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It's been a puzzling season for Bighouse
This was supposed to be a season
thai Winston-Salem State figured
would be one of their best in recent
years. Rams coach Clarence "Big
house*' Gaines brought in a group of
junior college players to join returnees
from a squad that finished up at 15-1-2
during the *89- *90 season.
You'd think that the combination
of new faces and seasoned vets would
have put the Rams at the top of the
stack in the CIAA South. But it
? *
hasn't turned out that way. At
presstime, Winston was a surprising 9
11. But what is even more of an eye
opener, is that in six of the Rams loss
es, the margin of defeat has been a
scant 2.6 points and against some of
the league's top teams at that. For
example:
? two point loss to Virginia Union;
^ ? two point loss to Shaw in double
OT;
? lost by one point and six points
to Johnson C. Smith in two games;
? lost by three to Fayetteville State.
Winston has yet to operate on all
cylinders this season. There have been
only .two occasions when they've won
two straight games. On top of that, the
losses have come in just about every
way imaginable ? missed free throws
during crunch time, not boxing out on
the boards which leads to offensive
rebounds for the other team, plus poor
choices in ball handling and shooting.
"It's been puzzling, I'll admit
Photo by T-Lee
Gaines has been looking for answers regarding his team's erratic play.
that," said Gaines, who is college bas
ketball's winningest active coach with
815 career wins. "I felt that we would
do better with the adjustments we
made and the new people we recruited.
One of the problems is that most of
our junior college players play the
same position."
Gaines, however, hasn't written
the season off. But he's very aware that
some changes will have to be made if
Winston is to be factor in Richmond.
"We had a chance to win our division,"
Gaines said, "and I still believe we can
win the tournament. But in order for us
to play like we're capable of playing,
our kids have to re-dedicate them
selves and fill their designated roles.
Everybody wants to play forward and
nobody wants to play center. But the
center position is where games are won
and lost."
If there's one thing that could
work to Winston's advantage come
tournament time, it's the fact that they
are accustomed to playing tight games
against good teams. The only negative
is that they haven't come out on the
winning end often enough. In games
that have been decided by six points or
less, the Rams have won only 22 per
cent of the time.
Gaines and the WS$U faithful are
crossing their fingers that their team
can even the score at the CIAA basket
ball party.
-Craig T. Greenlee
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