~ 19
Art or Acrobatics?

reer W, W, Fox, Jr. a oe

There is a hitand run. rage in basketball at the moment. and it

'. isn't confined to high schools. The college teams are at it and the. thrill
ef seeing a team go through a thinking, passing and running block process

in order to get a good shot at the basket is gone with the windy offense

' that prevails in all precincts today. ' xis
- “In the hit and run game the important thing'is to hit.. Anybody can
run, but to be able to throw that basketball into the hoop with one hand
while taking off on a dive into the fourth row of the bleachers is either
art or acrobatics. I'm not sure just yet which it is. bau |
If the coaches are deliberately teaching the boys to shoot one-handed
it must be art. It the boys are doing it because they need the other hand
for ballast aiid ‘balance, it is acrobatics: 7 eocl-" .hiee
' The scores of the games played in Madison Square Garden are interest-
ing because they represent the entire nation. These scores are higher this
year than ever before. The shooters are not waiting until they see the
slipnots in the net cord around the little iron doughnut, they are firing
at will, ms PE oven’ ered Ling oct
The secret of success in this tyne of offense seems to be divided
into two styles. There is the soft shot artist who hones to make the basket
but mekes certain that the ball will not rebound mich. Then there is the
backboard angle artist who can throw the ball as accuratcly as a good
billard player can nlay bank shots, These shots are usually made going away.
The most important thing about the one-handed shot is that it can
hardly be prevented. The soft one can, but not the one that whistles
through the basket as it comes off the glass. Only a body block can stop
this one and irasmmch as a defensive man has no more priviloges than a
wooden Inlian, body blocks are costly little diversicas,
Basketball certainly isn't right just now and something wili have
tobe done about it. We have gone from famine to feast in the field goal
flinging. This flooie flooie joy will eventually flop.

OR RR ek OR RF

After the comtry-wide tours of the Southern California and Oklahoma
A. end M, basketball teams in which they won the great majority of their
games, Everett 3B, Morris, the well knowm basketball authority and critic
of New York, says:
"Whon a college basketball team returns from a country-wide tour with
a string of victories over major foes, it is evident that not only is that
particular squad exceptionally skilled and well manned, but that playing
conditions and rules interpretations are becoming more standardized.
"It requires poise to adjust to strange courts, hostile crowds and
different types of officiating.
. "It takes manpower to stand up under punsihment of frequent games
intersnersed with long train rides, sci
"But all of these attributes would avail little if courts and equip-
ment were not pretty much the same in all major hoop centers, and if
officiating was not gradually losing some of its provincialism,"