Evening star., 1927-04-25

~ EORGE kEOGAN. coach Of the
4 Notre Dame basket ball
& T teams which have met with
~ great success in the past two
years. has been experiment.
ing upon the changes in the rules.
He has found for one thing that in
one bounce q man may cover Is or
20 feet of floor space from the time
the ball leaves his hands until he re-
covers it at the termination of the
bounce.
Travelling through this distance
there is bound. he finds. to be contact
between the guard and the forward
with the ball.
In all respects Keogan is dead
against the rules. The game, he
holds, has been robbed of its most in
teresting and spectacular feature. The
rule which muZzles the dribble may,
he admits, eliminate some of the con-
tact which resulted in fouls, but not
materially because of the number Of
feet that a man may travel while ne
gotiating one bounce.
None the aess, Keogan believes
there viii be an increase in fouls. in
asmuch as the change will place
premium upon defensive play. which
always tends to encourage fouling.
u udEulHBy ne IldluldliSs WALL DS AldNAi
easier because the forwards have been
robbed of their greatest offensive
weapon.
Will Slow Up Game.
"The game" he says, "will take on
the aspect Of the usual professional
game--slow moving, constant passing
and maintaining possession of the ball
with an occasional break, a pass and a
shot"
in Indiana where play has been car.
ried to a very high point, to higher
point possibly than anywhere else, the
game, according to Keogan has been
built on the basis of clever dribbling,
handling the ball, feinting, taking and
clever shooting. In brief, fasctnat-
ing game to watch.
The muzzling of the dribble will ruin
all that has been accomplished and
basket ball in the West will sink into
the old category of minor sport. So
at least thinks Keogan.
Unquestionably there is a lot of SEN
timent in Indiana and in the States
bordering the Hoosier commonwealth
against the changes in the rules.
Whether or not a definite movement
will materialize looking to the restora-
ton of the old rules. such as now
seems to be brewing in the Missouri
Valley, remains to be seen.
Joseph j. Alvin, the sporting COM
mentator of South Bend, advises the
writer that Indiana is ready for
Schism. 1T may be regrettable that
this uprising in the Middle West" he
writes, 80 far as the cause of athletics
is concerned, but the action of the
rules committee in nearly running the
game for Indiana is equally re-
grettable.'
With Bill TiIden and Francis Hunter
on their way to Europe to re-estab-
lish American prestige in tennis, the
thought logically arises as to pros
poets Of their accomplishing this mis-.
sion.
One thing is clearly established, and
that is that the United States at no
time in the past decade has ever sent
tennis representatives to Europe with
less chance of winning spectacular
victories.
Francis Hunter, always a hard.
working player of average stellar
merit, is certainly no better than he
has been in pas. seasons; the writer,
indeed, believes he has slipped to
some extent.
When Tilden returned to the East
from his Winter play in Florida ex-
perts with every prepossession in fa-
vor Of the former champion went to
New Rochelle to study his game and