Evening star., 1952-03-10
Seeded Teams 10 Face
First Opponents in
MT Play Tonight
BY ihe Assoeiofed Press


NEW YORK, Mar. 10.-Seeded
teams will be on display for the
first time in the 18th National
Invitation Basketball Tourna-
ment at Madison Square Garden
tonight when the original field
|of IL will be reduced to six.
The schedule calls for the sec
|ond straight triple-header, COM
posed Of two quarter final games
and one f1rst-round affair.
The quarter-f1nals will send
fourth seeded st. Bonaventure
(19-5) against Western Kentucky
in the opener and third-seeded
st. Johns Of Brooklyn (22-3
|against highly regarded LaSalle
(21-5) in the second game.
Holy Cross (23-3) faces Johnny
OBrien-sparked Seattle (29-D in
the first-round encounter as the
grand finale.
Top seeded Duquesne (21-D
and st. Louis CLIO. No. 2
seeded. will get their tournament
baptism tomorrow night with the
Dukes taking on the Holy Cross
Seattle winner and the Billikens
matching baskets against Dayton
(25-3). last years NIT runnerup.
The semifinals will be played
-Il1o ,,rclax aud k1,a Anolc Caf,.rdov
Battle for NCAA Berths.
Meantime, 80 smaller colleges
will start the wedding -out process
IN the NAIB tournament at Kan
sas City, and three games with
an important bearing on the
NCAA tournament will be played
in the Big Seven and Pacific
Coast Conferences. NCAA play
opens March 81.
Washington, No. 6 in the final
Associated Press poll, meets UCLA
at Los Angeles in the rubber game
of the Pacific Coast playoff for
the right to enter the NCAA
championship play. UCLA sur
prised with a victory over WASH
ington last Friday night, but the
Huskies came back to square ac-
counts with a $3.50 triumph Sat-
urday.
Kansas needs a victory over
Colorado at Boulder, Colo, or q
defeat Of Kansas State by Okla
homa to win the Big Seven spot
in the NCAA post-season play.
In event of a tie, Kansas and
Kansas State will meet in a one
game playof for the title.
If the Big Seven race is settled
tonight. only one conference berth
will be left in the NCAA tourna-
ment. That goes to the winner of
the Ivy League, which could end
IN a three-way tie.
! Ivy Teams Finishing.
1 Penn beat Cornell Saturday,
1862, to go into a second-place
tie with the Ithacans at 80.
Princeton, with 9-1 record,
meets Columbia Wednesday and
, Penn Saturday. Penn also plays
, Yale while Cornell will meet CO.
. lumbia and Dartmouth.
-Four Eastern teams remain to
, be selected "at large" for MEGA
play. but they may not be named
until after the MT is completed.
One MEGA bracket was filled
over the week end when North
Carolina State whipped Duke, IT.
So. for the Wolfpack's sixth sue
cessive Southern Conference title.
Since Duke had won Is straight
and All-America Dick Groat
tossed in q points for the Blue
Devils, North Carolina State s
victory came as somewhat of a
surprise.
But it was no more of a surprise
than the $3.50 jolt handed st.
Bonaventure by hot-and-cold Vii
!; lanova and Wisconsin's 58-48
! whipping of Illinois Big Ten
: champions. the Nations No.
ranked team. Earlier in the week
, the Badgers also defeated Iowa,
the Seventh-ranked team.
Holy Cross Scrapes BY.
Holy Cross almost came a CROP
per, too. in its last pre-tourney
: warmup. The Crusaders had to
. go all out in the last half to turn
. back Fordham, 62-58.
; The first three games Of the NIT
Saturday produced two individual
(See BASKETBALL, Page A-l3.)