Basketball's Week

THE EAST
1. PRINCETON (17-1)
2. BOSTON COLLEGE (12-1)
3. PROVIDENCE (13-3)

Princeton 's Butch van Breda Kolff will not commit himself but says things like "better balance" and "more cohesiveness" when people ask if his Tigers are better than the Bradley team of two years ago. Rutgers Coach Bill Foster thinks so, especially after the way Princeton manhandled his team 97-74 last week. Joe Heiser held Bobby Lloyd, the nation's third best scorer, to 17 points, slim John Haarlow threw in 25 and 6'9" Chris Thomforde played the boards as if he owned them. Dartmouth , which had lost to the Tigers by 74 points in Hanover , held the ball and the Indians escaped a drubbing. But they still lost 30-16. Strangely enough, Harvard , last in the Ivy League , gave Princeton the most trouble. The Crimson led 32-28 at the half but then Gary Walters took charge and the Tigers won 66-59.

Rutgers came back to beat NYU 68-57 in Madison Square Garden and this time Lloyd, a pure shooter with remarkable concentration, scored 33 points and dropped in 19 free throws without a miss for a Garden record. Two nights later he had nine for nine, including the winning two in a 72-70 victory over Bucknell, to set a new college record of 56 consecutive foul shots.

Boston College , returning after a 19-day layoff, was as sharp as ever. The Eagles , with little Billy Evans handing off assists like Coach Bob Cousy , and Steve Adelman and Terry Driscoll firing in the points, trounced Seton Hall 90-75 and Holy Cross 92-74. PROVIDENCE hardly worked up a sweat beating Gannon 92-66, while SYRACUSE , thriving on George Hicker's shooting and Vaughn Harper's strong rebounding and slick passing, ended Penn State 's 31-game home winning streak 90-73. The Orange then beat Massachusetts 67-59. ST. JOHN'S squeaked through against Temple 65-63 on Albie Swartz's last-second shot. MANHATTAN also took the Owls 82-72 for Coach Ken Norton 's 300th victory, FAIRFIELD defeated Georgetown 93-82.

Things were looking up in Philadelphia . LA SALE, finally playing the way it was supposed to, won over Creighton 88-83 in overtime and Loyola of New Orleans 125-80, while VILLANOVA beat Detroit 75-56 and St. Peter's 62-48. ARMY eased past Fordham 61-59 for its sixth in a row but PENN STATE surprised the Cadets 67-57. ST. BONAVENTURE shocked Canisius 97-58, and NIAGARA upset Dayton 80-74.

Connecticut 's sharpshooting Wes Bialosuknia had a gala week. He scored 23 points in a 66-59 win over Massachusetts that gave the Huskies the Yankee Conference lead and then he bombed Maine for 50 as Connecticut won 109-65.

THE SOUTH
1. NORTH CAROLINA (14-1)
2. WESTERN KENTUCKY (16-1)
3. VANDERBILT (15-3)

Nearly everyone had conceded that the SEC race was between Vanderbilt and Tennessee . Then strange things began to happen, VANDERBILT barely made it past last-place LSU 79-77 before FLORIDA 's tall Gators got the Commodores in Gainesville . Rebounding from an 87-61 loss to AUBURN, the Gators hit Vanderbilt with a stifling zone press and their big men took over the boards. Little Skip Higley fired in 22 points, David Miller added 21 and Vandy went down 83-75. TENNESSEE looked good beating Mississippi State 67-45 and Georgia Tech 59-48, but the cautious Vols stumbled against MISSISSIPPI . Going nowhere, Ole Miss upset Tennessee 56-53 in overtime. It was enough to make an old campaigner like KENTUCKY 's Adolph Rupp wonder if his Wildcats still had a chance despite their five losses. What gave The Baron hope was the way Louie Dam-pier and Pat Riley were shooting. They got 54 points between them in a 96-53 win over Mississippi , and then Kentucky trampled LSU 105-84 for Rupp 's 761st victory. "It's been a great adventure," said Adolph.

North Carolina was still undefeated in the ACC . The Tar Heels beat Maryland 85-77, with 6'11" Rusty Clark and Larry Miller scoring 20 points apiece, but Coach Dean Smith was not happy about his team blowing a 22-point lead. "We can't stand prosperity, I guess," he griped. Maybe what really bothered Smith was SOUTH CAROLINA's growing strength—the Gamecocks rolled over Maryland 80-53 and Wake Forest 77-60. And DUKE was coming on, too. Bob Verga and Bob Riedy bombed Virginia for 51 points in a 100-77 victory, and the Blue Devils looked even better beating West Virginia 91-75. The Mountaineers , who had just edged Davidson 86-83, simply could not handle Duke 's Mike Lewis . He got 33 points and 19 rebounds. "Two areas hurt us, the boards and Lewis ," said West Virginia's Bucky Waters , "but that's the same thing, isn't it?"

Western Kentucky had a one-and-a-half-game lead in the Ohio Valley and 16 straight after walloping Austin Peay 101-59 and Middle Tennessee 95-62. VIRGINIA TECH AND GEORGIA TECH were making a run for postseason consideration. VPI (13-3) downed William and Mary 84-79 and Richmond 89-71, while Georgia (12-7) beat Mercer 91-57 and Notre Dame 102-87. But Memphis State , another hopeful, lost twice, to MIAMI ( Fla. ) 88-63 and FLORIDA STATE 55-51.