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Show Sporrstaculcir 16 Thursday, Pag October 25, 1979 BVdJ gumming fop sscoindI sttF&iigfott GFQvwn by Keith Duncan Selling out season tickets for a basketball season in a 20,000-plu- s arena and occuring before the season football has barely touched off, means cage-fevis a wide spread epidemic. Thats what has happened in Provo this fall the city cant wait for the first tipoff. - A lot of interesting and historic basketball news items have mingled there way through the state the past few months. The soldout season ticket news at the Marriott Center was just one of er them. Most recently, and highly significant, is the addition of a new NBA franchise in Utah. The Utah Jazz, as they are called, are officially here. After scheduling differences in New Orleans, Jazz officials decided to move from the Superdome to the Salt Palace. Utah fans couldnt be more delighted. Its stirs a little excitement in most everyone about the new teams arrival to the Rockies. , Julius Erving, David Thompson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and others will all show their faces in the Salt Palace which is exciting. Jazz fans even get the treat of having Pistol Pete Maravich on their side all season. its highly successful basketball programs and the winter may be the Utah State never fails to produce a winner and the University of Utah will once again be a top challenger for the WAC crown. But the eye is drawn South where, the BYU Cougars have formed a nucleus of basketball talent that will be drawing national attention all season. Winter Explosion While the cage fever spreads through Utah County, it will likewise pick up in Logan, Ogden and Salt Lake City. The state has long been known for back, losing only two lettermen the Wildcats appear to be very strong. 1979 With Alan Taylor, Danny Ainge, Scott Runia, Devin Durrant, Roberts and others most memorable of them all. Weber State has four starters fop Uti Gdddo Do'fifioraraism FOtoira LA&E SALT University of Utah team will open its season CITY-T- he 1979-8- 0 basketball pre- has made it with the Utah Jazz and Earl, who gave us four years of determined play. We will miss their influence as well as their play on the court. Both were good defensive players and that has to be a point of emphasis for us in the early season. The Ute coaches will also be working on getting more consistency out of the backcourt. One of the things we will be working on, said Pimm, is to get our outside polay consistent so defenses cannot concentrate An. appearance every other n year in play is a tough order to fill for any collegiate basketball team. But with Mondays betginning of official Head Coach practices, first-yeRod Tueller and his Utah State basketball team start their quest for just such a goal. (Should the Ags earn the school another history the Utags have a string of three n straight years in tournaments). It appears USUs chances of enhancing that every other n schedule year (which has been in effect the past two decades) will be a far task. old Tueller But the wont start from scratch. The new coach has a pair of 6-- 5, practice Monday, Oct. 15th in the Special Events Center. Utah Head Basketball Coach Jerry Pimm and his staff will greet a total of 13 players. Included in that group are nine returning lettermen, three coming freshmen and one starters in 5 Greg Deane, now with the Utah Jazz of the NBA and Earl Williams, Deane averaged 14.1 points and 3.3 rebounds while Williams, noted for his excellent defense, averaged 7.7 points and 2.6 rebounds. Also missing will be lettermen Jay Judkins. Pimm, obviously excited and anxious for practice to begin, feels that finding replacement for Deane and Williams will be a drills. high priority in We will really miss Greg, who 6-- basketball inred-shir- t. pre-seaso- Three of last years starters return for the Utes in forward n returning, basketball success in Cougarland seems locked in. Clearfield Former High basketball coach, Robert Reid, assists Coach Frank Arnold in those duties and now enters his second year as a BYU mentor. Reid has never known anything but success, but has never known anything but hard work and discipline either. Reid is nearing nearly a decade a coaching now, and has never experienced a losing season, whether in charge or as an assistant. BYU must be fortunate to have him in their ranks. just guarding Vranes and Chambers inside. We have to allow them to get free more so they can get more scoring opPimm also noted portunities. that the Utes must improve in their free throw shooting and rebounding and that those two areas would be stressed during fall practice. ' on The Utes will practice six days a week but Ute fans will have several chances to see the Utes in action before the season starts. November 13th the team will hold a scrimmage at Woods Cross High School, November 15th is the annual