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The National Basketball Report, Vol 2, Issue 12: Thou Shall Not Repeat


The National Basketball Report: March 26, 1955
Where we find out things are as we thought, but not quite...

The King is dead. Long live the King.


The King is dead.


Long live the new King.


The La Salle Explorers made sure there would be no total defense of the NCAA crown this season, by knocking off the Kansas Jayhawks, 81-72. In this undoubted upset, it was not the final score that was shocking. Rather, it was the manner by which it was achieved.


The game, high-scoring from the start, saw La Salle turn a 12-8 lead at the 15:00 mark into a 33-19 lead at the 10:00 mark. The score was 48-28 at the half.


"(La Salle) could not miss," said Timofei Malakhov, who scored 22 points, with seven rebounds and six assists, in his final collegiate game. "For once, we could not keep up with an offense. It was humbling."


"We got into a rhythm, and we know what can happen when we do," said La Salle post star Timmy McSwain, who led La Salle with 20 points and eight rebounds. "We thought we could beat them. It doesn't matter what kind of trophies they have...if you don't think you can beat the person across from you, why get your shoes on?"


The Explorers (24-7) shot an outstanding 56% from the field, and an additional 25-36 from the line. Kansas (28-3) made several attempts to get back into the game. However, it seemed as though each time they would get back to within six or seven, the Explorers had an answer, whether a McSwain basket inside, or a jump shot from guard Andrew Moreno (15 points, 5-7 shooting), or a well-placed pass by William Perrotta (six points, seven assists).


That they did it without potential National Freshman of the Year, Cam Perry, is even more amazing.


Henry McNair had 15 points and 10 assists in a supporting role for Malakhov, but they got little help elsewhere. Earle Maldonaldo was 4-13 from the field, while Chris Seay had just six points on 3-8 shooting. They also committed 25 team fouls, and were out-rebounded 38-31.


"Getting outrebounded seems difficult for us, with our size," said Kansas coach Dave Keene afterwards. "You have to hand a lot of it to that other locker room. That McSwain is as good as they could.


"I will tell you, we got outhustled by that Philly team tonight. That should never happen to a Kansas team. It happened tonight."


The Explorers, now the tournament's surprise entrant into the regional finals. However, in an effort to, perhaps, pat ourselves on the back, we offer this, stated in our NCAA Preview issue:


21. La Salle

Why They Will Win: The Twin Towers, 6'10 McSwain and 6'10 Davies, are a start. Freshman Cam Perry and senior Andy Moreno forming a top-flight backcourt is another reason. Their bench, while not as talented as others, is young has has the potential to play above the beyond expectations. They are effective on both offense and defense.

Why They Won't: Nothing they do truly sticks out. They are one of those teams who, in close games, just had it go their way. They feel as though they could easily be 15-14 as they are 22-7. They could get by Louisville, but how will the Explorers navigate past Kansas? If they do, somehow, they could be the team who crashes the national semifinals.


The party-crashers will get San Francisco (28-4) in the Midwest final. They blitzed Cincinnati in the second half, forcing the Bearcats (20-11) into 41% shooting from the field, as well as 28 turnovers. Perry Wilson had 16 points.


The big story in this game, though, was the loss of super sophomore guard Stephen Ferrari. He was hit early in the game, hurting his back. He is bed-ridden, likely to miss the rest of the postseason.


"Sure, (losing Ferrari) hurts," said Dons head coach William Mays. "Losing anybody hurts. But go ask La Salle if they rolled over (when they lost Perry). There is still a locker room of young men that came here to be their best, and that's what we're going to be."


Ernie Paiz scored 16 for the Bearcats, who got further than most thought they would. That includes this publication.


In an early view of that game, it is hard to go against La Salle, given that Ferrari is out. The Explorers are far more skilled at the guard position than the Bearcats, and the Dons will have far more difficulty getting to the national semifinals without their young star. There is a chance, of course...San Francisco plays exceptional defense. But McSwain is the best big man they have played this year, and he will put an incredible strain on Wilson. If La Salle can make the San Fran Big Man work hard on the defensive end (where he excels), it will stunt their offense.


Meanwhile, it was as expected (as we expected) everywhere else. North Carolina State and West Virginia rolled to victories in the South, setting up a matchup of two of the nation's top overall teams. The Wolfpack, though, suffered a major setback. They lost backup shooting guard, Garry Sarmiento, for the rest of the postseason. This is devastating because, well, they don't have another shooting guard on the roster. Sure, junior Brady Rogers got the start in NC State's 72-62 win over Dayton (23-7), and he played fantastic, scoring 22 and registering 10 rebounds. But he is, by all accounts, a lead guard first (though he didn't register an assist). It will be up to Boyd Walley, Eddie Henry, and Angelo Parham to see the Wolfpack (29-6) through to national semifinals.


