Evening star., 1953-12-14
Three Top 0uintets
Are Rolling, but Irish
Test Hoosiers Tonight
sy the Assoe;o,ed Pres.

many upSetS and some dlSap-
pointmentS during the young
basketball season, Indiana, Ken
lucky andl Duquesne, the three
teams rated at the top of the
heap before operations began
have showed no cause for con-
Germ
The three have won nine
games among them, and all
swing back into action tonight.
Indiana, with three straight
triumphs, seems to be in the
most danger, although it is play
ing at home. The Hoosiers, de-
Tending NCAA champions. meet
Notre Dame, which has looked
good in three encounters so far.
Indiana also plays Montana dur
ing the week.
Kentucky Faces DeacOns.
Kentucky, playing again after
a years layoff, has won its only
two starts and goes. against
Wake Forest. an outfit that sur
prised by winning the Southern
Conference title last year.
Adolph Rupp's team should win
as it pleases. Wake Forest lost
to Pitt and Bradley over the
week end.
Duquesne. pride of the East,
shows record of four victories.
Its opponent is Carnegie Tech,
a team that even Coach Dudley
Moore admits his charges should
beat. On Thursday, though, the
Iron Dukes play st. Louis, which
could give them more than a
workout. st. Louis also plays
Kentucky Friday.
In fact, with the season barely
under way, Duquesne already
has won tournament. Moore'S
outfit captured the Steel Bowl
championship by beating Pitt
in the final Saturday night,
74-43, holding the Panthers to
just three points in the third
period * -
II never saw anything like it" /"
Moore said. Il was absolutely
entertained"
Other Leaders Have Trouble.
The teams ranked right below
the top three in the Associated
Press preseason poll are having
their troubles. Oklahoma A8SM,
No. 4, has won four and lost one,
and tonight it must play a return
date with Colorado, which it de-
feated, 1885, Saturday after
coming from behind in the final
period.
There isn't an undefeated team
in the Missouri Valley Confer
ence. where Oklahoma AS5M
plays its championship games.
Two games do not make a sea-
son, of course, but who would
have guessed that Kansas would
lose its first two contests? To
date, the .Jayhawks haven won
game and have taken it on
the chin from Tulane and
Louisiana State on a Southern
trip. They return home this
week and play Tulsa Wednesday.
That will be as good time as
any to start living up to their
mo. S preseason ranking.
Big Ten Shows Way.
Actually, the Big Ten seems
to be showing the way this sea-
son. Only two of its members
Iowa and Northwestern-have
been beaten. Indiana, the IA
vorite to win its second straight
title, clubbed Butler, 1851, Sat-
urday with its regulars playing
only half the game.
Illinois, which the experts see
as the main threat to Indiana,
also looked impressive in thrash
ing Alabama, 77-54. The Illini,
another good defensive outfit,
permitted Alabama to score only
four points during the second
period.
The Southwest Conference is
having it's troubles in intersec-
tional competition, and only
Rice. which has played all its
games at home, remains in the
undefeated class.
On the West Coast, Oregon
State, California and UCLA still
are rolling along. The Southern
Division championship could be
decided later in the season in
the two California -UCLA games.
Oregon State will get its big
tests in two games against Indi-
ana a week hence.
California upped its stock con-
siderably Saturday by turning
back Santa Clara, one of the
better coast teams, $3.50, while
UCLA whipped Arizona. 84-48,
and Oregon State turned back
Portland, 84-65.
With LaSalle's 74-66 defeat at
the hands of Niagara, Fordham
appears to be Duquesne's main
rival for Eastern supremacy. The
Rams vanquiShed Princeton,