Wayne23

January 1979 Diplomatic relations re-established with China Village People: Y.M.C.A. Shah flees Iran 1st documented case of a robot killing a human January 1 “Ron Dover with the wrap. 61-36 over NC ST. 19, 6, 2 for Shay, 13, 13, 4 for Jay, 9 TOs, 35 RBs. A good night! “We start conf. H play with two on the road. 1st it’s 7-4 Vermont, then 6-5 Baylor.” January 8 “A 1-1 start to conf. play. It’s Ron Dover on ‘Sportstalk’ with the Sunday UML hoops wrap up. We’ll have a special guest in just a moment. 65-54 at Vermont. We came from 14 down by holding them to 18 in the 2nd half. 23, 2, 4 for Shay, 16, 10, 2 for Jay, 11, 8, 2 for Jim, 9, 9, 3 for Art. +11 RBs. “Then we went to Baylor and lost 41-45. Baylor played “slow down” and in the end it worked. They didn’t shoot all that well but we were worse, 30.6%, 4-22 on threes. 14, 6, 2 for Art. A very frustrating game. “This week we’re at home with 9-4, 2-0 GA Southern, and then at Charleston Southern, 4-9, 0-2. “We have UML President Grace Clark here in the studio. Madam President, tell us about the state of the University.” “We think we’re in very good shape and heading in the right direction. We consider ourselves a very good school, and financially we’re a bargain. We offer well over 100 bachelor’s programs, and 41 for master’s students, 34 for Ph. D. students. We are particularly proud of our arts, nursing, and business programs and we are a nationally recognized leader in providing internships for students.” “I’m with that! I get to work at WBZ in Boston every week.” “There you are!” “And UML basketball?” “It’s well known that I’ve been a big basketball fan for many years, long before I met my husband. I’ll let him speak about the men’s program when he’s here but I want to say that we’re very excited about our women’s basketball program. Long time Athletic Director Jack Lacy and Coach Clark have done everything they can to be welcoming and helpful to Coach Montville and the team. They’re in their second year and they’re playing really good basketball, 7-4 right now.” “You’ve said that you stay out of decisions involving the men’s program.” “Yes, I want to completely avoid any resemblance to a conflict of interest. Any issue that go beyond the A. D.’s office are decided by the Assistant Provost. If no solution is found at that level the issue goes to the Provost, but no higher.” “President Clark, it’s great to have you with us. Thanks.” January 15 “Ron Dover with the coach. A surprise this week.” “Not a happy one. GA Southern beat us 57-58 here. We played really good D, we took care of the ball pretty well, but we didn’t rebound, -11. That was because the one thing that can’t happen to us happened; both of our big guys got in foul trouble. Jay played only 14 minutes before fouling out, and Jim Jones played a lot but had to 'play careful,' because he was in foul trouble all night long. We simply don’t have anyone behind those two. Art Walk is 6’ 8” but he’s a small forward/guard, not at all an inside player. When he and Geoff Hahn are our front line we’re unable to compete. No criticism of those two, they’re both terrific at what they do, but this isn’t what they do. Anyway, we got a little behind and they just banged it inside on their last three possession. They made one layup, and drew fouls twice, making the free throws. 25 for Shay.” “But it got better.” “We went on the road and beat Charleston Southern 63-54. 15 TOS but they had 16. Our bigs stayed out of foul trouble and they were both outstanding, 14, 12, 2 for Jim, 12, 11, 5, 2 for Jay. 14, 5 for Ron, and 13, 3, 3 for Geoff.” “This week it’s Deep Pond, 7-8, 2-2 here, and then 6-9, 2-2 Eastern KY, away. Coach, you’re only 2-2 in conf. play. Have you climbed as high up the ladder as you can?” “I’m not sure that’s it, Ron. We weren’t able to get the inside players we wanted and the ones we did get, aside from Jim and Jay, simply aren’t ready. Sometimes it takes longer for big guys to develop. We’ve got commitments from three this year, and we’re exploring opening a roster spot for a fourth, so we hope to solve the problem. Also, it’s early. We expect to make some noise in H before it’s over. We’re still not as good as we hope to be in Feb. and March.” “Coach Clark’s teams always seem to peak at the right time, so here’s hoping.” “Jeff in Marblehead.” “Coach, you talk about the bigs, and I get that, but you’re averaging 13.1 TOs a game.” “Yes, and that’s a concern. We like to be below 12.0. We’re addressing that as well.” “Joey in Braintree.” “Coach, you’ve got 2 big guys on the bench that you almost never use. Why?” “Den Wolf plays good offense, and he rebounds, but his D is simply not where we need it to be. He’s working hard and we feel that in time he will definitely help us. Rik Tray is a project. We would have red shirted him if we had more big guys, but we knew that if we sustained an injury to a big guy we’d need him so we simply couldn’t. Incidentally, Rik agrees that he isn’t ready yet and he’s working hard.” “Pete in Quincy.” “Hahn needs to start.” “He’s my Havlicek, Pete. I bring him in and good things happen. He plays the 2nd most minutes on the team.” “Okay, that’s it for this week. Thanks Coach.” January 22 “A 2-0 week. Coach is flying home right now so I’m by myself. 78-60 over Deep Pond here. 9 TOs, +11, really helped. +3 on the boards. It was a real team effort on both ends. We had 6 guys with between 9 and 13 points. Geoff Hahn had 18, 1, 6, 3 to lead the way. Turning them over 20 times gave us 15 more shots and we made them count. “Then we went to Eastern KY and won 55-39 on great D. 12 TOs, 38 RBs. 13, 11 for Art Walk, 11, 3, 3 for Geoff, 8, 11, 3 for Jay, 7, 8, 2 for Jim Jones. “There’s a real pile up on conf. Ga Southern is alone at the top, 5-1, but 6 teams are 1 back, and another 4 are 2 back. Hiccup and you drop quickly. “This week we host Long Beach ST, 9-8, 4-2, and then we travel to 10-7, 3-3 Tulsa.” January 29 “Another 2 win week. 60-48 over Long Beach ST. 16, 5, 2 for Jay, 14, 6, 2, 3 for Ron. 16 TOs didn’t make coach happy, but +4 on the boards and very good D." “61-51 at Tulsa. We were down by 12 early in the 2nd half and then a 15-2 run turned it right around. 15, 4, 5 for Ron, 13, 9, 2 for Art. 9 TOs, 30 RBs. “We’re still one back of GA Southern but now only Manhattan is up there with us. 15-6, 6-2, ranked for the first time this season, #24, RPI #31. “12-7 Cal Poly at home, then Manhattan, 14-5, 6-2, on the road. Looks like a challenging week!”

November 20 “Ron Dover with the Sunday UML hoops wrap up. Coach is in a plane right now. We opened with 2 teams from B conf. 1st we were at #23 Iowa and they beat us 62-83. They were better than us. It’s that simple. We’ll get better as the season goes on, Coach Clark’s teams always do. 16 TOs, -6 for both that and RBs. PG Shay Gann and C Jay Son both fouled out, and PF Jim Jones had 4 fouls. We’re really short on big guys so that killed us. 12, 10 for Jones despite the fouls, 11, 4, 2 for Art Walk, 10, 6 for Geoff Hahn, 13 for Ron Vale. “Then we came home and beat Creighton 81-62. 17, 6, 6 for Geoff Hahn, 15 each for Gann and Vale, 10, 7 for Jones. 9 TOs but -4 RBs. Given our size issues RBs will probably be a problem all year. “This week we’re at UCLA from E, and we host #14 Georgia from B.” November 27 “Ron Dover with the coach. Great week.” “It was. 88-61 over UCLA there. All 6 of our guys were in double figures. Shay Gann led us with 20, 5, 2, 1, 2. 15, 8, 3 for Jay Son. Geoff Hahn continues to be terrific from the bench. 16 TOs, but it was +3, and we were +12 on the boards, 1st time we are not out rebounded. “Then we came home and just crushed #14 Georgia, 59-22 (Author: Ridiculous score!). 18, 3, 5 for Shay, 10, 13, 2, 2 for Art Walk. 7 TOs, and 45 RBs. They shot 15.7%, 6.9% on threes.” “This week?” “Home for 2. First is Minnesota from B, they’re 2-2, then VA Tech, our 4th opponent from B. They’re 0-3.” “See you on Sunday.” December 1978 Shah of Iran is on very shaky ground H. R. Haldeman released from prison December 4 “Home cookin’!” “There’s nothing like it, Ron. 79-67 over Minnesota. This was a battle until late. 59 points from our three guards, 25 for Shay, 21 for Ron, 13 for Geoff, with 6 and 3. 7 TOs. We were -11 on the boards. But, we’re playing with a PF at Center, an SF at Power Forward, and one more SF on the team. WE have a PF and a C way, WAY at the end of the bench and that’s where they’ll stay. “Then 71-59 over VA Tech. They were never really in it. When they got it to 6 or 7 we hit a shot every time. 17, 9 for Jay, 17, 5, 3 for Shay, 9 and 11 for Jim Jones, 6, 7, 3, 3 for Geoff. We had 23 TOs (-11), and 40 RBs (+21), a complete reversal of form. We knew VA Tech was weak inside so we went after them there.” “This week?” “4-2 Kansas ST from D here, then we’re off to the Sunshine Shootout where we’ll play #18 North Carolina, also 4-2, from, what else, B.” “Yikes!” “We’ll give it our best shot. They’re the #1 seed, we’re #8.” “I’m here on my own next Sunday.” December 11 “Sunday night wrap up time. Ca-razy week! And it’s not really over. It started off badly as UML lost 71-74 at Kansas ST. Shay Gann played only 22 minutes before fouling out but much worse, Jay Son played only 19. We got only 20 RBs with our small front line. 22, 6, 2 for Ron Vale, 12, 6, 3 for Geoff. This team simply isn’t deep enough to survive foul trouble up front. “Then, in the 1st round of the Sunshine Shootout we upset #8 UNC, 69-47. We played excellent D, had only 12 TOs, and were +1 on the boards, but the key was Geoff Hahn with 264, and 2. We held UNC to 3 threes, and we contained their inside game, which is usually their strength. “Last night it was 63-51 over St. Joe’s in the semis. 18 for Geoff, 14, 5, 4 for Jay, 12, 6, 1, 3 for Jim, 8, 7, 3, 2 for Art. 11 TOs, and -4 on the boards. “So in about a half hour it will be UML against 5-3 New Mexico, from conf. D. This looks like one of those “either team could win” games. “Later in the week we’re at UMass, 1-6 from D.” December 18 “Ron Dover with the Sunday wrap up. UML won the Sunshine Shootout in a thriller against New Mexico, 55-53. No one ever led by more than 7. On both of our last 2 possessions Ron Vale hit threes, his only two of the game. 18 TOs but we got the win. “Then we were upset at UMass, 56-79 in a game we were never in. Only 9 TOs, but -8 on the boards and we let them shoot 56.1%, and 14-28 on threes. 16, 8, 2, 1, 1 for Jim Jones, and forget the rest. “This week we’re at #15 Marquette, 9-1, from B conf.” December 25 “62-72 at Marquette. Tough patch but we’ll turn it around. Again the problem was D. We let them shoot 50%, 14-29 on threes. 23 for Ron. Coach says the staff had a long meeting, looked at the various stat sheets. We’re +1.0 on TOs, +0.8 on RBs, +7.2 on PPG. They’re going to move Ron Vale out to 3 when Geoff Hahn is in, and move Geoff into 2, but that’s pretty minor. He said the team is learning to work as a unit and he expects good things. He pointed out that we’re 8-4 against good competition. Ron stretched a hamstring. He’s day to day. “Next up is NC ST, 6-4 in E conf., right here at home.”

