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70 years ago Vanderbilt won the SEC Basketball Tournament upsetting Kentucky
Posted on 3/4/21 at 2:36 pm
Posted on 3/4/21 at 2:36 pm
70 yrs ago yesterday,in fact. Vandy won 61-57 over one seed and AP #1 Kentucky.In a really strange format, seeds 5,6,7 and 8 received first round byes while 1-4 did indeed have first round games. However,it was decided earlier in the regular season that the regular season champion would represent the SEC in the NCAA. Kentucky went on to win their 3rd NCAA Title in four years. The SEC had one more conference tournament before putting it in the closet for 27 years.
Meanwhile Vanderbilt's season ended. The NCAA was starting to be recoginized as the 'better' post season tourney over the NIT but the NIT was still prestigous and the NIT passed over the Commodores.Basketball names from that era like St Louis (who was the only other team to have defeated Kentucky that year),Seton Hall and St John's went to the NIT. Curiously the NIT felt Beloit and Lawrence Tech were more deserving than Vandy in addition to Cincinnati,Arizona and BYU.
However one post season tournament did invite Vanderbilt-- the National Campus Tournament in Peoria,ILL on the campus of Bradley. In Jan of '51 with whispers of 'scandals' surrounding college basketball ,espeically in games played at Madison Square Garden, Bradley decided to host its own tournament the aformentioned NCT. The Commodores turned it down,but Villanova ,Western Kentucky and Syracuse among other accepted. The Orange downed Bradley by one to win the title before a sold out crowd of 8,300 at Bradley's new gym.
Meanwhile Vanderbilt's season ended. The NCAA was starting to be recoginized as the 'better' post season tourney over the NIT but the NIT was still prestigous and the NIT passed over the Commodores.Basketball names from that era like St Louis (who was the only other team to have defeated Kentucky that year),Seton Hall and St John's went to the NIT. Curiously the NIT felt Beloit and Lawrence Tech were more deserving than Vandy in addition to Cincinnati,Arizona and BYU.
However one post season tournament did invite Vanderbilt-- the National Campus Tournament in Peoria,ILL on the campus of Bradley. In Jan of '51 with whispers of 'scandals' surrounding college basketball ,espeically in games played at Madison Square Garden, Bradley decided to host its own tournament the aformentioned NCT. The Commodores turned it down,but Villanova ,Western Kentucky and Syracuse among other accepted. The Orange downed Bradley by one to win the title before a sold out crowd of 8,300 at Bradley's new gym.
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Posted on 3/4/21 at 2:41 pm to I-59 Tiger
quote:
70 yrs ago yesterday,in fact. Vandy won 61-57 over one seed and AP #1 Kentucky.In a really strange format, seeds 5,6,7 and 8 received first round byes while 1-4 did indeed have first round games. However,it was decided earlier in the regular season that the regular season champion would represent the SEC in the NCAA. Kentucky went on to win their 3rd NCAA Title in four years. The SEC had one more conference tournament before putting it in the closet for 27 years.
Meanwhile Vanderbilt's season ended. The NCAA was starting to be recoginized as the 'better' post season tourney over the NIT but the NIT was still prestigous and the NIT passed over the Commodores.Basketball names from that era like St Louis (who was the only other team to have defeated Kentucky that year),Seton Hall and St John's went to the NIT. Curiously the NIT felt Beloit and Lawrence Tech were more deserving than Vandy in addition to Cincinnati,Arizona and BYU.
Yeah, there were some interesting rules back in the day.
South Carolina was 25-3 and 14-0 in the ACC for the 1969-1970 season. However, only the ACC tournament champ would go to the NCAA tournament. We lost in the finals to NC State in double OT (somehow the score was only 42-39).
We also didn't go to the NIT and I'm not sure why. I think it had something to do with Columbia hosting the NCAA tournament that year and so we couldn't host the NIT or something.
