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Show o(9)ri majority of the official ballot casters. cas-ters. On the guardline is Mike Newlin, of course. Having won the Most Valuable Player citation the last two years for the conference and in keeping with his all-around play this season the 64 senior rates as first pick for the guard-line. guard-line. Complimenting Newlin on the guardline will be Dick Gibbs of UTEP who is averaging a good 20.2 points a game and is tied for fourth place in die WAC at .500 percent for field goal percentage. Playing the post and winning the "WAC Oscar" will be New Mexico ace Willie Long. Leading die conference in scoring at 25.2 points an outing, the Lobo center has hurt every team he's played against this year. Flanking the postman at forwards for-wards will be Bill Warner of Arizona Ari-zona and Ken Gardner of Utah. Warner is currently the hottest player for the Wildcats and ranks second in WAC scoring with 22.6 points a game. Gardner is everyone's every-one's favorite for die other forward slot as he ranks fourdi in scoring and third in rebounding for the WAC. Considered die most consistent consis-tent player in the conference this year the Utah senior will also be awarded the Most Valuable Player citation rising from his here-to-fore lackluster title of Mr. Underrated Under-rated to his appropriate state of recognition. ' jKICKSORENSEN Sports Editor prognosticators have nar-, nar-, - Western Athletic Con-j Con-j (WAC) Championship j Brigliam Young or Utah, . .TEP an outside chance. ! : records of Utah and ! ng at 94 and one game nil is natural to feature ! If front runners, lis been picked as die '. ice its last game is at 4 Brigham Young. The 'U Have yet to lose a con-ng con-ng ; game at home. jCj '.Mrs also rate the 'Y as ie team on a neutral .er t'l have cast their favor to Ulesfor this till. ally 1 think the pro-)n pro-)n pis ate rather stale in ip ' While UTEP is con-to con-to be out of die race, -1 fan. There is a definite ist j? that the Miners on -! rad Irip will beat both ie 'ana schools and tie the lis ! f the Utah-Cougar game in 'conference record. er M that winning on the I the WAC is a virtual ve 1, is a farce. Any team ,e . inference can beat any es on the road if they (f Hie old wives' tales of the impassable ,3 UCLA, Marquette and ( 31 em to have much , ng on the road. The (y of the tough road ;,'.re with attitudes pitas. J1; nd, Brigham J aveto be given the Saturday afternoon common in sche-' sche-' , T the Utes and at the Utah i ? lost both en-! en-! AS&es, the first in k0nd'n Salt Lake by f'eeven battle. 'ffl Brigham Young fir" meeting by 28 "osmg the second tilt in Logan by a mere two points in the last 30 seconds of play. BYU appears to be the real favorite, especially with Coach Stan Watts out of die line-up. The Cougars have pledged to "win this one for Stan." Even though the 'Y' would appear to be the one to back, Utah will be given the edge. For the last three years Coach Jack Gardner has had about the same starting lineup with Ken Gardner, Mike Newlin and Jim Mahler. During Dur-ing this time Utah has been in contention up to the last couple of games and lost it. This year "The Fox" has his team as ready as it can be. The Utes will win. After Utah wins die WAC, it has a dead end road to travel, or else it should be rated the number one team in die country. The WAC champion will have to face Utah State in a qualifying round to gain entrance to the Far West Regional Tournament. Remember that the Aggies have comfortably defeated Utah twice diis season. Let's assume the Utes are playing play-ing up to their potential and drop their sister school in Logan on March 13. The following week in the first round of the Far West Tourney die Utes will meet perennial peren-nial power UCLA. For those people who are untutored in national standings, the Bruins are rated number one in the nation and have been for the last four years. Being as positive as possible let's rate the Utes over die Bruins and the eventual winner of die Weber State-Long Beach State tilt which would throw them into the ring with Marquette. Marquette Mar-quette is currently undefeated this year and has the longest winning streak in the country of 37, which includes a win over die Utes in the National Invitational Tournament in New York last spring. If the Utes should run this gammut, they will be die National Champs. In keeping with the speculation thus far I might as well pick the All-WAC starting team, which should be in keeping with die |