Night With the Runnin Utes in the Special Events Center and November 21st another scrimmage will be held at Brighton High School. The Utes open the season n November 23rd with a game against a Canadian Team. The first regular season game is set for Friday, November 30th against Midwestern University in the Special Events Center. pre-seaso- Danny Vranes, center, Tom and guard Scott Martin. Guard, Donnie Rice, a e starter last season is , Chambers part-tim- also back. scorer (16.2) and rebounder (10.1) last season. He was a First selection and was Team a member of the U.S. Pan American Team that won the gold medal at last summers games. Chambers, a second team All-WA- C selection last year averaged 16.0 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He played for the U.S. team this summer in the Intercontinental Cup Games in Argentina. Martin averaged 7.1 points per game and 2.3 rebounds and was the leading assist man on the club with 167. Rice started 11 games during the year and averaged 3.8 points and All-WA- C post-seaso- NCAA-sanctione- d ar 13-m- post-seaso- n trip in basketball, it would be only the second time in from-eas- ar 29-ga- 67-3- start with a tough one November 30 (at home against Weber State) and it doesnt get We any easier after that," said Tueller. In order to come near ap1 proaching the 21-- 7 and records the past two seasons, Jackson (15.8) and Hunger (is.1) must continue to improve; last-seasflash Keith Hood will have to do the same things as a starter this year be did as a reserve last year; letterman Rich McEIrath must ease the loss of point guard Rawiee Perkins and somebody has got to prove able to handle the center job. Tueller with Dana Paged and Tom Stewart and grad assistant Pete Matheshie n lists a roster of 13 players, although 0 sophomore Leo Cunningham is still limited with an injured arm. In addition to Hunger, Jackson, Hood and McEIrath, Tuellers list of available lettermen includes 6- 19-1- 6-- 1, pre-seaso- 29-1- nt through the end of December, shows all ten games against teams which averaged 19 wins last year.' None of them had losing seasons and the four winners all appeared in n play. In fact, the league records of those December foes, . in their respective conferences, was an impressive at Columbus West High School. guard, Bobby Anderson, a who sat out last seasson, rounds out the Ute roster for this year. Only three lettermen are lost from last years team that posted a 0 season mark, finished second in the Western Athletic Cbnference with a 9-- 3 record and Tour-mmequalified for the NCAA for the third year in a row. Gone are two of last years 6-- 8 y post-seaso- 1, rebounds schedule, post-seaso- rebounds. Joining those four are Karl Bankowski (4.2 points). Curt Clawson (4.1 points), Leonard Johnson (3.1 points), Coby Leavitt ((3.0 points) and Dan Larson (2.8 points). New players joining the Utes this season are Craig Bell from Honolulu, 64, Pace Man-nio- n from Las Vegas and 8-Peter Williams from Columbus, Ohio. Bell averaged 18 points and 14 rebounds at University High, Mannion averaged 24 points and at Chaparral nine rebounds High, while Williams averaged 23 11 A post-seaso- 1.1 points and honoree forwards in Dean Hunger and Brian Jackson (a PCAA second teamer). But the schedule is as challenging as ever and is a rough way for a rookie head coach to break in. USUs USU assembled POWiR FORWARD David Johnson returns (or another Weber State Wildcat basketball seoson. 7 sophomore Haakon Austef jord, 6--8 forward-cente- Mark Miller, r senior 64 senior Craig Taylor, Steve Pinegar and Cunningham. Possible early contributors to the new regime include 5 transfer Edgar Wickliffe (Santa Ana JC, California), guard Lance Washington, a freshman from St. Bernard High School in Lob Angeles, freshman Gary Beck from American Fork High in Utah and mission returnee Larry Bergeson, once a player at the College of Southern Idaho (under current Fresno State head coach, Boyd Grant). The Aggies, in their first year in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, finished with a record in the league (19-1-2 overall) and were tied for second with Fresno State. The Ags also wound up secood in the PCAA tournament, losing to the same dub which captured the regular season title: Pacific. It isnt accurate to say were in a rebuilding year, with Jackson and Hunger and Hood and McEIrath," said Tueller, but were not the veteran-typdub you would like to have. We 6-- 2 6-- 6-- 1 6-- six-fo- ot 9-- 5 post-seaso- e can become a good, solid contending team with help from Hood and McEIrath and Washington and Wickliffe and the others. The schedule is, honestly, one of the toughest I can remember here, and that wil force us to be strong. in a hurry. Hunger and Jackson, of course, are the clubs only returning starters, with the loss of Perkins and Keith McDonald in the back-cour- t, along with big man Preston Bailess. |