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R. Telander wrote a SI article about '78 Bookstore... by Scoop80

He lived w/ some guys in Morrissey who had a team called "PLO Bus Tours." Between FB winning a NC, MBB going to F4, and national attention to Bookstore, it was a heady time to be a soph.

I've included the best link I could find to that article, “Look Out for the Manhole Cover”. IIRC, that article led to the NCAA decreeing that that varsity hoopsters w/ eligibility couldn't play in Bookstore b/c it constituted additional practice time.

I recall Jeff Carpenter taking over a Bookstore semi game that year--he scored like 9 or 10 baskets in a 21 basket game. After making critical comments about Digger's substitution patterns to a Chicago paper (I think after OT loss to DePaul), Carpenter saw his playing time plummet. Digger was in the crowd for that semi, and Carpenter had a point to prove.

2 asides: 1) You were correct about Strapamasquon & the Combat Wombats--it referred to a rumored recreational activity of Tripucka's; 2) Rich Branning (a classmate of mine) never played in Bookstore--he apparently took an annual off-season break from BB.

Here's a link to a Letter from Publisher about Telander article:

https://vault.si.com/vault/1978/05/15/letter-from-the-publisher

EDIT: Tracy Jackson’s team was called The Jackson 5. A guy who lived next door to me that year went to the same HS in MD with Jackson and put that team together