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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, December 11, 1968
Colorado's Smith tallest ever in Big Eight
(This is the ninth in a series of Kansan reports on Big Eight basketball for the 1968-69 season.)
Equipped with 7-2 Ron Smith, the tallest player ever to step on the court in the history of the Big Eight, Colorado basketball coach Russell (Sox) Walseth hopes to win a few more of the close games and maybe a piece of the conference title.
Smith is a heralded sophomore from Pueblo who scored almost 20 points a game for the freshman team last year. The close games that Walseth is concerned with involved Colorado playing in 12 games which were decided by four or fewer points. CU only came out on top in four of them.
Walseth is entering his 13th season as the head coach of the Buffalooes. Last year's team posted a 9-16 overall record and tied for seventh with a 3-11 mark. He has six lettermen returning. They are: Mike Coleman (6-4), Bruce Hyink (6-10), Ted Efert (6-8), Lloyd Hutchinson (6-4), Mickey Kern (5-11) and Gorden Tope (5-11).
Size appears to be the mose cheerful factor of the 1968-69 edition of Walseth's team. Along with Smith, he has the 6-10 Hyink and David Lee, 6-7 sophomore Cliff Meely, Eefert at 6-8
and three others at 6-6. Overall Colorado averages 6·5/4 per man which ties them for the tallest in the conference with Kansas. If the five tallest are on the court they would average a whipping 6-10, nearly three inches over the conference average.
Walseth feels that there will be definitely more board strength and muscle this year than in previous ones. Smith and Meely should add the scoring punch on the front line that was absent a year ago.
Lacking a proven scoring potential seems to be Walseth's main problem. Only three of the 16 listed on the roster are seniors. The leading returning scorer is Coleman who averaged seven points last year. Only 25 per cent of CU's offense returns. This is low in the Big Eight, the average being 50 per cent back.
Along with the two big firstyear men, Smith and Meely, is Dudley Mitchell, a 6-3 sophomore guard. He is a highly regarded junior college transfer who has good ball control and scoring ability.
"We could do much better this year if our kids come through," Walseth said. "But, I can't remember a season when we started out with so little experience.
"Of course experience is only as good as the man who has it,"
Pro officials are sidelined
NEW YORK (UPI)—Six football officials who deprived the Los Angeles Rams of a down in the last minute of a crucial National Football League game with the Chicago Bears Sunday have been told they will sit out the one remaining week of the season-plus any post-season games.
Pro football commissioner Pete Rozelle barred the six from further action in a statement Monday that said "officials erred in not permitting Los Angeles one more down near the end of the game."
A penalty against Los Angeles on the first down of its final series nullified an incomplete pass play. Following three additional incomplete passes, Rozelle said, "the ball was turned over to Chicago, thus depriving Los Angeles of a fourth down play to which it was entitled."
Rams coach George Allen viewed films of the game in Los
Angeles Monday and agreed his team should gave gotten another down, but he had nothing to say for publication. Public criticism of game officials is against NFL rules, and Washington coach Otto Graham recently was fined $2,500 by Rozelle for saying "the officials stole the game from us."
Los Angeles was on its own 47-yard line, with five seconds left in the game, when the ball was given to Chicago after the penalty and three incomplete passes. It had 31 yards to go for a first down but could have had one more chance to throw a "bomb" or attempt a field goal.
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Walseth continues. "Maybe this year we have one or two sophomores who will give us as much as some experienced players have in the past.
"We lost one heek of a lot of scoring punch in Pat Frink (18:9) and Chuck Williams (18)
and I don't know where we will replace that," Walset said. "Smith and Meely are good college prospects, but they need time to develop and we just don't have that time with this schedule of ours."
He sees a balanced race with
Kansas tabbed as the favorite, but being pressed by Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Nebraska. "All the teams should be improved from top to bottom," the CU coach said. "I just hope we have something to say about it."
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