Roll Back the Clock with 19nine
If you have been following us over the years you probably know by now that we are suckers for nostalgia. We built an entire company around nostalgia and the things we loved growing up. One of those things was Eastbay magazine.
In the early '90s Eastbay was the only way for many of us in small towns across the United State to get fan gear. This was before Amazon, eBay, Fanatics and even the internet. In each magazine there was an order form and/or a phone number that you could call to place your order.
I don't even know how Eastbay originally found my address or my friends addresses to get their mags in our hands but once we had got a taste we were hooked. Matt, who works for us at 19nine, and I would pass Eastbay's back and forth during passing periods or class in high school.
Me: "New Eastbay came last night. Here you go. If you could get two things in the whole magazine what would they be? Circle it during Spanish and give it back to me and I'll do the same."
He's the only other person I really remember doing that with which makes sense because we now run our own sports apparel company together. Funny how that works out.
When Eastbay went out of rotation a couple years ago a part of our childhood died. No doubt it had run its course with everything displayed in it having been on the internet for months in advance. It doesn't matter though, we still miss it.
So we wanted to pay homage to Eastbay in the best way we knew how. We are going to roll back our prices to match some of the early day Eastbay prices starting on Friday, September 1st. We also are giving a nod to the old magazine through our promotional graphics and free t-shirt when you spend over $125 with us during the sale.
While this is our first ode to an iconic magazine this year it certainly won't be our last. Bigger news coming soon...
Josh, 19nine
The Flyin' Illini
The 1988-1989 University of Illinois men’s basketball team was electric enough to earn their own nickname that would go down in history as one of college basketball's best.
"The Flyin' Illini."
Even better, the name was given to them by Dick Vitale during the height of his powers at ESPN, and it has stuck ever since. The "Flyin' Illini" moniker probably stuck because the team ended Illinois' 37-year Final Four drought.
Lou Henson, the school's famed head coach, recruited the team entirely from the state of Illinois. Lowell Hamilton, Marcus Liberty and Nick Anderson were all from Chicago. Kendall Gill, Kenny Battle and Stephen Bardo were also raised in the "Prairie State."
The '89 squad won their first 17 games including a 103-92 double overtime victory over No. 17 Georgia Tech that earned the Illini the nation’s No. 1 ranking.
After getting Gill back after missing 12 games with a broken foot, Illinois would finish a game behind Indiana for the Big Ten Championship, but they still earned a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region for the NCAA Tournament.
Illinois began their road to the Final Four in Indianapolis, beating McNeese State in the first round then Ball State in the second to advance to the Sweet 16.
Now in Minneapolis, Illinois trounced Louisville to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 1984. Waiting for them were the Syracuse Orangemen.
Led by Kenny Battle's 28 points and Nick Anderson's 24, the Illini held on for an 89-86 win to reach their first Final Four since 1952. The "Flyin Illini" were Seattle Bound!
A common foe was waiting for them in the National Semifinal: The Michigan Wolverines. The Illini were 2-0 during the regular season, beating Michigan by double digits twice. However, this time would be different. Led by new head coach, Steve Fisher, and All-American Glen Rice, the Wolverines defeated Illinois 83-81.
Even without a title, the “Flyin’ Illini” one of the greatest college basketball teams of all time.
19nine Brings Local Investment to Evansville, Indiana through the “Play with Purpose” Campaign
A week of giving culminates with two community building events including renovating a public basketball court in Evansville and hosting a Back to School Event benefiting the EVSC Evansville, IN - 19nine today announced its’ “Play with Purpose” campaign, a weeklong celebration of nonprofits that use sports as a platform for positive impact. “We have been honored to partner with several great nonprofits through the “Play with Purpose” fund, and it is exciting to bring investment back to our home in Evansville” said Josh Barnett, Co-Founder and Vice President of 19nine. On Friday, July 28th 19nine, Project Backboard and Five-Star will celebrate by hosting a court dedication at the Fulton Ave. Court located at the intersection between Franklin St. and Fulton Ave. on Evansville's westside.
The court has been completely refurbished with the help of multiple local companies and will be decorated with custom artwork from local artist Matt Breivogel. The court dedication will run from 3pm until 7pm
During the EVSC Back to School Event students will be able to purchase discounted collegiate apparel to support the EVSC School days, which allows students to wear collegiate apparel on Fridays throughout the school year. To support the Play with Purpose cause and raise money for future initiatives, 19nine is donating a portion of all proceeds during the week of July 24, 2023 to the Play with Purpose Donor-Advised Fund.
1996 NBA Draft Class:
The 1996 draft class is often considered one of the greatest in NBA history, known for its depth and star power. Notable players from the 1996 draft class include Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Ray Allen, and Jermaine O'Neal. Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson became iconic figures in the game, with Bryant winning five championships and earning numerous All-Star and All-NBA selections, while Iverson won an MVP award and became one of the most electrifying scorers in NBA history.
Steve Nash, a two-time MVP, is widely regarded as one of the greatest point guards ever, and Ray Allen established himself as one of the best shooters and a key member of championship teams. The class also had other impactful players like Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Stephon Marbury, and Antoine Walker.
2003 NBA Draft Class:
The 2003 draft class is considered one of the most star-studded draft classes in NBA history, known for its top-end talent. Notable players from the 2003 draft class include LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. LeBron James, a four-time NBA champion and four-time MVP, is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Dwyane Wade, a three-time NBA champion and Finals MVP, was a dynamic shooting guard and a key member of the Miami Heat's "Big Three" era.
Carmelo Anthony is a prolific scorer and a future Hall of Famer, while Chris Bosh had a successful career as a versatile forward, winning two championships with the Miami Heat. The class also included other notable players like David West and Kyle Korver.
Both the 1996 and 2003 draft classes have left a significant impact on the NBA. The 1996 class had tremendous depth and produced several iconic players who became household names, while the 2003 class boasted multiple generational talents who have had immense success and redefined their positions.
1987 NBA Draft Class:
The 1987 draft class is considered to be solid but not as stacked with superstar talent as some other draft classes. Notable players from the 1987 draft class include David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller, Horace Grant, and Kevin Johnson.
David Robinson and Scottie Pippen became two of the greatest players in NBA history, with Robinson winning MVP awards and leading the San Antonio Spurs to championships, while Pippen played a key role alongside Michael Jordan in the Chicago Bulls' dynasty. Other players from the class had successful careers, with Reggie Miller becoming one of the greatest shooters in NBA history and Kevin Johnson being a dynamic point guard.
1999 NBA Draft Class:
The 1998 draft class is often regarded as one of the deepest and most talented draft classes in NBA history, particularly in terms of impact players. Notable players from the 1998 draft class include Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, and Antawn Jamison. Dirk Nowitzki is considered one of the greatest power forwards of all time, winning an MVP award and leading the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA championship.
Paul Pierce had a stellar career, winning an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics and earning Finals MVP honors. Vince Carter was known for his incredible athleticism and is considered one of the most exciting players in NBA history. Antawn Jamison had a successful career, particularly as a scorer.
1985 NBA Draft Class:
The 1985 draft class is widely regarded as one of the greatest in NBA history. It produced several Hall of Fame players and legends of the game.
Notable players from the 1985 draft class include Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Charles Oakley, Chris Mullin, and Terry Porter. Ewing and Malone are considered two of the best players in NBA history at their respective positions.
The 1985 class had a mix of dominant big men, versatile forwards, and talented guards. Many of these players had long and successful careers, earning All-Star selections and accolades.
1999 NBA Draft Class:
The 1999 draft class is often considered one of the weaker classes in NBA history. It lacked the star power and impact players of other draft classes. However, it still produced several notable players who had solid NBA careers.
The most notable players from the 1999 draft class include Elton Brand, Steve Francis, Baron Davis, and Lamar Odom. While they may not have reached the same level of success as the players from the 1985 class, they still made contributions to their respective teams and had individual accomplishments.
This isn’t Houston’s first Final Four rodeo
The Final Four returns to Houston in 2023, the fourth time H-Town is playing host to college’s basketball season-concluding drama.
In the Final Four’s three previous visits to Houston, we saw the continuation of a dynasty (UCLA in 1971), the conclusion of one of the most heroic individual performances in college basketball post-season history (Kemba Walker in 2011), and a historic buzzer beater that will forever live in the minds of those who watched it live (Villanova 2016).
The Chucker, 19nine’s resident historian, revisits Houston’s Final Fours past.
1971
The Participants: Kansas, UCLA, Villanova, Western Kentucky
The Biggest Question: Could UCLA make it five in a row? After winning four consecutive crowns, John Wooden and the Bruins were chasing another, but UCLA displayed some cracks in its once-impenetrable armour. The Bruins lost to Notre Dame while surviving one-possession games with Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington during the regular season. In the West Regional Final, the Bruins needed a furious rally to erase a late 11-point deficit against Long Beach State. UCLA arrived in Houston the title favorite, but it wasn’t a given they’d be the ones cutting down the nets.
