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PAGE 14 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1981 Hawks ready to give foes Fitz Chronicle Sports Editor As he sat fighting a cold in the lounge of the WLU complex Monday afternoon, visions of tonight‘s basketball game in Windâ€" sor danced in coach Don Smith‘s head. And despite Hawks measly 14 wonâ€"loss record, the visions constituted anything but a nightmare. _ _ â€" Naturally going in against Lancers will be no easy task, espeâ€" cially in the Border City where few visitors escape with a vicâ€" tory, but Smith has reason to believe dawn is coming in Hawks topsyâ€"turvy season. And that reason is Bob Fitzgerald, an allâ€"star and league‘s third leading scorer last season who will suit up tonight for the first time in regular season play. o s Not offering alibis for his club‘s erratic efforts in the first half of this campaign, Smith indicated Monday Fitzgerald‘s loss due to torn ankle ligaments shortly after Christmas has been an ‘imâ€" measurable* one for his inexperienced unit. ‘"When he‘s in the game it just changes the whole complexion, it greatly improves the quickness on our team,"‘ said Smith, adâ€" ding that without Fitzgerald in the lineup, the major reason for Hawks® horrific outings in contests against teams like McMaster and Waterloo was a mechanical tightness, a lack of poise due to inexperience. ‘"He knows how to do everything, he can rebound, score, he‘ll make mistakes ballhandling but his value as a ballhandler far outweighs his mistakes,"" said Smith. (Assistant coach) Jim Saddler was just saying last week in practice that adding Fitzâ€" gerald to the lineup is like taking a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off and putting the head back on one chicken to lead the way. And take for example, without him, a team might put their best defensive player on our second best offensive player. Now with Fitzgerald there, they‘ll have to adjust to him and that By Rick Campbell Smith was specifically referring to individuals like Leon Arendse and Paul Flack., who along with Tim Brennan are the only players on Hawks besides Fitzgerald with university exâ€" perience. While the talents of Arendse and Flack have been wellâ€" documented in the past, it‘s obvious even they are pressing themselves into ineffectual performances in attempting to asâ€" sume the leadership reins.â€" Hawks, who had a reasonably impressive preâ€"Christmas exhiâ€" bition slate, found themselves in a hole to start the season against Brock Jan. 6 when Fitzgerald injured his ankle in a drill, and veteran guard Pat Morris left the club apparently in disaâ€" greement over the rotating guard strategy Smith indicated he would utilize. will hopefully take some of the pressure off our _oth_er scorers. ‘‘You take a guy like Paul, he‘s obviously trying too hard,." said Smith. "Instead of doing thin§s the easfy way, he‘s trying to come up with the super plays, and that‘s affecting hi§ game.". Laurier managed to dump Brock handily with an inspired seâ€" cond half effort, but a subsequent loss to Guelph, followed by embarrassing efforts aganst Mac and Waterloo left a bad taste Smith hopes quickly to eliminate. Hawks appear to be heading in that direction with an encouraginf performance against Western last Tuesday, albeit in a losing effort. ‘‘"Our goal for the rest of the season is to recover from the doldrums we‘ve been in since Christmas, to regroup and start playing to our potential,"" said the optimistic Smith. ‘"And you look around our league, there isn‘t anybody anyone couldn‘t beat on a given night." Looking at league charts, that indeed appears to be the case, and now it‘s up to Smith‘s Hawks, with Bob Fitzgerald in their lineup, to prove their coach‘s point. PAUL FLACK ... trying too hard