College Basketball: What to Do About Lew

There is a growing suspicion among at least 20 college basketball coaches that they have just wasted two whole years working furiously on their defenses and doodling the name Alcindor on the backs of old envelopes. It was heartbreaking enough when Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr., the most sought-after high-school basketball player in the U.S. two years ago, decided to pass up their scholarship offers and go to U.C.L.A. instead. It was worse when the coaches checked their schedules for 1966-67 and discovered that they would have to meet him in person. Now Lew Alcindor is 19, a sophomore playing his first varsity year, and all the nightmares are coming true. He has grown to an awesome 7 ft. 1⅜ in., and in his initial two games he has shown why U.C.L.A.’s Bruins are favorites to wind up as the nation’s No. 1 team.

Stopping Alcindor (pronounced Al-sin-der) is obviously a necessity for any team that has designs on the N.C.A.A. championship—this year, next year or the year after. The question is how. One coach suggested raising the height of the baskets from 10 ft. to 12 ft.; that proposal was discarded when it was found that Lew can leap up and nearly touch the top of the backboard—13 ft. above the floor. Another coach facetiously plugged for sinking the baskets into the floor like golf cups. “That way,” he said, “it should at least take him longer to reach over and stuff the ball in.” A third alternative was tested by Southern Cal Coach Bobby Boyd when his Trojans played the Bruins two weeks ago. Boyd’s notion: pretend that Alcindor is just another man on the U.C.L.A. roster, let him take his shots—and pray that he misses. Lew took his shots all right—32 of them—and he hit on 23. He also sank ten foul shots, scored a total of 56 points, and U.C.L.A. beat Southern Cal 105-90.

Three on One. No such disaster for Vic Bubas, the coach of Duke’s No. 7—ranked Blue Devils. Bubas had scouted Alcindor all through his freshman season at U.C.L.A., and had a different plan. He also had a veteran team; All-America Guard Bob Verga and two other starters were back from last year’s squad, which won 23 out of 26 games, wound up No. 3 in the nation.

The idea was simple: keep Lew from getting to the ball. It worked, too—sort of. Three Duke players stuck to Alcindor like Siamese quadruplets, and he scored only 19 points all night. Of course, that left only two Blue Devils to guard Alcindor’s four teammates, who popped in 69 as U.C.L.A. walloped Duke 88-54.

By last week everybody seemed willing to pronounce Alcindor “unstoppable” and “the best college center in history”—everybody, that is, except his own coach, John Wooden. “Lew has a long way to go,” said Wooden. “He may be as agile as Wilt Chamberlain was at this stage in his career, but he still isn’t as agile as Bill Russell.” Adds Assistant Willie Naulls, who played with Russell on last year’s pro champion Boston Celtics: “Lew is just a boy. He’s barely 19, still growing and far from maturity.”

Lefty or Righty. Neither coach has any complaint about Alcindor’s offensive ability, although Lew is still only about 45% accurate when he is shooting lefthanded, compared with 70% righthanded. Both, however, admit that Lew’s defense still leaves something to be desired. “He needs work,” says Naulls. “But I’ll tell you this—when Lew Alcindor wants to guard somebody, he can guard anybody.” Duke’s Bubas will attest to that: against the Blue Devils last week, Alcindor collected 16 rebounds and blocked eight enemy shots.