They Had Game: Ex-St. Mary's Guard 1st Muslim Actor to Win Academy Award
Kobe Bryant, who didn't study film making in college because he went straight to the NBA from high school, won an Oscar this year for "best animated short" (Dear Basketball). Last year, former Saint Mary's guard Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar won an Academy Award for his best supporting actor role as a Miami drug dealer named Juan in Moonlight. Among his credits was role as Remy Danton in House of Cards.
Previously known as Hershal Gilmore, he averaged 3.6 ppg and 1.1 rpg from 1992-93 through 1995-96 under coach Ernie Kent including 7 ppg as a senior. Said Ali: "When I graduated, I no longer thought of myself as an athlete. Honestly, I kind of resented basketball by the end of my time there. I'd see guys on the team get chewed up spat out and I was personally threatened with being shipped off to the University of Denver. All in the name of wins and productivity."
Jimmy Kimmel, host of the Oscars, is infinitely more likely to be red-carpet bombing condescending toward Conservatives than Muslims. But legendary Oscar Robertson would definitely be accurate in a rambling, self-absorbed speech to describe their game as inferior to his era. In deference to Oscar Awards, following is an alphabetical list of movie actors/directors nominees who "had game" as well-rehearsed college basketball players before becoming famous entertainers:
DAVID ADKINS, Denver
Comedian known as Sinbad had a show by that name on the Fox Network and was a lead actor in the movie Houseguest. He vaulted to TV prominence as a co-star on the hit series A Different World and later briefly hosted Vibe, a late-night talk show.
Adkins averaged 4.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game for Denver in his varsity career from 1974-75 through 1977-78 when the Pioneers were classified as a major-college independent. He shot at least 50% from the floor all four seasons.
LLOYD VERNET "BEAU" BRIDGES, UCLA
Actor with the hit movie Fabulous Baker Boys among his credits. He is the son of Lloyd Bridges and brother of Jeff Bridges.
The 5-9 guard averaged 0.6 points and 1.4 rebounds per game for UCLA's 1960-61 freshman team that compiled a 20-2 record. He was a frosh teammate of Fred Slaughter, the starting center for the Bruins' first NCAA championship team in 1964.
JIM CAVIEZEL, Bellevue (Wash.) Community College
Former Gap model played Jesus in Mel Gibson-directed The Passion of the Christ (2004) and was in Bobby Jones Stroke of Genius the same year. Also played the part of Slovnik in GI Jane (1997) with Demi Moore, Private Wit in Thin Red Line (1998), Catch in Angel Eyes (2001) with Jennifer Lopez, and Ashley Judd's husband in High Crimes (2002) with Morgan Freeman. In the TV drama Person of Interest on CBS, he played the role of Reese, a former member of the elite Special Forces who is now drinking heavily and at the end of his rope in New York City.
Bellevue coach Ernie Woods called Caviezel the hardest worker he had in 30 years. Caviezel's younger brother, Tim, played for the University of Washington, averaging 3.6 ppg in 1990-91 as a freshman and 4.2 ppg in 1991-92 as a sophomore before transferring to Long Beach State. Tim, a 6-7 swingman, subsequently transferred again to Western Washington, where Jim's wife, Kerri, ranks among the career leaders in five statistical categories for the women's basketball squad.
"Basketball taught me to train for every possible situation but always stay in the moment," Caviezel said.
CHEVY CHASE, Haverford (Pa.)
After a one-year stint on Saturday Night Live, Chevy quit to move to Los Angeles. Following mixed success in a variety of films, he became one of the biggest box-office draws in the U.S. in the 1980s with hits such as Caddyshack and National Lampoon's Vacation. One of his popular movie roles was as "Fletch" when he played for the Los Angeles Lakers in a dream sequence.
Chase was a JV basketball and soccer player as a freshman in 1962-63 before transferring to Bard (N.Y.).
MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN, Kankakee (Ill.) Community College/Alcorn State
Former bodyguard appeared in four films with Bruce Willis: Armageddon (1998; cast as Bear), Breakfast of Champions (1999), The Whole Nine Yards (2000) and Sin City (2005; cast as Manute, a powerful mobster). Breakout role occurred when he earned an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe nomination in The Green Mile. Voiced a dog Sam in Cats & Dogs (2001) and played Colonel Attar, a gorilla, in Planet of the Apes (2001). Starred alongside his friend, The Rock, in The Scorpion King (2002) and was the criminal mastermind behemoth Kingpin in Daredevil (2003).
The 6-5 Duncan was a teammate of eventual Chicago State coach Kevin Jones with Kankakee's 31-4 squad in 1980-81 before enrolling at Alcorn State under coach Davey Whitney. An excerpt in the Braves' 1983-84 media guide said: "He adds size, speed and excellent jumping ability to the roster. A very hard worker, he'll add tremendous depth to the bench." After dropping out of college because of family problems, he spent several years digging ditches for a gas company in his hometown of Chicago. "He was a tough, physical player," Whitney told CBSSports.com. "He was undersized and didn't weigh much back then, but he was very strong and powerful. He was just tough. He'd knock guys around."
LOUIS GOSSETT JR., New York University
The son of a porter and maid, he turned to acting in high school after a leg injury temporarily impeded his hopes for a basketball career. Following his Broadway debut at 17, he attended NYU on an athletic scholarship while continuing to perform on TV and the stage. He won an Emmy in 1977 for his role in the TV miniseries Roots-Part I before winning an Oscar in 1982 as supporting actor in the box-office hit An Officer and a Gentleman.
Gossett played for NYU's freshman squad in the late 1950s.
DENNY MILLER, UCLA
Miller became the first blond Tarzan in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959), which lifted most of its footage from earlier Johnny Weissmuller movies. "Playing Tarzan is like being in a circus," says the 6-4 Miller on his web site. "Go ride that elephant, play with that chimp, swing on that vine. It's a terrific job for a guy who grew up to be a kid." Miller was a regular on Wagon Train in the early 1960s as Duke Shannon (his name was then Scott Miller) and played Juliet Prowse's husband in the TV series Meet Mona McClusky in 1965. For years, he was the "Gorton Fisherman," appearing in numerous commercials in his yellow rain gear.
Denny (7.4 ppg and 5.3 rpg in only eight games) and his brother Kent (7.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg) Miller were on the same Bruins squad in 1958-59 (16-9 record under coach John Wooden) as teammates of decathlete Rafer Johnson and eventual Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum. Denny Miller spent three years in the U.S. Army between averaging 4 ppg in 1954-55 and 3.1 ppg and 2.3 rpg in 1957-58.
PAUL ROBESON, Rutgers
World renowned orator and baritone was a 6-3, 215-pound two-way end who finally was named to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995. Valedictorian when he graduated in 1919, learned to speak 15 languages and forge a glorious international career as a singer and actor. Earned law degree from Columbia, financing way through school by playing pro football with the Akron Pros and Milwaukee Badgers (scored two touchdowns). Robeson, son of a runaway slave, was an outspoken antifascist and champion of racial equality and socialist causes who remained enough of a supporter of the Soviet Union to get him blacklisted on Broadway. Founder of the Progressive Party played roles in 11 films and established works such as The Emperor Jones and Show Boat and became the first black to play Othello with a white cast.
Robeson was a center for Rutgers' basketball team.
LEON ROBINSON, Loyola Marymount
Goes by the stage name "Leon." He was a lover-boy idol in Waiting to Exhale, and played a similar character in Tim Reid's acclaimed Once Upon a Time ... When We Were Colored. Robinson was the ruthless killer, Kinette, in Cliffhanger and was Derice, the sweet and charming captain of the Jamaican bobsled team, in the surprise comedy hit, Cool Runnings. Leon appeared as a football teammate of Tom Cruise in All the Right Moves, and was the leading man as New York high school hoop sensation Earl (The Goat) Manigault in Above the Rim. Leon starred opposite Robin Givens in the TV mini-series, The Women of Brewster Place and was cast as Jesus in Madonna's controversial 1989 music video Like a Prayer. Received critical acclaim for his portrayal of two legendary singers in made-for-TV movies: David Ruffin in the 1998 NBC miniseries The Temptations and Little Richard in the self-titled 2000 NBC production based on the life of the rock-and-roll pioneer.
Robinson lettered for the Lions in 1978-79 when he averaged 2.9 ppg and 1.4 rpg. The Bronx native also attended Orange Coast Community College (Calif.).
TOM SELLECK, Southern California
Television and movie star won an Emmy in 1984 for his work in Magnum, P.I. He had a two-year stint (1974-75) on The Young and the Restless. His big-screen career got a major boost with the box-office hit Three Men and a Baby in 1987.
Selleck was a 6-4, 200-pound forward for Southern California. After serving as captain of the basketball team at Los Angeles Valley Community College, he scored four points in seven games for the Trojans in 1965-66 and was scoreless in three games in 1966-67. Excerpt from USC's school guide: "Agile and quick performer who adds depth on front line. Business administration major is good jumper with fine mobility. Rapidly improving shooter has impressed coaches with his hustle in practice. Needs to work on defense."
RON SHELTON, Westmont (Calif.)
Writer-director is synonymous with sports movies such as The Best of Times (high school football/1986), Bull Durham (minor league baseball/1988), White Men Can't Jump (street basketball/1992), Cobb (major league baseball/1994), Blue Chips (college basketball/1994), Tin Cup (golf/1996) and Play It to the Bone (boxing/1999). One of his non-sports films, Blaze, became a personal milestone for him as he went on to marry one of the stars, Toronto-born Lolita Davidovich. In Blue Chips, actor Nick Nolte was coach Pete Bell, who broke the rules in order to get the players he needed to remain competitive. "I played pickup into my 40s, right up until the time I made White Men Can't Jump," Shelton said. "I knew the game. I just loved that world."
Shelton scored 1,420 points in the mid-1960s, finishing the 20th Century among his alma mater's top 10 career scorers. He went on to play five seasons of Organized Baseball as a second baseman in the Baltimore Orioles' minor league system.
RON TAYLOR, Southern California
Best known for his roles as Lothar in The Rocketeer (1991) and Roc in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994). He also played Al, the tall police detective whose face is never seen, in The Naked Gun (1988) and on the TV series Police Squad. Nicknamed "Tiny Ron," the seven-footer also appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the role of the Hupyrian alien Maihar'du.
Three-year USC letterman in the late 1960s was a second-round choice by Seattle in the 1969 NBA draft (18th pick overall). He played three seasons in the ABA before competing professionally in Austria in the 1970s before starting his film career.
MIKE WARREN, UCLA
Television star portrayed Officer Bobby Hill on hit series Hill Street Blues. Also appeared in the following movies: The Kid Who Loved Christmas (1990), Heaven is a Playground (1991), Buffalo Soldiers (1997) and After All (1999).
The 5-11, 160-pound guard for UCLA averaged 16.6 points per game in 1965-66 as a sophomore, 12.7 in 1966-67 as a junior and 12.1 in 1967-68 as a senior. He was an All-NCAA Tournament selection in 1967 and 1968 when the Bruins won national titles by combining for a 59-1 record. Warren was named to Converse and Helms All-American squads as a junior. In his senior season, he was named to the 10-man United States Basketball Writers Association All-America team and was a third five selection on the Associated Press and United Press International All-American squads. Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 14th round of the 1968 NBA draft.
Excerpt from school guide: "Named on the Academic All-American first team. One of UCLA's all-time great ballhandlers as well as being an outstanding driver and jump shooter."
DENZEL WASHINGTON, Fordham
Oscar award-winning actor Denzel Washington earned rave reviews for his performance as a high school football coach in Remembering the Titans. Most Hollywood buffs remember Washington's performances as a regular on the TV drama series St. Elsewhere while becoming a critically-acclaimed screen actor and major box-office draw in the 1990s with his performances in hit films Malcolm X, The Pelican Brief, and The Preacher's Wife. The hits continued with Man on Fire (2004).
But what the most ardent moviegoer doesn't know, let alone remember, is that Washington was a walk-on freshman basketball player for Fordham under coach P.J. Carlesimo. Washington probably was acting when he said "he had game" in describing his basketball ability in an interview about his movie role as the father of the nation's No. 1 player in director Spike Lee's 1998 release He Got Game.
Cliff Clavin Factoids: Timeless Trivia Tidbits on DI Conference Tournaments
The amazing six-overtime thriller between Connecticut and Syracuse in the 2009 Big East Conference Tournament quarterfinals is relatively easy to remember. But one of the most titillating tourney tidbits among all leagues that gets overlooked because the Southwest Conference is defunct remains Texas Tech's Rick Bullock singlehandedly outscoring the "Triplets" from Arkansas (Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph and Sidney Moncrief) by seven points, 44-37, when he set the SWC's single-game tournament scoring record in the 1976 semifinals.
As league tourney action commences including the Ivy League's inaugural event, don't hesitate to capitalize on the links for the current Division I conferences cited below to refresh your memory about past champions and events. Following are many of the names and numbers of note only Cliff Clavin knows regarding previous conference tournament competition you can reflect upon as teams tune up for the main event by jockeying for position in the NCAA playoff bracket:
America East - The 1989 North Atlantic Tournament was dubbed the MIT (Measles Invitational Tourney) because all spectators were banned due to a measles outbreak. Delaware competed for 17 years in the East Coast Conference and never won an ECC Tournament championship. But the Blue Hens entered the AEC predecessor, the North Atlantic, in 1992 and won their first-ever title and went to the NCAA playoffs for the initial time. They successfully defended their crown the next year before closing out the decade with another set of back-to-back tourney titles.
American Athletic - In their lone season as members of the conference, Louisville (joined ACC) routed Rutgers (Big Ten), 92-31, in 2014.
Atlantic Coast - Maryland, ranking fourth in both polls, lost in overtime against eventual NCAA champion North Carolina State, 103-100, in the 1974 final in what some believe might have been the greatest college game ever played. Three players from each team earned All-American honors during their careers - North Carolina State's David Thompson, Tom Burleson and Monte Towe plus Maryland's John Lucas, Len Elmore and Tom McMillen. The Terrapins had four players score at least 20 points - Lucas, McMillen, Owen Brown and Mo Howard - in a 20-point victory over 22-6 North Carolina (105-85) in the semifinals. The Terps, of course, didn't participate in the NCAA playoffs that year because a 32-team bracket allowing teams other than the league champion to be chosen on an at-large basis from the same conference wasn't adopted until the next season.
Atlantic Sun - Belmont hit 12 of 19 first-half shots from beyond the arc in the 2007 final against top seed East Tennessee State.
Atlantic 10 - Temple reached the tourney semifinals 19 consecutive seasons in one stretch.
Big East - St. John's doesn't seem to have any advantage at Madison Square Garden. It lost five consecutive tourney games on its homecourt by an average margin of 11.4 points from 1987 through 1991.
Big Sky - Montana, capitalizing on a homecourt advantage, overcame a jinx by winning back-to-back tournament titles in 1991 and 1992. The Grizzlies had just two losing regular-season league records from 1976 through 1990, but they didn't win the tournament title in that span, losing the championship game five times from 1978 through 1984.
Big South - The No. 1 seed won this unpredictable tourney only five times in the first 17 years. Radford failed to reach the postseason tournament final for nine years until capturing the event in 1998.
Big Ten - Illinois won as many games in the 1999 tourney as the Illini did in regular-season conference competition that season (3-13). Northwestern, en route to its initial NCAA playoff appearance, scored 31 unanswered points in the first half of a 2017 quarterfinal game against Rutgers.
Big 12 - Kansas won the first three championship games from 1997 through 1999 by at least 14 points.
Big West - Pacific didn't compile a winning league record from 1979 through 1992, but the Tigers climaxed three consecutive appearances in the tournament semifinals by advancing to the '92 championship game.
Colonial - Navy, seeded No. 8 in 1991 in its last year in the tournament before joining the Patriot League, upset top seed James Madison in overtime, 85-82, in the opening round.
Conference USA - Three of four C-USA Tournament champions from 1997 through 2000 won four games in four days. Cincinnati captured six league tournament titles in seven years from 1992 through 1998 in the Great Midwest and C-USA.
Horizon League - The first two tournament winners (Oral Roberts '80 and Oklahoma City '81) of the league's forerunner, the Midwestern City, subsequently shed Division I status and de-emphasized to the NAIA level. ORU, which also won the crown in 1984, returned to Division I status in 1993-94. Butler lost its first 12 games in the tourney until breaking into the win column in 1992.
Metro Atlantic Athletic - Eight different schools won the tournament title in an eight-year span from 1992 through 1999.
Mid-American - Bowling Green never has won the MAC Tournament. John Whorton, tourney MVP in 1999 when guiding Kent State to its initial NCAA playoff appearance, won $1.3 million with his wife in late 2016 on a NBC game show, "The Wall," created and produced by Akron native LeBron James.
Mid-Eastern Athletic - North Carolina A&T won seven consecutive titles from 1982 through 1988. The Aggies defeated Howard in the championship game each of the first six years of their streak with the middle four of them decided by a total of only 17 points.
Missouri Valley - Indiana State won only two of its next 20 MVC tourney games after All-American Larry Bird led the Sycamores to the 1979 title.
Mountain West - Not once has Air Force reached the championship game of the WAC or Mountain West.
Northeast - The final pitted the top two seeds against each other 11 times in a 13-year span from 1983 through 1995.
Ohio Valley - Former member Western Kentucky reached the championship game in eight of the OVC's first 10 tourneys. Tennessee Tech won only one tournament game from 1975 through 1992.
Pacific-12 - Arizona won the last three tourney finals from 1988 through 1990 by a minimum of 16 points before the league discontinued the event until reviving it in 2002.
Patriot League - No seed worse than third reached the championship game in the first 20 years of event from 1991 through 2010.
SEC - Seven of the 13 tourney MVPs from 1979 through 1991 didn't play for the champion. One of them, LSU's John Williams, didn't even compete in the 1986 title game. Although Kentucky standout center Alex Groza saw limited action in the 1947 tournament because of a back injury, the Wildcats cruised to victories over Vanderbilt (98-29), Auburn (84-18), Georgia Tech (75-53) and Tulane (55-38). UK was also without Converse All-American guard Jack Parkinson (serving in the military), but the five-man all-tourney team was comprised of nothing but Wildcats - forwards Jack Tingle and Joe Holland, center Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones and guards Ken Rollins and Ralph Beard. UK (24) has won more than half of the SEC's tourneys.
Southern - Furman's Jerry Martin, an outfielder who hit .251 in 11 years with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Kansas City Royals and New York Mets from 1974 through 1984, was named MVP in the 1971 tournament after the 6-1 guard led the Paladins to the title with 22-, 36- and 19-point performances to pace the tourney in scoring. Two years earlier, current Davidson coach Bob McKillop scored three points for East Carolina against the Lefty Driesell-coached Wildcats in the 1969 SC Tournament championship game.
Southland - North Texas State's Kenneth Lyons outscored Louisiana Tech's Karl Malone, 47-6, when Lyons established a still existing single-game scoring record in the 1983 tournament quarterfinals. Malone led the SLC in rebounding (10.3 rpg) and steals (1.9 spg) that season as a freshman before going on to score more than 30,000 points in the NBA. Two years earlier, McNeese State won a first-round game after going winless in regular-season conference competition.
SWAC - Regular-season champion Grambling State lost by 50 points to Southern (105-55) in the 1987 final. An interesting twist that year was the fact Bob Hopkins, Grambling's first-year coach, had coached Southern the previous three seasons.
Summit League - The first tournament final in 1984 featured two teams with losing league records in regular-season competition (Western Illinois and Cleveland State).
Sun Belt - South Alabama's stall didn't prevent the Jaguars from losing to New Orleans, 22-20, on Nate Mills' last-second jumper in the 1978 final. The next season, the Sun Belt became the first league to experiment with a 45-second shot clock. The four different schools that accounted for the participants in six consecutive finals from 1980 through 1985 went on to join other conferences - UAB, Old Dominion, South Florida and Virginia Commonwealth. Two-time champion Charlotte also abandoned ship.
West Coast - The top two seeds didn't meet in the championship game until 2000. The most tragic moment in the history of any conference tournament occurred in the semifinals of the 1990 event at Loyola Marymount when Hank Gathers, the league's all-time scoring leader and a two-time tourney MVP, collapsed on his home court during the Lions' game with Portland. He died later that evening and the tournament was suspended. The Lions earned the NCAA Tournament bid because of their regular-season crown and advanced to the West Regional final behind the heroics of Bo Kimble, who was Gathers' longtime friend from Philadelphia.
Western Athletic - The tourney's biggest upset occurred in 1990 when No. 9 seed Air Force defeated No. 1 seed Colorado State in the quarterfinals, 58-51. Hawaii's Carl English, averaging 3.9 points per game as a freshman during the regular season, had a season-high 25 in a 78-72 overtime victory against host Tulsa in the 2001 final.
Shooting Stars: League Tourney Individual Single-Game Scoring Standards
Do you know the individual boasting highest-scoring game in history in a major-conference postseason tournament is a gamebreaker-turned-lawbreaker? You can find him in prison serving a life sentence without parole after facing felony charges stemming from automobile hijacking, kidnapping the driver by holding a gun to his head and robbing a convenience store following a 3 1/2-year stint in prison for a probation violation. Well, it's Marshall guard Skip Henderson, who erupted for 55 points in the 1988 Southern Conference quarterfinals against The Citadel. Marshall (also C-USA) and Texas Tech (Big 12 and SWC) are the only schools to have two players hold existing league tourney scoring marks in two different NCAA Division I alliances.
Three mid-major leagues - America East (twice after three-time MVP Jameel Warney's 18-of-22 field-goal shooting last year for Stony Brook), Big Sky and Summit - provide the only players setting existing NCAA DI conference tournament scoring marks in a tourney final. All-Americans Lennie Rosenbluth (North Carolina) and Cliff Hagan (Kentucky) accounted for the two of following DI league tourney scoring standards (ACC and SEC) standing since the 1950s:
NOTE: Scoring outbursts by Fredette (Mountain West), Garrick (Atlantic 10), Gibbs (Atlantic Sun), Harper (Mid-American), Henderson (Southern), Houston (Metro Atlantic Athletic), Johnson (Big Sky), Lyons (Southland) and Piatkowski (Big Eight) are also existing school single-game standards. Warney's output is highest for Stony Brook at DI level.
On This Date: March Calendar of Best Games in NCAA Basketball History
Existing single-game rebounding records for San Francisco (Bill Russell) and Santa Clara (Ken Sears) were set on the same day in West Coast Conference competition in 1955. In another oddity, Yale's single-game scoring and rebounding marks against a major-college opponent were established in the same game against Harvard in 1956. Following is a day-by-day calendar citing memorable moments in March major-college basketball history:
MARCH
1 - Kentucky's Cliff Hagan (42 points vs. Georgia in 1952 semifinals) set SEC Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . New Hampshire's Matt Alosa (39 vs. Hartford in opening round of 1996 North Atlantic Conference Tournament at Newark, DE), Saint Louis' Anthony Bonner (45 at Loyola of Chicago in overtime in 1990), Southern Illinois' Dick Garrett (46 vs. Centenary in 1968) and Southern Utah's Davor Marcelic (43 at Cal State Northridge in 1991) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Larry Jeffries (40 vs. Abilene Christian in 1969) had highest-scoring game for Trinity TX in season when school made its lone NCAA DI Tournament appearance. . . . In 1952, Penn State and Pittsburgh combined for only nine field-goal attempts (fewest in a game since 1938). . . . North Carolina State ended South Carolina's school-record 32-game winning streak (43-24 in 1934) and Southern Methodist's school-record 44-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Texas A&M (43-42 in 1958). . . . East Tennessee State's Tommy Woods (38 vs. Middle Tennessee State in 1965) and Holy Cross' Tom Heinsohn (42 vs. Boston College in 1956) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Chris Collier (23 vs. Centenary in 1990) set Georgia State's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
2 - Junior forward Ralph Jukkola became the only LSU teammate to outscore NCAA all-time leading scorer Pete Maravich in a regular-season game (22-17 in 74-71 loss at Tennessee in 1968) when Pistol was limited to fewer than 20 points for the lone time in college. Jukkola averaged 9.1 ppg in his three-year varsity career compared to Maravich's lofty mark of 44.2 ppg. . . . Campbell's Chris Clemons (51 points vs. UNC Asheville in 2017 Big South quarterfinals) and San Francisco's Tim Owens (45 vs. Loyola Marymount in 1991 WCC quarterfinals) set conference tournament single-game scoring records. . . . Colgate's Jonathan Stone (52 vs. Brooklyn in 1992), McNeese State's Michael Cutright (51 at Stephen F. Austin in double overtime in 1989), New Mexico's Marvin Johnson (50 vs. Colorado State in 1978) and Southern Methodist's Gene Phillips (51 at Texas in 1971) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Johnson's output is also a Western Athletic Conference record in league competition. . . . Oklahoma tied an NCAA single-game record by converting all 34 of its free-throw attempts (against Iowa State in 2013). . . . Penn State's school-record 45-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Penn (85-79 in 1955). . . . Jameel Warney (23 vs. UMBC in 2016 America East Conference Tournament quarterfinals) set Stony Brook's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
3 - Jacksonville's Dee Brown (41 points vs. Old Dominion in 1990 quarterfinals) set Sun Belt Conference Tournament single-game scoring record and Monmouth's Rahsaan Johnson (40 vs. St. Francis NY in 2000 quarterfinals) set Northeast Conference Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Drake's Philip "Red" Murrell (51 vs. Houston in overtime in 1958), Lafayette's Bobby Mantz (47 vs. Wilkes College PA in 1958), Maine's Jim Stephenson (54 vs. Colby in 1969), Robert Morris' Gene Nabors (38 vs. St. Francis PA in 2000 Northeast Conference Tournament quarterfinals at Trenton, NJ), St. John's Bob Zawoluk (65 vs. St. Peter's in 1950), Santa Clara's Carlos "Bud" Ogden (55 at Pepperdine in 1967), Temple's Bill Mlkvy (73 at Wilkes College PA in 1951), Tulsa's Willie Biles (48 vs. Wichita State in 1973) and UNLV's Trevor Diggs (49 vs. Wyoming in 2001) set school single-game scoring records. Diggs' output is also a Mountain West Conference record in league competition. . . . Florida State's Al Thornton (45 vs. Miami in 2007) and Tennessee-Martin's Lester Hudson (42 vs. Tennessee Tech in 2009) set school single-game scoring records against a Division I opponent. . . . Kentucky's Adolph Rupp became the coach to compile 800 victories the fastest with a 90-86 win at Auburn in 1969 (974 games in 37th season). . . . Army's Todd Mattson (24 vs. Holy Cross in 1990), Delaware State's Kendall Gray (30 vs. Coppin State in 2015), Iowa's Chuck Darling (30 vs. Wisconsin in 1952) and Minnesota's Larry Mikan (28 vs. Michigan in 1970) set school single-game rebounding records.
4 - Houston Baptist's Reggie Gibbs (43 points at Texas-San Antonio in 1989), Marshall's Skip Henderson (55 vs. The Citadel in 1988 Southern Conference Tournament quarterfinals at Asheville, NC) and Montana State's Tom Storm (44 vs. Portland State in 1967) set school single-game scoring records against NCAA Division I opponents. Henderson's output is also a Southern Conference Tournament single-game record. . . . Army's Mark Lueking (43 vs. Bucknell in 1995 quarterfinals) tied Patriot League Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Villanova's school-record 72-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by St. Francis PA (70-64 in 1958). . . . San Francisco's Bill Russell (35 vs. Loyola Marymount in 1955) and Santa Clara's Ken Sears (30 vs. Pacific in 1955) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Collis Jones (25 vs. Western Michigan in 1971) set Notre Dame's single-game rebounding record against a Division I opponent. . . . One of the most tragic moments in college basketball history occurred in semifinals of 1990 West Coast Conference Tournament at Loyola Marymount when Hank Gathers, the league's all-time scoring leader and a two-time tourney MVP, collapsed and died on his homecourt during the Lions' game with Portland.
5 - Bradley's Hersey Hawkins (41 points vs. Indiana State in 1988 Missouri Valley quarterfinals), Holy Cross' Rob Feaster (43 vs. Navy in 1994 Patriot League semifinals) and Texas Tech's Rick Bullock (44 vs. Arkansas in 1976 SWC semifinals) set conference tournament single-game scoring records. . . . Cal State Northridge's Mike O'Quinn (39 vs. Eastern Washington in overtime in 1998 Big Sky Tournament quarterfinals at Northern Arizona), Cornell's George Farley (47 at Princeton in 1960), Michigan's Cazzie Russell (48 vs. Northwestern in 1966), Minnesota's Eric Magdanz (42 at Michigan in 1962) and Wichita State's Antoine Carr (47 vs. Southern Illinois in 1983) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Carnegie Tech's Melvin Cratsley set Eastern Intercollegiate Conference single-game scoring record with 34 points vs. West Virginia in 1938. . . . Boston University's Kevin Thomas (34 vs. Boston College in 1958), Delaware State's Kendall Gray (30 vs. Coppin State in 2015), Pacific's Keith Swagerty (39 vs. UC Santa Barbara in 1965) and Saint Louis' Jerry Koch (38 vs. Bradley in 1954) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Baylor's Jerome Lambert (26 vs. Southern Methodist in 1994) and Wyoming's Leon Clark (24 vs. Arizona in 1966) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
6 - Texas Christian's Mike Jones (44 points vs. Fresno State in 1997 quarterfinals) set WAC Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Duquesne's Ron Guziak (50 vs. St. Francis PA at Altoona in 1968), Fairfield's George Groom (41 vs. Assumption MA in 1972), Minnesota's Ollie Shannon (42 vs. Wisconsin in 1971), Missouri's Joe Scott (46 vs. Nebraska in 1961) and Sam Houston State's Senecca Wall (45 vs. Texas-Arlington in double overtime in 2001 Southland Conference Tournament quarterfinals) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Ohio State set an NCAA single-game record by making 14 consecutive three-point field-goal attempts (against Wisconsin in 2011).
7 - North Carolina's Lennie Rosenbluth (45 points vs. Clemson in 1957 ACC quarterfinals) and Longwood's Michael Kessens (36 vs. VMI in 2013 Big South quarterfinals) set conference tournament single-game scoring records. . . . Houston Baptist's Reggie Gibbs (43 vs. Georgia Southern in 1989 TAAC Tournament quarterfinals), Lehigh's Daren Queenan (49 vs. Bucknell in double overtime in 1987 ECC Tournament semifinals at Towson State), Notre Dame's Austin Carr (61 vs. Ohio University in first round of 1970 NCAA Tournament Mideast Regional) and Rhode Island's Tom Garrick (50 vs. Rutgers in 1988 Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament quarterfinals at West Virginia) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Carr's output is also an NCAA playoff single-game record and outputs by Garrick and Gibbs are single-game records in respective league tourneys. . . . Oklahoma State center Arlen Clark established an NCAA standard for most successful free throws in a game without a miss when he converted all 24 of his foul shots against Colorado in 1959. . . . In 1928, Butler beat Notre Dame, 21-13, in inaugural game at legendary Hinkle Fieldhouse, which was the largest basketball arena in the U.S. at the time and retained that distinction until 1950.
8 - Marshall's DeAndre Kane (40 points vs. Tulsa in 2012 C-USA quarterfinals), William & Mary's Marcus Thornton (37 vs. Hofstra in double overtime in 2015 CAA semifinals) and Wright State's Bill Edwards (38 vs. Illinois-Chicago in 1993 Summit League final) set conference tournament single-game scoring records and Kentucky's Melvin Turpin (42 vs. Georgia in 1984 quarterfinals) tied SEC Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Harvard's Brady Merchant (45 vs. Brown in 2003), Miami of Ohio's Ron Harper (45 vs. Ball State in 1985 Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals) and Vanderbilt's Tom Hagan (44 at Mississippi State in 1969) set school single-game scoring records. Harper's output is also a MAC Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Brown's Gerry Alaimo (26 vs. Rhode Island in 1958) and Georgia's Bob Lienhard (29 vs. Louisiana State in 1969) set school single-game rebounding records against a Division I opponent.
9 - Greg Ballard (43 points at Oral Roberts in 1977 NIT first round) set Oregon's single-game scoring record. . . . Marcus Mann (28 vs. Jackson State in 1996) set Mississippi Valley State's single-game rebounding record against a Division I opponent.
10 - North Texas State's Kenneth Lyons (47 points vs. Louisiana Tech in 1983 Southland quarterfinals), Northwestern's Michael Thompson (35 vs. Minnesota in 2011 Big Ten opening round) and Washington State's Klay Thompson (43 vs. Washington in 2011 Pac-12 quarterfinals) set single-game scoring records in their respective conference tournaments. Lyons' output is also a school single-game scoring record. . . . Paul Williams (45 at Southern California in 1983) set Arizona State's single-game scoring record. . . . John Lee (41 vs. Harvard in 1956) set Yale's single-game scoring record against a Division I opponent. . . . Lamar's school-record 80-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Louisiana Tech (68-65 in 1984 SLC Tournament). . . . Ed Robinson (32 vs. Harvard in 1956) set Yale's single-game rebounding record.
11 - Connecticut's Donyell Marshall (42 points vs. St. John's in 1994 Big East quarterfinals), Texas Tech's Mike Singletary (43 vs. Texas A&M in 2009 Big 12 opening round), Cal State Fullerton's Josh Akognon (37 vs. UC Riverside in 2009 Big West opening round) and Bethune-Cookman's Richard Toussaint (49 vs. Morgan State in 2003 MEAC first round) set single-game scoring records in their respective conference tournaments. . . . Brigham Young's Jimmer Fredette (52 vs. New Mexico in 2011 Mountain West Tournament semifinals at Las Vegas), Montana's Anthony Johnson (42 at Weber State in 2010 Big Sky Tournament final) and Nebraska's Eric Piatkowski (42 vs. Oklahoma in 1994 Big Eight Tournament quarterfinals at Kansas City) set school single-game scoring records. Outputs for Fredette, Johnson and Piatkowski are also single-game scoring records in their respective conference tourneys. . . . Quinton Hooker (38 vs. Weber State in 2016 Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals) set North Dakota scoring record against a Division I opponent. . . . Indiana (95) and Michigan (57) combined for an NCAA single-game record of 152 rebounds in 1961. Walt Bellamy (33) set IU's individual rebounding record in the contest.
12 - Bradley's Bob Carney set NCAA Tournament single-game record by converting 23 free-throw attempts (against Colorado in 1954 regional semifinals). . . . Stony Brook's Jameel Warney (43 points vs. Vermont in 2016 America East final) and Eastern Washington's Tyler Harvey (42 vs. Idaho in 2015 Big Sky quarterfinals at Montana) tied conference tournament scoring marks. Warney's output is also a school standard since moving up to NCAA Division I level. . . . DePaul's George Mikan (53 vs. Rhode Island State in 1945 NIT semifinals), Fairleigh Dickinson's Elijah Allen (43 vs. Connecticut in 1998 NCAA Tournament first round) and Navy's David Robinson (50 vs. Michigan in first round of 1987 NCAA Tournament East Regional) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Syracuse outlasted Connecticut, 127-117, in six overtimes in 2009 Big East Conference Tournament quarterfinals in longest postseason game in NCAA history.
13 - Vermont's Taylor Coppenrath (43 points vs. Maine in 2004 final) set America East Conference Tournament single-game scoring record.
14 - Louisville's Russ Smith (42 points vs. Houston in 2014 semifinals) set American Athletic Conference Tournament single-game scoring record. Smith's output also set a school mark for most points against a major-college opponent.
15 - Andrew Goudelock (39 points vs. Dayton in 2011 NIT first round) set College of Charleston's single-game scoring record against a Division I opponent.
16 - Kentucky's Kenny Walker (11-of-11 vs. Western Kentucky in 1986 second round) became only player in NCAA Tournament history to make all of more than 10 field-goal attempts in a single playoff game. . . . Temple's Fred Cohen (34 vs. Connecticut in 1956 NCAA Tournament East Regional semifinals) set a school and NCAA Tournament single-game rebounding record. . . . Nate Thurmond (31 vs. Mississippi State in 1963 Mideast Regional third-place game) set Bowling Green's single-game rebounding record against a Division I opponent.
17 - Texas' Travis Mays (23-of-27 vs. Georgia in 1990 first round) tied NCAA Tournament single-game record for most free-throws made. . . . Maurice Stokes (43 points vs. Dayton in 1955 NIT semifinals) set Saint Francis (PA) single-game scoring record against a Division I opponent. . . . In 1939, Villanova defeated Brown, 42-30, in the first NCAA Tournament game ever played. . . . Al Inniss (37 vs. Lafayette in 1956 NIT first round) set St. Francis NY single-game rebounding record.
18 - Loyola Marymount's Jeff Fryer (11 three-pointers vs. Michigan in 1990 second round) became the only player in NCAA playoff history to make more than 10 three-point field-goals in a single playoff game.
19 - Louisiana State's Shaquille O'Neal (11 rejections vs. Brigham Young in 1992 first round) set NCAA Tournament single-game record for most blocked shots.
20 - Duke's Mike Krzyzewski passed North Carolina's Dean Smith (65 victories) for the most coaching wins in NCAA Tournament history with a 63-55 second-round triumph against Mississippi State in 2005. . . . Michigan State's Adrien Payne (17-for-17 from free-throw line vs. Delaware in 2014 opener) set NCAA Tournament single-game record for most successful foul shots without a miss. . . . UCLA's Gail Goodrich (18 vs. Michigan in 1965 championship game) set Final Four single-game record for most free throws made.
21 - UNC Wilmington's John Goldsberry became only player in NCAA Tournament history to make as many as eight three-pointers without a miss in single playoff game (against Maryland in 2003 first round).
22 - The only time in major-college history two undefeated major colleges met in a national postseason tournament was the 1939 NIT final between Loyola of Chicago and Long Island University (LIU won, 44-32). . . . University of Chicago ended Penn's school-record 31-game winning streak (28-24 in 1920) and LIU ended Seton Hall's school-record 41-game winning streak (49-26 in 1941 NIT semifinals).
23 - Hal Lear (48 points vs. Southern Methodist in 1956 NCAA Tournament third-place game) set Temple's single-game scoring record against a Division I opponent. . . . San Francisco's Bill Russell (27 vs. Iowa in 1956 championship game) set Final Four record for most rebounds.
24 - Askia Jones (62 points vs. Fresno State in 1994 NIT quarterfinals) set Kansas State's single-game scoring record. . . . Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox (39 vs. UCLA in 2017 South Regional semifinal) set NCAA Tournament scoring record by a freshman.
25 - Eventual 10-year N.L. OF Frankie Baumholtz scored a team-high 19 points for Ohio University in 1941 NIT final defeat against LIU.
26 - UCLA's Bill Walton (44 points vs. Memphis State in 1973) set NCAA Tournament championship game scoring record by sinking a Final Four standard 21-of-22 field-goal attempts (95.5%). . . . DePaul's Mark Aguirre (34 vs. Penn in 1979 national third-place game) set Final Four scoring record by a freshman.
28 - UNLV's Mark Wade (18 vs. Indiana in 1987 national semifinals) set NCAA Tournament single-game record for most assists. Teammate Freddie Banks established Final Four mark for most three-point field goals with 10. . . . North Carolina's Al Wood (39 points vs. Virginia in 1981) set scoring record for NCAA Tournament national semifinal game.
30 - Princeton's Bill Bradley (58 points vs. Wichita State in 1965 NCAA Tournament national third-place game) and Siena's Doremus Bennerman (51 vs. Kansas State in 1994 NIT third-place game at Madison Square Garden) set school single-game scoring records. Bradley's output was the highest in any Final Four contest.
31 - Villanova made Final Four-record 18 three-pointers (2018 national semifinals vs. Kansas). . . . Kansas' Jeff Withey (7 rejections vs. Ohio State in 2012 national semifinals) set record for most blocked shots in a Final Four game since they became an official statistic.
Memorable Moments in February College Basketball History
Memorable Moments in January College Basketball History
Memorable Moments in December College Basketball History
Memorable Moments in November College Basketball History
Senior Celebrations: Pensive Parents Have Vital Things They Need to Know
Naturally, parental pride displayed from coast to coast during Senior Night or Day the end of February and early March doesn't necessarily need to stem from athletics. Amid proper priorities, your child didn't have to be the best but he had to try his level best.
A parent knows life goes on after the anticipation of a senior salute. But how can a mom and dad express appreciation for all of the memories shared together?