The Semi-Finals: UCLA 68-60 over Kansas; Villanova 92-89 over Western Kentucky
The Final: UCLA 68-62 over Villanova
The Most Outstanding Player: In a rare twist, the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player came from the losing team as Villanova’s Howard Porter claimed top honors. After going for 22 points and 16 rebounds in the Wildcats’ semi-final win over Western Kentucky, Porter dropped 25 on the Bruins and nearly delivered Villanova an upset victory over UCLA. And in another interesting twist, Porter’s award was later vacated as it was found he signed with an agent prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament.
The Enduring Image: After the Bruins claimed yet another title, Sports Illustrated featured UCLA forward Steve Patterson on its April 5, 1971, cover with the title “Unexpected Hero.” Indeed, Patterson was an unexpected star in the title game. After scoring 24 points combined in the Bruins’ first three NCAA Tournament games, Patterson notched a game-high 29 points against Villanova on 13 of 18 shooting.
A Final Four Fun Fact: The 1971 Final Four brought two notable firsts. It was the first Final Four held in Texas and also the first Final Four held in a domed stadium (the Astrodome), setting the stage for what is commonplace today.
2011
The Participants: Butler, Kentucky, UConn, VCU
The Biggest Question: Could one of the plucky mid-majors make the ultimate Cinderella run and capture the title over one of college basketball’s powerbrokers? Butler and VCU were certainly hoping so.
The Semi-Finals: UConn 56-55 over Kentucky; Butler 70-62 over VCU
The Final: UConn 53-41 over Butler
The Most Outstanding Player: Kemba Walker of UConn and there was no debate.
The Enduring Image: The Huskies team crowded around Kemba following the trophy presentation. Perhaps not since Danny Manning in 1988 had one player willed his team to a national title quite like Walker. After a 21-9 regular season and a ninth-place finish in the Big East, Walker propelled UConn to five consecutive victories to claim the Big East Tournament crown and then six consecutive wins to capture the NCAA title. Over that 11-game winning streak, Walker paced the Huskies in scoring every single time.
A Final Four Fun Fact: The 2011 NCAA Tournament saw the introduction of the “First Four” and, with that, the first “First Four” team to advance to the Final Four. VCU squeaked into the Tournament as an #11 seed following a fourth-place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association. They began their Final Four run with a play-in game victory over USC in Dayton.
2016
The Participants: North Carolina, Oklahoma, Syracuse, Villanova
The Biggest Question: Could Villanova, a top 10 program for three consecutive seasons, finally breakthrough and capture the program’s first crown since Rollie Massimino and his boys played “the perfect game” to stun Georgetown in 1985?
The Semi-Finals: Villanova 95-51 over Oklahoma; North Carolina 83-66 over Syracuse
The Final: Villanova 77-74 over North Carolina
The Most Outstanding Player: Ryan Arcidiacono of Villanova. The Wildcats’ heady floor leader finished off his college career in style, going 11 of 15 from the floor and scoring 31 points over two games in Houston. He also had the game-winning assist on Kris Jenkins’ championship-game buzzer beater.
The Enduring Image: After Kris Jenkins’ three-pointer at the horn broke a 74-74 tie and stirred on-court chaos, Villanova head coach Jay Wright walked to shake UNC coach Roy Williams’ hand stone-faced and as if he had been called into his doctor’s office for a colonoscopy.
A Final Four Fun Fact: Villanova’s 44-point victory over Oklahoma is the largest margin of
victory in any Final Four game and the Wildcats’ 71 percent marksmanship from the field would
be a Final Four record had a different Villanova squad, the 1985 championship team, not shot 79
percent in its stunning victory over Georgetown 31 years prior.
--The Chucker
How the ‘Game of the Century’ altered the future of college basketball
It’s called the Game of the Century, largely because it pitted #1 UCLA vs. #2 Houston and superstars Lew Alcindor vs. Elvin Hayes in the paint.
Houston’s hard-earned 71-69 victory over UCLA on January 20, 1968, delivered on its ballyhooed pre-game billing. Hayes scored 39 points on 17-25 shooting and knocked down two game-clinching free throws with 28 seconds remaining to lead the Cougars, whose victory ended UCLA’s 47-game winning streak.
Legendary broadcaster Dick Enberg once labeled the game at Houston’s Astrodome “the most important game [he] ever called.” He remembered fans trying to storm the court and leaping over trenches dug for media to do so. Enberg likened it to “the return of the Alamo.”
In retrospect, though, the Game of the Century is so much more than a fantastic game between two high-quality teams. It’s the game that changed basketball for the next century.
It brought college basketball’s regular season to prime time.
The UCLA-Houston battle was the first nationally televised regular-season college basketball game broadcast in prime time from coast to coast. TV executive Eddie Einhorn, the future president of the Chicago White Sox, spearheaded the Saturday evening event, which was broadcast on 120 stations around the U.S. It set the stage for what college basketball fans have enjoyed over the last 40-plus years – regular college hoops matchups on television, and not just in March.
“It was unusual; it was brand new, and that showed there was an interest in college basketball nationally,” veteran sportswriter Ron Rapoport said of the Houston-UCLA broadcast.
The following year, NBC signed on to televise the NCAA Tournament nationally, pushing college hoops beyond its traditional regional telecasts.
The Game of the Century also encouraged many big-time programs to schedule competitive non- conference matchups, often with an eye on television. As a result, we now get games such as Kansas vs. Kentucky in mid-season and events like the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
It pushed the boundaries of where games could be played.
The Game of the Century challenged conventional thinking around where college basketball games could be played. Widely regarded as the first college basketball game played in a domed stadium, more than 52,000 fans watched the Bruins and Cougars clash at the Astrodome – the floor set down in the middle of the “Eighth Wonder of the World” and about 100 feet from any fans.
The reported attendance of 52,693 set a new mark for the largest crowd to see a basketball game “anywhere in the world … ever!” the stadium’s signage noted. (That figure, however, pales in comparison to the current NCAA regular-season attendance mark of 78,129 set when Kentucky topped Michigan State at Detroit’s Ford Field in 2003.)
Today, domed stadiums regularly host Final Fours, while the college game has ventured into other venues, from aircraft carriers to military bases.
It elevated the money involved in college hoops.
Both UCLA and Houston reportedly received $125,000 for participating in the made-for-TV spectacle, a rematch of the previous year’s national semifinal. While $125,000 might not seem like much, it was nearly four times the payout of the NCAA Tournament that March.
As the story goes, the first half was so entertaining that advertisers started calling Einhorn to buy additional 30-second commercial spots during the second half.
“The UCLA-Houston game kind of fast-forwarded college basketball by at least 10 years and consequently created a lot more revenue,” UCLA economics researcher Lee Ohanian told the Los Angeles Daily News in 2018.
Just how much revenue? Consider this: In 2016, CBS and Turner extended their rights to broadcast March Madness through 2032 by inking an eight-year, $8.8 billion deal with the NCAA.
--The Chucker
UConn, Tennessee, and the Game That Changed Women’s Basketball
Until January 16, 1995, UConn and Tennessee had never met in women’s basketball and it might have stayed that way a while longer if not for an enterprising ESPN executive and two competition-craving coaches.
Seeking to fill a slot on ESPN’s television calendar for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 1995, ESPN’s Carol Stiff pushed for a marquee women’s game, then a national programming rarity outside of March. UConn was an obvious host site, as much for the fact that the Huskies were a Top 10 team as the setting of UConn’s campus 45 miles away from ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. UConn had the team and the proximity to make the gambit worthwhile.
Stiff first attempted to match the Huskies against defending national champion North Carolina. When North Carolina declined, admittedly wary of traveling north during the heart of the conference season, Stiff turned her attention to Tennessee. And like UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt was ready to toss the ball up.
Little did Stiff know what she had unlocked – a game that would launch the college game’s greatest non-conference rivalry and supercharge women’s basketball in the U.S.
The game that jumpstarted women’s basketball
In the mid-1990s, Tennessee was THE team in women’s college basketball. Over the previous nine seasons, the Lady Vols had won three national titles (1987, 1989, and 1991) and some considered Summit the top coach in college basketball – and not just women’s college basketball. All of college basketball.
UConn, meanwhile, was the plucky upstart looking to reach the mountaintop where Tennessee reigned. In the first 11 seasons of UConn women’s basketball (1974-1985), the Huskies recorded more than 10 wins only once. Auriemma’s 1985 arrival in Storrs, however, began a striking transformation. By year four, Auriemma had UConn in its first NCAA Tournament. Two seasons later, the Huskies reached the Final Four.
At the start of the 1994-1995 college basketball season, Tennessee topped the AP poll while UConn slotted in at #4. Both squads marched through the early season unscathed, making the MLK Day contest at UConn’s Gampel Pavilion a matchup between the nation’s top two teams. While Tennessee was led by Dana Johnson, Nikki McCray, and Latina Davis, UConn countered with stars Rebecca Lobo, Kara Wolters, and Jennifer Rizzotti.
“It was a little bit more electric than usual,” Rizzotti recalled about the lead-up to Tennessee’s visit.
