KU opens Sunday against Boston College
Contrasts in basketball style seen among NIT cage entries
By BOB KEARNEY Kansan Sports Editor
College basketball's casualties from madcap conference races everywhere—along with a sprinkling of highly-regarded independents—begin the rigors of the 32nd annual National Invitiation Tournament in New York Thursday.
Photo by Jim Wheeler
The 16-team, single-elimination meet tips off at Madison Square Garden with doubleheaders Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights before the first round is completed with another two-game slate Sunday afternoon.
KU's Jayhawks will be making their second NIT appearance after finishing runner-up to Dayton in the 1968 cage festival. Kansas sported a 20-6 record through the regular season as closing losses to Colorado and Kansas State deprived KU of a Big Eight championship.
Coach Ted Owens' club, featuring a double-post offense and deliberate style, will be cast against the zip-zip pace of Eastern basketball. The Jayhawks catapulted in the early national ranking, winning 12 of its first 13. Kansas still held a 15-3 ledger with Jo Do White's departure in a 80-70 victory over Colorado. KU moved as high as fifth in the polls at 18-3 before Missouri scored a 56-55 upset and set the stage for another Big Eight scramble.
The Crimson and Blue, tied for 20th in the final UPI ratings, meets Boston College at 1:30 p.m. Sunday before a national television audience.
Other first-round pairings send St. Peter's against Tulsa and Florida against Temple on Thursday, Ohio University and West Texas State, then Rutgers and Tennessee clash in Friday's games. In Saturday night's action, Army battles Wyoming and South Carolina faces Southern Illinois, Fordham meets Louisville in the second game Sunday.
KU once ranked fifth
Dave Robisch . . . harrassed
Five All-Americans included
This year's NIT field features several high scoring outfits-Boston College, West Texas State, Wyoming, Ohio University and Tulsa. South Carolina and Florida boast two of the season's upsets and Army lays claim to being the nation's best (by statistics) defensive team, just a shade better than Tennessee.
Five consensus All Americans playing opposite each other, bring added interest to the annual tourney. Florida's Neal Walk, West Texas State's Simmie Hill, St. Peter's Elnardo Webster, Tulsa's Bobby Smith and Louisville's Butch Beard have drawn much of the advance billing.
Kansas defeated Temple (82-76), Villanova (55-49) and St. Peter's (58-46) to reach last finals.
Here's a capulized summary of the NIT field.
Boston College
Coach Bob Cousy, whose Eagles will be making a fifth straight post-season tournament appearance, boast a 16-game winning streak and an impressive 21-3 record. Boston College has not lost since December setbacks at the hands of Villanova, St. John's and Northwestern--that last defeat coming in the finals of the Gator Bowl Holiday tournament, 77-68.
Cousy's squad has four times broken the 100 mark in scoring with triumphs over Connecticut (105-75), Canisius (107-73), Fordham (105-70), and Boston University (110-80). The Eagles closed their regular season last week with a 93-72 trouncing of NCAA regional entry Duquesne.
Tennessee
The defense-minded Volunteers, runners-up to Kentucky in the Southeast Conference, rank second in the nation in defense, allowing just under 60 points-per-game. Coach Ray Mears and his so-called "Chinese defense" have given LSU's Pete Maravich two of his most difficult games. The All-American from the bayou country was limited to 21 points in each game, his lowest totals in his two record-breaking seasons
Tennessee sports an 18-6 record into its second NIT appearance.
South Carolina
A couple of sophomores give Coach Frank McGuire's Gamecocks a formidable scoring punch. John Roche (37) and 6'10" Tom Owens (26) combined for 63 points in an 82-72 victory over Duke. Roche engineered a startling 68-66 upset of second-ranked North Carolina.
6 KANSAN Mar. 11
1969
KANSAN Sports
But South Carolina blew its chances of an Atlantic Coast Conference title when it was upset by North Carolina State, 67-64.
Temple
Coach Harry Litwack's Owls will be making their eighth NIT appearance and third in the past four years. Temple, noted for one of the country's best zone defenses, bowed to St.Joseph's in overtime for the Middle Atlantic Conference crown, 68-67.
