A Sight to Be Seen

The Indiana night exploded with hatred for the visiting champions from Ohio State University. Jammed together in the stands on the Bloomington campus, Indiana's fans bellowed their chant like a war cry: "We want blood! We want blood!" Angry knots of students rose to hurl wads of toilet paper at the enemy bench. Down on the court, fired-up Indiana was playing its best game of the year. But Ohio State stonily kept its poise, sank three foul shots in the last minute to finish off its tormentors, 73-69. Five nights later, playing back home in friendly Columbus, Ohio State easily defeated Wisconsin, 97-74.

With last week's work, undefeated Ohio State stretched its winning streak to 27, the longest in the land, strengthened its position as the nation's top-ranked basketball team. When the N.C.A.A. tournament begins later this month, Ohio State will be a heavy favorite to retain the title it won a year ago. This season the rugged Buckeyes are showing such a marvelous balance of speed, stamina and shooting skill that they have earned a place with the great teams in the history of college basketball--San Francisco (1955-56), Kentucky (1948-49) and Illinois' teen-aged "Whiz Kids" of 1943.

Brawn & Brains. Prime mover of Ohio State is All-America Center Jerry ("Luke") Lucas, 20, an implacable giant (6 ft. 8 in., 228 Ibs.) who has the sure, smooth grace of a lean Texas cowpoke. Lucas not only tops Ohio State in scoring average (25.5 points) but is a deft playmaker who feeds easy baskets to breaking teammates, leads the nation in the bruising battle for rebounds (16 per game). Cracks Coach Fred Taylor: "If Luke ever gets hurt, somebody will have to hide all the razor blades around my house."

Brilliant as Lucas is on the court, Ohio State is no one-man team. As a squad, it epitomizes the current trend in basketball away from the spindle-shanked hotshot and the gawky goon, toward towering, robust and superbly coordinated players who can run at top speed all night. Says New York University's Basketball Coach Lou Rossini: "Every man on that first five has a shot--a good shot--at making the pros."

Ohio State has the brains to match its brawn: Lucas is an honor student in marketing, and the starting five have a B+ average. Says an assistant coach: "These guys are so quick on the uptake that we don't have to call a time-out to tell them something new. We just yell it at them as they run by." In addition, the team is unified by age (Lucas and three other regulars are all juniors) and by geography. All 17 varsity players are Ohio-born.

Helping Hand. The result is a remarkably homogeneous and self-effacing team that works on the drudgery of fundamentals with the zeal of high school freshmen. Well-conditioned Ohio State uses an aggressive and disciplined "helping" defense, which often takes the calculated risk of putting two or even three players on the man with the ball. On the attack, Ohio State uses a whistling fast break that frequently ends with Lucas scaling the backboard to stuff in a rebound.

In top form, Ohio State is an awesome sight. When the team began to roll against Indiana earlier this season, Coach Taylor left his regulars in until the last two minutes, watched the score mount to 100-65. Cried Indiana's Coach Branch McCracken: "The worst thing I've ever had pulled on me in my 30 years of coaching." The embitterment over the defeat led to Indiana's violent feelings last week. But Coach Taylor has a ready reason for having let his stars play so long: "We weren't trying to pour it on. It's just that our team was playing so well I wanted to watch them go. It was a rare pleasure."

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