GE TEN
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wolverine Cagers Only Sport
To Fail in Quest of Big Ten Cr
By BILL MULLENDOIIE
1943-44 was just another year as
far as Michigan basketball was con-
cerned as Coach Bennie Oosterbann's
charges finished the season with an
over-all record of eight wins and
nine losses and a Western Confer-
ence total of five victories in 12
starts, good for sixth place in the
standings.
Thus, the cagers became the only
winter sports aggregation which
failed to bring home a Big Ten title
and may very easily become the only
team during the '43-44 season to fail
in Conference play as the baseball,
outdoor track, tennis and golf squads
head for titular laurels this spring.
Michigan Gets Off to Bad Start
Michigan opened the campaign
with the brightest prospects in years
as a Navy-laden squad was estab-
lished as one of the Big Ten favorites
in pre-season dope. However, the
Wolverines got off to a bad start and
by the time they straightened out,
any chance for a championship was
lost.
The hopes of the Maize and Blue
fans for a winning team after several
years of wandering around in the
waste lands of defeat were buoyed
considerably as Oosterbaan's squad
defeated its first two opponents, Cen-
tral Michigan and Romulus Air Base,
by overwhelming scores.
The third contest of the season
provided a few more thrills as a
fighting Fort Custer quintet gave
Michigan a fright before succumb-
ing, 46-44. With a perfect record of
three wins in as many outings, the
Wolverines went confidently into a
two-game series with a powerful
Western Michigan quintet and were
humbled in both tilts, 48-38 and
57-50.
The second game of this series
brought out the fighting qualities
which distinguished the Maize and
Blue five all season as it came from
behind in the final seconds to knot
the count and force the game into
overtime. It also saw the birth of
diminutive Tommy King as Michi-
gan's leading scorer as he pumped in
13 points.
Wildcats Beat Michigan 57-47.
The Western Conference opener
saw a highly-touted Northwestern
five invade Ann Arbor and leave
with a 57-47 victory despite a re-
markable 24-point splurge "by King in
one of the finest individual perfor-
mances ever seen on a Michigan
court. Elroy Hirsch played his first
game as regular center in this tilt
and brought much acclaim .for his
aggressive backboard tactics.
The following night the Wolverines
played host to Illinois, Conference
champs of the previous season, and
humbled the "Gee Whiz Kids" 52-45
for an upset win in a see-saw battle.
King continued to set the pace with
16 markers.
Teact
own
Following the even break in the
opening week-end of Big Ten play,
Michigan trekked to Wisconsin for a
two-game series and proceeded to
drop both contests, 50-41 and 42-31.
In these tilts it was the play of de-
pendable Dave Strack which stood
out although he worked for a lost
cause.
The next week-end, the Wolverines
entrained for Purdue and another
two-game duel. The first contest
went into overtime before the Boiler-
makers eked out a 46-44 triumph.
Strack hung up 19 points in this
affair. In the second tilt Purdue
finally found its vaunted power to
coast to an easy 51-35 win.
Michigan came home for its next
two contests, meeting Ohio State.
King racked up 27 points .as the
Buckeyes won the first 53-49, and
was effectively stopped in the second
which Ohio State took 51-37.
Wolverines Win Two from Indiana
Against Indiana the following
week-end, the Maize and Blue finally
got back on the victory trail with a
double victory over the Hoosiers, tak-
ing the first game in a walk, 65-49,
with Hirsch getting 22 tallies, and
squeezing through to a 46-44 win in
the second.
The hapless Chicago Maroons were
the Michigan victims in the next
game as the Wolverines poured on a
71-34 drubbing. Oosterbaan's charges
closed the season with a surprise
50-45 upset of Northwestern to av-
enge the earlier trouncing by the
Wildcats.
King finished. in sixth place inI
Conference scoring and was elected
the most valuable player on the
squad. Strack was tenth in the Big
Ten and was named honorary cap-
tain. He also was named by the
Detroit Free Press as the outstanding
basketball player in the state. Hirsch
wound up 13th in scorig.
