Big Seven Meet Opens Tonight

KU, K-State Rated Top Entries —

BY DICK SNIDER
Daily Capital Sports Editor

ANSAS CITY, MO. — Fa-

-vorites. are as scarce as
Orange Bowl tickets as the
Big Seven’s basketball squads,
plus guest team Washington,
prepare to tip off the eighth
annual pre-season tournament

tonight in Municipal Audi-

torium.

With no outstanding favor-
ite in the field, the affair is
rated wide open from the first
whistle, which sends Kansas,
the defending conference king,
against Colorado at 8 p. m.
Missouri meets Iowa State in
the 9:45 second half of the
opening doubleheader. \

The other four tourney e
tries get into the millin
day night, with lower br Piet
first-round games, They match
Kansas State and Nebraska at
8 p. m., and Oklahoma and
Washington at 9:45.

Semifinals are scheduled ,

Tuesday night,- and finals
Wednesday. Consolation games
‘will be played in afternoon
doubleheaders starting Mon-
day..

By force of habit, Kansas and
Kansas State will shoulder the
favorites burden, but it’s

lighter than in any previous
league tournament.

However, these Sunflower

State squads have won four of
the seven previous meets, and
are shaky picks to play in the
finals again this time. .KU
won it all only once—in 1951
—hbut has been a finalist on
three other o¢casions. K-State

1949 and last

ou’re superstitious, your

should be Kansas,

nce no champion ever has
repeated.

K-State will pace the best

record into the tournament, a

4-1 mark that includes single

victories over Denver and Wy- -
oming, a double triumph over —

Washington, and a whopping
92-66 loss to defending cham-
pion Indiana.

Kansas stands at 1-2 on the
year, having flogged Tulsa af-
ter dropping two games to Tu-
lane and Louisiana State on a
season-opening southern tour.

Ony one other team, Iowa

State, will go into the tourna-

 

“TEx WINTER
« » + In. tourney debut ~

ment with a record on the
‘sunny side of .500. The Cy-
clones have won three and lost
‘one. Missouri is all even at 2-2,

and the rest of the oe lag
behind.

Oklahoma and Kansas have
won only one game apiece, and
Colorado. and Washington are

winless. The Buffs have dropped .

five in a row, the Huskies from
the Pacific Coast’ conference
four straight—two each to
Stanford and Kansas State.
Nebraska, with a 2-4 record,
generally is given the best

chance to unseat the title-hog-°

ging Sunflower squads. The
Huskers have shown promise,
and will field a veteran squad

headed by. 6-7 center Bill John-

son and guard Fred Seger.
Oklahoma, which lost all
three tourney games it played
here last year, also will bear
watching. The Sooners also will
start a veteran five topped by
little Les: Lane, southpaw Ron
Blue and center Bob Waller.
However, OU’s customary
lack of height. again is a prob-

lem. Waller is the tallest Sooner —

at 6-6 ,and the replacement
line is thin.
Misouri has a big one in

Bob Reiter, 6-8 center, and a

promising ‘squad. The Tigers,
like Oklahoma and Nebraska,
could figure in the title pic- |
ture.

KU. and K-State, despite’
pressing. problems, still rate |
as the best’ bets, however.
Kansas coach Phog Allen has
back towering center B. H.
Born and forwards Al Kelley
and Harold Patterson from last
season’s conference champs and
NCAA runners-up. But Allen
still is looking for guards to

‘match the all-round skill of

graduate Gil Reich and Dean
Kelley.

State, which lost Dick Knost- |
man by graduation and 6-8 —
Gary Bergen on a transfer to |

Utah, has a tender spot at cen- |
‘ter, and has been experiment-

ing with 6-11 Jerry Jung and
a couple of 6-7 hopefuls, Roland
Craft and sophomore Jim

‘Frary.

New "K-State coach Tex Win-
ter is expected to open with

. Craft.

‘Tourney officials say plenty
of tickets for the first two |
nights of action remain. They’re

| priced at $1, $2, and $3, and are

available at the auditorium.