Could We See Two Jesuit Schools as No. 1 Seeds?

[Schasz]

If the selections were held today that would probably happen as the Zags have continued moving up in the polls. I suppose if neither St. Joe's or Gonzaga slips up the remainder of the way, it will become a reality.

http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/7112719

[Trich]

This takes me back 25 or 30 years ago. There used to be a sports writer for the Globe Democrat and one year he speculated about the possibility of four Jesuits schools reaching the final four. His name was Rich Koster (or something similar). He has since died.

I don't recall who all the schools were but one was San Francisco who had an outstanding player but, unfortunately, was involved in all kinds of recruiting problems that eventually led the Dons to shut down their basketball program for a few years. Another Jesuit school may have be Detroit when Vitale was coach their. But, alas, none of them made it to the finals that year.

[Basketbill]

had some great teams including a team that had Bill Cartright (sp) on the team. Unfortunately a few years after he moved on Quinton Dailey was the palyer that lead to their downfall.......accused of raping a nursing student.

[bonwich]

20-25 years ago, the other two were probably Marquette and Georgetown, although I don't think their heydays coincided exactly.

BTW, speaking of Jebbie schools, did everyone know that Loyola-Chicago was national champion in 1963???!!!

[Trich]

I believe you are correct about the other two schools. Loyola Chicago was an interesting story. There win was considered a turning point in the sports civil rights story. They played Ms. St. in one of the early games and of the tournament and Ms. State had to be essentially smuggled out of the state to play a team with African American players. Also, Loyola had several players from E. St. Louis. Finally, their coach (I believe George Ireland) was a fascinating character.

[willie]

I hate to show my age but the Loyola Chicago game game was my first memory of the NCAA Tournament. Corky Bell Jerry Harkness Something Roush,why can I remember those names but not what todays date is. SI did an article on Mississippi State a few years ago. It was very good.

[Schasz]

Loyola beat Cincy in OT 60-58. I recall that Cincy was favored in the game. According to the NCAA Final Four website, the other two schools in the Final Four that year were Duke and Oregon State.

[willie]

Cinn.I believe was led by the great Ron Bonnham{sp}They were huge favorites.

[Schasz]

Here's a link that lists the Final Fours by year. Wow! Bradley was a runner up one year. By the way this website also had a listing of best records by decades. Heck, our SLU Billikens even made the Top 20 records for the decade of the 50's...back in the days of Bob Ferry, Bevo Nordmann, etc.

http://www.ncaa.org/library/records/m_bask...03/p149-178.pdf

[alameda bob]

When I first moved out here and lived a few blocks from the USF campus and went to all home games because they were great teams! One year they went undefeated thru Dec, Jan. Got a #1 ranking in the polls. I could still walk up and but a ticket to a 7,000 seat on campus gym the night of the game! They stayed unbeaten until the last game of the season at Notre Dame where they were upset. They lost their next game to UNLV in the first round of the west regionals and wound up 28-2. I could not believe they could not sell out their home games that year. With the influence of ESPN college hoops are much more popular out here now and Stanford home games are sellouts in a similar size on campus gym.

You other old guys bring back a lot of memories with mention of the old MVC teams. Ed Jucker's Cincy teams were always great back then. Is tonights game available for free on radio?

[Basketbill]

the runnin Rebels blew them out. Cartwwright was on that team if I recall right, but there were some other great athletes too. UNLV killed them though I remember it was not even close in the second half. I grew up out there and the Dons were the only team worth a darn back then, occasionally Santa Clara with Kurt Rambis had a good team but Cal and Stanford sucked.

funny how things change.

[Billiken Law]

>20-25 years ago, the other two were probably Marquette and

>Georgetown, although I don't think their heydays coincided

>exactly.

>

>BTW, speaking of Jebbie schools, did everyone know that

>Loyola-Chicago was national champion in 1963???!!!

When did seeding begin? I thought it was sometime in the late 70's.

20-25 years ago Marquette would have been one of those Jebbie schools. They made the 1974 finals and made the tourney every year from the late 60's through the early 80's, except for 1970, when to protest where they were sent in the NCAA (because of Rupp's dislike of McGuire and Rupp controlled the NCAA's) a 24-1, #3 MU team went to the NIT and won the title.

The Loyola team gets the shaft by history. While UTEP (then Texas Western) won with the first all-black starting line-up Loyola had 4 black starters. There was a documentary on ESPN or HBO a few years ago about that team. In fact, Mississippi State had to sneak out of the state to play the game against Loyola in East Lansing, MI because Governor Wallace refused to let them play a team with black players.

Another little-known fact, Drake went to the Final Four in 1969.

[Schasz]

Drake was a heckuva team back in those days. I believe their HC name was Maury Johns and he did a heckuva job recruiting JUCO's. That Bradley team that made the finals had to be around Chet Walker's time at Bradley...I remember him in the NBA.

[Billiken Law]

talk about a quick fall from grace. Drake goes to the Final Four in 1969 and hasn't been back to the tourney since 1971!

I remember reading that the Bradley team was robbed in the 1950 title game - some mysterious foul call or non call.

Good trivia fact - Jesuit Final Four teams:

G-town (1 national title);

Holy Cross (1 national title)

Marquette (1 national title)

Santa Clara

U of Seattle

Funny to look back at old Final Fours and see teams in it that today have little or no chance of ever making it back.

[sluer]

You missed:

San Francisco - 2 titles

St. Joe's

[gister]

I thought San Francisco should have been there. That would have been when Bill Russell was playing.

[billiken_roy]

cartwright's team also had winfred boynes and james hardy who were just fabulous college players. that was a fun team to watch.

[Trich]

Did Seattle come in second the year they went to the final four? They had Elgin Baylor that year who never got the credit due to him. He was one of the great all around players of all time.

[Basketbill]

here I am growing up watching this team, and I cannot remember their names.....I even tried to look up the team in USF's Archives but the school only goes back three years.

Hardy is the kind of player (physical skills) that SLU needs. His temperment lacked the drive to dominate a game but he was a tremendous athlete.

[Basketbill]

the year after their two titles.

[billiken_roy]

liddell would could be boynes, and to be honest, ian might turn into better than cartwright with his vision and passing skills, but you correctly assess we need a james hardy.

[courtside]

A game at Stanford means roaming past the beautiful baseball stadium, past the endless outdoor Olmpic size swimming pools at the Aquatic center, past the gorgeous tennis stadium and facilities, track, on campus golf course, football stadium that has hosted Super Bowls...all those spanish style red roofs, to the gym, below ground, pit style like USF. Pretty cool place.

I can handle that.

[Schasz]

Yes, in '58 Seattle (not even a D-1 team anymore) lost to Kentucky 84-72 in the final. Isn't it odd how Elgin's former Hall of Fame teammate Jerry West has slam dunked him as far as being a NBA GM? They were both truly great NBA stars for the Lakers and broke my heart a few times when they beat the St. Louis Hawks.