National Upsets

A lot of other things were unsure in the winter of 1948-49, but most U.S. basketball fans thought they knew one thing for a fact: the two best teams in the country were Kentucky and St. Louis. Their meeting in the finals of the National Invitation Tournament in Madison Square Garden was to be the big climax of the season. Last week the big moment came, but neither Kentucky nor St. Louis was there to meet it. In the biggest double upset of the season they had been knocked out of the championship class.

Boot for the Billikens. Top-seeded, top-ranking Kentucky lost (67-56) to its first tournament opponent, a husky Loyola University (of Chicago) team that had not even been seeded. The fans had the unusual sight of a veteran team losing its poise. Two of Kentucky's three all-Americas (Alex Groza and Wah Wah Jones) left the game on fouls; only little Ralph Beard played up to his press clippings.

Second-seeded St. Louis, the only other team to have beaten Kentucky this year, did no better. Bowling Green booted the Billikens out, 80-74.

Loyola and San Francisco University hadn't quite counted on staying around for the finals. Admitted Loyola Coach Tom Haggerty: "None of us brought enough shirts." But by the end of the week, there they were, on top of the tournament. Loyola had taken the measure of C.C.N.Y. (62-47) and Bradley University (55-5O) as well as of Kentucky. Meanwhile, San Francisco's Dons, also an unheralded lot, had beaten Manhattan (68-43), Utah (64-63) and Bowling Green (49-39)Towels & Value. On the night of the finals, 18,297 crowded into the Garden, hoping for a scoring duel between brawny, 6-ft.-6-in. Jack Kerris of Loyola and skinny, 6-ft.-6-in. Don Lofgran of the Dons. Loyola had brought a large cheering section from Chicago. The San Francisco delegation, led by stocky Mayor Elmer E. Robinson, was much smaller; but at the last minute several hundred Bowling Green rooters turned themselves into an unofficial claque for the Dons.

Both teams played cautiously at first. With Don Lofgran sinking a succession of rebounds, San Francisco went ahead. By half time, the Dons were leading 27-19, and Lofgran had scored 17 points. Kerris, forced from his favorite under-the-basket spot by good San Francisco defensive tactics, had sunk only three.

Then it was Loyola's turn for a while. With Forward Ralph Klaerich doing most of their scoring, they brought the game to a 47-47 tie with less than a minute to go. On the bench, the Dons' 33-year-old coach, Pete Newell, chewed on a crumpled towel.

The break came with 43 seconds to play: a free throw for the Dons. It looped through. The Dons froze the ball, iced the 1949 National Invitation Championship, 48-47. Most valuable player of the tournament (picked by N.I.T. judges): San Francisco's Lofgran.

Basketballs kept bouncing briskly in other major tournaments last week.

In the National A.A.U. tournament at Oklahoma City, the underdog Oakland (Calif.) Bittners toppled Bob ("Foothills") Kurland and his Olympic teammates of the Bartlesville (Okla.) Phillips Oilers, 55-51, ended the Oilers' unbroken championship reign after six straight years. In the Western finals of the N.C.A.A. at Kansas City, Oklahoma A. & M.'s ball-control specialists outplayed Oregon State, 55-30, got set for the national finals in Seattle late this week.

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