Notre Dame, by a Basket

Few basketball teams ever stirred the fans or stumped the experts like this year's Notre Dame crew. One day they put on terrific second-half rallies; next day they roll up a lead and play second-half dead ducks. They have won six of their twelve games by a bare three-point margin or less.

At Louisville last week, the one-basket wonders knew they needed more than Irish luck to squeeze by once-beaten but powerful Kentucky. They relied; as usual, on the straight-down-the-middle road, feeding the ball to 6 ft. 5 in. Vince Boryla, their trigger-armed bucket man. The half-time score: Notre Dame 28, Kentucky 24. For once, the unpredictable Irish played two halves alike, and finished on the front end of a 54-47 count.

Even the experts would have to agree that unbeaten Notre Dame had a strong claim on the No. 1 basketball rating. Of the nation's 350 other college teams, only two--Navy (7-0), and West Virginia (12-0)--had also avoided taking at least one tumble. Of these, only West Virginia seemed to be in Notre Dame's class. But there was a handful of once-beaten court giants itching to stake a championship claim. The top two: Oklahoma A. & M. (once beaten, by De Paul), Iowa (once beaten, by Indiana).

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