May 1978 1st spam email is sent Aldo Moro kidnapped and murdered Italy legalizes abortion (FTP) 1st class stamp goes from 13 to 15 cents June 1978 1st appearance of “Garfield” Larry Holmes wins WBC heavyweight title June 12 “Ron Dover here on 88.1 FM, WLOW, how LOW can you GO! We’ve learned that UML has signed Jr. transfer PG Shep Wool.” June 26 “Ron Dover on ‘Sportstalk.’ The UML River Hawks have 4 scholarships to fill and they need big guys. They’re looking at 15 guys.” July 1978 Nixon makes 1st public speech since resigning 100,000 march on Washington for ERA Louise Brown, first test tube baby, is born August 1978 39 month extension for attempts to ratify ERA 1st successful crossing of Atlantic by balloon August 21 “Ron Dover, here, and we’re back from break with the coach on the line. Coach, how’s recruiting going?” “I like our prospects. We’re not quite ready to make offers yet but we will probably do so during the first week of September.” “And the team?” “Well, we can’t practice for about 6 weeks but we’re optimistic at this point.” “Thanks.” September 1978 Ayatollah Khomeini stirs it up Muhammad Ali regains heavyweight crown Begin, Sadat, Carter sign Camp David accord September 18 “Ron Dover with the coach. Recruiting?” “We got as commitment from a PG. We also offered to 3 PFs and we feel we have a shot with each of them.” “And we have a schedule.” “We do. We’re at the Sunshine Shootout in December, and more at home than on the road otherwise. Only one ranked team would play us at our place but the rest are tough. On the road we’re playing mostly ranked teams. September 25 “Ron Dover on ‘Sportstalk.’ UML has signed two PFs. They are still chasing one big guy. October 1978 The 20 day Pope is buried Susan B. Anthony dollar coin approved 1st ever TV movie from a TV series: Return to Gilligan’s Island Begin and Sadat win Nobel October 2 “Ron Dover with the coach on the line. Still chasing that recruit?” “Nope, we switched to a different one. He has us at #1 and we really like him.” “1st day of practice.” “Yes, too soon to tell much except we’re definitely short on big guys. We’ll almost certainly go with a three guard lineup.” “You’re picked #1 again though.” “We are. Charleston Southern, Manhattan, Long Beach State, and Baylor look like the ones who’ll chase us.” October 9 “Ron Dover here. UML got a commitment from the Center they were chasing. If all hit the SAT score, and they’re good students, recruiting is finished; 1 PG, 2 PFs, 1 C.” November 1978 Jonestown 1st lesbian theme TV movie “A Question of Love” November 6 “’Sportstalk,’ back from break. Coach, do we have a lineup?” “There may be some small tweaks but I don’t think there will be any big changes. Shay Gann, Ron Vale and Geoff Hahn will play about the same number of minutes at guard and backing up at SF. Art Walk will play SF and some PF. Jim Jones is at PF and Jay Son at C. 6 man rotation as long as we stay healthy. I’ll find minutes for John Bry when I can, and maybe for Mike Eld, but after that, only in emergencies.”

And now for the rest of the story, PG: March 12 “Rick Burns with Coach Clark and the team. We’re 25-7, ranked #12, RPI #19. Any thoughts, Coach.” “Well, we should be a 4 or a 5 but historically we haven’t been treated very well. Who knows?” “Okay, here we go!” “Not in the East.” “#6 in the Midwest. We play 17-12 Western Kentucky. Coach?” “Don’t know a thing about them but my assistants are going through the files. Give us a couple of minutes.” “Let’s take a break.” … “Okay, we’re back. Coach?” “Western KY is in C, they’re good outside, and they play man. They finished 9th in conf., and lost in the 2nd round of the tourney. Their 1st guard off the bench just tore up his knee a couple of games ago. As I said they are an outside team. We need to turn them over and we need to play well inside.” “Okay, we’ll bring you the game on the 16th.” March 16 “Rick Burns here with the Coach after the first round NCAA tourney game between Western Kentucky and UML. Coach?” “69-43. We played well tonight. 18 for Shay but all the starters plus Key had 9 or more. 11 TOs. No disrespect but this was a mismatch.” “Some bad news though.” “Yes, Ron Vale pulled a calf muscle. He may not be back this year.” “Who gets the minutes?” “Key will get a lot of them. Geoff Hahn will get the rest.” “Next up is #14 seed Clemson, 22-10, from D. They upset #3 seed Creighton.” “Not a bad team. They rebound, take care of the ball, have good inside D. Outside D is weak.” March 18 “Rick Burns here after the Clemson-UML game. Coach another big win, 76-49.” “8 TOs, 45 RBs. That will usually win for you. 19, 14, 5 for Zel, 19, 7, 4 for Shay, 17, 5, 5 for Clif, 10, 4 for Key, 6, 10, 2 for Den. Great effort.” “The price of poker is about to go up!” “Indeed. #2 seed Michigan from A. 24-8, only finished 5th, lost in the first round. But this is a good team. They’re good at every position and they’re deep. If we win it will need to be inside. We’ll need to work hard to match their outside game.” “Big incentive.” “Well, yes. It’s #8 vs. #13 in the other game. But you never know. Our job is to try to get past this game.” “We’ll be there!” March 23 “Rick Burns here with the coach after the Sweet 16 game vs. Michigan. HUGE win, 56-51 in OT!” “Definitely. They were up 15 early in the 2nd half. Given our tendency to fade at times it didn’t look good. We ‘d been sloppy all night. I raised the roof and we only turned it over 3 times after that and I think that was the key. We tied the score at the end of regulation on a Clif Skip drive to the hoop. Then in OT we took control by scoring the first 7 points. Except for the 21 TOs, and again, 3 after about the 15 minute mark in the 2nd half, we really did play well. Our D was terrific. We used 10 guys and every one of them made a contribution.” “And now you play for a trip to the final four.” “We got there in ’71 and lost in the title game. I’d love another shot!” “#13 seed Utah has three upsets in a row and they’re the opponent.” “And it’s the #5 vs. the #10 in the East. Crazy year. We played Utah in the WS Midwest and beat them by 9. That was a long time ago though. We know they like the three. They’re 12 and 2 in the last 14, and one loss was in OT. This is a team we can beat but we need to play well.” “See you on Saturday.” March 25 “Rick Burns here after the Elite Eight game between Utah and UML. Not tonight, Coach. 49-64.” “They just killed us early, took a 26 point lead. The margin was just too big. We did everything we could think of but nothing worked. 20 TOs hurt a great deal, and we couldn’t hit threes, 2-15. This was a big disappointment but congratulations to Utah. Imagine, a #13 seed going to the Final Four.” “We’ll talk to the coach again on April 4.” April 1978 Carl Sagan wins Pulitzer for “Dragons of Eden” Accident at Willow Island, West Virginia nuclear reactor kills 51 April 4 “Rick Burns with the Coach. Tell us about the Final Four.” “A 10 seed, a 13 seed, a 4 seed, and a 1 seed. So Kansas was the big favorite. The final was Kansas and Georgia. Kansas won, but barely, 60-56. Great game.” “Awards?” “Zel got conf. I POY. Den got Defensive POY. Both of them and Shay made 1st team. That’s it. I could make a case for Clif but…” "And you got conf. COY again." April 23 “Rick Burns here with the Coach to wrap up the season. Offers from UCLA? Florida? Those are the rumors.” ‘No comment other than I’m here next year.” “28-8, 15-1, regular season champs, Elite Eight, moving up to conf. H. Good season.” “It took us awhile but yes it was.” “Team Prestige is up to 41. You’re 387-107, .783. Off- 59, Def- 85, Recruit- 80, Scout- 10, Player Development- 74, Reputation- 72. The whole world wants to know why you’re still at little old UML. I know you’ve answered it too many times but it doesn’t add up for most folks.” “Yes, I know. I have no other answer than the one I always give. I grew up in this town, I went to this school, my wife and I are very happy here. That’s really the whole story. The world is so oriented toward money and power that making a decision based upon happiness doesn’t seem to be possible for many people.” “You asked for a facilities upgrade again.” “We needed it, even more after we were turned down last year. We got it this time. When the work is completed, sometime in September, our facilities will jump from B- to B+. I’ll be asking for money for the next few years!” “So you’re losing 3 starters and a guy who started more than ½ your games, Zel Knox, Den Debro, Clif Skip, and Key Davis, and you’re moving up to H. Will you be able to compete?” “Good question. We’re bringing some good guys in but they’re untested. At the same time we have Shay Gann, Art Walk, Ron Vale, Geoff Hahn, and a couple of others returning. I think we’ll be okay.” “This is my last show since I graduate next month. Next year it will be Ben Dover’s kid brother Ron. Happy trails!”

March 1978 Charlie Chaplin’s coffin and remains stolen Chicago Daily News ceases publication March 4 “Rick Burns courtside. We play 17-11, 8-8, #8 seed Columbia in the quarterfinals of the conf. I tournament.” … “ We’re back. 80-63. Coach? We played well, all in all. Outside D could have been better. 20, 3, 1, 4 for Clif, 19, 6, 1, 2 for Zel, 10, 8, 2 for Den. 11 each for Key Davis and Ron Vale from the bench.” “And tomorrow. First, on the other side there were 2 upsets so #6 seed Pepperdine will play #10 Belmont which has managed 2 upsets in a row. We play #4 seed South Carolina. They’re 17-11, 10-6. We didn’t play them in the regular season. They are an outside team, strong at the guards. Their Center isn’t bad either.” “And we’ll be right here. See you tomorrow.” March 5 “Rick Burns here after the game. Coach, amazing!” “I think I aged 20 years.” “Double OT, and a 99-92 win.” “South Carolina came to play and play they did! We were a little lucky tonight. Shay had a terrific game, 35, 7, 6, 2, 1. Every other starter was also in double figures and all 5 played 40 minutes or more. We had only 11 TOs in 50 minutes.” “And the end of regulation and the first OT! Talk about that.” “We were up three when Shay hit a three with 1.3 seconds left in regulation. They got it in and launched a three from half court to send it to OT. Then they were up three with 2.1 left in the first OT when we got the ball. We got it to Art Walk who drained a three from about 27-28 feet to send it to the 2nd OT.” “You took away the mystery in the 2nd OT.” “We did. Their C fouled out at the end of the 1st OT and their SG at the beginning of the 2nd, and with their #3 guard having 4 fouls we were able to get it done. Great game.” “#6 seed Pepperdine, 14-16, 9-7, for the title.” “Yes. We beat them by 14 there, but they’ve played three very good games in a row here so it’s no free pass.” “We’ll be here!” March 6 “Rick Burns here after the conf. I title game between Pepperdine and UML. Tough one, Coach, 75-76.” “There is no excuse for blowing an 18 point lead. We’ve had 2nd half problems too often this year. Having 3 guys in serious foul trouble and 2 of them fouling out didn’t help, but we should be deep enough to deal with that. We weren’t.” “Yes, but one point-” “One point only because we knocked down a three at the buzzer.” “17 3, 3, 2, 1 for Shay-” “Before he fouled out. Den did very little before HE fouled out, and Art Walk wound up with 4, but he was in foul trouble all night. I will give credit to Clif and Key. Both played well.” “We’ll be with the Coach and the team on March 12 for the selection show.”

February 1978 Harriet Tubman 1st black woman on a stamp Ted Bundy recaptured “Neon” Leon Spinks beats Ali for the heavyweight title February 5 “Rick Burns, back from break. A great week for the River Hawks. We beat Pepperdine there, 67-53. 18, 3 for Den, 14, 6, 2, 3 for Zel, but he fouled out again, 7, 5, 5, 3 for Clif. 10 TOs. “Then we came home and embarrassed Western Michigan 64-28. 10, 11, 4 for Zel, 14, 4, 3, 4 for Den, 10 TOs, 38 RBs. “We have a 2 game lead in conf. I, and we’re ranked- #24.” “This week we’re at 5-16, 1-9 Gardner-Webb, then we’re off to 11-10, 6-4 Belmont.” February 12 “And we’re back on ‘Sportstalk.” Coach, 2 close ones this week.” “We were tested. 58-56 at Gardner-Webb. We played good D, but so did they. We almost blew a 16 point lead but the closest it got was the final score and that was because they hit a three at the buzzer. While I was unhappy with our fade we were never really in danger of losing the game. 19 for Shay, 12, 7 for Den, 10, 8 for Zel, 8, 8 for Art Walk. “Then it was 63-56 at Belmont. 20 for Den, who hurt his calf. The docs say he’ll be 100% for our next game though. 14, 8 for Zel. Too many TOs though, 17.” “You’re 2 up on Eastern KY, 3 or more on the rest with 4 to play. You’ve really turned it around.” “As I’ve said, we’re not on that crazy road trip, and we’ve found the right combinations in the lineup.” “And this week?” “Here against 8-16, 5-7 Stephen F. Austin and then on the road for a rematch with Santa Clara who we beat by 23 here. They’re 13-10, 6-6.” February 19 “Rick Burns with the coach. Another great week!” 78-48 over Stephen F. Austin. It was close for 15 minutes or so. We played 7 guys and they all contributed. 4 TOs, which is remarkable. “Then it was the rematch with Santa Clara, there, and we won 67-52. They took an early 14 point lead but we got it to one at the half and controlled the 2nd half. Another solid team effort but we could have rebounded better. We’ll work on it.” “2 to play and a 3 game lead.” “3 over Eastern KY, 4 or more over the rest.” “And one more week of regular season play.” “Yes, we start with a rematch with Akron. They beat us by 10 there, our last loss. They’ve kind of fallen on hard times, 12-13, 6-8. Then we go to Vermont, 14-11, 9-5. We won by 17 here.” February 26 “Rick Burns here with the Sunday UML hoops wrap up. Coach is not available. 2 wins, we won the conf. by 4 games, a 14 game win streak, and we’re ranked #15, RPI #19. “UML avenged the loss to Akron, 59-38. 15 each for Zel and Art. 6 TOs. “Then we beat Vermont 70-51 there. All 5 starters had between 11 and 13 points. 13 RBs for Zel. 12 TOs, 40 RBs. “As we take a look at UML at the start of the post season, we’re 23-6, 15-1. TOs are down to 12.0 per game, and a 6.3 margin. RBs show a 4.0 margin, and in points it’s 12.4. It looks good for a conf. title although you never know. Zel Knox leads the way in both points and rebounds. We’ll bring you every game from here on in.”