ESPN’s audience and a sellout crowd at Gampel were treated to an intense, back-and-forth affair between two elite teams before UConn pulled away and secured the 77-66 victory. The next day, the Huskies awoke to find themselves atop the national polls for the first time in program history.
“All of a sudden we were getting talked about on a national level,” Rizzotti said. “All of a sudden, we couldn’t go anywhere in the state of Connecticut without being like mobbed.”
Ripple effects of ‘the game’
UConn’s victory over Tennessee elevated the Huskies national profile and continued UConn’s run toward an undefeated campaign. Less than two months later, the two programs met again, this time for the national title. UConn scored a 70-64 victory in Minneapolis to finish the season 35-0.
While the Huskies’ perfect season in 1995 ignited the program’s dynastic run – now 11 national titles and counting – it also showcased the women’s game, momentum that swelled as UConn and Tennessee began an annual out-of-conference rivalry that drew eyeballs and praise. Two schools, located some 850 miles apart, had successfully altered the national perception of women’s hoops.
"UConn and Tennessee both showed that, ‘OK, if you invest in women’s basketball, you can attract a passionate fan base, you can attract and build a strong program that can accrue to your university,” women’s sports historian Cat Ariail said.
But the ripple effects of the swelling UConn-Tennessee rivalry spread beyond the college ranks.
A year after UConn and Tennessee first tussled, the NBA announced the creation of the WNBA. Around the same time a rival women’s professional league, the American Basketball League, also began U.S. operations.
When the U.S. Women’s National Team breezed to the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, the profile of the women’s game further accelerated. The following June, the WNBA debuted. That the WNBA celebrated its 25th season last year is a testament to what the UConn- Tennessee rivalry helped spark and the bright spotlight two high-caliber college programs put on women’s basketball.
-The Chucker
When Duke embraced the underdog role and ran over the Rebels
Here in 2023, it’s hard to think of Duke as the underdog. The Blue Devils bring prestige into every game they play, an aura that suggests it’s the favorite regardless of NCAA Tournament seeds or Vegas odds.
That, of course, hasn’t always been the case.
And it certainly wasn’t the case in the national semifinals of the 1991 NCAA Tournament, when Duke entered the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis for another crack at mighty UNLV.
The year prior, the Runnin’ Rebels throttled Duke in the most lopsided title game of all time. With a 56-point second half outburst, UNLV cruised to a convincing 103-73 win. The Rebels’ 30-point victory remains the largest margin of victory in an NCAA Final and also the only time a team reached the century mark in a championship game.
UNLV’s victory was so dominant, so forceful and emphatic, that one journalist summarized it this way: “The only thing that could stop the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels in the NCAA Finals were the CBS TV timeouts.”
A similar result was expected when UNLV head coach Jerry Tarkanian and his squad marched into the 1991 Final Four undefeated and the heavy, heavy favorite.
Behind Wooden Award winner Larry Johnson, All-American Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony, and Anderson Hunt, UNLV began the season ranked #1 in the country and they never relinquished their seat upon the college hoops throne. In fact, they only solidified their rule.
UNLV averaged 97 points per game and a 28-point victory margin. Through 27 regular season games and three Big West Tournament games, only one team – #2 Arkansas – kept the final score within 10 points. They entered March Madness on a 41-game winning streak.
That’s dominance.
In the NCAA Tournament, UNLV continued stomping opponents. They thrashed Montana by 34. They endured Georgetown’s slower tempo and still recorded a comfortable eight-point victory. In the second weekend, UNLV smashed Utah and Seton Hall to earn a second consecutive spot in the Final Four.
Among three of college basketball’s bluebloods in Indianapolis – Duke, North Carolina, and Kansas – a fearless, confident UNLV team stood tallest. They were the show.
“UNLV was favored, and they were right to be favored,” Sports Illustrated’s Alexander Wolff noted of the 1991 Final Four.
And it was Duke who drew the Rebels, a squad seemingly destined to win back-to-back crowns for the first time since UCLA in 1973 and the first to go undefeated since Indiana in 1976.
Though coach Mike Krzyzewski and Duke were making a remarkable fourth consecutive Final Four appearance, the underdog moniker fit the Blue Devils. UNLV was bigger, badder, and better in 1991 – one year after trouncing Duke by 30 in the national title game.
“Hopefully, we’ll come closer than 30 points,” Krzyzewski told reporters before the game. “We hope we will be able to give them some kind of game.”
Few, however, thought Duke’s 30-7 squad, one that entered the NCAA Tournament after a 22- point loss to North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, had a prayer. Duke was fodder to a UNLV squad chasing history and looking to cement its status as the greatest college basketball team of its generation.
“Duke had already been flattened by UNLV the year before, so what was going to be different this time around?” longtime college basketball observer Pat Forde noted.
But the games are played on the court, not in our minds.
After Duke’s Grant Hill scored off the opening tip, Duke hit its next four shots. The Blue Devils surged to an early 15-8 lead. On the CBS telecast, Jim Nantz said: “If anyone wondered if Duke could play with UNLV early, the answer is ‘Yes.’”
When UNLV took a two-point lead into the break, Nantz and Billy Packer debated Duke’s ability to stick with UNLV for another 20 minutes. “How will Duke face that second-half blitz?” Nantz questioned.
Quite well, it turned out, as Duke kept the game close. With 3:51 left, Duke’s Brian Davis drew a charging call on Anthony. UNLV’s floor general had fouled out and the tone of the game immediately shifted.
“The only way we were going to lose was if Greg Anthony fouled out,” UNLV walk-on Bryan Emerzian recalls. “He got two tough calls and we just couldn’t replace that leadership.”
Though UNLV led by five with 2:31 to play, Duke closed the gap. With 12.7 seconds remaining, Duke star Christian Laettner settled on the free throw line with the scored knotted at 77.
“When Laettner went to the line, there was not any freaking question,” former Duke assistant – and recently retired Notre Dame coach – Mike Brey recalled.
Laettner drained both shots to break the game’s 17th tie. Seconds later, Hunt’s desperation three clanked off the rim. Duke had pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in Final Four history with its 79-77 victory.
That day, David shot down Goliath and Duke became Duke.
--The Chucker
What makes an Underdog?
To be fair, the idea of a March Madness Underdogs lends itself to some subjectivity.
While some might consider the Danny Manning-led Kansas team that won the 1988 national title an underdog story given the fact that the sixth-seeded Jayhawks were a victorious underdog in three consecutive tournament games, others might reasonably ask how a historic program led by a Hall of Fame coach and #1 draft pick could be considered a Cinderella. More likely, some would argue, the Jayhawks endured a turbulent 18-11 regular season before entering the NCAA Tournament and catching fire behind the stellar play of Manning.
Let's identify the four traits of true March Madness underdogs:
First, underdogs are at least a #8 seed.
Though a #8 seed is “technically” a favorite in the opening round, those #8-#9 games are a toss up. In fact, #8 seeds hold a slim 51-49 advantage in head-to-head matchups against #9s. But after that first coin-flip game, #8 seeds face a #1 seed. Eighth-seeded squads win about 20 percent of those matchups. And there, the underdog label fits, though admittedly not as perfectly as it does for double-digit seeds.
An Underdog Story: Entering the 1985 NCAA Tournament with a 19-10 record, Villanova sported a modest 9-7 record in the competitive Big East. As a #8 seed, the Wildcats knocked off #9 Dayton, #1 Michigan, #5 Maryland, and #2 North Carolina to reach the Final Four. At Rupp Arena in Lexington, Villanova dropped Memphis before toppling Patrick Ewing and Georgetown in one of the greatest championship game upsets of all time. Villanova is still the lowest-seeded team to ever win the national title.
Second, underdogs generally come from outside the traditional power conferences – though there are exceptions.
As Villanova’s 1985 squad proves, underdogs can – and do – come from high-profile conferences. Ditto for 12 th -seeded Missouri’s Elite Eight squad in 2002 and LSU’s Final Four run in 1986 as an 11-seed. Most often, though, underdogs are not part of college’s basketball’s aristocracy. They come from the Colonial and the Ivy, the Sun Belt and the A-Sun, the Valley and the Horizon. They lack brand names and rarely boast Top 100 recruits.
An Underdog Story: Butler of the Horizon League and VCU of the Colonial Athletic Conference both penned Cinderella stories for the ages in 2011. Butler, fresh off its run to the 2010 national title game against Duke, returned to the national championship despite losing NBA lottery pick Gordon Hayward, while VCU made it from the First Four in Dayton to the Final Four in Houston. Both “small schools” played with an edge in knocking off schools from larger conferences. A #8 seed, Butler downed #1 Pitt, #4 Wisconsin, and #2 Florida en route to the Final Four, while #11 VCU topped #3 Purdue and #1 Kansas to earn the program’s first Final Four appearance.
Third, to be a Cinderella Story you must win multiple games.
