Page 7
SPORTS
How much are the opinion polls really worth?
JAMES ALEXANDER JR.
Sports Editor
During this topsy-turvy college
basketball season, much controversy has
centered around who is really the number
one team in the nation.
Both opinion polls, Associated Press
(AP) for writers and the United Press
International (UPI) for coaches, have
alternated between Duke, Michigan St.
and Notre Dame (currently top-ranked),
while North Carolina, Illinois and Indiana
St. have come all but close enough to the
top spot.
In addition, no team remains undefeated
at the season’s halfway mark, and the
days of undefeated or one loss records are
probably gone...forever.
All of this hoopla has been created by the
increased intensity in conference play this
year, such as in the Big Ten where
Michigan St. and Illinois have been con
stantly rapped by the improved play of
former doormats Iowa (Big Ten leader),
Purdue and Ohio St.
In the ACC, it has been no rougher than
usual with Duke and North Carolina
managing to hold on, but you’ve got to
think that an upset is always in the offing
when you’re in the ACC.
Notre Dame, by the benefit of being an
independent has maintained the top spot
longer than anyone else, with no intense
conference schedule to deal with.
However, when one looks at the overall
poll situation, it must be noted that the AP
and UPI polls are merely opinions of a
group of “experts” who have no concrete
basis to rank a team other than personal
preference.
On most occasions, the teams that win
on a given week usually move up in the
polls, while the ones that suffer at least one
loss drop down, except when they happen
to lose to a team that was much higher
ranked.
It’s all mechanical.
The polls provide no concrete means of
telling who is really good and who is not, it
only makes basketball fans open their
papers on Tuesdays to see what others
think of their favorite team.
The bet thing that could happen to this
poll baloney would be for it all to go
straight down the drain, and install some
type of national ranking system formula
that would combine a team’s record,
average winning margin, shooting per
centage and other important factors.
Extra points should be given to teams
that win against a competitive opponent,
as opposed to subtracting points from
teams that win against lesser opponents.
That should solve the problem of
distinguishing between the Indiana States
and the Notre Dames.
This method would present at least a
fairer and more accurate picture of
college basketball’s top teams, and would
offer a clear and direct formula for
ranking.
The AP and UPI polls are fine, but let’s
not take them beyond what they really are
worth. Too often fans take the opinions of
the polls as “sacred truths”, but what good
is one person’s opinion over another?
North Carolina has gotten a big jump on
the rest of the ACC in basketball
recruiting, having signed 6-8 James
Worthy of Gastonia Ashbrook (the state’s
top-ranked team according to the AP poll)
and 6-1 Jim Braddock oi Chattanooga,
Tenn.
One rating service has both players
listed in the top 50 high school prospects in
the nation, and Worthy is thought by many
to be the best high school player in the
state.
Coach Dean Smith will probably groom
Worthy to replace All-America Mike
O’Koren, while Braddock may be vying
with young Jimmy Black for the future
point guard spot.
Stay tuned folks...there’s prtjbably more
to come.
When the ACC basketball coaches were
polled as to whether or not they welcomed
the new jump ball rule change, it was
interestingly concluded th^t the group is
split on the issue.
Smith, Terry Holand (Virginia) and Bill
Foster (Clemson) were in favor of the
change, while Lefty Driesell (Maryland),
Norm Sloan (N.C. State) and Carl Tacy
(Wake Forest) were against it.
Duke’s Bill Foster was the lone un
decided coach, who commented he had
“mixed emotions about it.”
When tournament time comes and
passes, let’s take another poll and find out
how many are ready to dump the new rule.
Former Marquette guard and first round
NBA draft choice Butch Lee was recently
traded by the Atlanta Hawks to Cleveland,
in exchange for former Michigan St. star
Terry Furlow.
Lee was only averaging around seven
points per game, and was splitting playing
time with such “greats” as Armond
Hill,Charlie Criss, Eddie Johnson and Rick
Wilson.
However, Carolina’s Phil Ford (also a
first round pick) is out in Kansas City
averaging better than 15 points per contest
and is ranking second in the entire league
in assists, which are the true
measurement of any good point guard.
Ford has also turned a perenniel loser
into a division winner and a playoff likely,
and is an integral part of the NBA’s best
young backcourt.
The experts who argued last year that
Lee was a better guard than Ford should
have eaten all of their words by
now...wouldn’t you say?
Pity the poor Denver Nuggets, they have
really had it bad this season.
They have barely kept their heads above
the mark, have not received the
consistent playing ability of David
Thompson, and have not seen the Ught of
the George McGinnis-Bobby Jones deal
(but Philadelphia has).
The Nuggets had always had the NBA
label of not being able to win the big ones
since their inclusion into the league
because they have had some super teams.
INSIDE SPORTS
with Jame8 Alexander, Jr.
Team
1. Notre Dame (22) (15-2)
2. Indiana St. (16) (20-0)
3. UCLA (1) (16-3)
4. Duke (3) (16-3)
5. Louisville (19-3)
6. North Carolina (16-4)
7. LSU(16-3)
8. Marquette (16-3)
9. Michigan St. (14-5)
10. Syracuse (18-2)
11. Texas A&M (20-4)
12. Ohio St. (13-6)
13. Iowa (15-4)
14. Arkansas (15-4)
15. Texas (16-5)
16. Vanderbilt (15-4)
17. Temple (17-3)
18. Purdue (17-5)
19. (tie) So. Calif. (13-6)
19. (tie) Georgetown (16-4)
Juggy
(Continued from page 1)
Hill than Durham or Raleigh,” he said.
So he came to Chapel Hill and worked
for another Black Hair care shop. "The
fellow whom I was working for failed to
follow through on an agreement that we
had made, so I was forced to go into
business on my own.”
So in January 1977, “Juggy, the Bush
Master” as he was called opened up his
own place. “I maintained many of my
same customers and in a few months, I
was able to hire another hairstylist.
“I plan to own my own building by
this time next year,” he said.
What’s his key to success?
“Just logic and common sense.”
To have logic and common sense, one
must have a good head. And one Juggy
advertisement pleads: “Let us help you
get your head together.”
' )'.;i I.
."iDr
SOUL TRAIN
Add this to the Nuggets list of woes;
Head coach and former Carolina standout
Larry Brown has resigned because of
health reasons.
Brown really made the Nuggets what
they once were, the best young team in ^o
basketball
Thurs., Feb. 15,
9p.m.-l a.m.
Great Hall
Carolina Union
Now that the young Nugget empu-e has
fallen, there’s but one thing left to do, and
that’s to start all over again