Picked for the Pros

All through the first half of the game at Manhattan's Madison Square Garden the Holy Cross Crusaders kept the crowd on edge. They were running away from favored San Francisco; the semifinals promised to produce the biggest upset of the Eastern College Athletic Conference basketball festival. Sideline experts had the answer as usual: San Francisco Coach Phil Woolpert was giving the championship away, they said. It was a mistake to let the Dons' big (6 ft. 10 in.) center. Bill Russell (TIME, Jan. 2), cover Tommy Heinsohn. The Crusader ace was popping shots from the outside, pulling Bill away from the backboard where he could put his height to work.

In the game-wise crowd, only the pro basketball scouts were too busy to bother with second-guessing. Even when the Dons came back to break up the ball game 67-51, the scouts hardly glanced at the Scoreboard. They were unconcerned with winning teams; they watched individuals, sized them up carefully, calculated who were the potential pros. Some conclusions:

San Francisco's RUSSELL has a lot to learn, but he has the makings of a great pivot man. Like most big men, he can be expected to go on improving for years after he starts playing for pay. In the process he will have to develop a variety of offensive skills: hooks and jump shots from close in, set shots from outside, driving lay-ups from the give-and-go. Pro teams have more than enough men who match Russell in height and they would chop him to size if he stuck to playing off the boards. For all his faults, though, big Bill got up to score so often, reached his long arm out of the pack to block so many sure Holy Cross field goals, that at least one spectator watching Bill for the first time shook his head in wonder. Said Eddie Gottlieb, owner of the Philadelphia Warriors, ex-coach and player, and 30-year veteran of professional basketball: "You'd have to take him if you could get him. Otherwise, he'd be sure to cause you trouble."

Holy Cross's HEINSOHN (6 ft. 7 in.) and San Francisco's K. C. JONES (6 ft. 2 in.) both have the skill to make the pros as backcourt operators. They both showed that they know the game well enough to run their teams with the authority of a good football quarterback. Both are good outside shots, sure enough so that their guards do not dare drop back to clog up the keyhole (free-throw lane). They pass well enough to set up plays, can drive on the give-and-go. Heinsohn also has the height to move up court as a corner man (pro term for a collegiate forward). Ability to take it in the rebounding melee is all-important; the rugged pros play a long schedule, combining the equivalent of three college years in one season.

To the Madison Square Garden crowd, the other semifinal was a dull affair. A fast and tireless U.C.L.A. squad ran undermanned Duquesne ragged, 72-57. But Old Pro Gottlieb was impressed. Duquesne's SIHUGO GREEN (6 ft. 2 1/2 in.) may have looked sadly ineffective to the spectators, but as Gottlieb saw it, he would never be forced to play center and carry a weak team all by himself in the pros. His cool skill would make him an ideal backcourt man. He knows how to shoot from anywhere in range, and when he sets up plays, he never throws the ball away. He is fast and tricky, cute enough to hold his own with big men under the boards.

U.C.L.A.'s WILLIE NAULLS (6 ft. 5 in.) was another impressive surprise. Built like a fullback, he bounced up and down court with inexhaustible energy. His wide variety of shots floated to the baskets with a sure, scoring touch. In the tournament final, while he and his teammates were taking a whipping from the Dons, 70-53, Willie showed enough class to outscore Bill Russell, 19-17.

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