To be considered a Cinderella, an underdog must at least win two games and advance to the Sweet Sixteen. So, sorry Steve Nash and your Santa Clara Broncos. My apologies UMBC, which made history in 2019 as the first 16-seed to knock off a #1 (74-54 over Virginia). You authored historic opening-round victories but fell in your next game. You live in our memoires, but you’re not a true Cinderella.
A Cinderella Story: Three #15 seeds – 2013 Florida Gulf Coast, 2021 Oral Roberts, and 2022 Saint Peter’s – made it to at least the Sweet Sixteen and, therefore, live in March Madness lore. It’s that second victory that elevates the narrative, thrusts a Cinderella into the nation’s consciousness, and, quite often, prompts a surge in the school’s application rate the following academic year.
Finally, Cinderellas remain memorable long after the fairy tale ends.
Okay, this one admittedly gets a bit more subjective as our memories can differ. While I might fondly recall Cornell’s 2010 run to the Sweet Sixteen, the Big Red’s turn on the big stage might not resonate with you. But there are some visuals that etch their way into our collective memories. Steph whirling around a screen to launch a three. Sister Jean. Doug Edert’s mustache.
A Cinderella Story: It’d be hard for any college basketball fan this century to forget Davidson’s magical run in 2008 as a #10 seed. Steph Curry’s coming-out party, after all, planted the seeds for a basketball revolution. The Wildcats, who had not won an NCAA Tournament game since 1969, downed #7 Gonzaga, #2 Georgetown, and #3 Wisconsin before falling by a bucket to #1 Kansas. Curry dazzled and mesmerized with three-point bombs, shifty moves, and a sly grin that said, “I knew it all along. Where were you?” So, with another Big Dance upon us, it’s time to toss up the ball, college basketball fans. Let’s see if a new Cinderella crashes the party.
--The Chucker
The Local Pioneer
When I was growing up in Evansville, Indiana my grandpa, Bill Taylor, loved to talk about his playing days at Central High School. There were probably several half truths within those stories but one that always stood out to me was the one about Lincoln, Evansville's all black high school, winning a national championship. He would follow that up with superlatives about how good those Lincoln teams were.
Originally created in 1928 as a high school, Lincoln was the only school for black students in the Evansville area. Before desegregation black kids from the surrounding areas such as Mt. Vernon, Rockport and Newburgh were bused into the city to attend school at Lincoln. By 1940, head coach Thomas Cheeks led the Lions to a 22-1 record, often traveling by bus to play teams in other states because Lincoln wasn't allowed to play white teams until 1943.
The 1940 team won the Southern Interscholastic Basketball Tournament title in Tuskegee, Alabama and continued success on the hardwood with three sectional titles in the late '50s and early '60s. The school would officially close its doors as a high school in June of 1962 but their legacy would live on.
Fast forward 60 years.
When we came up with the plan for our Pioneer Collection for February we wanted to celebrate the schools and teams that faced challenges on their way to the top and paved the way for others to follow the example they set. Originally, we were going to do it chronologically starting with the University of San Francisco in '55 and '56, Texas Western in '66, Georgetown in '84, UNLV in '90 and Michigan's Fab Five in '93. The goal was to tell each of these stories in a unique way and celebrate their achievements through product launches.
As the plan came together and the launches started to roll out, our CEO Aaron Loomer, wanted to do something that would give back. He wanted to tie the idea of the Pioneer Collection to a cause. At some point during that conversation I mentioned Lincoln and the story of their national championship in 1940. It was during that call that the decision was made to chose Lincoln as the first recipient of our Local Pioneer donation of $10,000.
Aaron's only question was, "How quickly can we get something setup?" My typical response to that question if it has anything to do with my hometown of Evansville is, "Let me make a call and I'll let you know in a couple of hours."
My one and only call was to Andy Owen, Director of Athletics for the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation. Andy is a good friend of mine and I knew he was the one that could connect the dots for us. A week later I was sitting in Mrs. Tijuanna Tolliver's office listening to her lay out the format of the Black History Celebration Assembly for the following week.
Before 19nine, I was a middle school teacher for 17 years. Listening to Mrs. Tolliver talk in her office that day and getting to tour the school shortly afterwards, I knew we had made the right school choice. I believe in what she is building there and loved seeing her staff in action with the students. The assembly confirmed it even more. The amount of talent, enthusiasm and love on display during that assembly was so refreshing to see.
Of all the things 19nine has been involved with and accomplished over the last several years the Local Pioneer program is what I'm most proud of. And I'm so happy we were able to give to such a deserving school, with an amazing history and great vision for the future.
-Josh Barnett
The Fab Five run to the Final Four
Though the Michigan Wolverines entered the 1991-1992 basketball season with a freshmen class billed as the best recruiting collective ever assembled and a #20 national ranking, plenty of questions lingered. Would the freshmen, who combined to average 145 points as high school seniors, be able to produce under big-time college basketball’s brightest lights at a time when upperclassmen still reigned?
“It’s a quantum leap for all of them,” Michigan head coach Steve Fisher said of his Fab Five, a moniker the group of Juwan Howard, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Ray Jackson, and Jimmy King captured before even stepping onto the college hardwood. “This will be a teaching year for us and them.”
In pre-season previews, basketball observers largely agreed that the Wolverines, coming off a March Madness-less 14-15 campaign in 1990-1991, needed their freshmen to mature – and mature fast – if the Wolverines were to re-establish themselves as a legitimate tournament team.
During the season’s nine-game conference slate, it was clear Michigan and its precocious group had the goods. The Wolverines won eight of nine games with their only loss coming to #1 Duke in overtime. Michigan then survived the typical Big Ten gauntlet, capturing wins over the likes of #13 Michigan State and #2 Indiana en route to a third-place league finish.
With a 20-8 overall, the Fab Five had successfully sparked Michigan’s return to the Big Dance. The #6 seed in the Southeast Region, the Wolverines dropped Temple 73-66 in the first round before beating back upset-minded East Tennessee State 102-90 in round two.
In the Sweet Sixteen, Michigan – thanks in large part to a 15-point, 10-rebound effort from junior Eric Riley filling in for a foul-plagued Webber – squeaked out a hard-fought 75-72 victory over Oklahoma State.
“We’re going to shock the world!” Rose screamed after knocking off a Cowboys squad that had spent much of the season in the AP Top 10.
Next up for the Wolverines: a third meeting with rival Ohio State, the Big Ten’s regular season champions. In the previous two months, the Buckeyes had downed the Wolverines twice – 68-58 in Ann Arbor on Feb. 2 and then 77-66 in Columbus on March 3. Those victories, Ohio State guard Jamaal Brown beamed, had silenced Michigan’s rambunctious rookies.
“They didn’t have any reason to talk,” Brown said as the rematch approached.
But this time, many acknowledged, was different. Now, a Final Four spot was on the line. Now, the Fab Five were brimming with confidence after 31 games. Now, the Wolverines were riding a wave of intense euphoria.
“They’re extremely confident, fearful of nothing,” Fisher said of his five freshmen starters.
At Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, Michigan’s freshmen played like veterans while the Buckeyes’ seasoned group led by All-American Jimmy Jackson stuttered and stalled.
In Michigan’s 75-71 overtime victory over Ohio State, the Fab Five combined to score 73 points on 60 percent shooting from the field. Webber led the way with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Rose pitched in 20 and King scored 15. In contrast, Ohio State’s two leading scorers, Jackson, a junior, and senior Chris Jent, made only 11 of 32 shots while committing 11 turnovers and eight fouls.
“I think they grew up,” Ohio State’s Jackson said after the loss. “They executed down the stretch when they had to and we were like the team that hadn’t been here before.”
Less than a year after being in high school, Michigan’s Fab Five was in the Final Four. Ready or not, here they were, getting plenty of credit for their talent, not enough credit for their grit, and defying the commonly accepted logic that March Madness devours the young.
“Do you believe us now?” Webber shouted repeatedly after the Wolverines took down Ohio State to set up a matchup with Cincinnati the following weekend in Minneapolis.
Even his coach, once a naysayer, had to admit his folly. In an unprecedented accomplishment, a team starting five freshmen and coming off a sub-.500 campaign was in the national semifinals.
“Everybody kept telling me (that Michigan could go to the Final Four), but I was skeptical,” Fisher said. “I believe now.”
--The Chucker
The man behind Five-Star
When Howard Garfinkel passed in May 2016 from complications of lung cancer, the tributes started rolling in for a man Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski one said, “helped shape the game of basketball as we know it today.”
Garfinkel’s high school scouting service and celebrated Five-Star summer camp ushered in a new era for college basketball, a game that hadn’t fully been embraced by the nation’s sports fans. Long before YouTube highlight reels, ESPN, and Rivals, Garfinkel was the source of information on hardwood prospects.
The Chucker, High Volume Shooters’ resident historian, details Garfinkel’s immense impact on the game.
Beginning in the 1960s, Garfinkel offered his reports on players across the Northeast, from Maine down to West Virginia, to college coaches across the U.S. for a $50 subscription. That transformed college recruiting into a national game. In fact, UCLA’s John Wooden was inspired to investigate a tall center from New York City named Lew Alcindor after reading Garfinkel’s praise – and that helped the Bruins add a few more national championship banners to the Pauley Pavilion rafters.
