The Purple Gang

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Evansville, Ind., is a quiet community of 141,543 on the Ohio River with all sorts of distinction. It is known as the "Home of Pablum" for its Mead Johnson cereal plant, and as the "Barbecue Capital of the U.S." for its hickory trees, which furnish lumber for barbecue fires. It is also the home of Evansville College, a Methodist institution (enrollment: 2,542) that prides itself on the Christian virtues. Like hospitality. When visiting basketball teams arrive, they get a big hello: a tour of the Museum of Arts and Science, a hearty steak dinner in the campus dining room. Then they are gently led off to Municipal Stadium--for the execution.

Red Is for Fun. As far as the N.C.A.A. is concerned, Evansville is a "small" college. But that is only a technicality. The N.C.A.A. College Division champion for three out of the past six years (no other school has ever won the title more than once), Evansville won 26 games, lost only three last season--beating such powers as Purdue and Arizona in the process.

This year, Evansville's Purple Aces are acting more like the Purple Gang--knocking off Iowa, Northwestern, Notre Dame, George Washington and Louisiana State. On the night after Christmas, while 12,203 fans screamed themselves hoarse and a platoon of cheerleaders bounded about the court, Evansville trampled a good Massachusetts team, 113-82. Last week, with victories over South Dakota State (76-63) and South Dakota (98-71), the Aces ran their streak to eight straight, turned the small-college rankings race into a walkover--collecting all but one of the votes for the No. 1 spot.

All of which is a mite embarrassing to Coach Arad McCutchan, 52. Arad is an odd name ("My great-grandfather picked it out of the Bible. It means 'a wild ass' "), and McCutchan is an odd coach. A balding, soft-spoken math teacher, he has a notion that the game ought to be played for fun. He wears flaming red socks ("for luck"), dresses the Purple Aces in bright orange road uniforms and warmup robes of yellow, red and green because "I like some color, and purple is hard to see." McCutchan limits his own recruiting to the environs of Evansville (eleven players are Indianians), refuses to play against "coaches who don't enjoy the game."

Trying to Be Gracious. It's easy to enjoy the game when you have horses like McCutchan's. Forward Jerry Sloan turned down a $14,000 offer from the Baltimore Bullets to play one more year of college ball. Larry Humes, a 6-ft. 4-in. forward, is averaging 32.8 points a game, Center Herb Williams is only 6 ft. 3 in., but he can leap 11 ft. 4 in. Northwestern was fresh from a big victory over Kansas when it stopped by Evansville for a "breather." Guard Sam Watkins scored 26 points and Evansville won, 83-75. Notre Dame's Fighting Irish had a 3-in.-per-man advantage in the front court. Final score: Evans ville 89, Notre Dame 82.

The more little Evansville wins, the harder McCutchan has to hunt for Goliaths to beat. So he is doing his bit to be gracious. Leading Louisiana State by 30 points, he benched Forward Humes, who had scored 45 points, needed two more to tie a school record. The final score was only 93-73, but L.S.U. Coach Jay McCreary was not fooled. "Evansville," he sighed, "is head and shoulders above anyone we've played this year."

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