THE SPORTING SCENE

Freshman teams usually complain that they don't receive enough mention in the sports pages because of all the attention paid to the varsity squads. This year's Yardling basketball team is no different from the rest, but it certainly has greater cause for complaint. For the H.A.A.'s musty record books going back as far as 1920 show that this freshman quintet in the best in College history, both in the number of games won and in the total won and-lost record.

By trouncing Yale for the first time in three years, 57 to 44, at New Haven Saturday night. Coach Floyd Wilson's team ended the season with 15 victories and only one defeat. This tons the 13 and 2 mark set during the 1930's by a team under Adolph Samborski and approached by the '34 Yardlings' 14 and 3 record

Comparing last year's quintet with the '55 team. Wilson stated that his present squad has the edge in more than just its record Each of the first five players on the starting team this season has scored over ten points in at least one game providing the vital balance which the coach thinks was lacking in last year's group.

An even more important difference between the two teams is the defensive ability of the fast '55 squad, which held its opponents to a 48.6 points-per-game average, while scoring over 60 itself. Wilson admits that this year's team did not play Boston College and Holy Cross, which last year's Yardlings lost to, but he feels that the present squad played well enough against its stronger opponents to justify being rated above the '54 team.

Manning Best Prospect

As for next year's prospects, Dick Manning, the six foot, four inch center, probably has the best chance among the freshmen to start on the varsity. Wilson completely revamped Manning's game this fall, teaching him to shoot from the outside instead of from the pivot where he played in high school. Manning's greatest ability lies in his rebounding, as shown by the fact that he took the ball off the boards 193 times this season in 16 games, several of them against taller opponents.

The second excellent varsity candidate is Paul Shaw, six foot, three inch guard who led the Yardlings in scoring with 201 points. Shaw owns a deadly overhead set shot, which he mixes with some clownish antics on the court.

Two other freshmen, Captain Rollin Perry and Harry Sacks, also scored over 100 points this year. Sacks made only ten points less than Shaw during the season, hitting frequently from the pivot position.

The fifth starter, Roger Bulger, specialized on defense, guarding against fast breaks. His two-handed set shooting was probably the sharpest on the team. Besides these five, Lee Hurd, Dan Mayers, and Ken Woodman will also be out to make the varsity next year.

Wilson is the kind of coach who picks his first five men at the beginning of the season and sticks with them afterwards. Despite the poor playing of Manning at the first of the year, the coach kept him in the lineup until he finally came through. Bulger and Sacks also started slowly, while Perry and Shaw were scoring at a 12-point clip early in the season. The latter two slowed down halfway through the schedule, however, and Bulger and Sacks began to lead the team in scoring in the last few games.

Wilson's team's record this year is the best in the three seasons he has coached the freshmen, but his other two years were no shame either. Since being signed as Norm Shepard's assistant in 1949, he has piled up 41 victories against only eight losses. But he's still aiming for that perfect season, one he missed this year with a loss to Brown in the second game of the season.