Omaha daily bee., 1916-03-05
OMAHA'S CHANCES ARE GOOD
Central and South High Floor Elves
Expected to Make Good Show Is
ing in State Tourney. y
rwo OTHER TEAMS FROM OMAHA


Omaha with four teams out OF elshty-s
nine basket ball quints registered for
the annual state basket bail tourney at
the Capital city the last four days OF
next week, brings about 4 flavor Of con-
siderable local interest In the big meet,
the biggest In the entire country. Who
will be the state champs and who won't.
who will he the "runnefs-up" and who
won't, II matter that several score
thousands Of people In Omaha, Lincoln
and other villages of the state are highly
interested In Just az present.
In the first place II can be safely said
that the state champs will be: Crete
or Omaha Central or South High or Ge-
neva or Lincoln or someone else. IL Il
possible to carry the reader through
the third round without likely hitch,
but 20 20 beyond II is necessary 20 resort
to speculation. The two Glass A divi-
sIons have been so drawn that three dis
tinct leaders are pretty sure to survive
in each division, Crete. South High and
Lincoln are Inevitable candidates for the,
third round in the first division, while
Central High. Columbus and either Beat
rice or Geneva will probably contest for
berths in the semi-finals in the second
division.
Fast Ffays I'm First Round.
Tho first round will witness several
pretty battles, with some Of the pre-
doted "runners-up' eliminated Crete it
Is anticipated will defeat Fremont. Lin
coin, Central City, while Newman Grove
and Gothenburg and the Sthte Aggies
and University Place are expected TO
stage couple OF the hardest fought bat
ties OF the tourney, No favorite rules
for either OF these battles. South High
ls expected to easily defeat sutton as
should Geneva win over vest Point and
Beatrice over Fairmont Hastings and
Havelock and Plattsmouth and Friend
are expected to stage close battles, with
the former two coming away with the
bacon. g
Eight OF ten games In the second round
can hardly be In doubt. Crete, Hebron.
South High, Central High and University
Place or the State Aggies should have
little trouble In defeating their scheduled
opponents, shelton. Piattsmouth. Hast
ings, Chadron and Wilbur, in the order
named. The Hastinss-South High game
viii be q snappy one, but Il IL naturally
supposed that Pattons protegoa will be
In the lead mt the finish,
The final test OF the tournament Iles In
the third round. PairingE will not be
made known until several hours after the
second round Is played Thursday after
noon. so that all that can be done Is to
speculate on the results which determine
the elimination Of all teams except those
that will enter the semi-finals. II Crete
and Lincoln and South High ana Hebron
are paired in the tsle first division. It IL
almost certain that Crete and South High
will battle for place In the finale. with
the odds in favor OF the local team. II
these two teams are matched, the game
will undoubtedly be one OF the fastest OF
the entire tournament. On the other
hand, II South High draws IAncoln,
Crete's hopes viii be douhiy strengthened
as II is almost certain that Coach Janda'ss
Hebron five will be unable TO, stand thsA
pace of any Of its three possible op-98
posites. s
Central High Has IL Easy.
In the second division Central High
will have pretty much its own way un-
less the team slumps. Columbus. Geneva,
University Place and Beatrice are the
only possible dangerous opponents, and
with the exception of the lincoln team
all will have spent their energy In Sec
ond- round battles. Added to this. the To-
cal team has directly defeated two OF the
quintets and holds sway over the other
two by comparative scores. 1t is safe 60
say that no matter who the opponent L.
the local team will eventually gain en-
trance to the seni-finals and also the
finals
so all in all. Omaha will be spiendidiy
represented at the state tourney With
two other teams. Commercial High and
the School for the Deaf. in the two other
classes. bcal rooters should feel well sat.
isfied with home basket ball talent. In
the first division. South High has one
chance in three OF gaining a berth in the
finals while Central High has a clear
field in the other division. with the state
championship within their grasp. Should
the two Omaha schools meet in the finals
the game will undoubtedly be the most
thrilling and evenly matched In many
|