December 14, 1959
This report is based on "Basketball's Week" in the December 14, 1959, issue of Sports Illustrated.

"The game was the same but many of the faces were new as the college basketball season exploded with a roar that left some of the nation's most stalwart contenders for national honors shaken and gasping for breath."

• "Long-suffering New York fans" got a lift from NYU's 70-69 victory over Marquette on Al Filardi's hook shot with 45 seconds left. The Violets' Tom Sanders threw in 22 to help offset the 31 of Don Kojis of the Warriors. Two nights later, Sanders tallied 21 as NYU whipped Georgetown 70-48.
• Another Big Apple school, St. John's, the defending NIT champs, didn't fare so well, blowing a 13-point halftime lead to fall to St. Louis 76-67. "The Redmen panicked when St. Louis hit them with a full-court press and not even superb jump-shooter Tony Jackson's 21 points could bail them out."
• Down South, "Georgia Tech, prematurely written off as a contender, suddenly raised eyebrows in the Southeastern Conference." "Whack" Hyder's Yellow Jackets startled Duke 59-49, manhandled Furman 91-63, and topped off the week by downing high-rated Louisville 68-56 on the sharpshooting of Roger Kaiser.
• Meanwhile, perennial power Kentucky "was off learning the facts of life in the West." After squeaking by UCLA 68-66 on Sid Cohen's five points in the last 90 seconds, the Wildcats lost the next night to twice-beaten Southern California 87-73.
• "North Carolina, bursting with talent, hardly missed academically ailing Doug Moe and physically ailing Dick Kepley as it smothered South Carolina 93-56 in an Atlantic Coast opener. Bulky Lee Shaffer led the surge with 25 points."
• Duke recovered from its Georgia Tech stumble to beat Clemson 68-59.
• Wake Forest, "getting board control from sophomores Billy Packer and Len Chappell, outhustled North Carolina State 73-59."
• "With deadpan All-America Jerry West sweeping the boards, leading the fast break, driving, playmaking, blocking shots and doing the things that come so naturally to him," West Virginia rolled over Tennessee 93-78, The Citadel 98-76, and Furman 96-63 to stretch its Southern Conference streak to 52.
• In the Midwest, Jerry Lucas, Ohio State's "eagerly awaited 6-foot 8-inch sophomore, spent some anxious moments learning to fathom Wake Forest's sinking zone but caught on in time to lift the Buckeyes past the Deacons 77-69. He was even more adept in his next two games, blithely snaring RBs, tipping in goals and feeding off to Gs Mel Nowell and Larry Siegfried as Ohio State battered Memphis State 94-55 and Pitt 94-49. His three-game totals: 74 points and 66 rebounds."
• Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson, "as marvelous as ever, filled the baskets to overflowing with 88 points, and the Bearcats trounced Indiana State 107-62 and Marshall 102-61."
• Defending NCAA champon California, "as deliberate as ever," opened with a 69-57 over UC Santa Barbara while Stanford outscored San Francisco 55-49.
• In the "mercurial" Southwest Conference, only three teams remained unbeaten – Texas A&M, Texas, and Baylor. One of the Bears' three victories was over Oklahoma State 53-50 while SMU surprised Minnesota 73-60.

NBA

• Philadelphia's "magnificent" Wilt Chamberlain flipped in 41 to beat the Minneapolis Lakers 121-109.
• Boston, still led by Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, and Bill Sharman, ran their winning streak to five to lead the Warriors by 2 1/2 in the East.
• The St. Louis Hawks, "with Bob Pettit and Cliff Hagan pushing in points at their usual brisk pace," led Detroit by 2 1/2 in the West.
  

"Between three and four million people in the U.S. play basketball. About 15,000,000 will have seen some 10,000 college basketball games when the 1937 season, basketball's biggest, ends next month."

