January 7, 1985 Poll
Duke is the unanimous #1, as they should. They have been ranked there since the dawn of the season. Rice and Baylor, both Southwest Conference playmates, are second and third. Southern Cal is 4th, while Missouri and BYU round out the list of one-loss teams that trail Duke.
Kansas, meanwhile, leapfrogged GW for #7. The Colonials fell to eighth. TCU, another one-loss Southwest team, is ninth, while Clemson has gotten back into the top ten. The late season, meanwhile (the Ivy League season ends on 3.16) means #11 Princeton is just 6-1 at this stretch in the year.
Meanwhile, #20 Alabama remains the third unbeaten, the one nobody talks about. And they've been lurking in the lower end of the rankings for awhile now. No respect. I wonder if that's warranted.
Code:
Top 25
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference test test test test
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1. Duke (72) 13-0 1800 1 Atlantic Coast Conference
2. Rice 12-1 1726 2 Southwest Conference
3. Baylor 13-1 1595 6 Southwest Conference
4. Southern California 14-1 1591 3 Pacific-8 Conference
5. Missouri 11-1 1532 5 Big Eight Conference
6. Brigham Young 12-1 1468 4 Western Athletic Conference
7. Kansas 13-2 1307 8 Big Eight Conference
8. George Washington 13-0 1290 7 Independent
9. Texas Christian 12-1 1248 9 Southwest Conference
10. Clemson 14-2 1167 13 Atlantic Coast Conference
11. Princeton 6-1 1043 10 Ivy League
12. Virginia 11-1 1022 11 Atlantic Coast Conference
13. UTEP 11-2 921 12 Western Athletic Conference
14. Cornell 11-2 876 15 Ivy League
15. Texas Tech 10-1 778 16 Southwest Conference
16. Pennsylvania 11-3 704 22 Ivy League
17. Maryland 9-2 590 19 Atlantic Coast Conference
18. Yale 11-2 532 23 Ivy League
19. North Carolina State 10-1 512 20 Atlantic Coast Conference
20. Alabama 12-0 507 21 Southeastern Conference
21. Wake Forest 9-2 317 14 Atlantic Coast Conference
22. Bradley 13-1 261 24 Missouri Valley Conference
23. California 10-2 235 25 Pacific-8 Conference
24. Nebraska 10-2 163 NR Big Eight Conference
25. Texas A&M 8-2 94 NR Southwest Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
South Florida 12-1 54 Independent
Kansas State 12-3 34 Big Eight Conference
Illinois 11-2 15 Big Ten Conference
Florida 12-2 13 Southeastern Conference
North Carolina 10-3 3 Atlantic Coast Conference
Wyoming 9-2 2 Western Athletic Conference
January 7, 1985: vs American (6-5)
Ralph Ham! has become a bonafide star. I've always enjoyed his name, but he's become a G/B phenomenon. Ralph Ham! is averaging 15.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.9 assists (with 3.7 turnovers) a game this year. The Golden Eagles, who start four seniors (and a freshman), revolve around Ralph Ham! and backcourt mate Bradford Collins (10.4 ppg, 2.9 apg). The backcourt is American University lore...they've started three years together, and have seen tough times. Now, they'll see Jack for the fourth, and final, time.
As far as a way to slow him down...well, American plays a slow place. They are not a good rebounding team, but they limit rebounding opportunities. They shoot from range at a reasonable pace (37%), and shoot free throws very well (74%; 13th nationally). GW will be wise to not put them on the line.
Jack finds Hulett for the opening bucket. Joe Reyes hits a three for American, but Jack finds Hulett again. Jack then finds Armbruster off a Kenny steal. Reyes scores, then fouls Armbruster. Jack gets fouled by Ham, who also has a turnover. Not a good start for him. Jack hits both free throws. Collins hits both of his after a foul by Armbruster. Jack finds Hulett again. Hulett hits a three. He's unconscious right now. Ralph Ham hits a three! Jack finds Woods! It's 15-14 with 15:33 left, and Ralph Ham! gets his second foul.
Kenny gets another steal, and Jack scores. Gerald Taveras responds. Grayson scores, then gets a steal and a layup. It's 21-16. Kenny with another steal, and Grayson scores again. Jack gets to the line, and hits both. He's got a 6-2-5 line, and it's 25-16 with 13:12 left. Hulett with a steal and a dunk. He's got 11. American calls time with 12:52 left. Hector gets a steal and a dunk right out of that. It's 29-16.
Grayson gets a steal, and Jack gets fouled. He hits both. 31-16. Collins hits a three to halt the steal parade. Taveras is fouled by Woods, and gets the three-point play. It's 33-22 after Hulett hits. I've never seen anyone shooting this hot before. Hulett scores AGAIN. He's got 15. Joe Canales responds with a layup. It's 35-25 with 8:25 left, and the JVs are in. This is a typical sub pattern right now.
