Tribute to Oklahoma and Drake

Miller’s knee is on the mend. A month. ‘ago he could hardly walk.
He practiced for the first time about two weeks ago, and now he is
far enough along to make all: trips. He may be ready to take a
leading part within two weeks.

_ “Oklahoma is a fine team and Bruce Drake is a fine
young coach,” Dr. Allen said following the Sooner victory

They, may be beaten, but I don’t know who ‘can keep them

from winning the championship.”

Drake refuses to recognize his squad as the favorite, but he con-
fesses that it is a good team and better than the December record
indicates. The Sooners broke even with an able Colorado squad in
Boulder. After closing the series on a Saturday night, the squad
drove. back to. Norman for two with Arkansas the following Monday
and Tuesday.

“It was. too much.for us,” Bruce explained, “it taught me some-
thing about schedule making. In addition to most of the boys being
tired, we didn’t have our full strength and haven’t had all season.”

There is an interesting story behind the story of Drake’s
victory over K. U. in his debut as a Big Six conference
coach. Dr. F..C. Allen has never beaten a team with which
Drake was connected as player or coach.

K. U. and O. U. did not~meet in 1927, Drake’s sophomore year| >
as.a player under Hugh McDermott. However, he sparked the
Sooners to wins by 45 to 19 and 30 to. 21 in 1928. In 1929, with
Drake again playing an all-conference. role, the Sooners won, 27 topes |e-
after trailing 11 to 2 early in the game. In the second game that
season the Sooners won, 40 to 25. :

Basketball Interest Runs High

The conference enjoyed a successful football season and basket-
ball interest is running high because there is not an. outstanding
favorite. Basketball interest in general has been on the upgrade for
a number of years and Dr. Allen explains it as follows:

Basketball is a game played in the opem and easy to under-
stand. In the last 10 years ‘most of the large field houses and audi-
toriums have been built. An understanding interest has been de-
veloped and the rules have been kept ‘simple.

The caliber of play is better because the players are
taught more and taught better. Athletic journals and
- periodicals give coaches information formerly available
only in an occasional book. Coaching schools and clinics
— coaches to exchange ideas and /keep abreast of the
imes.

In Dr. Allen’s opinion there is a big difference between high
school and:college and university basketball. He believes a difference
in interpretation of the rules, making university play more rugged
and demanding so much more aggressiveness, that high school boys
find it almost a different’ game.
| To be a good university player, the boy must have tremendously |1
aggressive power. Basketball is being footballized, he says, and|:
football basketballized, He believes a 12-foot basket, instead of the
present 10-foot goal, would eliminate much of the contact of the!
modern game.