• Purdue and Minnesota met in "the most exciting game of the liveliest week in the country's major intercollegiate winter sport." 5,500 fans at Lafayette IN watch Coach Ward "Piggy" Lambert's Boilermakers, Big Ten champions for three straight years, go to the wire with the Gophers, trying to win their first conference basketball championship in 18 years "as compensation for the unexpected failure of its football team to go through the year undefeated." The last several minutes of play were exciting. UM had rallied with five baskets in six minutes to close to within one, 32-31. The tip off after the last made basket went to Purdue's F Johnny Sines who drove through the D for a lay-in to put Purdue up by three. Then Minnesota's John Kundla made a stumbling shot to pull within one. Then the quintets lined up for the "centre toss when the game ended with the referee's whistle."
• Two nights later, Illinois clobbered Wisconsin 48-31 while Minnesota thrashed Iowa 44-25 and Michigan "put Purdue apparently out of the running by a surprisingly one-sided beating, 31-16." "If the Big Ten title goes to either Minnesota or Illinois, Purdue's coach Lambert will at least have the consolation of knowing that both teams use variations of the fast-breaking, shifty game which Purdue has specialized in so effecitvely as to win nine titles in the past 18 years." Purdue also has the consolation of possessing the conference's leading scorer, F Jewell Young, who several weeks ago tied a conference record with 29 points against the Illini. However, Michigan, led by its 6'9" captain, Johnny Gee, held Young to only five.
• The last Big Ten school to win four championships in a row was Chicago from 1907-1910. However, the Maroons are now on the bottom with 24 defeats in a row.
• The Eastern Conference leader, Pittsburgh, was beaten 29-18 by independent Notre Dame in "an outside game." Temple remained second by nosing out Penn State 28-26. In the Eastern Intercollegiate League, mostly made up of "Ivy" colleges, Pennsylvania is undefeated in league play but last week lost a "traditional game" to Syracuse 39-35.
• "Most sensational team in the East last year was the one that represented Long Island University, started eleven years ago in a disused factory, which ran up a string of 43 victories in a row." Last week LIU nicked St. Thomas 33-25 to warm up for "the crucial game of New York's metropolitan season, against Manhattan, this week." In other contests, Navy defeated Army 42-40 at Annapolis, Harvard 37 Columbia 30 at Cambridge, and Fordham 31 NYU 19 in New York.
• The South is divided into two conferences, the Southern and the Southeastern. Both decide their champions by a post-season tournament among the Conference leaders. Last week, Washington & Lee beat North Carolina 29-19 in a game that will help decide seeding at the Southern Conference tournament at Durham March 5-7. The SEC's major game was Tennessee's 36-23 victory over Sewanee. Coach Blair Gullion's Vols, who have lost only to Kentucky, are the favorites in the SEC tournament in Knoxville this week.
• Out West, the Pacific Coast Conference has a unique scheduling system "whereby each team plays its rivals four times, twice on each one's court." Stanford beat Cal at Berkeley 36-32 despite the fact that sensational 6'3" F Hank Luisetti, "whom Coach John Bunn calls the greatest player in the history of the game," was held to 15 points. The PCC is divided into Northern and Southern sections. If Stanford holds onto its lead in the South, its opponent from the North in the two-out-of-three series for the PCC championship will be either Oregon or Washington State, which are tied for the lead.
• The Rocky Mountain Conference also splits itself into two parts. Colorado leads the Eastern division after defeating Colorado College twice, 39-31 and 35-32. The Buffaloes can clinch the division title against Denver this week. The Western winner will be the winner of the Utah-Utah State game this week in Salt Lake City.
• Back in the Midwest, another major basketball league is the Big Six (Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma). KU, which was how the conference title five years out of eight, strengthened its hold on the lead by smashing OU 39-19.