January 1978 Harvey Milk becomes 1st openly gay person elected to public office in California 1st U. S. women astronauts selected 3 year old Hartford Civic Center roof collapses “Saturday Night Fever” goes #1 Sweden is 1st nation to ban aerosol sprays January 1 “Happy new year from ‘Sportstalk!’ 74-50 over Temple. We jumped out of the gate and scored 43 in the 1st half. 20 and 5 for Zel, 12, 4 for Key, 11, 3, 3, 2 for Clif, and great work by the bench. 7 TOs. “We wind up pre-conf. play 8-5. Considering ten of those were on the road that’s pretty darn good! “This week it’s Santa Clara here, and Akron on the road.” January 8 “Rick Burns with the Sunday night wrap up. 74-51 over Santa Clara. 18, 7, 2, 6, 2 for Zel. Starting PG Clif Skip had 11, 1, 8, 5, 2 but he twisted his back and has spasms. He’s out 10 days to 2 weeks. “Then we went to Akron and lost 57-67. Shay had 15, 5, 4 playing mostly Point, and we had 12 TOs (+9), but we didn’t rebound (-13), we shot poorly, and we didn’t stop the three. “It’s a bit early to say so but this may be the year we hit the place where can no longer compete. Too early to know for sure though. “This week, and Clif Skip will miss both games, we host 6-7, 1-1 Vermont, then travel to 8-5, 2-0 New Mexico ST.” January 15 “’Sportstalk’ and I’m Rick Burns. We have the coach and the lines are open. Coach, a 2-0 week without Clif Skip.” “Yes, but we’re happy to have him back. He’ll start our next game.” “Tell us about the week.” “We beat Vermont here. 66-49. 17, 7, 3, 4, 1 for Zel, 14, 5, 2 for Art Walk who did a great job filling in. As a matter of fact we’re going to start him at SF for now. 11, 6 for Key Davis. 12 TOs and +6 on the boards. “Then we traveled to New Mexico ST figuring it would be a real challenge. It was, but led most of the way and won 61-54. 19 and 8 for Den, 12, 4 for Art, and good D. Zel only played 15 due to fouls, but our bench really gave us a lot. WE were +14 on the boards without much from Zel. “We’re in a 4 way tie for 2nd, 1 back of Columbia, but it’s early.” “This week?” “We host 6-9, 2-2 Kent ST, then we travel to 8-7, 3-1 Air Force.” “Rob in Danvers.” “Coach, a lot of up and down this year.” “We could be more consistent but we’ve played an enormous number of road games, we’ve had some injuries, and we’re still tweaking the lineup. Not making excuses but that sort of explains things. We feel we have a set lineup now so if we can stay healthy we’re hoping to get consistent.” "Milt in Milton." “Coach, you need one more good guard.” “If we tweak again it will be to give Art Walk more time at SG. We’re toying with the idea. It would give Key back some of his minutes and would mean we’re using a big lineup. We’ll see what happens over the next couple of games.” “Time’s up.” January 22 “Rick Burns with Coach Clark. Coach, another 2-0 week, tied for 1st place with Columbia. You guys seem to be hitting your stride.” “We played really well this week. We started here and beat Kent ST 75-45. All 5 starters in double figures, only 6 TOs for an amazing +19, +12 on the boards. “Then we went to Air Force and played a terrific road game, 86-61. 29, 3, 2 for Shay, 27, 4, 2, 2 for Zel. 10 TOs for +12, and +4 on the boards.” “So what accounts for the turn around?” “We feel that we we have a good lineup in there right now, and a strong bench is helping. It’s nice to balance that; I always like having one or two on the bench who can give a spark, and Key Davis does that for us. So does Ron Vale.” “And this week?” “We have 2 at home. San Jose ST is 7-10, 2-4, and then it’s Columbia, 13-4, 5-1. They’re tough, so that one will tell us a lot. I’m glad it’s at home.” “Talk to you next week.” January 29 “The Coach is on the phone. Another great week and we’re alone in 1st with Eastern KY 1 back and everyone else 2 or more.” “Things are definitely going well right now. We’re 15-6, 7-1. We beat San Jose ST 75-54. 20 and 7 for Den, 15 for Clif, and good play by lots of guys. 11 TOs.” “Columbia managed to lose in the game before they came to us and we beat them 60-39. 18, 5, 4 for Zel, and 12 each for Den and Shay. 8 TOs. Oh, everyone hit our SAT score.” “Still waiting on that one recruit?” “We are.” “This week?” “At 7-12, 5-3 Pepperdine, then back home with 5-14, 1-7 Western Michigan.” “Coach is on the road next Sunday so I’m here alone.”

November 20 “Rick Burns here with the Sunday night UML hoops wrap up. We tried to get Coach on the phone but no luck. 64-51 at Northern Iowa to start. Our guards lit it up. 23, 3, 4, 2, 1 for Shay Gann, and 22, 3, 3, 2 for Clif Skip. Our big guys didn’t do much, but then I suppose they didn’t need to. “Then we won at Wichita ST 59-45. 18, 8, 2, 2 for Zel Knox, 17,6 for Den Debro, 40 RBs. So the big guys carried us in this one. “The WS Midwest is coming up this week. We’re seeded #8 and we play #25 Utah, 1-1, to start. Oh, we’re #23 as of today!” November 27 “Rick Burns here with the Sunday night wrap. A 4 game week, which is way too many, and we went 2-2. 75-66 over Utah in the 1st round of the WS Midwest. 5 guys in double figures. 12, 8, 8 for SG Shay Gann. “69-39 over Xavier in the semifinal round. 5 in double figures again but not the same 5, a couple of different guys this time. “We lost to Bradley in the final, 55-69. We got off to a very slow start and never got into a flow. 14, 10 for Zel. “Then we got in a plane, flew all night to Oregon, and unsurprisingly lost that same night to Oregon ST, 64-66. We ran out of gas and they outscored us 15-9 at the end. 20, 7 for Zel, 18, 4, 3 for Shay. But 21 TOs which was at least partly due to fatigue. “And we’re on the road for two more weeks. This week at Oklahoma and a return match at Bradley.” December 1977 Begin and Sadat meet in Egypt Ted Bundy escapes from jail December 4 “Rick Burns. Time for the wrap up. The road is killing us. Oklahoma beat us 59-70. Again we got off to a slow start and never quite got into it. Too many TOs, 17. “Then Bradley beat us for the 2nd time this season, 63-75. We were in this one for a long time but we ran out of gas again. 23, 5 for Den Debro, but 21 TOs. This is the first time in his career that Coach Clark has lost 4 in a row, and there are two more road games still to go! “We’re at SMU and Seton Hall this week before finally coming home for 4 in a row.” December 11 “Rick Burns. An incredible week. The streak snapped when we beat SMU by 1, 63-62. 17, 7, 3, for Zel, 14, 6, 3, 5, 5 for Den- an amazing game. 15 for Shay. 9 TOs. “Then we went to Seton Hall and lost by 1, 64-65. Two one point games in a row. 19, 5, 6 for Shay, 12, 7, 4, 2, 1 for Zel, but 19 TOs. Turnovers have really plagued us this year. “We come home 5-5. It is simply insane to have this many road games in a row. “One game week, UMass. Actually, three one game weeks in a row coming up, so we’re home until January, thankfully!” December 18 “Rick Burns on the Sunday wrap up, FINALLY with the Coach! Coach, 56-38 over UMass, and it’s nice to be home.” “It most certainly is! Having a few days between games helped too. Practices were not very physical because I knew how tired my guys were. With one game a week for three weeks they’ll be as good as new in no time.” “Tell us about the game.” “Sure. It was back and forth for 10 minutes or so and then we went on a run and it was bye bye. 16, 7 for Zel, 13, 7 for Den who has played well all the way through, 11, 4, 2, 2 for Skip at PG. 11 TOs, 34 RBs. A good night.” “This week?” “It’s Dayton. Like UMass they’re in C, so no slouches.” “Haven’t done this all season so let’s take some calls. Joey in Shrewsbury.” “Coach, I been waitin’ for months for this. At the end of April you wanted a facilities upgrade. You didn’t get it. Do you think that happened because your wife’s the President of the college and they didn’t want it to look like they were showin’ you favoritism? In other words, does it hurt you to have your wife in that position?” “… Wow! … Grace and I talked about that sort of thing when she applied for the job. She said then, and she has held to it 100%, that she would not interfere in the UML men’s basketball program in any way. Any disputes would be arbitrated by the Provost, and she would support whatever decision the Provost made. It simply has to be that way.” “Well that was an explosion of a question! Louie in Braintree.” “Eh, if the chips are down it won’t hurt havin’ her in the big chair. Anyways, Art Walk’s doin’ a real good job but his minutes don’t seem to increase.” “He’s in a tough spot. We love what he’s doing for us but we have 4 very good big men. Den Debro has been on fire so Art and Key share the remaining minutes. They both deserve to play more than they’re playing. Believe me, we’re keeping an eye on that situation.” “Jenny in Swampscot.” “Coach, what do you think of the new women’s basketball program at UML?” “I’m a huge fan. They’re only in their 2nd year and Coach Montville has them playing great ball. I catch their games whenever I can and Coach Montville and I get to each other’s practices when we can. She absolutely knows the game and she’s made some great suggestions, and she likes to have my input as well. I think there’s a bright future for women’s hoops and I support it 100%.” “Cool! We’re out of time. I’m here on my own next Sunday.” December 25 “It’s time for the Sunday wrap up. 69-55 over Dayton. 20 and 7 for Zell before fouling out, but he handcuffed the other Center who also fouled out. 21, 7 for Den who continues to be a HORSE! 41 RBs- for the team, not for Den! “One more one game week, and one more pre-conf. game. It’s Temple from Conf. F. They’re playing really well at 8-2.”

May 1977 SCOTUS refuses to hear appeals by Watergate gang- Haldeman, Ehrichman, Mitchell 1st Star Wars movie released A. J. Foyt wins his 4th and final Indy 500 June 1977 SCOTUS bans automatic death penalty laws 1st Apple II computers shipped James Earl Ray escapes from prison, recaptured Seattle Slew wins Triple Crown Elvis Presley’s last performance June 26 “Rick Burns. We’re back from the break. We’ve learned that UML is looking at 20 recruits to fill their open scholarships.” July 1977 Vietnam becomes member of UN John Lennon gets Green Card August 1977 Radio Shack TRS-80 debuts Department of Energy established Segregationist Ian Smith wins election in Rhodesia overwhelmingly August 21 “Rick Burns with the coach on the line. How’s recruiting going, Coach?” “We’re looking at 15 right now but we haven’t offered yet. We hope to make some offers during the first week in September.” “Talk to you then!” September 1977 Last execution by guillotine in France 1st U. S. diesel automobile September 18 “Rick Burns on ‘Sportstalk’ and we have the coach on the phone. Coach, recruiting?” “No one landed yet but we’re close.” “Schedule?” “We’re finally invited to a tourney. We’re in the WS Midwest. The schedule is horrible. We don’t play at home until December 13. Because of that we didn’t schedule many heavyweights." October 1977 Pele retires Indira Gandhi arrested Four members of Lynyrd Skynyrd killed in plane crash Last recorded natural case of smallpox… so far October 2 “We’re back. Coach Clark, how’s recruiting coming?” “We’ve signed 2, still chasing a couple, and we feel we’re close.” “How was the first day of practice?” “6 veterans back, most of whom started or played a lot, a really good looking transfer from GA Tech, SG Ron Vale, and an SF from Temple, Art Walk.” November 1977 Carter raises minimum wage from $2.30 to $3.35 Sadat visits Israel 1st three nodes of ARPAnet are connected November 6 “We’re back and we have the coach on the line. Coach, recruiting finished?” “Almost. We have 2 bigs, 2 guards, and we’re close on the last open slot.” “Do we have a lineup?” “Pretty much. Clif Skip and Shay Gann will start at the guard spots again, and Zel Knox in the middle. The minutes at 3, 4 and those Zel doesn’t get at 5 will be split about evenly to start among Key Davis, Den Debro, and transfer Art Walk. Geoff Hahn and Ron Vale will be our subs at guard. We have 8 guys I’m very comfortable having in there in tight spots.” “Sounds good. We’ll start the Sunday wrap in two weeks.”

