JBend Indianapolis Broad Ripple, AndersBn Madison Heights, Anderson and Valparaiso.

The only newcomer to the final Top 20 is Gary Emerson, 16-4, voted to the No. 19 spot. The Tornados replaced South Spencer, which fell from the No.20 spot despite a 73-49 shellacking of Daviess to finish 17-3 for the Kokomo moved up one spot to 11th, followed closely by South Bend IaSalle, Whitko and Loogootee. Both LaSalle and Whitko were up two spots, while Loogootee, idle last week, dropped three spots to 14th: White Sox pitcher Britt Burns and outfielder Claudell Washington are all bundled up on a cold day in Sarasota as the Chicago team open training for the full squad. All bundled up in Florida College basketball No guts, no glory tor NCAA State in the West? Dont tell me travel expenses are important when Clemsofi is playing a first round game in Utah and DePaul of Chicago and Old Dominion (from Norfolk, Va.) were shuffled off to Arizona.

Duke, a team that probably would not have even received an invitation had the Blue along, so we might as well let the issue be decided on the court, says Thompson. I cant understand the logic. You remove opinion when you have competed with people, and how in the world they can see us as third, I dont understand. Iona coach Jim Valvano called the seed-ings crazy and unpredictable. His club Devils not won the ACC re- finished 28-4, and deserved a first round ceived a first round bye and a trip out of the says Valvano.

Its one less time you have to suit up, one less time you cant get upset and one less time you cant get an injury. We go in with the most wins in the country (28), the longest winning streak (16). Louisville goes in with a bye and we only beat them by 17. By FORREST MILLER Tribune Sports Writer Maybe the NCAA should have thrown 48 names in the hat and conducted a blind draw. Maybe the politics outweigh common sense.

Maybe the committee just doesnt have any guts. But there seemsto be no logic to some of-the pairings and site assignments for the tournament that begins Thursday. To permit four teams to open the tournament on their home courts and another to play its second and third games on its home court seems absurd. And the situation could so easily have been avoided. Purdue, Western Kentucky, Arizona State -and Weber State each play a first round game at home and a first round victory rewards each of those teams with another game at home.

Kentucky, assuming it wins a first round game Sunday at Western Kentucky, then moves to its Rupp Arena in Lexington. Expenses ignored Could someone explain why Purdue and Western Kentuckycould notJiave been as- signed to the others court in the Mideast regional? Ditto for Arizona State and Weber And Ive got a gripe, Why did NBC keep-us dangling through East to the Mideast as a reward. But North Carolina State, loser in two of three to Duke during the season, stayed in its home East. Louisiana State, the Southeast Conference tourney champion, was booted out to the Midwest. But the team it beat for the title, Kentucky, stays close to home.

Winning not important Some coaches are burned up over the seedings. 1 The seedings are a joke, says Georgetowns John Thompson. Were seeded third in the East and Syracuse is first Weve beaten Syracuse twice. Thats not my opinion, thats a factual happening" Both teams are members of the new 8-team Big East Conference, play a similar schedule, had similar records this season 24-5 for Georgetown and 25-3 for SyracuseT almost two hours of a golf tournament after announcing it would have the pairings after the Indiana-Ohio State game? After? It was a long time after. But lets tip it off this week and decide the national champion on March 24 in Indianapolis.

My choice: Kentucky. Why? Three reasons: (1) Kyle Macy; (2) "great depthr(3r those two regional games- FORT WAYNE, Ind. (UPI) Northrop and Harding chalked up victories Monday night to launch the month-long 1980 Indiana high -school boys basketball tourney at the sectional level. Northrop, rated No. 17 in the final UPI coaches poll, blasted Luers, 58-31, while Harding outlasted Elmhurst, 61-52, in the first of two first-round tourneys in the Allen County Coliseum at Fort Wayne.

Jim Master, the all-time scoring leader in the Fort Wayne area, tossed in 28 points to pace the Harding victory. The Hawks, now 16-7, built up an 18-9 first period lead but saw the advantage dwindle to 31-29 at halftime before they added some cushion after three quarters, 46-40. Elmhurst lost offensive punch when Doug Young got into foul trouble and had to sitoutthe third quarter. oung, who had 14 points at halftime, finished with 18 for the game. In the opener, Cordell Eley tallied 12 and Herb Harrison scored 10 to lead Northrop to its 16th win in 20 games.

The Bruins led all the way and stretched out their advantage at each stop. Doug Hofer topped Luers with 11 points. Opinions have been wrong about us all at home. Aguirre, Carroll on All -America A KYLE MACY DePaul retains No. 1 despite loss to Irish Associated Press DePaul, which saw its quest for an undefeated regular season stopped by Notre Dame 76-74 in double overtime last week, neverthe-less maintained the No.

1 ranking in the final Associated Press college basketball poll for the 1979-1980 season. The Blue Demons, who had held the top spot the past seven weeks six times as the unanimous choice collected 54 of 59 first-place votes and 1,173 points out of a perfect score of 1,180 in the balloting by a nationwide panel of sports wnters and broadcasters. DePaul closed out a 26-1 regular season with a 97-81 victory over intrastate rival Illinois State in its other game last week. Louisville, which captured the Metro 7 Conference tournament last weekend, edged newly crowned Southeastern Conference tournament champion Louisiana State for the No. 2 position.

