By Woodrow Carroll
If you want to put a positive spin on the Big Ten’s Conference’s showing in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) men’s basketball tournament this season, nine teams from the Conference in the field of 68 finished with a combined 9-9. However, the Big Ten came up far short of expectations.
Perhaps we should have been conditioned to expect a letdown from the Big Ten entrants prior to the start of the tournament.
Not a single Big Ten school was seeded higher than No. 3. The No. 3 seed was given to two teams, both Purdue and Wisconsin. The four finalists in New Orleans Saturday in the four regions are No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Duke, No. 2 Villanova and North Carolina seeded a lowly No. 8.
Villanova in 1985 was the lowest seed to win the NCAA championship. The Wildcats were seeded No. 8 in 1985 and surprised favored Georgetown in the championship game.
Each of the four finalist schools has walked off with the championship trophy on more than one occasion. In fact, the four finalists have won 17 men’s championships combined: North Carolina, six; Duke, five; Kansas, three; and Villanova, three. That makes them blue bloods of college basketball.
Among that illustrious group the first to claim the championship was Kansas.
The 1952 Kansas team beat St, John’s, 80-63, in the championship game played in Seattle. The big man for the Jayhawks was 6-9 Clyde Lovellette, who just missed basketball’s grand slam.
As a junior at Terre Haute (Ind.) Garfield High School, Lovellette lost in the 1947 Indiana State championship game to Shelbyville. Lovellette’s Kansas win the NCAA championship in 1952, then he added Olympic Gold in 1952 in Helsinki. Later, in the NBA, (National Basketball Association) Lovellette was a member of the 1954 Minneapolis Lakers championship side. He concluded his NBA time on the 1963 and 1964 Boston Celtics’ championship teams.
The St. John’s team that Kansas beat for the championship in 1952 was coached by Frank McGuire who left St. John’s after the 1951-1952 season to become head coach at North Carolina. Five years later, McGuire’s North Carolina team beat Kansas led up by 7-1 Wilt Chamberlain in the championship game.. It went three overtimes and North Caroline won, 54-53.
One of Lovellette’s teammates on the 1952 Kansas squad was a junior from Topeka, Kan., Dean Smith. who became an assistant to McGuire at North Carolina. After the 1960-1961 season, McGuire was forced out at North Carolina. Enter Dean Smith who started his legendary coaching career.
One of Frank McGuire’s players at St. John’s was Al McGuire, no relation. Al McGuire was graduated in 1951, the year prior to the Kansas-St. John’s 1952 championship game.
Al McGuire ended up coaching at Marquette. University in Milwaukee. In 1977, Marquette beat North Carolina, 67-59, in the championship game. Dean Smith was North Carolina’s head coach.