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Show FRANK K. BAKER rX.AJUta TELEGRAM SPORTS S0ITOP. Stcpladderj might help, but in. any event the basketball basket-ball teami which play the Utah Agf?ie thii season will have to be on their toes to cope with the Farmers so far as rebound work is concerned. Gangling AggiFg were all over the place at Provo last Saturday Sat-urday night, pilfering- passe i and capturipg rebound, off both backboirdf ai tha Aggi.i beat B, Y. U., 54-46, in the Big Seven cage opening for both team.. The Aggies had an Impressive evening at the basket, it Is true, with both Floyd Morris and Bus Bingham tanking 17 points, but in reality it was their ability to control the backboards and intercept many Cougar passes with their long arms which proved the difference between the two clubs. Bingham waa Ihe only member of Coach Dick Romney'a starting combination which didn't look tall enough to reach Into an upstairs window without a laddrr. And Dick snid his charges looked like dwarfs alongside the California team they met on their trip to San Francisco. Well, rn that event, they ought to legislate against I ha Bears. When olayer. get tall enough to dunk tha ball through th basket, they ought to bar them from competilon with ordinary peopl.. mctimesphysical Jieight is not a sure sign of basket-balFjRreatncss. basket-balFjRreatncss. Montana had some pretty husky boys on the floor in a preseason game here with Utah a couple of weeks ago, but Captain Jack Hardy and Hugh Bird, who haye to stand on tip toe to reach five feet ten inches, played circles around them on the guard line. Besides being fast, the Ute guards have a highly developed sense of timing which enabled them to outmaneuver their taller foes and get the rebounds most of the time. The Aggie beanpoles are far more alert than the Grizzlies were in their local appearance. Both the Morris boys, Captain Ray Lindquist and Calvin Agricola can get their feet off the floor, too, and get up in the air when the occasion demands, i That the Aggie strength doesn't end with the starting combination was amply proved by .the way Sophomore Roland Ro-land Reading, the former Davis star, came through as a re-placement re-placement for Cllve Morris, who was ousted on fouls, Reading, Read-ing, of course, la no unknown substitute. An all-stale forward for-ward in bis own playing days at Davis, Reading la a nifty collegiate prospect. He might ordinarily be a starter except for th fact that some of th other boys hav been together longer. It appeared to me that Ralph Crowton, who was an all-conference forward at B. Y. U. four years ago, hasn't yet recaptured the tempo of the college game after his two-year two-year lay-off. The Aggies gave him little chance to shoot, as his seven-point effort, indicates, and his best work came early in"trie second Half, whciTTie' came through' with some fine interceptions and passes. In fact, his interceptions contributed much to the spurt which sent the Cougars into a momentary lead, but otherwise the Aggies had him well under control. I thought Fred Welmer stamped himself as a real prospect. In th post mortems after the game, I gathered the impression that somt of th close students of basketball felt he still needs finesse. All of which is true, but it must be remembered that th season is Just in its infancy. A certain amount of polish is bound to com with further experience. Weimer stood out for the Cougars because he kept driving and was th nearest thing to a ballhawk the team had. His departure de-parture from th game for excessive fouling close on th heels of Crowton's relegation to the bench ended the Y's last faint hope. Weimer scored 14 points or twice as much as Crowton and he distinguished himself otherwise, too. He'll bear watching. Th Aggies must still b tested for consistency and reliability re-liability under pressure. If they can get a little mor seasoning sea-soning under their belts without losing, they'll be tough to beat, though, because confidence and assurance In their various combinations is about all they need. They tightened up noticeably In th second half and in doing go helped in- splr th Cougars t their brief lead, but th way Bingham and Floyd Morris steadied them with baskets when behind snu.t hav ba extr.m.ly gratifying t Coach Rontney. |