Adding sports as a factor for authentic student-athletes makes the lessons-learned equation more complex. Culminating at bittersweet senior celebration, it takes a significant amount of resilience to endure withdrawal from all of the devotion and emotion, last-second decisive shots, motivational talks coping with occasional slump, chance to dance in postseason competition, title dream dashed in close contest, team awards banquet, etc., etc., etc.
Who would have thought the first time he picked up a ball that he would make such a difference and stand so tall? Reflecting on all they've experienced, the parent is fortunate to still have a pulse whether their offspring is a walk-on or team standout.
It's easy enough to substitute girl for boy in the following poem portraying a parent trying to come to terms with an impending spread-their-wings departure; whether it be from high school to college or from college to the "real world." These reflections might be therapeutic if you went through a similar range of emotions amid whatever success your own flesh and blood enjoyed along the way.
Lord, there's a little thing I need to know
Where in the world did my little boy go?
Perplexed from time to time but one thing I know today
I'm a proud parent beyond words; what more can I say
Kids go through stages but not with this sort of speed
It was only yesterday he was unable to read
Wasn't it just months ago he went from crawl to walk
Hard-headed as a mule; certainly knew how to balk
Took one day at a time raising him the very best we could
Now inspires those around him just like we believed he would
High achiever turning a corner in his life
He has got what it takes to cope with any strife
Can't carry a tune but set school shooting star records
Now, the game-of-life clock dwindles from minutes to seconds
So angels above please watch over him daily
Although some of his antics may drive you crazy
He represents everything that I value the most
For that very reason, I'm offering a toast
But if he feels sorry for himself and about to give up
Do not hesitate to give him a gentle kick in the rump
Remembering what I did wrong but at least a couple things right
Always said you could do it; just try with all your might
I just yearn to see all of his grandest plans come true
God, it's my turn to have a great commission for You
Be with him, bless him and give him nothing but success
Aid his climb up that mountain; settle for nothing less
Guide his steps in the dark and rain
Pick up the pieces and ease any pain
Time to share our best with the remainder of the world
It is much like having a family flag unfurled
How can a once infant son make grown man cry
Groping for right words trying to say goodbye
To me, he'll always be a pure and spotless lamb
Cradled in our arms or holding his little hand
If I was Elton John, I'd tell everyone this is "Your Poem"
Simply sing how wonderful life was with you in our home
My soul swells with pride at any mention of you
How long gone are you going to be; wish I knew
Sure don't believe it is at all out of line
To seek to rebound for you just one more time
Although you're going to be many miles away
I will see you in my heart each and every day
So go down that windy path; don't you dare look back
You've found faith; it will keep you on the right track
He's headed for real world and all it offers
But first, here are your final marching orders
Always do the very best you possibly can
Refuse to lose even when you don't understand
There's no telling the goals you will be able to reach
By giving proper respect to instructors who teach
Aspire each and every day you wake
Not to waste a single breath you take
Might as well let all of your ability show
Because those gifts turn to dust whenever you "go"
Don't bury your talents in the ground
Lend helping hand to those you're around
I'll never forget the times when you were all you could be
Rose to the occasion and sent playoff game to OT
Cherish all the moments - the hugs and tears
For all your passion play through these years
My little guy is bound far beyond a Final Four
Poised for more success; prosperity at his door
All things are possible; he has found out
How much I love him is what I'm thinking about
Wherever you go, you'll be best from beginning to end
To that most truthful statement, I say Amen and Amen
After Senior Night, I'll stroll into your off-limits room
Try to keep my composure when it seems like doom and gloom
You will always be on my mind
But nothing like gut-wrenching time
When I ask the Lord a big thing I need to know
Where in His big world will His maturing man go?
Generation Hex: Scrutiny on Miller After Altman and Few Reached Final Four
After Gonzaga's Mark Few (in 18th tourney appearance) and Oregon's Dana Altman (13th) reached the Final Four for first time in their careers last season, the microscope focused on Notre Dame's Mike Brey as the best active power-league coach participating in more than 10 tourneys never to reach the national semifinals. Brey's chances of advancing to Final Four this year went up in smoke when potential national player of the year Bonzie Colson missed majority of campaign because of fractured left foot. Brey is in same AWOL category with all-time greats John Chaney, Lefty Driesell, Gene Keady and Norm Stewart - four retired luminaries failing to advance to the national semifinals in a total of 64 NCAA Tournaments. "It's so difficult not being able to make that final step," said Chaney, who lost five regional finals with Temple.
Driesell made 11 NCAA playoff appearances with Davidson and Maryland from 1966 through 1986. "I always wanted to get to the Final Four, but not as much as some people think," said Driesell, who lost four regional finals. "I'm not obsessed with it."
Only four schools - North Carolina, Duke, Georgetown and Syracuse - supplied more NCAA consensus first- and second-team All-Americans from 1982 through 1992 than Stewart-coached Missouri (seven). It must have been particularly frustrating for Mizzou fans when the Tigers compiled a 4-8 NCAA tourney worksheet in that span.
But some mentors never will receive the accolades they deserve because of failing to reach the Promised Land, including maligned Dave Bliss, who resurfaced as coach of an NAIA school in Texas. There were 100,000 reasons Sean Miller was expected to join this dubious list in 2017-18 after dismal first-round loss against Buffalo despite bringing freshman phenom Deandre Ayton to Arizona in some form or fashion (cause or no cause). Miller may need a safe space on campus to curl up in a fetal position depending upon content of a FBI recording, but the following "Generation Hex" list includes prominent coaches without a Final Four berth on their resume despite more than 10 NCAA Tournament appearances:
| Coach | NCAA Tourneys | Playoff Record (Pct.) | Closest to Reaching Final Four |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gene Keady | 18 | 19-18 (.514) | regional runner-up with Purdue in 1994 and 2000 |
| John Chaney | 17 | 23-17 (.575) | regional runner-up with Temple five times (1988-91-93-99-01) |
| Fran Dunphy | 16 | 3-16 (.158) | won three opening-round games with Penn and Temple (1994, 2011 and 2013) |
| Norm Stewart | 16 | 12-16 (.429) | regional runner-up with Missouri in 1976 and 1994 |
| Mike Brey | 14 | 13-14 (.481) | regional runner-up with Notre Dame in 2015 and 2016 |
| Lefty Driesell | 13 | 16-14 (.533) | regional runner-up four times with Davidson and Maryland (1968-69-73-75) |
| Dave Bliss | 11 | 8-11 (.421) | regional semifinals with Oklahoma in 1979 |
| Pete Carril | 11 | 4-11 (.267) | won two games with Princeton in 1983 |
| Gale Catlett | 11 | 7-11 (.389) | regional semifinals with West Virginia in 1998 |
| Tom Davis | 11 | 18-11 (.621) | regional runner-up with Boston College in 1982 and Iowa in 1987 |
| Mark Gottfried | 11 | 10-11 (.476) | regional final with Alabama in 2004 |
| Tom Penders | 11 | 12-11 (.522) | regional final with Texas in 1990 |
Maintaining Order: Kansas Extends Streak of Consecutive Conference Crowns
Kansas surpassed UCLA for most consecutive regular-season conference championships with 14. The Jayhawks had four ties in that span while all of the Bruins' titles were undisputed. Sterling Big 12 Conference track record of titles under coach Bill Self was assembled while surviving the loss of 17 undergraduates in the previous 11 NBA drafts - 2007 (Julian Wright), 2008 (Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush), 2010 (Cole Aldrich and Xavier Henry), 2011 (Marcus Morris, Markieff Morris and Josh Selby), 2012 (Thomas Robinson), 2013 (Ben McLemore), 2014 (Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins), 2015 (Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre Jr.), 2016 (Cheick Diallo) and 2017 (Josh Jackson).
UCLA's streak of 13 straight undisputed league titles from 1967 through 1979, divided among three coaches, is considered one of the foremost achievements in NCAA history. Kansas' regular-season league losses in the last 14 seasons came against Baylor (two), Iowa State (five), Kansas State (five), Missouri (four), Oklahoma (four), Oklahoma State (eight), Texas (four), Texas A&M (one), Texas Christian (one), Texas Tech (four) and West Virginia (four).
Jerry Tarkanian was coach for two of the schools boasting the longest league streaks (Long Beach State and UNLV). Following is a summary of the eight schools securing at least eight straight regular-season league titles:
Kansas (14 in Big 12; 212-44 league record from 2004-05 through 2017-18)
| Season | League Mark | Scoring Leader | Rebounding Leader | Coach | Overall Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-05 | 12-4 | Wayne Simien (20.3) | Wayne Simien (11) | Bill Self | 23-7 |
| 2005-06 | 13-3 | Brandon Rush (13.5) | Brandon Rush (5.9) | Bill Self | 25-8 |
| 2006-07 | 14-2 | Brandon Rush (13.8) | Julian Wright (7.8) | Bill Self | 33-5 |
| 2007-08 | 13-3 | Brandon Rush (13.3) | Darnell Jackson (6.7) | Bill Self | 37-3 |
| 2008-09 | 14-2 | Sherron Collins (18.9) | Cole Aldrich (11.1) | Bill Self | 27-8 |
| 2009-10 | 15-1 | Sherron Collins (15.5) | Cole Aldrich (9.8) | Bill Self | 33-3 |
| 2010-11 | 14-2 | Marcus Morris (17.2) | Markieff Morris (8.3) | Bill Self | 35-3 |
| 2011-12 | 16-2 | Thomas Robinson (17.7) | Thomas Robinson (11.9) | Bill Self | 32-7 |
| 2012-13 | 14-4 | Ben McLemore (15.9) | Jeff Withey (8.5) | Bill Self | 31-6 |
| 2013-14 | 14-4 | Andrew Wiggins (17.1) | Joel Embiid (8.1) | Bill Self | 25-10 |
| 2014-15 | 13-5 | Perry Ellis (13.8) | Perry Ellis (6.9) | Bill Self | 27-9 |
| 2015-16 | 15-3 | Perry Ellis (16.3) | Perry Ellis (6.1) | Bill Self | 33-5 |
| 2016-17 | 16-2 | Frank Mason III (20.9) | Landen Lucas (8.0) | Bill Self | 31-5 |
| 2017-18 | 13-5 | Devonte' Graham (17.6) | Udoka Azubuike (7.1) | Bill Self | TBD |
NOTE: Kansas tied Oklahoma in 2004-05, Texas in 2005-06 and 2007-08 and Kansas State in 2012-13.
UCLA (13 in Pacific-8/10; 171-15 league record from 1966-67 through 1978-79)
Gonzaga (11 in West Coast; 143-15 league record from 2000-01 through 2010-11)
| Season | League Mark | Scoring Leader | Rebounding Leader | Coach | Overall Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000-01 | 13-1 | Casey Calvary (19) | Casey Calvary (6.7) | Mark Few | 26-7 |
| 2001-02 | 13-1 | Dan Dickau (21) | Cory Violette (8.3) | Mark Few | 29-4 |
| 2002-03 | 12-2 | Blake Stepp (18) | Cory Violette (8) | Mark Few | 24-9 |
| 2003-04 | 14-0 | Ronny Turiaf (15.5) | Cory Violette (8.2) | Mark Few | 28-3 |
| 2004-05 | 12-2 | Adam Morrison (19) | Ronny Turiaf (9.5) | Mark Few | 26-5 |
| 2005-06 | 14-0 | Adam Morrison (28.1) | J.P. Batista (9.4) | Mark Few | 29-4 |
| 2006-07 | 11-3 | Derek Raivio (18) | Josh Heytvelt (7.7) | Mark Few | 23-11 |
| 2007-08 | 13-1 | Matt Bouldin (12.6) | Josh Heytvelt (4.9) | Mark Few | 25-8 |
| 2008-09 | 14-0 | Josh Heytvelt (14.9) | Austin Daye (6.8) | Mark Few | 28-6 |
| 2009-10 | 12-2 | Matt Bouldin (15.6) | Elias Harris (7.1) | Mark Few | 27-7 |
| 2010-11 | 11-3 | Steven Gray (13.9) | Robert Sacre (6.3) | Mark Few | 25-10 |
NOTE: Gonzaga tied Pepperdine in 2001-02 and Saint Mary's in 2010-11.
Connecticut (10 in Yankee; 71-8 league record from 1950-51 through 1959-60)
| Season | League Mark | Scoring Leader | Rebounding Leader | Coach | Overall Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950-51 | 6-1 | Vin Yokabaskas (15.5) | William Ebel (9) | Hugh Greer | 22-4 |
| 1951-52 | 6-1 | Vin Yokabaskas (16.8) | Burr Carlson (14.5) | Hugh Greer | 20-7 |
| 1952-53 | 5-1 | Art Quimby (16.7) | Art Quimby (20.5) | Hugh Greer | 17-4 |
| 1953-54 | 7-0 | Art Quimby (16.3) | Art Quimby (22.6) | Hugh Greer | 23-3 |
| 1954-55 | 7-0 | Art Quimby (23.2) | Art Quimby (24.4) | Hugh Greer | 20-5 |
| 1955-56 | 6-1 | Gordon Ruddy (16.6) | unavailable | Hugh Greer | 17-11 |
| 1956-57 | 8-0 | Bob Osborne (15.6) | Al Cooper (11.8) | Hugh Greer | 17-8 |
| 1957-58 | 10-0 | Jack Rose (13) | Al Cooper (11) | Hugh Greer | 17-10 |
| 1958-59 | 8-2 | Jack Rose (16) | Ed Martin (12.1) | Hugh Greer | 17-7 |
| 1959-60 | 8-2 | John Pipczynski (15.2) | Walt Griffin (11.5) | Hugh Greer | 17-9 |
UNLV (10 in PCAA/Big West; 165-13 league record from 1982-83 through 1991-92)
| Season | League Mark | Scoring Leader | Rebounding Leader | Coach | Overall Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982-83 | 15-1 | Sidney Green (22.1) | Sidney Green (11.9) | Jerry Tarkanian | 28-3 |
| 1983-84 | 16-2 | Richie Adams (12.7) | Richie Adams (6.7) | Jerry Tarkanian | 29-6 |
| 1984-85 | 17-1 | Richie Adams (15.8) | Richie Adams (7.9) | Jerry Tarkanian | 28-4 |
| 1985-86 | 16-2 | Anthony Jones (18) | Armon Gilliam (8.5) | Jerry Tarkanian | 33-5 |
| 1986-87 | 18-0 | Armon Gilliam (23.2) | Armon Gilliam (9.3) | Jerry Tarkanian | 37-2 |
| 1987-88 | 15-3 | Gerald Paddio (19.4) | Jarvis Basnight (6.9) | Jerry Tarkanian | 28-6 |
| 1988-89 | 16-2 | David Butler (15.4) | Stacey Augmon (7.4) | Jerry Tarkanian | 29-8 |
| 1989-90 | 16-2 | Larry Johnson (20.6) | Larry Johnson (11.4) | Jerry Tarkanian | 35-5 |
| 1990-91 | 18-0 | Larry Johnson (22.7) | Larry Johnson (10.9) | Jerry Tarkanian | 34-1 |
| 1991-92 | 18-0 | J.R. Rider (20.7) | Elmore Spencer (8.1) | Jerry Tarkanian | 26-2 |
NOTE: UNLV tied New Mexico State in 1989-90.
Idaho State (eight in Rocky Mountain; 76-4 league record from 1952-53 through 1959-60)
| Season | League Mark | Scoring Leader | Rebounding Leader | Coach | Overall Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952-53 | 10-0 | Les Roh (16.6) | unavailable | Steve Belko | 18-7 |
| 1953-54 | 9-1 | Les Roh (17.1) | unavailable | Steve Belko | 22-5 |
| 1954-55 | 9-1 | Les Roh (21.7) | unavailable | Steve Belko | 18-8 |
| 1955-56 | 9-1 | Les Roh (20.8) | unavailable | Steve Belko | 18-8 |
| 1956-57 | 12-0 | Jim Rodgers (15) | Jack Allain (12.5) | John Grayson | 25-4 |
| 1957-58 | 10-0 | Lloyd Harris (14.7) | LeRoy Bacher (9) | John Grayson | 22-6 |
| 1958-59 | 9-1 | Jim Rodgers (17.4) | Homer Watkins (11.6) | John Grayson | 21-7 |
| 1959-60 | 8-0 | Myrl Goodwin (16.4) | unavailable | John Evans | 21-5 |
Kentucky (eight in SEC; 82-3 league record from 1944-45 through 1951-52)
| Season | League Mark | Scoring Leader | Rebounding Leader | Coach | Overall Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1944-45 | 4-1 | Jack Tingle (11.7) | unavailable | Adolph Rupp | 22-4 |
| 1945-46 | 6-0 | Jack Parkinson (11.3) | unavailable | Adolph Rupp | 28-2 |
| 1946-47 | 11-0 | Ralph Beard (10.9) | unavailable | Adolph Rupp | 34-3 |
| 1947-48 | 9-0 | Alex Groza (12.5) | unavailable | Adolph Rupp | 36-3 |
| 1948-49 | 13-0 | Alex Groza (20.5) | unavailable | Adolph Rupp | 32-2 |
| 1949-50 | 11-2 | Bill Spivey (19.3) | unavailable | Adolph Rupp | 25-5 |
| 1950-51 | 14-0 | Bill Spivey (19.2) | Bill Spivey (17.2) | Adolph Rupp | 32-2 |
| 1951-52 | 14-0 | Cliff Hagan (21.6) | Cliff Hagan (16.5) | Adolph Rupp | 29-3 |
NOTES: Kentucky tied Tennessee in 1944-45 and Louisiana State in 1945-46. . . . UK did not field a team in 1952-53 before tying LSU in 1953-54 and winning outright in 1954-55.
Long Beach State (eight in PCAA; 75-13 league record from 1969-70 through 1976-77)
| Season | League Mark | Scoring Leader | Rebounding Leader | Coaches | Overall Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969-70 | 10-0 | George Trapp (16.3) | Sam Robinson (7.8) | Jerry Tarkanian | 23-5 |
| 1970-71 | 10-0 | Ed Ratleff (19.9) | George Trapp (11) | Jerry Tarkanian | 24-5 |
| 1971-72 | 10-2 | Ed Ratleff (21.4) | Nate Stephens (10.3) | Jerry Tarkanian | 25-4 |
| 1972-73 | 10-2 | Ed Ratleff (22.8) | Leonard Gray (9.3) | Jerry Tarkanian | 26-3 |
| 1973-74 | 12-0 | Clifton Pondexter (15.6) | Clifton Pondexter (8.6) | Lute Olson | 24-2 |
| 1974-75 | 8-2 | Rich Johnson (17.8) | Bob Gross (8.5) | Dwight Jones | 19-7 |
| 1975-76 | 6-4 | Anthony McGee (14.8) | Clarence Ruffen (7.4) | Dwight Jones | 14-12 |
| 1976-77 | 9-3 | Lloyd McMillian (15.8) | Lloyd McMillian (7.9) | Dwight Jones | 21-8 |
NOTE: Long Beach State tied Cal State Fullerton in 1975-76 and San Diego State in 1976-77.
Musical Chairs: 1/3 of Nation's DI Teams in New Conferences This Century
"Man, that's messed up!" This concise summation certainly depicts higher education, which simply isn't what it used to be. Keeping remedial mathematics in mind, the Atlantic 10 Conference has more than that number of members; the Big Ten has more than 10 members and the Big 12 has fewer than 12 members. With respect to precise directions and logistics, the Atlantic Coast features Boston, Indiana (Notre Dame), Louisville, Pittsburgh and Syracuse, much of the Big East absorbs flyover country and the Southeast(ern) extends to the Midlands (Missouri and Texas A&M).
Amid all of the bizarre trans this and trans that, the most ardent fan probably can't come anywhere close to naming half of the schools transferring conferences the last several years. Heaven knows how future generations will explain the Big East split. After Hampton abandoned the MEAC for the Big South, the resulting HBCU vindictiveness made one think the school was coercing its students to exhibit a little diversity and vote for Republicans because they were more supportive than Democrats of the Civil Rights Act. As NFL Hall of Famer Vince Lombardi, who coached freshman basketball with Fordham, would famously say: "What the hell is going on out here?"
When Appalachian State (Sun Belt), Elon (CAA) and Davidson (Atlantic 10) departed in recent years, they became the 32nd, 33rd and 34th schools to leave the Southern Conference. Following is a school-by-school look at league affiliations over the years after Hampton took off from the MEAC for the Big South:
| School | Latest League | Previous DI Conference(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Abilene Christian | Southland (1969-73 and since 2014) | |
| Air Force | Mountain West (since 2000) | WAC (1981-99) |
| Akron | Mid-American (since 1993) | Ohio Valley (1981-87)/Mid-Continent (1991 and 1992) |
| Alabama | SEC (since 1933) | Southern (1922-32) |
| Alabama A&M | SWAC (since 2000) | |
| Alabama State | SWAC (since 1983) | |
| Albany | America East (since 2002) | |
| American | Patriot League (since 2002) | ECC (1967-84)/CAA (1985-2001) |
| Appalachian State | Sun Belt (since 2015) | Southern (1972-2014) |
| Arizona | Pac-12 (since 1979) | Border (1932-61)/ WAC (1963-78) |
| Arizona State | Pac-12 (since 1979) | Border (1932-62)/WAC (1963-78) |
| Arkansas | SEC (since 1992) | SWC (1924-91) |
| Arkansas State | Sun Belt (since 1992) | Southland (1969-87)/American South (1988-91) |
| Army | Patriot League (since 1991) | MAAC (1982-90) |
| Auburn | SEC (since 1933) | Southern (1922-32) |
| Austin Peay | Ohio Valley (since 1964) | |
| Ball State | Mid-American (since 1976) | |
| Baylor | Big 12 (since 1997) | SWC (1915-96) |
| Belmont | Ohio Valley (since 2013) | Atlantic Sun (2002-12) |
| Binghamton | America East (since 2002) | |
| Boise State | Big West (1997-2001 and since 2014) | Big Sky (1971-96)/WAC (2002-11)/Mountain West (2012 and 2013) |
| Boston College | ACC (since 2006) | Big East (1980-2005) |
| Boston University | Patriot League (since 2014) | Yankee (1973-76)/America East (1980-2013) |
| Bowling Green | Mid-American (since 1954) | |
| Bradley | Missouri Valley (1949-51 and since 1956) | |
| Brigham Young | West Coast (since 2012) | Rocky Mountain (1925-37)/Skyline (1938-62)/WAC (1963-99)/Mountain West (2000-11) |
| Brown | Ivy League (since 1954) | |
| Bucknell | Patriot League (since 1991) | ECC (1959-80) |
| Buffalo | Mid-American (since 1999) | ECC (1992 and 1994)/Mid-Continent (1995-98) |
| Butler | Big East (since 2014) | Missouri Valley (1933 and 1934)/Mid-American (1947-50)/Horizon League (1980-2012)/Atlantic 10 (2013) |
| California | Pac-12 (since 1916) | |
| UC Davis | Big West (since 2008) | |
| UC Irvine | Big West (since 1978) | |
| Cal Poly | Big West (since 1997) | American West (1995 and 1996) |
| UC Riverside | Big West (since 2002) | |
| UC Santa Barbara | Big West (1970-74 and since 1977) | West Coast Athletic (1965-69) |
| Cal State Bakersfield | WAC (since 2014) | |
| Cal State Fullerton | Big West (since 1975) | |
| Cal State Northridge | Big West (since 2002) | American West (1995 and 1996)/Big Sky (1997-2001) |
| Campbell | Big South (1986-94 and since 2012) | Atlantic Sun (1995-2011) |
| Canisius | MAAC (since 1990) | ECAC North Atlantic (1980-89) |
| Central Arkansas | Southland (since 2007) | |
| Central Connecticut State | Northeast (since 1998) | ECC (1991-94)/Mid-Continent (1995-97) |
| Central Florida | American Athletic (since 2014) | Sun Belt (1992)/Atlantic Sun (1994-2005)/C-USA (2006-2013) |
| Central Michigan | Mid-American (since 1973) | |
| Charleston Southern | Big South (since 1986) | |
| Charlotte | C-USA (1996-2005 and since 2014) | Sun Belt (1977-91)/Metro (1992-95)/Atlantic 10 (2006-13) |
| Chattanooga | Southern (since 1978) | |
| Chicago State | WAC (since 2014) | Mid-Continent (1995-2006)/Great West (2010-13) |
| Cincinnati | American Athletic (since 2014) | Mid-American (1947-53)/Missouri Valley (1958-70)/Metro (1976-91)/Great Midwest (1992-95)/C-USA (1996-2005)/Big East (2006-13) |
| The Citadel | Southern (since 1937) | |
| Clemson | ACC (since 1954) | Southern (1922-53) |
| Cleveland State | Horizon League (since 1995) | Mid-Continent (1983-94) |
| Coastal Carolina | Sun Belt (since 2017) | Big South (1986-2016) |
| Colgate | Patriot League (since 1991) | ECAC North Atlantic (1980-90) |
| College of Charleston | CAA (since 2014) | TAAC (1994-98)/Southern (1999-2013) |
| Colorado | Pac-12 (since 2012) | Rocky Mountain (1923-37)/Big Eight (1948-96)/Big 12 (1997-2011) |
| Colorado State | Mountain West (since 2000) | Rocky Mountain (1924-37)/Skyline (1938-62)/WAC (1970-99) |
| Columbia | EIBL/Ivy League (since 1902) | |
| Connecticut | American Athletic (since 2014) | New England/Yankee (1938-43 and 1946-76)/Big East (1980-2013) |
| Coppin State | MEAC (since 1986) | |
| Cornell | EIBL/Ivy League (since 1902) | |
| Creighton | Big East (since 2014) | Missouri Valley (1929-48 and 1977-2013) |
| Dartmouth | EIBL/Ivy League (since 1912) | |
| Davidson | Atlantic 10 (since 2015) | Southern (1937-88 and 1993-2014)/Big South (1991 and 1992) |
| Dayton | Atlantic 10 (since 1996) | Midwestern Collegiate (1989-93)/Great Midwest (1994 and 1995) |
| Delaware | CAA (since 2002) | ECC (1959-91)/America East (1992-2001) |
| Delaware State | MEAC (since 1972) | |
| Denver | Summit League (since 2014) | Rocky Mountain (1923-37)/Skyline (1938-62)/Sun Belt (2000-12)/WAC (2013) |
| DePaul | Big East (since 2006) | Great Midwest (1992-95)/C-USA (1996-2005) |
| Detroit | Horizon League (since 1981) | Missouri Valley (1950-57) |
| Drake | Missouri Valley (1908-51 and since 1957) | |
| Drexel | CAA (since 2002) | ECC (1959-91)/America East (1992-2001) |
| Duke | ACC (since 1954) | Southern (1929-53) |
| Duquesne | Atlantic 10 (since 1977 except for 1993) | Midwestern Collegiate (1993) |
| East Carolina | American Athletic (since 2015) | Southern (1966-77)/ECAC South/CAA (1983-2001)/C-USA (2002-14) |
| Eastern Illinois | Ohio Valley (since 1997) | Mid-Continent (1983-96) |
| Eastern Kentucky | Ohio Valley (since 1949) | |
| Eastern Michigan | Mid-American (since 1975) | |
| Eastern Washington | Big Sky (since 1988) | |
| East Tennessee State | Southern (1980-2005 and since 2015) | Ohio Valley (1959-78)/Southern (1980-2005)/Atlantic Sun (2006-14) |
| Elon | CAA (since 2015) | Big South (1998-2003)/Southern (2004-2014) |
| Evansville | Missouri Valley (since 1995) | Ohio Valley (1949-52)/Midwestern Collegiate (1980-94) |
| Fairfield | MAAC (since 1982) | |
| Fairleigh Dickinson | Northeast (since 1982) | Metropolitan Collegiate (1966-69) |
| Florida | SEC (since 1933) | |
| Florida A&M | MEAC (since 1980) | |
| Florida Atlantic | C-USA (since 2014) | Atlantic Sun (1996-2004)/Sun Belt (2005-13) |
| Florida Gulf Coast | Atlantic Sun (since 2008) | |
| Florida International | C-USA (since 2014) | TAAC (1992-98)/Sun Belt (1999-2013) |
| Florida State | ACC (since 1992) | Metro (1977-91) |
| Fordham | Atlantic 10 (since 1996) | MAAC (1982-90)/Patriot League (1991-95) |
| Fresno State | Mountain West (since 2013) | WCAC (1956 and 1957)/Big West (1970-92)/WAC (1993-2012) |
| Furman | Southern (since 1937) | |
| Gardner-Webb | Big South (since 2009) | Atlantic Sun (2003-08) |
| George Mason | Atlantic 10 (since 2014) | CAA (1983-2013) |
| Georgetown | Big East (since 1980) | |
| George Washington | Atlantic 10 (since 1977) | Southern (1942, 1943 and 1946-70) |
| Georgia | SEC (since 1933) | Southern (1922-32) |
| Georgia Southern | Sun Belt (since 2015) | TAAC (1981-92)/Southern (1993-2014) |
| Georgia State | Sun Belt (1977-81 and since 2014) | Atlantic Sun (1985-2005)/CAA (2006-13) |
| Georgia Tech | ACC (since 1980) | Southern (1922-32)/SEC (1933-64)/Metro (1976-78) |
| Gonzaga | West Coast (since 1980) | Big Sky (1964-79) |
| Grambling State | SWAC (since 1959) | |
| Grand Canyon | WAC (since 2014) | |
| Green Bay | Horizon League (since 1995) | Mid-Continent (1983-94) |
| Hampton | Big South (since 2019) | MEAC (1996-2018) |
| Harvard | EIBL/Ivy League (1902-09 and since 1934) | |
| Hawaii | Big West (since 2013) | WAC (1980-2012) |
| High Point | Big South (since 2000) | |
| Hofstra | CAA (since 2002) | ECC (1966-94)/America East (1995-2001) |
| Holy Cross | Patriot League (since 1991) | ECAC North (1980-83)/MAAC (1984-90) |
| Houston | American Athletic (since 2014) | Missouri Valley (1951-60)/SWC (1976-96)/C-USA (1997-2013) |
| Houston Baptist | Southland (since 2014) | TAAC (1980-89)/Great West (2009-13) |
| Howard University | MEAC (since 1972) | |
| Idaho | Big Sky (1964-96 and since 2015) | Pacific Coast (1922-59)/Big Sky (1964-96)/Big West (1997-2005)/WAC (2006-14) |
| Idaho State | Big Sky (since 1964) | Rocky Mountain (1950-60) |
| Illinois | Big Ten (since 1896) | |
| Illinois-Chicago | Horizon League (since 1995) | Mid-Continent (1983-94) |
| Illinois State | Missouri Valley (since 1981) | |
| Incarnate Word | Southland (since 2014) | |
| Indiana | Big Ten (since 1899) | |
| Indiana State | Missouri Valley (since 1977) | |
| IPFW | Summit League (since 2008) | |
| IUPUI | Horizon League (since 2018) | Summit League (1999-2017) |
| Iona | MAAC (since 1982) | Metropolitan Collegiate (1966-69) |
| Iowa | Big Ten (since 1899) | |
| Iowa State | Big 12 (since 1997) | Missouri Valley (1908-28)/Big Eight (1929-96) |
| Jackson State | SWAC (since 1959) | |
| Jacksonville | Atlantic Sun (since 1999) | Sun Belt (1977-98) |
| Jacksonville State | Ohio Valley (since 2004) | TAAC/Atlantic Sun (1996-2003) |
| James Madison | CAA (since 1983) | |
| Kansas | Big 12 (since 1997) | Missouri Valley (1908-28)/Big Eight (1929-96) |
| Kansas State | Big 12 (since 1997) | Missouri Valley (1914-28)/Big Eight (1929-96) |
| Kennesaw State | Atlantic Sun (since 2006) | |
| Kent State | Mid-American (since 1952) | |
| Kentucky | SEC (since 1933) | Southern (1922-32) |
| Lafayette | Patriot League (since 1991) | ECC (1959-90) |
| Lamar | Southland (1969-87 and since 1999) | American South (1988-91)/Sun Belt (1992-98) |
| La Salle | Atlantic 10 (since 1996) | ECC (1959-83)/MAAC (1984-92)/Midwestern Collegiate (1993-95) |
| Lehigh | Patriot League (since 1991) | ECC (1959-90) |
| Liberty | Big South (since 1992) | |
| Lipscomb | Atlantic Sun (since 2004) | |
| Long Beach State | Big West (since 1970) | |
| Long Island | Northeast (since 1982) | Metropolitan Collegiate (1966-69) |
| Longwood | Big South (since 2013) | |
| Louisiana-Lafayette | Sun Belt (since 1992) | Southland (1972-82)/American South (1988-91) |
| Louisiana-Monroe | Sun Belt (since 2007) | TAAC (1980-82)/Southland (1983-2006) |
| Louisiana State | SEC (since 1933) | Southern (1923-32) |
| Louisiana Tech | C-USA (since 2014) | Southland (1972-87)/American South (1988-91)/Sun Belt (1992-2001)/WAC (2002-13) |
| Louisville | ACC (since 2015) | Missouri Valley (1965-75)/Metro (1976-95)/C-USA (1996-2005)/Big East (2006-13)/American Athletic (2014) |
| Loyola of Chicago | Missouri Valley (since 2014) | Horizon League (1980-2013) |
| Loyola (Md.) | Patriot League (since 2014) | Northeast (1982-89)/MAAC (1990-2013) |
| Loyola Marymount | West Coast (since 1956) | |
| Maine | America East (since 1980) | New England/Yankee (1938-43 and 1946-76) |
| Manhattan | MAAC (since 1982) | Metropolitan Collegiate (1966-69) |
| Marist | MAAC (since 1998) | Northeast (1982-97) |
| Marquette | Big East (since 2006) | Midwestern Collegiate (1990 & 1991)/Great Midwest (1992-95)/C-USA (1996-2005) |
| Marshall | C-USA (since 2006) | Ohio Valley (1949-52)/Mid-American (1954-69 and 1998-2005)/Southern (1978-97) |
| Maryland | Big Ten (since 2015) | Southern (1924-53)/ACC (1954-2014) |
| Maryland-Baltimore County | America East (since 2004) | ECC (1991 and 1992)/Big South (1993-98)/Northeast (1999-2003) |
| Maryland-Eastern Shore | MEAC (1972-79 and since 1983) | |
| Massachusetts | Atlantic 10 (since 1977) | New England/Yankee (1947-76) |
| Massachusetts-Lowell | America East (since 2014) | |
| McNeese State | Southland (since 1973) | |
| Memphis | American Athletic (since 2014) | Missouri Valley (1968-73)/Metro (1976-91)/Great Midwest (1992-95)/C-USA (1996-2013) |
| Mercer | Southern (since 2015) | Atlantic Sun (1980-2014) |
| Miami (Fla.) | ACC (since 2005) | Big East (1992-2004) |
| Miami (Ohio) | Mid-American (since 1948) | |
| Michigan | Big Ten (since 1896) | |
| Michigan State | Big Ten (since 1949) | |
| Middle Tennessee State | C-USA (since 2014) | Ohio Valley (1953-2000)/Sun Belt (2001-13) |
| Milwaukee | Horizon League (since 1995) | Mid-Continent (1993 and 1994) |
| Minnesota | Big Ten (since 1896) | |
| Mississippi | SEC (since 1933) | Southern (1923-32) |
| Mississippi State | SEC (since 1933) | Southern (1922-32) |
| Mississippi Valley State | SWAC (since 1969) | |
| Missouri | SEC (since 2013) | Missouri Valley (1908-28)/Big Eight (1929-96)/Big 12 (1997-2012) |
| Missouri-Kansas City | WAC (since 2014) | Summit League (1995-2013) |
| Missouri State | Missouri Valley (since 1991) | Mid-Continent (1983-90) |
| Monmouth | MAAC (since 2014) | Northeast (1986-2013) |
| Montana | Big Sky (since 1964) | Pacific Coast (1924-29)/Skyline (1952-62) |
| Montana State | Big Sky (since 1964) | Rocky Mountain (1925-57 except for 1948)/Skyline (1952-62) |
| Morehead State | Ohio Valley (since 1949) | |
| Morgan State | MEAC (1972-80 and since 1985) | |
| Mount St. Mary's | Northeast (since 1990) | |
| Murray State | Ohio Valley (since 1949 except for 1962) | |
| Navy | Patriot League (since 1992) | CAA (1983-91) |
| Nebraska | Big Ten (since 2012) | Missouri Valley (1908-28)/Big Eight (1929-96)/Big 12 (1997-2011) |
| Nebraska-Omaha | Summit League (since 2013) | |
| Nevada | Mountain West (2013) | WCAC (1970-79)/Big Sky (1980-92)/Big West (1993-2000)/WAC (2001-12) |
| New Hampshire | America East (since 1980) | New England/Yankee (1938-43 and 1946-76) |
| NJIT | Atlantic Sun (since 2016) | Great West (2009-13) |
| New Mexico | Mountain West (since 2000) | Border (1932-42 and 1945-51)/Skyline (1952-62)/WAC (1963-99) |
| New Mexico State | WAC (since 2006) | Border (1932-62)/Missouri Valley (1971-83)/Big West (1984-2000)/Sun Belt (2001-05) |
| New Orleans | Southland (since 2014) | Sun Belt (1977-80 and 1992-2011)/American South (1988-91) |
| Niagara | MAAC (since 1990) | ECAC North Atlantic (1980-89) |
| Nicholls State | Southland (since 1992) | Gulf Star (1985-87) |
| Norfolk State | MEAC (since 1998) | |
| North Alabama | Atlantic Sun (since 2019) | |
| North Carolina | ACC (since 1954) | Southern (1922-53) |
| UNC Asheville | Big South (since 1986) | |
| North Carolina A&T | MEAC (since 1972) | |
| North Carolina Central | MEAC (1972-80 and since 2012) | |
| UNC Greensboro | Southern (since 1998) | Big South (1993-97) |
| North Carolina State | ACC (since 1954) | Southern (1922-53) |
| UNC Wilmington | CAA (since 1985) | |
| North Dakota | Big Sky (since 2013) | |
| North Dakota State | Summit League (since 2008) | |
| Northern Arizona | Big Sky (since 1971) | Border (1932-53) |
| Northern Colorado | Big Sky (since 2007) | |
| Northern Illinois | Mid-American (1976-86 and since 1998) | Mid-Continent (1991-94)/Midwestern Collegiate (1995-97) |
| Northern Iowa | Missouri Valley (since 1992) | Mid-Continent (1983-91) |
| Northern Kentucky | Horizon League (since 2016) | Atlantic Sun (2013-15) |
| North Florida | Atlantic Sun (since 2006) | |
| North Texas | C-USA (since 2014) | Missouri Valley (1958-75)/Southland (1983-96)/Big West (1997-2000)/Sun Belt (2001-13) |
| Northwestern | Big Ten (since 1896) | |
| Northwestern State | Southland (since 1988) | TAAC (1981-84)/Gulf Star (1985-87) |
| Notre Dame | ACC (since 2014) | Big East (1996-2013) |
| Oakland | Horizon League (since 2014) | Summit League (1999-2013) |
| Ohio University | Mid-American (since 1947) | |
| Ohio State | Big Ten (since 1912) | |
| Oklahoma | Big 12 (since 1997) | Missouri Valley (1920-28)/Big Eight (1929-96) |
| Oklahoma State | Big 12 (since 1997) | SWC (1918 and 1922-25)/Missouri Valley (1926-57)/Big Eight (1959-96) |
| Old Dominion | C-USA (since 2014) | Sun Belt (1983-91)/CAA (1992-2013) |
| Oral Roberts | Summit League (1998-2012 and since 2015) | Midwestern Collegiate (1980-87)/Southland (2013 and 2014) |
| Oregon | Pac-12 (1916-59 and since 1965) | |
| Oregon State | Pac-12 (1916-59 and since 1965) | |
| Pacific | WCAC/WCC (1953-71 and since 2014) | Big West (1972-2013) |
| Penn | EIBL/Ivy League (since 1904) | |
| Penn State | Big Ten (since 1993) | Atlantic 10 (1977-79 and 1983-91) |
| Pepperdine | West Coast (since 1956) | |
| Pittsburgh | ACC (since 2014) | Eastern 8 (1977-82)/Big East (1983-2013) |
| Portland | West Coast (since 1977) | |
| Portland State | Big Sky (since 1997) | |
| Prairie View | SWAC (since 1921 except for 1991) | |
| Presbyterian | Big South (since 2010) | |
| Princeton | EIBL/Ivy League (since 1902) | |
| Providence | Big East (since 1980) | |
| Purdue | Big Ten (since 1896) | |
| Quinnipiac | MAAC (since 2014) | Northeast (1999-2013) |
| Radford | Big South (since 1986) | |
| Rhode Island | Atlantic 10 (since 1981) | New England/Yankee (1938-43 and 1946-76)/ECAC North (1980) |
| Rice | C-USA (since 2006) | SWC (1915-96)/WAC (1997-2005) |
| Richmond | Atlantic 10 (since 2002) | Southern (1937-76)/CAA (1983-2001) |
| Rider | MAAC (since 1998) | ECC (1967-92)/Northeast (1993-97) |
| Robert Morris | Northeast (since 1982) | |
| Rutgers | Big Ten (since 2015) | Middle Atlantic (1959-62)/Atlantic 10 (1977-95)/Big East (1996-2013)/American Athletic (2014) |
| Sacramento State | Big Sky (since 1997) | American West (1995 and 1996) |
| Sacred Heart | Northeast (since 2000) | |
| St. Bonaventure | Atlantic 10 (since 1980) | |
| St. Francis (N.Y.) | Northeast (since 1982) | Metropolitan Collegiate (1966-68) |
| Saint Francis (Pa.) | Northeast (since 1982) | |
| St. John's | Big East (since 1980) | |
| Saint Joseph's | Atlantic 10 (since 1983) | ECC (1959-82) |
| Saint Louis | Atlantic 10 (since 2006) | Missouri Valley (1938-74)/Metro (1976-82)/Midwestern Collegiate (1983-91)/Great Midwest (1992-95)/C-USA (1996-2005) |
| Saint Mary's | West Coast (since 1953) | |
| Saint Peter's | MAAC (since 1982) | Metropolitan Collegiate (1966-69) |
| Samford | Southern (since 2008) | Atlantic Sun (1980-2003)/Ohio Valley (2004-07) |
| Sam Houston State | Southland (since 1988) | Gulf Star (1985-87) |
| San Diego | West Coast (since 1980) | |
| San Diego State | PCAA/Big West (1970-78 and since 2014) | WAC (1979-99)/Mountain West (2000-13) |
| San Francisco | West Coast (since 1953) | |
| San Jose State | Mountain West (since 2014) | WCAC (1953-69)/Big West (1970-96)/WAC (1997-2013) |
| Santa Clara | West Coast (since 1953) | |
| Savannah State | MEAC (since 2012) | |
| Seattle | WAC (since 2013) | WCAC (1972-80) |
| Seton Hall | Big East (since 1980) | Metropolitan Collegiate (1966-69) |
| Siena | MAAC (since 1990) | Northeast (1982-84)/ECAC North Atlantic (1985-89) |
| South Alabama | Sun Belt (since 1977) | |
| South Carolina | SEC (since 1992) | Southern (1923-53)/ACC (1954-71)/Metro (1984-91) |
| South Carolina State | MEAC (since 1972) | |
| USC Upstate | Big South (since 2019) | Atlantic Sun (2008-18) |
| South Dakota | Big Sky (since 2013) | Great West (2009-12) |
| South Dakota State | Summit League (since 2008) | |
| Southeastern Louisiana | Southland (since 1998) | Gulf Star (1985-87)/TAAC (1992-97) |
| Southeast Missouri State | Ohio Valley (since 1992) | |
| Southern (La.) | SWAC (since 1935) | |
| Southern California | Pac-12 (since 1922) | |
| Southern Illinois | Missouri Valley (since 1975) | |
| SIU-Edwardsville | Ohio Valley (since 2012) | |
| Southern Methodist | American Athletic (since 2014) | SWC (1919-96)/WAC (1997-2005)/C-USA (2006-13) |
| Southern Mississippi | C-USA (since 1996) | Metro (1983-95) |
| Southern Utah | Big Sky (since 2013) | American West (1995 and 1996)/Summit League (1998-2012) |
| South Florida | American Athletic (since 2014) | Sun Belt (1977-91)/Metro (1992-95)/C-USA (1996-2005)/Big East (2006-13) |
| Stanford | Pac-12 (since 1917) | |
| Stephen F. Austin | Southland (since 1988) | Gulf Star (1985-87) |
| Stetson | Atlantic Sun (since 1987) | |
| Stony Brook | America East (since 2002) | |
| Syracuse | ACC (since 2014) | Big East (1980-2013) |
| Temple | American Athletic (since 2014) | ECC (1959-82)/Atlantic 10 (1983-2013) |
| Tennessee | SEC (since 1933) | Southern (1922-32) |
| Tennessee-Martin | Ohio Valley (since 1993) | |
| Tennessee State | Ohio Valley (since 1988) | |
| Tennessee Tech | Ohio Valley (since 1949) | |
| Texas | Big 12 (since 1997) | SWC (1915-96) |
| Texas A&M | SEC (since 2013) | SWC (1915-96)/Big 12 (1997-2012) |
| Texas A&M-Corpus Christi | Southland (since 2007) | |
| Texas-Arlington | Sun Belt (since 2014) | Southland (1969-2012 except for 1987)/WAC (2013) |
| Texas Christian | Big 12 (since 2013) | SWC (1924-96)/WAC (1997-2001)/C-USA (2002-05)/Mountain West (2006-12) |
| Texas-El Paso | C-USA (since 2006) | Border (1936-62)/WAC (1970-2005) |
| Texas-Pan American | WAC (since 2014) | TAAC (1980)/American South (1988-91)/Sun Belt (1992-98)/Great West (2009-13) |
| Texas-San Antonio | C-USA (since 2014) | TAAC (1987-91)/Southland (1992-2012)/WAC (2013) |
| Texas Southern | SWAC (since 1955) | |
| Texas State | Sun Belt (since 2014) | Gulf Star (1985-87)/Southland (1988-2012)/WAC (2013) |
| Texas Tech | Big 12 (since 1997) | Border (1933-56)/SWC (1958-96) |
| Toledo | Mid-American (since 1952) | |
| Towson | CAA (since 2002) | Northeast (1982)/ECC (1983-92)/Big South (1993-95)/America East (1996-2001) |
| Troy | Sun Belt (since 2006) | ECC (1994)/Mid-Continent (1995-97)/Atlantic Sun (1998-2005) |
| Tulane | American Athletic (since 2015) | Southern (1923-32)/SEC (1933-66)/Metro (1976-85 and 1990-95)/C-USA (1996-2014) |
| Tulsa | American Athletic (since 2015) | Missouri Valley (1935-96)/WAC (1997-2005)/C-USA (2006-14) |
| UAB | C-USA (since 1996) | Sun Belt (1980-91)/Great Midwest (1992-95) |
| UALR | Sun Belt (since 1992) | TAAC (1981-91) |
| UCLA | Pac-12 (since 1928) | |
| UNLV | Mountain West (since 2000) | WCAC (1970-75)/Big West (1983-96)/WAC (1997-99) |
| Utah | Pac-12 (since 2012) | Rocky Mountain (1925-37)/Skyline (1938-62)/WAC (1963-99)/Mountain West (2000-11) |
| Utah State | Mountain West (since 2014) | Rocky Mountain (1925-37)/Skyline (1938-62)/Big West (1979-2005)/WAC (2006-13) |
| Utah Valley | WAC (since 2014) | Great West (2009-13) |
| Valparaiso | Missouri Valley (since 2018) | Mid-Continent (1983-2007)/Horizon League (2008-17) |
| Vanderbilt | SEC (since 1933) | Southern (1923-32) |
| Vermont | America East (since 1980) | New England/Yankee (1947-76) |
| Villanova | Big East (since 1981) | Eastern Athletic Association (1977-80) |
| Virginia | ACC (since 1954) | Southern (1922-37) |
| Virginia Commonwealth | Atlantic 10 (since 2013) | Sun Belt (1980-91)/Metro (1992-95)/CAA (1996-2012) |
| Virginia Military | Southern (1926-2003 and since 2015) | Big South (2004-14) |
| Virginia Tech | ACC (since 2005) | Southern (1922-65)/Metro (1979-95)/Atlantic 10 (1996-2000)/Big East (2001-04) |
| Wagner | Northeast (since 1982) | |
| Wake Forest | ACC (since 1954) | Southern (1937-53) |
| Washington | Pac-12 (since 1916) | |
| Washington State | Pac-12 (1917-59 and since 1964) | |
| Weber State | Big Sky (since 1964) | |
| Western Carolina | Southern (since 1978) | |
| Western Illinois | Summit League (since 1983) | |
| Western Kentucky | C-USA (since 2015) | Ohio Valley (1949-82)/Sun Belt (1983-2014) |
| Western Michigan | Mid-American (since 1948) | |
| West Virginia | Big 12 (since 2013) | Southern (1951-68)/Atlantic 10 (1977-95)/Big East (1996-2012) |
| Wichita State | American Athletic (since 2018) | Missouri Valley (1946-2017) |
| William & Mary | CAA (since 1983) | Southern (1937-77) |
| Winthrop | Big South (since 1986) | |
| Wisconsin | Big Ten (since 1896) | |
| Wofford | Southern (since 1998) | |
| Wright State | Horizon League (since 1995) | Mid-Continent (1992-94) |
| Wyoming | Mountain West (since 2000) | Rocky Mountain (1923-37)/Mountain States (1938-62)/WAC (1963-99) |
| Xavier | Big East (since 2014) | Midwestern Collegiate (1980-95)/Atlantic 10 (1996-2013) |
| Yale | EIBL/Ivy League (since 1902) | |
| Youngstown State | Horizon League (since 2002) | Ohio Valley (1982-88)/Mid-Continent (1992-2001) |
Pitino Place: Pompous Pilot Slick Rick Needs Removal of Title Tattoo
There must be a divine reason 99-year-old evangelist Billy Graham was ushered into heaven the morning before Rick Pitino pontificated about the rapture of Louisville's 2013 NCAA title. The Good Lord simply didn't want "America's Pastor" to endure whining news accounts of Slick Rick's pity-party presser featuring 99 or so devilish excuses among pathetic pap. Months before unprecedented vacating of a national crown became reality, a rudimentary cut-and-paste NCAA Committee of Infractions summary normally could cure insomnia. But not Louisville's ethical flunking-out report card including unusually harsh descriptive phrases such as "disgraceful and repugnant. . . . threatened and seriously undermined integrity. . . . deep betrayal of trust." Upon closely reading the COI report from pages 24 through 29, it was abundantly clear UL's program has a dignity shelf life barely lasting 15 seconds while aspiring to convince everyone their show-them-a-good-time hookers were not very expensive. The Cardinals' sordid stance, coupled with implication in a broad bribery and corruption scheme outlined by federal investigators, left the white suit Pitino occasionally donned a drunk-on-power symbol for anything but purity.