Midwest

• Five seconds left. Oral Roberts leads Drake 81-80. Lewis Lloyd of Drake at the line. He made both to give the Bulldogs a one-point victory and was carried off the court by his teammates, who chanted, "Magic Man! Magic Man!" In the next game, the 6'6" Lloyd scored 22 in the first half for a 46-32 lead over Iowa State. Shackled by foul trouble, he managed to add 10 more in the 87-66 victory. Lewis, who was the Juco scoring leader last year, averages 31.2 during Drake's 4-0 start.
• Brigham Young beat Tulsa and Oral Roberts with a pair of buzzer-beaters. A 17-foot jumper by Devin Durrant defeated the Golden Hurricane 73-71. The Cougars' Danny Ainge scored 19 and then added 24 against ORU to overcame a 16-pt deficit to win 76-75 on Ainge's 20-footer with one second left.
• Missouri returned home from Illinois, where Larry Drew's 25 points gave the Tigers a 67-66 OT victory, to sweep its Show-Me Classic. After waltzing over George Washington 89-63, Mizzou rode Steve Stipanovich's 25 to down Arkansas State 86-67.
• Kansas had a bad week that narrowly missed being disastrous. After losing 89-88 to SMU and 75-72 to Oral Roberts, the Jayhawks overcame the one-game suspensions of four players for missing curfew, including star G Darnell Valentine, to best San Diego State 79-66 behind freshman Ricky Ross' 19 points.
• The upset of the week was Oklahoma Christian, an NAIA school, shocking Memphis State 90-76. The Eagles star was Kelly Jobe, the son of coach Jerry Jobe. Jobe fils scored 32.

Mideast

• "I went on a fishing trip and when I got back my assistant told me we had scheduled Purdue," said Southeastern Louisiana coach Ken Fortenberry. "That assistant is now at another school." The Boilermakers scheduled SLU only because the tournament they had been scheduled in was cancelled. 7'1" Joe Barry Carroll poured in 41 in the 105-59 rout. Then Carroll added 27 more in the 83-60 win over Butler and 32 in the victory over Providence 76-44 – an even 100 points in three games.
• Indiana won its Indiana Classic for the sixth straight year. Mike Woodson was MVP for the second consecutive time, scoring 48 points in the Hoosiers' victories over Xavier (OH) 92-66 and UTEP 75-43.
• Alabama played a rare game against a Big Ten team, defeating Wisconsin 66-62. The Badgers also fell to DePaul 90-77 while Michigan regretted going to Toledo, 67-64. The Tide rebounded from a loss to LaSalle and its "high-intensity' D 82-80 on a shot at the buzzer by Kurt Kanaskie.
• Tennessee upended St. John's 97-80 before losing to Louisville 77-75. The Cardinals enjoyed 32 points from Darrell Griffith. Elsewhere in the SEC, LSU built an 11-point second half lead, then held on 80-79 against Tulane. Rudy Macklin tallied 18 while DeWayne Scales threw in 17. The Tigers had a far easier time with another Crescent City school, UNO, 104-78. Macklin, Scales, and Willie Sims all scored 20+. Kentucky clobbered Baylor 80-46 as Kyle Macy scored 14 in a 30-10 Wildcat run to start the game.
• When the St. Louis Billikens closed to within 31-27 of Notre Dame, Coach Digger Phelps called for "spurt time." His Irish responded with 22 straight to win 93-65.
• South Florida, a new school in Division I, planned to make a splash by hosting North Carolina in their brand-new 11,000-seat Sun Dome. However, cracks in the "Sun Doom" – as critics call it – forced the game into St. Peterburg's Bayfront Center. USF was doomed regardless of the venue as UNC ran away 93-62.

West

• Larry Brown's UCLA Bruins wore down Santa Clara as Larry made 31 lineup changes. 11 straight points in the second half sparked the 92-79 win. Kiki Vandeweghe scored 28.
• Oregon State played three games in Hawaii, including back-to-back against the Rainbows. The first contest went to the wire with the Beavers pulling it out 75-74. What a difference a day or two makes. The next contest was a 92-62 rout.
• To prepare for the season, UNLV's Sidney Green attended a transcendental meditation class. The 6'9" freshman played terribly in the opener as the Runnin' Rebels lost. Last week, Green forsook the meditation to grab 24 RBs and tally 25 in a 70-58 win over Nevada-Reno.

East

• "If you didn't like that game, you don't like basketball." That was Coach Jim Boeheim's comment after his Syracuse Orangemen edged Illinois State 72-70 in OT to win the Carrier Classic.
• Cincinnati's "small but quick" Bearcats confused North Carolina with a zone D and led most of the way before succumbing a68-63.
• Coach Pete Carril endured his worst loss in 13 seasons at Princeton, an 81-45 embarrassment at Duke. East Carolina gave the Blue Devils more competition. Duke Coach Bill Foster switched to a 2-3 zone with the score tied at 41 to pull away 92-73. Mike Gminski ended with 26/11.