Crtis8, Wilson,
_ . .t
Garner Firsts in
Big Ten Finals
By HANK MANThO
Qualifying four men in the finalse
and winning a number of runner-up1
positions, thle Michgan wrestling1
team climaxed a highly successfult
season by copping their first Big Tenx
title since 1938, 28-27, as they staved
off Purdue't desper ate bid for the
crown,
When the 1944 edition of the Mich-t
igan mat squad greeted Coach Ray
Courtright on their first day of prac-1
tice, the only two lettermen reportingt
were Johnny Greene, heavyweight,
and Bob Allen, 165-pounder.
However, as the season progressed,
the Maize and Blue squad was bol-
stered by the addition of Jim Galles,
175-pound former Conference cham-
pion, and with the improvement of
Lowell Oberly, Wisconsin transfer,
two untried sophomores, George Cur-
tis and Hugh Wilson, and reserve let-
terman Chip Warrick, Coach Court-
right's squad was gradually rounding
into one of the best balanced and
strongest teams in recent years.
Michigan and Purdue Are Tops
Michigan and Purdue were rated
as the two top teams in the Big Ten
in pre-season dope, and as these two
Goliaths of the mid-west clashed, it
could easily have been a preview of
the Big Ten finals for the crown,
which was to be held later on at Ev-
anston.
Both teams entered the meet with
untarnished slates, but the Wolver-
ines managed to knock the Boiler-
makers off the unbeaten list in a
nip and tuck battle, 17-9.
Michigan started out fast as Bob
Reichert and Bob Gittins registered
victories in the first two matches of
the day, but Dan Nettersheim of
Purdue, wrestling in the 136-pound
bracket, scored a 1-0 decision over
Lowell Oberly, his life-long pal, to
tally the first points fory Purdue.
Chip Warrick then registered three
more points to the Wolverine total
as he decisioned Bob Armstrong.
However, the Boilermakers had a
lot at stake in this meet and they
came back strong to give Michigan a
scare, winning the next two matches
on decisions to knot the count at
nine ally Newt Copple and Jack Shep-
ard of Purdue scored these decisions
over Michigan's George Curtis and
Hugh Wilson at 155 and 165 pounds.
Jim Galles, Wolverine 175-pounder,
then throttled this rally by the des-
perate Boilermakers, as he scored the
only fall of the day over Bruce Porter,
in a match which he had pretty much
his own way; and with the three
_points contributed by Captain John-
ny Greene in a 7-] decision over Bob
Wilson in a heavyweight encounter,
the Wolverines ended the scoring for
the day.
As Michigan approached the half-
way mark in the season with their
two toughest teams registered on the
Wrestlers Capture Conference Title
win side of the ledger, the power- barely edging out a strong threat by
laden Wolverines put their undefeat- Purdue.
ed slate on the block two more times Michigan Qualifies Every Man
against Minnesota and Indiana, win- The Wolverines hit tle jack pot in
ning the first match by 25-3 and the the preliminaries of the Big Ten
second by 23-3 thereby establishing finals as they qualified every man on
themselves more firmly as the Con- the squad for the semi-final events,
ference favorites. getting five points for the totals on
In the Indiana match, Michigan five falls by Lowell Oberly, Jim Galles,
entered the meet minus three regu- Johnny Greene, George Curtis and
lars, Jim Galles, Hugh Wilson and John King.
Bob Gittins, though they had little Hovever, Oberly, Curtis, Wilson
trouble subduing the Hoosiers, win- and Greene were the only Wolverines
ning six matches, losing one, and to survive the semi-finals and quali-
gaining one on a forfeit. fy for the finals. Jim Galles and
After polishing off Indiana, defend- Bob Reichert, the only two Michigan
ing Big Ten champs, and finishing men undefeated in the four dual
their season undefeated in four dual meets, were both beaten in the semi-
meets, the Wolverines went on to finals. Reichert lost a decision to
Evanston Feb. 19 to win their first George DeLong of the Illini and did
Conference title since 1938, 28-27, not place at all, while Galles lost
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