Stories for March 25, 1957

N.C. Proves Ranking By Edging Jay Quint

Kansas Pushes N.C. Hard In Title Contest

Kansas basketball coach Dick Harp had nothing but praise for North Carolina’s battling top-ranked Tar Hells following the Saturday night NCAA tournament finals at Kansas City. North Carolina won 54-53 in a triple-overtime, and ran its victory streak to 32 for a new one-year record. A pair of free throws in the final seconds of the third overtime by N.C.U.’s Joe Quigg settled the feud between the nation’s top two cage clubs. The score was 46-all at the end of regulation play, 48-all after one overtime, 48-all after two overtimes. K.U. lost Saturday just as it did 69-68 to Indiana in 1953 when the two clashed for the title. Indiana’s Bob Leonard hit two frees with seconds left and K.U. couldn’t get a shot down the hole before the horn.

NCAA Cage Champs Given A Roaring Welcome Home At Chapel Hill Airport

North Carolina’s national championship basketball team was greeted by 10,00 to 15,000 cheering fans when the Tar Heels landed at the Raleigh-Durham airport Sunday. The team returned from Kansas City where Saturday night it won the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament with a heart-stopping 54-53 victory over Kansas in triple overtime. Missing was North Carolina coach Frank McGuire and All-America forward Lennie Rosenbluth. Rosenbluth went to New York where he appeared on the Ed Sullivan television show. He will return to Kansas City to play in an East-West All-Star game tonight.

Bill Mayer’s Sports Talk

Even though Kansas had plenty of opportunities Saturday to make it read otherwise, the fact remains that North Carolina must be ranked the No. 1 college team in the nation for 1956-57. The Tar Heels, mostly from the New York area, have never failed during this 32-0 year to respond best when it meant most, always hitting the key points when they had to be made. That is the real mark of a champion, and they show it proudly. N.C. is poised and powerful, possessed of all the ingredients it takes for a great team. The Tars are cocky - on and off the court. Considering how they cooly won their two biggest games, Michigan State and Kansas, in triple overtimes, perhaps they have a right to be.

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