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Show : ;t .:-¦•¦.: ^v ,.; Jackson is featured on1 Bill Howard's locker room interview (top) after having scored 32 points against Stanford. Broadcasting every basketball game to Salt Lake over KALL Radio, Howard (right) turns his mike over to Coach Gardner after the game to rehash the playing and interview the outstanding players. At Stanford, lacking proper facilities, Howard had to set up his equipment among the spectators for both the broadcast and the post game program, which is usually held in the dressing room. Above, trainer Walt DeLand tapes Jackson's ankles for protection before the game against California. In the picture below, Jackson dejectedly listens to Gardner after having lost to Cal by two points in the closing seconds. 26 few spectators who did not go away thoroughly impressed and pleased with his performance. Sunday at 1:00 everyone piled into three rented station wagons for a drive across town to the Berkeley House Hotel where they would spend the remainder of the trip. After stowing the baggage in their rooms - two fellows to a room - they headed up to the Berkeley campus for a tour and a look at the fieldhouse. Later in the day they had a workout on the new floor. At this session, as in every other, Gardner put the team through some running drills, stressing fundamentals, and then let them shoot. The whole session lasted about an hour. Basketball is largely a game of reflexes, which is why road games are so difficult. This first workout was intended to give the team a feel of the court. Curfew that night was 10:00. After dinner some of the fellows spent the evening watching T.V. while others went out to see some of the town. "You tend to crowd things in when you know you have a curfew," states Merv. Sightseeing was below normal this trip because of the necessity to travel between two schools. Monday morning there was a scouting session on Cal given by Lt. Col. Bob Smith, a former assistant of Gardner's and presently head coach at Hawaii. Every team that Utah plays is scouted for offense, defense and the strengths and weaknesses of individual starters. Even though there is a lot of talk that would leave the average person's head at the beginning of a game, at the moment the ball is tipped Merv recalls points that have been discussed earlier. Similarly, "The longer the game goes on the more I adjust to the situation," he adds. The scouting report was followed immediately by a run through of plays at the gym where players had the chance to get the feel of the opponent's game. After resting for the afternoon the team was psyched and ready to give their all that night, but they had some bad breaks and lost by only two points. And as before, after that game Merv replayed it in his mind several times to see the mistakes that he made and the things he should do to prevent future bad breaks. Jackson (right), Jerry Pimm (center) and Joe English approach another one of the dozen different fieldhouses which they play in during the year. |
