The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-01-31
TWO QUINTETS
 PROLONC RULE
 OF A.A.U. COURT
Basketball Leaders See Game JeOpardized By
 Super Teams
By CARL REICH

NOMICu ANCSS OSdA OVAICSpUAuCAtI
 Denver, Jan. 31-(UP)-Independ- ent basketball's greatest teams, the Phillips of Bartlesville, Okla, and the Denver Legions-formerly the Nuggets-may be a threat to the game itself.
 That may be a startling state ment, but A. A. U. representatives from all over the United States be- lieve it is true.
 Look at what happened to the Missouri Valley A. A. U. basketball league, they said. Denver and Bar tlesville and their super teams" made the competition too tough for anybody else to stand, they argued. It was a re-echo of the baseball call to break up the Yankees"
 They weren't bitter about the fact that these two teams seemed un- beatable when they got into cham pionship competition. Only they warned that if the rest of the coun- try couldn't find players to rank with those of Phillips and the Le- gions, basketball of the independent variety was doomed.
 Get First Choice
 The reason, they said during the national convention of the organ- ization here, is that these two teams | have the pick of the players. No other organization in the United States with the money and enthu- siasm for sponsoring team can get l top flight players who can compete successfully and consistently with the Phillips and Legions, they 1 agreed.
 A lock at the record: l In four national tournaments, Denver and Phillips have met for the title three times. The Bartles- vile team won last year, 39-36; Denver triumphed, 43-38 in 1887, and 25-22 in 1889 for that award. Only in 1888 did Phillips fail to reach the finals, when the Wichita, Kas.. Gridleys triumphed over Den yer after defeating Bartlesville ln 1 the Semi-final round.
 l Two Dominate Tourney 1 Every year that the Missouri Val ! lev A. A. U. league was held, either Denver or Phillips, or both, won or shared the title. The other con- peting teams triumphed over one or 1 the other occasionally, but had to be content at fighting for third position.
 How do they expect us to bring competition to Denver for the na- tional tournament that will match that of the Legions and the Phil lips?" asked a St. Louis delegate. we have a lot of good players, but we can't come up to their strength. They simply get all the All-America players, like the Yankees were &C., cused of doing"
 He said St. Louis was willing to put a team in the M. V. A. A. U. league regardless. But, & three team circuit would not be feasible, so plans were dropped until possibly next year.
 The Legions have two All-Americs players this year; Phillips the other three. That's been the procedure generally. Once in while third or fourth place team in the tour nament would get man on the first team.
 McCracken Coaches Denver
 The All-Americas are Bob (Ace) Gruenig, center; Tee Connelley and Don Lockard, forwards; and Grady Lewis and Joe Fortenberry, guards Gruenig, basketball's greatest cen' ter. and Connelley, play with Den yer: the others are with the Phillips In reserve the Legions have Jack McCracken, frequent All-America guard who coaches the Denver team; and Dick Wells, All-America guard in 1899. Phillips All-Americas of years gone by include Fred Pralle who earned that award in 1888 with Wichita.
 These two teams have made his tory in four years of independent basketball. They always seem to stand up under fire from every team but each other. And, every Denver basketball fan is sure that Phillips and the Legions will meet in the national finals here in March.