Missouri, a solid favorite a
week ago, still holds a slender
edge for the No. 1 role, follow-
ing Thursday. night’s 76-84
double-overtime loss to Houston|°
at Houston in the final pre-meet
game for tourney. teams. —

Pressing closely behind the
Tigers in this order are. Cali-
fornia, the 1954 guest team;
Colorado, Kansas State and
Kansas. Only stunning form re-
versals will put Iowa State, Ne-
braska or winless Oklahoma
into Thursday night’s finals.

This is the most wide-open
tournament situation since 1949
when. Missouri tipped ° Okla-
homa, 44-42, for the crown.

Here is the tournament
bracket:

8:00 pv.
: 9:45 p,

maicuguorane te vs. Oklahoma.
m,—Nebraska Ys. Missouri,
a kip pe ig
p. m.—Kansas a State. -
Pp. m.—Kansas Slate v vs. California.
s ssouri,. ranked among the
nation’s top ten, in both the
latest © P. and U. P. polls, found
itself a notch closer to the on-
rushing field after the loss at|
Houston. Normally, there “would|
be scant significance in a tight
double-overtime defeat. But the} j
Cougars \ were playing their si

game in seven days and cot id fot

manage no beter than seventh
place in the all-College meet at
Oklahoma City, where they
tumbled before sophomoric O.
Gauge, 65-72 and Wichita, 87-91,
before turning on Oklahoma A.
and M., 57-48.
Starters Bear irae

Furthermore, the Bengals got
all but two of their points out
of the starting lineup, They lost
three men on fouls. This re-
flects M. U.’s only apparant
weakness at this writing, lack
of proven reserve power. Be-
cause of the rugged schedule,
Coach Sparky Stalcup has_ not
been able to temper his second-
liner under fire. Only eight men
played in the victories over
Iowa .and Indiana. And none
could fill the scoring breach at
Houston wherr Med Park andjc
Beb Reiter were waived out on
teils. Lloyd Elmore, veteran
gard, who could help ‘this situa-
tion, is out of action with a knee}!
injury.

Yet, the Tigers retain their No. |.

1 rating over the field because
of their proven varsity, without

Joe Powell, to’a starting berth.

Since Powell and Smith took
over as regular front-liners, K-
State has surged to three con-!
secutive victories over Wyom-}
ing, Washington and Indiana.
Most significant was the: 91-74
thrashing of the defending Big
Ten champions. The 17-point
spread was fourteen greater
than Missouri was able'to whip
Indiana on its home court. And,
the 70-50 sack of Wyoming, sixth-|
place team in the all-College, is|
the worst on the Cowboys’ reer}
ord to date:

K-State will meet California at
9:45 m. Tuesday in what
should be the finest of four first-
round matches. The: Wildcats
are seeking their fourth cham-
pionship, having won.the meet}
more than any other squad, —

 K. U. Still Unbeaten. —

Kansas will bring in the only
unbeaten record among tourna-
ment teams. Even aE. its

entire 4-0 level has.
gableved. on its” friendly
has started
each game
ny as grat

ayhawks ha ave faced is
Tulsa, which they subdued, 73-66.
The Hurricane placed fourth in
the all-College, losing the third-
place play-off, 68-73, to O. C. U.,
in two overtimes.

The .defending tourney cham-
pions own one returning all-con-
ference selectee, Guard Dallas
Dobbs, plus fine bench strength.
Dobbs is averaging 18.7 points,
third-best on the pre-meet roles.

O. U.’s Lester Lane, one ofa
handful of seniors who will be
playing their fourth tournament,
will lead the individual scoring}.
pack into action on a glistening
24.5 average compiled through}
four games. He is defending}
tourney point king. |

Here are the top fifteen yet
will go to the post:
Lester Lane, g,, OK...

Duncan, ¢, 1)-S
Dallas Dobbs, zi) Kar
B. Haldorson, c, Colo.
Rex Ekwall, af Neb...

. Thomp fe Tok:
Norm Stewart, f, Mo.

a ee C, Mo..... 6 2
. Friend — . Calif

 

Lyn Hart, f, ‘Ok. ney
Gene Elstun, ‘f, Kas. 4 16 20
(*Did not play against Alabama).

 

 

@eubt the finest starting five in}.

thw. conference, and their 4-2
level against the most wicked
slate any sournarnent team has}
played.
California ga ined stature|
during the past week by twice!
“vanquishing Colorado, defend-|
ing Big Seven co-champion, and)
a pre-season favorite close to}
Missouri, then sweeping a double-|
header ‘from previously-unde-}
feated Ohio State. All four games
were played on the Bears’ home
evurt at Berkeley, but. Pete]
-Newell’s club opened with road
triumphs over Oregon State and