A Whole Team Touched By Stardust

Princeton 's rout of the East shoved the three other regional affairs into the background, even though they were closer, more exciting games. Michigan , as usual, had to come from behind to beat Vanderbilt and, just as usual, it was Cazzie Russell leading the charge. The Wolverines were down 80-77 with 2:42 left but won 87-85 despite big Clyde Lee 's 28 points and 20 rebounds and despite smaller Vandy's overall rebounding edge.

In Provo , Brigham Young was supposed to worry defending champion UCLA , and it did for the whole previous week and the first 15 minutes of the game. Then Keith Erickson , who had been sick with the flu and had not even been able to run the day before, went on a binge. With UCLA behind 30-29, Erickson made three baskets in 45 seconds. Edgar Lacey added another, and then Erickson threw in three more to make it 43-34. As the last of this batch swished through, Pete Peletta, the coach of San Francisco who was scouting his next night's opponent, took out a pencil and wrote firmly on a program: "Lights out." It was. The BYU challenge ended 24 down, 100-76. It was Peletta's Dons who gave UCLA their fight, on Saturday.

The expected UCLA blitz came, but not until late in the game, with USF on top 83-82. Then Erickson and All-America Gail Goodrich led an 11-2 streak that iced it. Erickson , who seldom scores so high, made 29 that night and 28 on Friday, while Goodrich had 40 and 30, but USF's Ollie Johnson stole the show with successive personal highs of 35 and 37.

The UCLA press hurt San Francisco , which lost the ball 17 times on errors. UCLA had only nine turnovers, a remarkably low figure. But these Bruins are so composed that they often look like professionals. They seldom change expression. Erickson walked by his roommate, Goodrich, after the BYU game, in which Goodrich had set a school record of 40 points: not breaking his stride and hardly turning his head, Erickson said, "Heard you scored some points." Goodrich permitted himself a smile.

The Bruins are playing splendidly, perhaps better than ever before, this year or last. They should roll easily over Wichita State , a gritty team that somehow made it this far even after All-America Dave Stallworth ran out of eligibility at midyear and Center Nate Bowman flunked out. Kelly Pete's scoring and rebounding (he is only 6 feet 1) led the Wheat-shockers to victory over minimal competition. Going more and more to their new delay game, they took only 17 shots in the first half against Oklahoma State and only 12 in the second. But Wichita State had the lead and Oklahoma State stayed back in its sagging man-to-man defense, and things just dawdled along that way.

Wichita 's strategy was sound and it was executed well-nigh perfectly, but in essence it is negative, and it will not work against UCLA , which attacks and gambles. Wichita also depends a great deal on a full-court press, but UCLA has a better one and better personnel.

So UCLA 's challenge must come from the East—from Michigan or Princeton . In their December meeting in the Holiday Festival, Michigan rallied from 12 points behind, after Bradley fouled out, to win 80-78. In the shell-shocked Princeton locker room afterward, Bradley stood up and told his teammates that this was no one-night stand, no fluke. They must regroup, he said, win the league, win the regional and beat Michigan next time. Last Sunday the Tigers came back from College Park , and the crowd hoisted Bradley and the other players up on the top of the team bus. The band was there and all those students. "We have been thinking of only one thing since December 30," Bradley told them. Naturally, he remembered the date. "We have been thinking about beating Michigan ." Then the band played Old Nassau , and the Tigers all sang, touching their right hands to their hearts and then extending their arms, as is traditional.

Two weeks ago the Princeton senior class officers stole the clapper from the Nassau Hall bell to present to Bradley . It was a desperate choice of a gift for a young man who has everything, perhaps, except a watch that is engraved NCAA CHAMPIONS. That you have to get for yourself.