Basketball ( Ragin' Cajuns ) 1971 -1972

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1971-1972	23-3	NCAA	Coach:  Beryl Shipley 

Southland regular-season champion

At-large bid

Rankings:  AP 8, UPI 8

MW 		Marshall 		W	112-101

		Louisville 		L	84-88

		Texas (con.) 		W	100-70 

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March 1972 Cover of Sports Illustrated.
" GOOD TIMES COME TO CAJUN COUNTRY "
Dwight "Bo" Lamar flying high .

[NewsCopy]

1972 Sports Illustrated excerpt.

  . . . Southwestern is led by the marvelous Dwight (Bo Pete) Lamar, the nation's leading scorer. In order to get to the finals the Ragin' Cajuns would be required to go from the bayous of Lafayette to the sagebrush of Las Cruces to the cornfields of Ames and onto the freeways of Los Angeles, but they are capable of that and more; with luck they could win the whole balloon.

The 112- 101 first-round victory by Lamar and company over Marshall was an interesting hurdle in many ways. Few teams that night would have beaten the Thundering Herd, a quicker, faster group than USL will face the rest of the way. The victory brought heaps of confidence, showed the Cajuns they belonged in the big time and demonstrated they can win even when Lamar is having an off night.

The handsome Bo Pete averaged 37 points a game this year and lie is an exciting one-on-one operator and streak shooter' who throws them in from all outdoors. More important, he has learned to police himself (11 assists against Marshall) and if he gets hot he could dominate this regional all by himself.

At times, however, Lamar is cold and not exactly an unselfish player. He is not, either, the best player on his team. Roy Ebron, a 6' 9", 228-pound little known rookie, is. Were it not for UCLA's Walton, in fact, Ebron who averages 23 points and 14 rebounds would be the best big man in college. Coach Beryl Shipley has 6' 7" Fred Saunders to handle the ball, 6' 8", 230-pound Wilbert Loftin to help Ebron on the boards and a fine bench.

A classic battle between Walton and Ebron assumes UCLA reaches the finals. The Bruins begin defense of their championship at Provo playing Weber State, which bombed Hawaii in the first round, and then probably Long Beach State.

Long Beach, which nearly dethroned the Bruins in the West last March, almost didn't make it back. Brigham Young and the wondrous Kresimir Cosic had the 49ers buried in the first half but then staggered and lost 95-90 in overtime. When Coach Jerry Tarkanian caught his breath he was forced by a reporter to look past San Francisco, his next regional opponent, to the Bruins. "Walton dominates. Walton dominates so much it is sad," said Tarkanian, who is always sad anyway.

His current five probably is not as well prepared to upset as last year's was. Though Ed Ratleff is the most complete college player in.the country and the one man able to control a game against the Bruins, most of his ability stems from the backcourt and UCLA's devastating pressure defense would make Ratleff work hard in bringing the ball upcourt, giving him little time to concentrate on points.

"The key, though," says one scout, "is what Long Beach does against Bibby on the wing. If Bibby is missing, Long Beach is in the game."

Last year certain teams could control the tempo on UCLA and go inside for high-percentage shots. This time the need is for guards who can heat the UCLA press and a big tall pivotman to either muscle Walton inside or score from the outside and force him to leave the basket area. There is always the possibility that the Long Beach center, Nate Stephens, will run away and hide against Walton; perhaps McAdoo of North Carolina and Ebron of Southwestern Louisiana have better chances.

But is there a chance, really? John Wooden was asked how lie would play against UCLA. "It would depend on personnel," he said. "With my '64 team I'd press all over, float and sag and help out on Walton. With Jabbar I'd play Walton face up, challenge him and try to keep him from the ball. Those are the only teams I could possibly play him with."

That's nice. All that college basketball needs to beat Bill Walton is a couple of more Bruin teams to comeback and combine forces. Maybe this is the UCLA Invitation after all. END

1972 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
by CURRY KIRKPATRICK


text provided by rhineaux

[IHateLaState]

Sweet memories.... I was 15... used to get to Blackham right after school to get in line to get in.... With all the talk of Pete Maravich, I often wonder how many points Bo would have scored if the three point lne was in play back then...

The year after this we went to Houston and lost to Kansas (or was it K-State?) who played a slow down game...I remember we trailed the whole game... With about 15 seconds Kansas (or State) is shooting a 1-1 leading by one.. He misses and Ebron gets the rebound... Rather than pass to Bo immediately he takes the ball up the court... The crowd noise was deafining...He crosses half court then passes back to Bo just as Bo crosses the half court line... It was called back court.. probably a good call.. But with the noise no one hears the whistle and Bo buries a jumber from about 30 feet with 3 seconds... We would have won... That was the last year before the recruiting sanctions hit us.. to this day i think Ebron was paid to lose the game.... I also think there was a second shooter on the Grassy Knoll so dont listen to me...lol

[RaginFan2]

The year after this we went to Houston and lost to Kansas (or was it K-State?) ...

It was K State. That was a sad game to watch. We never seemed to get it going like we usually did. Credit to the K State defense.

[IHateLaState]

So do you think there was a shooter on the grassy knoll or just bad luck with Ebron to Bo???

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_ So do you think there was a shooter on the grassy knoll or just bad luck with Ebron to Bo??? _

Dwight was "The Shooter from the Grassy Knoll" . . . Bo Peep