Wolves and Bears

The college basketball season has barely started; by the traditional calendar all the main events are yet to come. Yet the regular tournaments may seem a bit anticlimactic because of a single match-up last weekend that pitted the nation's No. 1 team, U.C.L.A., against the lean and hungry No. 2, North Carolina State. When the rough and often ragged tangle was over, U.C.L.A. was still No. 1; the Bruins won 84-66. They won with superstar Bill Walton on the bench half the game.

The Wolfpack and their constituents, adopting the Avis we-try-harder mentality, prepared for the contest with high spirit and keen concentration. Bumper stickers in Raleigh admonished: STOP THE WALTON GANG. Though the event was televised nationally, some 4,000 State fans journeyed by chartered plane, bus, private car and even motorcycle to St. Louis, where the Shootout was held on neutral ground. Coach Norm Sloan claimed that his team was doing nothing very special to gear up: "We really don't have anything to prove," he said before leaving for St. Louis. But 7 ft. 4 in. Center Tom Burleson was busy studying films of his opposite number, Bill Walton, and "reading everything I can find about him."

In fact, State approached the game convinced that it could end the Bruins' winning streak at 78 (leaving State with a string of 30 victories). Burleson, with a 5-in. height advantage over Walton, seemed capable of neutralizing the U.C.L.A. star. David Thompson, a superb outside shooter, ball handler and rebounder, promised to shut off U.C.L.A.'S dangerous forward, Keith Wilkes.

U.C.L.A. Coach John Wooden seemed anything but apprehensive. "I don't even know what kind of defenses North Carolina plays," he said, "and I don't care." He sent no one to scout the Wolfpack and said he hadn't studied any films. Several U.C.L.A. players skipped practice the week before the game, preparing instead for pre-Christmas exams. U.C.L.A. obviously intended its usual brand of play: defense keyed around a menacing full-court press; scoring generated by fast breaks fed by quick outlet passes from Walton. When the Bruins use a more methodical, set offense, it also revolves around Walton as shooter, passer and pick setter. That strategy almost broke down two weeks earlier when U.C.L.A. beat a tenacious Maryland team by only one point, emerging from that unnerving contest looking merely mortal.

Shortlived Tie. Through the first three quarters of the game, last Saturday U.C.L.A. looked mortal again. With Bill Walton sitting out most of the action after getting into early foul trouble, North Carolina State led at halftime by one point. With 10 minutes left the game was tied. The only reason U.C.L.A. was still in contention was that Keith ("Silk") Wilkes was artfully unraveling the Wolfpack's defense with his smooth shooting. Then Walton returned. Though he scored only a few points, his presence seemed to rattle N.C. State. Burleson in particular seemed to lose his bearings and U.C.L.A. reeled off nine straight points. They were never challenged again.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.