Evening star., 1955-03-07
West Virginia
Tests Defending
Champ in NCAA
Duke and ViIIunovu
Meet in New York
Openers Tomorrow
BY the Associoted Press

BY the Assoeiotsd Press
College conference basketball
championships have been de-
cided everywhere except in the
Ivy League. and the teams now
move ahead into the serious
business of the NCAA and NIT
tournaments.
The NCAA goes into its
preliminary rounds tomorrow
night at four different spots
with the following schedule:
At New Williams, New
England representative. VS.. Cant
sius; Duke, Atlantic Coast Con-
ference representative North
Carolina State, the winner. is
ineligible), VS.. Villanova, and
defending champion LaSalle VS..
West Virginia, Southern Confer
ence titlist.
At Lexington, Ky.-Miami of
Ohio, Mid-American Conference
champion. VS.. Marquette. and
Penn State VS.. Memphis State.
Texans Meet San Francisco.
At San Francisco - Idaho
State, Rocky Mountain Confer
ence champion, VS.. Seattle and
San Francisco, the No. / team in
the Associated Press poll, VS..
West Texas. which got the Bor-
der Conference bid on the toss of
coin after tying with Texas
Tech for the title.
At Oklahoma City-Oklahoma
City U. VS.. Bradley.
All the winners go on to the
second round Friday, which also
will be contested at four sites.
At that time. the eight confer
ence champions that drew first
round byes also swing into ac-
ton. These games will be played
at Philadelphia. Evanston, ILL.,;
Manhattan, Kans., and Corvallis,
Greg.
Fridays winners meet Satur-
day. with the four victors then
going to the national semif1nals
and finals in Kansas City March
1919.
NIT to Open Saturday.
The National Invitation Tour
nament will be in competition
with the NCAA Saturday with
two double-header sessions
Manhattan VS.. Louisville. La
fayette VS.. Niagara, Seton Hall
VS.. St. Francis of Loretto, Pa,
and Connecticut VS.. St. Louis.
The four seeded teams-de-
Tending champion Holy Cross,
Duquesne, Dayton and Cincin-
nati-move into action Monday
and Tuesday against the pre-
liminary winners.
The Ivy League champion,
which plays the West Virginia
LaSalle winner Friday night in
Philadelphia, will be decided by
Wednesday at the latest. This
is the most complicated situa-
ton since the Ivies began keep
ing records back in 1902.
Here's the setup:
Princeton, second in the league
with ga record, closes its regu-
lar season schedule against
Brown in the first game of an
unusual double-header at Prince
ton tonight. Columbia and Penn,
which finished in a tie for first
with 1914 records, clash in the
second game.
Title PlayOff Expected.
If Princeton loses, the night
cap will be for the championship.
But Princeton is a strong favor
ite to whip Brown, and if the
Tigers do win, they'll meet the
second-game winner Wednesday
night on neutral court for the
title.
Until yesterday, the Missouri
Valley Conference had the key to
a spot in both the NCAA and
NIT. The race wound up in a tie
between st. Louis and Tulsa.
The winner of a playoff was to
play in the NCAA and the run
nerup in NIT. So they solved it
by a conference committee vote.
Tulsa got the NCAA spot and St.
Louis the MT.
In addition to the upcoming
NCAA and NIT tournaments,
there's the 32-team NAIA tour
nament (small colleges) getting
under way today in Kansas City.
This is a real marathon and
there never is a favorite. Last
years winner, st. Benedict's of
Atchison, kanS., didn't even
qualify this time.
Kentucky Clinches Title.
The last night of the regular
season - last Saturday - pro-
duced five conference champions
and several upsets. Kentucky
had to 60 right down to the
final game to clinch the South
(See BASKETBALL, Page AID
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