Included in the Owls' season are triumphs over Miami of Ohio, St. Joseph's (79-59), and Fordham. Another NIT entry, Army, squeaked by Temple, 60-59.
Rutgers, like Boston College, streaks into the NIT with a winning habit on the line. The Scarlet Knights celebrated their tournament invitation by thrashing Gettysburg, 92-77 in their last outing and their 15th consecutive win.
Rutgers
Coach Bill Foster's club had some close calls on 12 through 14, edging Connecticut (81-79), Fordham (62-61), and Penn State (59-57).
The Scarlet Knights ranked third in the 1967 NIT, losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Southern Illinois. Rutgers takes a 20-3 record and 15-game winning streak into the meet.
West Texas State
Probably the best of the Southwest independents, the Buffaloes compiled an 18-7 mark in earing their second NIT berth. West Texas State last
appeared in 1942 with what was regarded the "world's tallest basketball team."
Coach Dennis Walling and his Buffs are anything but the tallest, but WTS boosts one of the nation's best cagers in All-American Simmie Hill. The 6'7" forward was named to the Sporting News elite team.
Among the WTS triumphs are a 93-92 double-overtime upset of New Mexico State, reversing a 69-68 loss to that same club, and an 86-76 whipping of Houston.
Florida
Professional scouts have been keeping a watchful eye on Florida's Neal Walk, who averaged 26.5 points and 19.8 rebounds as a junior. The 6'11" center and the Gators have been worth watching.
Florida edged another of the NIT clubs, Tennessee, 65-63 and avenged a 64-63 earlier loss to the Vols. But most noteworthy was the 82-81 Gator upset of Kentucky—the only SEC loss for the seventh-ranked Wildcats.
The Cadets will not need to get acquainted with four NIT teams, although Army might like to forget the past meetings. Temple was a 60-59 Army victim, but Ohio University (68-60), Fordham (62-52), and Rutgers (49-47) have been troublesome.
Army
Wyoming
Coach Bob Knight and his deliberate Cadets lead the Nation in defense, allowing just 53 points-per-game. But Army has not produced enough offense as a 16-8 ledger might indicate.
drought over the final 7:10,
threw a scare into eighth-ranked
St. John's before losing, 51-46.
Fordham
Perhaps none of the NIT squads has more scores to settle than the 17-8 Rams, losers three times to schools in the tournament field. Temple (72-60), Boston College (105-70), and Rutgers (62-61) have topped the Rams. Fordham does hold a 62-52 win over Army, and except for a scoreless
The high-scoring Cowboys, plunking in 83 points-per-game, finished in a Western Athletic Conference deadlock with Brigham Young. BYU breezed in the playoff, 95-82, and sent 19-8 Wyoming to New York.
Carl Ashley, a 6'6" forward,
heads Coach Bill Stranagan's
crew with an average of 21 points and 10 rebounds. The Cowboys were bumped out of the 1968 NIT by Villanova in the first round.
St. Peter's
The Peacocks, the class of the Metropolitan Conference, fashioned a 20-6 record for a repeat NIT invitation. Kansas bumped St. Peter's in last year's semifinals, 58-46, but the mainstay of the Peacocks will return to Madison Square Garden.
Elnardo Webster impressed NIT fans a year ago with a 51-point performance and has been drawing raves all season
Tulsa
Tulsa romped to 10 consecutive Missouri Valley wins, then nose-dived to third place by losing five of its last six. Needless to say the Golden Hurricane will attempt to soothe bruised egos in the NIT.
Ohio University
Runners-up to Miami of Ohio in the Mid-American Conference, the Bobcats built a 15-8 record, including triumphs in 10 of their last 11 games. Coach Jim Snyder, completing his 20th year at his alma mater, toughened his squad on Big Ten opponents—resulting in a 1-5 mark.
Since then, the Bobcats have been rough on everybody with point harvests of 110 and 111 along the way.
Louisville
What the Missouri Valley Conference could not decide in 15 weeks, the NCAA determined in one night. Drake thumped Louisville in the MVC playoff last night at Wichita, heading the 20-5 Cardinals to the NIT.
All-American Butch Beard draws the Louisville headlines.
Photo by Jim Wheeler
Pierre Russell . . . hustling