Talent evaluation’s now commonplace five-star rating system? Give props to Garfinkel. He popularized the one- to five-star system now commonplace in evaluating prospects – not just in basketball, but in football and other prep sports as well.
In 1966, Garfinkel, a Syracuse University dropout, co-founded the Five-Star Basketball Camp. According to The New York Times, Five-Star “became the template for what is now a staple of the basketball development and recruiting universe: the summer camp, complete with guest coaches and showcase games.” Five decades later, Five-Star boasted that it produced more than 600 NBA talents and 10,000 Division 1 players.
Over the years, Garfinkel employed a number of up-and-coming coaches as instructors at the Five-Star camp, including folks like Chuck Daly, Hubie Brown, and Rick Pitino. The first instructor he hired, at the daily rate of $50, however, might be his most memorable: Robert Montgomery Knight.
In 1980, Garfinkel and Five-Star hosted Ed Pinckney, Gary McClain, and Dwayne McLain. That trio would bond that week and, five years later, lead Villanova to a stunning national title victory over Georgetown.
Garfinkel occasionally came under fire for using his influence to steer players to one college or another as well as later steering potential pros toward representation. He was steadfast in defending himself and the merits of the Five-Star camp. “I don't make the rules. I just follow them. These impressionable 17- and 18-year-olds must be ready mentally and physically to help fill arenas seating anywhere up to 18 to 25,000 people (when they become) freshmen in college,” Garfinkel once told a reporter.
In 1989, Garfinkel and Five-Star embraced developing a different side of basketball talent. Alongside television analyst Bill Raftery, Five-Star gathered 100 aspiring broadcasters together at the camp for five days of intense training. The $495 offering included learning play-by-play duties, the analyst’s role, and interview techniques while participants also completed one simulated broadcast each day.
Michael Jordan and LeBron James both attended the Five-Star camp, but who did Garfinkel once identify as the best prospect to every attend the ballyhooed camp? Moses Malone. Garfinkel recalled: “Moses Malone is the only player in the history of Five-Star who didn’t belong there. … Moses was too good for the camp. Everybody he played against, well, he was awesome. He was a man against boys.”
UNLV runs and runs and runs to the title
It turns out Jerry Tarkanian was wrong. Very, very wrong. Returning four starters from an Elite Eight squad, including future NBA vets Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony, and mixing in reigning junior college Player of the Year Larry Johnson, Tark’s UNLV Rebels entered the 1989-1990 college basketball season as the nation’s #1 team. But the towel-chomping, oft-controversial Tark, the winningest active coach in Division 1 hoops at the time, downplayed the Rebels’ front-runner status.
“We’re not better than everybody,” Tarkanian said as the season’s tip-off neared. “This is not a team that’s going to go out and destroy anybody.”
Amid swirling talk of NCAA penalties, Tarkanian retirement rumors, the first-semester absence of center David Butler for academic issues, and an intentionally challenging non-conference slate, Tark’s hesitancy wasn’t merely coach speak. There was legitimate reason to think that the Rebels, despite their talent, might crumble amid the lofty expectations and external distractions.
And Tark’s words proved prophetic after the Rebels dropped early season contests to unranked Kansas and #12 Oklahoma to tumble out of the AP Top 10.
In mid-January, however, the Rebels began showing their might. They downed LSU and Shaquille O’Neal. They topped North Carolina State. A 10-game February winning streak, meanwhile, included victories over ranked foes New Mexico State, Arizona, and Louisville.
After securing the Big West’s regular season title – a worthy feat for a conference that claimed three tourney teams – the Rebels won the Big West Conference title and earned a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Finally, Tark delivered some public acclaim for his squad, calling it the best team he had ever coached – high praise from a coach who had already brought two teams to the Final Four.
In the Big Dance, the Runnin’ Rebels steamrolled Little Rock before downing Ohio State and Jimmy Jackson by 11 to reach the Sweet 16. On the Tourney’s second weekend, Tark’s crew survived an upset-minded Ball State 69-67 before taking on an inspired Loyola Marymount squad led by Bo Kimble. UNLV ended the Lions’ magical run with a 131-101 thrashing to reach the Final Four.
In the national semifinals, UNLV scorched Georgia Tech in the second half, overcoming a seven-point halftime deficit to down the Yellow Jackets 90-81. That victory set up a showdown with a Duke squad led by Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley.
The smart money was on the Runnin’ Rebels.
“That’s a very nice little basketball team Mike Krzyzewski is taking to the title game. But it’s no Nevada-Las Vegas. Hell, let Magic Johnson sprain his ankle and the Lakers are no Nevada-Las Vegas,” Ron Rapoport of the Los Angeles Daily News wrote.
The Rebels jumped on the Blue Devils and carried a 47-35 lead into the half. After the break, the Rebels squashed Duke with a 56-point second-half outburst en route to a convincing 103-73 victory. The 30-point win was the largest margin of victory in a championship game and the first time a team scored 100 points to claim the national title.
One observer noted that “the only thing that could stop the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels in the NCAA Finals were the CBS TV timeouts.”
UNLV’s pasting of Duke was the Runnin’ Rebels first national title and gave Tark his elusive championship – not to mention an opportunity to thumb his nose at the cynics and the NCAA, with whom Tark had battled for more than a decade. (NCAA investigators reportedly visited the UNLV campus 11 times during the 1989-1990 basketball season alone.)
“To have all the pressure we had, with the championship on the line, to play like we did was incredible,” a weepy-eyed Tarkanian said following the title game. “It was like a fairy tale.”
--The Chucker
When the Hoyas became heroes – and the champs
In the early 1980s, an unlikely program commanded the nation’s college basketball consciousness. An elite, exclusive Catholic institution in the nation’s capital better known for churning out attorneys and politicians and with nary a trace of hardwood pedigree was suddenly at the center of the college basketball universe.
The Georgetown Hoyas’ relentless and assertive brand of basketball, carefully choreographed by a Black coach in John Thompson and an all-Black roster, made them heroes in inner cities around the country and a target for a mostly white media.
And unapologetically, Thompson did it his way and became the first Black basketball coach to win an NCAA title when his Hoyas defeated Houston 84-75 in Seattle’s Kingdome on April 2, 1984.
“I know I’m going to upset some people, but I can live with that,” Thompson said in a 1984 interview.
When Thompson arrived at Georgetown in 1972, an unexpected hire coming from the high school ranks, the Hoyas were far from a known basketball commodity. Georgetown had been to one NCAA Tournament in program history – 1943 – and was coming off a 3-23 campaign.
By year three, Thompson, a D.C. native who earned honorable mention All-American honors at Providence College before playing two championship seasons with the Boston Celtics, had his Hoyas in the NCAA Tournament. By year four, he directed a 21-win squad and had established Georgetown as one of the top programs in the Northeast.
With the launch of the Big East in 1979, long-independent Georgetown had a conference home, immediate success, and nationally televised rivalry games against the likes of St. John’s and Syracuse that upped the profile of the Hoyas and their coach. In the league’s first season, Georgetown grabbed a share of the Big East regular season title before claiming the inaugural Big East post-season tournament.
In the fall of 1981, Patrick Ewing arrived and catapulted the Hoyas into the 1982 national title game, where Georgetown lost to North Carolina on a late baseline jumper by Michael Jordan. Despite the loss, Thompson and his tough-minded, don’t-back-down Hoyas had firmly positioned themselves on the national stage – and that brought added attention.
And here, the 6-10, nearly 300-pound Thompson, dug in – deep.
Thompson shielded his team from the media, the critiques as well as the hype. He rejected requests for long player interviews, limited the access of TV crews, ran closed practices, and carefully plotted road trips to avoid any media frenzy. To many, and particularly the media repeatedly told no, Thompson’s tight grip on the program seemed a smoking gun that Georgetown was hiding something.
For his part, Thompson later acknowledged he’s role in fostering skepticism and questions of a program that, at the conclusion of his 27-year reign in 1999, saw 75 of 77 players who stayed at Georgetown for four years earn their degrees. In a 2013 interview, Thompson admitted: “I functioned better when I thought people didn’t like me than I did when I thought they did.”
After a solid 22-10 campaign in 1982-1983, Georgetown entered the 1983-1984 season a national title favorite. Though suffering an early-season loss to #13 DePaul, Georgetown was a top 5 mainstay in the polls throughout the season and a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where it held its first three opponents to an average of 44 points to capture a second Final Four appearance in three years.
With the brightest of lights now on Georgetown, its stark differences stood out that much more, namely a Black coach with 12 Black players at a prestigious Catholic school in a once- segregated city.
