PAGE FOUR
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 6, 1951
Along the JAYHAWKER trail
By BOB NELSON Daily Kansan Assistant Sports Editor
A glance at Kansas' 11-5 season record reveals that the Jayhawkers have certainly been far from impressive this year—much less impressive than its won and lost mark would seem to indicate. Coach Allen's Jayhawkers have played seven major powers (St. John's, Kentucky, Minnesota, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Northwestern, and Oklahoma A. and M.) and have won only the St. John's game by one point and downed the Oklahoma Sooners by six points. The remaining victories have been over average to weak opponents.
Granted last year Kansas got off to a slow start winning only four of its first 10 games but finished strong winning 10 of its last 15 to rank as one of the nation's top teams. This style of season play has been the general pattern with Kansas basketball teams through the years with them finishing strong down the home stretch for conference and national honors. This was certainly the case last year.
Although Kansas is listed 17th in this week's United Press cage poll (selected before last night's game with Oklahoma A. and M.), Coach "Phog" Allen's erratic Jayhawkers lost considerable national prestige over the weekend by falling apart in the second half to lose the Northwestern and Oklahoma Aggie games.
And this ERRATIC TEAM is the same Kansas club that rated as high as third in the national collegiate picture before the season opener here with Creighton. We were rated on even terms or better than such powerhouses as Kentucky, who rolled past the Jayhawkers 68 to 39, Indiana, Oklahoma A. and M., and Kansas State, but you'd never know that now from looking at the records.
With four last year's starters returning this year (Claude Houchin the only loss—but an important one), things looked rosy, in fact; things looked so rosy that some fans even thought in terms of tickets for the N.C.A.A. finals in Minneapolis in March. Certainly this sophomoric club with a year's experience behind it was expected to hold its own with the best of them.
The Allenmen can thank their lucky stars that these games were non-conference battles and didn't eliminate them from the Big Seven title race. With the way the Kansas State Wildcats keep rolling along (6-0) in conference play, another conference loss will just about eliminate the Jayhawkers from title contention.
Several things seem to have been overlooked in pre-season ratings. One, the loss of Houchin certainly has hurt more than most persons had expected and clearly indicates how the big workhorse guard, now with the Phillips 66 Oilers, cleared the boards and added team fire and hustle.
Two, last year's reserves, big Gene "Pedro" Petersen, Harold England, and Guy Mabry are being missed more than has been realized and
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Three, this year's club seems to have erratic tendencies and wrecks itself for minutes at a time as happened during the second halves of the Northwestern and Oklahoma A. and M. games. They just can't put together two halves and play a full 40 minutes when the chips are down in the important ones.
haven't been replaced by adequate bench strength this year, especially in the scoring department.
Four, this year's club is slow footed and considered one of the poorest passing teams Allen has ever coached—something that few realized when the season started.
Five, the Jayhawkers lack the over-all fire and fight that must be present to rank a great team with the nation's best. The Jayhawkers just aren't aggressive enough off the boards and in the middle of the court. Granted, at times they show "real fire" as indicated during the final four minutes of the first half last night when they came from behind 22 to 25 to take a 28 to 25 lead at halftime, only to fade badly in the final 20 minutes. But overall, the team thus far just can't be considered a great competitive club—although several players seem to give their best efforts every minute they are in the game.
Much better scoring balance must be developed than has been shown if Kansas is to finish as a definite threat to Kansas State in the conference race. This fact certainly was evident in losses to Northwestern and Oklahoma A. A. and M.
Six. K. U. still banks too much on individual performance and not enough on over-all team play. It seems when you choke off the Jayhawkers' scoring sensation, Clyde Lovellette, you stop the entire Kansas offense, or at least restrict it so much that the opposition can easily outscore the other four K. U. players.
'Gabby' Street Dies In Joplin
Joplin, Mo., Feb. 6—(U.P.)—Chardt G. "Ebbay" Street, one of baseball's all-time greats, died at 6 a.m. today in a hospital here. He had been ill since late January.
The 68-year old former manager of the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns had been in a critical condition for several days. He entered the hospital Jan. 24, suffering from exhaustion, and then a heart ailment developed.
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WOLFSON'S 743 Mass.
THEY'RE both good basketball players. But if we were to judge them the way we judge
telephone equipment, we'd take the small one.
You see, telephone equipment occupies valuable space, uses costly materials. Paring down its size helps keep down the cost of telephone service.
Take voice amplifiers, for example. Telephone engineers put the squeeze
on size, came up with a new small type. When 600 of these new amplifiers are mounted on a frame two feet wide and eleven feet high, they do a job which once required a roomful of equipment. Size was cut—but not performance!
This is one of many cases where the Bell System has made big things small to help keep the cost of telephone service low.
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