rack
To
Coach
By DAVE ANDREWS
owing the most disastrous
t in history, Michigan's bas-
1 team will return to the
for the 1960-61 season with
look and renewed hopes un-
he youthful leadership of
Strack.
ack, who was an assistant
his predecessor, Bill Perigo,
two years ago, returns to
gan after a year as head
at the University of Idaho.
eam he inherits won but four
games overall and only one
Big Ten, but all is not lost.
greeting him this fall will
e largest group of lettermen
:ent school history, including
gan's latest bonafide candi-
for All - American honors,
captain John Tidwell, and
est group of sophomore pros-
pects since the days of M. C. Bur-
ton and George Lee.
Eyes Gleam
Strack's eyes gleamed when Tid-
well's name came up last spring.
"John is one of the finest basket-
ball players in the country," he
commented, and Tidwell's feats
with a basketball back up the new
coach's comment.
Last year as a junior, playing
at either guard or forward, Tidwell
,broke Burton's single season scor-
ing record by flipping in 526 points
for a 21.6 average. This came in
the face of hurried and difficult
shots forced by the constant
double teaming of the opposition.
His big night gave the Wolver-
ines their only Conference win of
the year. Using his unorthodox
one-handed jump shot and his
cat like drives to full advantage,
Tidwell netted 41 points to snap
the Yost Field House and the1
Michigan scoring records for one
game as the Wolverines upset
Michigan State 72-65.{
Rebuilding Job
However in a Conference fea-
turing high caliber basketball, one#
man teams don't win many games.!
And while Strack has centered his
plans around the Herrin, Ill. sen-
ior, he is faced with a rebuilding
job of monstrous proportions.
The biggest current problems
will be with size, or rather the
lack of it, and with inexperience.
The team loses only two members,
through graduation, Captain Terry
Miller and rugged center Lovell;
Farris, but the remaining group
has had little playing time. The'
exceptions being Bob Brown and
Jon Hall. Both played the better
part of the Conference schedule.
"Our success will probably de-
pend on how quickly the sopho-
mores can develop into respectable
Big Ten ball players," Strack ob-
served last spring.
Could Win
Michigan's prospects for a win-
ning season could skyrocket if
either Tom Cole, 6'71%", from
Springfield, Ill., Don Petroff, 6'4",
from East Detroit, or Jim Ludwig,
6'5", from Ste Sault Marie rounds
into i respectable 'pivotman or
forward.
With Brown, a burly 6'3", and
the return of Scotty Maentz, 6'3",
and Dick Weyer, 6'6", the Wol-
verines could present a front line
with rebounding possibilities of
Big Ten potential.
Brown, one he found his "bas-
ketball legs" following the football
season, was a tower of strength
under the boards late in the year.
Maentz and Meyer showed up well
early last year, but both were lost
for the major part of the Big Ten
schedule; Maentz academically in-
eligible and Meyer with illness.
If the big men from the sopho-
more group come through, the
back court will probably be han-
dled by a trio of returning letter-
men (Tidwell, Jon Hall and Dick
Clark) with a couple of promising
sophs pushing for an opportunity.
Clark played the first half of the
season but he too was lost for the
second half of the season with
illness and Hall took over.
illness and Hall took over. Little
Tom Eveland, son of former Mich-
igan basketball captain DeForest
Eveland, and Rod Linder, a trans-
fer from Clemson, both have fine
outside shots and could possibly
crack the starting five.
Lettermen Dick Donley, Chuck
Higgs, Steve Schoenherr and re-
serve Paul Sangster will also be
available, but here again they will
be hampered by lack of experi-
ence.
L' SQUEEZE-Michigan's Captain and leading scorer John
1 dribbles around a defender. The Herrin, Ill., senior was
ie bright spot last winter as Michigan stumbled through the
basketball season in its history.
ANN
ARBOR
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