Letters

Published: Thursday, February 27, 1997

Thursday, February 27, 1997

Vitale

clarification

Although I highly agree with Shapiro in his article "Vitale eats his words," Mark missed serious points Dick made on television. Even though he has a high regard for the ACC, he did have words the basketball team needs to hear: "Bruin Defense did what a majority of top-ranked teams could not do; shut down Duke's perimeter game which is their strongest offensive machine." He put emphasis on another point, mentioned twice, "UCLA is the only NCAA team starting 5 potential NBA players ... and with that fire power, they (UCLA) will be a dangerous team in the tournament; especially with the way they shut down Coach K's team ."

Dick is biased. We all know. But sometimes, he tells it like it is. "This current UCLA team is not the same team that lost to Stanford and Kansas. UCLA is now coming back, baby!" Even though his kind words were sparse, he did a great Coach Lavin impersonation by saying, "There is only one team now that can hold back UCLA from bringing it home; UCLA."

And for your information, Dick did pick Ed O'Bannon as his "Player of the Year." Before March, he was set on Joe Smith. But Ed's performance swayed him away.

You hear that guys?? "...The Big Dance is the time to prove your stuff, baby! ! !"

Bill Gomes

Third year

Business Economics