There was little doubt an earlier self-imposed one-year postseason competition ban and future scholarship/recruiting reductions (a/k/a preemptive plea bargain) implied the Cardinals faced more significant sanctions down the road such as NCAA prohibiting appealing Pitino from wearing said white suit or being forced to have his commemorative title tattoo removed. Looking on the bright side, at least UL's overhauled upper brass didn't don Mexican garb for the "trick-or-treat" meeting with NCAA Infractions Committee and doesn't seem to buy stock into dimwitted deflection tactics blaming book publishing company owned by Indiana's largest-ever donor with law school named after him. However, it still seems probable Pitino will cowardly boycott or conduct a Cam Newton-like walkout, departing hand gesture or not, at any final victim-hood press briefing regarding Strippergate sanctions.
Amid full-figure female fallout from fact-filled tell-all tale (Breaking Cardinal Rules), pretentious Pitino said: “There's only one good thing about being 63 (now older) – you don't care what people think anymore.” The reprehensible regaling all sounded vaguely familiar. After all, it seems as if thin-skinned Pompous Pilot didn't care when he was in his 50s (restaurant affair with staffer's soon-to-be spouse), 40s (quit in mid-season after lured by $50 million to try to become reincarnation of Red Auerbach rather than next Adolph Rupp), 30s (BU Revue) and 20s (Hawaii infractions)?
Essentially, a tawdry timeline stems from philosophy of do as I say; not as I do. One of Pitino's books lecturing everyone else discusses how the past can haunt you. As an assistant at Hawaii, Pitino was implicated in eight of 64 violations leading to the Rainbows' two-year probation stint in the late 1970s. Nonetheless, the narcissist didn't care upon setting foot in Kentucky years ago as his one-day contract stump speech unfolded prior to incessant recycling. Was there any Pitino-linked symbolism when probation-bound Hawaii earned a berth in the NCAA playoffs while UL was banished?
“I think it's a positive because I know exactly what can go on the wrong way,” Pitino smugly self-assessed about suspect hoop activities in the Paradise of the Pacific shortly before he was hired by UK in the late 1980s. “There's no one in this business with more integrity (than me). It didn't happen in Hawaii as far as I'm concerned. I didn't make any mistakes, I don't care what anybody says. I'm not going to comment on it anymore because I don't have to.”
Need more I-don't-give-a-rip integrity from delusional denizen claiming "I've run a clean program all my life"? The alternate-reality program wallowed in self-absorption when Louisville failed to care about providing anything but a lame spin-tour remark stemming from an inquiry regarding an anecdote in the incisive book Raw Recruits written by dying-breed respected journalists Alexander Wolff and Armen Keteyian (more on media later). With apologies to “dictator” Dick Vitale's personal library, Season on the Brink (written by John Feinstein) and Raw Recruits rank 1-2 or vice versa as the all-time most compelling behind-the-scenes books on college basketball. After a big win for Pitino-coached Boston University at Rhode Island in the early 1980s, Raw Recruits alleged he rewarded the Terriers by having their bus stop at a jiggle joint on the way back to campus and hand out dollar bills to players so they might tuck them into G-strings.
Thirty years later, a ridiculous red-light district response from condescending UL about the book's sewer snippet was the famished BU brigade innocently meandered in to get food, presumably thinking neon lights and all were essentials for a lively restaurant, but promptly bailed with hands covering their eyes. How many times have you heard about a booby bar being confused with fast food unless it is difficult to differentiate between excessive makeup on a Dancin' Girl and same for Ronald McDonald? Of course, there's not much happy-deal difference between unwrapped buns “having a good day” at the Golden Arches and gold jewelry near strategic arches on naked bodies. Maybe the classy New England establishment was simply a topless diner for roadie academic tutors, unbeknownst to coach, keeping GPA (Great Party Atmosphere) of squad members up by cramming for anatomy class on trek home. Let it be duly noted Slick Rick doesn't know anything about Foxy Lady, Cheaters and Cadillac Lounge in Providence, either. But he does know how to distribute a tell-nothing book ("My Story") although promoting it could have been a mite more entertaining if his first one-on-one interview was after-hours at upscale bistro with Michelle Beadle to highlight her dismal-ratings departure from ESPN's Get Up. Journalistic jewel Jalen Rose could have been in adjoining room giving his typical incisive commentary comparable to blow-by-blow account from Pitino lackey Vinny Tatum.
Dwelling a little more on distinguishing between day-of-reckoning dignity and depravity, how low can you sink when self-proclaimed Elvis Presley (ex-UL All-American Terrence “Why Would I Pay Anybody for Anything” Williams) was a credibility reference for Hookergate scoring considering his checkered past? It may be the equivalent of Pitino vouching for former UK guard Richie "He Can Do No Wrong" Farmer when he ran afoul of the law. Unless, of course, you're a basketball bozo believing Slick Rick ran a completely squeaky-clean program at UK before abruptly changing stripes in same state and becoming vile cheater at the Ville where six-figure regal recruit Brian Bowen just "fell in our lap" prior to turning pro in Australia.
ESPN's multiple budget cuts have really taken a toll. Beyond Jay Bilas failing to have a backdrop of former players supporting Pitino reminiscent of Roy Williams interview at North Carolina, here is what genuinely "doesn't make any sense at all" for someone who is kind of a big deal. Pitino, boasting a master-puppeteer reputation, has a penchant for "can't-find-one-person" pap not knowing what the hell is going on around him even if it is a relatively minor thing such as six-year UL assistant coach Steve Masiello failing to complete requirements for a diploma during and after his ex-Knicks ball-boy playing for him at UK before immersed in an academic controversy as Manhattan's coach.
Understandably, the contrived Sgt. Schultz "I know nothing" routine regarding the "we have a different way we recruit" rot really has gotten old. One of Pitino's books also honed in on when it's best not to delegate. Pitino, saying he was “still trying to understand the motive,” treats his former player/assistant coach Andre McGee as if aspiring to explain a Shakespearean production ("Et tu, Brutus?"). Actually, it would be helpful to know when fall-guy target McGee was first exposed to this scurrilous stagecraft before dormitory operation director was thrown under the intellectually-and-morally bankrupt bus. The bluster bus was driven by "over-monitoring" Pitino, who said: "We have the most compliant coaches in the NCAA, no matter what you hear." We presume his assessment includes former graduate assistant Brandon Williams, who failed to cooperate in the NCAA's probe. If relevant at all, did we hear if this commendable credential predated McGee as a player and/or coach or kicked in after McGee departed for UMKC and subsequently working as a driver for car service Uber? Pitino proclaimed he delegated the monitoring of McGee's activities to his upper-level assistant coaches. However, the "compliant" aides interviewed by the NCAA were unaware of this duty. Wow! Contagious Sgt. Schultz virus goes viral when scandal stench surrounds scalawags similar to flies on excrement. To observers with functioning brain, it's inconceivable bench bosses Mike Balado (Arkansas State), Wyking Jones (California), Kevin Keatts (North Carolina State), David Padgett (Louisville), Richard Pitino (Minnesota) and Kareem Richardson (UMKC) - serving as Pitino aides at some juncture from 2011-12 through 2014-15 - all can be deaf, dumb and blind to what transpired.
Do Pitino's longstanding don't-care comments credibly pass a sincere threshold to where the nation should deluge him with speedy-recovery well wishes to help mend his broken heart? As most ardent hoop observers are aware, the BU rock-star sojourn wasn't the only time Mr. Self-Righteous mistook a restaurant for adult entertainment. Amplifying on the toxic topic via common sense, it is inconceivable to accept no-compulsion premise there was nothing abnormal maneuvering from normal sensual behavior to chance stop-on-a-dime meeting with extortion-bound stranger on an upscale restaurant table. Just wondering, but did the fine-diner owner leave keys thinking the hangers-on were going to sweep the floor and clean the dishes exercising 15 seconds of shame? Do normal humans with moral compass conduct their business, including spreading adultery wings, in this tawdry porn-star tryout fashion? Perhaps they were waiting on UL football coach Bobby Petrino and hoop sage Bo Ryan to compare notes about exploits on and off the court.
Seems as if there was lack of credibility everywhere one turned. In the wake of such boorish behavior, should we bother to contemplate what went on to relieve stress at higher-stakes citadels such as New York (Knicks) and college cage capital (Lexington, KY)? It almost makes a Client 9-curious individual want to enlist the services of a PI to rummage through little black book of whomever the Mueller-bound Manhattan Madam happened to be in late 1980s before conducting survey of coeds attending UK the first half of 1990s about any love lodge or perhaps big and blue van featuring tinted windows. First step learning about "good times" equipment might be giving amnesia antidote or truth serum to gatekeeper/chauffeur. Winston Bennett, an assistant under Pitino with UK and the Boston Celtics, may also be able to offer some insight based on the former All-SEC second-team selection admitting he "slept with 90 women a month" despite stature as the ultimate NBA scrub and firing in late November 2017 from his state government job after only 10 weeks amid reports of questionable emails he sent to female colleagues. UK All-Americans Ron Mercer and Antoine Walker also rejoined Pitino with the Celtics before subsequent involvement in shady off-the-court activity. Wouldn't you want to be a fly on the wall during UK recruiting visits for impressionable teenagers Bennett, Mercer and Walker to discern any transgressions remotely similar to the thrill in the Ville?
What transpired at UL is precisely why a control freak orchestrated construction of a basketball dormitory (named for his brother-in-law who tragically died in 9/11 attack) to monitor his roster and keep them from becoming salacious scholars. Instead, what repeatedly resulted was a classic example of lack of institutional control frequently manipulating minors. So what if Pitino wasn't the whore-dorm booking agent or could pass a lie-detector test on a well-crafted question skirting the predatory activity (criminal syndicate according to police. Didn't his pact with UL have provision about “diligently supervise compliance of assistant coaches and any other employees for which he is administratively responsible”?
“I'm totally saddened to the point of disbelief over the incidents,” Pitino said during one of his incredible sulks. “We've built a very strong culture here of discipline and doing the right things.” You've got to be kidding! If so, did a single well-disciplined student-athlete exhibit sufficient strength to do the right thing, go to him and describe detestable culture infecting Club Minardi? If not, why are his family-atmosphere players more loyal to a subordinate than head coach? Pleading with the hoop gods and school counter-suit belatedly labeling Pitino "active wrongdoer," please don't eventually put public through the traditional "plausible-deniability" focus on disgruntled former "employees" defense or fired unfairly ploy.
Whether or not it was a byproduct of culture or karma, the Pitino brand several years ago also faced a sex-lies-and-videotape scandal involving his son's recruits at Minnesota, which featured more suspended players than Big Ten Conference victories. Any video that year involving Gopher players, on or off hardwood, probably is filth and should be erased. Amid the disturbing credibility gap, it's probably time to shift gears and sarcastically add to the sad state of affairs with the following pointless plot lines for entertaining episodes on HBO's soon-to-be-announced Pitino Place show:
- Jilted Karen, after escaping confinement by having sex with prison security guard boasting slick black hair, undergoes race-and-name change becoming Katina and trying to extort main character Slick Rick again before going on the cover of Vanity Fair and “earning” some sort of ESPY courage award for her copious copulation commentary.
- In a what-might-have-been dream, Slick Rick learns in a confession booth about an innocent baby boy named Rowe Vee Wade if Catholic principles really meant more than abortion creating new definition for “health care” money. Rowe Vee Wade would have been a blue-chip playmaking prospect who played for half-brother and averaged more assists per game in college career than his look-alike estranged father (5.6 apg). Upon waking up from Rip Van Winkle slumber and media-hailed three-point shooting at summer Seniors Tournament in Florida, Slick Rick decides to become a sperm donor to try to clone Mr. Nifty Jr. (donor's college nickname).
- Slick Rick groupie Vinny, moonlighting as an NCAA enforcement agent, taught boss to hold the tail during horse breeding and told tales about anything dealing with human breeding. But the aloof horse owner already was a thoroughbred Breeders' Cup Secretariat wannabee and only had eyes for what was under some of those gaudy race-track hats. Vinny, who was actually a double agent, eventually spilled his good-times guts to authorities when he was supposed to be conducting opposition research on rival Coach Pay-pal Cal including going through trash in Memphis trying to unearth any Slick Rick-like transgressions or rookie salary-cap violations he could possibly find to help prevent ninth defeat in last 10 confrontations.
- Slick Rick blames Sick “You Better Put Some Ice On It” Willie for infecting him with some unnamed pants-dropping defect in front of stranger after shaking Bubba's cigar-stained hand before introducing President Stainmaker, still basking in the glow of an Arkansas title, at a campaign rally on the eve of the 1996 election. Finishing “expensive” speech on humility to Wall Street executives and meeting filing deadline for book on success, he had to take a rain check regarding cheerleader-recruiting/saxophone-lesson trip with Shrillary's Secret Weapon and equally frail contemptible Clintonista cronies to “Orgy Island.” Bubba's backup plan to reconnect with Slick was to become his boss as school Prez insofar as he has vast experience in such an overpaid category via $16.46 million over five years as honorary chancellor of Laureate University. And if disgraced Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel can be appointed President of his alma mater (Youngstown State), then Pitino is qualified for happy ending sitting at helm of UMass, where UK nemesis Coach Cal oversaw minuteman-by-minuteman sterling academic progress of his roster there in Amherst.
- Intervention for Slick Rick unfolds to stop drinking bourbon named after him. Becoming delusional as much as Kanye is in debt, he claimed his new Kanye West/adidas shoes helped him win a dunking contest as college freshman decades ago against varsity standout Julius Erving in 1970-71 before Dr. J became a professional basketball highlight reel. Boasting super-human strength capable of reeling in mammoth marlin, Slick Rick claimed he won a home-run derby against Mike Flanagan in 1971-72 when the eventual 18-year MLB pitcher averaged 13.9 ppg for the same school's frosh squad. In a bizarre rant by Slick Rick after pain killer wore off from getting a title tattoo, the egomaniac thought he should receive Bill Cosby's Presidential Medal of Freedom if award is stripped from the widely-condemned comic. Meanwhile, Kanye ($53 million in debt) makes guest star appearance begging Taylor Swift for 53 cents for his "Famous" ideas so he can impress fashionable Kim by having more "rep" cred than 50 Cent with music endorsement by Slick Rick linked to any affiliated dorm dance.
All silly-season sarcasm aside, the bottom-line drivel is what do you expect from a program where the coach with an advanced diploma in hairsplitting can't control himself? Prior to his passing away, Louisville's most famous native, Muhammad Ali, issued his support while trying to recall which of his offspring went with which mother and delusional ex-AD Tom Jurich, apparently an abortion advocate, said Pitino “has a perfect track record.” We presume Jurich's perfection testimonial isn't hampered by Parkinson's and includes Pitino settling for more than $2,500 to get rid of evidence. Maybe some of these unprincipled folks would show a shred of humanity if a female member of their immediate family was affected more than mysteriously receiving brand manager's job from blockbuster benefactor.
Just like the majority of scandals, follow the money trail of a plot that may have had its genesis in a Barbershop sequel of sorts. Whatever the amount spent by McGee for physical activity by saving gas money moving flesh-peddling party venue closer to home, it's virtually impossible to believe the bank-bundled funds came entirely from his personal account. Pitino, responding as if he was kneed in the groin by some unknown assailant, had Olympian gall telling McGee “to step up” after skating around issue crying “Why?” way more than truly-aggrieved Nancy Kerrigan. Why was McGee's attorney campaign manager for Commonwealth Attorney?
Of course, the most disgusting “why” involved fathers/guardians tagging along for a recruiting ride to LarryFlyntVille when not busy helping prospects with their studies. In employing a perverted version of father-son bonding, why was there the incentive way horsing around driving it homeboy rather than “a dolt” just having fond memory of playing horse against his boy in the family driveway. What would the party-planner incentive be if the recruit actually helped UL reach a Final Four?
Pitino, who said bump-and-grind allegations made him “sick to my stomach,” can always cure chronic tummy tumult via some dessert delicacy at his favorite upscale restaurant. Actually, frequent health references simply raise suspicion about his mid-season walking-out-through-the-door “flight” to Cleveland Clinic in 2003-04 three years after the "wounded tiger" quit the Celtics because Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish weren't walking back through their door.
An inalienable right exists to be stupid like Apple protecting phone of Islamic terrorist, but we saw the outline of a clever problem-solving act just when problem-child guard Chris Jones was dismissed. You've got the comedy-relief brains of a doorknob if you believed Louisville's shedding of a little light via a door-opening salvo explaining life-without-Jones stemmed primarily from a 9 p.m. curfew violation. It's unclear whether Pitino, exhibiting a theatrical flop reminiscent of Jones' chin-rubbing charade in a match-up with cross-state rival Kentucky, includes himself in refuting any bad acting. Certainly wasn't a surprise Jones issued a virtual carbon-copy quote of Pitino by proclaiming "I'm not worried about anything that anybody has to say about me."
Jones, described by Pitino as “type of guy who always has his hands in the cookie jar,” dropped out of school to defend himself as rigorously as the ACC's leader in steals average defended opponents. Wouldn't you like an insider to drop some knowledge regarding the rigorous classes the scholar took and stack them up against North Carolina's no-show way or the intellectually-stimulating spring-semester coursework for the one-and-done crowd? Depending upon your perspective, didn't the culture Pitino portrayed “steal” a scholarship from perhaps an authentic student-athlete? Many viewers wanted assurance they couldn't catch a STD from TV and sought prompt shower after watching UL during Pitino's waning weeks.
The shameless local and national media covering UL also are to blame, but they had a laser-like fixation on touchy-feely timing of ban rather than incalculable more vital issues such as academic integrity and power-structure lack of accountability of coaching staffs for revenue-producing sports. There should be a one-year ban on reading or watching the presstitutes because of their failure to live up to news-gathering obligations by allowing an Escort Queen to “(hard)cover” the program better than they did. How in the name of Edmund R. Murrow did Walmart toothbrush thief Katina discern more about what was going on than Pitino, university officials and a seemingly enabling press stripped naked by her firsthand research?
MessMedia has become the equivalent of sanctuary-city mayors dancing on graves of victims of illegal aliens. In a journalistic version of Patty Hearst-like Stockholm Syndrome, far too many reporters place the desires of their "captors" above the basic needs of the readers they are presumed to serve. Reporters religiously toil to nurture insider sources by getting chummy with decision-makers and those in power; leaving them susceptible to not wanting to jeopardize those relevant relationships by reporting edgy items insiders do not want publicized. This dichotomy creates a dilemma for reporters; especially in college towns where the university is the only game in town. Do you inform readers what you know now when you may not be able to tell them something else pertinent later because you are subsequently denied access to sources? In choosing to remain mum, reporters actually cooperate with biased contacts in misleading their audience. In some instances, the press can generate outside perks ghostwriting and serving roles in pre- and post-game productions.
Pitino claimed he didn't read evicted Powell's expose but said “people will do anything for money.” Does the same assessment apply to Sextino regarding his series of what now seem like tainted hypocritical volumes (Success is a Choice, How to Add Value to Every Minute of Your Life, Lead to Succeed, Rebound Rules, etc.)? Taking the power of positive thinking to an extreme, he has had additional exposure to a couple of bullet points in his 10-step plan – thriving on pressure and learning from adversity.
Collateral damage caught in the middle of mess created by others, do you think chattel-graduate transfers Damion Lee (Drexel) and Trey Lewis (Cleveland State) were credibly “recruited” with emphasis on prospect of participating in NCAA playoffs? Lee said: "If we buy into the system and what coach Pitino preaches, then we can be successful." Standing O from UL fans notwithstanding, the betrayed duo "tabled" by Preacher Pitino's program should have sued the system - coaching staff and school - for fraud after enduring the pressure connected to this adversity. Mercenaries Lee and Lewis were wronged, but they triggered the wrongdoing and suffered the consequences by wrongly choosing to attend UL.
Meanwhile, self-described “soldier-in-this-army” Pitino asked before getting a Greek-tragedy boot: “If I resign, would people feel better about it?” Answer: Well, yes, if anyone credible amid the Get-Your-Fill-in-the-Ville debris remained boasting a moral compass rather than emphasizing morale-building comp-a__. At least admitting "my words aren't enough," author Pitino can take an adult education refresher course ruminating on his own following phrases in "The One-Day Contract":
- "The egotistical coach, the arrogant athlete, they are stereotypes that too often ring true."
- "The longer I live and the more I experience, the more I believe that humility is the quality essential to sustained success, and a lack of it is the major stumbling block for those who find success for a time, then lose it."
- "There's no question when you coach at Kentucky, you fall into a trap of thinking you're much better than you really are, because of the adulation and attention. It is constant and seems to come in a never-ending supply. I did not know it in the midst of it, but that arrogance, that thinking of yourself as the best, is one of the biggest reasons successful people stumble and fail."
- "The consequences of not learning humility can be tragic. If we don't always see these consequences in our own lives, we should be able to recognize them all around us. Not learning humility is, for one, an expensive lesson."
- "Self-aggrandizement, alienation of friends, family, or teammates, a tragic tendency to overestimate one's talent that leads to overreaching, they all are traits of people who lack humility. This also is a story that is not new. The ancient Greeks had a word for this very situation: hubris."
- "The same cycle (of self-destruction) can be seen in many fields. The list of those for whom humility not only might have saved a fortune, but their future, is long and star-studded."
- "The decadent lifestyle, the entourages, the unrealistic expectation of stature and longevity - all this leads to poor choices and reckless decision making."
- "With humility, you are better able to enjoy and understand success, and you are better able to examine and handle failure."
- "Humble people always handle adversity so much better because they understand who they are. So many come to disappointing ends and wonder why it happened. Most often, it was a lack of humility, leading to arrogance, leading to the mistakes they made. They think they are more significant than they are and it makes them gamble with their lives and their professions. Then, when things go wrong, they lash out and blame others. Arrogant people spread around their failure with blame."
- "Not only is humility the key to finding lasting success, but it is the key to lasting happiness. Go back through history, literature, spiritual books, and this cycle is repeated throughout generations and cultures: arrogance, fall, acceptance, humility, healing. We're no different from people who came before us. I can't state enough how important a lesson this is to learn, and the importance of learning it before life forces you to."
Former U of L All-American Butch Beard asked: "You basically had two decades where a lot of stuff was going on and people put their head in the sand and said it's OK because you were winning ballgames and making money?"
Despite a new Twitter account, any observer with a moral compass has lost faith in Pitino and whatever he stood for the past 35 years. The NCAA going out of its high-and-mighty way to embrace "disgraceful and repugnant" characterization should force some important self-reflection somewhere in red-faced Louisville. Just stay out of upscale restaurant when striving to relieve stress unless, of course, you're entitled to rake in 98% of a side deal (UL enriched by 10-year, $160 million sponsorship agreement with Adidas).
Small-Town Value: Numerous A-As Came From Smaller Hometowns Than Happ
Ethan Happ, an All-American for Wisconsin last season, came from an obscure hometown (Milan, IL) with small population (5,100). But there are a striking number of major-college All-Americans who came from significantly smaller outposts. Flyover-country hamlets offering little more than a part-time post office and gas station supplied the following standouts from municipalities with populations fewer than 1,000:
Lost in Shuffle: Spotlight on Legends Totally Obscures Their Predecessors
Departing Andy Kennedy of Mississippi (245 victories with Rebels) fell way short, but more than 40 current NCAA Division I schools feature all-time winningest coaches boasting in excess of 400 triumphs. The length of tenure necessary to win so many games makes it almost impossible to remember their predecessors. Anyone who can name 1/4 of the mentors they succeeded goes straight to the Trivia Hall of Fame.
Billy Donovan's success with the Oklahoma City Thunder after departing Florida triggered a question as to what other individuals are completely overshadowed as successor to a coaching legend. Donovan combined with fellow record holders Phog Allen, Dale Brown, Gale Catlett, Denny Crum, Ed Diddle, Hec Edmundson, Jack Friel, Don Haskins, Lou Henson, Hank Iba, Frank Keaney, Bob Knight, Bob McKillop, Ray Meyer, Lute Olson, Alex Severance, Norm Stewart, Bob Thomason, John Thompson Jr., Gary Williams, John Wooden and Ned Wulk for more than 12,500 victories at their respective schools where they established new standards. Who would have thought such achievements were in store after their predecessors collaborated to go more than 300 games below .500 over a collective 100-plus seasons?
One of the predecessor names in particular should surprise you. Incredibly, the only one of Kansas' 10 head coaches with a career losing record is the inventor of the sport (Dr. James Naismith). Naismith is among the following coaches who were succeeded by individuals posting more than 400 wins to become the all-time winningest mentor at the same institution:
| School | All-Time Winningest Coach | Predecessor (W-L Record During Tenure) |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Lute Olson (590 victories) | Ben Lindsey (4-25 in 1982-83) |
| Arizona State | Ned Wulk (405) | Bill Kajikawa (88-137 from 1948-49 through 1956-57) |
| Austin Peay | Dave Loos (402) | Howard Jackson (19-35 in 1983-84 and 1984-85 |
| Butler | Tony Hinkle (549) | Harlan O. "Pat" Page (94-29 from 1920-21 through 1925-26) |
| California | Clarence "Nibs" Price (449) | Earl Wright (60-20 from 1920-21 through 1923-24) |
| Connecticut | Jim Calhoun (626) | Dom Perno (139-114 from 1977-78 through 1985-86) |
| Davidson | Bob McKillop (495) | Bobby Hussey (107-126 from 1981-82 through 1988-89) |
| Dayton | Don Donoher (437) | Tom Blackburn (352-141 from 1947-48 through 1963-64) |
| DePaul | Ray Meyer (724) | Bill Wendt (23-20 in 1940-41 and 1941-42) |
| Duke | Mike Krzyzewski (998) | Bill E. Foster (113-64 from 1974-75 through 1979-80) |
| Florida | Billy Donovan (467) | Lon Kruger (104-80 from 1990-91 through 1995-96) |
| Georgetown | John Thompson Jr. (596) | Jack Magee (69-80 from 1966-67 through 1971-72) |
| Houston | Guy Lewis (592) | Alden Pasche (135-116 from 1945-46 through 1955-56) |
| Illinois | Lou Henson (421) | Gene Bartow (8-18 in 1974-75) |
| Indiana | Bob Knight (659) | Lou Watson (62-60 from 1965-66 through 1968-69 and 1970-71) |
| Kansas | Phog Allen (590) | Dr. James Naismith (55-60 from 1899 through 1907) |
| Kentucky | Adolph Rupp (875) | John Mauer (40-14 from 1927-28 through 1929-30) |
| Louisiana State | Dale Brown (448) | Press Maravich (76-86 from 1966-67 through 1971-72) |
| Louisville | Denny Crum (675) | Howard Stacey (12-8 in 1970-71) |
| Maryland | Gary Williams (461) | Bob Wade (36-50 from 1986-87 through 1988-89) |
| Missouri | Norm Stewart (634) | Bob Vanatta (42-80 from 1962-63 through 1966-67) |
| Niagara | Taps Gallagher (465) | Bill McCarthy (44-35 from 1927-28 through 1930-31) |
| North Carolina | Dean Smith (879) | Frank McGuire (164-58 from 1952-53 through 1960-61) |
| Oklahoma State | Hank Iba (655) | Harold James (13-41 from 1931-32 through 1933-34) |
| Oregon State | Slats Gill (599) | Robert Hager (115-53 from 1922-23 through 1927-28) |
| Pacific | Bob Thomason (414) | Tom O'Neill (51-110 from 1982-83 through 1987-88) |
| Princeton | Pete Carril (514) | Butch van Breda Kolff (103-31 from 1962-63 through 1966-67) |
| Purdue | Gene Keady (512) | Lee Rose (50-18 in 1978-79 and 1979-80) |
| Rhode Island | Frank Keaney (403) | Fred Murray (9-8 in 1920-21) |
| St. John's | Lou Carnesecca* (526) | Frank Mulzoff (56-27 from 1970-71 through 1972-73) |
| Syracuse | Jim Boeheim (1,004) | Roy Danforth (148-71 from 1968-69 through 1975-76) |
| Temple | John Chaney (516) | Don Casey (151-94 from 1973-74 through 1981-82) |
| Texas A&M | Shelby Metcalf (438) | Bobby Rogers (92-52 from 1957-58 through 1962-63) |
| Texas-El Paso | Don Haskins (719) | Harold Davis (18-30 in 1959-60 and 1960-61) |
| UCLA | John Wooden (620) | Wilbur Johns (93-120 from 1939-40 through 1947-48) |
| UNLV | Jerry Tarkanian (509) | John Bayer (44-36 from 1970-71 through 1972-73) |
| Villanova | Alex Severance (413) | Doc Jacobs (62-56 from 1929-30 through 1935-36) |
| Washington | Hec Edmundson (488) | Stub Allison (7-8 in 1919-20) |
| Washington State | Jack Friel (495) | Karl Schlademan (18-27 in 1926-27 and 1927-28) |
| West Virginia | Gale Catlett (439) | Joedy Gardner (59-53 from 1974-75 through 1977-78) |
| Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle (759) | L.T. Smith (3-1 in 1922) |
*Carnesecca succeeded Joe Lapchick when he served his first stint with St. John's from 1965-66 through 1969-70
Young Shall Lead Them: OU Freshman Still On Pace to Unprecedented Feat
Questions are starting to surface as to whether Oklahoma freshman sensation Trae Young warrants national player of the year consideration if the Sooners continue to struggle in Big 12 Conference competition. But there is no question about Young being in virgin territory while leading the nation in both scoring and assists. There haven't even been that many yearlings pace the country in a single department. Following is a chronological list of freshmen leading the country in a major statistical category:
| Season | Freshman NCAA Leader | School | Category | Statistic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974-75 | Bernard King | Tennessee | Field-Goal Shooting | 62.2% |
| 1975-76 | Sidney Moncrief | Arkansas | Field-Goal Shooting | 66.5% |
| 1983-84 | Steve Alford | Indiana | Free-Throw Shooting | 91.3% |
| 1985-86 | Jim Barton | Dartmouth | Free-Throw Shooting | 94.2% |
| 1987-88 | Kenny Miller | Loyola of Chicago | Rebounding Average | 13.6 rpg |
| 1988-89 | Alonzo Mourning | Georgetown | Blocked Shots Average | 5 bpg |
| 1990-91 | Shawn Bradley | Brigham Young | Blocked Shots Average | 5.2 bpg |
| 1992-93 | Jason Kidd | California | Steals Average | 3.8 spg |
| 1994-95 | Keith Closs | Central Connecticut State | Blocked Shots Average | 5.4 bpg |
| 1996-97 | Joel Hoover | Maryland-Eastern Shore | Steals Average | 3.2 spg |
| 2001-02 | Jason Conley | Virginia Military | Scoring Average | 29.3 ppg |
| 2001-02 | T.J. Ford | Texas | Assists Average | 8.3 apg |
| 2003-04 | Blake Ahearn | Southwest Missouri State | Free-Throw Shooting | 97.5% |
| 2003-04 | Paul Millsap | Louisiana Tech | Rebounding Average | 12.5 rpg |
| 2006-07 | Mike Freeman | Hampton | Field-Goal Percentage | 67.8% |
| 2007-08 | Michael Beasley | Kansas State | Rebounding Average | 12.4 rpg |
| 2007-08 | Devin Gibson | Texas-San Antonio | Steals Average | 3.3 spg |
| 2009-10 | Hassan Whiteside | Marshall | Blocked Shots Average | 5.4 bpg |
| 2011-12 | Anthony Davis | Kentucky | Blocked Shots Average | 4.65 bpg |
| 2012-13 | Nerlens Noel | Kentucky | Blocked Shots Average | 4.5 bpg |
| 2013-14 | Monte Morris | Iowa State | Assist-to-Turnover Ratio | 4.79-to-1 |
| 2013-14 | Julius Randle | Kentucky | Double-Doubles | 24 |
| 2015-16 | Fletcher Magee | Wofford | Free-Throw Percentage | 92.5% |
| 2016-17 | Lonzo Ball | UCLA | Assists Average | 7.61 apg |
Twin Peaks: Martin Brothers Boost Nevada's Profile After Leaving NCSU
For those observers who revel in recruiting rhetoric and reviews, the world stopped revolving several years ago when the Harrison twins (Aaron and Andrew) announced their intention to attend Kentucky. There were all sorts of Harrison Hysteria questions regarding how the guards would impact the Wildcats and their staunch supporters. After struggling somewhat during the regular season in 2013-14, they helped UK advance to the NCAA Tournament championship game. In the short term, Big Blue Nation expected them to guide the Cats' to the 2015 title tilt before Wisconsin left them 38-and-done in the national semifinals. They are unquestionably the best set of twins to participate in the Final Four. But combining to average a modest 20.3 points per game, the biggest long-term question is how will the Harrisons rank among the most touted twins in college basketball history; especially after platooning reduced their impact and Andrew couldn't control his tongue. But were they better than twins Caleb and Cody Martin, who propelled Nevada to a national ranking this season by combining for more than 33 ppg after transferring from North Carolina State? Caleb became Mountain West Conference player and newcomer of the year while Cody was named league defensive player of the year before making colossal contributions in Nevada setting an NCAA playoff-record comeback (erasing 22-point second-half deficit against Cincinnati).