April 1977 Sadat meets with Carter Studio 54 opens Bloody rioting in Soweto April 4 “Rick Burns here with Coach Clark. Tell us about the Final Four, Coach.” “It was the year of the upset. #3 ranked Villanova vs. #8 Wake Forest, and #10 Texas vs. #21 Iowa. #8 Wake Forest beat #10 Texas for the title. “Awards?” “Zel was conf. J POY, Shay was freshman OY, and Den Debro was Defensive POY. Zel and Joe Arn made 1st team, Shay made 2nd.” “And you were conf. Coach of the Year.” “We’ll be here at the end of the month to wrap up the season.” April 23 “Rick Burns here with Coach Clark for the season wrap up. Coach, rumors are that you turned down some high powered schools.” “I keep saying I’m happy here, and I am. Some schools called but I made it clear I wasn’t interested.” “Coach, I assume you asked the A. D. for more budget dollars.” “No, Rick, facilities need an upgrade. We’re selling out every home game and getting to the Sweet Sixteen so we’re definitely making money for the athletic department. I felt they could afford this.” “And?” “Nope, and I’m not happy about it, frankly.” “Coach, we were 26-7 this year. Team Prestige is up to 37. Your record for your 14 seasons here is 359-99, .784. Numbers are: Off-54, Def-82, Recruit-80, Scout- 9, Player Development- 68, Reputation- 65. You could certainly be working at a school with a far bigger budget, making a much better salary.” “Grace and I are committed to UML. We’ve been very happy here, we still are, we expect to stay happy. Second, our careers are important to both of us. The chances of a University President’s job and a head basketball job both coming up at the same time, and both of us being hired if they did, are pretty slim. We’re okay with that. This is where we want to be.” “You could be contending for national championships.” “That’s certainly a long shot here, but I don’t dismiss the possibility that we can do that some day.” “Best of luck, Coach. I’m here for one more season since I’ll be a senior next year. 88.1 WLOW, how LOW can you GO!”

March 1977 1st Visa cards issued U. S. extends territorial waters to 200 miles Rings around Uranus discovered U. S. puppet Pinochet bans opposition parties in Chile Indira Gandhi loses election in India and resigns Extreme rightist “Focus on the Family” founded March 4 “Rick Burns here before the game. We play #8 seed Marshall in the quarter final round of the conf. J tournament. They’re 16-12, 8-8, and we beat them by 13 at our place but lost in OT at theirs on a night when we couldn’t score points.” … “Rick Burns here after the game. Coach, 91-66.” “We played well tonight. 6 guys in double figures, 11 TOs, 39 RBs. They opened with a three and we got the next 11 and never looked back. Their SF had 32 but it didn’t matter.” “All the favorites won so it’s #4 seed San Jose ST, 19-10, 10-6.” “We only beat them by 5 at our place so we need to be focused. We didn’t rebound well and our big guys missed easy shots that night. I’ll remind them of that in the walk through tomorrow.” “We’ll be right here.” March 5 “UML is now ranked #12, RPI #13. I’m Rick Burns here before the semifinal game with #4 seed San Jose ST and we have a special guest, UML President Grace Clark. Madam President, who are you picking tonight?” (Laughs) “I’ll stick with UML. Surprised? Seriously, if we play our game and stay focused I think we’ll do well.” “Are you happy to be back at UML?” “I’m delighted. Kip and I really love this place. Great as BU was, it was difficult being away. I couldn’t be happier. I’ve had a chance to see almost every game, and I hope to see every game from here on.” “Thanks President Clark.” … “We’re here after the game. A tough night, Coach.” “That it was. 64-74 in OT. We let this one slip away. 2 TOs in the last minute and 19 in the game, and we let them score the last 6 points in regulation on 2 threes. Then it was a nightmare in OT. We really should have won this one but 19 TOs and giving up 15 threes did us in. 20, 9 for Zel.” “Coach, you’ve talked about inconsistency for quite some time now.” “Yes, it’s been our biggest problem. I never know which team is going to show up. Tonight it was the wrong team.” “How much will this hurt as far as seeding in the NCAA tournament is concerned?” “Well, they’re never very kind to us, and this will knock us down a couple of places. We’re probably looking at an 8 seed, more or less.” “We’ll be with the team for the selection show.” March 12 “Rick Burns here with the coach and the team for the selection show. We’re 24-6, ranked #13, RPI #15. Let’s see what happens: “Not in the East. “Not in the Midwest. Coach?” “I always prefer to be on the right hand side so this is fine with me.” “#5 in the South. Coach?” “This is a pleasant surprise! I thought we’d be lower. We deserve to be a #5, but the NCAA usually knocks us way down. I’m pleased.” “And 88.1 FM, WLOW, how LOW can you GO, will be with the team for as long as they’re playing.” March 17 “Rick Burns here before the 1st round game between UML and Arizona State, 17-13, 9-7 in F conf. They lost in the 2nd round then won their play in game. Their inside game is strong. Tip off right after these messages.” … “Rick Burns here after the game. 67-48. Coach?” “We held them to 13 in the 1st half. 18, 5, 3 for Zel, 16, 5, 3 for Shay, 14, 2, 3 for Clif.+7 RBs but 15 TOs (+4).” “Next?” “It’s #4 seed, #23 ranked VA Tech, 23-8. Their 1st guard off the bench has a broken foot. Balanced attack, decent with the ball. We need to win the inside game.” “We’ll be here!” March 19 “Rick Burns here after the game with Coach Clark. Heck of a game, Coach.” “Whew! We didn’t win we escaped. 74-73 over VA Tech. Zel got fouled with 4 seconds left, made them both, then Joe Arn blocked a shot and that was that. The other coach was yelling for a foul but the tapes showed it was a clean block. 29 and 11 for Zel, 13, 4 for Den Debro. We felt like the key was winning the inside game and we did. AT this level you aren’t looking for style points, just get the win. 19 TOs, but we’re still playing.” “7th year in a row that UML gets at least to the round of Sixteen.” “Yes, that is a tribute to how hard our kids work.” “#1 seed Kansas, ranked #2, RPI #4, 28-6.” “Starting PG hurt his leg. I don’t think he’ll play much, if at all. They’re deep but it hurts to lose your Point Guard. Still, we’ll need to play very well.” March 24 “Rick Burns here after the game. Coach, 52-71.” “We did some things well, 8 TOs, matched them inside. But we didn’t shoot the ball well, 28.1%, 25% from long distance, and we didn’t stop their outside game. They were clearly the better team and there’s no shame losing under those circumstances. This was the last game at UML for Joe Arn, who has had a great career here, and for Don Ned and Jay Rame as well.” “We’ll be here on April 4 to talk about the final four and awards.”

February 1977 Blizzard in New England kills > 100 February 5 “Rick Burns with the coach. The string snapped.” “It did. We beat GA ST here easily enough, 79-53. Another team effort with 7 guys all playing good basketball. 39 RBs and 7 TOs. “Then we went to LA Tech and the streak ended, 68-74. They took ten fewer shots but they made 10 more threes than we did, 12-2. That was the difference. 11 TOs, and only -4 on the boards, but we didn’t stop the three. 16 for Den Debro, 14 for Clif. We’re still 1 ahead of Air Force and 2 ahead of Akron. San Jose ST dropped to 3 back.” “This week?” “2 at home, Stan Bonney and San Jose ST, both 13-8 and 6-4, 3 back.” “Interesting! Okay, Will in Fall River.” “Ya keep yappin’ about turnovers but yer plus 2.7!” “That’s not the point, Will. I want my guys to take care of the ball. Sloppy play is murder. I will continue to … ‘yap’ until we’re doing what I want us to do.” “George in Worcester.” “Tell ‘im, Coach! Anyways, Debro! Come on, he’s gotta git more minits.” “We love what Den does for us. I let him know regularly how much we appreciate him. Minutes are tough. There are never enough to go around.” “Frank in Leominster.” “You’re losing three big guys to graduation and you only got 2 in recruiting.” “We also got a transfer Small Forward. And remember, Den, Zel, Key, Don Ned are all coming back. We needed those 2 guards plus the transfer guard we got.” “Coach is on the road next Sunday so I’m here on my own.” February 12 “UML is 19-4, 11-1, Ranked #19, RPI #12, 2 up on Air Force, 3 or more on the rest with 4 to play. That’s the definition of ‘sitting pretty.’ I’m Rick Burns, this is the Sunday UML hoops wrap up on ‘Sportstalk.’ It was a 2 win week. Stan Bonney went down 60-82. Joe had a huge game, 23, 15, 3, 3. 18, 9, 2 for Zel. Coach was happy with everything except the 14 TOs. “Then San Jose ST came in and we beat them by 5, 60-55. They owned the 1st half and we owned the 2nd. Another team effort, 8 guys scored, none more than 12. 11 TOs. “This week it’s 2 on the road. 1st Morehead ST, 9-14, 2-10, solidly in last place. Coach always says he hates to play teams like this because it’s too easy to take it for granted and get surprised. Then it’s Sam Moore, 15-8, 8-4. We beat them 70-46 at our place but they play tough at home.” “I’ll do the wrap up next Sunday before the Bracket Breaker with SMU.” February 19 “Rick Burns here before the Bracket Breaker with the Sunday Wrap. UML played ‘2 for the road’ last week. 55-51 at Morehead ST. Coach worried about this game and with reason. The Eagles took a 1 point lead, their only one of the game, with 45 seconds left. Fortunately, Shay Gann hit a three on the next possession. Then the Eagles missed, Zel got the rebound, was fouled, and knocked down both shots for the final margin. Too close! 12 TOs and 41 RBS but we only shot 31.9%, we made 2 threes, they made 10. We escaped with the win though. “Then it was on to Sam Moore where we had an easier time, 69-52. 15, 10, 2, 2 for Zel, 12, 6, 4 for Joe, 13, 4, 2 for Den. +14 RBs. We’re 21-4, 13-1, #16, RPI #12, up 2 on Air Force, 4 or more on the rest with 2 conf. games to go. Tonight it’s 18-5 SMU in the Bracker Breaker. Then a return bout with Marshall, 13-12, 6-8. We won by 13 at their place. We close the season hosting 11-19, 5-9 Fordham. We won there by 20. February 26 “Rick Burns here and I have the coach on the line. A bit of a surprise this week but ‘all’s well that ends well,’ I guess.” “I guess. First we beat SMU 72-44 in the Bracket Breaker. It was never a game. 18, 7, 3 for Clif, 17, 5 for Key, 11, 9 for Zel, 8 TOs. “Then came the surprise. We lost in OT to Marshall, 59-64. 59 points in 45 minutes is pretty shabby. We shot poorly but worse, we didn’t make good decisions on O, and we didn’t move without the ball. In OT we gave up 14 points which is way too many. 14 x 8 = 112. So at that rate that’s how many we would have given up in a normal 40 minute game since 5 minutes x 8 = 40 minutes. “We went into our last game of the season needing a win to finish first. We got it, 71-49 over Fordham, and Air Force lost, so we finished 2 ahead. 35 from the bench, 13 each from Debro and Ned, 9 from Brad John.” “How do you feel going into the postseason?” “A little nervous, frankly. We’ve been very up and down. When one game knocks you out that isn’t good. Hopefully we’ll focus and get the job done.” “We’ll be bringing every game to our fans from now on. Stay with us, folks.”

