Varsity Five Opens Tonight

Bill Barclay's varsity basketball team, which has scrimmaged the Boston Celtics, Connecticut, and Springfield with considerable success during the past few weeks, starts shooting for keeps tonight in the season's opener against Brown at Providence. Tapoff time is listed for 8:30 p.m.

Last winter, the Crimson wound up on the bottom rung of the EIBL ladder. That was last winter. The current 16-man squad has more speed and play-making ability plus last year's 20-points-a-game freshman captain Ed Smith. "It's the best overall team we've had in the three years I've been here," Coach Barclay reports. "There are no space-fillers. All 16 men can go out on the court and play basketball."

Evenly Rated

These men are so evenly rated that the varsity coach still doesn't know which five will start tonight. Smith, a loose, six-foot five push shot and re-bound specialist, seems like a sure bet for one of the forwards. The other will be either sophomore Jim Gabler or ex-football player Pete Petrillo. In the pivot it will be either John "Rock" Rockwell or high Bill Prior.

The Rock, who has been switched from forward to center, is now down to a slim 198. "He's in good shape." Barclay points out. "He won't be able to go the full 40 minutes against Brown, but neither will anybody else. For and opening game, this is completely normal."

At the guards, Barclay will choose from three men: Walt McCurdy, Dick Covey, and Cliff Grosby. McCurdy, only player in addition to ex-Captain George Hauptfuhrer to be listed on the all-league squad last winter, is the team's outside man, the long set shot artist.

Down at Brown, Coach Bob Morris is counting on a flock of sophomores to stop the Crimson. Co-Captains Jim Cooney and Al Kovachik are the only two seniors on the team.