With Big Green Teams
N. C. A. A. Tourney Keeps Basketball Alive for Extra Month; Two-Mile Relay Team Captures National Championship
DARTMOUTH'S WINTER SPORTS SEASON was supposed to come to a fairly definite close at the end of the winter term in late February, but selection of the Big Green basketball team as New England's representative in the annual N.C.A.A. tournament has served to keep the court sport going through the month of March; and the track team, headed by the Indians' championship 2-mile relay quartet, has continued to provide athletic news during the opening weeks of the new spring term. The Dartmouth wrestlers also carried their season over into this term by competing, for the first time, in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Tournament at Lehigh on March 10 and 11. These activities and the continued arrival of snow up to this writing in mid-March gave the impression that the winter season was still in full swing, but unmistakable signs of spring in the offing came from Jeff Tesreau's call for baseball candidates on March 15 and Harry Hillman's call for outdoor track men a few days later. And besides, the duckboards, although buried under snow, were definitely down.
Dartmouth accepted the invitation to represent New England in the N.C.A.A. tourney for the fourth consecutive year at just about the time that five of the ten 1943-44 lettermen pulled out of the V-12 Unit for advanced training at other stations. Those who departed were Larry Baxter, all-league guard; Mo Monahan, the other regular guard; Larry Killick, first-string forward; and reserves Joe Fater and Paul Campbell. Left behind as a nucleus for the tournament team were Cap tain Aud Brindley, unanimous choice for all-league forward and leading E.I.L. scorer; Harry Leggat, who took over a regular forward berth after Killick's injury; Joe Vancisin, a clever guard but limited in the number of minutes the doctors will permit him to play; reserve forward Vin Goering; and reserve guard Walt Mercer.
Earl Brown was faced with no mean coaching problem, and he and the rest of the College kept their fingers crossed on the help that might arrive in the new V-ig Unit starting March 1. The V-12 fates were good to the Big Green, for the third-term transfers included Bob Gale, lanky allleague center from Cornell, Dick McGuire, all-metropolitan guard from St. John's, and a few reserves, including Floyd Wilson, Everett Nordstrom, Gene Koch, Frank Murphy, and Gerald Peck. Even with this added material, Coach Brown had a tough assignment to wWp together a new team in three weeks. He started the rebuilding process by designating a tentative first team of Brindley and Leggat, forwards; Gale, center; and Vancisin and McGuire, guards. This is the combination which stuck for the two extra contests with Holy Cross and the Worcesters Nortons which the Athletic Council quickly arranged, and it is the starting combination which will carry Dartmouth's hopes into the Madison Square Garden tournament on March 24 and 25.
The revamped Dartmouth five romped through the Holy Cross and Norton contests by 59-34 and 67-46 scores, respectively, to add two more victories to the regular season's record of 15 wins and only one loss. The Nortons fell victim to the previous Indian five, 51 to 32, so the comparative results gave Green fans no cause for gloom. The team appeared to much better advantage in the second of the two pretournament contests, with Brindley, Leggat, Gale and McGuire all ringing up points in contrast to the scoring burden borne largely by Brindley and Leggat in the Holy Cross game. Coach Brown's strenuous efforts to establish a new style of play, adapted to the abilities of his new combination, definitely began to show res ults in team play and coordination, and many Hanover fans felt that, given the same amount of time together, the current club would hold its own against the championship five of the winter term.
The N.C.A.A. tournament will be past history by the time Dartmouth alumni read this, but at the moment the Big Green is about to enter the tournament as the experts' choice in the Eastern half of the national competition. The Indians face Catholic University in the opening cont est on March 24, with Ohio State, Big Ten champions, and Temple battling in the other first-round game. The two winners in these games will meet the following night to decide the Eastern champion, and on March 28 in Madison Square Garden the Eastern and Western champs will clash for the national title. As a special feature this year, the N.C.A.A. champions and the winner of the National Invitation Tournament will meet in New York on March 30 to determine the nation's top team, all proceeds going to the Red Cross.
Last year in the N.C.A.A. tournament, Dartmouth lost a first-round decision to DePaul and in that contest was considerably hampered by Madison Square Garden jitters. Brindley, the coolest Indian on the floor that night, will be leading the Big Green back into action this time, and both Harry Leggat, ex-N.Y.U. star, and Dick McGuire, from St. John's, have had enough experience with the Garden to take it in stride. McGuire was only a freshm an at St. John's this season, but he was the unanimous choice of New York sports writers for a guard position on the allmetropolitan five, and he was also voted the Lieut. Frank C. Haggerty Memorial Award as the most valuable player in the metropolitan district. The former Redman is an excellent set shot and a natural playmaker.
Gale, the 6-foot*4-inch center from Cornell, was also a freshman player this season. He finished third in the Eastern Intercollegiate League scoring race, with 111 points in eight games, and was a tower of strength for the Ithacans. He is ideally suited to work a double pivot play with Brindley and in addition to being a strong defensive player is adept at getting the ball off the backboard.
TWO NEWCOMERS TO THE DARTMOUTH FIVE this term were Dick McGuire (left), AllMetropolitan guard from St. John's, and Bob Gale, towering All-League center from Cornell. Both were among the third-term Navy transfers who entered the V-12 Unit in March.
TWO NEWCOMERS TO THE DARTMOUTH FIVE this term were Dick McGuire (left), AllMetropolitan guard from St. John's, and Bob Gale, towering All-League center from Cornell. Both were among the third-term Navy transfers who entered the V-12 Unit in March.