Sharing headlines with other regal recruits, the Harrisons did not crack the following Top 10 of the most influential sets of twins at the same school: 1. Van Arsdale (Indiana); 2. O'Brien (Seattle); 3. Lopez (Stanford); 4. Morris (Kansas); 5. Collins (Stanford); 6. Graham (UCF/Oklahoma State); 7. Hughes (Wisconsin); 8. Holmes (VMI); 9. Hayes (Western Carolina/Georgia); 10. Williams (VMI); 11. Kerr (Colorado State); 12. Stanley (Texas A&M); 13. Nelson (Duquesne).
Meanwhile, the award-winning Martins appear bound to crack the all-time Top 10 sets of twins among the following chronological look of the nation's 40 most outstanding sets of twins who played together at least one season on the same team:
- George and Francis Coakley were members of Clemson's 1939 Southern Conference Tournament championship team. It is the Tigers' only league tourney title.
- Howie and Lenny Rader competed for LIU in 1941-42. Howie was a starter but served in the U.S. Army the next year. Each of them went on to play multiple seasons in the NBL.
- Clifford and Beauford Minx combined for 10.9 ppg for Missouri's 1944 NCAA Tournament team.
- Forwards John and Rupe Ricksen combined to average 9.7 ppg for California in 1950-51, 15.9 ppg in 1951-52 and 18.4 ppg in 1952-53. The Bears won at least 16 games each of their seasons together. They were co-captains as seniors when Cal captured the PCC South Division title and John earned first-team all-conference status.
- Bantam-sized Johnny and Eddie O'Brien were the top two scorers for Seattle (26-3 record) when it reached the 1953 NCAA Tournament in the Chieftains' first season at the major-college level. They also were infielders for the Pittsburgh Pirates the same year. Johnny O'Brien, a 5-8 unanimous first-team All-American who played center on offense, is the only player to score more than 40 points in his first NCAA Tournament game (42 in an 88-77 victory against Idaho State). Eddie contributed 21 in the same playoff contest.
- Bob (8.6 ppg in 63 games) and Bill (7.5 ppg in 40 games) Gaines played together for Furman from 1954-55 through 1956-57. Each of them averaged 10.3 ppg as a senior.
- Don and Pat Stanley combined for 17.3 ppg and 10.2 rpg in 1959-60 and 24.8 ppg and 11.7 rpg in 1960-61 for Texas A&M. They earlier played at Kilgore when it won a national J.C. title.
- Don and Doug Clemetson combined for 9.5 ppg with Stanford in 1960-61 and 11 ppg in 1961-62. The 16-6 Cardinal finished AAWU runner-up to UCLA, which wound up at the 1962 Final Four.
- Tom and Dick Van Arsdale ranked sixth and seventh on Indiana's list of all-time leading scorers when they graduated in 1965. They were among the nation's top 60 point producers as juniors in 1963-64 and combined for 76 points in a 108-102 neutral court victory against Notre Dame. The Hoosiers went 19-5 their senior campaign. They each played 12 seasons in the NBA, where they both scored more than 14,200 points.
- Lloyd and Floyd Kerr were swingmen who combined to average 25.3 ppg and 10.7 rpg for Colorado State from 1966-67 through 1968-69. Brothers Kerr each scored more than 10 points in all three NCAA playoff games when the Rams reached the Midwest Regional final their senior season (17-7 record) before becoming NBA third-round draft choices.
- Barry and Garry Nelson combined for 21.7 ppg and 16.9 rpg for Duquesne teams compiling a 59-16 record from 1968-69 through 1970-71. Garry led the team in field-goal percentage all three seasons and in rebounding as a sophomore and junior.
- In 1974, seniors Kim and Kerry Hughes carried Wisconsin to its only winning record in Big Ten Conference competition (8-6; 16-8 overall) in a 34-year span from 1963 through 1996. Kim was the Badgers' top rebounder as a sophomore. The 6-11 identical twins combined for 27 ppg and 22 rpg in their junior season and 26 ppg and 20.3 rpg in their final year. Kerry had 21 points and Kim contributed 20 in a home game versus Northwestern their senior year.
- Billy and Bobby Martin excelled for UNC-Wilmington in 1976-77 and 1977-78 after transferring from junior college. Bobby and Billy still rank among the school's all-time leaders in assists.
- Harvey and Horace Grant combined for 16.4 ppg and 11.1 rpg as sophomores for Clemson's 16-13 NIT team in 1984-85. Harvey transferred after the season to a junior college before enrolling at Oklahoma. Each of them had long NBA careers.
- Wichita State's Dwayne and Dwight Praylow combined for 16.3 ppg in 1987-88 (20-10 record) and 20.1 ppg and 8.8 rpg in 1988-89 (19-11 record).
- Victor and Vincent Lee played for Northeast Louisiana from 1986-87 through 1988-89. Their best season was 1988-89 when they were juniors (9.1 ppg and 4.7 rpg).
- Terry and Perry Dozier combined for 9.1 ppg and 3.5 rpg with South Carolina from 1986-87 through 1988-89.
- Damon and Ramon Williams combined for 28.9 ppg in their four-year VMI careers from 1986-87 through 1989-90. They were All-Southern Conference Tournament first-team selections as sophomores in 1988. Ramon was an all-league first-team pick as a junior and Damon achieved the feat as a senior. They rank among the school's all-time top scorers.
- Carl and Charles Thomas were among the top 40 scorers in Eastern Michigan history when they finished their careers following the 1990-91 campaign. They combined to average 16.9 ppg and 7.2 rpg in college before making brief stints in the NBA.
- Sean and Shawn Wightman played together with Western Michigan for three years (1990-91 through 1992-93) after transferring from Illinois State. They combined for 17.9 ppg as juniors. Sean was the nation's top three-point marksman as a junior and led the Mid-American Conference in free-throw shooting as a senior.
- Joe and Jon Ross played together with Notre Dame from 1990-91 through 1993-94. They combined for more than eight rebounds per game their last two seasons.
- Sammie and Simeon Haley combined for 12.5 ppg and 8.8 rpg with Missouri's NCAA Tournament team in 1994-95 (20-9 record) and 14.6 ppg and 9.2 rpg for an NIT team in 1995-96 (18-15 record) after transferring from junior college.
- Jim and David Jackson combined for 7.7 ppg and 3.6 rpg with Virginia Tech's NCAA Tournament team in 1995-96 (23-6 record) and 13.4 ppg and 4.8 rpg in 1996-97 (15-16).
- Bill and Bob Jenkins combined for 14.9 ppg and 12.5 rpg with Valparaiso's NCAA playoff Sweet 16 team in 1997-98 (23-10 record).
- Stanford's Jarron and Jason Collins combined for 19.3 ppg and 12.6 rpg in 1999-2000 before powering the Cardinal to a 31-3 record in 2000-01 with 27.3 ppg and 14.5 rpg.
- Jarvis and Jonas Hayes combined for 25.1 ppg as freshmen with Western Carolina in 1999-2000. They transferred to Georgia after Jarvis led the Southern Conference in scoring with 17.1 ppg. With the Bulldogs, the twins teamed for 25.8 ppg and 10.3 rpg in 2001-02 and 25 ppg and 8.8 rpg in 2002-03.
- Joey and Stevie Graham combined for 25.3 ppg and 9.5 rpg as sophomores with Central Florida in 2001-02 before transferring to Oklahoma State. They collaborated for 15.2 ppg and 6.6 rpg in 2003-04 and 24.2 ppg and 9.4 rpg in 2004-05 for two OSU NCAA playoff teams.
- Errick and Derrick Craven combined for 17.6 ppg and 7.5 rpg with Southern California in 2002-03, 17.2 ppg and 5.2 rpg in 2003-04 and 10.4 ppg and 4.5 rpg in 2004-05.
- Yale swingmen Caleb and Nick Holmes combined for 12.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 3.2 apg from 2004-05 through 2007-08.
- Travis and Chavis Holmes combined for 18.7 ppg with VMI in 2005-06, 34.2 ppg in 2006-07 and 34 ppg in 2007-08. They colloborated for 57 points in a 156-95 victory against Virginia Intermont in 2006-07 when they each ranked among the nation's top five in steals (placed 1-2 in the Big South Conference). Finished 1-2 nationally in thefts their senior season.
- Centers Brook and Robin Lopez combined for 20.2 ppg, 11.5 rpg and 4.1 bpg with Stanford as freshmen in 2006-07 and 29.4 ppg, 13.8 rpg and 4.4 bpg as sophomores in 2007-08 before they both left school early and became NBA first-round draft choices.
- La Salle's Jerrell and Terrell Williams combined for 12.3 ppg and 8.5 rpg from 2007-08 to 2009-10.
- Charles and Philip Tabet combined for 7.2 ppg and 3 rpg with South Alabama in 2008-09 before falling off to 2.8 ppg with 4.5 rpg in 2009-10.
- Philadelphia natives Markieff and Marcus Morris combined for 12 ppg and 9.2 rpg with Kansas in 2008-09, 19.5 ppg and 11.4 rpg in 2009-10 and 30.8 ppg and 15.9 rpg as All-Big 12 Conference selections in 2010-11 before they both left school early and became NBA first-round draft choices. Marcus was KU's leading scorer (17.2) and Markieff its leading rebounder (8.3) for the Jayhawks' 2011 Big 12 champion.
- David and Travis Wear combined for 6.5 ppg and 3.8 rpg as freshmen for North Carolina in 2009-10 before transferring to UCLA, where they collaborated for 18 ppg and 10.2 rpg in 2012-13 and 13.8 ppg and 7 rpg in 2013-14.
- Charlie (freshman RS in 2009-10) and Colin Reddick combined for 7.7 ppg and 6.1 rpg with Furman in 2010-11, 14.8 ppg and 8.1 rpg in 2011-12 and 22.1 ppg and 11.5 rpg in 2012-13.
- Aaron and Andrew Harrison combined for 24.6 ppg as freshmen in 2013-14 and 20.3 ppg as sophomores on a couple of Kentucky Final Four squads.
- Marcus and Michael Weathers combined for 26.4 ppg and 10.2 rpg with Miami OH in 2016-17 before transferring to different schools.
- Jacob and Kalob Ledoux combined for 19.5 ppg and 5.6 rpg for McNeese State in 2016-17 and 2017-18 before transferring.
NOTE: Triplets Kameron (Brown)/Kendall/Kyle Chones started college in 2003-04. Kendall and Kyle combined for 14.7 ppg and 8 rpg with Colgate in that initial season and from 2005-06 through 2007-08.
Best of Times: Purdue Boiled Hot But Fell Shy of Reaching 20 Wins in Row
Purdue became only the third Big Ten Conference school to win its first 12 outings in league competition since Indiana's undefeated team in 1975-76, joining IU (13-0 in 1992-93) and Illinois (15-0 in 2004-05). But the Boilermakers, after having their 19-game winning streak snapped by visiting Ohio State, fell just short of joining the following alphabetical list of past and present power-conference members compiling all-time best winning streaks of at least 20 in a row:
| School (Winning Streak) | Coach(es) | Date Started | Date Ended | Streak Ended By (Score) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama (20) | Johnny Dee | 12-30-55 | 12-14-56 | Duke (89-78) in Birmingham |
| Arizona (21) | Sean Miller | 11-8-13 | 2-1-14 | at California (60-58) |
| Arkansas (35) | Francis Schmidt | 12-??-27 | 2-9-29 | at Texas (36-25) |
| Auburn (30) | Joel Eaves | 1-22-58 | 2-21-59 | at Kentucky (75-56) |
| Baylor (21) | Enoch Mills/Ralph Glaze | ?-??-1911 | ?-??-1913 | Fort Worth Y (46-23) |
| Boston College (20) | Al Skinner | 11-19-04 | 2-8-05 | at Notre Dame (68-65) |
| Butler (25) | Brad Stevens | 12-31-09 | 4-5-10 | Duke (61-59) in NCAA Tournament final |
| California (30) | Nibs Price | 3-??-25 | ?-??-27 | San Francisco (30-19) |
| Cincinnati (37) | Ed Jucker | 1-16-62 | 2-16-63 | at Wichita State (65-64) |
| Connecticut (23) | Jim Calhoun | 12-24-95 | 2-19-96 | at Georgetown (77-65) |
| Creighton (32) | Thomas Mills/Charles Kearney | 1916-17 | 2-12-1920 | at Michigan State (18-15) |
| DePaul (26) | Ray Meyer | 3-26-79 | 2-27-80 | at Notre Dame (76-74 in 2OT) |
| Duke (32) | Mike Krzyzewski | 12-2-98 | 3-29-99 | Connecticut (77-74) in NCAA Tournament final |
| Florida (30) | Billy Donovan | 12-10-13 | 4-5-14 | Connecticut (63-53) in NCAA Tournament |
| Georgetown (29) | John Thompson Jr. | 2-25-84 | 1-26-85 | St. John's (66-65) |
| Illinois (29) | Bruce Weber | 11-19-04 | 3-5-05 | at Ohio State (65-64) |
| Indiana (34) | Bob Knight | 3-15-74 | 3-22-75 | Kentucky (92-90) in NCAA Tournament |
| Kansas (23) | Phog Allen | 3-6-35 | 3-26-36 | Utah State (42-37) in Olympic playoffs |
| Kansas State (21) | Tex Winter | 12-19-58 | 3-14-59 | Cincinnati (85-75) in NCAA Tournament |
| Kentucky (38) | John Calipari | 11-14-14 | 4-4-15 | Wisconsin (71-64) at Final Four |
| Louisiana State (26) | Dale Brown | 11-30-80 | 3-1-81 | at Kentucky (73-71) |
| Marquette (39) | Al McGuire | 2-9-70 | 3-18-71 | Ohio State (60-59) in NCAA Tournament |
| Memphis (27) | John Calipari | 12-22-08 | 3-26-09 | Missouri (102-91) in NCAA Tournament |
| Michigan State (23) | Tom Izzo | 3-2-00 | 1-7-01 | at Indiana (59-58) |
| Minnesota (34) | Louis Cooke | 2-9-1901 | 1-23-1904 | at West Side YMCA Chicago (36-26) |
| Missouri (22) | John Miller/Doc Meanwell | 3-1-1919 | 3-5-1920 | at Kansas State (29-23) |
| North Carolina (37) | Frank McGuire | 12-1-56 | 12-21-57 | West Virginia (75-64) at Kentucky |
| North Carolina State (36) | Norm Sloan | 12-18-73 | 1-3-75 | Wake Forest (83-78) at Greensboro |
| Notre Dame (22) | Bert Maris | 12-23-1908 | 2-10-1909 | at Buffalo Germans (34-22) |
| Notre Dame (22) | George Keogan | 1-23-33 | 1-20-34 | at Pittsburgh (39-34) |
| Ohio State (32) | Fred Taylor | 3-5-60 | 3-25-61 | Cincinnati (70-65) in NCAA Tournament |
| Oklahoma (27) | Hugh McDermott | 1926-27 | 1928-29 | at Washington MO (29-24) |
| Oklahoma State (25) | Hank Iba | 12-12-39 | 3-13-40 | Duquesne (34-30) in NIT |
| Oregon State (26) | Ralph Miller | 11-29-80 | 3-7-81 | Arizona State (87-67) |
| Pittsburgh (22) | Buzz Ridl | 12-4-73 | 2-23-74 | at Penn State (66-64) |
| Rutgers (31) | Tom Young | 12-1-75 | 3-27-76 | Michigan (86-70) at Final Four |
| St. John's (24) | Buck Freeman | 1-29-30 | 2-7-31 | at NYU (27-23) |
| Seton Hall (41) | Honey Russell | 3-3-39 | 3-22-41 | Long Island (49-26) in NIT |
| South Carolina (32) | Billy Laval/Rock Norman | 1-17-33 | 3-1-34 | at North Carolina State (43-24) |
| Stanford (26) | Mike Montgomery | 11-22-03 | 3-6-04 | at Washington (75-62) |
| Syracuse (25) | Jim Boeheim | 11-8-13 | 2-19-14 | Boston College (62-59 in OT) |
| Temple (25) | Harry Litwack | 12-14-57 | 3-21-58 | Kentucky (61-60) at Final Four |
| Texas (44) | Carl Taylor/Theo Bellmont/Roy Henderson | 2-15-1913 | 1-29-1917 | Rice (24-18) |
| Texas A&M (25) | William Driver/Dana Bible | 1919-20 opener | 1-25-21 | at Louisiana State (31-30) |
| Texas Tech (23) | James Dickey | 12-28-95 | 3-17-96 | Georgetown (98-90) in NCAA Tournament |
| UCLA (88) | John Wooden | 1-30-71 | 1-19-74 | at Notre Dame (71-70) |
| UNLV (45) | Jerry Tarkanian | 3-1-90 | 3-30-91 | Duke at Final Four (79-77) |
| Utah (23) | Rick Majerus | 12-19-98 | 3-14-99 | Miami OH (66-58) in NCAA Tournament |
| Villanova (20) | Jay Wright | 11-11-16 | 1-4-17 | at Butler (66-58) |
| Virginia (28) | Terry Holland | 3-5-80 | 2-16-81 | Notre Dame (57-56) at Chicago |
| Wake Forest (20) | R.S. Hayes/James Baldwin | 2-??-26 | 2-4-27 | at Furman (42-27) |
| Washington (26) | Hec Edmundson | 2-14-38 | 1-31-39 | at Oregon (57-49) |
| Washington State (20) | Doc Bohler | 2-26-1916 | 2-2-1917 | at California (28-20) |
| West Virginia (23) | Gale Catlett | 12-9-81 | 2-27-82 | at Rutgers (74-64) |
| Wisconsin (29) | Doc Meanwell | 12-9-1911 | 3-7-1913 | at Chicago (23-10) |
Misplaced Priorities: UK Has History of Failure Living Up to Preseason Hype
Kentucky could be headed to finishing out of the AP's Top 20 three times in the last six years after the freshmen-laden Wildcats were ranked among the preseason Top 5. UK, a mere 30 points removed from losing 12 of its first 13 SEC assignments, clearly has been this campaign's biggest disappointment after ranking 5th in the preseason. There has been an average of one such tarnished squad failing to live up to enormous preseason hype each year thus far this century.
The previous 21 teams in this great-expectations category incurred at least double digits in defeats. Following is a chronological list of the first 25 teams included among preseason Top 5 selections since 1968-69 but finishing out of the AP's final Top 20 poll:
| Preseason Top 5 Team | Season | Preseason AP Ranking | Coach | Record | Top Players For Disappointing Squad |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notre Dame | 1968-69 | 4th | Johnny Dee | 20-7 | Austin Carr, Bob Arnzen, Bob Whitmore, Dwight Murphy, Collis Jones and Sid Catlett |
| Purdue | 1969-70 | 3rd | George King | 18-6 | Rick Mount, Larry Weatherford, George Faerber, Bob Ford, William Franklin and Tyrone Bedford |
| Southern California | 1971-72 | 3rd | Bob Boyd | 16-10 | Paul Westphal, Joe Mackey, Ron Riley, Dan Anderson and Mike Westra |
| Florida State | 1972-73 | 2nd | Hugh Durham | 18-8 | Reggie Royals, Lawrence McCray, Otis Cole, Benny Clyde and Otis Johnson |
| Indiana | 1976-77 | 5th | Bob Knight | 14-13 | Kent Benson, Mike Woodson, Wayne Radford and Derek Holcomb |
| Kansas | 1978-79 | 5th | Ted Owens | 18-11 | Darnell Valentine, Paul Mokeski, John Crawford, Wilmore Fowler and Tony Guy |
| DePaul | 1984-85 | 3rd | Joey Meyer | 19-10 | Tyrone Corbin, Kenny Patterson, Dallas Comegys, Marty Embry, Tony Jackson and Kevin Holmes |
| Indiana | 1984-85 | 4th | Bob Knight | 19-14 | Steve Alford, Uwe Blab, Stew Robinson, Dan Dakich, Delray Brooks and Daryl Thomas |
| Louisville | 1986-87 | 2nd | Denny Crum | 18-14 | Herbert Crook, Pervis Ellison, Tony Kimbro, Mark McSwain, Keith Williams, Kenny Payne and Felton Spencer |
| Michigan State | 1990-91 | 4th | Jud Heathcote | 19-11 | Steve Smith, Matt Steigenga, Mike Peplowski and Mark Montgomery |
| Clemson | 1997-98 | 5th | Rick Barnes | 18-14 | Greg Buckner, Terrell McIntyre, Harold Jamison and Tony Christie |
| Auburn | 1999-00 | 4th | Cliff Ellis | 24-10 | Chris Porter, Doc Robinson, Scott Pohlman, Daymeon Fishback, Mamadou N'diaye and Mack McGadney |
| UCLA | 2001-02 | 5th | Steve Lavin | 21-12 | Jason Kapono, Billy Knight, Matt Barnes, Dan Gadzuric and T.J. Cummings |
| Arizona | 2003-04 | 4th | Lute Olson | 20-10 | Hassan Adams, Salim Stoudamire, Channing Frye, Andre Iguodala and Mustafa Shakur |
| Michigan State | 2003-04 | 3rd | Tom Izzo | 18-12 | Paul Davis, Chris Hill, Kelvin Torbert, Maurice Ager and Alan Anderson |
| Missouri | 2003-04 | 5th | Quin Snyder | 16-14 | Arthur Johnson, Rickey Paulding, Linas Kleiza, Jimmy McKinney, Travon Bryant and Jason Conley |
| Georgia Tech | 2004-05 | 3rd | Paul Hewitt | 20-12 | Jarrett Jack, B.J. Elder, Will Bynum, Luke Schenscher and Isma'll Muhammad |
| Michigan State | 2005-06 | 4th | Tom Izzo | 22-12 | Maurice Ager, Paul Davis, Shannon Brown and Drew Neitzel |
| Louisiana State | 2006-07 | 5th | John Brady | 17-15 | Glen Davis, Tasmin Mitchell, Terry Martin, Garrett Temple and Darnell Lazare |
| Texas | 2009-10 | 3rd | Rick Barnes | 24-10 | Damion James, Avery Bradley, Dexter Pittman, J'Covan Brown, Gary Johnson and Dogus Balbay |
| Kansas State | 2010-11 | 3rd | Frank Martin | 23-11 | Jacob Pullen, Rodney McGruder, Curtis Kelly and Jamar Samuels |
| Michigan State | 2010-11 | 2nd | Tom Izzo | 19-15 | Kalin Lucas, Draymond Green, Durrell Summers, Delvon Roe and Keith Appling |
| Connecticut | 2011-12 | 4th | Jim Calhoun | 20-14 | Andre Drummond, Jeremy Lamb, Ryan Boatright, Alex Oriakhi, Shabazz Napier, Roscoe Smith and Tony Olander |
| Kentucky | 2012-13 | 3rd | John Calipari | 21-12 | Willie Cauley-Stein, Archie Goodwin, Ryan Harrow, Julius Mays, Nerlens Noel, Alex Poythress and Kyle Wiltjer |
| Kentucky | 2013-14 | 1st | John Calipari | 29-11 | Willie Cauley-Stein, Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee, Alex Poythress, Julius Randle and James Young |
Worst of Times: St. John's Snaps 11-Game Losing Streak With Win vs. Duke
St. John's, incurring two double-digit losing streaks in Chris Mullin's first three seasons as coach, ended an 11-game nosdive this campaign with a victory over disappointing Duke. But St. John's recent tailspins represent significantly fewer consecutive setbacks than the all-time longest losing streak by a current power-conference member - 27 by Syracuse in early 1960s.
Jim O'Brien was the only individual to coach two current power-league members (Boston College and Ohio State) when they incurred their longest existing losing streak until BC dropped 20 in a row extending to the opener last season. Former Big East Conference rival Rutgers incurred 15 consecutive reversals to end the 2014-15 season before St. John's bowed in 16 straight decisions in 2015-16. Mizzou wasn't the only Tigers' program in SEC sidelined by tranquilizing-inducing losing streak. LSU dropped 15 consecutive contests when former coach Johnny Jones frequently looked as strategically befuddled as a chief recruiter losing a satchel full of cash on a recruiting trip. Iowa is struggling this season but the Hawkeyes remain among the elite basketball schools - including Creighton, Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Purdue, UNLV, Utah and West Virginia - never reaching double figures in consecutive setbacks:
| School (Longest Losing Streak) | Coach(es) | Date Started | Date Ended | Opponent Ending Streak | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona (16) | Fred Enke | 12-19-58 | 2-14-59 | Hardin-Simmons | 66-64 |
| Arizona State (15) | Herb Sendek | 12-22-2006 | 2-18-2007 | Southern California | 68-58 |
| Arkansas (10) | Lanny Van Eman | 1-9-71 | 2-20-71 | at Texas | 88-87 in OT |
| Auburn (13) | V.J. Edney | 12-13-46 | 2-8-47 | Florida | 36-30 |
| Baylor (17) | Harry Miller | 1-2-99 | 11-20-99 | Eastern Washington | 68-61 |
| Boston College (20) | Jim Christian | 1-2-2016 | 11-15-2016 | UMES | 73-57 |
| Brigham Young (21) | Roger Reid/Tony Ingle | 12-13-96 | 11-14-97 | at San Diego State | 73-59 |
| Butler (14) | Joe Sexson | 1-31-81 | 12-12-81 | Valparaiso | 85-76 |
| California (10) | Rene Herrerias | 1-5-62 | 3-3-62 | at Washington | 68-65 in OT |
| Cincinnati (10) | Mick Cronin | 1-24-2007 | 2-28-2007 | Seton Hall | 70-67 in OT |
| Clemson (15) | Banks McFadden | 12-14-54 | 2-21-55 | Georgia | 105-94 |
| Colorado (17) | Tom Apke | 1-8-86 | 11-28-86 | Weber State | 73-57 |
| Connecticut (10) | John Donahue | 1918 | 1919 | Boston College | 46-27 |
| Connecticut (10) | Burr Carlson | 11-30-68 | 1-8-69 | Syracuse | 103-84 |
| Creighton (9) | Dana Altman | 1-23-95 | 2-23-95 | at Wichita State | 50-47 |
| Creighton (9) | Greg McDermott | 12-21-2014 | 1-28-2015 | St. John's | 77-74 |
| DePaul (18) | Jerry Wainwright | 12-31-2008 | 3-10-2009 | Cincinnati | 67-57 in Big East Tournament |
| Duke (8) | James Baldwin | 2-13-22 | 3-?-22 | Durham YMCA | 37-26 |
| Florida (14) | Don DeVoe | 1-17-90 | 2-27-90 | Louisiana State | 76-63 |
| Florida State (13) | Don Loucks | 1-10-48 | 2-21-48 | Florida Southern | 55-48 |
| Georgetown (9) | Jack Magee | 12-13-71 | 1-27-72 | William & Mary | 85-79 in OT |
| Georgia (13) | Harbin "Red" Lawson | 12-28-51 | 2-6-52 | Georgia Tech | 72-64 |
| Georgia Tech (26) | John "Whack" Hyder | 2-7-53 | 2-18-54 | South Carolina | 58-53 |
| Gonzaga (10) | Dan Fitzgerald | 1-19-90 | 2-23-90 | at San Francisco | 76-75 |
| Illinois (11) | Harv Schmidt | 1-12-74 | 2-23-74 | Iowa | 91-84 |
| Indiana (11) | Harry Good | 1-8-44 | 2-19-44 | at Minnesota | 48-47 |
| Indiana (11) | Tom Crean | 1-24-2010 | 3-6-2010 | Northwestern | 88-80 in OT |
| Iowa (8) | Rollie Williams | 2-15-30 | 12-23-30 | at Creighton | 28-22 |
| Iowa (8) | Dick Schultz | 1-7-74 | 2-11-74 | Purdue | 112-111 in 3OT |
| Iowa State (14) | Louis Menze | 1-2-37 | 12-3-37 | Simpson IA | 41-37 |
| Kansas (10) | Phog Allen | 1-21-48 | 3-12-48 | Iowa State | 61-54 |
| Kansas State (15) | E.C. Curtiss | 2-28-22 | 2-17-23 | at Nebraska | 17-14 |
| Kentucky (9) | George Buchheit | 1-25-23 | 2-23-23 | Sewanee TN | 30-14 |
| Louisiana State (15) | Johnny Jones | 1-7-2017 | 3-1-2017 | Tennessee | 92-82 |
| Louisville (19) | Laurie Apitz | 2-18-39 | 2-22-40 | Berea TN | 56-55 |
| Marquette (15) | Eddie Hickey | 1-8-64 | 3-7-64 | at Xavier | 98-95 |
| Maryland (22) | Howard Shipley | 3-1-40 | 2-22-41 | Washington College MD | 26-18 |
| Memphis (20) | Zach Curlin | 1-7-38 | 1-26-39 | Arkansas State | 53-45 |
| Miami FL (17) | Leonard Hamilton | 1-8-94 | 11-25-94 | Northeastern Illinois | 66-48 |
| Michigan (11) | Bill Frieder | 12-12-81 | 1-28-82 | Ohio State | 62-60 in OT |
| Michigan State (11) | Forddy Anderson | 1-9-65 | 3-1-65 | Purdue | 110-92 |
| Minnesota (17) | Clem Haskins | 1-10-87 | 11-30-87 | Western Illinois | 84-52 |
| Mississippi (16) | Robert "Cob" Jarvis | 12-30-75 | 3-1-76 | Vanderbilt | 81-72 |
| Mississippi State (14) | Paul Gregory | 1-7-55 | 2-26-55 | at Louisiana State | 84-80 |
| Missouri (13) | Kim Anderson | 1-10-2015 | 2-24-2015 | Florida | 64-52 |
| Missouri (13) | Kim Anderson | 12-10-2016 | 2-4-2017 | Arkansas | 83-78 |
| Nebraska (13) | Charles Black/William Browne | 2-10-32 | 1-14-33 | Kansas State | 31-25 |
| North Carolina (8) | Tom Scott | 12-20-50 | 1-11-51 | Wake Forest | 65-56 |
| North Carolina State (9) | Les Robinson | 1-25-92 | 2-22-92 | at North Carolina | 99-94 |
| North Carolina State (9) | Sidney Lowe | 2-9-2008 | 11-15-2008 | at New Orleans | 65-59 |
| Northwestern (20) | Maury Kent | 3-3-23 | 12-22-24 | Michigan State | 26-17 |
| Notre Dame (13) | Johnny Dee | 12-18-65 | 2-9-66 | Butler | 84-61 |
| Ohio State (17) | Jim O'Brien | 12-28-97 | 2-25-98 | at Wisconsin | 61-56 |
| Oklahoma (10) | Bob Stevens | 1-6-64 | 2-21-64 | Missouri | 86-84 |
| Oklahoma State (13) | James Pixlee | 1-24-20 | 1-14-21 | Oklahoma Baptist | 34-19 |
| Oklahoma State (13) | John Maulbetsch/George Roddy | 1-12-29 | 1-7-30 | Oklahoma | 28-22 |
| Oklahoma State (13) | George Roddy | 1-10-30 | 1-5-31 | Grinnell IA | 23-16 |
| Oregon (22) | George Bohler | 12-22-21 | 2-20-22 | Nevada | 33-29 |
| Oregon State (25) | Jay John/Kevin Mouton/Craig Robinson | 12-22-2007 | 11-30-2008 | at Fresno State | 62-54 |
| Penn State (17) | Bruce Parkhill | 1-21-84 | 12-5-84 | Navy | 66-63 |
| Pittsburgh (10) | Charles "Buzz" Ridl | 12-7-68 | 1-28-69 | West Virginia | 90-87 |
| Providence (12) | Lawrence Drew | 2-5-49 | 3-9-49 | Clark MA | 46-45 |
| Purdue (8) | Ray Eddy | 1-12-52 | 2-11-52 | Wisconsin | 78-67 |
| Purdue (8) | Ray Eddy | 1-5-63 | 2-4-63 | Michigan State | 103-81 |
| Rutgers (16) | Craig Littlepage | 12-23-87 | 2-18-88 | Penn State | 65-61 |
| St. John's (16) | Chris Mullin | 12-18-2015 | 2-17-2016 | DePaul | 80-65 |
| Seton Hall (15) | John Colrick/Honey Russell | 2-5-36 | 1-22-37 | St. Peter's | 30-23 |
| Seton Hall (15) | P.J. Carlesimo | 1-2-85 | 3-2-85 | Connecticut | 85-80 |
| South Carolina (15) | Absalon "Rock" Norman | 1-12-31 | 1-8-32 | Clemson | 31-23 |
| Southern California (16) | Bob Boyd | 1-8-76 | 12-1-76 | Idaho | 104-64 |
| Stanford (11) | John Bunn | 1-15-32 | 12-23-32 | at Utah | 41-37 |
| Syracuse (27) | Marc Guley | 2-22-61 | 3-3-62 | at Boston College | 73-72 |
| Temple (11) | Don Casey | 12-10-75 | 1-26-76 | Dickinson PA | 89-55 |
| Tennessee (14) | W.H. Britton | 2-21-27 | 12-28-28 | South Carolina | 29-20 |
| Texas (15) | Thurman "Slue" Hull | 12-4-54 | 2-5-55 | Arkansas | 75-74 |
| Texas A&M (17) | Melvin Watkins/Billy Gillispie | 1-10-2004 | 11-19-2004 | North Carolina A&T | 89-56 |
| Texas Christian (24) | Johnny Swaim/Tim Somerville | 12-11-76 | 12-3-77 | Wayland Baptist TX | 67-53 |
| Texas Tech (20) | Gerald Myers | 1-4-90 | 11-25-90 | Nevada | 81-69 at Anchorage |
| UCLA (14) | Pierce "Caddy" Works | 12-28-37 | 1938-39 opener | L.A. City College | 44-28 |
| UNLV (9) | Michael Drakulich | 12-5-58 | 1-14-59 | at Nellis AFB | 52-47 |
| Utah (9) | Vadal Peterson | 12-30-35 | 2-1-36 | at Utah State | 35-34 |
| Vanderbilt (14) | Josh Cody | 2-15-35 | 1-9-36 | Auburn | 47-27 |
| Villanova (10) | John "Rube" Cashman | 1927-28 | season finale | Alumni at Rosemont | 33-18 |
| Virginia (13) | Billy McCann | 1-9-60 | 2-27-60 | Washington & Lee VA | 86-59 |
| Virginia Tech (18) | Gerald "Red" Laird | 12-29-54 | 2-21-55 | The Citadel | 88-53 |
| Wake Forest (22) | Murray Greason | 1-26-43 | 1944-45 | Catawba NC | 41-38 |
| Washington (13) | Lorenzo Romar | 1-21-2017 | 11-10-2017 | Belmont | 86-82 |
| Washington State (18) | Kelvin Sampson | 12-30-89 | 11-28-90 | BYU-Hawaii | 112-81 |
| West Virginia (9) | Marshall Glenn | 1-12-37 | 2-17-37 | Penn State | 36-31 |
| West Virginia (9) | Gale Catlett | 12-28-2001 | 1-30-2002 | Providence | 89-81 |
| West Virginia (9) | Drew Catlett/John Beilein | 2-2-2002 | 11-22-2002 | Delaware State | 59-46 |
| Wichita State (14) | Kenneth Gunning | 1-10-50 | 12-5-50 | Oklahoma Baptist | 53-45 |
| Wisconsin (14) | John Powless | 1-8-76 | 3-1-76 | at Ohio State | 91-79 |
| Xavier (13) | Dick Campbell | 1-29-73 | 12-1-73 | Aquinas MI | 88-48 |
Bigger Not Always Better: Entertaining Small-College Notebook Details
The spotlight was on small-college hoopdom again when Greenville (Ill.) College, leading NCAA Division III in scoring third straight season, combined with victorious St. Louis-based Fontbonne (Mo.) in highest-scoring game in DIII history (164-154 in overtime). Prior to embracing frenetic brand of offense similar to Grinnell (Iowa), only the ultimate trivia buff knew anything remotely athletic about Greenville, which had a 1974 graduate by the name of Wilbur "Butch" Lockley participate in Survivor Season 6 Amazon. Lockley is remembered primarily because of the high school principal's Egyptian dance, refusal to gaze at a couple of naked female contestants and obsession with firewood prior to a huge fire.
In a caste-like era separating the haves from the have-nots, imperial universities are seeking mega-conferences and, perhaps in the near future, an even more restrictive upper division. But the elitist institutions aren't able to exclude humble small schools from making a big impact on college basketball. Jack Taylor of Grinnell (Iowa) lit up scoreboards several seasons ago, pouring in 71 points in his season opener against Finlandia (Mich.) before exploding for 109 points against Crossroads (Minn.). Even when Taylor was out of the lineup in mid-season, Grinnell generated national headlines after Pat Maher set an NCAA single-game mark with 37 assists in a 164-144 win over College of Faith. In the afterglow of focusing on small colleges via scoring outbursts from G-men at Greenville and Grinnell, following is a chronological notebook with items detailing what will always be appealing about the little guy:
Basketball was a new demonstration sport at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, which also was part of the World's Fair the same year. Hiram College (Ohio), Wheaton College (Ill.) and the University of Latter Day Saints (known today as Brigham Young) were the three college teams invited to compete in what was officially called the "Olympic Collegiate Basketball Championship." Hiram finished the round-robin tournament 2-0 and was declared the champion and awarded the first Olympic gold medal in basketball.
