REBOUND ONCE A MINCR MATTER
Pipes, Posts, Pinioning Were Regular Balketball Obstacles
PR AR TAUE, SA PSOW ua

In a ‘peskatball, articke in.the ‘Carnent issue of a daeioriat #eYy.,
Paul Mooney, coach at Columbia, is quoted as saving that the elimina- ©
tion of the backboard woul¢ improve the game and restore some of the
. science it has lost in recent years,
The article also said that there no longer ‘was any place” in basket-
ball for skillful and talented little. fellows. but that the successful
teams were those manned by. extremely tall. ereyhounds who could speed up
and down the court in tireless fashion ond toss. a steady | barrage of one=-
hand shots through the hoop while on. the dead fun, ="

It stated that there had heen. a- big. change in ‘the stile of Seth t-
ball in the last five years: and that whereas a little fellow who could
pivot, fake and thread a needle with two-hand, set- shots vas a: valuable

. man to have around’ a few yerrs ago he. should niek up his mar oles: and .
devote his enerey to somé other. game in: this day and AEC.

In an attempt to provide a remedy for the current situation, the
writer quoted Mooney, And it apparently WAS ‘Prults opinion that elimin-
ation of. the haakenar'é mould bel: give the ‘Little fellow A ‘chance,

Greater Penalty for upaise ‘Shot

There is, no doubt, something to be ar in ‘favor of this revision.
Unques stionably, the eliningtion: of the backboard would place ». bigger
premium on accuracy and take RET some of the advantage the, oo
tall players now have, ©

In the high scoring games that now prevail, accurney has ‘peda more
aud more. repla: red by speed, ‘and the result produces considerable wild
passing and more then a little wild shooting.

The current idea of the-game seers to be to. from. tke ‘ball in the:
general direction of the gonl as frequently AS pos sible and hope that a
tall teammate i111 tap home a rebound: if the. basket..is missed with the
first shot, And since the mmber of rebounds. is definitely incrensed ‘vith
the increasing number of shots: taken at, the basket the game. has been re-
duced to what some of thé New Yor boys call Peortats a

Elimination of the backboard: vould curtail a big nercentage of oo
rebounds, of course, <A few shots micht’ bounce, off the rim and be tapped
home, bin a majority of the misses vould sail. out. of bounds. Thus. the
penalty for missing a shot would be much more. severe than it. is now.

01d Pros Played Without Brckboarés EE. aie Far rp
Whether anything will come of this: caimtabint is. “problematical and
beside the point at this time. The basket ba hd. rules. committee is
hardly likely to tamper much with a game that. is: becoming. so popular,
because. of its speed and heavy scoring, that: it is creating new attend-
ance records in all sections of the country. excent here in Nev England,
But stressing the point that elimination of the backboard would
reduce the number of one+hand, running shots and bring back what some
- consider the more accurate two-hand set, shot provides a Laugh,
‘ Basketball has been played without baeiboards. Years ego the
professionals played without them most of the time. And even where
- backboards were used in ‘the old days they didn't. -alvays provide much
assistance since ther were: feat from uniforn in structure, size and
resiliency, ad
Any one who ever sar one ef. those oldetine, profes sional | gemes,
played on a court that lacked backborrés, vill vouch that one‘ hand shots
were just about as common es they are in the wild scrmmble that is called
basketball today, As a matter of fret, in the old days it as considered