January 1977 1st female Episcopal priest Coneheads debut on Saturday Night Live Snow falls in Miami, FL for the only time in recorded history Carter pardons nearly all Vietnam draft dodgers “Roots” January 1 “Rick Burns here on ‘Sportstalk’ with the Coach. 78-61 over Pitt, 8-3 going into conf. play.” “We did well in view of the challenges we faced. We finished the pre-conf. season well. 23, 2, 2 for Shay Gann at SG, 14, 7, 5 for Clif at PG, 14, 7, 3 for Zel at C, 10, 8, 2 for Joe at PF, and 3, 4, 8, 3 for Key at SF. 9, 6 for Den Debro from the bench, and 5 and 5 from Brad John. +19 RBs, but too many TOs again, 15.” “And the conf.?” “Well, Akron is 9-2, 7 teams are 7-4, so this could be the biggest challenge we’ve had in conf. in a long time. There IS a limit to how high we can climb.” “Makes sense. Sam Moore at home, they’re 7-4, and then Marshall on the road, and they’re also 7-4. I’m here alone next week.” January 8 ‘A two win week for UML. Rick Burns here. We started at Sam Moore, 70-46. 5 in double figures, including Debro, with 15 and 6 from the bench. 35 RBs. 9 TOs made me VERY happy. “78-65 at Marshall. Brad John and Don Ned put up big numbers from the bench. Ned was in because Zel and Debro both kept fouling. 13 TOs, which is marginally acceptable. This week it’s at 7-6, 1-1 Fordham and back home with 4-9, 1-1 Drake. We expect Coach to be with us.” January 15 “We’re back from the break. Coach is on the line. Coach, we’re off to a great start in conf.” “We are, 4-0. 79-59 at Fordham. 18 for Shay, 16 each for Zel and Joe (Zel had 10 boards, Joe 9). 13 TOs. “Then home and 78-44 over Drake. Zel, Shay and Joe led the way. 10 TOs. “This week it’s 9-6, 2-2 Central FL there, and 7-8, 2-2 Bowling Green here. We expect the coach to be with us.” January 22 “Rick Burns with the Coach. We’re still rolling along.” “We are. 80-65 at Central FL. 24, 8, 3 for Zel, 6 other guys put up numbers. 13 TOs. “Bowling Green came here and we beat them 79-49. 21, 7, 3 for Shay and good games for the 6 others who get minutes. 11 TOs.” “This week?” “2 on the road. Rice is 7-10, 4-2, and Akron is 14-3, 5-1. So we’ll definitely be challenged.” “Sal in Raynham.” “Coach, ya put Don Ned in and he lights it up, gets boards, plays D. The he sits again. I don’t get it!” “I have a coach friend who says, ‘Never forget that every time you put somebody in, you need to take somebody out.’ I’d love to give Don more minutes, but the guys ahead of him are all getting the job done.” “Louise in Brockton.” “Coach, TOs are getting better, doen to 13.5 a game and falling. Is that because the competition is easier in conf.?” “I hope it’s because we’re working really hard every practice, but that’s certainly part of it, Louise. Those teams in A, B, C, D conf. are tough, and we played a few of them.” “Glen in Fall River.” “What’s at the movies?” “We saw ‘Rocky’ and loved it. Again, I’m crazy about Peter Sellers so the new Pink Panther movie was great. Grace wasn’t as thrilled with it. “The King Kong” remake wasn’t bad, for a remake.” “Thanks Coach.” January 29 “Rick Burns here with Coach Clark for the Sunday UML hoops roundup. Good week. 2 wins, alone in 1st, and you’re ranked! First, you’ve now played three OT games this year, and you’ve won them all.” “That’s true.” “Is there a secret?” “If there is, I don’t know it! One thing is that we work very hard on conditioning. Our guys have legs left for OT. That’s about all I can think of. I was going to say they have a lot of heart, but I think most teams do.” “Tell us about this week.” “As you said, we won in OT at Rice, 80-77. We managed to blow a 17 point lead or it wouldn’t have gone to OT. We played a really good first ½ then fell asleep for the 2nd. Before the OT I got a little louder than I usually do. Woke ‘em up enough for them to win, barely. 20, 10, 4, 6, 1 for Zel, 18, 6 for Joe, 14, 4 for Brad John from the bench. 16 TOs but we forced 23. “Then on to Akron and a 69-55 win. 20, 4, 5 for Shay, 14 TOs. +9 RBs. I’m still not happy with our ball movement. Sloppy play can really hurt you when the game is on the line.” “This week?” “Home with GA ST. They’re 9-10, 2-6 and really struggling. Then we’re at LA Tech, 6-13, 4-4.” “You’re #24 in the country.” “It’s nice to be ranked.” “And alone in 1st place.” “That’s nice too. Air Force is one back and we don’t play them in the regular season. San Jose ST is 2 back and we play them here. Someone is bound to burst our bubble. 8-0 is great but it’s difficult to run the table.” “We’ll see what happens. Coach should be with us next Sunday.

September 20 “Rick Burns here. Coach is on the road so I’ll do the ‘Sportstalk’ Sunday night UML hoops round up on my own. 2 home games and 2 wins to start the season. 68-37 over California. 21 for Shay Gann at SG, 11, 9 for Key Davis at SF, 6 and 11 for Zel Knox in the middle and good work all around. +11 RBs. “Then Penn ST came in and we beat them 83-58. 28, 9 for Zel Knox, 16, 12 for Joe Arn at Pf13 for Shay Gann, and 9, 1, 5 for Brad John from the bench. +10 boards. “This week we travel to Washington in B conf., and Georgetown in A.” November 27 “Rick Burns here with Coach Clark on the line. Coach, 1-1 this week on the road with 2 tough opponents.” “That’s right. Washington beat us 50-68. 19 TOs and poor shooting did us in. 16 and 9 for Shay Gann, 13, 6 for Clif Skip but he had 6 TOs and fouled out. We really didn’t play all that well. “Then we went to Georgetown and staged a terrific comeback. We were down 10 with 6 and ½ to go and came all the way back to tie it on Clif Skip’s three at the buzzer. In OT Clif opened with a three and then Zel Knox got the last 6 for a 78-75 win. 12 TOs and 40 RBs. Zel had 29, 12, and 3, Clif had 19, 5, and 2. “This week we’re here with #14 West VA, then at Georgia.” December 1976 1st national TV station, WTBS 1979 declared “Year of the Child” December 4 “Rick Burns with the UML hoops wrap. A 1-1 week. We won 78-68 over #14 West VA here. 22, 3, 3 for Shay Gann, 17, 5, 2, 4 for Key Davis, 14, 7, 2, 3 for Zel Knox. 11 TOs. “40-46 at Georgia. Great D but we couldn’t score. 25.9% shooting. -10 RBs didn’t help. 21 for Shay, 8 for Clif Skip, and the rest had 11 combined. Both Davis and Knox had 0. “This week we’re at old rival MVS and home with Illinois December 11 “Rick Burns with the coach. A 2-0 week- barely.” “I guess! Crazy game at MVS, 68-67 in OT, but in the 5 minute OT they made 2 free throws, we made a three pointer with 11 seconds left and that was it. Weird! 18 TOs but it was +4. Very strange game. “We came home beat Illinois 58-54. I was happy with the D but the offense definitely needs work. 12 TOs. Key had 21, 4, and 4 to lead us. “We’re on the road for our next 3 games. This week only 1, UMass. They’re 4-3 but they play in C conf.” “Jim in Franklin.” “Coach, 14.4 TOs per game.” “I’m not at all happy with that. We’re working on it and hope to get it down. I like to average below 12 per game and we’re not close right now.” “Joe in Scituate.” “Yeah, TOs are a problem. Anyway, isn’t it a conflict of interest having your wife as President?” “I don’t see how. I don’t report to her, she doesn’t make the decisions regarding keeping me on, firing me, giving or withholding a salary increase- any of that. She’s a big hoops fan and comes to our home games, but university presidents usually do that, nothing unusual.” “Mark in Andover.” “I’m surprised Debro doesn’t play more.” “He does a great job for us. He’s kind of caught. He plays 4 and 5 and we have strong starters at those positions. He doesn’t handle the ball well enough to play Small Forward. Anyway, I am really happy to have him up front.” “Okay, I’m on my own for next week’s wrap up.” December 18 “We’re back from break. UML traveled to parent university UMass and won 66-54. We never trailed by more than 3 and were ahead by as many as 22. 13, 6, 3 for PG Clif Skip, 10 each for Davis and Knox, 12 TOs (+9), 32 RBs (+6). “This week it’s #11 Kentucky from C but on the way up, there. They are 9-3 right now and a very good team. We’ll be here on the 25th, but Coach is on the road.” December 25 “69-76. That was the score of the UML-#11 Kentucky game played there. Rick Burns here. 19 TOs hurt, and most of the team shot poorly. Still, we hung in with a very good team. “This week we’re at Pitt, from A conf.”

May 1976 I got nuthin’ June 1976 “Bohemian Rhapsody” goes gold Rioting in South Africa June 12 “Rick Burns here on ‘Sportstalk.’ UML has picked up 2 transfers, Jr. Ron Vale, a Shooting Guard from GA Tech, and Art Walk, a Jr. Small Forward from Temple. In non-sports news UML has narrowed their search for a new President down to 2 finalists. One of them is Grace Clark, former provost here at UML and currently in that same position at BU, and wife of UML basketball coach Kip Clark. A decision is expected some time in August. June 26 “Rick Burns back from break. UML has 4 scholarships to fill. They’re looking at 14 recruits for the time being.” July 1976 Formal reunification of North and South Vietnam SCOTUS rules death penalty not cruel and unusual punishment Jimmy Carter wins Dem. nomination for POTUS Hank Aaron hits last home run 1st outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease August 1976 Gerald Ford wins Republican nomination for POTUS Rioting in South Africa, Northern Ireland August 21 “Rick Burns here with the coach. Coach, before we get to basketball, congratulations!” “My boss at home is now my boss at work, yes.” “For those of you who have not yet heard, Grace Clark is now UML President Clark. Coach?” “We’re thrilled. Both of us have a very warm place in our hearts for UML, and this means we’ll be here for a long time.” “Great! What’s going on with recruiting?” “We’ve offered to 2 PGs and 2 Cs. This is earlier than we usually go all in but we really like these four. We are pursuing other recruits since it’s unlikely that we’ll get all 4.” “Okay, talk with you again soon.” September 1976 Minnie Minoso becomes the oldest player ever to get a hit in MLB (53) Mao Zedong dies Playboy interview with Jimmy Carter September 18 “’Sportstalk’ and I’m Rick Burns. We have the coach on the line. Coach, what’s going on with recruiting?” “We got a PG we really want and we feel we’re close with our other three.” “And you have a schedule.” “Yes, we have some ranked teams on the road and the best who would play us at home.” “’Sportstalk’ with Rick Burns. UML has a commitment from a Center. They still have 2 scholarships to fill. Coach Clark says he feels he is very close with another Center and a PG.” October 1976 SCOTUS lifts ban on death penalty Mao Zedong’s widow arrested as part of “Gang of Four” Pres. Ford says there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe October 2 “Rick Burns with the coach. Coach, you got another recruit, I hear.” “Yes, we got the Center we were after so now it’s 2 Centers and a PG. We’re after another PG.” “First day of practice.” “We have a lot of experience and we’ll go at least 8 or 9 deep. It looks like a good team to me.” “And you’re picked to win J conf.” “Yes, I saw that. Akron, San Jose ST, Bowling Green right behind us and we don’t know much about any of them.” October 9 “Rick Burns back after the break. UML got a commitment from the fourth and final recruit they were chasing. They have commitments from 2 PGs and 2 Cs, all of whom look like they should hit the SAT score.” November 1976 Carter beats Ford, is elected POTUS New Jersey voters approve gambling for Atlantic City November 6 “Rick Burns, and coach will be on after the break. “ … “We have Coach Clark on the phone. Coach, you made national sports headlines this week. Care to tell us about it.” (Laughs) “I guess I kind of went on a rant. A reporter asked me if I had any explanation for why we never get invited to early season tournaments, why we’re never ranked preseason even though we’ve wound up in the top 20 for the past 7 seasons and 8 out of 9, and why we are seeded lower in the NCAA tourney every year than our ranking and RPI indicate we should be. I probably said too much but he struck a nerve. Anyway, my comments went national. All of those things the reporter asked me mystify me. I do understand that we’re still only in the 10th highest ranked conference, but we’ve proven ourselves over and over and over again, season after season after season. It’s time we get a little respect.” “Way to go, Coach. Exhibitions are over. Do we have a lineup?” “A lot of new faces. Juco Clif Skip and freshman Shay Gann at the guards. Joe Arn is at PF this year instead of C, Junior Zel Knox, a transfer from Tulsa is at Center, and Key Davis is at SF. Den Debro and freshman Brad John will get a lot of minutes from the bench. Things will likely change along the way but that’s how we’re starting off.” “Okay, we’ll do our usual Sunday night wrap starting in two weeks.”