In a Washington Post editorial as Georgetown prepped for its 1984 Final Four matchup against Kentucky, Father Timothy S. Healy, the president of Georgetown University, defended Thompson and his Hoyas from swelling public backlash of their methods – and their perceived madness. Healy called his university’s basketball coach “a charming and witty man, with a devastating gift for one-liners and an articulate sensitivity that is engagingly rare.” Of the on- court Hoyas, Healy reminded that “‘hustle’ and ‘aggression’ are close cousins,” which is exactly how Thompson liked it.
In the 1984 national semifinal, the Hoyas’ D held Kentucky to 11 second half points on 3-of-23 shooting, punching their ticket to the final with a convincing 53-40 victory. Against high-flying Houston, the team-oriented play Thompson preached shined in a title-claiming victory. Georgetown and Thompson stood alone at college basketball’s mountaintop.
“At times I’ve been obsessed by the national championship,” Thompson told reporters in a post- game interview. “I’ve awakened in the middle of the night in the summer saying, ‘national championship.’ Now, I have one.”
--The Chucker
Texas Western’s 1966 title ignites change in college basketball
On March 19, 1966, Texas Western College became the first – and still only – “directional” school to ever win an NCAA men’s basketball championship.
But that factoid is little more than an interesting footnote in the Miners’ historic run to the 1966 title.
In defeating Hall of Fame coach Adolph Rupp and his Kentucky Wildcats in front of 14,253 fans at the University of Maryland’s Cole Field House, Texas Western (now the University of Texas at El Paso, or UTEP) became the first national champion with an all-Black starting five – and forever altered the landscape in college athletics.
At a time when few southern schools recruited Black players and unwritten rules governed the number of Black players who could even share the court at one time, Haskins challenged the status quo.
A no-nonsense coach known as “The Bear,” Haskins searched far and wide for talent, including cities in the Midwest and Northeast. The Miners’ all-Black starting five for the battle against all- white Kentucky featured two players from Gary, Indiana (Orsten Artis and Harry Flournoy), one from New York City (Willie Worsley), and one from Detroit (Bobby Joe Hill). The fifth starter, David Lattin, hailed from Houston.
A team with title aspirations
Long before the 1966 NCAA Tournament began, Haskins knew he had a team capable of winning the title. Few others, though, shared Haskins’ optimism. Coming off a 16-9 campaign, the Miners – an independent program – entered the season unranked.
When the Texas Western coach scouted a Top 10 Iowa team in advance of a scheduled December 30, 1965, matchup against the Hawkeyes, Haskins became even more convinced his team was a national contender.
“I had heard a lot about Iowa and after watching them, I said to myself, ‘If that team is ranked in the Top 10, then we’re going to beat a lot of folks,’” Haskins said.
The Miners did just that, winning their first 23 games of the 1965-1966 season, including an 86- 68 thrashing of #6 Iowa. While Texas Western dropped its regular season finale, a two-point loss at Seattle, Haskins and his squad marched into the NCAA Tournament the #3 ranked team in the country – and a group confident they could win it all.
In the tournament’s opening round, Texas Western dispatched Oklahoma City 89-74. In the Midwest Regional Semifinal, the Miners edged Cincinnati in overtime, escaping with a 78-76 win over the Bearcats. With a Final Four spot on the line, Texas Western squared off against a Kansas squad powered by future NBA star JoJo White. The Miners won a back-and-forth, two- overtime affair 81-80 to reach the Final Four for the first time in school history.
Texas Western’s title run
After downing Utah 85-78 in the National Semifinal, the Miners entered the national title game opposite #1 Kentucky, a scrappy, undersized group aptly known as “Rupp’s Runts.” Four times Rupp had taken the Wildcats to the national championship game. Four times Kentucky hoisted the trophy after the final buzzer.
Led by All-American guard Louie Dampier and Pat Riley – yes, that Pat Riley – the Wildcats steamrolled opponents all season, finishing the regular season with a 24-1 mark and a 17-point average margin of victory. The Cats seemed destined to bring a fifth national title back to Lexington.
Haskins scoffed at Texas Western’s perceived role as a sacrificial lamb.
“You know, we’ve got some talented boys. That’s something nobody’s mentioned yet,” he told reporters.
After Kentucky scored the game’s first point on a free throw to take a 1-0 lead, the Miners scored the next basket and never trailed again. Texas Western led 34-31 at halftime and held off late Kentucky surges by shooting 28 of 34 from the foul line to earn the 72-65 victory. Texas Western’s all-Black starting five scored 67 of the team’s 72 points, as Hill led the way with 20, Lattin chipped in 16, and Artis contributed 15.
“It was kind of a thrill for a young punk like me to even be playing against Mr. Rupp,” the 36- year-old Haskins told reporters after the game.
An impactful victory
But the impact of Texas Western’s victory was felt far and wide. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch, in fact, labeled Texas Western’s title-game win over Kentucky “the game that changed American sports.”
The Miners’ victory sparked many other college coaches, including Rupp and many of his peers in the South, to aggressively recruit Black players. It also challenged archaic, unwritten rules about Blacks’ presence in college sports. Within two years, in fact, the ACC, SEC, and old Southwestern Conference had all integrated.
“This victory made it clear to those schools that if they did not adapt, they would never win anything again when it came to football, basketball, track and field. And so they did ... pretty quickly and with little uproar,” sports and culture historian Stephen Mosher said.
For his part, Haskins never considered himself or his team social pioneers. Rather, they were competitors chasing a national title.
“I really didn’t think about starting five Black guys,” Haskins later reflected. “I just wanted to put my five best guys on the court. I just wanted to win that game.”
And in winning, Haskins and Texas Western changed everything.
--The Chucker
Who is the bluest of bluebloods?
On January 28, the Kansas Jayhawks visit Rupp Arena to take on the Kentucky Wildcats in a battle of two of college basketball’s premier bluebloods. Both programs claim rich histories filled with wins, All-Americans, legendary coaches, rabid fan bases, and savored traditions. From cold-hard facts to admittedly objective metrics, The Chucker, 19nine’s resident historian, pits these two blueblood programs against one another to determine the bluest of bluebloods – though two schools on Tobacco Road might have something to say about that title.
Head-to-Head Matchups
Kansas and Kentucky have met 34 times on the hardwood. Kentucky holds a decisive 24 to 10 edge in victories, including a 67-59 victory over the Jayhawks in the 2012 National Championship game. While Kentucky won 16 of its first 17 matchups over Kansas, beginning with a 68-39 shellacking of the Jayhawks on Dec. 16, 1950, it’s been a more even series of late. Kansas, in fact, has won nine of the 17 meetings since the 1985-1986 season. The Edge: Kentucky
Final Fours and National Titles
Kentucky holds a slight 17-16 edge over Kansas in Final Four appearances. The Wildcats’ eight national titles, however, double the four crowns the Jayhawks possess. The Edge: Kentucky
All-Time Greats
Kentucky boasts some of college basketball’s most dynamic players, from Jack Givens to Jamal Mashburn to Anthony Davis, but just about any list of UK greats begins with Dan Issel, the Wildcats all-time leading scorer. Over his three seasons in Lexington, Issel averaged 25.8 points per game while leading the Wildcats to a 71-12 mark. The Jayhawks, however, claim one of the game’s all-time greats in Wilt Chamberlain – and Wilt the Stilt’s greatness over any Wildcat is indisputable. The Edge: Kansas
Home Court
Without question, Rupp Arena is a premier college basketball destination filled with history and character. BUT the Phog is tough to beat. Opened in 1955, Allen Fieldhouse captured the Guinness World Record for the loudest roar at an indoor sporting event, its 130.4 dB mark in 2017 breaking a record previously held by Rupp Arena. Yet more, Kansas has won more than 87 percent of its games at Allen Fieldhouse over the last 67 years. The Edge: Kansas
Fandom
There’s no question Kansas has a devout and loyal following, evident by a two decades-long sellout streak at Allen Fieldhouse. Big Blue Nation, though, is perhaps the most intense and ardent fan base in the country. Talking UK hoops is an around-the-year adventure in Kentucky, where a Final Four run is the annual expectation and hoops debates get especially heated, even in the summer. The Edge: Kentucky
Mascot
There are other Wildcats – Villanova, Kansas State, and Arizona among them. There is, however, only one Jayhawk in big-time college hoops and that singularity, not to mention the vibrancy of the Jayhawk logo, makes it distinctive and special. The Edge: Kansas
History
Kentucky’s history is undeniably rich. The program boasts eight national titles and iconic coaches like Adolph Rupp and Rick Pitino. The Wildcats were one half of the greatest college basketball game ever played (yes, that’s Duke vs. Kentucky in the 1992 NCAA Tournament). Coach Cal perfected recruiting in the one-and-done age, shifting the modern game and forcing others to play catchup. The Wildcats’ history is tough to beat, though Kansas might hold the ultimate historical trump card in Dr. James Naismith, basketball’s founding father. Naismith wrote the original rules of basketball and was KU’s first basketball coach – albeit the only losing coach in the history of Jayhawk basketball. The Edge: Tie
How Michigan State and Michigan followed similar paths to national titles
Though separated by a decade and a fierce intrastate rivalry, Michigan State University’s 1979 title team and the University of Michigan’s 1989 championship squad have plenty in common beyond their Big Ten affiliation and respective homes in The Mitten State.