College of Charleston (S.C.) went winless 10 seasons from 1913-14 through 1923-24 (0-56 record; did not compete in 1918-19). . . . Paul Davis, after leaving Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Oklahoma State), guided North Dakota State (18-0 in 1916) and North Dakota (16-0 in 1920) to undefeated seasons in a five-year span. He was also the football coach for these schools. . . . Indiana State's coach for five seasons from 1918-19 through 1922-23 after playing for the institution (known as Indiana State Normal School at the time) was Birch E. Bayh Sr. His son with the same name is a former U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1963 to 1981 and candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in the 1976 election. His grandson, Birch E. "Evan" Bayh III, is a former Indiana Governor and U.S. Senator (from 1999 to 2011). . . . Peru (Neb.) State Teachers won 55 consecutive games over a five-year span from 1921-26. . . . Earl Kinzie, a member of McPherson's 1928 Kansas Conference championship team that placed third in the national AAU Tournament in Kansas City, became a doctor and practiced family medicine in Texas for 50 years. He delivered more than 2,000 babies, including standout running back Earl Campbell.
Longtime radio and TV personality Art Linkletter was San Diego State's leading scorer in 1932-33 and 1933-34. . . . Stanford All-American Hank Luisetti is usually credited with introducing the jump shot but fans of Glenn Roberts from Emory & Henry (Va.) beg to differ. Roberts led the nation in scoring in 1933 and 1935 en route to tallying 2,013 career points. . . . Westminster (Pa.), playing in the first-ever collegiate basketball doubleheader at Madison Square Garden on December 29, 1934, upset St. John's, 37-33. . . . Tarleton (Tex.), coached by W.J. Wisdom, posted 86 straight victories from 1934 to 1937 en route to winning 112 of 113 games in a seven-year span. . . . Amos Alonzo Stagg Jr., the son of a legend who had the longest coaching career in the history of football (71 years), guided the basketball squad at Susquehanna (Pa.) for 16 seasons from 1935-36 through 1950-51. . . . Carleton (Minn.) forward Wayne Sparks, a "Little All-American" in 1936-37, died in a bomber crash in World War II. . . . Drury's Eugene "Peaches" Westover (class of '38), a four-time All-MCAU forward, was killed January 1, 1945, during WWII at the Battle of the Bulge. . . . Western Kentucky was the only school to defeat Murray State in a 79-game span from January 3, 1936 through March 10, 1938. . . . The leading scorer for champion Central Missouri State in the first NAIA tourney in 1937 (when it was known as the National Intercollegiate Tournament) was eventual major leaguer Chuck Workman, an outfielder-third baseman who finished second in the National League in home runs in 1945 with 25 for the Boston Braves. . . . Louisville lost a school-record 19 consecutive contests in the midst of a six-year stretch from 1936-37 through 1941-42 when the Cardinals were 57 games below the .500 mark. Louisville was a long way from becoming a major-college power in 1944 when Peck Hickman was hired as coach for $200 per month. The Cardinals won a total of 29 games over the previous seven seasons. In that span, they lost at least three times to Alfred Holbrook (three defeats), Berea (four), Centre (seven), Georgetown College (nine), Hanover (nine), Oakland City (three) and Transylvania (six). . . . Ulyss "Useless" Brock, a 6-0, 135-pound forward, scored 83 points (22 field goals and 39 free throws) for Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) in a 101-21 verdict over Bethel in February, 1940. . . . UC Santa Barbara reached the 1941 NAIA Tournament semifinals although All-CCAA first-team center Lowell Steward, the league's first black player, couldn't compete because Missouri was a Jim Crow state at the time. Steward would later fly 143 combat missions in Europe as a P-51 pilot for the famed Tuskegee Airmen. . . . George Barr, regarded as probably the finest player in Northland (Wis.) history when he competed in the early 1940s, entered the Army Air Corps as a senior during World War II, earning his diploma in absentia. Barr volunteered for the Jimmy Doolittle raids over Tokyo in 1942. His plane was forced down on mainland China after the raid and the crew imprisoned. Barr was a prisoner of the Japanese for 3 1/2 years with most of the time spent in solitary confinement. Teammate Duane Borst served as a First Lieutenant with the Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauder Group in France, flying 43 missions over Germany.
Football legend Eddie Robinson won more than 70 percent of his games as Grambling's basketball coach from 1942-56. . . . Bob Barker, longtime host of highly-rated daytime game show The Price is Right, played for Drury (Mo.) in the early 1940s before serving in the military during WWII. . . . York (Neb.) College, boasting an enrollment of 50, upset Akron, 52-49, in the first round of the 1943 NAIA Tournament before losing to North Texas, 51-49, in the second round. Brothers Jim and Wayne Kaeding scored 78 of York's 101 points in the two contests. . . . North Carolina College's Rocky Roberson scored 58 points in a game against Shaw (N.C.) during the 1942-43 season for what was believed to be a college record at the time. . . . Fulfilling a pre-tournament agreement in 1943, players from Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) marched to the local blood bank to donate blood to the armed forces following a 50-30 defeat against Cape Girardeau State (Mo.) in the NAIA Tournament's opening game. The two opponents had agreed the loser would donate blood. . . . More than 100 current NCAA Division I schools previously competed in the NAIA Tournament. Thirteen of the 17 different colleges to win NAIA titles from 1941 through 1963 are currently classified as NCAA Division I institutions. One of the 13 universities is Southeast Missouri State, which captured the 1943 crown after losing its first four games of the season. . . . Mississippi College defeated Mississippi State three times by double-digit margins in 1944-45. . . . Howie Schultz, a star for Hamline (Minn.) in the early 1940s, replaced Jackie Robinson at first base in Robinson's first regular-season game for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. . . . CIAA champion West Virginia State was the nation's only undefeated college team in 1947-48, finishing with a 23-0 record. The squad, coached by Mark Cardwell, included future NBA players Bob Wilson and Earl Lloyd. . . . UCLA legend John Wooden was in his final season as coach of Indiana State when the Sycamores lost to Louisville in the 1948 NAIA final. Curtis Walker, Indiana State's 12th man, was the first African-American player in the NAIA Tournament. The all-tourney first five included Beloit's Johnny Orr, who went on to become a longtime major-college coach. Two years later, Indiana State won the NAIA title. . . . Tennessee A&I, coached by Henry A. Kean, was the nation's only undefeated team in 1948-49 with a 24-0 record. The Tigers' leading scorers, Clarence Wilson and Joshua Grider, were both eventually longtime standouts with the Harlem Globetrotters. . . . Hamline (Minn.), the 1949 NAIA champion, had two players - center Vern Mikkelsen and forward Hal Haskins - on Converse's first three five-man All-American teams. In 1950, scribes named Haskins winner of the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association's Gold Star Award as the outstanding visitng player in New York. In what might be the most impressive honor ever received by a small-college player, he virtually doubled the vote total of runner-up Chuck Cooper of Duquesne. North Carolina State's Sam Ranzino finished third, UCLA's George Stanich placed fourth and Holy Cross' Bob Cousy was fifth. The first five winners of the award were Penn's Howie Dallmar, DePaul's George Mikan, Kentucky's Ralph Beard, St. Louis' Ed Macauley and Denver's Vince Boryla. Haskins was among seven Hamline players who started their professional careers in an eight-year span from 1946 through 1953 under coach Joe Hutton Sr.
Morris Harvey's George King became the first college player to average 30 or more points per game in a seson when he led the nation's small-college players with a 31.2-point average in 1949-50. King went on to become a prominent major-college coach. . . . Sewanee (Tenn.) played 58 games in 10 weeks during the summer of 1951 while touring Africa and Europe with Goose Tatum, Marques Haynes and the Harlem Globetrotters. This reportedly was the first international trip for any college basketball team. . . . John Chaney scored 57 points for Bethune-Cookman FL in a 1952 game against Knoxville before becoming a Hall of Fame coach with Temple. . . . Florida A&M won the 1952 SIAC Tournament final against host Alabama State, 71-67, despite having just four players on the court the final 13-plus minutes (including two overtimes) because of players fouling out. . . . The first predominantly black college to take the floor in an integrated national collegiate tournament was Tennessee State (then Tennessee A&I) in 1953. Hall of Famer John McLendon coached Tennessee State to three consecutive national titles (1957-59). Oddly, the '53 Tennessee State team defeated McLendon-coached North Carolina College for the opportunity to go to Kansas City. . . . Seven years earlier, McLendon led North Carolina College to a 64-56 triple-overtime victory over Virginia Union in the final of the first Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament. The CIAA Tournament blossomed into one of the premier postseason events in the country, including major-college tourneys. . . . Alderson-Broaddus College's Joe Miller (3,666) and Carl Hartman (3,373) became the only pair of 3,000-point scorers in college history to be teammates (1954 and 1955). . . . Southwest Missouri, winning the 1953 NAIA crown to become the first school to capture back-to-back titles with a 32-team format, played the last 3 1/2 minutes of its semifinal game with only four players on the court after encountering foul problems. The principal reason Southwest Missouri was shorthanded stemmed from two squad members being in spring training on their way to playing 12 seasons of major league baseball - infielder Jerry Lumpe and first baseman/outfielder Norm Siebern.
Ted Cassidy, Stetson's leading scorer and rebounder in 1954-55, played the role of Lurch in The Addams Family comedy TV series. . . . Tom Hart of Middlebury (Vt.) became the greatest rebounder in collegiate history. He still holds the record for most rebounds per game in a single season (29.5 rpg as a junior in 1954-55) and in a career (27.6 rpg). His coach was former baseball major leaguer Tony Lupien. The 6-4 Hart had two 46-rebound games in 1955 and grabbed 45 in a contest the next year as a senior. In track meets, Hart routinely entered six events and often scored over half his team's points, specializing in the high jump and pole vault. . . . West Virginia Tech averaged more than 100 points per game four consecutive seasons from 1954-55 through 1957-58. . . . Bill Reigel, playing for his third college in six seasons, led the nation's small-college players with a 33.9-point average when he paced McNeese State to the 1956 NAIA Tournament title. Reigel had averaged 18 points per game for the Duquesne freshman team in 1950-51 and 16.3 points per game for the Duke varsity in 1952-53 before entering military service. He later coached McNeese for three seasons from 1971-72 through 1973-74. . . . One of McNeese's three defeats in its championship season was at Lamar, 61-60, after the Cowboys had clobbered the Cardinals (12-12) by a total of 84 points in two early-season contests. The governor of Louisiana threatened McNeese to pull out of tourney if HBCU were allowed to participate. The Cowboys ultimately went against the governor's wishes and defeated HBCU powerhouse Texas Southern in national final. . . . Long-time Buffalo Bills coach Marv Levy directed the basketball squad from Coe (Iowa) in the 1956 NAIA Tournament. . . . Lee Pfund, the coach for 1957 NCAA Division II champion Wheaton (Ill.), compiled a 3-2 pitching record for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945. The all-time winningest coach for Wheaton had three sons (John, Kerry and Randy) each score more than 1,150 points for the school. Randy went on to become coach of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers before becoming vice-president of the Miami Heat. NBA coach Donn Nelson, who gained a reputation as an authority on foreign basketball talent, collected 1,460 points and 538 rebounds for Wheaton in the mid-1980s. . . . Western Illinois missed an opportunity to become the nation's only undefeated college team in 1957-58 when it lost to Tennessee State, 85-73, in the NAIA Tournament championship game. Western had defeated Tennessee State, 79-76, earlier in the season. It was one of three consecutive NAIA titles won by Tennessee State, which boasted future pros Dick Barnett, John Barnhill and Ben Warley. . . . Davis & Elkins' Paul Wilcox, 6-6, is the only player to lead the NAIA in scoring (22.6 ppg) and rebounding (22.3 rpg) in the same season (1958-59). . . . In 1959, North Carolina A&T became the first predominantly black institution to participate in NCAA Division II national playoff competition. The Aggies finished third in the tourney. . . . Jack Madden, the dean of NBA referees for an extended period, graduated from Rider (N.J.) in 1959 as the school's career leader in scoring and rebounding.
Jazz vocalist Al Jarreau, a five-time Grammy winner, played for Ripon (Wis.) in the early 1960s. . . . The NAIA All-Stars upset NCAA champion Ohio State, 76-69, in a first-round game in the 1960 Olympic Trials. The NAIA zone defense limited Buckeye All-American Jerry Lucas to 14 points. . . . The first final NCAA College Division poll in 1960-61 included three coaches - Stan Albeck (Northern Michigan), Harry Gallatin (Southern Illinois) and Butch van Breda Kolff (Hofstra) - who went on to coach in the NBA for at least four seasons. In the next 10 campaigns, three other coaches - Bill Fitch (North Dakota), Bill Musselman (Ashland) and Scotty Robertson (Louisiana Tech) - guided College Division schools to a final Top 10 spot before moving up to the NBA for at least five years. Fitch and his successor, Jimmy Rodgers, coached multiple NBA teams. . . . The 1961-62 All-SWAC first-team selections included three frontcourters who later played at least 10 seasons in the pros - Prairie View's Zelmo Beaty, Southern's Bob Love and Grambling's Willis Reed. . . . Grambling finished in the top 10 of the first 76 weeks of College Division/Division II polls from January 5, 1961 through the end of the 1966-67 campaign. The Tigers, coached by Fred Hobdy, placed in the top five 40 consecutive weeks from March 2, 1961, through January 28, 1965. Grambling supplied seven top 20 NBA draft choices in a 20-year span from 1957 through 1976 before moving up to the NCAA Division I level - Bob McCoy (10th in 1957), Hershell West (16th in 1963), Reed (10th in 1964), Wilbert Frazier (12th in 1965), Jimmy Jones (13th in 1967), Fred Hilton (19th in 1971) and Larry Wright (14th in 1976).
Ronnie Maravich, a letterman for Georgia Southern in 1961-62, is a half-brother of Hall of Famer Pete Maravich (NCAA DI all-time leading scorer from LSU). . . . North Carolina A&T's Hugh Evans, a 12th-round draft choice by the St. Louis Hawks in 1963, went on to become a long-time NBA referee. Evans, a high school teammate in New York with Connie Hawkins and a college teammate of Al Attles, spent three years in the San Francisco Giants' minor league system. . . . Longtime Harlem Globetrotter Fred "Curly" Neal was an All-CIAA selection for Johnson C. Smith (N.C.) in 1962-63. . . . South Dakota State's decisive basket in a 44-42 decision over Wittenberg (Ohio) in the 1963 College Division Tournament final was a 40-foot baseball pass by Sid Bostic that went in after the buzzer sounded while the ball was in flight. . . . Winthrop "Wink" Davenport, who holds career average (19.6 ppg) and single-game (44 points as a junior vs. Bowdoin on February 2, 1963) scoring records for Wesleyan (Conn.), is the father of former women's tennis sensation Lindsay Davenport. He played for the U.S. volleyball team in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. . . . John Fred Gourrier, the lead vocalist for rock-and-roll group John Fred and the Playboy Band featuring hit single Judy in Disguise, was a 6-5 forward for Southeastern Louisiana in the mid-1960s. . . . Sam Alford, father of former Indiana All-American guard Steve Alford, led the NAIA in free-throw shooting in 1963-64. The elder Alford hit 91.2% of his foul shots for Franklin (Ind.) that season. . . . Midwestern (Tex.) defeated Austin College, 14-11, in overtime in 1964. Midwestern held a 4-1 halftime lead and the teams were tied at 8-8 at the end of regulation. Midwestern had won an earlier game that season with Austin by 40 points, 92-52. . . . Bob Jones, the all-time leading rebounder for Georgetown College (Ky.), is the father of former Virginia All-American guard and coach Jeff Jones. . . . Evansville was ranked No. 1 for 19 consecutive weeks from January 30, 1964, through the end of the 1964-65 season. . . . Jerry Sloan outscored Walt Frazier, 25-16, in Evansville's 85-82 victory over Southern Illinois in the 1965 NCAA College Division Tournament final. They went on to become NBA All-Defensive Team first-team selections the same year four times in seven seasons from 1968-69 through 1974-75. . . . Emmy Award-winning writer Bob Einstein, who created the Super Dave Osborne hapless stuntman character, averaged 5 ppg and 2.9 rpg for Chapman (Calif.) in 1963-64 and 1964-65. . . . Writer-director Ron Shelton, synonymous with numerous sports movies, scored 1,420 points for Westmont (Calif.) in the mid-1960s. . . . Ken Howard, street-savvy high school teacher in CBS classic drama The White Shadow, was third-leading all-time scorer for Amherst (Mass.) when his career ended in 1966. . . . Shippensburg's team in the mid-1960s had four different players eventually coach high school state championship teams in the mid-1980s during their careers following graduation. Art Taneyhill and Reggie Weiss coached basketball champions in Pennsylvania while Harry Chapman and Jim Deibler coached football titlists. . . . Wilberforce (Ohio) forward Lonnie Lynn Sr., a 1966 NBA draft choice of the St. Louis Hawks who played in the ABA in 1969-70, is the father of entertainer "Common" (previously Common Sense), a hip hop artist, actor and rap poet who was invited to the White House by the Obama Administration. . . . In 1966-67, Cleveland State's John McLendon became the first African-American to coach at an integrated college in the United States. He had previously been the first black coach at the professional level with the ABL's Cleveland Pipers. . . . In 1966-67, Kentucky Wesleyan had its first of 13 full seasons ranked in the top 10 of College Division/Division II polls (1967-68-69-82-84-87-90-98-99-00-01-02-03). . . . Rockhurst's Ed McKee, a 10th-round choice of the ABA's Indiana Pacers in its initial draft in 1967, went on to become P.R. director of the franchise after it merged with the NBA. McKee was also SID for Indiana State when Larry Bird gained national notoriety. . . . Ashland (Ohio) was coached by Bill Musselman in 1967-68 when the school allowed only 33.9 points per game, an NCAA record. . . . Scranton (Pa.), boasting a 20-5 record in 1968-69 under coach Nat Volpe, defeated five different major colleges that season - Lehigh, Rider, Lafayette, Colgate and Seton Hall. . . . Youngstown State's John McElroy became the shortest player (6-0) ever to score 70 or more points in a game involving NCAA colleges when he scored 72 against Wayne State (Mich.) on February 26, 1969. . . . Mickey Gibson, a transfer from Kentucky who was dismissed from the Wildcats' squad by coach Adolph Rupp because he got married, set the UNC-Asheville single-game scoring record with 44 points against Washington & Lee on February 8, 1969.
The first family of small-college basketball, if not all of hoopdom, could be the six brothers Jones from McGehee, Ark., all 6-8 or taller, who became the top six rebounders in Albany (Ga.) State history during the 1960s and 1970s. Oliver and Melvin were borderline pro prospects before Wil (nine), Caldwell (17), Major (six) and Charles (15) each played a minimum of six ABA/NBA seasons. Major Jones, 6-9, led NCAA Division II rebounders in 1974-75 with an average of 22.5 per game. He is the last Division I or Division II player to average at least 20 per game.
Doug Williams, a 32-year-old Air Force veteran, earned NAIA first-team All-American honors for St. Mary's (Tex.) in 1969-70 when he averaged 18.9 points per game. He scored 24 in a 76-66 upset of Houston. . . . Elmore Smith, a 7-0 center for 1970 NAIA champion Kentucky State, was called for goal tending 12 times in a 116-98 defeat against Eastern Michigan. . . . New Orleans won 38 consecutive home games in a small arena nicknamed the "Chamber of Horrors" after losing its opener against Louisiana College in the Privateers' varsity debut in 1969-70. LC, coached by Billy Allgood, also defeated Mississippi State that season. LC beat the following six eventual DI in-state schools at least five times apiece from 1964-65 through 1974-75: Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northeast Louisiana, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana. The Wildcats also upended Tulane three times from 1962-63 through 1967-68 before becoming the first predominantly white school to play a home-and-home season series against a HBCU (Grambling in 1971-72). . . . Stephen F. Austin, the top-ranked team at the NCAA College Division level in 1969-70, had four players selected in the NBA draft after the season - Narvis Anderson, George E. Johnson, Surry Oliver and Erwin Polnick. . . . Curlee Conners, Southeastern Louisiana's leading scorer and rebounder in 1969-70 and 1970-71, is an uncle of Marcus Dupree from Philadelphia, Miss., and a central figure in the recruiting of the nation's premier prep running back by Oklahoma in the early 1980s. . . . In 1970, with an enrollment under 650 students, three Maryland State College players from a 29-2 team were selected in the NBA draft - Jake Ford (2nd round), Levi Fontaine (5th) and James "Bones" Morgan (7th). Four years later, the school (now known as Maryland-Eastern Shore) had three more players chosen from a 27-2 squad - Rubin Collins (2nd), Talvin Skinner (3rd) and William "Billy" Gordon (4th). . . . Tennessee State edged Oglethorpe (Ga.), 7-4, on February 16, 1971, in what is believed to be the lowest-scoring college game since the center jump was eliminated prior to the 1937-38 season. Tennessee State had overwhelmed Oglethorpe, 82-43, earlier in the season. . . . Louisiana Tech had two players selected fourth overall in an NBA draft - Jackie Moreland (Detroit Pistons in 1960) and Mike Green (Seattle SuperSonics in 1973). . . . Birmingham-Southern's Russell Thompson scored 25 points without making a field-goal attempt in a 55-46 victory over Florence State in the 1970-71 season. He converted 25 of 28 free throws. . . . Less than seven hours after returning to campus following a quarterfinal defeat against eventual 1971 NAIA champion Kentucky State, Grambling's Charlie Anderson died as a result of injuries suffered in a hit-and-run auto accident. Anderson, who averaged 18.3 ppg and 17.8 rpg, provided the game-winning basket in the Tigers' overtime win against Glassboro State (N.J.) in second round. . . . Kentucky State's Travis "Machine Gun" Grant set the single-game NAIA Tournament scoring record with 60 points against Minot State in 1972. Grant finished his four-year college career with 4,045 points and a 33.4-point average. . . . Roanoke guard Hal Johnston, whose athletic career was almost ended when he fractured his skull in a fall from a truck as a senior in high school, was a runaway choice for most outstanding player honors at the 1972 NCAA College Division Tournament. . . . Robert "Firechief" Smith came to USC-Spartanburg in 1972 as a 34-year-old center, powering USCS to its first two winning seasons. He averaged 9.9 rpg in 1973-74, when he was named MVP of the Palmetto Conference Tournament - the first title of any kind in the history of the program. . . . Guilford won the 1973 NAIA Tournament with a lineup that included included three future NBA players - Lloyd Free, M.L. Carr and Greg Jackson. Guilford's top reserve was Steve Hankins, a 6-6, 220-pound, 28-year-old Marine Corps veteran who had served 44 months in Vietnam and was one of the military pallbearers at President Kennedy's funeral. . . . Guilford (N.C.) and Tennessee State are the only two small colleges to have two alums score more than 20 points per game in an NBA season - Free and Bob Kaufmann attended Guilford, while Dick Barnett and Truck Robinson attended Tennessee State.
Guard Greg Procell averaged 11.5 ppg in two seasons for Northwestern State in 1972-73 and 1973-74. Procell, a native of Noble, La. (Ebarb H.S.), held the national high school scoring record (6,702 points) until 2002 when it was broken by Jeremy Monceaux at Parkway Christian Academy of Birmingham, Ala., after Monceaux played varsity as a seventh- and eighth-grader at Spencer, La. Procell's NSU-career high was 27 points as a junior in a 76-70 overtime loss at Northeast Louisiana. He originally signed with Southwestern Louisiana, but when the Rajun Cajuns' program was shut down for NCAA infractions Procell attended Panola (Tex.) Community College, where he averaged 33.7 ppg as a freshman and 28.5 ppg as a sophomore. Procell, who had a J.C. single-game high of 57 points, became a fishing guide on Toledo Bend and an assistant principal at Huntington High in Shreveport. . . . Leon Gobczynski, a 6-10 center, averaged 36.1 points per game for Millikin (Ill.) in the 1973-74 season despite being blanked by Augustana (Ill.) in an 88-61 defeat. Gobczynski, who had scored 43 points in an earlier game that year between the two teams, missed all nine of his field-goal attempts in 36 minutes of playing time. . . . Salem (W. Va.) College's Archie Talley set an NAIA record for most points in a season (1,347) in 1975-76 when he averaged 40.8 per game. . . . Philadelphia Textile defeated a different Big Five school in three consecutive seasons from 1975-76 through 1977-78 - Villanova twice, Temple and St. Joseph's. . . . Amherst's Jim Rehnquist, son of Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, finished fifth in NCAA Division III scoring in 1976-77 with an average of 27.8 points per game. . . . Dave Robbins, who is white, became coach at Virginia Union in 1978-79 in the predominantly black CIAA. Robbins went on to win more CIAA Tournaments than any coach in league history. VUU finished in the Top 10 of final national rankings nine consecutive seasons from 1987-88 through 1995-96 and 12 of 13 beginning in 1983-84. . . . Former Briar Cliff (Iowa) players comprised Panama's entire starting lineup in the 1987 Pan American Games. Four members of Briar Cliff's "Panamanian Pipeline" were selected in NBA drafts from 1978 through 1981 (Mario Butler, Rolando Frazer, Tito Malcolm and Ed Warren). In the late 1980s, the first five spots on the school's career scoring list were Panamanians.
Mark Curry, a comedian starring in ABC's hit black sitcom Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, played center with California State-Hayward for three seasons in the early 1980s. . . . When Tampa resurrected its men's program in 1983-84 after a 13-year hiatus, coach Richard Schmidt took his first-year squad, starting one junior transfer and four freshmen, and won the Sunshine State Conference postseason tournament and automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs en route to a 20-11 record. It was the first time in NCAA history that a first-year team in any division qualified for the national tourney. Schmidt is a professional aviculturist who breeds exotic birds and raises other prize-winning animals on his ranch. Entertainer Wayne Newton has purchased birds from him. . . . Ron Morse, averaging a modest 3.6 ppg, lifted Fort Hays State (Kan.) to an 82-80 overtime triumph against Wayland Baptist (Tex.) in 1985 NAIA tourney final with a 15-fgoot game-winning, buzzer-beater. The unlikely hero is the son of Fort Hays coach Bill Morse. . . . Southeastern Oklahoma's Dennis Rodman registered 46 points and 32 rebounds in a single NAIA Tournament game in 1986. His rebounding total is tied for the most in a single game in tourney history. . . . Former Phoenix Suns/Seattle SuperSonics coach Paul Westphal guided Grand Canyon (Ariz.) to the 1988 NAIA title. . . . Four of the eight NAIA finals from 1981 through 1988 required extra sessions. Nine of 11 championship games in one stretch were decided in overtime or by fewer than six points in regulation. . . . Chuck Randall, Western Washington's longtime coach, invented the Slam-Dunk basketball rim. . . . Gary Lydic, a guard for the junior varsity as a freshman at McPherson (Kan.) and student assistant coach as a senior, served as director of ministry services for Focus on the Family when the organization was headquartered in Pasadena, Calif. On the morning Hall of Famer Pete Maravich died of a heart attack stemming from a heart defect, Lydic was among the men playing with him in a pickup game before the 40-year-old legend was slated to be interviewed on a Christian radio program. . . . Michael Jordan wasn't the best former college basketball standout performing as an outfielder with Birmingham (AA Southern League) in the Chicago White Sox's farm system in 1994. The superior baseball player was teammate Scott Tedder, a 6-4 lefthander who graduated as Ohio Wesleyan's all-time leading scorer in 1988. Tedder, playing about 1/4 of the '94 season in the league with Orlando, hit .281 while Jordan managed a lowly .202 and amassed more than 2 1/2 times as many strikeouts (114). Tedder posted a .261 average over five years with the Barons. . . . The pep song for Chadron (Neb.) State should have been "Here's to Mrs. Robinson" during eight seasons from 1988-89 through 1995-96 when three brothers (Josh, Jason and Jeremy Robinson) played for the Eagles. Each of Gerry and Triss Robinson's sons was a four-year starter and they collaborated for 5,081 points and 2,138 rebounds in a total of 330 games. No one can determine for sure, but they might have combined for more points and rebounds than any other trio of brothers at any single college. Josh, the eldest brother, finished his career as the school's all-time leading scorer (2,041 points). . . . Marquette's Al McGuire wasn't the only former Belmont Abbey (N.C.) coach to make a name for himself at the major-college level. All four Belmont Abbey coaches in the 1980s went on to coach Division I schools - Bobby Hussey (Davidson/Virginia Tech), Eddie Payne (East Carolina/Oregon State), Kevin Eastman (UNC Wilmington/Washington State) and Rick Scruggs (Gardner-Webb). . . . Todd Beamer, a backup guard for Wheaton (Ill.) in 1988-89, was the Oracle Corp account manager traveling from New Jersey to California on United Airlines Flight 93 for a business meeting on September 11, 2001, when helping lead a "let's roll" takeover by passengers from Islamic terrorists, forcing the plane down in Pennsylvania countryside about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
Todd Rowe, a 1992 graduate who is the all-time leading scorer for Malone (Ohio), became the first player in a professional Chinese league to score 3,000 points before he moved on to a league in Japan. . . . Bob Hoffman was deprived of becoming the first coach in NAIA history to guide men's and women's champions when No. 1 seed Oklahoma Baptist bowed to Hawaii Pacific (88-83) in the 1993 championship game. Hoffman had directed Southern Nazarene (Okla.) to the 1989 NAIA women's title. . . . John Pierce of David Lipscomb (Tenn.) became college basketball's all-time leading scorer after totaling 33 points in his 1993-94 regular-season finale, a 119-102 triumph over Cumberland. Pierce's 4,110 total career points broke former roommate Phil Hutcheson's mark of 4,106 set in the 1990 NAIA Tournament. . . . NAIA powerhouse Life (Ga.) had a 99-game homecourt winning streak, the third longest in college history, snapped by Talladega (Ala.), 75-72, in January 1999. Talladega was an unlikely spoiler, having won just two of its first 16 games that season. Life went on to become the first unseeded team to win the NAIA Tournament by overcoming a 26-point deficit to frustrate Mobile, 63-60. . . . Central Arkansas ranks among the schools for most NAIA Tournament appearances but none of those were when 1992 U.S. basketball Olympian and Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen played for the Bears. . . . David Lipscomb's Don Meyer reached the 700-win plateau quicker than any coach in college history. He compiled 702 victories through 1998-99 in 24 seasons before leaving for Northern State (S.D.) when he disagreed with Lipscomb's decision to move up to NCAA Division I. His 1989-90 squad won a college basketball-record 41 games. Meyer, atop the NCAA win list among active coaches with 891 at the time in 2008, had his left leg amputated below the knee after an auto accident. Meyer either fell asleep or was distracted when his car crossed the center line and collided with a semi. Meyer, 63, was diagnosed with a slow-growing cancer in his liver and bowels that doctors said might not have been found had he not been injured. . . . Six different members of the MIAA (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association) from the state of Missouri - Central Missouri State, Missouri-Rolla, Missouri Southern, Missouri Western, Northwest Missouri State and Southwest Baptist - finished with a final Top 10 ranking in a 12-year span from 1990-91 through 2001-02. . . . Prior to the inaugural season for Westminster (Pa.) in the NCAA in 1998-99, the Titans were acknowledged as the all-time winningest program in NAIA history with 1,299 victories. . . . Danny Miles, en route to reaching the 1,000-win plateau in 2013-14, earned triumph No. 400 in 4 1/2 hours because a broken rim at Simpson College in Redding, Calif., forced the game to be moved 20 miles to another facility. In college at Southern Oregon, Miles set the all-time pass completion percentage record for both NCAA and NAIA for a single season based on 225 attempts (1965, 190-247, .769) and career percentage based on 500 completions (1964-67, 577-871, .662).
Three different North Dakota State coaches the first three years of the 21st Century - Ray Giacoletti, Greg McDermott and Tim Miles - went on to guide other schools at the NCAA Division I level to national postseason competition. . . . Kenyan Charles Maina, who led Lynn (Fla.) in blocked shots two seasons in the late 1990s, starred in the nationally-acclaimed movie "The Air Up There." . . . Haitian Robert Joseph of Union (Tenn.) surpassed David Robinson's record by becoming the single-season blocked shots leader for all levels of college basketball with 242 rejections in 2001-02. . . . The College of Staten Island (N.Y.) started hosting an in-season tournament, called CSI Tournament of Heroes, to pay homage to three former CSI players (Terrance Aiken, Scott Davidson and Tom Hannafin) who perished during the terorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Aiken had just started a computer consulting job on the 97th floor of World Trade Center Tower I while Davidson and Hannafin were New York City firefighters. . . . Jaeson Maravich, a son of NCAA all-time leading scorer Pete Maravich, was an NAIA All-American for William Carey (Miss.) in 2002-03 and 2003-04. Jaeson previously had stints with Alabama and McNeese State sidetracked by a back ailment. . . . Hope International (Calif.) ended a 60-game losing streak with a 94-84 win over Redlands (Calif.) in 2003-04. . . . Jack Bennett, the coach of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's 2004 NCAA Division III champion, is a brother of Dick Bennett, who guided Wisconsin to the 2000 NCAA Division I Tournament Final Four. Just like Dick had a son (Tony) play for him at Wisconsin-Green Bay, Jack had a son (Nick) who supplied 83 three-pointers for the Pointers in 2003-04. . . . Grinnell (Iowa) set an NCAA single-season scoring record for all levels by averaging 126.2 points per game in 2003-04. The Pioneers (18-6) had more three-pointers (530) than either two-point baskets (472) or free throws (495). Boasting eight players with more than 25 treys, they scored fewer than 100 points only three times. Grinnell coach David Arseneault had his teams press from the start and they would surrender a layup for a chance to come back down and take a three-point shot. The Pioneers hit 530 of 1,582 attempts from beyond the arc (33.5%).
The Moir family has accounted for more than 1,500 college victories. Page Moir became the all-time winningest coach for a school, Roanoke (Va.), where his father, Charles, won the 1972 NCAA College Division crown before coaching at the Division I level with Virginia Tech and Tulane. Charles' brother, Sam, coached at Catawba (N.C.) for 31 seasons. . . . In 2006, Texas Wesleyan became the fourth unseeded team in eight years to capture the NAIA Division I title. Three years later, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) defeated Columbia (Mo.) in the first championship game between two unseeded teams since seeding was introduced in 1957. . . . In 2011, Georgetown College (Ky.) became the first school to appear in at least 30 NAIA tourneys while becoming the initial institution to make 20 consecutive trips. Georgetown's emotional run to the 1996 tourney final was in honor of its dying coach, Jim Reid, who battled cancer before dying less than a month after the campaign concluded. . . . Brian Rice, a 43-year-old Navy retiree, was a backup for Geneva (Pa.) in 2012-13.
Numerous small-college hoopers were so versatile they eventually excelled professionally in other major sports. Earning acclaim as MLB All-Stars were: George Altman (Tennessee State), Glenn Beckert (Allegheny PA), Frank Bolling (Spring Hill AL), Al Bumbry (Virginia State), Mickey Cochrane (Boston University), George Crowe (Indiana Central), Larry Doby (Virginia Union), Rick Ferrell (Guilford NC), Wayne Gross (Cal Poly Pomona), Mike Hargrove (Northwestern Oklahoma State), Chuck Hinton (Shaw NC), Gil Hodges (St. Joseph's IN/Oakland City IN), Monte Irvin (Lincoln PA), Duane Josephson (Northern Iowa), David Justice (Thomas More KY), Dave Lemanczyk (Hartwick NY), Danny Litwhiler (Bloomsburg PA), Davey Lopes (Iowa Wesleyan/Washburn KS), Jerry Lumpe (Southwest Missouri State), Bake McBride (Westminster MO), Graig Nettles (San Diego State), Bill Nicholson (Washington College MD), Joe Niekro (West Liberty WV), Claude Passeau (Millsaps MS), Gary Peters (Grove City PA), Rip Repulski (St. Cloud State MN), Preacher Roe (Harding AR), Richie Scheinblum (LIU-C.W. Post), Hal Schumacher (St. Lawrence NY), Jeff Shaw (Rio Grande OH), Norm Siebern (Southwest Missouri State), Matt Thornton (Grand Valley State MI), Bob Veale (Benedictine KS), Wes Westrum (Bemidji State MN) and Bill White (Hiram OH). Ex-hoopers among NFL/AFL Pro Bowl selections included: Ken Anderson (Augustana IL), Ordell Braase (South Dakota), Marlin Briscoe (Nebraska-Omaha), Buck Buchanan (Grambling), Harold Carmichael (Southern LA), Ben Coates (Livingstone NC), Charley Cowan (New Mexico Highlands), Elbert Dubenion (Bluffton OH), London Fletcher (John Carroll OH), Len Ford (Morgan State), Jean Fugett (Amherst MA), Bill Groman (Heidelberg OH), Harlon Hill (Florence State AL), Vincent Jackson (Northern Colorado), Dave Jennings (St. Lawrence NY), Too Tall Jones (Tennessee State), Jacoby Jones (Lane TN), Gary Larsen (Concordia MN), Joe Lavender (San Diego State), Rolland Lawrence (Tabor KS), Cy McClairen (Bethune-Cookman FL), Bob McLeod (Abilene Christian TX), Zeke Moore (Lincoln MO), Elvin "Kink" Richards (Simpson IA), Art Shell (Maryland-Eastern Shore), Rod Smith (Missouri Southern State), Ed Sprinkle (Hardin-Simmons TX), Lionel Taylor (New Mexico Highlands), Otis Taylor (Prairie View A&M) and Rayfield Wright (Fort Valley State GA).
Smaller colleges, many from the hinterlands, supplied a striking number of the biggest names in major-college coaching. From 1995 through 2000, five of the six NCAA Division I Tournament championship coaches graduated from obscure colleges with significantly smaller enrollments - Jim Calhoun (American International MA), Jim Harrick (Charleston WV), Tom Izzo (Northern Michigan), Lute Olson (Augsburg MN) and Tubby Smith (High Point NC). In fact, it is rare for a Final Four not to feature at least one coach from a humble background. John Calipari, a graduate of Clarion (Pa.) State, guided Kentucky to the 2012 national championship before Michigan's John Beilein (Wheeling Jesuit NY), Wichita State's Gregg Marshall (Randolph-Macon VA) and Butler's Brad Stevens (DePauw IN) directed teams to the Final Four this decade. Small-school hoopers who coached prominent universities to multiple bowl games include Dan Devine (Minnesota-Duluth), Tom Osborne (Hastings NE) and Bobby Petrino (Carroll MT). Title game coaches in the NFL and AFL after playing small-college hoops include Wally Lemm (Carroll WI) and Marv Levy (Coe IA). Status as a cash cow notwithstanding, it would appear no one should have been able to accuse the NCAA hierarchy of unabashed favoritism for the DI level. After all, former Executive Director Cedric Dempsey (Albion MI) and former enforcement chief David Berst (MacMurray IL) were small-school hoopers. Dempsey coached his alma mater after he was named MIAA MVP in 1953-54. Berst averaged 6.3 ppg and 4 rpg and held the school's baseball record for best ERA in a career before coaching both sports at his alma mater.
On This NFL Date: Former College Hoopers Ready For February Football
Long before kneeling knuckleheads, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-honor shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.
Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoop selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.
Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players who made a name for themselves in early-February football at the professional level:
FEBRUARY
2: Denver Broncos TE Julius Thomas (averaged 6.8 ppg and 4.3 rpg while shooting 66.3% from floor with Portland State from 2006-07 through 2009-10) had four pass receptions in 24-13 setback against the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLVIII following 2013 season.
3: New York Giants TE Kevin Boss (averaged 3 ppg and 2.7 rpg while shooting 51.9% from floor for Western Oregon in 2004-05 and 2005-06) caught a 45-yard pass from Eli Manning to fuel fourth-quarter touchdown drive in 17-14 win against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII following 2007 season. . . . Baltimore Ravens WR Jacoby Jones (part-time starter averaged 3.4 ppg and 3.7 rpg for Lane TN in 2004-05 and 2005-06) caught a 56-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco and opened the second half with 108-yard kickoff return for TD in 34-31 win against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII following 2012 season.
4: Tony Dungy (roommate of Flip Saunders averaged 2.6 ppg for Minnesota in 1973-74 under coach Bill Musselman) coached the Indianapolis Colts to a 29-17 win against the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI following 2006 season.
5: New England Patriots TE Martellus Bennett (averaged 1.9 ppg and 1.5 rpg as Texas A&M freshman in 2005-06 before playing next season under coach Billy Gillispie) caught five passes for 62 yards from Tom Brady in 34-28 overtime win against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51 following 2016 season.
