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Show Page 4 . Ute Troubles Mount, Record Goes On Line By REECE STEIN Chronicle Assoc. Sports Editor When Utah moves into the Yuccas Yuc-cas this weekend, the typical neck straining to see the tops of the opponents' op-ponents' foreheads will be increased by jumpin Joe Caldwell, Arizona State flight number 32 from floor to basket. The Arizona State forward was all-conference last season and led the Sun Devils in scoring with 19.7 points per game. He is 6-5, weighs 240 pounds and spends as much time above the hoop as most players play-ers do below it. Caldwell is a real crowd pleas-er pleas-er with his pregame antics of behind the head dunks and fantastic fan-tastic shots while sailing past the backboard. He pleases the Tempe, Arizona, crowd even more when he does the same thing during the game. If Caldwell isn't enough for Jack vain 1 Axzd JUMPIN' JOE CALDWELL . . . Amazing ASU performer. The Devils lead the Utes over a three year period with three wins to the Skins two. Utah will try to buck the big three ASU forwards with 6-6 George Fisher who has handled most of the defensive chores under the basket. Dennis Couch is only 6-4 and no matter who he takes he will have to stand taller than usual to hold his man down. Spence Thurgood will have the same problem prob-lem on height and will probably be on Dairman while Fisher tries to keep Caldwell on the ground. Meanwhile out front, Utah's two harrassing guards Doug Moon and Skip Kroeger will attempt to keep Senitza and Rich Coppola busy and unable to work the ball to the Devil forwards. Utah will meet the Sun Devils in Tempe on 'Saturday with no rest after the Arizona game Friday night in Tucson. Gardner's Utes to worry about Saturday Sat-urday night, then still another all-conference all-conference performer will be. Art Becker, 6-8, 210 pound senior was voted ASU's most improved player last season and his 10 point per game average improvement over his sophomore year shows why. Becker hit 19.1 points per contest in leading the Devils to the first WAC hoop crown and with Caldwell Cald-well formed one of the best front lines in the nation. Two more reasons for the Sun Devil strength are Gary Senitza and Dennis Dairman. Senitza averaged ave-raged 9.5 points per game last season sea-son and has topped that this year in some fine outside shooting displays. dis-plays. Six-foot-five Dairman as a sophomore hit for 12.5 points per game. THE DEVILS have had more trouble salvaging wins this year than they have had in the past five years. The reason for this is anyone's any-one's guess. The only thing one can point to is the lack of scoring power pow-er Dairman and Becker have been able to deliver. Becker has been held to 17.1 points per game and Dairman 12, Caldwell's 21.2 average ave-rage still makes a strong front line and somewhat upholds the Devil reputation. No one can say the Devils haven't faced tough opposition as Utah will be their ninth opponent ranked in the top twenty this season. Coach Ned Wulk heralded his squad as having as good a chance as anyone of taking the conference race. The Devils edged rival Arizona Ari-zona on the Wildcat home floor last week and show definite signs of pulling out of their early season slump. "We're in the race," said Wulk, "and I think we're back in to stay." The Utes have yet to play a conference clash on the road. With such a balanced conference many people were looking for a six way tie with no one losing at home. Arizona State picked up a win on the road as have New Mexico so this road trip could make it for the Utes. . |