The Chucker, 19nine’s resident historian, reflects on similarities between the ’79 Spartans and the ’89 Wolverines and their individual marches to college basketball’s ultimate prize.
Both entered the season with high expectations and national championship aspirations.
Michigan State began the 1978-79 season ranked #7 in the country, returning six of its top seven scorers from a 25-5 team that captured the Big Ten regular season title in 1978.
Michigan’s 1988-89 squad, meanwhile, earned a pre-season #3 ranking. Though Gary Grant had moved onto the NBA, the Wolverines brought back four starters from a 26-8 team that advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 1988.
Both were fueled by homegrown talent.
Michigan State was led by a trio of Michigan prep stars. Before matriculating to MSU, high- scoring forward Greg Kesler starred at Henry Ford High in Detroit while sophomores Magic Johnson (Everett) and Jay Vincent (Eastern) both made a name for themselves in Lansing.
For the Wolverines, Glen Rice was a high school All-American at Flint Northwestern while starting forward Loy Vaught (East Kentwood) and starting center Terry Mills (Romulus) also starred at Michigan high schools before donning the maize and blue.
Both overcame mid-season stumbles.
Across 16 days in January, the Spartans lost four of six games, including an 18-point defeat at Northwestern on Jan. 27 that dropped MSU to 11-5 on the season. Thereafter, the Spartans captured momentum, winning 10 of their final 11 games to earn a share of the Big Ten regular season crown with Purdue and Iowa.
After an 11-0 start to its 1988-1989 campaign, Michigan fell to Division II Alaska-Anchorage at the Utah Classic and then split 10 games in the heart of the Big Ten slate. Michigan, however, would close the season winning five of its last six games to finish third in the Big Ten behind Indiana and Illinois.
Both went into March Madness on a losing note – and facing concerns.
In its regular season finale, MSU lost 83-81 at Wisconsin on a 55-foot buzzer beater by Wes Matthews. It was the Spartans’ fifth regular loss by a bucket. Outside the 18-point drubbing to a Northwestern squad that finished 6-21, in fact, Michigan State’s five other regular season losses came by a combined 8 points. That spotty record compelled many to question the Spartans’ ability to win the close games that often define March Madness.
In its NCAA Tournament preview, the Chicago Tribune noted that head coach Jud Heathcote’s Spartans had a “tendency to fritter away leads.”
In Michigan’s regular season finale, Illinois’ Flyin’ Illini smashed the Wolverines by 16 on senior night at Crisler Arena. Soon after, coach Bill Frieder, who had won 191 games over nine seasons at Michigan, announced he was taking the head job at Arizona State. While Frieder intended to stay through the end of the season, Michigan athletic director (and legendary football coach) Bo Schembechler told Frieder to head west immediately and tabbed assistant Steve Fisher to lead the Wolverines into the NCAA Tournament.
“A Michigan man is going to coach Michigan,” Schembechler said of the abrupt coaching change.
Both won their school’s first national title in hoops.
Behind Magic, MSU rolled to the national title, beating every opponent by double digits. The Spartans downed Lamar by 31, LSU by 16, Notre Dame by 12, and Penn by 34 before dropping Larry Bird and undefeated Indiana State by 11 in one of the most anticipated title games of all time.
The Spartans added a second national title in 2000 under Heathcote disciple Tom Izzo. In contrast, Michigan squeaked out five of their six tournament victories. The Wolverines topped Xavier 92-87 in the opening round before surviving upset-minded South Alabama 91-82 and holding off North Carolina 92-87. After trouncing Virginia in the Elite Eight, Michigan topped Big Ten rival Illinois by two in the national semifinals. In the title game, Michigan needed overtime and two late free throws from Rumeal Robinson to pull out the 80-79 victory over Seton Hall.
Though the Wolverines have made four championship-game appearances since that magical night in Seattle, including back-to-back title-game runs in 1992 and 1993 with the Fab Five, the program is still chasing its second national title.
The originators of basketball style, influencers on today’s game, and skilled athletes of the highest order, the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters have showcased their iconic talents in 124 countries and territories on six continents since their founding in 1926.
Proud inductees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, their mission to spread game and bring entertainment to the world continues to drive them today. The Globetrotters are basketball innovators who popularized the jump shot, slam dunk and the half-court hook shot. For nearly a century, the Globetrotters have exhibited Black excellence on and off the court, entertaining, inspiring, and uniting families.
Founded by Abe Saperstein, it was his quick wit and clever wording where he carefully concocted to mythologize the team’s stature – popularizing the slam dunk, the fast break, and the point guard position. Off the court, the all-Black squad shattered societal barriers, served as international goodwill ambassadors, and unknowingly launched the field of “sports entertainment” with their basketball magic, comedy, trick shots, and figure-eight weave to the snappy tune of “Sweet Georgia Brown.”
Though Saperstein set the Globetrotters’ original direction, Reece “Goose” Tatum is the one who transformed Saperstein’s vision into something otherworldly.
Known as the “clown prince of basketball,” the 6-6 Tatum brought a new level of energy to the Globetrotters’ swelling fame. Tatum, who was discovered by Saperstein on the baseball field, interacted with the crowd, spied on the opposing team’s huddle, attached the basketball to a rubber band during free throws, and used his shoe as a smelling salt substitute – antics that would become central to the Globetrotters’ spirited act through the decades. Tatum once pledged to “keep playing until the people stop laughing.”
(To be certain, Tatum wasn’t all tomfoolery. He perfected a no-look hook shot and led the Globetrotters to their famed 61-59 victory over the George Mikan-led Minneapolis Lakers before a crowd of 17,823 at the Chicago Stadium in 1948.)
By the close of the 1940s, the Globetrotters had already played more than 30,000 games and earned a spot on the cover of Life magazine. And in the next decade, they took their show abroad with an international tour. The Globetrotters bookended the decade by playing before 75,000 at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium in 1951 and embarking on a sold-out tour of the Soviet Union – with Wilt Chamberlain as their star attraction, no less – in 1959 amid rising Cold War-era hostilities.
While easing geo-political tensions abroad, the Globetrotters also broke racial barriers at home, including accelerating integration of the NBA. Globetrotter Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton, in fact, was the first African American to sign an NBA contract when he inked a deal with the New York Knicks in 1950.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Globetrotters’ fame continued accelerating with an animated cartoon on CBS and a Saturday morning variety show in addition to packed stadiums in the U.S. and far beyond the nation’s borders. They played 250 games each year, winning all but a handful – thanks, Washington Generals – and dazzling fans in the process, which included presidents, popes, and royalty, en route to becoming the most famous basketball team in the world.
And for a hoops squad that played its first road game in a sleepy Illinois town, that’s a legacy no one could’ve predicted.
The Danny Ainge you don’t know
Most basketball fans know Danny Ainge in one of two ways.
Number one: Ainge, the solid NBA pro. Over a 14-year career, Ainge averaged 11.5 points per game, made one All-Star team, and won two NBA titles with the Boston Celtics.
Number two: Ainge, the NBA executive. From 2003-2021, Ainge directed the Celtics’ front office, earning the nickname “Trader Danny.” Most notably, he helped deliver Boston its 17th banner in 2008 following ambitious trades for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. He now oversees basketball operations for the Utah Jazz.
But before Ainge engaged in epic Celtics-Lakers clashes during the 1980s and long before he fleeced the Brooklyn Nets in a trade for the ages, Ainge was a star at Brigham Young University.
A BIG star.
After a standout prep career at North Eugene High in Oregon, where Ainge was a Parade All- American in basketball and baseball as well as an all-state receiver in football, Ainge traveled to Provo and immediately made an impact for the Cougars. While the team stumbled through a 12- 18 campaign, Ainge averaged 21.1 points per game in his first year on campus.
Over the next two seasons, Ainge led the Cougars to 44 wins and a pair of WAC titles. BYU also made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament for only the third time in program history.
It was during his final season in Provo, however, that Ainge crafted enduring memories and propelled BYU to new heights. He blitzed Utah State for 39 points and torched Wyoming for 40 points. In the regular season finale, Ainge dropped 35 points on ninth-ranked Utah in a 95-76 Holy War victory for the Cougars.
At season’s end, Ainge was named a first-team All-American joining Ralph Sampson of Virginia, Indiana guard Isiah Thomas, and forwards Kelly Tripucka of Notre Dame and Mark Aguirre of DePaul.
“Danny is the most complete, versatile collegiate guard I’ve ever worked with in 25 years of coaching,” BYU head coach Frank Arnold said.
Earning a #6 seed in the NCAA Tournament, BYU traveled across the country to Providence. After dispatching Princeton 60-51 in the opening round, Ainge led the Cougars against mighty UCLA. He took 22 shots. He scored 37 points. And BYU dismantled UCLA 78-55.
“There is no doubt that the young man has a special gift,” UCLA coach Larry Brown said of Ainge.
