Omaha daily bee., 1908-12-27
VARSITY HAS WEAK FIVE
Cornhuskers Make Poor Showing in
Basket Ball This Season.
FIRST GAMES DISAPPOINTMENT
Team Good at Goal ThrowiAg, but
Does Not work Together-'Pip"
Cooke wins R~ecOEnition
I'm East,

Cornhuskers have had In eight years, ~
the verdict Of the followers of basket BAN
at the State university on the outlook for
the present season. The scarcity OF
veteran players and the showing OF the
five in the two games played before the
Christmas began ~justifies this conclusion.
The list OF candidates for the quintet,
although making the largest squad OF goal
tossers that has been seen at Nebraska
for several years. is composed OF men, with
four exceptions, who are comparatively
new to the college style OF play. OF the
fifty candidates who make up the gquad
only four-Captain Walsh, Dwight Bell,
Perry and woods-are letter men. Walsh
and Bell won numerals In each OF the last
four seasons. Perry and Woods made their
"N's' last season. The rest Of the players
on the squad have had no experience in
intercollegiate games and little brilliant
play can be expected OF any OF them this
year.
The nucleus If four veterans on which
DR.. Clapp has TO depend this winter In de-
veloping a team is not nearly so strong as
the coach could desire. Captain Walsh and
Bell are fast and spectacular players, but
Perry and Woods, while playing consistent
class varsity caliber.
NdUNd1u Wdlbn Ah1I llNo kdiiA0u ~
reputation for being one Of the best basket
shooters among the western college players.
His accurate goal tossing aided immensely
in keeping the Nebraska colors flying high
in a majority OF the contests last season.
A glance at the scores OF last winter shows
that the games in which the Cornhuskers
were defeated were the very contests In
which Walsh was out of form and missing
many baskets. ~
Bell One strong Man.
Dwight Bell and his brother Paul, who
was graduated last spring, formed one of
the strongest pairs of guards in the Mis-
souri, valley a year ago. Dwight Is az
gressive and watchful as a guard and this
winter will be one Of the strong points on
the Nebraska five.
Both Perry and Woods secured regular
positions as forwards last winter after
Russell Burruss. star Onward. quit school
In January, but neither OF them developed
enough speed or goal throwing ability to
make a good running mate for Walsh. II
was the first season for either OF them
on the varsity and. of course, nothing
brilliant could be expected of them. They.
however. did not display the finesse In
their play that marks the strong college
basket ball player and 1t will probably
will take them the greater part of this sea-
son to develop into the form that will make
the C~ornhusker five a strong one.
1t is around this quartet of veterans az
a nucleus that Or. Clapp Will have to build
up a team from the green material TO
meet Minnesota and the best fives in the
| Missouri valley. 1t is far from an encour-
aging task which the Nebraska coach faces
and to a close observer of the Corunhusker
situation It looks as though DR.. Clapp will
do exceedingly well II he turns out a fairly
successful quintet this winter.
OF the new material, among which one
varsity regular and three or four substi-
/ tutes will have to be developed, there are
six or seven who appear to be nearly
equal in their proficiency in playing the
game. These men so far this season have
not shown the form or class that charac-
terizes the play of any of the varsity vet
Grams. They are hard and willing workers,
but their inexperience handlcaps them for
playing in first class varsity form.
Many Who Are Lacking.
Petrashek, who has been playing at CEN
ter, has the height and speed to make a
fast goal tosser. He lacks. however. a
knowledge OF the fine points Of the game.
and It is doubtful II he will develop into
the right form this winter What is true OF
Petrashek pertains in an equal degree to
Schmidt, Long. Hutchinson, Flowers.
Richey and Stevenson, who are among the
strongest new bidders for places on the
team. They all have played more or less
basket ball in high school or on the second
cornnusker eleven, but are still at a dis
advantage on account OF their inexperiencs
in playing in intercollegiate games. Bas-
ket bail is a sport which requires a great
- - hin A. -
ing; this is acquired only after a player
has had three or four years experience in
contesting In hard games. For this reason
little in the way Of brilliant or fast play
ing can be expected from the new ma
terial on the cornhusker squad this sea
son.
The first two games OF the year with
Cotner college and the city Young Mems
Christian association proved that thu five
is one OF the weakest early season teams
Nebraska ever had. Cotner, a second class
college quintet that in any recent year
wuold have been an easy foe for the Corn
huskers. held the varsity to a Is TO "a
score and clearly outplayed It In the last
five minutes OF the game. The city Young
Mems Christian association five trounced
the Nebraska team by the score Of "a TO
l6. outplaying Il in every department Of
the game. The cornhuskers were weak
ened. OF course. in both these contests by
the absence OF Captain Walsh. who was
suffering from an injury to his foot. but
his presence In the lineup would have made
no difference in the general results. for
there were some weak features about the
Nebraska play that not even the star goal
tossing of the captain could have counter
balanced.
Poor Team Work.
Probably the most striking weakness in
the play OF the Cornhuskers was their
poor team work. II was this. more than
anything else, that caused their downfall
before the Young Mems Christian ASSOC
citation five. The cornhuskers did not
get together" in advancing the ball.
There was too much individual work and
not enough dependence OF the players on
each other to assure safe progress with
the ball. The men seemed 20 think that
the new rule which permits excessive
dribbling meant that each player as soon
as he obtained possession OF the ball near