EAST

MIDWEST

MIDEAST

WEST

Radenko Dobras, a 6'7" sophomore G for South Florida, led the Sun Belt Conference last season in steals with 56 and averaged 16.2 ppg. Coach Bobby Paschal switched him to shooting G this season. But what is interesting about Dobras is how he got to USF in the first place. You see, Radenko is from Yugoslavia. While playing for the Yugoslavian Junior National team in 1987, he caught the eye of Kansas coach Larry Brown to the point that Brown offered him a scholarship. Before Dobras could cash in on the offer, Brown left for the San Antonio Spurs. Word got to Paschal about the Yugoslav's interest in coming to school in the U.S., and USF signed him. Dobras's work ethic immediately impressed the USF staff. Dobras, who was used to five-hour practices in his homeland followed by hundreds of practice shots, found the limited U.S. practices a snap. Last week, Radenko's early season shooting slump continued as Houston defeated the Bulls 87-78 in the finals of the Tampa Tribune Holiday Invitational in the Sun Dome, USF's home court.

Another foreign player, Texas's Guillermo Myers from Panama, had a harrowing experience the day the Longhorns were to play VMI. That was the day that U.S. troops invaded Panama to capture General Manuel Noriega. It was many hours before Myers learned that his relatives were fine but barricaded in their homes. The 6'8" C played 16 minutes but failed to score in the 98-74 victory. After the game, an assistant coach led Myers off the court to shield him from the media.

Coach John Thompson's Georgetown Hoyas, who at the beginning of the season journeyed to Hawaii to take on "powerhouses" Hawaii-Loa and Hawaii Pacific, traveled to Nevada for a December 29 clash with Northern Iowa. Desperate for a game in Las Vegas during the holidays, Thompson called on friend Sonny Vaccaro, "the Nike sneaker wheeler-dealer." UNLV wasn't interested but Vaccaro found out that Long Beach State wanted out of its contract with the Panthers for the 29th. Since NIU would be playing at Nevada-Reno December 27, it was easy to convince them to replace LBSU with Georgetown. Thompson got his trip to glitzland and a 83-49 romp before 4,348 fans.

Tony Jones, Purdue's senior PG, piloted the Boilermakers to a surprising 7-1 start, leading the team in scoring (15.6 ppg) and assists (5.5). But Jones also pilots actual planes. In fact, he came to Purdue because of its aviation program and made his first solo flight as a freshman. Coach Gene Keady is OK with Tony's flight plans but hasn't yet gone up with his captain, although he says it isn't because of lack of confidence. "Sure, I would go up with him." Last week Purdue competed in the Fiesta Bowl Classic in Tucson. After defeating Wake Forest in the opener 66-52, the Boilers were flattened by home-standing Arizona 85-66 in the finals.

Baptist College traveled from Charleston to Tuscaloosa to take on mighty Alabama. The visitors actually led 6-3. However, they didn't score another point the entire first half. The Buccaneers trailed 32-6 at intermission en route to a 63-32 thumping. Asked about his team's scoring drought, coach Gary Edwards said, "We did not shoot very well." Only someone with years of basketball training could offer such insight. Edwards has a future as a TV commentator.

The Kansas Jayhawks of second-year coach Roy Williams achieved the largest one-week jump in the history of the AP poll at the beginning of the season when they defeated #2 LSU and Shaquille O'Neal in Baton Rouge and #1 UNLV, and #25 St. John's at Madison Square Garden to capture the Preseason NIT. With victories over Texas-Pan American (103-83) and Stanford (83-61) last week in a tournament in Kansas City, the Jayhawks continued undefeated after 12 games. KU has been getting balanced scoring from Kevin Pritchard, Mark Randall, and Rick Calloway, all averaging within two points of each other.

Speaking of LSU, Dale Brown's Tigers continued their cupcake schedule last week. They defeated Hardin-Simmons 100-66 to run their record to 6-1. The talent-laden but young Bengals fell out of the AP poll after the loss to Kansas but won't get back in the Top 25 until they play some at least semi-formidable opponents. That list will start with Texas in Houston January 2 and Mississippi State at Starkville two days later.