The Cardinals, ranked fourth last week, were tabbed twice for first place and received 1,030 points 12 more than the Tigers, who picked up one first-place vote in advancing two notches in this weeks poll. Kentucky, regular season SEC champsbut beaten by LSU in the SEC tournament title game, collected the final two first-place votes and 956 points in slipping from No. 2 to No. 4. Oregon State, the Pacific-10 champion, moved up one place and took over the No.

5 position with 872 points. Syracuse, ranked third last week when it was surprised by Georgetown, D.C., in the Big East Conference tournament title game, fell to sixth with 785 points. Preseason favorite and Big Ten champion Indiana, unranked three weeks ago but peaking with the return of forward Mike Woodson, jumped from No. 13 to No. 7 with 746 points.

Maryland, No. 7 a week ago, was next with 722 points while Notre Dame and Ohio State rounded out the Top 10. The Irish, ranked 14th last week when they upset DePaul, collected 594 points in edging the Buckeyes for the No. 9 slot by eight points. Georgetown made the biggest move in this weeks poll.

Jumping from 20 to No. 11. Brigham Young nipped St. Johns, Y. in maintaining the No.

12 positioa Atlantic Coast Conference tournament champion Duke was 14th followed by North Carolina, Missouri, Weber. State, Arizona State, Iona and Purdue. Last week the Second 10 was Missouri, Brigham Young, Indiana, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Weber State, Clemson, Purdue, North Carolina State and Georgetown. NEW YORK (AP) Mark Aguirre, a stocky, power foward favorably compared with the best players in DePaul history and mountainous Joe Barry Carroll, Purdues tower of strength at center, were among those named today to the Associated Press All-America college basketball team for 1979-'80. -Joimng those two gifted-front court prayers on the first team were guards Darrell Griffith of Louisville and Kentuckys Kyle Macy, along with forward Albert King of Maryland.

The 7-foot-l Carroll was a third team selection last year, while the others made their first appearance among the nations top 15. Dukes Mike Gminski was the second team center for the second straight season, flanked by LaSalle's Michael Brooks and Washington States Don Collins at the forward positions and St. Johns Reggie Carter and Oregon States Ray Blume in the backcourt. The third team included Ohio States Herb Williams Sectional games tonight AT SOUTH BEND 7:00 Adams (IM) vs. Riley (12 8) 8:30 LaSalle (IM) vs.

St. Josephs 12-7) AT ELKHART 7:00 Elkhart Central (7-13) vs. Penn (4 10) 8:30 Northwood (7-13) vs. Elkhart Memorial (IM) AT PLYMOUTH 7:30 Plymouth (14-6) vs. Bremen (S-14) AT NORTH JUDSON ((ST) 0:00 North Judson (M2) vs.

South Central (12 8) 7:30 Oregon-Davls (IM) vs. LaCrosse (2 17) AT VALPARAISO (CST) 7.00 Boone Grove (IS 2) vs. Ilobart (M4) 8:30 Chesterton (XII) vs. River Forest (li lt) AT EAST NOBLE 7:30 East Noble (17-4) vs. Wests lew (10 10) AT KANKAKEE VALLEY (CST) 7:00 Kouts (f-ll) vs.

Hanover Central (0-13) 8:30 Kankakee Valley (IS I) vs. Rensselaer (13-7) AT LOGANSPORT 7:00 Caston (S II) vs. Pioneer (II S) 8.30 Kewanna (II S) vs. Lewis Cass (IS I) 1 AT DeKAl.B 7:00 Prairie Heights (2 17) vs. Leo (118) :30 Hamilton (1-18) vs.

Angola (118) 'at center, Mississippis John Stroud and Drakes Lewis Lloyd at forwards and Marquettes Sam Worthen and Kansas State's Rolando Blackman at the guards. The team was selected by a nationwide panel of AP wnters. The 6-foot-7 Aguirre, the only sophomore on the first team, was the heart of a DePaul club that rolled up a 26-game winning streak and sat atop the AP poll for most of the year. Coach Ray Meyer describes the beefy Aguirre, who also has played some guard this year, as his O-ffensive Machine and is quick to point out: He may be the best all-around ballplayer to come to DePaul. That includes, of course, the great George Mikan, one of the sports premier big men in the 1940s.

Aguirre averaged 27" points, eight rebounds and three assists a game. The 240-pound Carroll is a late-bloomer who came into his own in his junior year last season. His talents are multifaceted: he shoots as well as aRy big man in the college game, blocks shocks with elan and rebounds with uncommon ferocity. The player they call "Rocky Mountain High for his Denver origins, was among the Big Tens leading scorers all season, averaging 22 points in addition to 10 rebounds a game. The 6-4 Griffith, a senior, is the biggest operator of Louisvilles so-called "Doctors of Dunk.

Much of Griffiths game is concentrated above the basket that he virtually owns with his eye-poppmg dunk shots. Louisvilles all-time leading scorer averaged 23 points on 56 per cent shooting from the field, along with five rebounds and three assists a game for the Metro Conference champions. "Hes been our stabilizing force throughout the year, said Louisville coach Denny Crum When things get tough, he always comes through for us. Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall calls the 6-3 Macy his coach on the floor" and it was indeed the stewardship of this crafty senior that kept Kentucky in the Top Twenty all season.

One of the nations best foul shooters, Macy averaged 16 points and five assists a game. For the self-effacing role of playmaker, Macy has one of the highest profiles in the country. CT Vk JOE BARRY CARROLL.