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Show NORGREN'g "U" HOOPERS MAY DEFEND NATIONAL TITLE 1 Roger Van Pelt, center. 2 Captain Lowell Romney, guard. 3 Eddie Sproul, forward. 4 Homer Warner, guard. 5 James Smith, forward. 6 Clare Woodbury, forward. 7 Elmer Thorum, forward. Squad: Top row, left to right Coach Nelson H. Norgren, Jim Smith, Roger Van Pelt. Clyde Dorton, Creighton King, Clarence Rudine. Middle row Captain Lowell Romney, Jim Paul, Edward Clyde, Elmer Thorum, Steve Kerr, Dick Davis. Front row Clare Woodbury, Homer Warner, Wilford Romney, Eddie Sproul, Dave Beal. liS. ir frh . fsspi ?tii vrr ' ( i vX te JMM:mmmmmmm plitsl ?: .;,-v i , -s v- a r s, s fsim&'irm m:iMMi:m I mp&zxz-7?&.:i -I ..?..?;v:. xu,,r -,..jfe.iy ... - JT V..: fe4 ?lv.;? it- A '-v-. 1 1 A vrfc 1 ,y I- i ( x-'v Xr4wf?v 4 A v J - J I - 1 If !!'-ii I1 x' -if l ; , Uv j jj y t ' v vU pit ilsf lit ill I H -;;? n V;.j illf mWW if ' : a ' Jil 411 Jill M jfli m Jill iii mm ill f ' " - x-" ;-v , w . v v v , s H vi'tv " -nr:- J r i i : J $ vv sve? y aw-v i , r -3 v , - ,L . a - - --v . .1 I f V . ' ' Y, ' ' . , , - 't! I Injuries Have Hampered Work of Coach, but Another Team May Yet Be Rounded Out tor Big Tournament. iF TIIK Vniversity of Ttab can again win the national basketball championship, it will indeed be a triumph tor the coaching me.uods of Xelson Xorgren, in view of the hard luck which has fallen npon the Crimson five, this year. Such, at least, is the opinion of the sludent body at the institution. in-stitution. At the beginning of the training season sea-son the prospects appeared cqnallv as bright as they did a year ago, but 'such is not the case at pre-ent. At one time it seemed as though the quintette was assured of at least three men who were the equal of any three who competed in the big tourney a year ago, and, in addition, a gionp of promi.-ing reserve picture"'''''''''1 b:"'krou,ui i'"' the At the present time oue of those three strong players is out of the game tor the season on account of an operation opera-tion tor appendicitis, and the reserve men do not a pp. a r quite so promising as thev did. tho.,.-!, ,t must he admitted that they actually have improved Tel mnrknbly by ha-d training. Moreover, uC ,tr',"1,,lv Roger Van IWt will i,e handicapped more or less during tne entire season bv a sprained ankle. 1 1 The loss of (l,i,k Cutler, the hi. freshman player from Idaho, was the (Continued on Following Page.) UTAH MAY DEFEND-WORLD DEFEND-WORLD HDOP TITLE (Continued From preceding Page.) severest blow to the team's chances. He was one of the biggest men who ever performed on the "U" floor, and he was fast .on his feet, skilled in shooting baskets and experienced at the passing game. As to the string of reserve re-serve men, nothing in particular has gone wrong. The whole trouble is that no star has come forth from them. And yet, despite all these troubles, there is a chance for the "U" to put forth a team just as invincible as it did last year. Norgren 's system of basketball is not designed to train green men overnight. If tho full ef-. ef-. fects of the training should not become evident for a whole month yet there would be no occasion for wonderment, Iast year's team did not reach championship cham-pionship form until about a week before be-fore the national tournament. It should be remembered also that the squad which won at Chicago did not look like a star aggregation during its first games last year, and on the whole the individual players at first' were not greatly superior to this year's I squad. Captain Kulon Clark, Van Pelt and Romney were veterans, but neither of the latter two were then the stars which they had become by the close of the season. Clyde Packer, another member of the squad who had won a considerable reputation, had been versed in another style of basketball, and he had to relearn the game. Bill Goodrich, the fifth member, was a recruit re-cruit and a freshman, and he played only mediocre ball until the season was two-thirds over.- Then he played brilliantly. bril-liantly. Still a Chance. If physical injuries cause no further trouble," it is still possible that, even with men who are slightly less skilled, a better understanding oi' the style of basketball which startled Chicago a year ago mav give Utah a team just as good as the one which caused such a stir in 1916. The men who have shown up best up to the present time are Blondy Thorum and Clare Woodbury at forwards, for-wards, Happy Van Pelt at center, and Captaau Dick Bonvney and Homer Warner at guards. It is doubtful if Van Pelt or Iiomney could be improved on verv much when they play at their best. The three other positions are the weak ones. Woodbury is the last to come to the front, and he is improving daily. He may fill his position" before the season is over as creditably as did Bunny Clark last rear. Warner and Thorum were members of the squad last year, but were not regulars. Both have displayed considerable improvement, improve-ment, but as yet the rato of improvement improve-ment has not been such as would indicate in-dicate that either will fill his position as well as his predecessor did. Other members of the squad are Eddie Ed-die Sproul. a freshman who has shown much speed and accuracy iu caging the ball; ,lim Smith, another member of last year's squad: Ed Clyde, a recruit, who "will be a valuable man -as soon as he changes his style of shooting for the basket, and Dick Davis, a heavy-set heavy-set freshman player, who is built along the lines which go best with Norgren Nor-gren 's theory of guarding. Iu addition io these, the following men are members mem-bers of the varsity squad: Wilf Rom-Be- Clyde Porton,, Pat King, Dave Beal. Jimmy Paul and Steve Kerr. All the "members of the squad are above the average type of reserve plavers of tho past few years, and a team of five men mav be picked from them at any time which will give the first-team string a hard rub. In fact, that is the whole point. There is an abundance of material of average abil-it.v, abil-it.v, but few stars. How well that material mate-rial mav be fitted together to form a team will decide the strength of the "TJ" quintette. |
