Tournament Time II

                                                          Tournament Time II

     Since the basketball world in the midst of the major Division I basketball tournaments, I felt it is appropriate to write about my tournament experience. Which is a few games--3 games of the National Invitational Tournament and 5 NCAA games. With the need to be clear, I have seen only 3 Division I tournament games-- 2 N.I.T. games in 1967 and another N.I.T. game in 1969. I have never been to an Division I NCAA tournament game. My N.C.A.A. experience is at the Division III level via my alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College. I have not seen the Division I tournament yet because my favorite team, Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, has not made March Madness since 1991, and I have vowed not to go until they make it there again. Not such a bright move.

     Fifty years ago this past Saturday--March 18, 1967--I was with my childhood friend, Don Porges at the old Madison Square Garden, located at 8th Avenue and 49th Street in Manhattan to see Rutgers play for third place in the N.I.T. There happened to be a championship game, too, involving Southern Illinois University and Marquette University. We stayed for both games. but we really went to see Rutgers finish its run in the N.I.T.

     This day was Don's 17th birthday and our first trip to Manhattan from the cozy suburbs via the bus. Living in Highland Park, itself a suburb of New Brunswick, a city of 40,000 inhabitants which was home to Rutgers and its sister school, Douglass College, allowed easy access to the city--about 50 minutes away via train or bus from New Brunswick.  But this was our first solo venture without parents and that, alone, was exciting.

     What had gotten us to follow the Scarlet Knights was my attending a Rutgers game in 1966 in the old Rutgers Gymnasium, a 3,200 seat edifice on College Avenue where, on the other side of the wall behind the players' benches, was the school's swimming pool. Rutgers had somehow managed to attract two talented guards to play there. One was Jim Valvano, a smooth talker/hustler from Queens and the more quiet and reserved Bob Lloyd, a sharpshooting guard from Pennsylvania. The atmosphere was electric, from the very loud and brassy Pep Band, to the all-male cheerleaders, to the fans who were virtually on top of the court. With the play of Lloyd and Valvano, the fans were agog. The Knights managed a 17-7 record in 1966 behind Lloyd's 20.5 points per game and Valvano contributing just over 15 points per game.

     Rutgers was scoring and winning in bigger numbers in 1966-67. Lloyd upped his already lofty points per game average to 27.9 while Valvano came in at 18.1. Those two roommates and lifelong friends, were the highest scoring guard tandem in the country. Soph Bob Greacen added 10.1 points per game along with 6.5 rebounds each contest.

     The National Invitational Tournament at that time was an alternative to the N.C.A.A. Tournament and was not considered such a step down as it is today. In 1950, City College of New York won both the N.C.A.A.title THEN the N.I.T. crown. There was a lot of prestige attached to being invited to New York to play at the Garden. In spite of the point shaving scandals which enveloped local schools like C.C.N.Y. right after its twin victories,along with Long Island University and St. John's University, Madison Square Garden was considered to be the mecca of college basketball. The National Basketball Association Knicks were considered to be second fiddle to college hoops in New York and in the Garden.

     When Rutgers started winning and people began to notice Lloyd and Valvano, the chances for Rutgers' first N.I.T. invite grew. Moreover, with Lloyd making First Team All-American status, the hue and cry for a "local" team to be part of the 1967 tourney sounded louder. So when the team closed at 18-6, the N.I.T. made sure it had a drawing card in Rutgers; filling the seats was still of paramount importance to the tournament operators. Rutgers secured the bid it so coveted.

     The games were broadcast on local radio, WCTC 1450 AM, with the play-by-play coming from owner and operator and news director Tony Marano. Going to the Garden became an in thing to do. Rutgers won a tight first round match, 78-76,  against the Utah State Aggies and their heralded guard, Shaler Halimon, who boasted a 23.6 points per game average along with an average of 6.5 rebounds a game.

     Next up were the New Mexico Lobos, led by legendary All-America center Mel Daniels, who would play many years in the now-defunct American Basketball Association  for the Indiana Pacers; he averaged 21.5/11.6 for the Lobos in 1966-67. Rutgers managed to defeat New Mexico on Wednesday night, March 15th by a score of 65-60.