Anyway...25-3, 14-0 in conference, ACC regular season champs, reach #1 at some point in the year, finished 6th in the polls, don't play any post-season basketball.
This post was edited on 3/4/21 at 2:42 pm
Posted on 3/5/21 at 8:56 am to I-59 Tiger
Most of the coaches in the midwest, and south avoided the NIT like a plague after the gamblers got to Kentucky's players, Bradleys, CCNY etc.in 1950. That news took a while to leak out but when it did it doomed the NIT as the premier tournament. The coaches felt that the NIT and New York allowed that influence to succeed. The NIT became a tournament of mostly eastern teams for a while before others came back. UK came back in 1976 and won it, but it was an also-ran tournament by that point. When UK won in 1946 it was equal to the NCAA.
City College of New York CCNY is the only team to have won both tournaments in the same season, ironically beating Bradley in both games in 1950. It was later found out that NIT tournament win was tainted by point shaving by Bradley's UK's and others to allow CCNY to win. Also CCNY players were involved in the plot by shaving points in other games. A real mess.
One of the best things the NCAA did in my opinion was allowing multiple conference teams in. UCLA's string of wins was in a some part caused by lack of competition in the west. USC was really their only competition and once they were knocked out in the PAC-10 UCLA had a free ride to final four. That and Sam Gilbert. But opening it up allowed some second place SEC, ACC Big 10 & Big 12 schools to go out west and make it more interesting.
City College of New York CCNY is the only team to have won both tournaments in the same season, ironically beating Bradley in both games in 1950. It was later found out that NIT tournament win was tainted by point shaving by Bradley's UK's and others to allow CCNY to win. Also CCNY players were involved in the plot by shaving points in other games. A real mess.
One of the best things the NCAA did in my opinion was allowing multiple conference teams in. UCLA's string of wins was in a some part caused by lack of competition in the west. USC was really their only competition and once they were knocked out in the PAC-10 UCLA had a free ride to final four. That and Sam Gilbert. But opening it up allowed some second place SEC, ACC Big 10 & Big 12 schools to go out west and make it more interesting.
Posted on 3/5/21 at 9:19 am to Lynxrufus2012
A good example of why comparing teams and players of different eras is so impossible. Some are downright embarrassing.
Tiger Woods is currently tied with Sam Snead at 82 PGA victories. Some of Snead's so-called PGA victories couldn't even be found in the public record and yet were given as a PGA win. In one of his wins, it was documented he played against only local pros. One of his 83 wins in 1937 was only 18 holes. He often won tourneys that were only 36 holes. Talk about apples and oranges. Truth is, Jack Nicklaus should have been recognized as the legitimate PGA leader years ago when he won 73. We could have at least been comparing apples to apples when Tiger went by.
Tiger Woods is currently tied with Sam Snead at 82 PGA victories. Some of Snead's so-called PGA victories couldn't even be found in the public record and yet were given as a PGA win. In one of his wins, it was documented he played against only local pros. One of his 83 wins in 1937 was only 18 holes. He often won tourneys that were only 36 holes. Talk about apples and oranges. Truth is, Jack Nicklaus should have been recognized as the legitimate PGA leader years ago when he won 73. We could have at least been comparing apples to apples when Tiger went by.
Posted on 3/5/21 at 9:31 am to theGarnetWay
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somehow the score was only 42-39
No shot clock. Basketball sucked until they adopted the shot clock.
Posted on 3/5/21 at 9:33 am to I-59 Tiger
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70 years ago
damn, you are ancient
Posted on 3/5/21 at 9:33 am to Toroballistic
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. Basketball sucked until they adopted the shot clock.
4 corner offense. It was like watching paint dry.
Posted on 3/5/21 at 10:39 am to bamameister
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4 corner offense. It was like watching paint dry.
good when you needed to pee though
Posted on 3/5/21 at 1:40 pm to bamameister
and that was why I hated Dean Smith.
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