6: Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb (averaged 2.3 points in 18 games for Syracuse in 1995-96 and 1996-97) threw three touchdown passes in a 24-21 setback against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX following 2004 season. Eagles WR Terrell Owens (UTC hooper from 1993-94 through 1995-96 started five games) had nine pass receptions for 122 yards. . . . Atlanta Falcons WR Andre Rison (backup hoops guard for Michigan State in 1987-88) named NFL Pro Bowl MVP following the 1993 season.
Impact of former college hoopers on professional football in January
Impact of former college hoopers on professional football in December
Impact of former college hoopers on professional football in November
Impact of former college hoopers on professional football in October
Impact of former college hoopers on professional football in September
On This Date: February Calendar of Greatest Games in College Hoops History
The most prolific outbursts came against small-college competition, but the three highest-scoring games in history by NCAA Division I players occurred in the month of February - Furman's Frank Selvy (100 points vs. Newberry SC in 1954), Villanova's Paul Arizin (85 vs. Philadelphia NAMC in 1949) and Portland State's Freeman Williams (81 vs. Rocky Mountain MT in 1978).
Louisiana State's Pete Maravich, the NCAA's career scoring leader who had the highest output in a power-conference game this month (69 at Alabama in SEC play in 1970), wasn't the only prolific point producer in the Pelican State from the guard position. In February 1972, Southwestern Louisiana junior Dwight "Bo" Lamar erupted for 51 points in each of back-to-back Southland Conference road games at Louisiana Tech and Lamar during USL's inaugural season at the major-college level before the school changed its name to Louisiana-Lafayette. For the record, Maravich twice tallied more than 50 in back-to-back SEC contests away from home (end of junior campaign and midway through senior season). This month also featured a third still-existing single-game scoring record by an individual opponent when "Bo Knows (Scoring)" Lamar exploded for 62 points at Northeast Louisiana the previous campaign en route to becoming the only player in NCAA history to lead the nation in scoring average at both the college and university divisions.
Existing single-game scoring standards for Bradley (Hersey Hawkins) and Detroit (Archie Tullos) were set in the same February assignment in 1988. As for regal rebounding records, Alabama's Jerry Harper retrieved 28 missed shots in back-to-back SEC contests two days apart in February 1956 and Wayne Embry pulled down 34 boards in back-to-back games for Miami of Ohio in the same time frame the next year. Following is a day-by-day calendar citing memorable moments in February college basketball history:
FEBRUARY
1 - Arkansas State's Don Scaife (43 points vs. Northeast Louisiana in 1975), Coppin State's Fred Warrick (40 at Howard in 1999) and Tulane's Jim Kerwin (45 vs. Southeastern Louisiana in 1961) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . North Carolina State's school-record 38-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Maryland (98-97 in 1975). . . . SEC Eastern Division cellar dweller Florida upset NCAA Tournament champion-to-be Kentucky in 1998. . . . Rudy Tomjanovich (30 vs. Loyola of Chicago in 1969) set Michigan's single-game rebounding record.
2 - Brown's Harry Platt (48 points vs. Northeastern in 1938) and Delaware State's Tom Davis (50 vs. Brooklyn in 1989) set school single-game scoring records at the Division I level. . . . Central Arkansas' Nate Bowie (39 at Nicholls State in double overtime in 2008) and Eastern Michigan's Raven Lee (46 vs. Miami OH in 2016) set school single-game scoring records against a DI opponent. Lee's output came in only 24 minutes of playing time. . . . In 2014, Oakland's Travis Bader set an NCAA Division I record for most career three-pointers, surpassing the previous mark of 457 established by Duke All-American J.J. Redick. . . . Arizona's Bob Elliott (25 vs. Arizona State in 1974) and Long Island's Carey Scurry (26 vs. Marist in 1983) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent. . . . Eventual MLB shortstop and manager Don Kessinger scored a career-high 49 points for Mississippi vs. Tulane in 1963.
3 - Buffalo's Mike Martinho (44 points vs. Rochester NY in 1998), Dayton's Donald Smith (52 at Loyola of Chicago in 1973), Grambling State's Brion Rush (53 vs. Southern in overtime in 2006), Portland State's Freeman Williams (81 vs. Rocky Mountain MT in 1978) and Wyoming's Joe Capua (51 vs. Montana in 1956) set school single-game scoring records. . . . Walt Lysaght (35 vs. North Carolina in 1953) set Richmond's single-game rebounding record.
4 - IPFW's Max Landis (44 points at South Dakota in 2016), La Salle's Kareem Townes (52 vs. Loyola of Chicago in 1995), Monmouth's Rahsaan Johnson (43 vs. St. Francis NY in 2001), Rhode Island's Tom Harrington (50 vs. Brandeis MA in 1959), South Carolina's John Roche (56 vs. Furman in 1971) and Western Michigan's Gene Ford (46 vs. Loyola of Chicago in 1969) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Dan Cramer (50 vs. Southern Mississippi in 1974) set Denver's single-game scoring record against a DI opponent. . . . Illinois' school-record 33-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Penn State (66-65 in 2006). . . . Alabama's Jerry Harper (28 vs. Georgia Tech in 1956), Fordham's Ed Conlin (36 vs. Colgate in 1953), Georgia Tech's Eric Crake (27 vs. Georgia in 1953), South Carolina's Lee Collins (33 vs. The Citadel in 1956) and Wake Forest's Dickie Hemric (36 vs. Clemson in 1955) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
5 - Akron's Joe Jakubick (47 points vs. Murray State in 1983), East Tennessee State's Tom Chilton (52 vs. Austin Peay in 1961), Kent State's Dan Potopsky (49 vs. Western Michigan in 1955), Prairie View A&M's Paul Queen (46 vs. Alabama State in 1994) and Troy State's Detric Golden (45 at Jacksonville in 2000) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Yale's Brandon Sherrod extended his NCAA record of consecutive successful field-goal attempts to 30 covering five 2016 games before misfiring against Columbia. . . . Kenny Davis (25 vs. Arizona State in 1977) tied Arizona's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent. . . . Eventual MLB Hall of Fame OF Tony Gwynn (18 vs. UNLV in 1980) set San Diego State's single-game assists record against a DI opponent.
6 - Ernie McCray (46 points vs. Los Angeles State in 1960) set Arizona's single-game scoring record. . . . Southern Mississippi's John White (41 at Virginia Tech in double overtime in 1988) and Tulane's Calvin Grosscup (41 vs. Mississippi State in 1956) set school single-game scoring records against a major-college opponent. . . . Virginia Tech sophomore guard Bimbo Coles set Metro Conference single-game record with 51 points in a 141-133 double overtime victory against visiting Southern Mississippi in 1988. . . . Bradley's school-record 46-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Drake (86-76 in 1961). . . . Belmont erased an 18-point deficit with 3:22 remaining (75-57) to defeat Campbell, 87-84, in 2009. . . . Alabama's Jerry Harper (28 vs. Vanderbilt in 1956), American University's Kermit Washington (34 vs. Georgetown in 1971), West Virginia's Jerry West (31 vs. George Washington in 1960) and Wichita State's Terry Benton (29 vs. North Texas State in 1971) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
7 - Dartmouth's Jim Barton (48 points at Brown in overtime in 1987), Louisiana State's Pete Maravich (69 at Alabama in 1970) and South Dakota State's Nate Wolters (53 at IPFW in 2013) set school single-game scoring records. Maravich's output is also a SEC record in league competition. . . . Phil Hicks (41 at Samford in 1974) tied Tulane's single-game scoring record against a Division I opponent. . . . In 1976, Purdue (25) and Wisconsin (22) combined to convert all 47 of their free-throw attempts, an NCAA record for two teams in a single game. . . . Duquesne's Dick Ricketts (28 vs. Villanova in 1955) and Southern's Jervaughn Scales (32 vs. Grambling in 1994) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
8 - Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson (62 points vs. North Texas State in 1960) and UNC Charlotte's George Jackson (44 at Samford in 1975) set school single-game scoring records. Robertson's output is also a Missouri Valley Conference record in league competition. . . . Buzz Wilkinson (45 vs. North Carolina in 1954) set Virginia's single-game scoring record against a major-college opponent. . . . Iowa State's Melvin Ejim (48 vs. TCU in 2014) set Big 12 Conference single-game scoring mark in league competition. . . . Kentucky established an NCAA single-game record by grabbing 108 rebounds against Mississippi in 1964. . . . Wofford set an NCAA three-point percentage record (minimum of 20 attempts) by hitting 17-of-21 shots from beyond the arc (81% against VMI in 2016). . . . Niagara's school-record 51-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Syracuse (60-55 in 1950). . . . Boston College's Terry Driscoll (31 vs. Fordham in 1969), Davidson's Fred Hetzel (27 vs. Furman in 1964), Eastern Michigan's Kareem Carpenter (27 vs. Western Michigan in 1995), Harvard's Bob Canty (31 vs. Boston College in 1955), Marquette's Pat Smith (28 vs. Loyola of Chicago in 1967), Oklahoma City's Willie Watson (32 vs. Denver in 1969) and Seattle's John Tresvant (40 vs. Montana in 1963) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Gene Estes (24 vs. Oklahoma City in 1961) set Tulsa's single-game rebounding record against a major-college opponent. . . . Utah State All-American Wayne Estes, after scoring 48 points vs. Denver to eclipse the 2,000-point plateau, was electrocuted following a home game in 1965 when the 6-6 forward brushed against a downed high-power line upon stopping at the scene of an auto accident near campus. . . . Dayton center Chris Daniels, who finished the season as the nation's leader in field-goal shooting (68.3% in 1996), died because of a heart ailment.
9 - UALR's Carl Brown (46 points at Centenary in overtime in 1989), Butler's Darrin Fitzgerald (54 vs. Detroit in 1987), Canisius' Larry Fogle (55 vs. St. Peter's in 1974), Clemson's J.O. Erwin (58 vs. Butler Guards at Greenville in 1912), Colorado State's Bill Green (48 vs. Denver in 1963), Hofstra's Demetrius Dudley (44 vs. Central Connecticut State in 1993) and Loyola of Chicago's Alfredrick Hughes (47 vs. Detroit in 1985) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Brown's output is also an Atlantic Sun Conference record in league competition. . . . DePaul's Tom Kleinschmidt set the Great Midwest Conference single-game scoring record in league play with 37 points against UAB in 1994. . . . Charleston Southern's Tony Fairley set an NCAA single-game record with 22 assists against Armstrong State GA in 1987. . . . Dartmouth ended Penn's Ivy League-record 48-game winning streak in 1996 and Duke's school-record 46-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Maryland (98-87 in 2000). . . . Southern Mississippi's Wendell Ladner (32 vs. Pan American in 1970) and Syracuse's Frank Reddout (34 vs. Temple in 1952) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Canisius' Larry Fogle (22 vs. St. Peter's in 1974) and Idaho's Gus Johnson (31 vs. Oregon in 1963) set school single-game rebounding records against a major-college opponent.
10 - Massachusetts' Billy Tindall (41 points vs. Vermont in 1968), Morehead State's Brett Roberts (53 vs. Middle Tennessee State in 1992), Northeast Louisiana's Calvin Natt (39 vs. Northwestern State in 1977), Ohio State's Gary Bradds (49 vs. Illinois in 1964) and Larry Lewis of Saint Francis PA (46 vs. St. Vincent PA in 1969) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Detroit's school-record 39-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Wisconsin-Green Bay (65-61 in 2002), Oral Roberts' school-record 52-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Marshall (106-103 in 1973) and Virginia Commonwealth's school-record 33-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Virginia Tech (71-63 in 1978). . . . Georgetown's Charlie Adrion (29 vs. George Washington in 1968), Houston's Elvin Hayes (37 vs. Centenary in 1968) and Rider's Jason Thompson (24 vs. Siena in 2008) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Eventual Chicago White Sox RHP Dave DeBusschere scored a career-high 44 points for Detroit against Dayton in 1962.
11 - East Carolina's Oliver Mack (47 points vs. South Carolina-Aiken in 1978), Florida State's Ron King (46 at Georgia Southern in 1971), Hartford's Vin Baker (44 vs. Lamar in overtime in 1992), Southern California's John Block (45 vs. Washington in 1966) and Wisconsin-Green Bay's Tony Bennett (44 at Cleveland State in 1989) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Mal Graham (46 at Holy Cross in 1967) set New York University's single-game scoring record against a DI opponent. . . . Morehead State (53) and Cincinnati (35) combined for an NCAA single-game record of 88 successful free throws in 1956. . . . Indiana State set an NCAA single-game record for most three-pointers without a miss by making all 12 attempts from beyond the arc (against Southern Illinois in 2012). . . . Weber State's school-record 44-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Idaho (68-67 in 1967). . . . Andrew Nicholson (23 vs. Duquesne in 2012) tied St. Bonaventure's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
12 - Marist's Izett Buchanan (51 points at Long Island University in 1994), Northern Iowa's Cam Johnson (40 at Drake in 1994) and Villanova's Paul Arizin (85 vs. Philadelphia NAMC in 1949) set school single-game scoring records. . . . Chris Rivers (40 vs. Canisius in 2001) set Fairfield's single-game scoring record against a Division I opponent. . . . Wake Forest's Len Chappell (50 vs. Virginia in 1962) set ACC single-game scoring record in league competition. . . . Gonzaga's school-record 50-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Santa Clara (84-73 in 2007). . . . Drake's Ken Harris (26 vs. Tulsa in 1977) and Navy's David Robinson (25 vs. Fairfield in 1986) set school single-game rebounding records.
13 - Colorado's Cliff Meely (47 points vs. Oklahoma in 1971), Furman's Frank Selvy (NCAA-record 100 vs. Newberry SC in 1954), Portland's Matt Houle (43 vs. San Francisco in 1993), St. Peter's Rich Rinaldi (54 vs. St. Francis NY in 1971) and San Francisco's Keith Jackson (47 at Loyola Marymount in 1988) set school single-game scoring records. . . . Alabama's Bob Andrews (46 vs. Tulane in 1965), East Carolina's Gus Hill (43 at Navy in 1988), UNC Asheville's Andrew Rousey (41 at Radford in 2014), San Jose State's Olivier Saint-Jean (37 at Air Force in 1997) and Virginia's Buzz Wilkinson (45 vs. Georgetown in 1954) set school single-game scoring records against a Division I opponent. . . . In 1985, Connecticut became the first school to be ranked No. 1 in the men's and women's national polls at the same time. . . . Syracuse's school-record 57-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Georgetown (52-50 in 1980). . . . Kentucky's Bill Spivey (34 vs. Xavier in 1951), New Mexico's Tom King (26 vs. Wyoming in 1960), Northwestern's Jim Pitts (29 vs. Indiana in 1965) and Western Michigan's Frank Ayers (25 vs. Loyola of Chicago in 1973) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Dan Roundfield (25 vs. Bowling Green State in 1974) set Central Michigan's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
14 - Auburn's John Mengelt (60 points vs. Alabama in 1970), Central Connecticut State's Kyle Vinales (42 at Wagner in 2013), Coppin State's Larry Stewart (40 vs. South Carolina State in 1991), Mount St. Mary's Sam Prescott (44 vs. Bryant in 2013), South Alabama's Eugene Oliver (46 at Southern Mississippi in 1974), Southwestern Louisiana's Bo Lamar (51 at Louisiana Tech in 1972) and Tennessee's Tony White (51 vs. Auburn in 1987) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Lamar's output also set a Southland Conference record in league competition. . . . Villanova's Larry Hennessy (45 vs. Boston College in 1953) and Virginia's Buzz Wilkinson (45 vs. Clemson in 1955) set school single-game scoring records against a DI opponent. . . . William & Mary's Bill Chambers, standing a mere 6-4, grabbed an NCAA-record 51 rebounds against Virginia on Valentine's Day in 1953. . . . Miami of Ohio's Wayne Embry (34 vs. Eastern Kentucky in 1957), Texas Tech's Jim Reed (27 vs. Texas in 1956), Wagner's Mike Aaman (23 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson in 2015) and West Virginia's Mack Isner (31 vs. Virginia Tech) set school single-game rebounding records against a major-college opponent. . . . Jacksonville junior-college recruit Artis Gilmore, the only player in major-college history to average more than 22 points and 22 rebounds per game in his career, had his only DI contest retrieving fewer than 10 missed shots (8 caroms at Loyola LA in 1970). . . . Massachusetts' school-record 33-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by George Washington (80-78 in 1995). . . . Kentucky's Adolph Rupp became the coach to compile 600 victories the fastest with a 71-52 win over Notre Dame at Chicago in 1959 (705 games in 27th season).
15 - Coastal Carolina's Tony Dunkin (43 points vs. UNC Asheville in 1993), Columbia's Leonard "Buck" Jenkins (47 at Harvard in 1991), Maryland-Baltimore County's Derell Thompson (43 at Towson State in 1992), Southwest Missouri State's Danny Moore (36 at Creighton in 1997) and Wake Forest's Charlie Davis (51 vs. American University in 1969) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Rasaun Young (39 vs. Northeastern Illinois in 1997) set Buffalo's single-game scoring record against a DI opponent. . . . Kentucky tied an NCAA record by erasing a 31-point, second-half deficit at LSU (99-95 UK victory in 1994). . . . Princeton's Bill Bradley (51 points vs. Harvard in 1964) set Ivy League scoring record in conference competition. . . . Oregon State ended UCLA's Pacific-8 Conference-record 50-game winning streak (61-57 in 1974). . . . Kentucky's Adolph Rupp became the coach to compile 400 victories the fastest with a 90-50 win over Mississippi in 1950 (477 games in 20th season). . . . Kansas' Wilt Chamberlain (36 vs. Iowa State in 1958), Oregon State's Swede Halbrook (36 vs. Idaho in 1955) and Rice's Joe Durrenberger (30 vs. Baylor in 1955) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Paul Millsap (29 vs. San Jose State in 2006) set Louisiana Tech's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent. . . . Eventual MLB All-Star RHP Sonny Siebert scored a career-high 31 points for Missouri against Oklahoma in 1958.
16 - Illinois' Dave Downey (53 points at Indiana in 1963), Tennessee Tech's Jimmy Hagan (48 vs. East Tennessee State in 1959) and Texas-Pan American's Marshall Rogers (58 vs. Texas Lutheran in 1976) set school single-game scoring records. . . . Dikembe Dixson (40 at Youngstown State in 2OT in 2016) set Illinois-Chicago's single-game scoring record against an NCAA Division I opponent. . . . Wichita State ended Cincinnati's school-record 37-game winning streak (65-64 in 1963) and South Carolina's school-record 34-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Notre Dame (72-68 in 1974). . . . Cincinnati's Connie Dierking (33 vs. Loyola New Orleans in 1957), Miami of Ohio's Wayne Embry (34 vs. Kent State in 1957), NYU's Cal Ramsey (34 vs. Boston College in 1957) and Texas Christian's Goo Kennedy (28 vs. Arkansas in 1971) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Texas-El Paso's Jim Barnes (27 vs. Hardin-Simmons in 1963) and Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair (23 vs. Connecticut in 2009) set single-game rebounding records against major-college opponents. . . . Eventual 13-year N.L. LHP Joe Gibbon grabbed a career-high 24 rebounds for Mississippi against Georgia in 1957.
17 - George Washington's Joe Holup (49 points vs. Furman in 1956), Holy Cross' Jack Foley (56 vs. Connecticut in 1962) and Southwestern Louisiana's Bo Lamar (51 at Lamar in 1972) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Lamar's output tied his own Southland Conference record in league competition. . . . Antoine Gillespie (45 at Hawaii in 1994) set Texas-El Paso's single-game scoring record against a DI opponent. . . . Dartmouth's school-record 38-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Army (44-36 in 1940). . . . Fresno State's Larry Abney (35 vs. Southern Methodist in 2000), Loyola of Chicago's LaRue Martin (34 vs. Valparaiso in 1971) and Toledo's Ned Miklovic (27 vs. Ohio University in 1958) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent. Abney's total is the highest among all schools at the DI level since 1973.
18 - Scott Haffner (65 points vs. Dayton in 1989) set Evansville's single-game scoring record. Haffner's output is also a Horizon League record in conference competition. . . . Gonzaga's Adam Morrison (44 at Loyola Marymount in 2006) and Portland State's Freeman Williams (50 at UNLV in 1978) set school single-game scoring records against an NCAA Division I opponent. . . . Gonzaga and Loyola Marymount each scored 86 points after intermission in 1989 to set an NCAA record for highest offensive output in a half by both teams (172). . . . Louisiana State's school-record 42-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Mississippi (23-22 in 1921). . . . Florida's Jim Zinn (31 vs. Mississippi in 1957), McNeese State's Henry Ray (27 vs Texas-Arlington in 1974), New Orleans' Ervin Johnson (27 vs. Lamar in 1993), Penn's Barton Leach (32 vs. Harvard in 1955), Southern Illinois' Joe C. Meriweather (27 vs. Indiana State in 1974) and Xavier's Bob Pelkington (31 vs. St. Francis PA in 1964) set school single-game rebounding records.
19 - Delaware's Liston Houston (52 points vs. Lebanon Valley PA in 1910), Liberty's Matt Hildebrand (41 vs. Charleston Southern in 1994), Longwood's Tristan Carey (40 vs. Liberty in 2013), Mississippi Valley State's Alphonso Ford (51 vs. Texas Southern in overtime in 1990), Northeastern's Reggie Lewis (41 vs. Siena in 1986), Oral Roberts' Anthony Roberts (66 vs. North Carolina A&T in 1977), Stetson's Mel Daniels (48 vs. UNC Wilmington in 1977) and Texas Tech's Dub Malaise (50 at Texas in 1966) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Bobby Mantz (44 vs. Lehigh in 1958) set Lafayette's single-game scoring record against a DI opponent. . . . Holy Cross' Rob Feaster (46 vs. Navy in overtime in 1994) set Patriot League scoring record in conference competition. . . . Creighton's Paul Silas (38 vs. Centenary in 1962), Northern Illinois' Jim Bradley (31 vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1973) and Purdue's Carl McNulty (27 vs. Minnesota in 1951) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell (24 vs. Seton Hall in 1977) set Charlotte's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
20 - Baylor's Vinnie Johnson (50 points vs. Texas Christian in 1979), Idaho State's Willie Humes (53 at Montana State in 1971), Illinois State's Robert "Bubbles" Hawkins (58 vs. Northern Illinois in 1974), San Diego State's Anthony Watson (54 vs. U.S. International in 1986) and South Carolina State's Jackie Robinson (40 at Morgan State in 1993) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Humes' output is also a Big Sky Conference record in league competition. . . . Delaware State's Tom Davis (47 vs. Florida A&M in 1989) set MEAC scoring record in league competition at DI level. . . . Rhode Island's Art Stephenson (28 vs. Brown in 1968) and Tennessee Tech's Jimmy Hagan (30 vs. Morehead State in 1959) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Kansas' 28-17 victory at Drake in 1924 triggered an NCAA-record 35-game road winning streak.
21 - Boston College's John Austin (49 points vs. Georgetown in 1964), Rutgers' Eric Riggins (51 vs. Penn State in double overtime in 1987) and Virginia Tech's Allan Bristow (52 vs. George Washington in 1973) set school single-game scoring records. Riggins' output is also an Atlantic 10 Conference record in league competition. . . . LSU's Pete Maravich (64) and Kentucky's Dan Issel (51) each scored more than 50 points in the same game in 1970. . . . UCLA's school-record 98-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Oregon (65-45 in 1976). . . . Clemson's Tommy Smith (30 vs. Georgia in 1955) and North Carolina's Rusty Clark (30 vs. Maryland in 1968) set school single-game rebounding records.
22 - Bradley's Hersey Hawkins (63 points at Detroit in 1988), California's Ed Gray (48 at Washington State in 1997), Detroit's Archie Tullos (49 vs. Bradley in 1988), Manhattan's Bob Mealy (51 vs. CCNY in 1960), Missouri-Kansas City's Michael Watson (Summit League-record 54 at Oral Roberts in double overtime in 2003), Oklahoma State's Bob Kurland (58 vs. St. Louis in 1946) and Oregon State's Gary Payton Sr. (58 vs. Southern California in overtime in 1990) set school single-game scoring records. . . . Appalachian State's Junior Braswell (43 at Davidson in 1997), High Point's Nick Barbour (44 vs. Campbell in 2012), Long Island's Antawn Dobie (53 vs. St. Francis NY in 2003) and Mississppi State's Bailey Howell (45 vs. Louisiana State in 1958) set school single-game scoring records against a Division I opponent. Dobie's output is also a Northeast Conference record in league competition. . . . Drexel set NCAA record by erasing a 34-point deficit late in the first half (53-19) to defeat visiting Delaware, 85-83, in 2018. . . . Nebraska stunned Wilt Chamberlain-led Kansas, 43-41, in 1958 to avenge a 56-point defeat four games earlier. . . . Memphis' school-record 47-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Tennessee (66-62 in 2008). . . . Massachusetts' Julius Erving (32 vs. Syracuse in 1971) and Mississippi's Ivan Richmann (25 vs. Tulane in 1958) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Hakim Shahid (25 vs. Jacksonville in 1990) set South Florida's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
23 - Boston University's Jim Hayes (47 points vs. Springfield MA in 1970), Indiana's Jimmy Rayl (56 vs. Michigan State in 1963), Louisiana Tech's Mike McConathy (47 vs. Lamar in 1976), Miami's Rick Barry (59 vs. Rollins FL in 1965), Providence's Marshon Brooks (52 vs. Notre Dame in 2011) and Texas Southern's Harry "Machine Gun" Kelly (60 vs. Jarvis Christian TX in 1983) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Brooks' output is also a Big East Conference record in league competition. . . . Los Angeles State's Raymond Lewis set Pacific Coast Athletic Association (now Big West) single-game scoring record with 53 points vs. Long Beach State in double overtime in 1973. . . . Kentucky's Adolph Rupp became the coach to compile 700 victories the fastest with a 99-79 win over Auburn at Montgomery in 1964 (836 games in 32nd season). . . . Jimmie Baker (26 vs. San Francisco in 1973) set UNLV's single-game rebounding record before transferring to Hawaii. . . . Eventual 13-year N.L. LHP Joe Gibbon scored a career-high 46 points for Mississippi against Louisiana State in 1957.
24 - Alcorn State's DeCarlos Anderson (41 points vs. Southern in 1996), Florida A&M's Jerome James (38 at Delaware State in overtime in 1997), Houston's Elvin Hayes (62 vs. Valparaiso in 1968), Iowa's John Johnson (49 vs. Northwestern in 1970), Northwestern's Rich Falk (49 vs. Iowa in 1964), St. Bonaventure's Bob Lanier (51 vs. Seton Hall in 1969) and Utah's Billy McGill (60 at Brigham Young in 1962) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . East Tennessee State's Tom Chilton (47 vs. Western Kentucky in 1961) and Ohio University's Dave Jamerson (52 at Kent State in 1990) set school single-game scoring records against a DI opponent. . . . Washington & Lee's Jay Handlan had an NCAA-record 71 field-goal attempts vs. Furman in 1951. . . . Alabama A&M's Mickell Gladness set an NCAA single-game record with 16 blocked shots against Texas Southern in 2007. . . . Temple's school-record 33-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by West Virginia (64-61 in 1987). . . . Ed Corell (30 vs. Oregon in 1962) set Washington's single-game rebounding record.
25 - Austin Peay's Bubba Wells (43 points vs. Morehead State in 1997 quarterfinals) set Ohio Valley Conference Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Alabama A&M's Desmond Cambridge (50 at Texas Southern in 2002), Central Florida's Jermaine Taylor (45 vs. Rice in 2009), Cleveland State's Frank Edwards (49 at Xavier in 1981), Indiana State's Larry Bird (49 vs. Wichita State in 1979), Texas' Raymond Downs (49 at Baylor in 1956), Virginia Military's QJ Peterson (46 vs. Mercer in 2016) and William & Mary's Jeff Cohen (49 vs. Richmond in 1961) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Lew Alcindor (61 vs. Washington State in 1967) set UCLA and Pac-12 Conference single-game scoring record. . . . Jim Christy (44 at Maryland in 1964) set Georgetown's single-game scoring record against a DI opponent. . . . Southwestern Louisiana's Sydney Grider set the American South Conference single-game scoring record in league competition (40 vs. Louisiana Tech in 1989). . . . St. Bonaventure's 99-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Niagara (87-77 in 1961). . . . Appalachian State's Tony Searcy (23 vs. The Citadel in 1978), Memphis' Ronnie Robinson (28 vs. Tulsa in 1971) and Northern Iowa's Jason Reese (21 vs. Illinois-Chicago in 1989) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
26 - Denver's Matt Teahan (61 points vs. Nebraska Wesleyan in 1979), Florida Atlantic's Earnest Crumbley (39 vs. Campbell in 2004), Richmond's Bob McCurdy (53 vs. Appalachian State in double overtime in 1975), San Diego's Mike Whitmarsh (37 at Loyola Marymount in 1983), Texas' Slater Martin (49 vs. Texas Christian in 1949), Western Illinois' Joe Dykstra (37 vs. Eastern Illinois in 1983) and Yale's Tony Lavelli (52 vs. Williams MA in 1949) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Kansas' Isaac "Bud" Stallworth set Big Eight Conference single-game scoring record with 50 vs. Missouri in 1972. . . . New Mexico's school-record 41-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Brigham Young (83-62 in 1998). . . . Cornell's George Farley (26 vs. Brown in 1960), Montana State's Doug Hashley (24 vs. Nevada-Reno in 1982), Old Dominion's Clifton Jones (23 vs. UNC Wilmington in 2001), Rutgers' George "Swede" Sundstrom (30 vs. Army in 1954) and Saint Joseph's Cliff Anderson (32 vs. La Salle in 1967) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
27 - Bowling Green's Jim Darrow (52 points vs. Marshall in 1960), George Mason's Carlos Yates (42 vs. Navy in 1985), Georgetown's Jim Barry (46 at Fairleigh Dickinson in 1965), San Diego's Marty Munn (37 vs. Loyola Marymount in 1988), Texas State's J.B. Conley (42 at Northwestern State in 2010) and Towson's Devin Boyd (46 at Maryland-Baltimore County in double overtime in 1993) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Darrow's output is also a Mid-American Conference record and Boyd's output is a Big South Conference record in league competition. . . . Houston's Robert McKiver (52 vs. Southern Mississippi in 2008) set C-USA scoring record in league competition. . . . Connecticut's Toby Kimball (34 vs. New Hampshire in 1965), Maryland's Len Elmore (26 vs. Wake Forest in 1974) and Tulsa's Michael Ruffin (24 vs. Texas Christian in 1997) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent. . . . Holy Cross' school-record 47-game homecourt winning streak snapped by Connecticut (78-77 in 1954).
28 - Xavier's Byron Larkin (45 points vs. Loyola of Chicago in 1986 semifinals) set Horizon League Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Air Force's Bob Beckel (50 vs. Arizona in 1959), Army's Kevin Houston (53 vs. Fordham in overtime of MAAC Tournament opener in 1987), Eastern Michigan's Ray Lee (50 at Central Michigan in 2017), Long Island's Sherman White (63 vs. John Marshall in 1950), Northern Illinois' Paul Dawkins (47 at Western Michigan in overtime in 1979) and Purdue's Rick Mount (61 vs. Iowa in 1970) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Houston's output is also a MAAC Tournament single-game record and Mount's output is a Big Ten Conference record in league competition. Lee's outburst was accumulated in only 26 minutes. . . . The first basketball game telecast occurred when W2XBS carried a doubleheader from Madison Square Garden in 1940 (Pittsburgh vs. Fordham and NYU vs. Georgetown). . . . Ron Weilert (21 vs. Tulane in 1970) set Air Force single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent. . . . Eventual MLB All-Star 1B Joe Adcock contributed 15 field goals for Louisiana State in a first-round victory against Tulane in 1946 SEC Tournament.
29 - Tony Miller (54 points vs. Chicago State in 1972) set Florida's single-game scoring record. . . . Paul Marigney (40 vs. Pepperdine in 2004) tied Saint Mary's single-game scoring record against a major-college opponent. . . . Pittsburgh's school-record 40-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Syracuse (49-46 in 2004). . . . Bernie Janicki (31 vs. North Carolina in 1952) set Duke's single-game rebounding record. . . . Eventual eight-time N.L. All-Star SS Dick Groat scored a career-high 48 points for Duke against North Carolina in 1952.
Memorable Moments in January College Basketball History
Memorable Moments in December College Basketball History
Memorable Moments in November College Basketball History
Black History Month Hosannas for Historic Hoopers Breaking Color Barrier
"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally." - Abraham Lincoln
Unless you're a devotee of #MSLSD host Joy-less Reid, certainly it's not a hate crime to also claim "White Players Matter." But Black History Month has arrived and accompanying it are an assortment of facts and opinions celebrating positive contributions African-Americans have made to the American landscape. Taking more than 100 years after emancipator Abraham Lincoln to make a nationwide transition, nowhere is that emphasis more evident than in an athletic world bereft of quotas and unconnected to alleged Oscar-snubbing. There clearly is more evidence of joyful honor in basketball arenas than in the political arena, where a tax cheat such as Al "Not So" Sharpton has been given a freeloader forum by Mess-LSD and brotherly backdoor free-pass entrance to previous POTUS' Oval Office (perhaps for H&R Block seminars to set him lien free at last).
Letting authentic freedom ring, every sports fan acknowledges the cultural significance of Jackie Robinson. A movie ("42") debuted several springs ago regarding Robinson beginning his major league baseball career, but it is easy to forget there was a time when the now 75% black National Basketball Association was 100% white. It's also easy to forget how Robinson was instrumental in college basketball's "civil rights" movement.
Before Robinson arrived on the scene in the National League, however, there was Columbia's George Gregory, who became the first African-American to gain college All-American honors in 1930-31. In an era of low scoring, he was the team's second-leading scorer with a 9.2-point average. But he was proudest of his defense, and a statistic that is no longer kept: "goals against." In 10 games, Gregory held rival centers to only eight baskets. "That's less than one goal a game," he told the New York Times. "I think they should have kept that statistical category. Nowadays, one guy scores 40 points but his man scores 45. So what good is it?
"It's funny, but even though I was the only black playing for Columbia, and there was only one other black playing in the Ivy League - Baskerville of Harvard - I really didn't encounter too much trouble from opponents. Oh, I got into a couple of fights. And one time a guy called me 'Nigger,' and a white teammate said, 'Next time, you hit him high and I'll hit him low.' And we did, and my teammate, a Polish guy named Remy Tys, said to that other player, 'That's how we take care of nigger callers.'"
But Gregory said the worst racial incident he encountered was at his own school. "After our last game in my junior year, the team voted me captain for the next season. Well, there was a hell of a battle when this came out. Columbia didn't want a black captain, or a Jewish captain, either, I learned. The dean was against it, and the athletic director was against it, and even the coach was against it.
"The coach told me, 'Get yourself together, Gregory, or I'll take your scholarship away.' They were worried that if we played a school in the South and met the other captain before the game, the guy would refuse to come out and it would embarrass the school. But the campus was split 50-50 on whether to have a black captain for its basketball team.
"The fight went on for three or four weeks. The school insisted that the team vote again. We did, and I won again. One of my teammates said, 'You forced the school to enter the 20th Century.'"
Harrison "Honey" Fitch, Connecticut's first black player, was center stage during a racial incident delaying a game at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy for several hours in late January 1934. Coast Guard officials entered a protest against Fitch, arguing that because half of the Academy's student body was from southern states, they had a tradition "that no Negro players be permitted to engage in contests at the Academy." Eventually, UConn's coach kept Fitch on the bench the entire contest and never explained why.
The first black to appear in the NBA didn't occur until a couple of decades after Gregory graduated and Fitch transferred to American International. UCLA's first basketball All-American Don Barksdale, one of the first seven African-Americans to play in the NBA, was the first black U.S. Olympic basketball player (1948) as well as the first black to play in an NBA All-Star Game (as a rookie in 1952).
Inspired by the black labor movement in the 1930s, Barksdale said, "I made up my mind that if I wanted to do something, I was going to try to do it all the way, no matter the obstacles."
As a 28-year-old rookie with the Baltimore Bullets, he was paid $20,850 (one of the NBA's top salaries) to play and host a postgame radio show, but that notoriety also put extra pressure on him. Forced to play excessive minutes during the preseason, he sustained ankle injuries that plagued him the remainder of his four-year NBA career (11 ppg and 8 rpg).
Why play so many minutes? "It's Baltimore, which is considered the South," said Barksdale, who wound up back in the Bay Area as a well-known jazz disc jockey. "So the South finally signed a black man, and he's going to play whether he could walk or crawl."
Chuck Cooper, who attended Duquesne on the GI Bill, was the first black player drafted by an NBA franchise. "I don't give a damn if he's striped or plaid or polka-dot," were the history-making words of Boston Celtics Owner Walter Brown when he selected Cooper, who averaged 6.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in six pro seasons. In Cooper's freshman campaign, Duquesne was awarded a forfeit after refusing to yield to Tennessee's refusal to compete against the Dukes if Cooper participated in a game just before Christmas.
In the 1955-56 season, the Hazleton (Pa.) Hawks of the Eastern League became the first professional league franchise to boast an all-black starting lineup - Jesse Arnelle, Tom Hemans, Fletcher Johnson, Floyd Lane and Sherman White. Arnelle (Penn State) and White (Long Island) were former major-college All-Americans.
As for the multi-talented Robinson, UCLA's initial all-conference basketball player in the 1940s was a forward who compiled the highest scoring average in the Pacific Coast Conference both of his seasons with the Bruins (12.3 points per league game in 1939-40 and 11.1 ppg in 1940-41) after transferring from Pasadena (Calif.) City College. Continuing his scoring exploits, the six-time National League All-Star who spurred #42 uniforms throughout MLB was the leading scorer for the Los Angeles Red Devils' barnstorming team in 1946-47.
Seven-time All-Star outfielder Larry Doby, the first black in the American League, was also a college basketball player who helped pave the way for minorities. He competed on the hardwood for Virginia Union during World War II after originally committing to LIU. The four-month lead Robinson had in integrating the majors casts a huge shadow over Doby, who was the first black to lead his league in homers (32 in 1952), first to hit a World Series homer and first to win a World Series title.
