Taskmaster & Pupil

Seton Hall Basketball Coach John ("Honey") Russell is fond of saying: "With Walter Dukes, you could play four midgets and still have a helluva team." In the next breath, Russell is apt to reverse himself and announce that towering (6 ft. 11 in.) Dukes would not be any good without his present playmates. The truth lies somewhere in between. Last week Seton Hall's Dukes & Co. was the nation's No. 1 team (for the third week in a row in both A.P. and U.P. polls); Dukes was third among major-college scorers* (average: 26.86 points a game); and Seton Hall of South Orange, N.J. stood a good chance of becoming the first team since Army's in 1944 to go through its season without a loss.

How did Seton Hall (enrollment: 7,200) get so good? Coach Russell, an old pro (Brooklyn Visitations), blandly and bluntly admits that he "went out and got" the best players he could lay his hammy hands on. Walter Dukes, a Negro who made a name for himself at East High School in Rochester, N.Y. in basketball (center), football (end), baseball (first base), track & field (as a sprinter and high jumper), was Russell's prize catch. Dukes was almost the big one that got away--to the track coach; at the Penn Relays in his freshman year, he ran a sizzling 51.9 quarter mile on the winning Seton Hall relay team. Coach Russell rehooked his big catch by threatening and pleading. Since then, the big center has played nothing but basketball.

Percentage Player. Unlike most of basketball's angular skyscrapers, who have trouble getting out of their own way, Dukes is both agile and graceful. He does not depend on height alone. Against another tall man, Dukes's sleight-of-hand artistry--he shoots equally well with both hands--often feints the defensive man completely out of position. As a defensive "rebounder," i.e., grabbing the ball off the backboards. Dukes takes advantage of both his height and cat-quick reflexes.

As often as not, he will seize a rebound, feed off to a teammate and dash down the court as a team leader in a quick-scoring break. As a scorer with lay-ups, tap-ins, set shots, Dukes drops a phenomenal 48% of his shots, sinks better than 70% of his throws from the foul line.

Defensive Lapse. But Dukes is fallible, particularly under the keen scrutiny of Coach Russell. Last week, playing St. Bonaventure before the biggest crowd (15,482) of the basketball season at Madison Square Garden, Dukes & Co. found themselves in unaccustomed trouble at half time: a 35-35 tie. In the dressing room, Coach Russell gave Dukes a dressing down for misplaying St. Bonaventure's big man, Center Bill Edwards, on defense. Russell, who never pampers his star senior pupil, gave Dukes new defensive instructions. The big center told his coach: "I'll remember. I'll give him room on defense. I'll play closer on offense. The big guy won't bother us."

Dukes was as good as his word. The St. Bonaventure center was held to 2 points in the second half, and Seton Hall went off on a 10-point rampage (Dukes scoring 6) at the close of the third quarter. Seton Hall won handily, 74-67, for its 22nd straight this season. Three of the players, Dukes included, played the full 40 minutes. They trooped wearily back into the dressing room, but there was little prospect of rest. Taskmaster Russell, looking ahead to Seton Hall's remaining eight games ("They're all tough"), greeted his players with a pat on the back and a firm announcement: "Practice tomorrow. One o'clock sharp. No absentees!"

*Barely behind Seattle's Johnny O'Brien (26.95) and Pennsylvania's Ernie Beck (26.92). Towering "Bevo" Francis of tiny Rio Grande College (50.4 points a game) leads basketball's minor leagues.

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