College Basketball: Shall We Dance?

Who’s No. 1? Who’s No. Anything? The college basketball season is already a month old, and the only thing anybody can say for sure is that there are thousands of teams playing the game. All it takes is a dance floor and two peach baskets, and the next thing anyone knows, the harem girls are beating Notre Dame.

Take Michigan, everybody’s choice for No. 1 at season’s start. “We’re unbelievably good,” said Coach Dave Strack. His team won its first four games, but then it tripped over Nebraska (74-73), which lost to Wyoming, which lost to Oklahoma City, which lost to Southern Methodist, which lost to Vanderbilt, which lost to Virginia Tech, which lost to Duquesne, and so on to the 16th power. That was enough to bounce Michigan out of the No. 1 spot and put unbeaten Wichita in. What happened, of course, was that Wichita lost too. To Michigan last week.

Maybe Michigan is the best after all. The Wolverines have a vacation date in Manhattan—playing in the Holiday Festival tournament—which means that they will be among the few Michigan students who will not spend New Year’s Day in Pasadena, watching their football brethren work out against Oregon State in the Rose Bowl. And that is undoubtedly a good thing for Oregon State, because if things get sticky, Michigan’s football coach might be tempted to put the basketball team to work. They average 206 Ibs. per man.

In Center Bill Buntin (6 ft. 7 in., 232 Ibs.) and Guard Cazzie Russell (6 ft. 6 in., 220 Ibs.), Michigan has the best one-two punch in college basketball. A rugged front-court fighter in the mold of the Boston Celtics’ Bill Russell, Buntin has averaged eleven rebounds and 16.6 points a game. Against Duke —the team that knocked the Wolverines out of last years N.C.A.A. championships—his clutch shooting (17 points) helped break up a 69-69 tie, give Michigan an 86-79 victory.

The Wichita game last week was Cazzie Russell’s chance to shine. Held to two baskets in the first 20 minutes, he exploded in the second half, scored 21 of Michigan’s last 29 points. Wichita was leading 84-81 with 14 minutes to go, when Russell sank a soft, one-handed jump shot to pull the Wolverines within a single point. Wichita got one point back on a free throw, but Russell hit again to tie the game at 85-85 with 28 seconds left. Michigan got another chance with 4 seconds to play—and once more it was Russell, sinking an arcing 25-footer at the gun for the two points that gave Michigan the game, 87-85.