Stunners Are Their Specialty

You’ve heard of run-and-gun? Cleveland State, the school that upset Indiana in the NCAA East Regional, calls it run-and-stun.

“We have all inner-city kids,” Coach Kevin Mackey said. “We attack. We come at you. Some people interpret that as 10 black kids running around like crazy. It insults me a bit. It insults my kids. We can play it slow. But we’d rather speed it up.”

Cleveland State belongs to the Assn. of Mid-Continent Universities. It’s popularly called the ACMU-8.

“Some people think our league is a brand of motor oil,” Mackey said. “People say, ‘Cleveland State, what’s that?’ Indiana has all those assistant coaches and assistant managers--they must have 80 of them--but we’re all human.

“This was a great one for the off-Broadway guys against the prime-time guys. They can eat their hearts out.”

Jerry Tarkanian, a longtime target of NCAA probes, told Ken Denlinger of the Washington Post that certain programs seem to get the hands-off treatment.

“Texas football,” he said. “None of us will live to see Texas football put on probation. Digger Phelps said a couple of years ago that the going rate for buying players was $10,000.

“A Southeastern Conference coach said at the time: ‘If that’s all it costs, put me down for two.’ ”

Add Tark: He and Maryland’s Lefty Driesell, his coaching opponent today, are old friends who spend time together at clinics. One thing they have in common is hair, or lack of same.

“Neither one of us likes to play golf,” Tarkanian said. “We like to go to the beach and get our heads tan together.”

Trivia Time: Name the only college player who has led the nation in scoring and played on an NCAA championship team the same season. (Answer below.)

Jim Valvano got so carried away in North Carolina State’s 66-64 win over Iowa Friday that he ripped his pants.

“This is seat-of-the-pants coaching time,” Valvano said. “I like to show how intense the game can be. I just wish my wife could sew.”

Add Forgettable Quotes: Said Old Dominion’s Kenny Gattison, on the eve of Saturday’s game against Duke: “I’m a senior who has played against international competition and I’m not easily impressed by people. It’s just a man against a man and Duke knows I’m not gonna go out there and back down just because they’re No. 1. Nobody on our team is in awe of Duke.”

The Blue Devils smoked ‘em by 28.

Charlie German of University High pitched the first no-hitter of his career as the Warriors beat Crossroads, 12-0, Friday, but it wasn’t his biggest thrill of the week.

On Wednesday, at a Burger King on Santa Monica Boulevard near the school he walked straight into $5,000. That’s right, he discovered Herb.

Trivia Answer: Clyde Lovellette of Kansas. In 1951-52 he led the nation with a 28.4 average. In the NCAA final, he scored 33 points as the Jayhawks beat St. John’s, 80-63. Note: A non-scoring reserve on the Kansas team was Dean Smith, now the North Carolina coach.

Quotebook

Ken Denlinger of the Washington Post, on Pepperdine: “It sounds like a place for toothpaste research.”