April 1976 Apple Computers founded Deng Xiaoping deposed Barbara Walters becomes 1st female evening news anchor April 4 “Rick Burns with the coach. Tell us about the Final Four.” “It was the Duke show. Their 14 point win over us was the closest score for them in the tournament.” “Awards?” “Joe Arn was K conf. POY, Tay Lopez was Defensive POY, the two of them plus Pete Hawk made the 1st team.” “And you were conf. K COY. Talk to you at the end of the season Coach.” April 23 “Rick Burns here with Coach Clark. Coach, 29-5, regular season and tourney conf. K champs.” “A good season.” “Indeed! I assume you asked for a budget increase?” “I did. We need more money. We got $6,750. It will help.” “Okay, you’ve been a head coach for 13 years now, all at UML. Your record is 333-92, .784. Off- 50, Def- 76, Recruit- 80, Scout- 8, Player Development- 63, Reputation- 61. You’ve gotten a lot of notice. And yet you stay here.” “I’m happy here. I like the school. I like the area. Grace and I have kind of settled in. Between the two of us we make more money than we need. I’m not looking to go anywhere.” “And the UML Presidency?” “I’m not a candidate.” (Laughs) “Okay Coach. Good luck to BU Provost Clark, if she should happen to be a candidate.”

March 1976 “Hurricane” Carter retried. Queen Elizabeth II sends first royal email 8 Ohio National Guardsmen indicted for Kent ST murders March 4 “Rick Burns here before the Conf. K quarterfinal round game between #9 seed Charleston and UML. We crushed this team twice in the regular season.” … “Rick Burns here with the coach after the game. 66-46.” “We led all the way. 19, 4, 2 for Pete, 15, 8, 3, 2, 2 for Tay, 9, 5, 4 for Lan, 9 TOs, and 33 RBs.” “Morehead ST in the semis.” “We didn’t play them this year which is a disadvantage in that we don’t know them as well as we’d like. They’re strong inside.” March 5 “Rick Burns with the coach after the tourney semifinal against Morehead ST. 90-71 and you’re in the title game.” “Yes, our biggest point total of the season. 22, 10, 2 for Joe, 20, 5, 2 for Tay, 19, 3 for Key. 15 TOs, which I didn’t like.” “#3 seed Drake, 19-11, 12-4.” “We won by only 6 there on a night when we couldn’t make a basket. Joe had a huge night otherwise we would have been in a lot of trouble.. We just need to take good shots and knock them down.” “We're #8 ranked, #6 RPI.” “We’ve really come to be a good team. We need this win though, if we want any chance at a decent seed.” March 6 “Rick Burns with the coach after the conf. K title game. 71-44 and another title.” “We’re really playing well. 4 guys in double figures, 6 TOs, never challenged after the first few minutes.” “You’re losing your starting backcourt and you’re sixth man.” “Can’t say I’m thinking much about next year but Geoff Hahn is back and he seems ready, and we’ve got three really good looking guards coming in. We’ll be okay.” “We’ll be here with the coach on the 12th for the selection show.” March 12 “Rick Burns here. UML is ranked #6, RPI #5 so hopes are high. And here we go! “That was quick! #5 in the East. We’ll play #12 Creighton, 18-12. Coach?” “Looks like the toughest bracket and a tough first round draw. If we get to the Sweet Sixteen it’s Duke, #1, RPI #1. We’ll do what we can.” “What do you know about Creighton?” “Conf. C, 18-12, they play 1-3-1, run motion and Princeton. Lost in the first round of their tourney, good inside.” “Okay, we’ll be doing the game on the 16th.” March 16 “Rick Burns here after the first round NCAA game between Creighton and UML. Coach, 74-67.” “Good team. We were down by 8-12 for almost the entire first half, and went in -11. We made some adjustments, mainly we found ways to get out on the three point shooters, and we owned the 2nd half. 18, 7 for Joe, 16, 6 for Key, 16, 7, 3 for Lan, 13, 4, 3 for Pete. +18 RBs, but 17 TOs.” “#4 seed, #20 ranked Pitt is next.” “Yes. 19-10 from A conf. They run high post and shuffle and play man. Lost in the 1st round of their tourney or they’d be seeded higher. Definitely tough inside.” “One last question. UML President Evan Marchesi announced his retirement and the search is on. Is Grace Clark a candidate?” “No comment.” “Okay, the committee hopes to have a new President in time for the opening of the school year so we’ll find out then. We’ll be here on March 18 for the game with Pitt.” “Rick Burns here after the 2nd round NCAA game between Pitt and UML. 73-60 and the Sweet Sixteen for the 6th straight year.” “That many? Great! We led most of the way in this one.14 TOs but that was +3, and +7 boards. We shot well and we only allowed 4 threes. We didn’t let them dominate inside. Great balance, we had 7 guys between 6 and 13 points. I’m pleased with this one.” “Duke.” “#1 in the country, 32-2. They play 5 out, flex, and shuffle. Man and they press now and then. Strong at every position and a deep bench. No obvious weaknesses. With a team like that you just try to prevent them from doing the things they want to do and hope for the best.” “Good luck Coach. We’ll be there on the 23rd.” March 23 “Rick Burns here after the Sweet 16 game between #1 Duke and UML. 72-86.” “That is one heck of a basketball team! We had 9 TOs, 32 boards, played hard all night and never gave up, and simply lost to a very talented team. There’s no shame in losing to a better team and that’s what we did. I am very proud of my guys for the fight they showed. 6 guys between 8 and 15 points. Last game for Pete Hawk, Lan Shed and Tay Lopez and they will all be missed.” “We’ll be with the coach on April 4 to talk about the final four and awards.”

February 1976 12th Winter Olympics, Innsbruck SEATO disbands February 5 “A 2 win week but barely. 70-69 at Canisius on a 3 by Pete Hawk with less than a second left in OT. “Then 72-57 over Miami of Ohio. TO problem seems fixed but now we’re being outrebounded.” “At SMU and Drake this week. “Oh. We’re ranked- #20.” February 12 “Rick Burns with the coach. A couple of challenges this week.” “Yes, but that makes us a better team. 56-49 at SMU. 6 TOs but -8 on the boards and we didn’t shoot well. 23, 4, 2, 2 for Pete, who seemed to make a basket whenever we needed one. “Then 50-44 at Drake, who were in 2nd place at the time. 11 TOs, 35 RBs. We didn’t shoot well again. 23, 14 for Joe, and we did really take control until the last minute and a half.” “This week?” “Last place Illinois ST, 7-16, 1-11 here. Then at Charleston, 14-9, 6-6. We beat them by 25 last time.” “Coach, 19-4, 12-0, 3 up with 4 to play,#17, RPI #7.” “Things could be worse. We struggled early be we seem to have jelled.” “Ken in Marblehead.” “What’s with the rebounding?” “It’s always something. We seem to have fixed the TO problem, we’re down to 12.1 per game. Now it’s rebounding. Again, we’re working on it every day. The NCAA limits the amount of practice time we have so it can be hard to do everything we want to do, but we manage to spend time on rebounding and still focus on ball handling. And now shot selection hasn’t been what we want it to be so we’re working on that too.” “George in Raynham.” “Debro seems to be playing better lately.” “I agree. He’s doing a lot of things well. Guys have ups and downs. Sometimes we forget that they’re in their teens and early 20s. At that age- well, let’s just say life can be complicated at that age and focus is sometimes a problem. We work on that as well.” “Thanks Coach.” February 19 “Rick Burns here before the Bracket Breaker with MVS. Another 2-0 week, we clinched 1st place, and we’re #15, RPI #9. 68-31 over Ill. ST here. 15, 14, 3, 3 for Joe, 19 for Tay, 8 TOs, 36 RBs. “Then 60-37 at Charleston. 18, 3, 3 for Tay, 16, 7 for Lan, 8, 12 for Joe. 13 TOs, 39 RBs. We seem to be playing really well right now. “Last week of the regular season. MVS is 20-5 in L. Then it’s ODU who we beat by only 7 there. We close at Oval Rabbits. We beat them here by 37.” February 26 “Rick Burns with the coach. A 3 win week, we’re #12, RPI #6, an 18 game win streak, 24-4, 16-0 headed to the post season.” “Coaching a team is a process and it’s a long season. You teach and you work on things and you hope it all sinks in by this point. Right now we’re playing really well.” “A couple of injuries.” “Jay Rame has back spasms; he’s out at least a week more. Geoff Hahn hurt his shoulder early in the week. He seems almost at 100%.” “And the week?” “We beat our old rival MVS 63-50. We never trailed but they hung in most of the way. 15 and 8 for Lan, 13 each for Key Davis and Tay. 14 TOs but they really pressured the ball . “70-37 over ODU here. Tay had 18 but everyone put up numbers. 10 TOs, 37 RBs. “We closed with a close one at Oval Rabbits, 65-58. We scored the last 9 points so we were challenged until the end. 18 for Pete, 6 TOs, 33 RBs.” “4 games up at the end. Who’s hot right now?” Marshall and Drake are tied for 2nd and they both played well last week. Central Michigan is up and down. When they’re up they’re very good.” “We’ll bring our listeners every game from here on.”

January 1976 Paul Brown retires from coaching Catholics and Protestants continue killing each other in the British Isles MacNeil-Lehrer report premieres Ted Turner purchases Atlanta Braves George H. W. Bush becomes director of the CIA January 2 “Rick Burns here for the Sunday wrap up on Monday because of the holiday. Happy 1976! UML beat Northwestern 83-51. 24, 6, 3 for Tay, 21, 9, 3 for Joe Arn, 12, 7 for Den Debro. “This week starts conf. K play. Home with 8-3 Charleston then at 4-7 ODU. I’m here for the wrap up at the usual Sunday time.” January 8 “Rick Burns with the Sunday night UML hoops wrap up. A 2-0 start to conf. play. 69-44 over Charleston here. 6 guys scored between 8 and 14 points. +5 RBs, even in TOs (15). “At ODU it was 65-58. 18 for Pete Hawk, but we had 17 TOs, -4 RBs. We played really good D though. “This week it’s 2 at home, Oval Rabbits is 9-4, 1-1, and Marshall is 5-8, 1-1.” January 15 “’Sportstalk.’ I’m Ric Burns and the coach is on the phone. The lines are open. Coach, gotta love those home games!” “Oh yes! 82-45 over Oval Rabbits. We played everybody, never trailed, and led by as many as 44. 7 TOs, which made me very happy. “Then it was 78-49 over Marshall and after the first 5 minutes we never trailed. 17, 8, 2, 2, 1 for Joe, 18 for Geoff Hahn from the bench and again 7 TOs.” “This week?” “At 10-5, 1-3 James Madison. Then home for 10-5, 3-1 Chattanooga.” “You’re alone in first.” “It’s early, but it’s a good place to be.” “Jeff in Attleboro.” “What did you do to fix the turnover problems?” “Jeff, we’ve worked on ball handling for a significant amount of time at every practice for weeks. It looks like that work is starting to pay off. It’s the biggest flaw in our game and we don’t intend to stop working on it.” “Will in Framingham.” “You guys suck ba-” “Thank you, Will. Frank in Brockton.” “Wondering why Shed still isn’t starting.” “Because I like to have a good player come in from the bench. He is playing starting minutes and he’s in there at the end when it’s close. He understands why we’re playing that way and he’s fine with it. He agrees that it’s way more important to be in at the end than in at the beginning.” “Whitey from Roxbury.” “Coach, what are you and the wife listening to?” “The Stones, Eagles, Doobies, Harry Chapin, Wings, Queen-” “Lots a stoner music!” “We’re into the music, not the lifestyle.” “And that’s a good place to stop!” January 22 “Rick Burns. It’s Sunday so this must be the weekly UML hoops wrap up. Coach is on the road. Another 2-0 week. 71-48 win at James Madison. 14 TOs, which was +9. 18, 8, 5, 5 for Joe. Good play by all 7 who got in for more than garbage time. “Back home and a 55-32 win over Chattanooga. 8 TOs and +9 RBs. 23, 10, 3 for Joe. “This week we’re at 6-11, 1-5 Canisius and we host 8-9, 3-3 Detroit. We’re 13-4, 6-0, 1 up on Drake, 2 or more on the rest.” January 29 “Rick Burns here. 2 more wins this week for 15-4, 8-0 UML. We went to Canisius and won 67-58. 21 for Pete, 15, 7, 5, 3, 1 for Joe, 12 TOs. The final was fairly close but we were never in much danger in this one. “Then back home for a 72-54 win over Detroit. 4 starters in double figures and Key Davis had 6 and 6, Lan had 6, 2, 4, 3. 9 TOs. Drake is one back, Morehead ST 2, and the rest 3 or more. “This week we’re at 10-9, 4-4 Central Michigan and then we host 10-9, 3-5 Miami of Ohio.”

