Evening star., 1961-03-06
Bearcats Look
Like Top Bar
Ohio State
Nine or 10 Spots
Still to Be Filled
For tournaments
By the Associated Press

Ohio State has a 28-game
winning streak going, counting
five at the end of last season.
Cincinnati, recovering from the
loss by graduation of Oscar
Robertson, has won 18 straight
and acts as if it has no idea
of quitting.
Both of the Ohio teams
clinched undiSputed conference
championships over the week
end, officially qualifying for
spots in the NCAA champion
ships. The draw puts them in
opposite brackets, meaning
that if they can keep winning
their streaks won't collide until
the tournament final at Kan
Sas City March Is.
Fields Almost Complete
The fields for the two big
post-season eventS-the NCAA,
the official college title tour
nament, and the National In
vitation Tournament opening
March 16. at Madison Square
Garden-are almost complete,
but not quite.
At least seven and possibly
eight teams are yet to be de-
Itermined for the sprawling
NCAA, which gets its regional
Examinations under way March
IA.
The NIT, which today tapped
Holy Cross Q8-4), still has to
choose two more teams.
In the NCAA, playoffs are
necessary to resolve ties in
three conference.-the South
eastern, Ohio Valley and Sky
line-while incomplete sched-
uleS could still determine the
issue in the Border and West
Coast Athletic conferences.
Also, the NCAA has spots for
two and possibly three teams
to be selected at large.
One certainty for the NIT is
Bradley, the defending cham
pion, which was knocked out of
a possible tie for the Missouri
Valley Conference title Satur-
day when beaten by St. Louis,
1868. The Skyline Conference
runnerup, either Utah or Colo
RADIO State, will get the other
bid.
Decision Due Saturday
Already in the NIT in addi-
ton to Holy Cross are Mem
phis State, Providence. DePaul,
Detroit. Army, Miami CFls),
Dayton. Temple and Niagara.
The NIT must wait until next
Saturday for its Skyline repre-
sentative. That's when Utah
and Colorado State meet at
Provo. Utah, in playoff for
the conference title and at
tendant NCAA berth. Colorado
State U. forced the playoff by
upsetting Utah Saturday night,
50-49.
Eastern Kentucky's 67-54 up
set of Morehead tossed the Ohio
Valley race into a three-way
Snarl which must be unravelled
by playoff. Eastern and More
head play again tonight, the
winner meeting Western Ken
lucky Wednesday for the cham
pionship.
Kentucky and Vanderbilt
clash Thursday night at Knox
vile to determine which car
ries the Southeastern Confer
ence banner into the NCAA.
They tied for second place be-
hind Mississippi State. which is
passing up the tournament be-
cause of an unwritten State
law against competition with
Negroes.
Loyola can clinch the West
Coast Athletic Conference title
by beating Pepperdine tomor-
row. New Mexico State can tie
Arizona State U. for the Bor-
der Conference title by beating
Hardin-Simmons tonight.
Two Surprise Additions
Ohio State won the Big Ten
championship by beating Mich
igan State. 91-83, while its
chief challenger, Iowa, fell be-
fore Indiana, 1859. The Buck
eyes have only one more game
at Illinois Saturday. If they
win as expected, they will be-
come one of the rare teams to
go through a regular campaign
without a blemish. North Caro-
lima did it in 1857 and went on
to win the NCAA.
Cincinnati's 18th straight
victim was Marshall, 69-57,
and this also was the Bearcats'
23d victory in 26 games.
There were at least two sur
prise additions to the NCAA
list over the week end, both
the result of tournament VIC
tories. George Washington, a
team which had els regular
season record, climaxed a
tnree-game sweep through the
Southern Conference tourna-
ment by beating William and
Mary, 1892, in the final. Wake
Forest. beaten 10 times, routed
Duke. 96-81, for the Atlantic
Coast Conference title.
Princeton gained an NCAA
| tournament berth nv heating