That will be difficult against the Mountaineers, even though NC State has excelled through several key injuries throughout the season. West Virginia (34-2) simply took Duquesne (25-6) behind the woodshed. They led 43-20 at the half, and held the Dukes to 41% shooting, 20 turnovers, and caused thirty fouls in the 85-56 win. Even with porous foul shooting--the two teams combined to shoot 23-43 from the not-so-charitable stripe), the Mountaineers were every bit king of this hill. Elias France scored 22, while Joe Jenkins scored 11 and nabbed 11 rebounds. They also held Duquesne's storied backcourt of Granger-Hinkley-Garrick to 22 points, on 11-30 shooting. For Granger and Garrick, it was a deflating way to end their illustrious careers, after getting to the title game a year ago. However, they were quick to praise their opponent.


"That is as tough a team as we have ever faced," said Granger. "They are quality, all the way."


In the end, even with a full side, we found difficulty in picking NC State past the Mountaineers. That feeling only strengthens with the short bench. We believe West Virginia may run away with this one, and not look back. The problem for NC State is that West Virginia thrives in both the fast and slow game. Trying to shorten the game does nothing for the Wolfpack, because the Mountaineers are so good defensively. It will take an absolute crackerjack effort by the Wolfpack to get this done.


The East, meanwhile, also went as expected. We said Bradley would out-ugly Temple, and they did just that. And we said Kentucky's experience, and offense, would see them through. Despite North Carolina taking a whopping eighty-one shots, they fell, 76-70 to the Wildcats. Murray Dodd scored 20 for Kentucky (26-5), while David Cohen scored 13 and took 16 rebounds. Kentucky gained their edge from the free throw line, where they shot 22-29. North Carolina was 8-12, which caused some grumbling out of their locker room after the game. But the proof is in the puddling. The Tar Heels played like their hair was on fire, throwing up wild shots at times. They played aggressively, especially late when they tried to get back into it. But Kentucky was too fluid on offense.


Bradley will provide a challenge Kentucky has not seen for some time, one with a well-rounded roster that can dictate the game from a defensive standpoint. This is one game in which the tempo is key. It does not favor the Bluegrassians. Bradley has been the best team to generate no conversation all season, and that is a shame. They can beat the Wildcats with their B- game, in our view, because they are that good on defense. We would expect Antonia Dabney and company to perform better, of course.


This brings us to the West, where a bittersweet result was almost sullied by two upstarts. Idaho State made Indiana work throughout, but the Hoosiers, and Enoch Horn, were eventually too much for the Bengals to handle. Indiana won in a deceivingly-close 81-77 game. The Hoosiers (32-1) led by double-digits for most of the game, before Idaho State (24-7) closed late.


That brings us to Horn. The much-discussed junior college product started slow this season, but is closing at breakneck speed. He scored 32 and registered 11 rebounds to pace Indiana. Make no mistake: This is his team now. It was always going to be, but now, it unquestionably is.


Idaho State, who probably would have been here last year had it not been for an injury to star guard Robin Revell, got 17 and eight assists from their guard. David Calvert (18-7-4) will be very difficult to replace next season, and Bengals fans have no reason to hold their head in shame. This team will be held in the annals as arguably the best team Idaho State sees for quite some time.


Indiana will get Kansas State in the regional final. This outcome was in doubt, namely, because of California. The Pacific Coast champions used a late first-half run to grab a 43-35 lead at the break. And, when Kansas State started to assert themselves in the second half, the Bears did not hibernate. Unfortunately for Cal fans, the Bears simply could not grab the lead back in the final fifteen minutes. Kansas State held it like a carrot on a string, pulling away a bit more when the Bears would get too close.


The final score, 78-75, almost seems too big.


David Gunter's 23, on 10-14 shooting, paced the Wildcats (28-3), while Kendrick Stone offered 14 and 11 rebounds. For Cal, we said that Tony Eyre would be called upon to pick up some of the scoring slack, in the wake of Manny Barnard's injury. Eyre more than answered that call, leading the way with a career-high 22. Unfortunately, he also registered four turnovers, including a couple key ones late that sealed things for Kansas State.


We said this before, and we'll say it again. It is without reason that Indiana and Kansas State shall meet here. It is an absurd result, a most unfortunate circumstance. While assumptions cannot be made, the game of college basketball would have been helped considerably by these two playing on a national stage. As it is, while the other contenders will be as worthy, it is the fans on the West Coast who will get the greatest treasure in this next round. These were, in our view, the two best teams in the country at the start of the year, and we felt that way going into the tournament. We still like Kansas State, because we're stubborn.


The truth is, neither team should be viewed as anything less than title-worthy if they lose here, and we are all better for seeing these two teams get to play each other.


We just wish it were in two games...not tomorrow.


Our final predictions:
West: Kansas State over Indiana
Midwest: La Salle over San Francisco
South: West Virginia over NC State
East: Bradley over Kentucky
(Bradley vs La Salle, WVU vs K-State in the national semifinals)