New Britain herald., 1928-12-28
MANY UPSETS IN
COURT CONTESTS
Undtiated Teams Among Col.
lees to Be Few This Season

New York, Dec. % RrUndefeat-
ed teams were few when the foot
ball season came to a close but they
will be even scarcer in intercOllegr
ate basketball if upsets continue to
take as heavy a toll as they have
in the early season games.
The carnage is most appalling
among the proud teams orthe east
ern intercollegiate league. For the
first time in memory every one of
its six members have bowed in de-
feat in December and the opening
Of the league season Jan. 5 will
find not single one with an un-
spotted record.
Except for the reverses OF the
University of Pennsylvania in sue
Cessive battles with three Western
Conference teams on middle west
ern trip. a number of contributing
causes might be advanced for the
strikingly unusual situation which
finds Princeton beaten by Dickin-
son, Cornell by Rochester, Columbia
by Army and New York University,
Yale by Providence and Fordhah,.
Dartmouth by St. Thomas and Penn
by Indiaia, Ohio State and Michi-
gan.
The natural assumption is that
the standard Of play among the
big Six" is lower than usual this
season, but by the same token il
seems clear that basketball excel
lence this year is distributed over a
wire area and that the smaller col
leges have about as good a chance
as the large ones.
A victory for Dickinson owe,
Princeton in football would be an
unheard Of thing but in basketball
it is we'll within the realm of pos
sibility as the little Pennsylvania
college showed to the tune of q tc
-. Another point is that the email
er colleges are on their mettle wher
they encounter teams of the league
This applies also to such major In
stitutions as the Army, New YORK
University and Fordham, which
would logically be included In Il
conference organization were there
one more extensive than that now
in existence.
On the other hand the Big Six
teams seldom begin hitting on all
cylinders until their league season
gets under way. The month of De-
cember is devoted to the Juggling Of
lineups to develop the strongest pos
sible combinations for the title chase
With something of the attitude OF
Yale toward the football games with
Harvard and Princeton the league
members are not so much concerned
with what takes place in prelimln-
airy competition. although, of course
there was plenty of incentive for
Penn on its western trip and for
Columbia in its games with Army
and n. Y. L.
With the early season results al
hand the Eastern league season
shapes up as anybody's race. The
strength of the teams as reflected
by their showings against league
opposition at least seems unusually
uniform and If it were necessary 10
make a prediction one might dc
worse than name Penn, Princeton
and Columbia for the first flight with
Yale. Dartmouth and Cornell in the
second division. At least that is
about the way their records rate tc
date. Penn should be a favorite
over Yale when they meet at the
Palestra in Philadelphia Jan. s in
the opening game, unless further un-
expected occurrences take place tc
change the outlook.
Not all the earl yseason bumps
are over for the league teams YET
as a few more games with outside
opponents remain. Princeton ha.
about as hard an assignment as any
Of them, meeting City College Of
New York on Saturday, n. Y. L. or
Monday. Tordham on Wednesddy
and Army the fo11oUinp SATURDAY.