November 20 “Rick Burns here with Coach Clark for the Sunday night UML hoops round up. Great 1st week, Coach.” “It was. We traveled to No. ALA and beat them 75-66. 25, 9, 3 for Joe Arn, 22, 3, 2 for Pete Hawk. +3 and +3. “Then we came home to face Conf. B’s Dayton and won 80-55. 20, 5, 2 for Joe, 16, 11, 7, 2 for Tay, 15, 2, 8 for Pete. +6 and +6.” “And this week?” “Home against Xavier on Weds., then off to # 17 OK ST.” “I’m here alone next week.” November 27 “Rick Burns with the UML hoops Sunday night wrap up. 80-56 over Xavier here. 21, 8, 4 for Tay, 18, 2, 5 for Pete, and 12 for Lan Shed from the bench. +4 TOs, +5 RBs. “Then a heartbreaking loss at OK ST, 53-54. First time all year we didn’t take care of the ball, 19 TOs, but OK ST had 20. We were +8 on the boards. We talked to coach and he said he was very happy with the D, the only problems were poor shooting and poor shot selection. The stats bear that out- 14-46, 1-11. Still, the River Hawks has a chance to win it. On the last possession they got it inside to Joe Arn, but he was doubled and OK ST tied him up with 1.3 seconds left. The possession arrow favored them and the clock ran out before we could foul. “We start the week at Vanderbilt from G and then we host #6 Wake Forest, from B. Another challenging week. Coach told us there would be some tough games on the schedule and he was willing to lose some games feeling that these opponents would make UML a better team in the long run. Coach will be with us on Sunday and we hope to take questions. See you then, but remember. We’re here every night except Saturday, because I’m too cool not to have a date on Saturday night. Rick Burns on ‘Sportstalk’ here on 88.1 FM, WLOW, how LOW can you GO!” December 1975 Ford bails out NYC. U. S. 1st class postage stamp up from 10 cents to 13. Congress passes Metric Conversion Act, it passes by inches December 4 “Rick Burns and we have the coach on the phone. The lines are open. Coach, a 1-1 week.” “That’s right. We lost at Vanderbilt, 58-66. 21 TOs and 12-23 at the line were a deadly combination. 5 fewer TOs and 5 more made free throws and it’s probably an easy win. “Then we came home and played great ball, beating #11 Wake Forest 75-65. Still too many TOs, 18, but 45 RBs made up for it. 18 for Tay, 17 each for Joe and Pete. Believe me, we are working on taking care of the ball. “This week?” “2 on the road. At Monty Smith Mem, first. They’re in I and they’re undefeated. Then it’s #9 Penn. Could be a tough week.” “Let’s take some calls. Joe in Revere.” ‘We’re getting’ our pockets picked too often.” “Yes we are, Joe. We work on it every single practice. With talented, experienced guards it simply shouldn’t be happening anywhere near as often as it is. Hopefully we can fix it soon.” “Mike on campus.” “Coach, Shed’s playing a lot better than Debro right now.” “I won’t compare players but I will say that Lan has been playing well. We see it, we’re aware of it, we are increasing his minutes starting with the next game.” “Mark in Pittsfield.” “Coach, seen any good movies lately?” “’Return of the Pink Panther,’ but I’m a huge Peter Sellers fan. ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail,’ have to say, ‘Jaws,’ ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.’ ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ is not my kind of film but it was very well done.” “Out of time.” December 11 “Rick Burns on ‘Sportstalk.’” Coach is traveling so I’ll do the Sunday wrap up alone. Another 1-1 week. A tough loss at Monty Smith, 64-66. 13 TOs was an improvement, and we were +5 on the boards, but we gave up 14 threes, one on the last possession of the game. 20, 5, 3 for Tay, 14, 3, 2 for Pete. We don’t often get beat inside but we did in this game. “Then we went to #9 Penn and scored 64 again, but it was enough, 64-55. 18 TOs again, which has the coach very frustrated, even though it was only -2. +10 on the boards helped. 6 guys scored between 7 and 12 points. “This week it’s Rutgers at home.” December 18 “Rick Burns with the coach on the phone. Rutgers.” “65-44. Great D! 15 TOs is still too many but I liked the 42 boards. 20 and 7 for Joe Arn, 13, 8, 4 for Tay, 6 and 10 for Lan.” “This week?” “At Kentucky from C. they’re only 5-4, but they’re a better team than that. This will be a tough one.” Thank Coach. Talk to you on Monday, not Sunday next week.” December 26 “Tough game at Kentucky, Coach, 58-71.” “When you take 12 more shots than the other guys you should win. We were +3 in turnovers, even in rebounds. Very frustrating.” “You’re 6-4 with one to play before conf. play starts. Is that a concern?” “Yes and no. I’ve said more than once that we’re an experienced team and we should have jelled by now, but we haven’t. The hope is that it will happen soon. We certainly have the talent and experience to win our conf., but we need to play better than we have been playing.” “Northwestern this week.” “They’re in H, it’s a home game, they’re 5-5. It’s a game we should win.”

May 1975 Apple Records closes Ford declares end to Vietnam War Houston’s Bob Watson scores MLB’s 1 millionth run June 1975 Sony Betamax (VCR) first available for purchase “Jaws” opens (so to speak) Leonard Peltier convicted June 12 “Rick Burns on ‘Sportstalk.’ We’ve learned that UML has commitments from 2 transfers, PG Steve Barr, and C Zel Knox.” June 26 “Rick Burns here. UML has 3 scholarships and they need guards. They’re looking at 24 guys to start but that number changes fairly quickly. July 1975 Ford announces candidacy for re-election Jimmy Hoffa disappears August 1975 Billy Martin named manager of Yankees for 1st time Communists take over in Laos August 21 “Rick Burns here with Coach Clark on the phone. Coach, what’s going on with recruiting?” “We’re in communication with about 20 recruits. We’ve offered to a Point, and we’ll probably make the other two offers in early September.” “All guards?” “At least two, maybe all three, we’re still deciding.” “Thanks Coach.” September 1975 NYC Transit fares up from 30 to 35 cents Assassination attempt on Ford in SF Boston begins court ordered busing 2nd assassination attempt on Ford September 4 “’Sportstalk has learned that UML has offered basketball scholarships to three Point Guards.” September 18 “Rick Burns on ‘Sportstalk’ and we have Coach Clark on the line. Coach, what’s going on with recruiting?” “We have a commitment from our #1 prospect, a PG. We feel we’re close with the other two.” “And the schedule?” “We’ll lose a few in the pre-conf. period. We have three ranked teams and a few others that are really good.” “Talk again soon, Coach.” October 1975 Ali KOs Frazier in the 15th at the “Thrilla in Manila.” Saturday Night Live premieres with George Carlin as host Carlton Fisk hits iconic 12th inning homer to win 6th game of World Series Ford’s limo involved in car accident in Hartford, CT October 2 Rick Burns here with the coach. Recruiting news?” “We got all three Point Guards we were after.” “So you’re finished with recruiting.” “Probably. We’re talking to one PF and a couple of guards. If a roster spot opens later in the season we’ll see what happens.” “First day of practice.” “We have a great deal of experience. We feel good about the season. We’re moving Tay Lopez back to his natural position, guard, and Pete Hawk is at the other guard spot. Joe Arn is at Center again. We think those three spots are pretty solid, but it isn’t cast in stone. We expect a battle for minutes at SF and PF.” “And you’re picked to win conf. K. Thanks Coach.” November 1975 Yasser (that’s my baby) Arafat addresses the UN William O. Douglas retires from SCOTUS Human sphincter RWR announces candidacy for POTUS Bobby Orr plays his last game November 6 “Rick Burns. Coach, how does the lineup look.” “As expected, Hawk and Lopez at the guards with Geoff Hahn as the first guard off the bench. Joe Arn is back at Center and Den Debro at PF. Key Davis who transferred from New Mexico and had to sit out last season will start at SF. Lan Shed should get lots of minutes filling in for the big guys.” “So you’re going with a 7 man rotation.” “Pretty much. I would love to find minutes for 8, 9, and maybe even 10. We’ll see what happens.” “Okay, Coach will be with us most Sunday nights, starting 2 weeks from tonight.”

April 1975 North Vietnamese routs troops in the South. Microsoft is founded Saigon surrenders. Last U. S. helicopter leaves. Frank Robinson is 1st MLB black manager April 4 “Coach, #2 Indiana beat unranked Pitt for the title.” “We lost to the champs, and we gave them their toughest game in the tournament.” “Tell us about awards.” “Okay, Joe Arn was conf. L POY, Tay Lopez was Defensive POY, and they both made 1st team. Greg Hyde and Pete Hawk made 2nd team.” “And you got Coach of the Year! We’ll be with the coach again at the end of the month to wrap up the season.” April 10 “Ben Dover on ‘Sportstalk.” Unconfirmed reports are that Coach Kip Clark nearly left UML for UMass.” April 23 “Ben Dover here for my last edition of ‘Sportstalk’ before I graduate. Rick Burns will host the show from now on. Coach, did you ask for more budget dollars?” “I did. And I got $4,500.” “27-8, regular season and tourney title, Elite Eight. Pretty good season!” “Yes it was. My guys worked very hard, and I’m pleased that they were rewarded for their efforts.” “Team Prestige up to 33. You are now 304-87, .777. Off- 45, Def- 69, Recruit- 80, Scout- 7, Player Development- 57, Reputation- 56. Any truth to the rumors that you almost went to UMass?” “That’s a long way from my wife’s work at Boston University. It wouldn’t make sense.” “And I’m guessing that’s all we’ll get on THAT topic. Coach and listeners, it’s been a pleasure. Good luck to Rick Burns.”

