This is one of my favorite times of the year. It is tournament time. Every college team has played in one, at all levels of NCAA Divisions, except maybe one or two teams which are ineligible for whatever reason.
I fell in love with the concept of tournaments in my youth. I can recall the great teams of Cincinnati led by the Big O—the one and only Oscar Robinson. Or West Virginia, who had this phenom guard named Jerry West; I wonder what happened to “ Zeke from Cabin Creek?”
(A footnote here—Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. was also from that small hamlet) Then there was Ohio State, with two stars who are in the Hall of Fame: Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek. And UCLA, coached by the legendary John Wooden, a.k.a. “The Wizard of Westwood.”
I knew that the Southern Conference was the originator of the post-season college tournament. I have learned that the University of North Carolina beat Mercer, a non-conference foe in the first tournament.
The only other post-season conference event was the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, the brainchild of Everett Case, the coach at North Carolina State, who saw a way to make money. The games were conveniently held in Raleigh for the early years, giving the Wolf Pack a home court advantage. The ten part series on ESPN aptly named “The Tournament” just finished its run on Monday. It is a must-see for the basketball junkie who also loves the anecdotal historical information within the programs.
The ACC was where I learned about “Thacker and Packer.” Jim Thacker was the announcer and Billy Packer, a former star at Wake Forest, provided the color commentary. Their telecasts, produced by TV entrepreneur C.D. Chesley, led to the emergence of college basketball on TV, both regionally and nationally.
Of course, there was the NCAA Tournament. Taking only conference champions at that time, it was small and limited in scope. I can recall some of those games involving Cincinnati and Ohio State in the early 1960’s; I had heard about the great Bill Russell and his San Francisco Dons, winners in the mid-50’s. Of course, there was Jerry Harkness and Loyola of Chicago in 1963. Unforgettably, there was UTEP in 1966, with its black players, downing the great white Kentucky team of Adolph Rupp. Plus being a historian, I knew of previous winners such as Kentucky, North Carolina, which downed Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in 1957; Indiana; Oklahoma State coached by Henry Iba, idolized by so many coaches including Bob Knight. California and Stanford both won the title; so had Wisconsin, Utah, Wyoming, Holy Cross and La Salle.
But the NCAA Tournament was considered inferior to the National Invitation Tournament. Held in New York at Madison Square Garden, that was the premier post-season tournament when I was growing up. I thought, from watching the games on TV, that it was an affair for Bradley, Dayton, St. John’s, Providence, Villanova and NYU, as those colleges repeatedly were in the field or the finals.
I knew the history of CCNY, the only team to win both the NCAA and NIT crowns in the same year, which was 1950. I also knew that Seton Hall won the NIT in 1953, behind the efforts of the giant center, Walter Dukes.
Which leads me to the upcoming week. It will be 55 years since Rutgers, with stalwarts Bobby Lloyd and Jim Valvano, caught the conscience of Central New Jersey and the NY Metropolitan area with its run to a third place victory over Marshall at the Garden. My friends and I listened intently to the broadcasts on WCTC 1450.
Upset wins over Utah State and New Mexico thrust the Scarlet Knights into a semi-final matchup against Southern Illinois, the NCAA Division II champion; the NIT was so powerful then that it could invite anyone it wanted. The Salukis, led by a player who would become an icon in New York, Walt Frazier, downed RU 67-60 in a very close affair.
Thinking RU might prevail versus SIU, but aware that even if they lost, Lloyd and Valvano would have one final game in their careers, I went to the RU box office and scored student tickets in the balcony of the old Garden on 8th Avenue at 49th Street. The price was $2.50 per seat.
Rutgers downed the Thundering Herd and the Salukis beat Marquette for the title. It was bitter cold as we huddled outside of the Garden, waiting for the doors to open. I recall it was 12 degrees on the morning of March 18th; I checked and saw that the high and low for the date was 20 and 10. Freezing as I was, I was hooked for life when I entered the Garden.
Which is why I am so invested in college basketball and the tournaments. I went back for two more NIT games when RU was in it. I have been to the Big East Tournament at MSG multiple times, with Seton Hall fans and rooting for Rutgers. I have been to NCAA Tournament games at the Division III level, having seen F&M in Lancaster, Wayne, New Jersey and in the Final Four in Salem, Virginia.
And have I ever watched the post-season on television. All those winning UCLA teams. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson meeting for the first time in 1979 when Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores took on Magic’s Michigan State Spartans. Duke became a regular, beginning with the heroics of Christian Laettner. UNC is almost always there, with Michael Jordan, from 1981-84, informing the world he had arrived.
Name a game and I have probably watched it or know of it. I was reminded this week of Kemba Walker taking UConn through 5 memorable wins in the Big East Tournament, then 6 more in the NCAA’s, culminating in a National Championship for Coach Jim Calhoun’s squad in 2011. Unheard of stuff.
Sadly, the NIT was taken over by the NCAA and relegated to secondary status. It isn’t even played at the Garden anymore, lately having been contested in that basketball hotbed, Frisco, Texas. Yet to those schools that make the finals, going for a championship is still a big deal.
Which is why, for those teams on the bubble for this year’s NCAA, the NIT could still be the salvation of a season and a nice trophy to display in the arena along with a big banner. Regular season MAAC champion Iona is likely headed to the NIT, as they lost in the early rounds of their conference shindig.
Rutgers is still one of those teams whose fate will be up to the NCAA Selection Committee, already ensconced in hotel rooms in Kansas City, armed with tons of data, still based on metrics which favor the power conferences, to interpret. Conference tournament games still have to be played. Texas A&M, TCU, Michigan, Indiana, Memphis, BYU, San Francisco, Miami, Florida, Xavier and SMU all have to worry about their status—so stay tuned to the Selection Show on March 13.
Once the Big Dance partners are announced, March Madness will be in full swing, after having this awesome first act. There are four schools which have never sent a team to the NCAA Division I Tournament: Army, The Citadel, St. Francis, Brooklyn and William & Mary. And it looks like they aren’t going this year. Dartmouth has not been back since 1959, the longest current streak of non-appearance other than the four I mentioned.
Conversely, blue blood Kansas looks to extend its streak of 31 consecutive appearances. Michigan State, with 23 straight visits and Gonzaga, with 22 years running, follow the Jayhawks, and will continue their streaks. Exciting stuff. Count me as glued to the set.
Oh, I also heard that baseball is back.
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