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KANSAS STATE 1939-40 BASKETBALL PROGRAM (7 © 9

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A Different Team Emerges *

 

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Ss ‘ 3

The originator of the old “age of mir-

acles has passed” saying must not havé:

known Kahsas State’s youthful basket-
ball coach Jack Gardner and his methods
of developing a‘Big Six basketball team.

Wildcat ‘fans will see tonight, a vastly dif- ~

ferent team than the one that began the
season not many weeks ago. When the
Gardner*squad clashes with Coach Harold
W. Browne’s elongated Nebraska Corn-
huskers in Nichols Gymnasium the K-
Staters will at long last feature a sem-
blance of the style cf play for which the
west coast is famous.
3 8
While the Nebraskans tower high above
the court and specialize in the unexpected,

Kansas State can point to a definite im- ~~”

provement since the seascn opened. -Pre-
season prognosticators predicted the Husk-

ers and the Kansas State team would: be--

fighting each other for the Big Six base-

- ment spct.

- e
Surprisingly enough, both the Wildeats

and the Cornhuskers have shown their ;
opponents they didn’t appreciate the rat-»
ing. Nebraska hadn’t read the papers to -

the effect the Iowa State Cyclones were
supposed to trim them, consequently didn’t

oblige the deflated Iowa Staters with any- .

thing but an upset victory. After beat-
ing Stanford, rated one of the nation’s
best teams, the lengthy Huskers ccoled to
the extent where Missouri’s co-champions
of the Big Six last season were able to win
going away.

e

On the other hand, Coach Gardner’s
Wildcats, before tonight’s game, are with-
out victory and are determined to use a
little of their agricultural knowledge to
“husk the Huskers.” The Kansas State
team has also played the country’s best,
lesing to Kentucky University and DePaul
University of Chicago. The Wildcats
pushed Oklahoma’s “Boy Scats” until the
last seven minutes of the game when
Coach Bruce Drake’s company pulled away
from the tired K-Staters. “No Chance

——-

for Wildcats” was the sentence on every
Kansas University fan’s lips but the Jay-
hawkers had to cash in on a free throw
in the final four-seconds of the game to
beat the stubborn Kansas State.team.

_@

The tall Nebraskans, to quote Webster
are: “high,in stature, reaching upward
to a great height relative to the diameter
of lateral extent.’% Al Randall, elongated
pivotman, stretches six feet seven inches
into the atmosphere. Dan Fitz and Sid-.
ney Held, guards, both are,in the “sub-
stratosphere” class, ‘standing six feet four
inches above the court.

* 2

Frank Tallman, a forward, is a mite at .

six feet cne inch and Harry Pithcaithley, -
the other forward, is the team’s baby. He:
is only five feet ten and one-half inches
tall.
week ranked gecond among the confer-
ence scorers. He has averaged 9.5 points
per game in the two contests thus far this
Season.
@

With Melvin Seelye and Norris Holstrom,
guards, in the “Trojan” roles, ccach Gard-.
ner has developed a defense that the two
Big Six opponents played were not able
to penetrate effectively for clear shots at

* the basket.

@

Erv Reid, veteran at center, has found
his practice range and | is due to start
blasting the backboard.” “Chris Langvardt
and Robertson are in the forward spots
and can rip the netting at the slightest
provccation. Danny Howe and Jack Hor-

acek, a pair of point-makers fro the
sophomores, can relieve handily 4t for-

ward. ied
‘ :

The Huskers and Wildcats split their”

two-game series last year and each is using
a new system this season. Coach Browne
substitutes players like Elmer Layden of
Notre Dame. An entire team of Corn-
huskers will report to the officials.

Tonight’s game will be the “battle of
the basement,” and Kansas State fans are
hoping their coach will be cast in the role
of “Jack-the-Giant Killer.’”—M. D. H.

Pithcaithley, however, early this, +.