Big Numbers

Drexel's John Rankin is putting together one heck of a senior season, the perfect way to cap off a record-setting, four-year collegiate career. Yet, in both instances, the 6-7 forward out of West Catholic High School has done so very quietly. As in overlooked and underpublicized. Rankin is averaging 23.5 points per game this season, and went into last night's game at Towson State as the nation's 18th-leading scorer. He also is averaging 8.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks, and stands a good chance of being chosen the Most Valuable Player in the East Coast Conference.

The next time the Phoenix Suns set out to squelch Scottie Pippen, they'll be wary of more than his ability to shoot a basketball. Pippen only scored eight points in the last three quarters of last night's game, but was as deadly as cobra venom to the Suns. After Chicago's forward extraordinaire singed Richard Dumas in the first quarter, the Suns threw Danny Ainge at him - with a smidgen of help from Dan Majerle - but Pippen simply passed them silly. Ainge, with the wisdom of a man who has been in many postseason campaigns, shadowed the stringy Bulls star fairly well, but Pippen ended with a sweet triple-double of 15 points, 12 boards and 12 assists, while teammates Michael Jordan and Horace Grant took the bows for their part in the Bulls' 111-108 victory.

Green Bay's Brett Favre threw touchdown passes to Antonio Freeman, Bill Schroeder and Bubba Franks as the Packers demolished the hapless Washington Redskins, 37-0, last night. Two games into the season, the Packers (2-0) have yet to yield a touchdown, and the Redskins (0-2) have yet to score one. In no way did Washington's offense look like a functioning NFL unit. The Packers battered quarterback Jeff George with their pass rush, and he passed for only 102 yards, was sacked five times, and threw a crucial third-quarter interception to Green Bay's Nate Wayne.

Want money for a new dam? Some roadside curbing? How about a glass-blowing facility on your campus? Or maybe a new boardwalk? Forget about asking town hall for the money. Instead, head straight to the Statehouse in Trenton. It's budget time. The 1997-98 state budget proposal that passed quietly out of Assembly and Senate committees yesterday may have prompted headlines for items with big numbers attached to them, like Gov. Whitman's $2.75 billion pension bond plan or the $246 million in court-mandated aid to 28 poor urban schools.

Of all the things that Alpha Company has had to struggle with since it came home from Iraq, the most pervasive may be post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Of the 126 veterans interviewed or surveyed by The Inquirer, almost half - 46 percent - said they had been treated for PTSD, most at VA hospitals and clinics in the region. Alpha's rate of PTSD is higher than that of most U.S. troops who served in Iraq or Afghanistan - partly, no doubt, as a result of its being a frontline combat unit that lost six men. Shelley M. MacDermid, a Purdue University professor who served on a Defense Department mental-health task force last year, said typical PTSD rates among returning veterans were about 14 percent.

On their way to the NCAA tournament and a meeting in the Final Four tomorrow in Detroit, Villanova and North Carolina faced four common opponents this season in Penn, Notre Dame, Rutgers, and Duke. None of those teams came out on top against the national semifinalists as the Wildcats and Tar Heels combined to go 9-0 against them. "These are two teams that have a lot of weapons, but Carolina may have more," said Rutgers coach Fred Hill, a former assistant to Jay Wright at Villanova.

After compiling impressive passing statistics most of this season, Matt Quinn's numbers in his final high school game were far from overwhelming. That was no fault of his own, because Springfield, of Montgomery County, kept the ball on the ground on 41 of its 45 plays from scrimmage in yesterday's Thanksgiving Day football matchup against visiting Lower Moreland. It would have taken a keen eye from the bleachers to see that Quinn, a quarterback and outside linebacker, was a big factor in a 28-7 win that gave the Spartans (9-3, 7-0)

On any other team, Chris Englehart probably would be a star. Washington Township, however, isn't any other team. Englehart is the starting quarterback for The Inquirer's top-ranked team, a team that has roared through its early-season opponents to post a 5-0 record. Washington Township isn't flashy, though. The Minutemen have a bona fide star - running back/defensive back Mike Koerner - but, as coach Tom Brown said, "every snap of every play of every game goes through Chris.

HOW CAN Bill Conlin write that column about "Frauds, flops and flakes" and not put Darren Daulton and Pat Burrell on the flop or fraud list? What did both do after signing big contracts? Nothing. And before? Also nothing - they might have put up big numbers but they were empty ones. With runners in scoring position, they stunk. Daulton was a good clubhouse guy, but I want a player who can hit .300 for what he was being paid. Pat is just bad to the media and the fans. Craig Hartzell, Fairless Hills

Tom Feraco is always getting on Nick Boyd to pick up the pace in practice, but the Middle Township boys' basketball coach has no problems with Boyd's effort once the games begin. All season, Boyd has provided clutch performances in big-time settings, and the pattern continued in yesterday's 52-48 victory by the Panthers over Rancocas Valley in the PrimeTime Shootout at Rider University. Boyd, a 6-foot-6 senior who is headed to Tallahassee (Fla.) Junior College, was named the game's MVP after collecting 18 points and 13 rebounds.