Flutie Puts Shoulder Into It, Too

His passing statistics leave something to be desired, but there’s nothing wrong with Doug Flutie’s running, and apparently he can block, too.

Films of New Jersey’s 35-24 win over the Express credited Flutie with three blocks, including one on defensive end Ben Rudolph while Rudolph was chasing Herschel Walker.

On the play, Walker started to his left, then reversed his field when he got cut off.

“I realized Doug would be there,” said Walker, who managed to get three yards out of the play. “I knew he would do his best. I’m glad he tried to block that big old end because it might have been the end of me.”

Rudolph is 6-5 and 270.

The subject was superstitions and pregame rituals, and Dick Enberg asked Al McGuire if he did anything special before games.

McGuire: “The first thing I did was count the crowd, because I got 5% of the house.”

For What It’s Worth: Ex-Trojans Gerry Wright (Iowa), Ken Johnson (Michigan State), Jon Korfas (Pepperdine) and Jimmy Brown (North Carolina A&T;) all made it to the NCAA playoffs, but it’s not likely they’ll face their former mates.

Oklahoma figures to eliminate A&T; tonight, then take care of USC Saturday at Tulsa. That’s assuming USC gets by Illinois State tonight.

Oklahoma Coach Billy Tubbs isn’t dismissing A&T;, however. Early in the season, A&T; lost to Georgetown by only 61-56 and held Pat Ewing to 11 points.

Says Tubbs: “Anybody that plays Georgetown to a five-point game gets my attention real quickly.”

Add Georgetown: Tennessee State Coach Ed Meyers, who has coached for and against Georgetown, told Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post that he rated the Hoya press with that of UCLA of the 1960s.

“The team playing Georgetown, by the end of the game, is like a punch-drunk boxer in the 15th round,” said Meyers, a former Hoya aide. There’s nothing left. You’ve spent everything you’ve got just trying to get upcourt.”

“You make a bad pass or travel with the ball . . . it doesn’t even have to be a turnover. It can be a bad shot, or you’re too tired to rebound. Look at the second shots Georgetown got against St. John’s last week. They didn’t even have to jump, the St. John’s kids were so tired.”

The Big East and Big Ten each put six teams in the tournament, while the Big Eight advanced only three. Iowa State Coach Johnny Orr doesn’t like it.

“Sure there are a lot of doubters about the Big Eight,” Orr said. “It’s all because of publicity. The only reason six teams from the Big Ten and Big East got in is because of the television hookups. And I’ll compare Missouri with Iowa any day.”

This season, Iowa State beat Iowa, 54-50.

Orr, former head coach at Michigan, where his assistant was current Wolverine Coach Bill Frieder, sends Iowa State against one of his old rivals, Ohio State, tonight at Tulsa.

St. John’s Coach Lou Carnesecca said his knowledge of first-round foe Southern University is limited to phone calls with other coaches, including Creighton’s Willis Reed.

“He says they run, they jump, they shoot,” Carnesecca said. “What the heck, a lot of people run, jump and shoot. I still don’t know what they got.”

Quotebook

Montreal Expos Manager Buck Rodgers, saying he’s not looking for a leader to replace departed catcher Gary Carter: “Sometimes you get a leader on the team and all he does is lead everybody off in the wrong direction.”