Off The Boards by Jack Scheuer

Off The Boards

By Jack Scheuer

February 27, 2019 Edition

There are quite a few candidates for National Coach of the Year, so let’s get an early start and make a choice. Duke has two first team All-Americans in Williamson and Barrett, plus Reddish and Jones, so having all that talent, in my opinion, rules out Mike Krzyzewski. Rick Barnes has done a terrific job at Tennessee and I would have no trouble with his selection. The same would be true with Gonzaga’s Mark Few, who is certainly one of the nation’s best, like-wise Virginia’s Tony Bennett, and Coach Cal at Kentucky. I would also have Will Wade, at LSU, as a finalist, but he is currently under an FBI probe, so that eliminates him. Lots of solid choices there, but if I had to pick today, the winner would be Houston mentor Kelvin Sampson. His Cougars are 26-1, (only loss to Temple) despite having had only one double figure scorer returning, Yet the coach has used an effective 10-man rotation a potent up-tempo offense, and smart ball-handling to get great results. Thus said, Kelvin Sampson gets my vote for Coach of the Year. Your nomination would be most welcomed.

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This week we return to the past with Penn’s Stan Pawlak, a 6-3 guard who played a lot bigger and ended his three- year career with a 20.6 average, 3rd on the school’s all-time list. In his senior season, 1965-66, he scored 23.2 points per game in leading the Quakers (19-6) to their first ever Ivy title. Unfortunately, Penn was barred from the NCAA’s because of a silly dispute between the NCAA and the Ivy League. That same season, Pawlak scored a career high 37 points against La Salle, and made the All-Big 5 first team.  He led the Quakers in scoring in each of his three seasons, and was all Ivy each year. In 1973, he was inducted into the first class of the Big 5 Hall of Fame. 

Stan Pawlak, certainly a name to be remembered. 

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Seniors in the student body at Villanova should not be feeling too bad about this year’s Wildcats.  Since they started their college careers on the Main Line, the team has gone 123-21, and won two national titles. And this season certainly isn’t over yet.

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How’s this for recalling the greatness of the early Big 5? In 1957-58, the Palestra’s all-visiting team consisted of Philly’s Lou Pucillo, from N.C. State, Niagara’s Boo Ellis AND three others: Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry West.

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Who is the all-time leading rebounder at Duke? Hint: He played within the last 20 years.  Answer at the end of the column.    

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This and That: Speaking of rebounding: John Mooney, Notre Dame’s 6-9 junior center is averaging 10 .8 rebounds a game, and is the only ACC player ranked in the top 10 nationally…. Villanova-Marquette tonight should be interesting. Golden Eagles outstanding guard Markus Howard is 173 for 189 from the stripe (91.5 %)…. Steve Pikiell is getting Rutgers moving in the right direction. The Scarlet Knights are 6-11 in the Big 10 after going 3-15 last season….Drexel’s improved record has been helped greatly by the play of freshman point guard Camren Wynter…. Upcoming: Drexel hosts Hofstra tomorrow, while Saint Joe’s visits Fordham; Penn is at Harvard and Dartmouth over the weekend. On Saturday, Villanova welcomes Butler, and the Hawks have La Salle. On Sunday, Temple has a must win home tilt with Tulane.

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Answer to Trivia Time: Shelden Williams is Duke’s all-time leader with 1,262 rebounds.