March 1975 U. S. Senate filibuster rule revised. Now 60 Senators can end a filibuster rather than 67. Ethiopia ends monarchy after 3000 years John Wooden’s final game as UCLA coach. March 4 “ Ben Dover here at courtside. #9 seed Dartmouth, 15-14, beats #8 Northeastern in the only upset of play in round. We’ll play them.” … “68-55. Coach, their Point was unstoppable but you stopped everyone else.” “That was the choice we made. He’s a great shooter and a very good passer. We felt that if we doubled him he’d find the open man. If we let him go and stopped everyone else we thought we would be more successful. Turned out he got 33 and the rest of the team got 22 so it worked. All of our starters plus Chris Dye put points on the board, we were +6 in RBs. We had 16 TOs, but they had 18. “Again tonight there was only one upset. #5 Ball State upset #4 ODU. Ball State is 17-12, 11-5.” “They started our recent three game losing streak, beating us there 58-64. We had an awful shooting night and we could have played better outside D. Those arew the things we need to do better tomorrow night.” March 5 “Ben Dover with the coach after the semifinal game against Ball ST. Coach, no doubt tonight.” “No, we went back and forth for a while but the second half was ours, 41-15. 15, 10, 3 for Joe, 17, 5, 2 for Tay, 6 TOs, 36 RBs. 61-43 at the end. It was a good night.” “2 seed SMU, 16-14, 12-4, for the title. We won by 13 at their place early on. We owned the boards and turned them over 23 times.” March 6 “Ben Dover with the Coach after the L conf. title game with SMU. Coach, 70-54 and the title.” “We fell way behind, 13 at one point , but as has been the pattern lately we had a strong 2nd half, 38-21. 25, 4, 2 for Tay, 9, 11, 5, 2 for Joe, 12, 2, 5, 4 for Pete, 7 TOs, 13 RBs. I’m happy with the way we played.” “We’ll be with you and the team for the selection show.” March 12 “Ben Dover with Coach Clark, BU Provost Clark, and the UML basketball team. The selection show is about to start. We’re ranked #17, RPI #16. Here we go. “Not in the East. “Not in the Midwest. “#6 in the South. We play #11, Western Carolina, 22-10. Coach?” “Shaking my head over here. #6? What does that comedian say? ‘We don’t get no respect.’ We’ll need to show them, once again, that we’re better than they gave us credit for.” “Provost Clark. It’s been a while.” “It has, Ben. Not much has changed about the selection process though.” “No, it hasn’t. Coach is going through his files to find out about WCU. SO how’s the job?” “There’s a lot I miss about UML, but I’m enjoying my work at BU. It’s a very good school.” “So what’s the next step up from Provost, university President?” “Well, I like what I’m doing and where I am, but yes, either that or Provost at a bigger school.” “Okay, great speaking with you. Coach, what did you find out about Western Carolina?” “They’re in F, won the regular season and the tourney. 9 game winning streak. Stronger inside than out. We think we can turn them over. We need to play them at least even inside.” “Okay, we’ll bring you the game on March 17, right here on 88.1 FM, WLOW, how LOW can you GO!” March 17 “Ben Dover here after the 1st round NCAA gane with Coach Clark. 75-53.” “We played well. 9 TOs, 33 RBs, all 5 starters in double figures. We fell behind early, as we’ve been doing lately, but it didn’t last long.” “3 seed, #14 ranked Tennessee, 24-11, conf. B next.” “Tough team, especially outside. Came from 5th seed to win the conf. tourney. 8 game win streak. We need to contain them outside and beat them inside.” March 19 “Ben Dover here after the round of 32 NCAA game with Tennessee. Coach, 81-52. You really beat up on a pretty good team to get to the Sweet Sixteen.” “And sweet it is! We went back and forth for 2 or 3 minutes then really took off. It was 50-31 at the half. 22, 12 for Joe, 19, 5 for Chris Dye from the bench, 15, 10, 4, 4 for Tay, 12 TOs, 43 boards, and a very good performance.” “Den Debro seemed to hurt a knee.” “Yes, in the 2nd half. We had a 25 point lead so I took him out and left him out. The doc says it’s not serious and he should be 100% for our next game.” “Which is against #10 seed Texas A & M who’ve been really hot, knocking off first #7 Alabama A & M, and then #2 seed Alabama.” “Guess that’s one state they own! They’re 22-10 from D. Very good at the Point and very balanced on O, no real go to guy. They play man, and press late when it’s close. They finished 2nd in the regular season but were upset in the 1st round or they’d be ranked even higher. Again in this game we need to contain them outside and beat them inside.” “And we’ll be there to bring you the game on March 24.” March 24 “Ben Dover here after the Sweet Sixteen game between Texas A & M and UML. Coach, another win by a wide margin, 77-52. And you’re in the Elite Eight for only the 2nd time.” “Yes, and we’re thrilled to be there. We took an early lead and expanded it to 11 by the half, and eventually to 28. All 5 starters plus Chris Dye in double figures, 11 TOs, 38 RBs.” “Are you playing your best ball of the season?” “I really think that for the past 8 games we have been. And we need to continue that next game.” “#1 seed, #2 ranked, #2 RPI, 25-7 Indiana, from A conf.” “They are strong at every position. They didn’t finish the season strong though, lost in the 2nd round of their tourney, 7-6 in the last 13. They do about everything well. Their D is not the strongest we’ve seen though. The bottom line is that our D has to prevent them from getting the ball where they want to get it.” “Okay, we’re there on the 26th.” March 26 “Ben Dover with Coach Clark after the Elite Eight game with #2 Indiana. Coach, 78-82. Tough one.” “They’re a very good team and probably the favorite to win it all at this point. We did everything right except defending the three. They hit 17-35 of those and that was the difference. They made 5 in the last 2 ½ minutes. Dan fouled out with about 5 minutes left and Pete with 3, and that made it a lot tougher. We moved Tay to the 2 spot, brought Chris Dye in to go big. Maybe going with a 3rd guard would have gotten us out on the three. Hard to say. Greg Hyde had 15, 2, 2 in his last game for us and Chris Dye had 9, 4, 1, 2 in his last game. We’ll miss both of them. 15, 11 for Joe, 15, 5, 3 for Tay, 8, 10, 3 for Den, 10, 6, 5 for Pete. D wins games and we didn’t play enough of it.” “Great season though.” “Oh definitely! To get to the Round of 8 and to lose by only 4 there? Not bad at all for a team from down in L conf.” “We’ll talk with you on April 4 Coach.”

February 1975 Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman sentenced to 2 ½-8 years. 1st televised kidney transplant February 5 “Ben Dover with the coach. Coach, a good week.” “Very good. 2 wins, alone in first, and we’re in the top 25, #23, RPI #16. 70-45 over NC Central here. 28, 8 for Joe, 10 TOs, +8 on the boards. “Then we traveled to Cal-Irvine and won 70-57. 16, 11, 2, 1 for Tay, 16, 6 for Joe, 11 TOs, +4 RBs.” “This week?” “2 at home. 10-11, 6-4 Winthrop, and 8-13, 4-6 Harvard.” February 12 “Coach is on a plane. Ben Dover with the Sunday wrap up. Great week for UML hoops. We beat Winthrop at home, 79-71. 16, 4, 3 for Pete, 17, 3, 4 for Tay, 14, 4, 2 for Den, 9, 10, 2, 3 for Joe, 9, 3 for Chris. 7 TOs, +6 RBs. “Then Harvard came in and we won 73-49. 21, 4, 7, 2 for Tay, 17, 2, 2 for Pete, 12, 8, 2, 2, 2 for Joe, 12, 6, 7, 2, 1 for Greg. 10 TOs. “We are now 2 up on Detroit and ODU, ranked #20, RPI #13. “This week we’re at 12-11, 8-4 Ball State, then at 10-13, 6-6 Davidson, who we beat by only 1 here. Challenging week! February 19 “Ben Dover here with the wrap up. First 2 loss week of the season. Ball ST beat us 58-64. When we score less than 60 we usually lose. 15, 8 for Joe who played only 20 minutes due to foul trouble. 10, 8 for Den, 12, 2, 2 for Greg who fouled out in 20 minutes. Pete had 6 TOs and we didn’t play good D late in the game. “Then Davidson beat us 62-68. 18, 10 for Joe, 16, 2, 3, 2 for Greg. Their bench got 26, ours got 6. “We’re still in 1st place, by 1 over Ball ST, Detroit, and SMU. We have the Bracket Breaker tonight against Monty Smith Memorial from J. Then we’re home for the last 2. First it’s UNC Wilmington, who we beat by 3 there, then it’s Mercer, who we beat by 21 at their place. February 26 “Ben Dover on ‘Sportstalk’ with the coach to wrap up the regular season. Coach, you don’t often lose 3 in a row but Monty Smith beat you 67-70 in the Bracket Breaker.” “That was a very frustrating loss. I don’t do a lot of storming around the locker room but I did that night. We couldn’t seem to stop their Point and we allowed 12 threes. We fell behind early and it got to 20 early in the 2nd half. From then on it was all us but it was too late. The final score was as close as we got. Joe had 13, 9, 5, and Chris got another 13 but it wasn’t enough. I made it clear that I didn’t expect to lose again for a long time. “I guess they listened because we beat UNC Wilmington 79-56. We fell behind early again in that one, but never by more than 6, and it was three at the half. Then we got 44 and they got 18 in the 2nd half. 19 each for Tay and Greg, 18 for Joe, 7 TOs. “The title was on the line for the last game of the regular season against Mercer because Detroit was at SMU and they were both just one back. One of them had to win. We took care of business, 58-43. Good D usually wins. 20, 11, 3, 2, 1 for Joe, 12 each for Greg and Pete, +7 TOs, +5 RBs, and we held them to 33.3% shooting.” “So you won the conf. and we’ll host the tourney.” “That’s right, 21-7, 13-3, #22, RPI #23. Looking forward to the tournament.”

January 1975 Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell … convicted. Dean, Magruder… ordered released from prison January 1 “Ben Dover with the coach. 55-45 over Colorado.” “Great D! We didn’t give them a lot of open looks. And we took great care of the ball, 8 TOs. Joe Arn had his best game in quite a while, 16, 9, 3, 5.” “Coach, 10 of 11 on the road and you still managed to go 8-3 for the pre-conf. season.” “I’m thrilled. We had 6 really tough opponents, beat 4 of them and lost to one in OT. I think we’re ready for conf. play.” “Davidson and UNC Wilmington this week.” “Davidson is struggling, UNCW is playing well.” “Next week the coach is on the road so I’m here alone.” January 8 “Ben Dover with the UML hoops wrap up. What a week! First a 74-73 win over Davidson at home. It went down to the last shot, a ten footer by Den Debro for the win. All 5 starters in double figures, plus 7 and 5 for Chris Dye. Debro led the way with 18 and 6. 8 TOs for the 2nd game in a row and +5 RBs. Great win. “Then we went to UNC Wilmington and it came down to the last shot again, a three by Pete Hawk for a 66-63 win. Den Debro led us again, 16, 5, 1, 3. 11 TOs. Chris Dye had 8 and 8. “This week we’re at Mercer, 7-6, 1-1, and we host 5-8, 0-2 Valparaiso.” January 15 “Coach is on a plane. I’m Ben Dover with the Sunday recap. We went to Mercer and beat them 87-66. All 5 starters plus Chris Dye in double figures. 13, 9, 4, 2, 1 for Joe, 11, 3, 9, 1, 3 for Greg. “Then we beat Valparaiso here, 72-62. 21, 8 for Joe, 11, 6, 2 for5 Chris, 10, 9, or 8 for each of the other starters. 4 TOs. “This week we travel to 5-10, 3-1 SMU and then host the only other undefeated team, 10-5, 4-0 Detroit.” January 22 “Coach is not available again this evening. Ben Dover with the hoops week in review. It was a great week. UML seems to have hit its stride. 71-58 at SMU. 20 and 6 with 4 steals for Tay, 18 with 5 assists for Pete. Super sub Chris Nye had 10, 4, 2, 1. 7 TOs for +14. -21 in RBs but it didn’t matter. “Then we came home to face division rival Detroit and won 65-43. We played terrific D and held their starters to 23 points. All 5 of our starters were in dobules, and we had 6 TOs. On the road all week, 1st at 9-8, 3-3 Northeastern, which isn’t really a road game, and then at ODU, 10-7, 5-1, tied for 2nd place. January 29 “Ben Dover on ‘Sportstalk’ with the coach for the weekly wrap up. Coach?” “We won at Northeastern, 72-57. 23, 7 for Tay, 19, 4, 2, 4 for Joe, 13, 6 for Den, 5, 7, 5, 3 for Chris. 8 TOs. “Then we traveled to ODU for our 2nd OT loss of the year, 77-78. 20 TOs was a huge factor. Just like our last OT loss we missed a chance to win at the end of regulation. Joe Arn, who didn’t score a point all night, had a little 4 foot turn around blocked as time expired. Then in OT they hit a 16 footer at the end for the win. “We’re back in a 2 way tie for 1st with Detroit.” “And this week?” “North Carolina Central, 4-15, 3-5 here tomorrow, then off to 7-13, 3-5 Cal-Irvine.” “Let’s go to the phones. Bennie in Wellesley.” “Rebounding coach. Only up 0.9 per game. That’s the problem.” “I’d be happy if we rebounded better, but with a 3 guard set up it’s going to be an issue. One, I’m happy to be out rebounding our opponents, and 2, the up side is we’re 3.1 TOs a game ahead of the other guys. It’s about trade offs.” “Rob in Cambridge.” “Not sure about that 3 guard thing.” “Well, it puts the 5 I feel are my best on the floor for more minutes. #6, Chris Dye, is getting almost as many minutes as Debro is. Admittedly, my three guards are getting more minutes. We discuss this every couple of days at coaches’ meeting, but we’d give up lots of points to gain not that many rebounds. Hey, we’re tied for 1st halfway through. I think we’re okay.” “Kenny in Quincy.” “What do you think of Ford pardoning Nixon?” “I guess it wasn’t a shock but I don’t really know how I feel. Part of me would have liked to see him prosecuted, because I think he was hip deep in the whole thing, maybe even in the planning of the break ins. The other part says, enough of the circus, let’s move on.” “Okay, coach is back with us next Sunday.”