Look Who's Down There

In the age of the hyperactive pituitary, when every school is trying to find itself a Lew Alcindor and there are 50 players who are 6 ft. 11 in. or taller on the rosters of college basketball, large news is coming in some small packages. While gangling giants stuff their shots with contemptuous ease, a surprising crop of shorter men are reasserting their claim to a piece of the game. Dribbling, passing and shooting rings around their taller teammates, they are bringing back to basketball some agile, old-fashioned skills. Three of the best: >U.C.L.A.'s Mike Warren, 5 ft. 11 1/2 in., seems to shrink perceptibly in the shade of towering Teammate Alcindor (7 ft. 1 3/8 in.). But Warren handles the ball 70% of the time that unbeaten No. 1 -ranked U.C.L.A. is on the attack; he is also the head harasser in the Bruins' famed zone-press defense. The only veteran playing with the four sophomores on the U.C.L.A. first string, Junior Warren, 20, was the team's No. 2 scorer (at 16.6 points per game) last year. This year, his main job is to get the ball to Alcindor, and his own scoring average has slipped to 12.5. "Mike is even more valuable as a floor leader," says U.C.L.A. Coach John Wooden. "He brings the ball up court; he is an exceptionally fine passer; he can dribble to his right and left better than any player I've ever had." > St. John's University's Albie Swartz is described in the game programs as 5 ft. 10 in. tall and 175 Ibs. Unless he is still growing at 21, he'll never get that big. Although he is one-half inch shorter and six pounds lighter than billed, Albie is "my coach on the floor," says his coach, Lou Carnesecca. As field general of a team that has won 19 out of 22 games, Swartz insists that "the big guys on defense don't bother me when it comes to setting up a play. It's only when I shoot that they become a nuisance." Not enough of a nuisance, though, to keep him from scoring at crucial moments: twice this season, against Temple and Brigham Young, Swartz sank game-winning jump shots from 30 ft. out in the final seconds of play. >Boston College Guard Billy Evans, 19, a 5-ft. 11-in. sophomore who has averaged 13 points and twelve assists per game, is "the last of the so-called playmakers." So says his coach, Bob Cousy, former captain of the Pro Champion Boston Celtics and no mean playmaker himself. "What does Billy do that the big guys can't? I'll tell you--he thinks," says Cousy. A dean's list student who is majoring in economics and plans to go on to law school, Evans was the star of B.C.'s 83-82 victory over the perennial Eastern power, Providence, two weeks ago; he set up 16 B.C. baskets with his pinpoint passes, twice stole the ball from Providence's All-America Guard Jimmy Walker, and dribbled the length of the floor to score himself.

The list of small stars is growing steadily. At Southwest Missouri State College, a ranking small-college power, they call 5-ft. 10-in. Jim Gummersbach "Old Headquarters" for his playmaking abilities. Gummersbach is also the No. 2 scorer on a team that boasts a 19-3 record for the season. The University of California has an All-America candidate in Russ Critchfield, a 5-ft. 10-in. guard who is "popping" 22 points a game--with high, floating jump shots that are accurate from as far away as 30 ft. Then there is DePauw University's Jack Hogan, his team's Most Valuable Player last year and its top scorer over the past three seasons. Hogan stands 5 ft. 5 1/2 in. in his bare feet, and his coach says: "I'm always afraid somebody is going to step on him." No fear. Hogan has scored 839 points, and he thinks his size actually is an advantage instead of a handicap. "A lot of defensive players," he says, "seem to take me for granted."

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