Wednesday, December 4, 1968
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
9
Missouri basketball coach sees long season ahead
By DICK DEAN
Kansan Sports Writer
In keeping with the general pessimism expressed by Big Eight basketball coaches, Norm Stewart, head coach at Missouri says he expects to view this year's scramble "from the bottom up."
Missouri opened its season successfully Saturday by slipping by Arkansas 60-59. Tomorrow they travel to Evanston, Ill. to meet Northwestern.
Stewart, who is entering his second year as the Tiger head coach, compiled a 10-16 wont-lost mark last year. His Tigers finished sixth in the Big Eight conference with a 5-9 record.
Stewart hopes to improve on last year's record this year and should find things a little easier with six returning lettermen. Jim Chapman (6-6), Theo Franks (6-3), Pete Helmbock (6-5), Chuck Kundert (6-6), Tom
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Theoenes (6-5) and Don Tomlinson (6-4).
Stewart says any team strength that he has rests with returning forward, 6-4 Tomlinson.
"He could be of all-conference caliber this year." Tomlinson said. Tomlinson broke the Missouri sophomore scoring record last year, hitting 394 points for a 15.2 average.
MU's other returning starter is 6-3 junior guard Pete Helmbock. He averaged a little over five points a game for the 1967-68 season and proved to be a valuable rebounder.
(Fourth in a series)
The real trouble spot for Missouri is lack of experience and depth. Starting positions are certain for Helmckb and Tomlinson while the others are undecided.
Junior college transfers Sam Tucker (an all-American juco player), Dave Pike and service returnee Doug Johnson are favorites for the starting position. The 5-10 Pike is the shortest player on any conference team roster.
Once again the team will lack depth in the middle. Scoring could also be a problem, with the loss of Gene Jones (18.7) and Tom Johnson (14.0). If this wasn't enough, Tomlinson has had trouble with his knees. Occasionally the trouble flares up and if not corrected, could cause him to miss games and practice sessions.
Very little help is expected from upcoming freshmen. Top men are center Charles Payne (6-7), forwards Mark Frederickson (6-3) and Bob Johnson (6-5), and guards Bob Boston (6-3) and Barry Maurer (6-0).
Some help, however, is expected from the juco transfers. Pike is an all-American juco transfer from Crowder Junior College in Neosho, Mo. while Tucker played his junior college ball at Dodge City Junior College in Dodge City.
Evaluating his own team, Stewart says, "We have problems. We have less experience than we did last season, but hope to start off with the same attitude we took last year—that we can win some games and that we can be competitive."
"We should be better in ball.
handling, but we expect and must have better overall execution," he said. "We're young, so eliminating the little mistakes will be hard."
"We think Pike will give us the quality we need in a guard and we know he can score and play Big Eight basketball." Stewart said.
The statistical chart shows Missouri losing seven lettermen, tied with Kansas State for most lost by a team, and losing 62.6 per cent of its offense. The average loss of offense in the conference is 48.9 per cent.
Missouri's average height is 6-4 per man, if they fielded their five tallest the average would be 6-6. The averages for the conference is 6-4½ and 6-7½ respectively. MU's tallest is Tucker at 6-7 while the average tallest of all Big Eight teams is 6-10½.
"It looks like Kansas and Kansas State will be the favorites again this year," Stewart predicted. "One team that should be in the race this year, that wasn't last year is Oklahoma State. It should be quite a race."
Ohio State first KU drops to 6th
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NEW YORK (UPI) - Ohio State, with a substantial assist from Notre Dame, captured its second national collegiate football championship yesterday when the United Press International Board of Coaches voted the Buckeyes the No.1 team in the country.
Nine of the 10 top ranked teams will appear in post season bowl games. Notre Dame, whose school policy prohibits post season play, is the only school which will not appear.
1. x-Ohio State 28, 9-0
2. x-Southern Cal 4, 9-0-1
3. Penn State 2, 9-0
4. x-Georgetown 3-2
5. x-Kansas 8-1
6. x-Kansas 9-1
7. x-Tennessee 8-1-1
8. x-Drexel College 7-2-1
9. x-Arkansas 9-1
10. x-Oklahoma 7-3
Points
334
277
272
227
174
148
106
104
90
61
Countdown to 1,000
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By ROBERT ENTRIKEN JR.
Kansan Sports Special
Tuesday scores
Tuesday scores
Wisconsin 67, Kansas 62
Next games
Friday: Nebraska at Oregon State Saturday: Chicago Loyola at Kansas North Carolina at Kentucky
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Oregon State 989 victories 11 to go
Kansas 985 victories 15 to go
Kentucky 985 victories 15 to go
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