Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — Here it is, the month of April, and BYU is playing post-season basketball for the first time in history. What is the secret?
Well, you have to be in the Final Four of something, in this case the National Invitation Tournament in New York City, which is nothing to sneeze at. So, let’s see, the Cougars have been to the Final Four in Madison Square Garden twice (won the championship both times), and have had numerous trips to the NCAA, including the Great Eight, but no April contests. How did it all work?
Way back in the early stages of the modern college basketball era, there were few invitations to the NCAA championships. In 1950, BYU was one of only eight teams invited, and lost to Baylor (ironic) in the first round by one point, and then on March 25 Coach Stan Watts and the Cougars defeated UCLA and Coach John Wooden in the consolation game. Until the Mercer game win this year on March 25, that had been the latest BYU ever played in the post-season. Even with the NIT Championship win and an invitation following to the NCAA in 1951, BYU’s last game was on March 24, a loss against Washington (ironic).
With fewer teams invited during those years, and no conference championship tournaments, the post-season was all completed in the month of March. Now, with the 68 NCAA teams, 32 NIT invitees and other tournaments blooming, March Madness has to spill into April. BYU’s championship run in the NIT in 1966 culminated in a March 19 triumph over NYU in Madison Square Garden. The Danny Ainge driven team in 1981, which went deep into the NCAA playoffs, played its last game against Virginia and Ralph Sampson on March 21.
Even with two home wins in the NIT in 2000, BYU lost to Notre Dame on March 22. Two wins in the Jimmer Fredette era got BYU to the Sweet Sixteen, but the overtime loss in 2011 to Florida was on March 24. The win by the Cougars over Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg this season broke the record for the latest game played by BYU in the post-season by two days, and now the game with Baylor on April 2 will shatter the record again. I say let’s go for April 4 and make it all good.
Ken Driggs of Mesa, AZ is a BYU graduate and served as Cosmo in the '60's. Contact at kkdriggs@gmail.com