Taveras scores, cutting the lead to eight. Hector fouls, and the starters come back. Hulett scores off a Kenny pass. Jack gets to the line, and he hits both. He has ten, Hulett 17...Ralph Ham! hits a three. 39-30. Josue Rineheart hits a three, and Jack charges into Taveras. It's 39-33, GW leads. Armbruster is fouled...he makes one of two. Kenny fouls Ralph Ham!, who misses both. Jack scores...Taveras responds. Woods scores off a Jack pass. Hulett dunks it, and is fouled. He has twenty for the second straight game. Ralph Ham! responds, but Jack finds Kenny. Then Kenny finds Jack. It's 51-39 with 1:40 left. Jack has a 14-5-7 line.
Jack finds Hector for three! They enjoyed that so much, they do it again! They tried it a third time, but people thought that was overkill. Still, it's 57-41 at the half. Jack had a 14-6-9 line, while Hulett has 20 points and two rebounds. American had 12 turnovers, eight of which came on GW steals. GW shot 67% from the field, but American shot 54%.
Armbruster gets a steal, and Jack finds Woods. That's Jack's tenth assist. Both teams are cold, but Jack scores. He's got 16-6-10. Jack forces a turnover. Hulett's hot streak is over. Collins scores...it's 61-44. American got four looks on one possession. They are winning the rebounding battle. Jack scores on the right wing...Jack hits again. He has 20, matching Hulett. It's 65-45. Jack hits again...then he finds Hulett for a bucket. It's 69-45.
Hulett picks Ham's pocket, and Jack finds Armbruster for the score. Then Hulett commits his fourth foul. Collins snags the ball from Hector, and Jason Hinman scores. Jack finds Ali for a bucket. He also gets his ninth rebound. Jack finds Hector...that's assist #14. Then he comes out, one rebound away. Marty Reed would've made the game longer so Jack could get a triple-double. But now, he's done. Four minutes left, he's not coming back. And rightfully so.
The final is 81-60. Jack and Hulett are insane right now. GW had 22 assist...Jack 14 of them. American had 22 turnovers, 14 of which were on GW steals. Amazingly, Jack didn't have a single one of them. Kenny had four, Hulett three, Hector and Grayson two each.
Code:
George Washington 81, American 60
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American (6-6, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Joseph Reyes C 23 2-8 1-2 3 10 0 3 6
Gerald Taveras PF 32 4-9 2-3 6 7 0 1 10
Darrick Bayer SF 27 0-1 0-0 1 8 3 1 0
Ralph Ham SG 25 3-9 0-2 1 1 0 2 9
Bradford Collins PG 30 4-7 9-13 1 2 7 0 18
Merrill McClain PG 10 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Josue Rinehart SG 14 2-4 0-0 3 5 1 1 6
Jason Hinman PF 14 1-5 0-0 0 1 0 1 2
Joe Canales SF 12 2-3 1-2 2 2 0 3 6
Jason Scott PF 9 0-2 1-2 1 3 0 0 1
Jeffrey Gunter C 4 1-1 0-0 1 1 0 0 2
Turnovers: 22 (J.Reyes 3, G.Taveras 1, D.Bayer 5, R.Ham
3, B.Collins 3, M.McClain 2, J.Rinehart 1, J.Canales
2, J.Gunter 2)
Blocked Shots: 5 (G.Taveras 1, D.Bayer 2, B.Collins 1,
J.Canales 1)
Steals: 3 (B.Collins 1, J.Scott 1, J.Gunter 1)
3P FGs: 8-20 (J.Reyes 1-2, R.Ham 3-7, B.Collins 1-3,
M.McClain 0-1, J.Rinehart 2-3, J.Hinman 0-2, J.Canales
1-2)
George Washington (14-0, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Brian Armbruster C 25 2-2 1-2 1 5 0 3 5
Bruce Woods PF 21 3-8 0-0 2 4 0 4 6
Jack Dawkins SF 32 7-12 8-8 2 9 14 2 22
Kenneth Frazier SG 20 1-3 0-0 0 1 3 4 2
Richie Hulett PG 27 10-14 1-1 2 6 3 4 22
Hector Patterson PG 21 5-8 0-0 0 0 0 3 13
Michael King PG 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Glenn Grayson PF 14 3-6 0-0 1 2 0 0 6
Denny Perez C 15 0-3 0-0 2 3 1 0 0
Porter Ali SF 14 2-6 0-0 1 2 1 1 4
F. Boutwell SG 8 0-1 1-2 0 1 0 0 1
David Echevarria PF 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 8 (J.Dawkins 1, K.Frazier 1, R.Hulett 1,
H.Patterson 3, G.Grayson 1, P.Ali 1)
Blocked Shots: 6 (B.Woods 2, R.Hulett 1, G.Grayson 1,
D.Echevarria 2)
Steals: 14 (B.Armbruster 1, K.Frazier 4, R.Hulett 3,
H.Patterson 2, G.Grayson 2, D.Perez 1, P.Ali 1)
3P FGs: 4-15 (J.Dawkins 0-3, K.Frazier 0-2, R.Hulett
1-1, H.Patterson 3-6, D.Perez 0-1, P.Ali 0-2)
Player of Game: SF Jack Dawkins (GW)