It has been a long-standing College athletic policy that a freshman coach should not aim at winning all his games, but instead should tutor his men to move up to fill future varsity positions. Yet despite this tradition, basketball coach Floyd Wilson already appears to be heading his Yardlings toward another successful won-and-lost season, as well as prepping several outstanding prospects for the "big boys" next year.

It is much harder to fashion a good college basketball player than most people think, according to Wilson. Often the coach must completely change the player's style of shooting and play from what he learned in high school. The player has to learn to work with a new team, in a new position, or with different responsibilities such as playmaker or rebounder. In some cases, it takes half a year to coach a freshman to fit into the squad.

Wilson this year has one player, Dick Manning, whose style he is working especially hard to revamp. Manning played the pivot position in high school, where he learned to shoot mostly one-hand shoot from inside the foul line.

Wilson, however, decided that he did not need a pivot man on the taller-than-average freshman team. So he is now teaching Manning how to shoot set shots from the outside and only come in to the basket to take rebounds. In the opening freshman game against M.I.T. Saturday, Manning was purposely instructed to stay out. This was in order to lure the Engineers' big center away from the backboards which he would have controlled if he had played in close.

With the exception of Manning, who comes from Homestead, Pa., the first five men on the freshman team are from greater New York. This marks the second straight year that the Yardling squad is predominantly New Yorker, which, according to Wilson, is due to the fact that big city players enter college with more playing experience than those from other areas.

New York Stars

Two starters in Saturday's game, six-foot-two Rolin Perry and six-foot-three Harry Sacks, both hall from Long Beach High School on Long Island, the school that produced varsity player Ed Condon Roger Bulger, the playmaking guard, comes from Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, where Holy Cross All-American Bob Cousy and '54 Captain Bill Dennis both set school scoring records. And the fifth freshman starter, Paul Shaw, comes from Brooklyn, where he used to play against varsity center Ed Blodnick. Apparently, student athletes are the best scouts a coach can have.

So far, Shaw, at forward, seems to be the best scoring threat on the team. A lazy looking player in practice, he played hard against M.I.T. and ended up with the team high of 16 points, all of them field goals. He shoots equally well from inside and out, though most of his points came on two-handed sets. If he keeps it up, he can definitely be considered for a starting varsity berth next year.

Close behind Shaw in scoring last Saturday came Perry with 14 points. Perry is one of the best jumpers on the team, and handled many of the defensive rebounds from his guard spot. He is also very fast. The other guard, Bulger, did not shoot much against M.I.T., although Wilson thinks he has the best two-handed shot on the squad. He set up most of the plays, however, and played a good defensive floor game.

Speed and Condition

Sacks, with eight points at forward, and Manning, with four markers, played well, too. Manning was kept busy most of the game guarding the big M.I.T. center, and his own offensive total suffered. He jumped much better than his taller opponent, however.

If Wilson judges by the performances in Saturday's victory, he will soon be starting both Dan Mayers and Jim Jones, the tallest and fastest men on the squad. Mayers at six foot four looked very good laying in seven points, while Jones almost hustled the tired Engineers off the floor.

Behind these players, Wilson has a fast, well-conditioned group of substitutes, many of whom are almost as good as the starters. Their speed and conditioning both showed visibly against M.I.T., which tired after ten minutes of play. Wilson feels that the outcome of basketball games can depend on condition, which he has emphasized strongly in the first four weeks of practice.

Speed, depth, conditioning--these have been the characteristic attributes, of Wilson's last two winning freshman teams.