Hard to believe it's been 10 years since Stan Heath took the Flashes to the Elite 8. I decided to watch the Sweet 16 game between KSU and Pitt last night. What a battle! I had forgotten that the game went to OT on a really horrible jump ball call. Antonio Gates was a beast! Here's hoping some of that magic can rub off on the cats this weekend :)
Only MAC team ever to make the Elite 8. BG made some "noise" in the tournaments with Thurmond in the 50's before they were in the MAC, though.
For those who don't remember, Gates was taking up a shot near the basket and the Pitt player got his hand on it, but Gates just muscled it through and made it. He was so damn strong. The ref called the jump ball. It was an incredibly horrible call, as everyone noted at the time.
The great thing about that Gates play was the reaction, or lack of reaction. That team was just so tough-minded that when bad things happened, they just shrugged their shoulders and went on about their business. Got to play overtime? OK, we play overtime. You could not make them lose their focus. Ah, the memories...
(03-21-2012 07:05 PM)exCincy Kid Wrote: [ -> ]Only MAC team ever to make the Elite 8. BG made some "noise" in the tournaments with Thurmond in the 50's before they were in the MAC, though.
Ohio made the "Elite 8" in 1964, though it wasn't called elite 8 back then. In fairness, it wasn't during the modern +64 team tournament. Kent State won 3 games against Oklahoma State, Alabama, & Pittsburgh, before losing to Indiana in the Elite 8. in 1964, Ohio won 2 games against Louisville and Kentucky, before losing to Michigan in the "Elite 8."
1964 Ohio team had 3 black players in starting five and played all white southern teams Louisville and Kentucky. Texas Western (UTEP) the next year won the national title with an all black starting five beating Kentucky in the title game. The movie Glory Road shows what it was like back then and times were changing in college basketball and Ohio was ahead of the curve along with Michigan and Texas Western back then. Ohio State, Loyola-Chicago and Cincinnati had great teams in that era.
Thanks..didn't know OU made the Elite 8 in the old days. Like you guys said, it was different when you go back in time. My senior year at Miami we beat defending NCAA champion Marquette in round one, but there were only 32 invites to the NCAA, thus we were in the sweet sixteen but I don't recall them calling it that back then! We then lost in the second round to eventual NCAA champ Kentucky. W-Mich had a great team in '76 I think...they won their first round game to get to the sweet sixteen that year as well...first MAC b-ball squad to finish in the top 10 as I recall.
Toledo was NIT runner ups in 1942 when the NIT was more prestigous than the NCAA's.
The BG runs were in the NIT as well, runner up in 1945, 3rd place in 1949. The NIT was about equal to NCAA championship tourney in those days.
So outside of wartime and segregation it's just Kent State.
(03-22-2012 09:34 AM)BarnardHall211 Wrote: [ -> ]So outside of wartime and segregation it's just Kent State.
What will the caveat be for Kent State in ten years?
The caveat for Kent State will go something like...they had an NFL player on their team so that was unfair.
(03-21-2012 11:14 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote: [ -> ]Toledo was NIT runner ups in 1942 when the NIT was more prestigous than the NCAA's.
Ohio was NIT runner-up in 1941. i didn't know about Toledo's runner-up finish. very cool!
So outside of wartime and segregation it's just Kent State.
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That about sums it up!
(03-22-2012 09:34 AM)BarnardHall211 Wrote: [ -> ]So outside of wartime and segregation it's just Kent State.
We all know the only reason Kent State made it to the elite 8 was because of the US distraction in 'Operation Enduring Freedom'.