With less than 10% of current MLB rosters comprised of African-Americans, Robinson clearly had much more of a longstanding impact on basketball than baseball. All of the trailblazers didn't capitalize on a Methodist faith like Robinson, but they did boast temperaments unlike "fohty-five" Congressional Black Caucus members or so such as #MadMaxine sitting on their hands or boycotting SOTU speech. In deference to "firsts" and the number 42, following is a ranking of the 42 best players deserving applause for breaking the color barrier at the varsity level of a major university (*indicates junior college recruit):
| Rank | First Black Player | School | First Varsity Season | Summary of College Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Elvin Hayes | Houston | 1965-66 | Three-time All-American averaged 31 ppg and 17.2 rpg in three seasons. The Hall of Famer led the Cougars in scoring and rebounding each year before becoming first pick overall in 1968 NBA draft. |
| 2. | Hal Greer | Marshall | 1955-56 | The first African-American to play intercollegiate athletics in the state of West Virginia averaged 19.4 ppg and 10.8 rpg in three seasons. Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer led the Thundering Herd in rebounding as a junior (13.8 rpg) and senior (11.7 rpg) before becoming a 10-time NBA All-Star. |
| 3. | Charlie Scott | North Carolina | 1967-68 | Averaged 22.1 ppg and 7.1 rpg in three seasons. He was a consensus second-team All-American choice his last two years. |
| 4. | Clem Haskins | Western Kentucky | 1964-65 | Three-time OVC Player of the Year was a consensus first-team All-American as a senior. Averaged 22.1 ppg and 10.6 rpg in three varsity seasons. First-round NBA draft pick (3rd overall) in 1967. |
| 5. | K.C. Jones | San Francisco | 1951-52 | Shut-down defender Jones, a member of the 1955 NCAA champion featuring Bill Russell and 1956 Olympic champion, averaged 8.8 ppg in five seasons (played only one game in 1953-54 before undergoing an appendectomy). |
| 6. | Walter Dukes | Seton Hall | 1950-51 | Averaged 19.9 ppg and 18.9 rpg in three seasons. Consensus first-team All-American as a senior when he averaged 26.1 ppg and 22.2 rpg to lead the Dukes to a 31-2 record and NIT title. Played two full seasons with the Harlem Globetrotters before signing with the New York Knicks, who picked him in 1953 NBA draft. |
| 7. | Don Chaney | Houston | 1965-66 | Defensive whiz Chaney, an All-American as a senior, averaged 12.6 ppg in three seasons and was a member of Final Four teams in 1967 and 1968. |
| 8. | John Austin | Boston College | 1963-64 | Two-time All-American averaged 27 ppg in his Eagles' career. Ranked among the nation's leading scorers in 1964 (8th), 1965 (7th) and 1966 (22nd). Scored 40 points in a 1965 NIT contest. He was a fourth-round choice by the Boston Celtics in 1966 NBA draft. |
| 9. | Mike Maloy | Davidson | 1967-68 | Three-time All-American averaged 19.3 ppg and 12.4 rpg in his career. Southern Conference Player of the Year as a junior and senior. He was the leading scorer (24.6 ppg) and rebounder (14.3 rpg) for the winningest team in school history (27-3 in 1968-69). Selected by the Pittsburgh Condors in the first five rounds of 1970 ABA draft. |
| 10. | Cleo Littleton | Wichita | 1951-52 | Averaged 19 ppg and 7.7 rpg in four seasons, leading the Shockers in scoring each year. School's career scoring leader (2,164 points) is the only four-time first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference choice. He was selected by the Fort Wayne Pistons in 1955 NBA draft. |
| 11. | Wendell Hudson | Alabama | 1970-71 | Averaged 19.2 ppg and 12 rpg in his career, finishing as Bama's fourth-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder. The two-time All-SEC first-team selection was a Helms All-American choice as a senior in 1972-73 before being selected in the second round of NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. |
| 12. | Bob Gibson | Creighton | 1954-55 | Future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher was the school's first player to average at least 20 ppg in his career (20.2). Led the Bluejays in scoring (22 ppg) and rebounding (7.6 rpg) as a junior. Gibson, who said he couldn't eat or stay with the rest of the Bluejays' team on his first trip to Tulsa, went on to play with the Harlem Globetrotters. |
| 13. | Bill Garrett | Indiana | 1948-49 | First impact African-American player in Big Ten Conference averaged 12 ppg while leading the Hoosiers in scoring each of his three varsity seasons. Paced them in rebounding as a senior (8.5 rpg) when he was an all-league first-team selection. Selected by the Boston Celtics in second round of 1951 NBA draft. Grandson Billy Garrett Jr. became Big East Conference Rookie of the Year with DePaul in 2013-14. |
| 14. | Earl Robinson | California | 1955-56 | Three-time All-PCC second-team selection averaged at least 10 ppg each of three varsity seasons as 6-1 guard under HOF coach Pete Newell. Robinson averaged 15.5 points in four NCAA Tournament games his last two years, leading the Bears in scoring in two of the playoff contests. |
| 15. | Tom Payne | Kentucky | 1970-71 | Led the Wildcats in rebounding (10.1 rpg) and was their second-leading scorer (16.9 ppg) in his only varsity season before turning pro. The All-SEC first-team selection had a 39-point, 19-rebound performance against Louisiana State before leaving school early and becoming an NBA first-round draft choice by the Atlanta Hawks. |
| 16. | Ron "Fritz" Williams | West Virginia | 1965-66 | Southern Conference player of the year as a senior led Mountaineers in scoring and assists all three varsity seasons on his way to finishing with averages of 20.1 ppg and 6 apg. Williams, a two-time all-league first-team selection, was a first-round pick in 1968 NBA draft (9th overall). |
| 17. | James Cash | Texas Christian | 1966-67 | SWC's initial African-American player averaged 13.9 ppg and 11.6 rpg in three seasons. Two-time all-league second-team selection led the Horned Frogs in scoring (16.3 ppg) and rebounding (11.6 rpg) as a senior. Cash had six games with at least 20 rebounds. |
| 18. | John Savage | North Texas | 1961-62 | Detroit product averaged 19.2 ppg in leading the Eagles in scoring all three of his varsity seasons with them. Three-time All-MVC selection was fifth-round choice by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1964 NBA draft. |
| 19. | Willie Allen | Miami (Fla.) | 1968-69 | Averaged 17.2 ppg and 12.2 rpg in three seasons. Led Hurricanes in scoring (19.9 ppg) and rebounding (17.2 rpg) as senior. Fourth-round choice of the Baltimore Bullets in 1971 NBA draft played briefly for ABA's The Floridans during 1971-72 season. |
| 20. | Jerry Jenkins | Mississippi State | 1972-73 | All-SEC selection as a junior and senior when he was the Bulldogs' leading scorer each year, averaging 19.3 ppg and 7 rpg in three seasons. |
| 21. | Stew Johnson | Murray State | 1963-64 | Averaged 16.8 ppg and 12.9 rpg in three seasons en route to finishing his career as the school's all-time fourth-leading scorer (1,275 points) and second-leading rebounder (981). He was a third-round choice of New York Knicks in 1966 NBA draft before becoming a three-time ABA All-Star. |
| 22. | Gene Knolle* | Texas Tech | 1969-70 | Two-time All-SWC first-team selection averaged 21.5 ppg and 8.4 rpg in two seasons before becoming a seventh-round choice by the Portland Trail Blazers in 1971 NBA draft. |
| 23. | Joe Bertrand | Notre Dame | 1951-52 | Averaged 14.6 ppg in three seasons, including 16.5 as senior when Irish finished year ranked sixth in final AP poll. He was 10th-round choice in 1954 NBA draft by Milwaukee Hawks. Served as Chicago's city treasurer as first black elected to citywide office. His grandson with same name played hoops for Illinois. |
| 24. | Hadie Redd | Arizona | 1953-54 | Led the Wildcats in scoring (13.2 ppg and 13.6) and rebounding (7 rpg and 9.4) in both of his varsity seasons. |
| 25. | Almer Lee* | Arkansas | 1969-70 | He was the Hogs' leading scorer in 1969-70 (17 ppg) and 1970-71 (19.2 ppg as All-SWC second-team selection). |
| 26. | John "Jackie" Moore | La Salle | 1951-52 | Averaged 10.3 ppg and 12.1 rpg in two seasons. Second-leading rebounder both years for the Explorers behind All-American Tom Gola. Played three seasons in the NBA as first black player for Philadelphia Warriors. |
| 27. | Greg Lowery* | Texas Tech | 1969-70 | Averaged 19.7 ppg in his three-year career. First-team All-SWC as a sophomore and senior and second-team choice as junior en route to finishing as school's career scoring leader (1,476 points). |
| 28. | Henry Harris | Auburn | 1969-70 | Averaged 11.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg and 2.5 apg in three-year varsity career. Standout defensive player was captain as a senior. He was an eighth-round choice by the Houston Rockets in 1972 NBA draft. |
| 29. | Tommy Bowman | Baylor | 1967-68 | Two-time All-SWC first-team selection led the Bears in scoring (13.5 ppg) and rebounding (9.4 rpg) in his first varsity season. |
| 30. | Ronnie Hogue | Georgia | 1970-71 | Finished three-year varsity career as the second-leading scorer in school history (17.8 ppg). Hogue was an All-SEC second-team choice with 20.5 ppg as a junior, when he set the school single-game scoring record with 46 points against LSU. He was a seventh-round choice of the Capital Bullets in 1973 NBA draft. |
| 31. | Coolidge Ball | Mississippi | 1971-72 | Two-time All-SEC second-team selection (sophomore and junior years) averaged 14.1 ppg and 9.9 rpg in three seasons. He led the Rebels in scoring (16.8 ppg) and was second in rebounding (10.3 rpg) as a sophomore. |
| 32. | Carl Head* | West Virginia | 1965-66 | Averaged 17.1 ppg and 7.9 rpg in two seasons. Paced the team in field-goal shooting as a junior (53.5%) and in scoring as a senior (20.5 ppg). |
| 33. | Perry Wallace | Vanderbilt | 1967-68 | Averaged 12.9 ppg and 11.5 rpg in three varsity seasons. He was the Commodores' leading rebounder as a junior (10.2 rpg) and leading scorer as a senior (13.4 ppg). Fifth-round choice by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1970 NBA draft. |
| 34. | Don Eaddy | Michigan | 1951-52 | The Wolverines' top scorer in Big Ten Conference competition as a sophomore (13.8 ppg) averaged 11.4 ppg in four seasons. Eaddy was an infielder who played briefly with the Chicago Cubs in 1959. |
| 35. | Garfield Smith | Eastern Kentucky | 1965-66 | Averaged 14.5 ppg and 13.2 rpg in three seasons. He was an All-Ohio Valley Conference choice as a senior when he finished second in the nation in rebounding (19.7 rpg). Third-round choice by the Boston Celtics in 1968 NBA draft. |
| 36. | Tommy Woods | East Tennessee State | 1964-65 | Two-time All-Ohio Valley Conference choice averaged 15.3 ppg and 16.2 rpg in three seasons. He grabbed 38 rebounds in a game against Middle Tennessee en route to finishing third in the nation in rebounding as a sophomore (19.6 rpg). |
| 37. | Willie Brown | Middle Tennessee State | 1966-67 | All-Ohio Valley Conference choice as junior and senior averaged 20.3 ppg and 7.4 rpg in three seasons en route to finishing his career as the school's all-time scoring leader (1,524 points). He was a 10th-round choice by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1969 NBA draft. |
| 38. | Julius Pegues | Pittsburgh | 1955-56 | Spent one year at a Detroit technical school before enrolling at Pitt. Averaged 13.6 ppg in three seasons, finishing as the school's second-leading scorer (17.6 ppg) as a senior behind All-American Don Hennon. Pegues, who scored a game-high 31 points in an 82-77 loss to Miami of Ohio as a senior in 1958 NCAA Tournament, was a fifth-round choice by the St. Louis Hawks in NBA draft. |
| 39. | Sebron "Ed" Tucker* | Stanford | 1950-51 | Averaged 15.8 ppg in two seasons, leading the team in scoring both years. Paced the PCC in scoring as a junior (16.5 ppg) before becoming an all-league South Division first-team pick as a senior. |
| 40. | Collis Temple | Louisiana State | 1971-72 | Averaged 10.1 ppg and 8.1 rpg in three seasons. Ranked second in the SEC in rebounding (11.1 rpg) and seventh in field-goal shooting (54.9%) as a senior. He was a sixth-round choice by the Phoenix Suns in 1974 NBA draft. |
| 41. | Charlie White* | Oregon State | 1964-65 | Led the Beavers in rebounding (7 rpg) and was their second-leading scorer (9.6 ppg) as a junior. The next year as a first five pick on the All-Pacific-8 team, he was OSU's captain and second-leading scorer (11.7 ppg) and rebounder (6.6 rpg), pacing the team in field-goal shooting (49.4%) and free-throw shooting (81.4%). |
| 42. | Ruben Triplett* | Southern Methodist | 1971-72 | Averaged 14.9 ppg and 9 rpg in two seasons. Named All-SWC as a junior when he led the Mustangs in scoring (18.2 ppg) and rebounding (10.8 rpg). Scored a career-high 33 points at Oklahoma City. |
40 MOST OVERLOOKED PIONEERS
| First Black Player | School | First Varsity Season | Summary of College Career |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al Abram | Missouri | 1956-57 | Averaged 11 ppg over four seasons. He led the Tigers in scoring (16.1 ppg), rebounding (8.9 rpg) and field-goal shooting (45%) in 1958-59. |
| Bunk Adams | Ohio University | 1958-59 | Averaged 16.4 ppg and 11.8 rpg in three seasons, including a team-high 12.8 rpg as a senior. He led the team in scoring as a sophomore (14.4 ppg) and junior (16.4) and was second as a senior (18.2) en route to finishing as OU's career leader in points (1,196). All-MAC first-team selection as a junior and senior after earning second-team status as a sophomore. Adams was the school's first NBA draft choice (16th round by Baltimore in 1965). |
| Don Barnette | Miami (Ohio) | 1953-54 | All-MAC first-team selection as a senior averaged 11.6 ppg and 5.2 rpg during three-year career. Played for the Harlem Globetrotters in the late 1950s and early 1960s. |
| Charlie Brown* | Texas-El Paso | 1956-57 | Air Force veteran, a three-time All-Border Conference choice, led the league in scoring as a sophomore (23.4 ppg). He averaged 17.5 ppg in three varsity seasons, leading the Miners in scoring each year. |
| Earl Brown | Lafayette | 1971-72 | Grabbed 21 rebounds in a game against Lehigh as a sophomore before averaging 11 ppg and 10.6 rpg as a junior and 13.7 ppg and 12.1 rpg as a senior. Ninth-round NBA draft choice by the New York Knicks in 1974. |
| Mario Brown* | Texas A&M | 1971-72 | Averaged 13 ppg and 4.3 apg in two seasons, leading the team in assists both years. |
| Harvey Carter | Bucknell | 1970-71 | Led the Bison in scoring and rebounding all three varsity seasons (14.1 ppg and 11.5 rpg as a sophomore, 14.8 ppg and 12.4 rpg as a junior and 14.2 ppg and 9.8 rpg as a senior). |
| Larry Chanay | Montana State | 1956-57 | Four-year Air Force veteran finished his four-year college career as the school's all-time leading scorer (2,034 points). He led the Bobcats in scoring all four seasons. Chanay was a 14th-round choice by the Cincinnati Royals in 1960 NBA draft. |
| John Codwell | Michigan | 1951-52 | The Wolverines' second-leading scorer as a junior (10.5 ppg) averaged 6.4 ppg in three seasons. |
| Vince Colbert* | East Carolina | 1966-67 | Averaged 14.3 ppg and 7.3 rpg in two seasons. He led ECU in rebounding as a junior (7.1 rpg). |
| Robert Cox | Loyola Marymount | 1953-54 | Averaged 16.9 ppg and 11.1 rpg in two seasons while leading the Lions in both categories each year. |
| John Crawford | Iowa State | 1955-56 | Averaged 13.4 ppg and 9.7 rpg in three seasons. He led the Cyclones in rebounding all three years and paced them in scoring as a senior (14.1 ppg). |
| L.M. Ellis | Austin Peay State | 1963-64 | The first OVC black player averaged 9.3 ppg and 10.5 rpg as a junior and 6.7 ppg and 6.1 rpg as a senior after transferring from Drake to his hometown school. |
| Ed Fleming | Niagara | 1951-52 | Averaged 15 ppg and 8.7 rpg in four seasons to finish No. 1 on the school's all-time scoring list (1,682). All-time top rebounder (975) was selected by the Rochester Royals in 1955 NBA draft. |
| Larry Fry | Mississippi State | 1972-73 | Averaged 13.8 ppg and 8.1 rpg in three seasons. |
| Julian Hammond* | Tulsa | 1964-65 | Averaged 12.2 ppg and 7.6 rpg in two seasons. Led the Golden Hurricane in scoring (16.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.6 rpg) as a senior when he was an All-MVC first-team selection and paced the nation in field-goal shooting (65.9%). He was a ninth-round choice by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1966 NBA draft. |
| Charlie Hoxie | Niagara | 1951-52 | Averaged 11.7 ppg and 8.4 rpg in four seasons to finish his career as the school's third-leading scorer (1,274). Second-leading rebounder (916) was selected by the Milwaukee Hawks in 1955 NBA draft before playing with the Harlem Globetrotters. |
| Eddie Jackson | Oklahoma City | 1962-63 | Center averaged 12.3 ppg and 10 rpg in three-year OCU career after transferring from Oklahoma. He led the Chiefs in rebounding as a sophomore and junior. Selected in the sixth round by the San Francisco Warriors in 1965 NBA draft. |
| Leroy Jackson | Santa Clara | 1960-61 | Averaged 10.1 ppg and 8.3 rpg in three seasons, leading the team in rebounding all three years. Named to second five on All-WCAC team as a senior when he averaged 11.9 ppg and 10.9 rpg. |
| Curt Jimerson* | Wyoming | 1960-61 | Forward averaged 14.6 ppg in two seasons, including a team-high 17.5 ppg as a senior when he was an All-Mountain States Conference first-team selection. |
| Junius Kellogg | Manhattan | 1950-51 | Averaged 12.1 ppg in three-year career, leading the Jaspers in scoring as a sophomore and junior. Former Army sergeant refused bribe and exposed a major point-shaving scandal. |
| Charlie Lipscomb | Virginia Tech | 1969-70 | Averaged 11.4 ppg and 9.4 rpg in three varsity seasons. He led the team in rebounding (10.4 rpg) and was its second-leading scorer (12.1 ppg) as a sophomore. |
| Jesse Marshall* | Centenary | 1968-69 | Led the Gents in scoring (16 ppg) and rebounding (9.6 rpg) as a senior after being their second-leading scorer (15.9 ppg) and leading rebounder (10.2 rpg) as a junior. |
| Shellie McMillon | Bradley | 1955-56 | Member of 1957 NIT champion averaged 14.1 ppg and 9.3 rpg in three varsity seasons, including a team-high 16.4 ppg in 1957-58. McMillon, who scored 42 points against Detroit, was an All-Missouri Valley Conference second-team choice as a senior before becoming a sixth-round NBA draft choice by the Detroit Pistons. |
| Eugene Oliver* | South Alabama | 1972-73 | Averaged 17.9 ppg and 5.1 rpg in two seasons, leading the team in scoring both years and setting a school single-game record with 46 points against Southern Mississippi. |
| Charley Parnell | Delaware | 1966-67 | First-team All-East Coast Conference choice led the Blue Hens in scoring with 18.5 ppg. |
| Garland Pinkston | George Washington | 1967-68 | Second-leading scorer (12.5 ppg) and rebounder (7.3 rpg) in his only varsity season for GWU. |
| Art Polk | Middle Tennessee State | 1966-67 | MTSU's second-leading rebounder as a junior and senior averaged 12.3 ppg and 9.2 rpg in three seasons. |
| Charley Powell | Loyola (New Orleans) | 1966-67 | Averaged 21.5 ppg in three-year career, finishing 13th in the nation with 26 ppg as a junior. |
| Larry Robinson* | Tennessee | 1971-72 | Averaged 10.9 ppg and 8.8 rpg in two seasons. Led the Volunteers in rebounding and field-goal shooting both years. He was a 16th-round choice by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1973 NBA draft. |
| Ron Satterthwaite | William & Mary | 1973-74 | Averaged 13.2 ppg in four seasons. He led the Tribe in scoring as a sophomore and junior, averaging 17 ppg during that span. Guard was an All-Southern Conference first-team selection as a sophomore and second-team choice as a junior. |
| Oscar Scott* | The Citadel | 1971-72 | Three-year Army veteran averaged 11.8 ppg and 7 rpg in two seasons. He led the Bulldogs in rebounding as a senior. |
| Dwight Smith | Western Kentucky | 1964-65 | Three-time All-OVC guard averaged 14.6 ppg and 10.9 rpg in his college career. Led the Hilltoppers in rebounding as a sophomore (11.3 rpg) and as a senior (11.9 rpg). Smith was a third-round choice of the Los Angeles Lakers (23rd overall). |
| Sam Smith | Louisville | 1963-64 | Third-round choice of the Cincinnati Royals in 1967 NBA draft averaged 9.2 ppg and team-high 11 rpg in his only varsity season with the Cardinals before transferring to Kentucky Wesleyan. |
| Sam Stith | St. Bonaventure | 1957-58 | Averaged 14.8 ppg and 4.1 rpg in three-year career. After All-American brother Tom Stith arrived the next season, they combined to average 52 ppg in 1959-60, an NCAA single-season record for brothers on the same team. |
| Harold Sylvester | Tulane | 1968-69 | Averaged 12.5 ppg and 9.1 rpg in three varsity seasons. He led the Green Wave in rebounding as a sophomore and was its second-leading rebounder and scorer as a junior and senior. |
| John Thomas | Pacific | 1954-55 | Averaged 15.1 ppg and 11.3 rpg in three years while leading the team in scoring and rebounding each campaign. Finished his career as the school's all-time scoring leader (1,178 points). He set UOP single-season records for points (480) and rebounds (326) in 1955-56. |
| Liscio Thomas* | Furman | 1969-70 | Averaged 17 ppg and 9.9 rpg in two seasons. He led the Paladins in scoring as a junior (17.7 ppg) and was the second-leading scorer and rebounder for 1971 Southern Conference champion. |
| Solly Walker | St. John's | 1951-52 | First African-American ever to play in game at Kentucky averaged 7.8 ppg and 6.8 rpg in three seasons. Member of 1952 NCAA runner-up and 1953 NIT runner-up. Led the team in scoring (14 ppg) and rebounding (12.2 rpg) as a senior. Selected by the New York Knicks in 1954 NBA draft. |
| John Edgar Wideman | Penn | 1960-61 | Two-time All-Ivy League second-team swingman led the Quakers in scoring as a junior (13.2 ppg in 1961-62) and a senior (13.8 ppg in 1962-63). The Pittsburgh native also paced them in rebounding as a junior (7.6 rpg). |
Super Men: College Basketball's Impact on 52 Years of NFL's Super Bowl
College basketball fans shouldn't be assessed an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty if the NFL isn't their favorite sport, but they should rush to hold on because following is more super stuff to digest while blitzed by enough notes, quotes and anecdotes to have one seeking a sedative when assessing Super Bowl 52 in Minneapolis between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles.
For what it's worth hoop-wise, did you know former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue was a 6-5 forward who averaged 11.4 points and nine rebounds per game for Georgetown in three varsity seasons from 1959-60 through 1961-62? He led the Hoyas in rebounding as a sophomore (8.9 rpg) and junior (8.2 rpg) and was their second-leading rebounder as a senior captain. Well-rounded trivia buffs should also know that Tagliabue's predecessor, Pete Rozelle, was the basketball publicist for 1949 NIT champion San Francisco before orchestrating events leading to the Super Bowl becoming a national phenomenon.
The Super Bowl's link to college basketball is much more extensive than these commissioners and had more impact than unveiling of new commercials plus halftime entertainers. Actually, there are a striking number of ex-college hoopsters who participated in the Super Bowl as players. In fact, the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967 featured several former four-year college varsity basketball players for schools currently classified at the NCAA Division I level: Bobby Bell, Reg Carolan, Len Dawson, Otis Taylor and Fuzzy Thurston.
Kneeling in deference to the 52nd anniversary of the Super Bowl, following are 52 questions tackling versatile players such as Bell, Carolan, Dawson, Peppers, Taylor and Thurston in this distinctive two-way athlete category that should surprise you with some of the marquee names. If you get them all correct before peeking at answers at the end of this gridiron quiz, then you boast inflated brainpower sufficiently omnipotent to know in advance what Justin Timberlake will do at halftime.
1. Name the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback with the Cincinnati Bengals who appeared in Super Bowl XVI following the 1981 season after finishing his career as the fifth-leading scorer in his college's history. The high school teammate of Kentucky All-American and All-Pro Dan Issel led Augustana (Ill.) in field-goal accuracy and free-throw shooting as a freshman and sophomore.
2. Name the linebacker who was one of only two first-year players on the Miami Dolphins' undefeated team in 1972 and was still with the franchise the next season when the Dolphins repeated as Super Bowl champions for a 32-2 two-year mark, the best ever in the NFL. He played briefly for Louisville's varsity basketball squad before Cardinals football coach Lee Corso persuaded him to concentrate on the gridiron.
3. Name the nine-time All-Pro linebacker who was with the Kansas City Chiefs for their Super Bowl IV winner after becoming the first African American to play basketball for Minnesota when he appeared in three games in the 1960-61 season.
4. Name the two-time Pro Bowl defensive end who appeared in Super Bowl III with the Baltimore Colts vs. the New York Jets after becoming a first-team selection as a basketball center for South Dakota in the All-North Central Conference when he averaged 7.8 points per game in 1952-53 and 11 points in 1953-54.
5. Name the first black starting quarterback in the NFL who was later converted to wide receiver and caught two passes to help the undefeated Miami Dolphins beat Minnesota in Super Bowl VIII after averaging 9.5 ppg and 3.6 rpg in 14 basketball games for Nebraska-Omaha in 1964-65.
6. Name the four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver who caught five passes for 83 yards in Super Bowl XV for the Philadelphia Eagles after he was the top rebounder for two seasons with Southern (La.). He established an NFL record for most consecutive games with a pass reception (127).
7. Name the 1963 Pro Bowl selection who participated in Super Bowl I as a defensive end with the Kansas City Chiefs after the 6-6, 235-pounder played three varsity seasons with Idaho's basketball team, averaging four points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
8. Name the 1994 first-round draft choice who was a defensive end on the Dallas Cowboys' last Super Bowl team after playing nine games during the 1992-93 season for Arizona State's hoop squad that was decimated with injuries.
9. Name the Pro Bowl selection who appeared in Super Bowl XXXI with the New England Patriots after the 6-5, 245-pounder played basketball one season for Livingstone (N.C.). He held the NFL single-season record for most receptions by a tight end with 96 in 1994.
10. Name the four-year starter who set school career records for total offense, passing yards and rushing yards by a quarterback plus rushing touchdowns by a QB. Most Outstanding Player in the 2002 Peach Bowl as a quarterback was activated for Super Bowl XXXVII as a rookie with the Oakland Raiders before succeeding all-time great Tim Brown as a starting wide receiver. He was North Carolina's leader in assists during 2000-01 when he directed the Tar Heels to a basketball No. 1 ranking and an 18-game winning streak.
11. Name the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs who was MVP in Super Bowl IV after playing in two basketball games as a 6-0, 180-pound guard for Purdue in the 1956-57 campaign.
12. Name the defensive left end on Miami's undefeated team in 1972 who played in four Super Bowls with the Dolphins after the 6-6, 220-pound basketball center finished his four-season career at Central College as the Pella, Iowa-based school's all-time leading scorer (15.5 ppg) and rebounder (12.4 rpg). He grabbed a school-record 29 rebounds in a game his senior season (1970-71).
13. Name the Hall of Fame tight end who played in two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys, catching a TD pass to cap the scoring in Super Bowl VI, before coaching the Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears following the 1985 season after the 6-2, 205-pound forward averaged 2.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in two seasons with the Pittsburgh Panthers.
14. Name the defensive back for the Baltimore Colts' Super Bowl V champion who led the NFL in kickoff return average (35.4) in 1970 after playing basketball for Maryland-Eastern Shore.
15. Name the prominent ex-NFL coach who was a defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl XIII champion after averaging 2.6 ppg in 16 basketball contests with the Minnesota Gophers in 1973-74 under coach Bill Musselman.
16. Name the starting middle linebacker for a team in two of three Super Bowls in one stretch who started two games at point guard for St. Francis (Pa.) as a freshman in 1993-94 when he averaged three points per game. After transferring back home to Cleveland, the 5-10 dynamo collected 109 points and 52 rebounds in 27 games for John Carroll before quitting basketball midway through the 1995-96 campaign to concentrate on football.
17. Name the Super Bowl X tight end for the Dallas Cowboys after leading Amherst (Mass.) in scoring and rebounding in 1970-71.
18. Name the five-time Pro Bowl defensive back with the Dallas Cowboys who played in two Super Bowls after finishing his three-year varsity career as Utah State's all-time leading scorer and rebounder. The 6-4 forward scored 46 points in a game against New Mexico en route to leading the Aggies in scoring with 21.2 points per game in 1959-60 (34th in the nation), 20.3 in 1960-61 (57th) and 25.6 in 1961-62 (13th).
19. Name the Hall of Fame quarterback who played in three Super Bowls with the Miami Dolphins after he was a 6-1, 185-pound sophomore guard in 1964-65 when scoring 22 points in 16 games in his only varsity basketball season for Purdue.
20. Name the 12-year veteran safety who played in Super Bowl IV with the Minnesota Vikings after averaging four points and 3.5 rebounds per game in 10 contests for Wisconsin's basketball team in 1958-59.
21. Name the wide receiver who caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Roger Staubach for the Dallas Cowboys' final touchdown in a 21-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl X after he averaged 12.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in three varsity seasons (1972-73 through 1974-75) for Austin Peay. It was the only pass reception in his NFL career. The 6-4, 215-pound forward averaged seven points and seven rebounds per game in four NCAA Tournament contests in 1973 and 1974 as a teammate of folk hero James "Fly" Williams.
22. Name the third-round draft choice of the Miami Dolphins in 1998 who backed up MVP Ray Lewis as a linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV after being a member of Cincinnati's basketball team for the first month of 1997-98 campaign.
23. Name the three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman who appeared in three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys after the 6-8, 230-pound backup post player averaged 1.7 points and 2.6 rebounds for Tennessee State in his freshman and sophomore seasons (1969-70 and 1970-71).
24. Name the Baltimore Ravens wide receiver who caught a 56-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco and opened the second half with a 108-yard kickoff return for a TD in a 34-31 win against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII after the Southeastern Louisiana track transfer was a part-time hoop starter for Lane (Tenn.), averaging 3.4 ppg and 3.7 rpg in 2004-05 and 2005-06.
25. Name the 16-year quarterback who started Super Bowl VII for the Washington Redskins after scoring eight points in six games for coach John Wooden's 1959-60 UCLA basketball team.
26. Name the two-time Pro Bowl cornerback who participated in Super Bowl XVII with the Washington Redskins after the 6-4, 190-pound forward averaged 13.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game for San Diego State in 1969-70 and 1970-71. He was the Aztecs' second-leading scorer (15.2 ppg) and rebounder (7.6 rpg) as a junior.
27. Name the 10-time Pro Bowl defensive back who competed in four Super Bowls after collecting nine assists, four points and three rebounds in six games for Southern California's basketball squad as a junior in 1979-80.
28. Name the 11-year defensive lineman who played in Super Bowl XIII for the Minnesota Vikings after averaging 12.3 ppg with Michigan Tech in 1962-63.
29. Name the Minnesota Vikings defensive back who let former Prairie View basketball player Otis Taylor (Kansas City Chiefs) elude him for a long touchdown in Super Bowl IV after being a basketball teammate of Utah State legend Wayne Estes in 1964-65.
30. Name the NFL Hall of Fame tight end who caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas in Super Bowl V after collecting 28 points and 28 rebounds in six basketball games with Syracuse in 1960-61.
31. Name the defensive end who scored six touchdowns in his 14-year NFL career and tackled John Elway of the Denver Broncos for a safety in the New York Giants' Super Bowl XXI victory following the 1986 season after the 6-5, 225-pound forward-center averaged just over 10 points and 10 rebounds per game for Oregon's freshman squad in 1971-72. He played briefly for the Ducks' varsity basketball team the next season.
32. Name the tight end who played in four Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills after he was the starting center for Jacksonville State's 1985 NCAA Division II championship team. He led the Gulf South Conference in rebounding each of his first three seasons and finished runner-up in that category as a senior.
33. Name the defensive lineman in Super Bowl XI for the Oakland Raiders who played basketball in the 1975 NAIA Tournament for Morningside (Iowa).
34. Name the quarterback who set an NFL record with 24 consecutive completions over a two-game span in 2004 before guiding the Philadelphia Eagles to Super Bowl XXXIX the next year. He collected a career-high 10 points and six rebounds and made two clinching free throws with 2.7 seconds remaining in a 77-74 victory over Georgetown in 1997 before Syracuse appeared in the NIT. He scored two points in two 1996 NCAA Tournament games for the Orangemen's national runner-up.
35. Name the tight end who played in four Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills, catching a TD pass in Super Bowl XXVI, after the 6-8, 235-pound center for the basketball squad at Wabash (Ind.) averaged 19.2 ppg and 11.4 rpg in four varsity seasons. He set NCAA Division III field-goal shooting records for a single season (75.3% in 1981-82 as a senior) and career (72.4). He collected 45 points and 13 rebounds in the 1982 championship game, scoring a Division III Tournament record 129 points in five games and earning tourney outstanding player honors.
36. Name the Pro Bowl offensive tackle who appeared in three consecutive Super Bowls with the Miami Dolphins after leading Lamar in rebounding as a senior with 12.6 per game in 1968-69.
37. Name the valuable addition to Super Bowl XXXIX-bound Philadelphia Eagles in 2004 who had nine pass receptions for 122 yards against the New England Patriots after setting an NFL single-game record with 20 receptions for the San Francisco 49ers against the Chicago Bears in 2000. He collected 57 points and 49 rebounds in 38 games (four starts) for UT-Chattanooga's basketball squad in three seasons from 1993-94 through 1995-96.
38. Name the 14-year running back who played in five Super Bowls, catching more passes (five) than anyone in Super Bowls X and XII, after the guard-forward averaged 8.7 points and 6 rebounds per game as a senior in 1966-67 to finish his three-year Illinois varsity career with 5.2 ppg and 3.6 rpg.
39. Name the 2002 NFL defensive rookie of the year for the Carolina Panthers who appeared in Super Bowl XXXVIII the next season after being a member of North Carolina's 2000 Final Four squad. He started both NCAA Tournament games for the Tar Heels in 2001, including his first double-double (10 rebounds and career-high 21 points against Penn State).
40. Name the wide receiver who made a two-point conversion on a run for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV and threw a flea flicker touchdown pass in Super Bowl XX after collecting 16 points and 11 assists in 11 games for Indiana's 1999 NCAA Tournament team, including two points in each of the Hoosiers' playoff contests (against George Washington and St. John's).
41. Name the four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver who scored the first touchdown at Super Bowl XXXI for the Green Bay Packers after he was a 6-1, 185-pound backup guard in basketball for Michigan State in two seasons (1985-86 and 1987-88).
42. Name the Hall of Fame offensive tackle who participated in two Super Bowls (XI and XV) with the Oakland Raiders after he was a two-year basketball letterman as a 6-5, 265-pound center for Maryland State College (now called Maryland-Eastern Shore).
43. Name the Denver Broncos wide receiver who had a game-high 152 receiving yards (including 80-yard touchdown pass from John Elway) in Super Bowl XXXIII after earning Missouri Southern State hoops letter as sophomore in 1990-91.
44. Name an offensive tackle for the Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins after the strike-shortened 1982 campaign who averaged 2.9 ppg and 3.7 rpg while shooting 50.5% from the floor with Columbia in 1968-69 and 1969-70.
45. Name the Hall of Fame quarterback who guided the Dallas Cowboys to four Super Bowls after averaging 9.3 points per game for the 1961-62 Navy plebe (freshman) basketball team. The 6-2, 190-pound forward scored five points in four games for the Midshipmen varsity squad the next season. He was MVP in Super Bowl VI.
46. Name the defensive back for the Baltimore Colts who appeared in two Super Bowls (III and V) after playing basketball for Maryland-Eastern Shore.
47. Name the wide receiver who played in two Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs, catching 10 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown, after he was a backup small forward in the Prairie View A&M era following the school's glory years with pro basketball standout Zelmo Beaty.
48. Name the Denver Broncos tight end who caught four passes from Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLVIII after being Portland State's second-leading rebounder in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
49. Name the offensive guard with the Green Bay Packers who participated in the first two Super Bowls after originally enrolling at Valparaiso on a basketball scholarship. He averaged 1.5 points per game in eight contests as a freshman with Valpo in 1951-52 before concentrating on football.
50. Name the Pro Bowl punter who appeared in two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys after averaging 14.5 points and 8.3 rebounds as a sophomore, 17.3 points and eight rebounds as a junior and 22.1 points and 8.7 rebounds as a senior for Tennessee. The 6-4, 210-pound forward scored 50 points against LSU as a senior on his way to becoming SEC player of the year in 1967.
51. Name the defensive end for the Denver Broncos' back-to-back Super Bowl champions (XXXII and XXXIII) who registered one steal while playing in one minute of one Big Eight Conference basketball game for Colorado in 1989-90.
52. Name the offensive tackle who was an NFL All-Pro six straight seasons in the 1970s and played in the Super Bowl five times that decade with the Dallas Cowboys after earning All-SIAC basketball recognition for Fort Valley State (Ga.).
ANSWERS TO 52 COLLEGE BASKETBALL-IMPACTING SUPER BOWL TRIVIA QUESTIONS
1. Ken Anderson; 2. Larry Ball; 3. Bobby Bell; 4. Ordell Braase; 5. Marlin Briscoe; 6. Harold Carmichael; 7. Reg Carolan; 8. Shante Carver; 9. Ben Coates; 10. Ronald Curry; 11. Len Dawson; 12. Vern Den Herder; 13. Mike Ditka; 14. Jim Duncan; 15. Tony Dungy; 16. London Fletcher; 17. Jean Fugett; 18. Cornell Green; 19. Bob Griese; 20. Dale Hackbart; 21. Percy Howard; 22. Brad Jackson; 23. Ed "Too Tall" Jones; 24. Jacoby Jones; 25. Billy Kilmer; 26. Joe Lavender; 27. Ronnie Lott; 28. Bob Lurtsema; 29. Earsell Mackbee; 30. John Mackey; 31. George Martin; 32. Keith McKeller; 33. Herb McMath; 34. Donovan McNabb; 35. Pete Metzelaars; 36. Wayne Moore; 37. Terrell Owens; 38. Preston Pearson; 39. Julius Peppers; 40. Antwaan Randle El; 41. Andre Rison; 42. Art Shell; 43. Rod Smith; 44. George Starke; 45. Roger Staubach; 46. Charlie Stukes; 47. Otis Taylor; 48. Julius Thomas; 49. Fuzzy Thurston; 50. Ron Widby; 51. Alfred Williams; 52. Rayfield Wright.
Only One NFL Pro Bowl Roster Failed to Feature a Former College Hooper
After Seattle Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham and Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins ended up on regal roster, there remained only one NFL Pro Bowl (following 1985 season) when there wasn't at least one gridiron participant who previously played college basketball. Graham, a five-time Pro Bowler for the New Orleans Saints and Seahawks, served as a part-time hoops starter with Miami FL. Graham is the 27th former college hooper to participate in at least five NFL Pro Bowls.
