COLLEGE BASKETBALL : How Bad Is North Carolina?

Seven years.

118 straight polls.

But the streak is over.

North Carolina is among “other teams receiving votes”’in this week’s Associated Press college basketball poll. And it’s the top 25 this season, not a top 20.

If losses to Missouri, Alabama and Georgetown didn’t show that the Tar Heels were merely a decent team, then Saturday’s 87-74 defeat by Iowa showed they might be worse.

The defeat gave North Carolina a 4-4 record, its worst start in 29 seasons under Dean Smith and the worst by a Tar Heels team in 40 years.

“We would like to have a better record at this point in the season,” Smith said earlier this week. “But this could have been expected considering the schedule we’ve played. In fact, we could have another loss.”

Or two. The Tar Heels escaped by scoring the last 10 points against James Madison (and longtime Smith coaching rival Lefty Driesell) in Maui, and were lucky to beat Villanova the next night. But Iowa?

The Hawkeyes were picked to finish as low as ninth in the Big Ten and, like the Tar Heels, lost three key players off last season’s team.

“Just because’it’s Dean, people expect them to win most of the time,” Iowa Coach Tom Davis said. “But they’ll be OK by the end of the year.”

Said Smith, “These early games have exposed our weaknesses. That’s the benefit of a difficult schedule. Coaches are generally aware of their team’s weaknesses and what needs to be done. But then players have to be convinced in game competition against tough opponents.”

The only thing North Carolina has accomplished so far is to help build the confidence of the competition. Missouri, Alabama, Georgetown and Iowa are off to fast starts. Even Driesell’s Dukes seem to have been helped by such a devastating defeat.

“It’s important that we’re aware of North Carolina’s problems,” said Davis, whose Hawkeyes ard 6-0. “It’s hard to measure exactly what it will do for us, but it will certainly help.”

It certainly helped sophomore Ray Thompson. He had 27 points against the Tar Heels and scored 32 at Iowa State -- the first Iowa player to score more than 30’against the Cyclones -- and was named Big Ten Player of the Week.

With Michigan’s overtime victory against Duke, the Big Ten was 2-0 against the Atlantic Coast Conference, 12-0 overall last weekend and 19-1 last week. Illinois has won 24 straight at home, and is 60-2 at home during the 1980s.

West Virginia Coach Gale Catlett knows a gift horse, or a good shooter, when it looks him in the mouth. So after sophomore guard Tracy Shelton scored 36 in a 97-93, double-overtime win against Pittsburgh, Catlett said, “He will definitely see the ball a few more times.”

Funny how some things change. Shelton was considered a defensive stopper on last season’s team. But some things remain the same. It was the second str’ight season the Mountaineers beat the Panthers in overtime.

Last season, the victory came after two straight West Virginia losses to start the season and began a 22-game winning streak. This season’s also came after the Mountaineers has lost two s’raight.

Billy Tubbs, who picked up the blowout torch left by former Miami football Coach Jimmy Johnson, was told after Oklahoma beat Northeastern Illinois, 146-51, that some thought he was running up the score.

Said Tubbs, “We had 11 people play 10 minutes or more. What are we going to do, play Top Dog (the team mascot)? That’s about as deep as we can go.”

Consider this: Three starters played 25 minutes or more, including one for 32. The Sooners have set the tempo for the Big Eight. At this timd last year, there were six 100-point games divided among two teams, Kansas and Oklahoma. This year, there have been 11 among six teams.

When freshman Jim Dickinson, 7 feet, entered Seton Hall in the fall, he weighed 280 pounds. Piratec Coach P.J. Carlesimo told Dickinson to shed 30 pounds or be redshirted this season.

Dickinson dropped the weight, kept the same baggy shorts and last week became the first 7-footer in Big East history to hit a three-point shot, during an 85-67 win over Iona.

In Wednesday night’s 79-74 win over Rutgers, Dickinson had eight points and three rebounds in 19 minutes. The victory evened Carlesimo’s record to 112-112 at Seton Hall.

Former Michigan Coach Bill Frieder, who was booed even at home during his years in Ann Arbor, didn’t endear himself to rest of the Big Ten recently.

In an interview with Pac 10 writers, the new Arizona State coach said, “Let me tell you, gang, San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles are a hell ff a lot better than Champaign (Ill.), West Lafayette (Ind.) and Bloomington (Ind.) and all those other horsefeather towns.”

One more reason. “My wife needed a new shopping base,” Frieder said.

Frieder’s departure from Michigan was well-docamented, coming before last season’s National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament after he told Wolverines Athletic Director Bo Schembechler that he was leaving after the season for Tempe.

Michigan went on to win the tournament under interim (now full-time) coach Steve Fisher. By the way, Arizona State is 1-3.

News of Coppin State’s victory over Maryland Tuesday night traveled slowly, at least to Hawaii. Maryland and Coppin will play in next week’s Chaminade Classic in Honolulu.

When reached by telephone Thursday, Chaminade Athletic Director Mike Vasconcellos said he hadn’t heard about the Eagles’ 70-63 upset. In fact, he barely had heard of Coppin State.

“They’re a small school from Maryland somewhere, I thinb,” said Vasconcellos.

The Eagles could play Maryland again on Christmas Eve if both teams reach the final.

From some of the remarks made after the game at Maryland’s Cole Field House, both teams hope that happens. The Terps want another crack at the Eagles, and Coppin State wants another shot at Jerrod Mustaf.

After the game, Mustaf made some disparaging remarks about Coppin State, saying, “All I thought about Coppin State was they had a girls team. I didn’t know they had a men’s team.”

Locker-room wall material.