Evening star., 1951-02-05
1erps, CIV in Thick
OF Scramble for
Tourney Behhs
By MerreIl WhittIesey

By MerreIl WhittIesey
With three and a half weeks
remaining in the regular college
basketball season, the tournament
picture in the Southern Confer
ence looks something like this:
North Carolina State, bidding
for a fifth consecutive title, is the
only team mathematically certain
of qualifying for the eight team
championship playoff at Raleigh
March /. 2 and 3, but William
and Mary, South Carolina and
West Virginia are so close to
mathematical certainties they can
be considered in.
At the other end of the stand
ings, it's obvious that Richmond,
the Citadel, Davidson. VMI, WASH
ington and Lee and Furman have
little. If any, chance Of qualify
ing for the tournament.
That takes out 10 Of the II
member teams and fills four of
the eight tournament berths,
leaving Clemson, Maryland, VPI,
North Carolina, Duke, Wake For
est and George Washington to
scrap for the other four places.
Clemson currently is in second
place with a 5-1 record, but the
Tigers must be considered a bor-
der-line team because they still
have to play Wake Forest twice,
Maryland, CIV and South Caro-
lima on the tough side, plus weak
Davidson and the Citadel. Four
Of their five victories have been
scored against Furman, Davidson
and the Citadel and the other over
q tired Maryland team on Satur-
day.
Terps in Good Spot.
Maryland, sixth-place team at
present with a 6-3 record. still has
10 conference games ahead, seven
of them at College Park. The
Terps play Washington and Lee
and VMI in Lexington this week
and George Washington at Uline
Arena February. %. At home they
entertain South Carolina. West
Virginia. Duke. William and Mary.
Clemson, Richmond and VMI. The
Terps should be able to count onl
beating VMI twice and Richmond,
and could qualify by winning just
two Of the other seven games.
It apparently is going to take
a 800 percentage, or about two
more victories than defeats, to
qualify this year.
In seventh place at present
with a Ga record, VPI has only
four conference games remaining
and three of those are with VMI
and Richmond. That should put
the Gobblers in the playoffs.
North Carolina, one of the most
unpredictable Of the conference
teams, has a 7-5 record and can
qualify by winning three out Of
five against George Washington,
South Carolina, The Citadel, N. C.
State and Duke, but that might
be too much Of an assignment for
the Tar Heels.
Duke is 6-5 at present and has
seven conference games left. five
Of them against f1rst-division
teams. Wake Forest is at the 500
mark, but with two games each
with South Carolina and Glenn
son and one with Washington and
Lee, Duke and N. G. State, the
outlook is dark for the Deacons.
CIV Good Clutch Team.
George Washington, in 18th
place today, will know sooner
than any other team whether or
not to make Raleigh reservations.
The Colonials meet Duke tonight.
North Carolina tomorrow and
William and Mary here Friday.
CIV must win two Of the three
to reach the 500 mark. and then
it will have South Carolina, Glenn
son and Maryland left, all at
home.
Assuming that NC State. West
Virginia, William and Mary and
South Carolina already have
clinched berths, the teams with
the next best chances appear to
be VPI and Maryland. George
Washington has habit of win
ming those conference games when
they mean the most, and for that
reason the Colonials are a threat.
Clemson's chances are pretty good.
That makes eight teams. and still
not room for Duke, Carolina or
Wake Forest. It's going to be
dogfight to decide the last place
or two. and 1t may mean opening
the tournament to more than
eight teams. which has been done
before.
The tournament buildup was
boosted Saturday night when Will
liam and Mary upset NC State.
It proved State can be beaten In
the conference and should be
contributing factor towards
bigger gate in the $4,000 capacity
NC State field house.