Lining Them Up

Coach Wes Fesler's high flying but underrated basketball team in only six games so far this season boasts as many victories as last year's squad collected all year in the same number of contests.

Five victories and one defeat have already been chalked up, which surpasses all recent Crimson hoop marks except the one garnered by the 1937-38 team which won all its home games and ended up in second place in the league. Although the present team already has blown its chances of equalling this record by means of an affair with the Big Green on January 10, it is a better team. Coach Wes Fesler himself believes this. By that he means that Captain Franny Simpson and his cohorts display better all-round team play than their larger predecessors.

Certain rather Imposing obstacles such as lack of height and stellar opposition do little to help the Crimson's cause. From the very start, Coach Fesler has stacked his chip on a fast-breaking passing offense combined with a big bag of sure-fire plays to make up for the lack of court giants.

Armed with this technique and knowing full well that it has to fight doubly hard to get possession of the ball, the present quintet has already surprised taller opposition like Brown. In fact, the Crimson team, although the smallest in the league, may well be counted on to provide more than its share of upsets in the eleven remaining league encounters.

For almost a month now, the Feslermen have been enjoying a prolonged vacation from game play, although informal practice has been held every day in the indoor Athletic Building. The contest with Tufts tomorrow at Medford will serve partially to help smooth over the rough spots which are expected to result from such a long layoff.

The team's improvement as a whole over that of last year is largely due to the individual improvement of every member of the squad. Orchids in this department go to scrappy little Bill Webber, who in one year, has jumped from an obscure second-stringer to a consistent scoring threat.

But perhaps the largest individual reason for the team's success as a whole is Captain Franny Simpson. Although not a high scorer, his steadiness and coolness in play, which has marked his rapid rise from the Jayvees, has also gone toward making him one of the best Crimson court captains in recent years.

Others who have shown a marked improvement over last year are Ed Rothschild, Homer Peabody, and Joe Romano. Rothschild, the only first stringer over the six-foot mark, was just another member of the squad last year. He is now a permanent fixture, having started every game thus far. Peabody, who also adds needed height, did not even play Varsity basketball last year, while Joe Romano was a second string guard.

The Crimson scoring machine, new under the capable leadership of Ed Buckley, Bud Finegan, and Joe Romano, seems destined to break all of last year's marks. In only six games to date, Buckley has grabbed 71 points, Finegan 53, and Romano 42.

Buckley, the flashiest Feslerman, always seems to be right at the top when it comes to scoring points, but he will have to sink quite a few baskets if he is going to equal or surpass his feat of trailing only Broberg and Bennett last year for top scoring honors in the Eastern Intercollegiate League.

Finegan, a former all-scholastic guard, can always be counted on to play a stellar game getting rebounds off the backboard. But he is not content with doing only this. He is also a consistent scorer, trailing only his guardmate Buckley in the field.

In addition to Senior's Simpson and Peabody, Coach Fesler can call on either Don McSweeney of Bob James to fill in capably when the going gets tough. However, the Junior class continues to hold practically a monopoly on the squad with Dick Craig and Bill Webber an rather potent substitutes.

The Sophomore members of the basketball elite comprise practically all of last year's Freshman team. Such keen-eyed sharpshooters as Charley Royer, Jack Clarke, Al Reade, Art Scully, and lanky Larry Hall round out a well balanced squad.