Cream of the Ivy

The Columbia University Lions, No. 4 in U.S. ranking, have been one of the surprise basketball teams of the year. In a hard-fought 54-44 victory over Cornell at Ithaca last week, the Lions won their 15th game in a row this season, their 24th straight over two seasons. That kept them on top of the Eastern Intercollegiate (Ivy) League and the only undefeated major team in the country.

At first glance, it is hard to see just what makes the Columbia boys good. The squad began the season without three of last year's top first-stringers, lost through graduation; it has no brilliant stars. Acting Coach Lou Rossini, who was a Columbia varsity player himself five years ago, took over from his ailing chief, Coach Gordon Ridings, in the first month of the season. Says Rossini: "Ridings had the boys in shape, and I just picked up where he left off." Rossini has done a good job of picking up.

Columbia's chief asset is a well-balanced, smoothly geared team, whose members are trained to take advantage of the general court situation at any time, rather than rely on too many set blackboard maneuvers. This year, for the first time, Columbia has adopted the strategy of the "fast break," in which players pick off opponents' shots from the backboard and streak for the other basket without waiting to organize a formal, downcourt play in advance. Sometimes, when opponents are expecting the fast break, Rossini crosses them up by reverting to conventional, and slower, tactics.

Against Cornell, No. 2 in the Eastern League, Columbia switched to the slower game. It worked well enough. Though Cornell led for much of the game, the Lions turned on the heat to shoot ten goals in 2 1/2 minutes at one point, another eight goals in the last two minutes, to win with points to spare.

With only seven games to go, most with teams it has already beaten, e.g., Yale, Princeton and Penn, Columbia looks like a cinch to represent the Eastern League in the N.C.A.A. championship playoffs next month. Rossini & Co. do not seem overwhelmed at the thought of running up against such national strong boys as Kentucky, Oklahoma A. & M. and Bradley. Says Rossini: "The Ivy League is as strong as any in the country. I think we'd win our share in any league'."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.