     This set up the big semi-final game against Southern Illinois. The Salukis had won the Division II national title the week before the N.I.T. Led by a superior guard named Walt Frazier, who would lead those Knicks to 2 N.B.A. titles on his way to the Basketball Hall of Fame, they were the premier team in the field invited to the Garden. Rutgers fought hard, but lost a close battle 79-70, as both Lloyd and Valvano were in foul trouble and the Knights had difficulty against the more athletic and talented Saluki guards.

     Rutgers was relegated to the consolation game which started at 11:30 a.m., so as to end well before the CBS 2:00 p.m. telecast of the N.I.T. Final between Southern Illinois and Marquette. I had heard that tickets were available to anyone showing a student ID at the Rutgers box office inside the Gym. Since they didn't indicate that tickets were only allocated for Rutgers students, I made it to New Brunswick, showed my high school ID, and walked away with 2 seats in the upper deck of the Garden.

     This was to be the last game for seniors Lloyd and Valvano. They had become local legends and heroes to me. I could not believe that our parents were permitting us to go to the Garden let alone by ourselves to see Rutgers play out the season. This 16 year old, on Spring vacation from high school, could not have been happier.
   
     Game day was bitterly cold. The high was 20 degrees, but in the morning air of the city, it was barely above 10 degrees. Not wearing anything but my jeans and a shirt and sweater under my winter coat, I remember us both jumping up and down while anxiously we awaited the Garden doors to open. The chill was so great that I could smell the odor of the nearby Nedick's hot dogs, but I could not feel the heat from their being cooked. No one was more thankful when the doors to the Garden opened.

     I had only been in the Garden once before--on my 9th birthday to see the Rangers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-2 on a Saturday afternoon. We were seated low behind a goal, not in the upper deck.

     What I learned was that the view from upstairs was obstructed. While I could see the full court, I had to stand to see anything on the sidelines. Still, this did not diminish the joy and rapture I had from merely being inside the filled and raucous arena to watch Lloyd and Valvano play.

     And play they did. Lloyd scored 43 points, shooting the lights out as Rutgers thrashed Marshall University 93-76. Valvano pitched in with loads of assists and steals, leading to the rout. Lloyd averaged his 27.9 points per game that season without 3-point goals, which made his three year career at Rutgers more remarkable. He also led the nation in free throw accuracy at .921. Small wonder his number 14 jersey is retired and that he and Valvano are members of the Rutgers Basketball Hall of Fame.

     I was euphoric with the Rutgers victory. We watched the Championship game as interested spectators. I recall that the Garden crowd favored Marquette because they had some New York City/Long Island high school players on that squad. The athleticism of the Salukis and particularly Frazier won the game for Southern Illinois.

     It was a fun if not cold day in New York. I was glad to escape the smoke-filled Garden (smoking was permitted at that time, floating a dense cloud in the all-to-close rafters of the building) to return to Highland Park where I practiced my shots on our hoop and backboard hanging from the outer garage wall as if I was Bobby Lloyd.  Lloyd would go on to a successful career in business. Valvano would become the head coach at Johns Hopkins, Bucknell and finally at North Carolina State where his 1983 team won the N.C.A.A. title in a stunning upset. Jim Valvano succumbed to cancer after waging a courageous battle. The V Foundation for Cancer Research was established in his memory. Best friend and teammate Bob Lloyd oversees it.

     I went to the new Garden on March 15, 1969 to see Rutgers once more in the N.I.T. The Bob Greacen-led team ended a remarkable season at 21-4 with a loss to a very talented University of Tennessee squad in the first round bowing out, 67-51. What I recall about the Volunteers was that they were tall and they rode unicycles onto the Garden court while dribbling and  twirling basketballs. I am not making this up. Plus I did go on another student ticket, sitting downstairs this trip, behind a basket with a much better and closer vantage of the action.

     I have not been to another N.I.T. game. My magical memory of 50 years ago seems fresh enough in my mind.

     This is one of the greatest reasons why a 5'5" Jewish kid from the New Jersey suburbs, whose best sport was baseball, became a college basketball devotee for life.