COLLEGE BASKETBALL : Knight Turns to New Prize Freshman

If 10th-ranked and unbeaten Indiana is going to wind up at the NCAA tournament, it clearly will depend on how well the seven Hoosier freshmen play. There used to be one more, but that was before Lawrence Funderburke packed his bags and quit.

Funderburke, who told friends he was thinking about leaving since the beginning of December before finally bolting two weeks ago, was thrown out of practice by Coach Bob Knight and hasn’t been seen again in Bloomington. If Funderburke was Indiana’s brightest young star, that label now applies to an 18-year-old left-handed jump-shooter from Evansville named Calbert Cheaney.

Funderburke?

“I’m not sure where he’s at right now,” said Cheaney (pronounced Chaney), who left it unclear whether he was speaking of the physical or metaphysical Funderburke. “We’re not worried about him.”

Cheaney may be young (he won’t be 19 until July), he may be a freshman, but he isn’t inexperienced in matters of the mind, which always comes in handy when you are coached by Knight. Cheaney said he would react differently than Funderburke if he were to be tossed out of practice.

“I’d just take it in stride, just come back the next day and work hard,” Cheaney said.

The 6-foot-6 199-pound Cheaney said that getting along with Knight really isn’t that difficult, but even if it was, he may have an advantage over the other first-year Hoosiers.

“I came in thinking that, you know, my coach got on me a lot in high school and that helps me with my mentality a lot here,” Cheaney said of his Evansville Harrison High School coach, Jerrill Vandeventer.

“I like to work hard and that’s what Coach Knight likes,” Cheaney said. “He wants as much effort as you can give out of what you have. He’s, well, demanding. You know, he wants to get whatever potential out of you as he possibly can. That’s all he’s looking for.

“You know, he’ll yell at you a lot, but you’ve got to listen to why he yelled at you. Try to correct it. That’s all he wants from you, an honest effort.”

Cheaney is the team’s leading scorer at 18.1 and has scored at least 20 points four times, including a 22-point game in a victory at Texas El Paso. Knight keeps juggling his players--eight starting lineups in the last nine games--but Cheaney has been a constant.

In the meantime, he tries to acclimate himself to the college life. Daily two-hour practices are normal, but developing good study habits has been more difficult for Cheaney, who is interested in the fields of business administration and criminal justice.

“You can’t take anything for granted in college,” Cheaney said. “Unfortunately, if you do, you become ineligible.”

On second thought, maybe there is something you can take for granted, at least at Indiana: Bobby Knight’s hands-on coaching tactics. Cheaney believes he is up to the task.

“You have to be very strong in the head,” Cheaney said. “He will come out and he could mess with you the whole damn practice. So you just can’t let that bother you. You’ve just got to come out and just keep playing and correct it and try to get back on his good side.”

Working against Indiana is the fact that the Big Ten is loaded, with Michigan, Illinois and Iowa having more experienced talent. So chances are the Hoosiers are going to be more of a threat in the future than this season. However, Cheaney said Knight has told them not to be so sure.

“Coach stresses that he wants us to play like juniors and seniors,” Cheaney said. “The freshmen issue is out. Come tournament time, he doesn’t want any excuses, freshmen or no freshmen. He doesn’t care.”

House calls: At 8-1 Louisville, they are doing things to recall the Doctors of Dunk, the 1980 NCAA championship team led by Darrell Griffith, old Dr. Dunkenstein himself. The 1980 Cardinals had 84 dunks, 40 by Griffith.

This season, the sons of the Doctors of Dunk have already accumulated 55 dunks in just nine games--14 of them by Jerome Harmon--and 18 in Louisville’s last two games, against New Mexico and Austin Peay.

Other college teams may have more slams, but they cannot be traced to the same family tree as the Cardinals.

Quote of the Week: From Oklahoma’s William Davis, after scoring 33 points as the Sooners attempted 109 shots, totaled 88 points in the second half, won their 35th consecutive home game and rolled to a 142-109 victory over James Madison--”It was a fun 33.”

Circle Dec. 14, 1990: On Dec. 12, 1988, Syracuse’s Derrick Coleman was involved in a brawl and later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. On Dec. 13, 1989, Coleman got into a fight with Syracuse football captain Fred DeRiggi outside a local bar.

Payton Place: As Oregon State’s Gary Payton continues to excel at point guard, where he may be the best in the country, the rave notices keep coming in. Payton, who had 29 points with six assists in a 20-point rout of Boston University this week, scored 15 of the Beavers’ first 22 points.

Boston University Coach Mike Jarvis said he wasn’t all that shocked by Payton’s performance. “He’s really one of the great players,” Jarvis said. “Really great players don’t do things to surprise you, they just confirm their excellence.”

When Jim Valvano’s career is over, what will be the verdict? An NCAA title in 1983 and NCAA probation in 1989? Maybe, but one of the most enduring facets of Valvano’s career might be the talent of his backcourt players.

This year’s North Carolina State tandem of Chris (Fire) Corchiani and Rodney (Ice) Monroe is the latest in a line of talented guards that Valvano has had with the Wolfpack and at Iona. Glenn Vickers and Keith Hamilton played for Valvano as Gaels and, while he’s been at North Carolina State, Valvano has coached Dereck Whittenburg, Sidney Lowe, Spud Webb and Nate McMillan.

“I told these two guys that if they came to State and played together, Corchiani and Monroe could become one of the best pairs in the country,” Valvano said. “I think they’re two special players.”

Said Coach P.J. Carlesimo of Seton Hall, who will play North Carolina State for the title of the Holiday Festival tournament tonight in New York: “Their backcourt is already one of the best in the country.”

College Basketball Notes

The news is not so good at Michigan State, where injuries have hurt the Spartans with the Big Ten race coming right up. Starting center Mike Peplowski (6-10 redshirt freshman) will miss three to five weeks after bone chips and loose cartilage were removed from a troublesome knee during arthroscopic surgery. Peplowski had arthroscopic surgery on the same knee last summer and underwent reconstructive surgery before his senior year in high school. Peplowski is the second Spartan starter to go out with an injury this week. Junior guard Steve Smith will miss at least three weeks. He fractured a finger last Saturday. . . . Getting to know you--There are 14 new players on the San Jose State basketball team this season. . . . DePaul, which plays UCLA at Pauley Pavilion Feb. 3, is 4-7 after breaking its five-game losing streak with a victory over Marquette. At 3-7, the Blue Demons of Coach Joey Meyer were off to their worst start since 1970-71 when the team captain was . . . Joey Meyer.