An average of eight ex-college cagers annually participated the first decade of the event in the 1950s with a high of 10 following the 1959 campaign. Following is an alphabetical list of Pro Bowlers who previously played hoops at varsity level for a four-year college:
| NFL Pro Bowl Selection | Pos. | NFL Team(s) | 4-Year Hoop College(s) | Pro Bowl Season(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ken Anderson | QB | Cincinnati Bengals | Augustana (Ill.) | 1975-76-81-82 |
| Doug Atkins | RDE | Chicago Bears | Tennessee | 1957-58-59-60-61-62-63-65 |
| Al Baker | RDE | Detroit Lions | Colorado State | 1978-79-80 |
| Erich Barnes | RDH | Chicago Bears/New York Giants/Cleveland Browns | Purdue | 1959-61-62-63-64-68 |
| Connor Barwin | OLB | Philadelphia Eagles | Cincinnati | 2014 |
| Sammy Baugh | QB | Washington Redskins | Texas Christian | 1951 |
| Bobby Bell | LLB | Kansas City Chiefs | Minnesota | 1970-71-72 |
| Martellus Bennett | TE | Chicago Bears | Texas A&M | 2014 |
| Cloyce Box | E | Detroit Lions | West Texas A&M | 1950 and 1952 |
| Ordell Braase | RDE | Baltimore Colts | South Dakota | 1966 and 1967 |
| Pete Brewster | LE | Cleveland Browns | Purdue | 1955 and 1956 |
| Marlin Briscoe | WR | Buffalo Bills | Nebraska-Omaha | 1970 |
| Jim Brown | FB | Cleveland Browns | Syracuse | 1957-58-59-60-61-62-63-64-65 |
| Junious "Buck" Buchanan | RDT | Kansas City Chiefs | Grambling | 1970 and 1971 |
| Jordan Cameron | TE | Cleveland Browns | Brigham Young/Southern California | 2013 |
| Harold Carmichael | WR | Philadelphia Eagles | Southern (La.) | 1973-78-79-80 |
| Fred Carr | RLB | Green Bay Packers | Texas Western | 1970-72-75 |
| John Carson | LE | Washington Redskins | Georgia | 1957 |
| Rick Casares | FB | Chicago Bears | Florida | 1955-56-57-58-59 |
| Chris Chambers | WR | Miami Dolphins | Wisconsin | 2005 |
| Lynn Chandnois | RH | Pittsburgh Steelers | Michigan State | 1952 and 1953 |
| Ben Coates | TE | New England Patriots | Livingstone (N.C.) | 1994-95-98 |
| George Connor | LT | Chicago Bears | Holy Cross/Notre Dame | 1950-51-52-53 |
| Charley Cowan | RT | Los Angeles Rams | New Mexico Highlands | 1968-69-70 |
| Glenn Davis | LH | Los Angeles Rams | Army | 1950 |
| Len Dawson | QB | Kansas City Chiefs | Purdue | 1971 |
| Mike Ditka | TE | Chicago Bears | Pittsburgh | 1961-62-63-64-65 |
| Jim Finks | QB | Pittsburgh Steelers | Tulsa | 1952 |
| London Fletcher | LB | Washington Redskins | St. Francis (Pa.)/John Carroll (Ohio) | 2009-10-11-12 |
| Len Ford | DE | Cleveland Browns | Morgan State | 1951-52-53-54 |
| Jean Fugett | TE | Washington Redskins | Amherst (Mass.) | 1977 |
| Antonio Gates | TE | San Diego Chargers | Eastern Michigan/Kent State | 2004-05-06-07-08-09-10-11 |
| Tony Gonzalez | TE | Kansas City Chiefs/Atlanta Falcons | California | 1999 and 2000-01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08-10-11-12-13 |
| Jimmy Graham | TE | New Orleans Saints/Seattle Seahawks | Miami (Fla.) | 2011-13-14-16-17 |
| Otto Graham | QB | Cleveland Browns | Northwestern | 1950-51-52-53-54 |
| Cornell Green | DB | Dallas Cowboys | Utah State | 1965-66-67-71-72 |
| Bob Griese | QB | Miami Dolphins | Purdue | 1970-71-73-74-77-78 |
| Todd Heap | TE | Baltimore Ravens | Arizona State | 2002 and 2003 |
| Harlon Hill | LE | Chicago Bears | Florence State (Ala.) | 1954-55-56 |
| Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch | RE | Los Angeles Rams | Michigan | 1951-52-53 |
| Paul Hornung | LH | Green Bay Packers | Notre Dame | 1959 and 1960 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | WR | Houston Texans | Clemson | 2015 and 2017 |
| Vincent Jackson | WR | San Diego Chargers/Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Northern Colorado | 2009-11-12 |
| Dave Jennings | P | New York Giants | St. Lawrence (N.Y.) | 1978-79-80-82 |
| Brad Johnson | QB | Washington Redskins | Florida State | 1999, 2000 and 2002 |
| John Henry Johnson | RB | San Francisco 49ers/Pittsburgh Steelers | Saint Mary's | 1954-62-63-64 |
| Johnny Johnson | RB | Phoenix Suns | San Jose State | 1990 |
| Ed "Too Tall" Jones | LDE | Dallas Cowboys | Tennessee State | 1981-82-83 |
| Jacoby Jones | KR | Baltimore Ravens | Lane (Tenn.) | 2012 |
| Joe Kapp | QB | Minnesota Vikings | California | 1969 |
| Billy Kilmer | QB | Washington Redskins | UCLA | 1972 |
| Ron Kramer | TE | Green Bay Packers | Michigan | 1962 |
| Gary Larsen | DT | Minnesota Vikings | Concordia (Minn.) | 1969 and 1970 |
| Johnny Lattner | RH | Pittsburgh Steelers | Notre Dame | 1954 |
| Joe Lavender | RCB | Washington Redskins | San Diego State | 1979 and 1980 |
| Rolland Lawrence | CB | Atlanta Falcons | Tabor (Kan.) | 1977 |
| Bobby Layne | QB | Detroit Lions/Pittsburgh Steelers | Texas | 1951-52-53-56-58-59 |
| Ronnie Lott | DB | San Francisco 49ers | Southern California | 1981-82-83-84-86-87-88-89-90-91 |
| Johnny Lujack | QB | Chicago Bears | Notre Dame | 1950 and 1951 |
| Lamar Lundy | LDE | Los Angeles Rams | Purdue | 1959 |
| John Mackey | TE | Baltimore Colts | Syracuse | 1963-65-66-67-68 |
| Jack "Cy" McClairen | E | Pittsburgh Steelers | Bethune-Cookman | 1957 |
| Donovan McNabb | QB | Philadelphia Eagles | Syracuse | 2000-01-02-03-04-09 |
| Zeke Moore | CB | Houston Oilers | Lincoln (Mo.) | 1969 and 1970 |
| Elbie Nickel | RE | Pittsburgh Steelers | Cincinnati | 1952-53-56 |
| Terrell Owens | WR | San Francisco 49ers/Dallas Cowboys | UT-Chattanooga | 2000-01-02-03-04-07 |
| Julius Peppers | DE-LB | Carolina Panthers/Chicago Bears/Green Bay Packers | North Carolina | 2004-05-06-08-09-10-11-12-15 |
| Garet "Jerry" Reichow | WR | Minnesota Vikings | Iowa | 1961 |
| Andre Rison | WR | Atlanta Falcons/Kansas City Chiefs | Michigan State | 1990-91-92-93-97 |
| Otto Schnellbacher | RS | New York Giants | Kansas | 1950 and 1951 |
| Tom Scott | LDE | Philadelphia Eagles | Virginia | 1957 and 1958 |
| Joe Senser | TE | Minnesota Vikings | West Chester (Pa.) State | 1981 |
| Bob Shaw | E | Chicago Cardinals | Ohio State | 1950 |
| Art Shell | LT | Oakland Raiders | Maryland-Eastern Shore | 1973-74-75-76-77 |
| Del Shofner | RH-SE | Los Angeles Rams/New York Giants | Baylor | 1958-59-61-62-63 |
| Rod Smith | WR | Denver Broncos | Missouri Southern State | 2000-01-05 |
| Norm Snead | QB | Washington Redskins/Philadelphia Eagles/New York Giants | Wake Forest | 1962-63-65-72 |
| Ed Sprinkle | DE | Chicago Bears | Hardin-Simmons (Tex.) | 1950-51-52-54 |
| Roger Staubach | QB | Dallas Cowboys | Navy | 1971-75-76-77-78-79 |
| Hugh "Bones" Taylor | LE | Washington Redskins | Tulane/Oklahoma City | 1952 and 1954 |
| Jason Taylor | RDE | Miami Dolphins | Akron | 2000-02-04-05-06-07 |
| Otis Taylor | WR | Kansas City Chiefs | Prairie View A&M | 1971 and 1972 |
| Adalius Thomas | LB | Baltimore Ravens | Southern Mississippi | 2003 and 2006 |
| John Thomas | LG | San Francisco 49ers | Pacific | 1966 |
| Julius Thomas | TE | Denver Broncos | Portland State | 2013 and 2014 |
| Emlen Tunnell | DB | New York Giants | Toledo | 1950-51-52-53-54-55-56-57-59 |
| Brad Van Pelt | LLB | New York Giants | Michigan State | 1976-77-78-79-80 |
| Doak Walker | LH | Detroit Lions | Southern Methodist | 1950-51-53-54-55 |
| Ron Widby | P | Dallas Cowboys | Tennessee | 1971 |
| Norm Willey | RDE | Philadelphia Eagles | Marshall | 1954 and 1955 |
| Alfred Williams | RDE | Denver Broncos | Colorado | 1996 |
| Billy Wilson | RE | San Francisco 49ers | San Jose State | 1954-55-56-57-58-59 |
| Rayfield Wright | RT | Dallas Cowboys | Fort Valley State (Ga.) | 1971-72-73-74-75-76 |
Classiest Classes: Neither Duke Nor Kentucky Boasts All-Time Great Group
In 1965-66, the best team in the country might have been UCLA's freshman squad. The Bruins' frosh, led by 7-1 Lew Alcindor's 31 points and 21 rebounds, defeated the two-time NCAA champion UCLA varsity, 75-60. The yearlings compiled a 21-0 record, outscoring their opponents 113.2 points per game to 56.6. Starters for what is considered by some as the best freshman team in NCAA history included Alcindor (33.1 ppg and 21.5 rpg), forwards Lynn Shackelford (20.9 ppg and 9.3 rpg) and Kent Taylor (7.2 ppg) and guards Lucius Allen (22.4 ppg and 7.8 rpg) and Kenny Heitz (14.3 ppg).
Freshmen became eligible for varsity competition seven years later, but there are no guarantees despite a recruit's regal high school resume. In fact, UCLA had a couple of the most disappointing classes in memory thus far in the 21st Century before gifted groups for Duke and Kentucky failed to live up to great expectations the past couple of campaigns. Michigan saw both ends of the spectrum with a couple of its freshman recruiting crops in the 1990s that were highly acclaimed. One lived up to expectations while the other went from feast to famine.
The "Fab Five" in the first half of the decade probably will stand the test of time and earn recognition among the best classes in college basketball history. On the other hand, guard Louis Bullock was all that was left at the conclusion of the Wolverines' promising 1995-96 freshman class that included Tractor Traylor (left early to become an NBA lottery pick) and Albert White (transferred to Missouri where he was the Tigers' leading scorer in 1998-99 with 16.3 ppg). Minus Traylor and White, Michigan posted an anemic 12-19 record in 1998-99 and finished in a tie for ninth place in the Big Ten (5-11).
In the aftermath of Michigan's recruiting hauls, Duke had an amazing series of regal freshman classes. The Blue Devils' 1997-98 freshman crop (William Avery, Shane Battier, Elton Brand and Chris Burgess) dominated the ACC and was well on its way toward challenging Indiana's superb group in the mid-1970s as the premier class of all time until Avery and Brand left school early for the NBA and Burgess transferred to Utah. The splendid original class was eventually regarded as superior to Michigan's "Fab Five" but with only two years intact won't boast the extended excellence to supplant Indiana's brilliant crew that included Quinn Buckner, Scott May and Bobby Wilkerson.
In 1999-00, Duke's stunning freshmen included Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Jason Williams. In 2002-03, the Devils' frosh class included guards Sean Dockery and J.J. Redick plus centers Shavlik Randolph and Shelden Williams. All of these groups were Final Four-bound. As a means of comparison, the Blue Devils' outstanding class comprised of Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas, Johnny Dawkins and David Henderson embarked with an 11-17 mark in 1982-83 before concluding their collegiate careers with an NCAA single-season standard for victories (37-3 in 1985-86). But none of these gifted groups compare to Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow, Tyus Jones and Grayson Allen capturing an NCAA title as Blue Devil freshmen in 2015.
Ranking recruiting classes regarding their long-term impact on college basketball is risky business. For instance, does Michigan's Fab Five deserve more acclaim than Butler's mid-major level class also reaching back-to-back NCAA championship games? Where does Kentucky's terrific title trio in 2012 deserve to be ranked insofar as it was around only one year? And what does the future hold for elite recruiting classes assembled again by Duke and Kentucky if they aren't normal one-year mercenaries? Each year's UK crop of late immediately goes to being labeled as perhaps the greatest in collegiate history but this year's group - three of top four scorers Malik Monk, De'Aaron Fox and Edrice Adebayo plus part-time starter Wenyen Gabriel - will do well to simply be better than four previous Wildcats classes (1978, 1983, 2013 and 2015) in the mediocre SEC.
It is a simplistic copout to accept the instant visibility of icon programs and automatically cite them among the most influential in college history. Classes from Alcorn State, Butler, East Tennessee State, San Francisco, Southern Mississippi and Wichita State are mentioned in this appraisal. In an era of "one 'n done" freshmen, extended impact becomes an even more vital factor in separating the premier recruiting classes.
There is little doubt Kentucky's 2012 title team frosh class would have quickly moved up the pecking order if they had chosen to return. We'll see how Duke's acclaimed class for next year performs. It's highly unlikely the NCAA will tamper with a nation's fascination on freshmen by making them ineligible. Following is CollegeHoopedia.com's view, factoring in length of tenure (undergraduates declaring for the NBA draft), of the premier recruiting crops (excluding junior college signees) since the introduction of freshman eligibility in 1972-73:
1. Indiana (class of '76)
Recruiting Class: Tom Abernethy, Quinn Buckner, Jim Crews, Scott May, Bobby Wilkerson.
Achievements: Last NCAA champion to go undefeated compiled a 63-1 record in last two seasons this class was intact, climaxing a run of four Big Ten titles. Reached 1973 Final Four with freshmen Buckner and Crews as starting guards under coach Bob Knight (May was ineligible as a freshman for academic reasons). Posted an amazing 59-5 conference mark while capturing four consecutive Big Ten titles. Abernethy, Buckner, May and Wilkerson all played at least five seasons in the NBA while Crews went on to coach Evansville and Army for more than 20 seasons
2. Duke (class of '01)
Recruiting Class: William Avery, Shane Battier, Elton Brand, Chris Burgess (transfer/Utah).
Achievements: Won 31 of 32 ACC games in two seasons together before Avery and Brand left early for the NBA draft. NCAA playoff runner-up in 1999 under coach Mike Krzyzewski
3. Georgetown (class of '85)
Recruiting Class: Ralph Dalton, Patrick Ewing, Anthony Jones (transfer/UNLV), Bill Martin.
Achievements: Won NCAA title in 1984, runner-up in 1985 and reached Final Four in 1982. Went 30-7, 22-10, 34-3 and 35-3 under coach John Thompson. The Hoyas' worst Big East record in that span was 11-5 in 1982-83 although their only conference crown was in 1984. Ewing was the only one of the group to play more than three season in the NBA.
4. Florida (class of '08)
Recruiting Class: Corey Brewer, Taurean Green, Al Horford, Joakim Noah.
Achievements: Brewer, Horford and Noah were top nine NBA draft choices as undergraduates after capturing back-to-back NCAA crowns in 2006 and 2007.
5. Duke (class of '18)
Recruiting Class: Grayson Allen, Tyus Jones, Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow.
Achievements: Okafor, Winslow and Jones left after capturing NCAA crown as freshmen to become NBA first-round draft choices. Allen, an improbable hero in the title game, went on to become an All-American the next season.
6. North Carolina (class of '06)
Recruiting Class: Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants, Sean May, David Noel, Bryon Sanders.
Achievements: Felton, McCants and May earned All-ACC honors in their final seasons as juniors when they captured the NCAA crown before becoming top 14 NBA draft choices.
7. Kansas (class of '03)
Recruiting Class: Nick Collison, Drew Gooden, Kirk Hinrich.
Achievements: Collison, Gooden and Hinrich each became an NBA lottery pick. After Gooden left early for the NBA draft, Collison and Hinrich were All-Americans in 2003 when the Jayhawks finished NCAA Tournament runner-up under coach Roy Williams. KU went unbeaten in the Big 12 Conference in 2002.
8. Duke (class of '03)
Recruiting Class: Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Jason Williams.
Achievements: Might have been the school's best if any of them had exercised all of their eligibility similar to teammate Shane Battier. Reached NCAA playoff final in 1999 and 2001 under coach Mike Krzyzewski.
9. Michigan (class of '95)
Recruiting Class: Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King, Jalen Rose, Chris Webber.
Achievements: NCAA Tournament runner-up in 1992 (25-9) and 1993 (31-5) as freshman and sophomore starters. Howard, Rose and Webber became NBA first-round draft choices as undergraduates and each played more than 12 years in the league. Principal drawback is that none of the "Fab Five" was a member of a Big Ten Conference title team under coach Steve Fisher.
10. North Carolina (class of '10)
Recruiting Class: Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson, Alec Stephenson (transfer/Southern California), Deon Thompson, Brandan Wright.
Achievements: Wright was a "one 'n done" recruit, but core of group cruised to 2009 NCAA crown by winning their playoff games by an average of 20.2 points.
11. Notre Dame (class of '81)
Recruiting Class: Tracy Jackson, Gilbert Salinas, Kelly Tripucka, Stan Wilcox, Orlando Woolridge.
Achievements: Final Four participant in 1978 and Midwest Regional runner-up in '79. Irish went 23-8, 24-6, 22-6 and 23-6 under coach Digger Phelps. Jackson, Tripucka and Woolridge were its top three scorers each of their last three seasons. Tripucka (26.5 ppg/15.3) and Woolridge (25.1/10.6) had long NBA careers where they flourished as scorers, posting a pro career-high scoring average significantly higher than their college career mark.
12. North Carolina (class of '16)
Recruiting Class: Joel James, Brice Johnson, Marcus Paige, J.P. Tokoto.
Achievements: Compiled a 108-40 record over four seasons. Reached NCAA Tournament final as seniors despite Tokoto declaring early for the NBA draft after the previous campaign.
13. Louisville (class of '82)
Recruiting Class: Wiley Brown, Jerry Eaves, Scooter McCray, Derek Smith, Pancho Wright.
Achievements: Won NCAA title in 1980 with Brown, Eaves and Smith starting while McCray was sidelined with a knee injury. Reached the 1982 Final Four under coach Denny Crum. Went 24-8, 33-3, 21-9 and 23-10 with Metro Conference crowns the first three years.
14. Kentucky (class of '15)
Recruiting Class: Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, Kyle Wiltjer (transfer/Gonzaga).
Achievements: Undefeated SEC worksheet before capturing an NCAA title in their lone season together. Outside marksman Wiltjer was the only one not to declare for the NBA draft after their 38-2 freshman campaign under coach John Calipari.
15. North Carolina (class of '97)
Recruiting Class: Guy McInnis, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Serge Zwikker.
Achievements: Zwikker was the only Tar Heels representative for each of their three 28-win campaigns in this four-year span under coach Dean Smith.
16. Kentucky (class of '83)
Recruiting Class: Sam Bowie, Derrick Hord, Charles Hunt, Dirk Minniefield.
Achievements: Oft-injured Bowie played five years, reaching Final Four in 1984. Original class had respective records of 29-6, 22-6, 22-8 and 23-8, but never advanced beyond second game of NCAA playoffs. Captured three SEC championships in that span under coach Joe B. Hall.
17. UCLA (class of '77)
Recruiting Class: Marques Johnson, Wilbert Olinde, Gavin Smith (transfer/Hawaii), Jim Spillane, Richard Washington.
Achievements: Won John Wooden's] final NCAA title in 1975. Washington left for the NBA a year early. Bruins went 26-4, 28-3, 28-4 and 25-4 with four Pacific-8 Conference crowns. Reached Final Four in '76 under coach Gene Bartow.
18. Ohio State (class of '10)
Recruiting Class: Mike Conley Jr., Daequan Cook, David Lighty, Greg Oden.
Achievements: Known as the "Thad Five" (when adding juco recruit Othello Hunter), the Buckeyes compiled a 35-4 as NCAA Tournament runner-up in 2007. Oden and Conley were top four NBA draft choices following freshman campaign.
19. North Carolina (class of '77)
Recruiting Class: Bruce Buckley, Walter Davis, John Kuester, Tom LaGarde.
Achievements: Lost 1977 NCAA playoff final (28-5 record) after posting similar marks (composite of 70-18) the previous
three years. Captured ACC regular-season championships their last two seasons under coach Dean Smith.
20. North Carolina (class of '94)
Recruiting Class: Eric Montross, Derrick Phelps, Brian Reese, Clifford Rozier (transfer/Louisville), Pat Sullivan.
Achievements: Won NCAA title in 1993 after reaching 1991 Final Four as freshmen. Compiled records of 29-6, 23-10, 34-4 and 28-7 under coach Dean Smith. Only ACC regular-season championship was in 1993.
21. Illinois (class of '06)
Recruiting Class: James Augustine, Dee Brown, Deron Williams, Kyle Wilson (transfer/Wichita State).
Achievements: Bill Self's recruits became NCAA Tournament runner-up in 2005 under coach Bruce Weber.
22. Kentucky (class of '13)
Recruiting Class: Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton, John Wall.
Achievements: Regional runner-up after winning SEC regular-season and league tournament titles in 2010 in their lone season together. All four recruits became NBA first-round draft choices.
23. Michigan State (class of '81)
Recruiting Class: Mike Brkovich, Magic Johnson, Rick Kaye, Jay Vincent.
Achievements: Recovered from embarrassing 18-point defeat to league cellar dweller Northwestern to win 1979 NCAA championship under coach Jud Heathcote with an average victory margin of 20.8 points. Went 25-5 and 26-6 and captured Big Ten titles in Johnson's two seasons before posting losing records (12-15 and 13-14) after he turned pro early.
24. Duke (class of '86)
Recruiting Class: Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas, Johnny Dawkins, David Henderson.
Achievements: Runner-up in 1986 NCAA playoffs with an NCAA-record 37-3 mark after going 24-10 and 23-8 the previous two years following an 11-17 worksheet as freshmen under coach Mike Krzyzewski. Senior season accounted for the group's lone ACC regular-season championship.
25. San Francisco (class of '79)
Recruiting Class: Winford Boynes, Bill Cartwright, Erik Gilberg, Raymond Hamilton (left after two seasons), James Hardy.
Achievements: Went 22-8, 29-2, 22-5 and 22-7 with WCAC championships the last three years. Boynes and Hardy were among the top 13 NBA draft picks after leaving school following their junior season when Dan Belluomini succeeded Bob Gaillard as coach. Cartwright was the third selection overall the next year.
26. Duke (class of '06)
Recruiting Class: Sean Dockery, Lee Melchionni, Shavlik Randolph, J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams.
Achievements: Three seasons with at least 28 victories as All-Americans Redick and Williams exercised all of their collegiate eligibility. Can't be ranked ahead of Michigan's Fab Five because they never reached a Final Four.
27. Kansas (class of '09)
Recruiting Class: Mario Chalmers, Micah Downs (transfer/Gonzaga), Brandon Rush, Julian Wright.
Achievements: Wright left school early for the NBA prior to KU's NCAA title in 2008. None of group was around for the 2008-09 campaign.
28. Syracuse (class of '06)
Recruiting Class: Carmelo Anthony, Billy Edelin, Gerry McNamara.
Achievements: Anthony, the 2003 Final Four MOP, led the champion Orange in scoring in five of its six playoff games. McNamara was Big East Conference Tournament MVP as a senior.
29. Connecticut (class of '07)
Recruiting Class: Josh Boone, Charlie Villanueva, Marcus Williams.
Achievements: Won 2004 NCAA title before each of them left school early for the NBA the next two years.
30. Kansas (class of '05)
Recruiting Class: Keith Langford, Michael Lee, Aaron Miles, Wayne Simien.
Achievements: Splitting time between coaches Roy Williams and Bill Self, this quartet combined for nearly 5,100 points.
31. Marquette (class of '09)
Recruiting Class: Dominic James, Wesley Matthews, Jerel McNeal.
Achievements: Recruited by Tom Crean and playing senior season under Buzz Williams, they combined for more than 5,400 points in compiling four 20-win seasons.
32. Arizona (class of '76)
Recruiting Class: Al Fleming, John Irving (transfer/Hofstra), Eric Money, Coniel Norman, Jim Rappis.
Achievements: Overshadowed by UCLA, UA's "Kiddie Korps" started off 16-10 before members of the original group went 19-7, 22-7 and 24-9 under coach Fred Snowden. Norman averaged 23.9 ppg and Money averaged 18.5 ppg before they turned pro after two seasons. Irving played one season with the Wildcats before transferring to Hofstra, where he led the nation in rebounding in 1975. Fleming became the school's all-time leading rebounder.
33. Purdue (class of '88)
Recruiting Class: Jeff Arnold, Troy Lewis, Todd Mitchell, Dave Stack, Everette Stephens.
Achievements: "The Three Amigos" (Lewis, Mitchell and Stephens) were instrumental in helping the Boilermakers compile a four-year record of 96-28 (.774), including a glittering 29-4 mark as seniors under coach Gene Keady. Lewis and Mitchell still rank among the school's all-time top 10 scorers. Group captured Big Ten Conference titles their last two seasons together. Stephens went on to have the most NBA experience with 38 games.
34. North Carolina (class of '99)
Recruiting Class: Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Ademola Okulaja.
Achievements: Coach Dean Smith must have been frustrated in his last two seasons that teams with talents such as Carter and Jamison lost a total of 18 games in 1995-96 and 1996-97.
35. Arizona (class of '05)
Recruiting Class: Will Bynum (transfer/Georgia Tech), Isaiah Fox, Channing Frye, Dennis Latimore (transfer/Notre Dame), Salim Stoudamire.
Achievements: Might have ranked higher if they didn't go through the turmoil of coach Lute Olson's swan song.
36. Kentucky (class of '78)
Recruiting Class: Jack Givens, Dan Hall (transfer/Marshall), James Lee, Mike Phillips, Rick Robey.
Achievements: Freshmen on UK's national runner-up in 1975. Givens (Final Four MOP), Lee, Phillips and Robey represented four of the Wildcats' top five scorers for the Wildcats' 1978 NCAA titlist under coach Joe B. Hall. UK had to settle for participating in the 1976 NIT when Robey missed more than half of the season because of a knee injury.
37. Kansas State (class of '11)
Recruiting Class: Ron Anderson Jr. (transfer/South Florida), Michael Beasley, Fred Brown, Jacob Pullen, Dominique Sutton (transfer/North Carolina Central), Bill Walker.
Achievements: Notched a 21-12 record in their only season together as Beasley and Walker departed for the NBA after freshman campaign.
38. Maryland (class of '81)
Recruiting Class: Ernest Graham, Albert King, Greg Manning.
Achievements: Graham, King and Manning all finished their careers with more than 1,500 points. The Terrapins went 15-13, 19-11, 24-7 (won 1980 ACC regular-season title) and 21-10 under coach Lefty Driesell.
39. Pittsburgh (class of '91)
Recruiting Class: Bobby Martin, Jason Matthews, Sean Miller (RS in 1990), Darelle Porter, Brian Shorter (Prop 48).
Achievements: All five players became 1,000-point scorers in their careers. The Panthers went 24-7 with a Big East Conference title in 1987-88 when they were freshmen before struggling the next couple of seasons under coach Paul Evans.
40. UCLA (class of '83)
Recruiting Class: Darren Daye, Rod Foster, Michael Holton, Cliff Pruitt (transfer/UAB).
Achievements: NCAA Tournament runner-up in 1980 as freshmen under coach Larry Brown. Won Pacific-10 title in '83 under Brown's successor (Larry Farmer). Compiled records of 22-10, 20-7, 21-6 and 23-6.
SPECIAL MENTION
(Underrated classes that didn't generate the headlines they deserved.)
Alcorn State (class of '85)
Recruiting Class: Eddie Archer, Aaron Brandon, Tommy Collier, Michael Phelps.
Achievements: Archer, Brandon, Collier and Phelps all finished their careers with more than 1,200 points. The Braves won three SWAC championships in four years from 1982 through 1985 under coach Davey Whitney, winning NCAA playoff games in 1983 and 1984 when they were eliminated by Georgetown and Kansas by a total of six points.
Butler (class of '12)
Recruiting Class: Gordon Hayward, Shelvin Mack, Ronald Nored, Chase Stigall (redshirt).
Achievements: Hayward nearly hit a game-winning half-court shot in 2010 NCAA title contest. Mack and Nored appeared in back-to-back NCAA championship games. Stigall went on to become one of the Bulldogs' top three-point shooters.
East Tennessee State (class of '91)
Recruiting Class: Greg Dennis, Major Geer, Keith Jennings, Alvin West.
Achievements: All four players became 1,000-point scorers in their careers. East Tennessee State coasted to three consecutive Southern Conference Tournament titles from 1989 through 1991 under coaches Les Robinson and Alan LeForce.
Georgia (class of '83)
Recruiting Class: Terry Fair, Lamar Heard, Dominique Wilkins.
Achievements: The Bulldogs averaged 19 victories annually from 1979-80 through 1982-83 after winning more than 14 games only once the previous 29 seasons.
Illinois (class of '86)
Recruiting Class: Doug Altenberger, Bruce Douglas, Scott Meents, Efrem Winters, Reggie Woodward.
Achievements: Illini won more than 20 games four consecutive campaigns under coach Lou Henson.
Indiana (class of '93)
Recruiting Class: Calbert Cheaney, Lawrence Funderburke (transfer/Ohio State), Greg Graham, Pat Graham, Chris Lawson (transfer/Vanderbilt), Todd Leary, Chris Reynolds.
Achievements: Reached 1992 Final Four en route to compiling 105-27 record under coach Bob Knight. Cheaney became IU's all-time leading scorer.
Iowa (class of '89)
Recruiting Class: B.J. Armstrong, Ed Horton, Les Jepsen (freshman redshirt), Roy Marble.
Achievements: George Raveling's final recruiting class with the Hawkeyes (including J.C. signee Kevin Gamble) all played in the NBA after helping Tom Davis capture national coach of the year acclaim in 1986-87.
Michigan State (class of '92)
Recruiting Class: Parish Hickman (transfer/Liberty), Mark Montgomery, Mike Peplowski (freshman redshirt), Matt Steigenga.
Achievements: Coming off back-to-back losing campaigns under coach Jud Heathcote, the Spartans averaged almost 22 wins annually the next four seasons from 1988-89 through 1991-92.
Minnesota (class of '82)
Recruiting Class: Mark Hall, Darryl Mitchell, Brian Pederson, Leo Rautins (transfer/Syracuse), Trent Tucker.
Achievements: Gophers compiled 74-44 record under coach Jim Dutcher from 1978-79 through 1981-82, averaging 21 victories annually last three seasons.
North Carolina (class of '69)
Recruiting Class: Jim Bostick (transfer/Auburn), Joe Brown, Bill Bunting, Rusty Clark, Dick Grubar, Gerald Tuttle.
Achievements: In three years of varsity competition (45-6 record against ACC foes and 81-15 overall), this group coached by Dean Smith became the first to finish No. 1 in the regular season, win the ACC Tournament and advance to the Final Four each year.
Ohio State (class of '81)
Recruiting Class: Marquis Miller, Kenny Page (transfer/New Mexico), Todd Penn, Carter Scott, Jim Smith, Herb Williams.
Achievements: Eldon Miller, Fred Taylor's coaching successor, returned the Buckeyes to national postseason competition with three four-year starters (Scott, Smith and Williams). Page, after starting most of his freshman season with OSU, twice ranked among the nation's top 11 scorers with the Lobos.
Southern California (class of '89)
Recruiting Class: Jeff Connelly (transfer/Santa Clara), Hank Gathers (transfer/Loyola Marymount), Bo Kimble (transfer/Loyola Marymount), Tom Lewis (transfer/Pepperdine).
Achievements: The nucleus of USC's class, recruited by Stan Morrison, left to become stars in the West Coast Conference after a modest freshman season (11-17) when George Raveling arrived as coach.
Southern Mississippi (class of '88)
Recruiting Class: Casey Fisher, Derrick Hamilton, Randolph Keys, John White.
Achievements: Keys, Fisher, Hamilton and White all finished their careers with more than 1,300 points. The Golden Eagles, overshadowed in the Metro Conference by Louisville, won the 1987 NIT under coach M.K. Turk when each of the quartet scored in double digits.
Syracuse (class of '95)
Recruiting Class: Anthony Harris (transfer/Hawaii), Luke Jackson, Lawrence Moten, J.B. Reafsnyder (RS), Glenn Sekunda (transfer/Penn State), Lazarus Sims (RS).
Achievements: The Orange were on NCAA probation in 1993 before Moten finished his career as the school's all-time leading scorer.
UNLV (class of '77)
Recruiting Class: Lewis Brown, Glen Gondrezick, Eddie Owens, Jackie Robinson.
Achievements: Core of freshmen, supplemented by JC signee Ricky Sobers first two seasons, wound up in 1977 Final Four under coach Jerry Tarkanian.
Utah (class of '81)
Recruiting Class: Karl Bankowski, Tom Chambers, Scott Martin, Danny Vranes.
Achievements: Formidable frontcourt featuring Bankowski/Chambers/Vranes helped enable Martin to pace the Utes in assists three successive seasons under coach Jerry Pimm.
Wake Forest (class of '82)
Recruiting Class: Mike Helms, Jim Johnstone, Guy Morgan, Alvis Rogers (RS in 1982).
Achievements: All four players finished their careers with more than 1,100 points under coach Carl Tacy. Morgan, Rogers and Johnstone each grabbed more than 550 rebounds. The Demon Deacons posted back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in school history (22-7 in 1980-81 and 21-9 in 1981-82 when they finished both years in third place in the ACC).
Wichita State (class of '83)
Recruiting Class: Antoine Carr, James Gibbs, Ozell Jones (transfer/Cal State Fullerton), Cliff Levingston.
Achievements: Posted marks of 17-12, 26-7, 23-6 and 25-3 under coach Gene Smithson. Group is somewhat overlooked because the school was on NCAA probation in 1982 and 1983. Levingston left after his junior year. Captured Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championships in 1981 and 1983. Jones played in the NBA with Carr and Levingston.
Men For All Seasons: Will Former College Hooper Excel in NFL Playoffs as TE?
If you need more unassailable evidence proving who are the best team-sport athletes in the world, check out some of the premier tight ends in NFL history (past and present). A striking number of the Drago-like specimens at that rigorous position thus far this century have been former college basketball players.
As the NFL playoffs commence this campaign, consider what kind of "picks" do you think imposing Mike Ditka (Pittsburgh) and John Mackey (Syracuse) set back in the day before the Big East Conference was formed. Wouldn't you love to see LeBron James maneuver down the field like Charles Atlas the same way he does when forcefully driving down the lane?
Although ex-California hoopster Tony Gonzalez failed to reach the 2013 postseason with the Atlanta Falcons in his quest to finally win a playoff game before retiring, succeeding in the NFL remains a "Battle of the Titans" at the TE position. Bursting on the scene at the same position as Gonzalez departed was fellow ex-college hooper Julius Thomas. The most sought-after free agent four years ago after originally being a relatively obscure player for the Denver Broncos until emerging as their runner-up in touchdowns with 12 and contributing a team-high eight pass receptions in an AFC title-game victory against the New England Patriots. Thomas, an All-Big Sky Conference hoopster with Portland State, flashed potential as the next game-changing tight end when he caught nine touchdown passes in the Broncos' first five games three seasons ago en route to signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars. A 74-yard TD strike to "It's So Easy" at San Diego in mid-season four years ago illustrated how QB Peyton Manning capitalized on Thomas' athleticism the same way he did ex-hoopster Marcus Pollard (Bradley) with the Indianapolis Colts. Pollard, a J.C. transfer who was the Braves' leading rebounder in 1992-93, caught at least three touchdown passes each of Manning's first seven NFL seasons from 1998 through 2004.
Ditka, muzzled by ESPC for boasting sufficient fortitude to tackle mom-jeans POTUS, had a quality successor as an ex-hooper tight end with the Bears in Martellus Bennett (Texas A&M) before Bennett wound up with the New England Patriots and last season's Super Bowl. Who will be the next hooper joining up the following list of Top 25 NFL tight ends who were former college basketball players:
| Rank | Former College Hooper | Alma Mater | Summary of NFL Tight End Career |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tony Gonzalez | California | First tight end in NFL history with 100 touchdowns completed his 17-year career in 2013 with 1,325 receptions for 15,127 yards and 111 TDs. He was 13-time Pro Bowl selection. |
| 2. | Antonio Gates | Kent State | Set an NFL single-season record with 13 TD receptions in 2004 en route to becoming San Diego Chargers' all-time leader for TD catches, receptions and receiving yards. |
| 3. | Mike Ditka | Pittsburgh | Five-time Pro Bowl selection caught 427 passes for 5,812 yards and 43 TDs in 12 seasons. |
| 4. | John Mackey | Syracuse | Hall of Famer caught 331 passes for 5,236 yards and 38 TDs in 10 seasons. |
| 5. | Jimmy Graham | Miami (Fla.) | Led New Orleans Saints in pass receptions in 2012 and 2013. Twice has had streaks of at least four games with more than 100 yards in pass receptions. After only four years, he ranked second all-time among New Orleans Saints' tight ends in receiving before transitioning to the Seattle Seahawks. |
| 6. | Todd Heap | Arizona State | Caught 467 passes for 5,492 yards and 41 TDs with the Baltimore Ravens from 2001 through 2010, leading them in receptions in 2002 with 68. |
| 7. | Ben Coates | Livingstone (N.C.) | Established NFL single-season record for most receptions by a TE with 96 in 1994. |
| 8. | Marcus Pollard | Bradley | Finished his 13-year career with 349 receptions for 4,280 yards and 40 TDs (long of 86 yards in 2001 midway through stint as starter for the Indianapolis Colts). |
| 9. | Pete Metzelaars | Wabash (Ind.) | Played in more games at TE than any player in NFL history when he retired. Led the Buffalo Bills with 68 receptions in 1993. |
| 10. | Julius Thomas | Portland State | Began 2014 campaign with a bang by catching three first-half TD passes in season opener from Peyton Manning en route to nine TDs in first five games for the Denver Broncos. Thomas, Denver's runner-up with 12 TD receptions the previous year, went on to sign as a high-value free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars. |
| 11. | Martellus Bennett | Texas A&M | Caught 348 passes for 3,586 yards and 23 TDs with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and Chicago Bears in first eight years from 2008 through 2015 prior to trade to New England Patriots. |
| 12. | Joe Senser | West Chester State (Pa.) | Caught 165 passes for 1,822 yards and 16 TDs in four-year career with the Minnesota Vikings in early 1980s. |
| 13. | Andrew Glover | Grambling State | Caught at least one TD pass each of his 10 pro seasons from 1991 through 2000, finishing with 208 receptions for 2,478 yards and 24 TDs. |
| 14. | Rich McGeorge | Elon (N.C.) | Caught 175 passes for 2,370 yards and 13 TDs with the Green Bay Packers in nine years from 1970 through 1978. |
| 15. | Rickey Dudley | Ohio State | Scored 29 TDs in five seasons with the Oakland Raiders before hooking on with two other teams. |
| 16. | Derrick Ramsey | Kentucky | Caught 188 passes for 2,364 yards and 21 TDs with three different teams from 1978 to 1987. |
| 17. | Jordan Cameron | BYU/Southern California | Blossomed in third year with Cleveland Browns in 2013, catching 80 passes for 917 yards and seven TDs (three in game at Minnesota). He had three contests with at least nine receptions. |
| 18. | Jean Fugett | Amherst (Mass.) | Caught 156 passes for 2,270 yards and 28 TDs with the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins in eight years from 1972 through 1979. |
| 19. | Kevin Boss | Western Oregon | Caught 150 passes for 2,033 yards and 22 TDs with the New York Giants, Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs in six years from 2007 through 2012. His 45-yard pass reception sparked a fourth-quarter TD drive for the Giants in their 17-14 win against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. |
| 20. | Reuben Gant | Oklahoma State | Caught 127 passes for 1,850 yards and 15 TDs with the Buffalo Bills in seven seasons from 1974 through 1980. |
| 21. | Bob Windsor | Kentucky | Caught 185 passes for 2,307 yards and 14 TDs with the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots in nine years from 1967 through 1975. |
| 22. | Keith McKeller | Jacksonville State (Ala.) | Caught 124 passes for 1,464 yards and 11 TDs with the Buffalo Bills in seven years from 1987 through 1993. |
| 23. | Greg Latta | Morgan State (Md.) | Caught 90 passes for 1,081 yards and seven TDs with the Chicago Bears in five years from 1975 through 1979. |
| 24. | Pat Richter | Wisconsin | Caught 99 passes for 1,315 yards and 14 TDs in nine seasons for the Washington Redskins after being their first-round pick in 1962. |
| T25. | Al Dixon | Iowa State | Caught 84 passes for 1,248 yards and eight TDs with four different teams from 1977 through 1984. |
| T25. | Jeff King | Virginia Tech | Registered 93 receptions for 802 yards and seven TDs with the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals in first seven years from 2006 through 2012. |
| T25. | Dee Mackey | East Texas State | Caught 94 passes for 1,352 yards and eight TDs in six NFL/AFL seasons from 1960 through 1965. |
| T25. | Ulysses Norris | Georgia | Best season of seven-year career was in 1983 when he had seven TDs with the Detroit Lions. |
| T25. | Morris Stroud Jr. | Clark Atlanta | Believed to be the tallest TE (6-10) in NFL history, he caught 54 passes for 977 yards and seven TDs with the Kansas City Chiefs in five years from 1970 through 1974. |
Markus Hangs 52: Single-Game Scoring Standards By Individual Opponents
When Marquette sophomore guard Markus Howard tallied 52 points at Providence, the eruption triggered research regarding which individual opponent has the highest single-game scoring outburst against each major university. Howard's "bomb cyclone" outburst not only established a school record but also set the individual standard by an opponent against PC.
Furman's Darrell Floyd and Frank Selvy collaborated for a total of nine scoring records in this category existing since the mid-1950s. Such scorched-earth outputs have been difficult to come by thus far in the 21st Century (unofficially eight uprisings). Many schools don't keep track of a standard perhaps reflecting a mite negatively upon them but following is what CollegeHoopedia.com unearthed on the topic:
*Unofficial.
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