In a Sweet Sixteen slugfest against second-seeded Notre Dame, Ainge authored what many BYU fans consider the most iconic play in BYU hoops history. With 8 seconds left, Ainge took the inbounds pass 85 feet from the basket and weaved through the Irish defense before dropping in a layup over 6-9 Orlando Woolridge. BYU’s 51-50 upset win over Notre Dame gave the Cougars their first – and still only – Elite Eight appearance.
“We wanted to control Ainge and we did that until the last 8 seconds,” a dejected Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps said post-game. “We knew he was going to get the ball, but he’s just too good an athlete. He just took it down the floor and right through five people.”
While Ainge’s BYU career would end in the Elite Eight against Big Ralph and Virginia, Ainge cemented his place in BYU lore and carved his name into the NCAA record books in the process. The 1981 Wooden Award winner as the nation’s top player, Ainge completed his college career on a run of 112 consecutive double-digit scoring games. His 2,467 points – all accomplished before the arrival of the three-point line – were all-time career scoring records for both BYU and the WAC.
“If I could make a living playing college basketball, I’d do it,” Ainge said at the conclusion of his BYU career.
It was a noteworthy comment given that Ainge actually did make a living doing something else while starring for BYU on the hardwood. In the summers of 1979 and 1980, in fact, Ainge played in 125 games for the Toronto Blue Jays. Many talent evaluators considered him destined for stardom in that sport.
Though Ainge considered baseball his future, the curveball and the mystique of the Boston Celtics pushed him to basketball and the aforementioned 14-year NBA career.
In 2003, BYU retired Ainge’s #22 jersey, the first men’s basketball player in BYU history to receive that honor.
It turns out the Danny Ainge you don’t know was perhaps the Danny Ainge most worth knowing.
Curry & The Wildcats star on the big stage
Entering the 2008 NCAA Tournament, 10th-seeded Davidson was a sexy pick to pull two upsets and advance to the second weekend, the rare double-digit seed in the Sweet Sixteen.
It wasn’t a stretch to forecast the Wildcats’ potential march through March.
After posting a perfect 20-0 mark in the Southern Conference, Davidson entered the NCAA
Tournament on a nation-leading 22-game winning streak and boasted a bona fide star in a wiry
sophomore guard named Stephen Curry. They were a hot team with a hot-handed shooter – an
underdog poised to do damage.
Despite the Wildcats’ winning ways and the presence of Curry, however, skepticism lingered.
Though Davidson had close encounters with top 10 teams North Carolina, Duke, and UCLA in
the non-conference slate, they dropped their only other game to a Power 5 opponent, losing a
pre-Christmas contest to a 15-16 NC State squad that finished last in the ACC.
Davidson was also fighting history.
While #10 seeds had captured about one-third of their opening round games against #7 seeds
since the Tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, only six #10 seeds had ever won the
next game and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
And then there was this: When Davidson last won an NCAA Tournament game, Richard Nixon
inhabited the White House, the Beatles were still together, and the average cost of U.S. home
was $15,550. The year? 1969.
Given a shot to advance in the 2007 NCAA Tournament after a similarly stellar 29-win
campaign and 17-1 SoCon mark, Davidson fell 82-70 to Maryland in the first round and scored
but a single basket in the game’s final 5:51. That day, Davidson appeared every bit the promising
mid-major team who ultimately lacked the firepower to compete with college basketball’s
heavyweights.
After that 2007 Tournament loss to Maryland, Davidson coach Bob McKillop pledged
improvement, telling reporters: “I think our guys clearly understand there are some shortcomings
we can work on, and I know they will.”
A year later in the Big Dance, here’s what Davidson did:
In the first round against #7 Gonzaga, the model of mid-major success in the 21st century, Curry
scored 30 of his 40 points in the second half to stage a furious Davidson comeback and secure an
82-76 win for the Wildcats.
In the second round, Davidson matched up against second-seeded Georgetown, the Big East
regular season champs looking to make a second consecutive Final Four appearance. Down 17 in
the second half, Davidson rallied behind a 25-point second-half outburst from Curry to secure a
74-70 stunner.
“I’m numb right now,” McKillop confessed after beating the mighty Hoyas, who had allowed
more than 70 points only three times all season.
In Detroit for a Sweet Sixteen matchup with #3 Wisconsin, a 31-4 squad and winners of the Big Ten’s regular season and tournament titles, Curry wowed once again with 33 points as Davidson cruised to a 73-56 victory.
“I have confidence every time I shoot the ball,” said Curry, who chose Davidson over scholarship offers from the likes of VCU, William & Mary, High Point, Winthrop, and Wofford.
In the Elite Eight, Davidson matched up against top-seeded Kansas, a team boasting 10 top 100
recruits and seven future NBA players. Davidson, however, didn’t budge.
“Pressure is a privilege,” reminded Wildcats point guard Jason Richards, the nation’s leader in
assists per game.
Bigger and stronger, Kansas, a nine-point favorite, worked to impose its will on Davidson in the
Sunday afternoon matchup. The Jayhawks held a two-point lead at the break but could never get
more than five points away from the Wildcats.
With 16 seconds to go, Davidson inbounded the ball down two. Curry dribbled up and searched
for an opening. Double-teamed as the clock ticked down, he passed to Richards who launched a
long three for the win. When the ball clanged off the backboard, Kansas celebrated. Goliath
survived David. Barely.
March Madness can be cruel, euphoria followed by despair, jubilation quickly replaced by angst.
Davidson felt those extremes in 2008.
“The Wildcats can make the Sweet Sixteen if Steph Curry hits his shots,” one media pundit
prophesized before the 2008 Tournament opened.
Authoring one of the most memorable March runs of all time, Curry and the Wildcats ended up
doing a lot more than that.
Harold Miner doesn’t need to talk
Today, Harold Miner lives a rather quiet life.
The former USC All-American, NBA lottery pick, and two-time NBA Slam Dunk champion has largely avoided the public spotlight since leaving the NBA in 1996 after four seasons. Save offering some comments to the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this year about his daughter, Kami, a standout on the Stanford volleyball team, Miner has shunned interviews.
On the hardwood, though, Miner was anything but quiet.
Miner first appeared on basketball radars as a rising star at Inglewood High near L.A. As a junior, he averaged 27 points per game for the Sentinels and was regarded as one of the top prep talents in California. Of Miner, a 6-3 shooting guard with crazy hops and a bald head reminiscent of the world’s greatest shooting guard, a rival coach said: “Nobody can do the things Harold Miner can do.”
Some called Miner “Little Michael.” Others took to calling him “Baby Jordan.”
Talent scout Bob Gibbons placed Miner among the nation’s top 25 players in the Class of 1989, joining a list headed by Kenny Anderson, Jimmy Jackson, and Allan Houston. Though Miner had eyes on North Carolina, the departure of assistant coach Roy Williams to take the head job at Kansas squashed those plans. In November of his senior year, Miner signed with hometown USC.
By the time Miner arrived on the USC campus in fall 1989, the Baby Jordan nickname hovered over his name – and his game – but only locally in the pre-YouTube age. Pouring in 20 points a game for the Trojans, Miner drew comparisons to His Airness for his scoring ability, his highlight-reel dunks, his on-court mannerisms, and his number 23 jersey. Humbly and often, Miner tried to slow the hype train.
“I have a long way to go to be considered in that status,” he said. “It’s a little unfair. I’m only a freshman.”
Miner, of course, had firsthand knowledge of Jordan’s greatness, of a bar so exceptionally high that not even Miner’s 44-inch vertical leap could come close to reaching it. In the summer of 1986, after his first year at Inglewood High, Miner went one-on-one against MJ at Rod Higgins’ basketball camp in Fresno. Miner described that meeting to the Orange County Register in 1990 like this:
“We were playing to five by ones, make-it-take-it, and I went ahead, 4-0. I took a jump shot that I thought was going to go in, but Michael grabbed it out of midair, dunked it, and I never saw the ball again.”
Though Miner earned Pac-10 Rookie of the Year and league first-team honors as a freshman, his notoriety largely existed on the West Coast alone. But early in his sophomore season, the Miner Show traveled east. In dropping 35 points in a USC victory at Notre Dame, Miner catapulted himself onto the national basketball scene as the Trojans emerged a legit March Madness threat.
After averaging nearly 24 points per game as a sophomore and leading the long-suffering Trojans to a third-place finish in the Pac-10 and an NCAA Tournament appearance, Miner’s reputation – and the Baby Jordan moniker – became even more commonplace on the college basketball scene. Dick Vitale called Miner the best thing to happen to USC since football.
Behind the scenes, Miner remained humble and a student of the sport. He devoured black-and- white tapes of previous greats, picking up ball handling tricks from Cousy and body positioning tips from the Big O.
Miner’s first two seasons at USC were but a prelude to his junior campaign, where the sweet- shooting lefty generated buzz about basketball on a campus that favors its pigskin. The Trojans, who had won no more than 11 games in any of the four seasons prior to Miner’s arrival, were a Top 25 team with wins over #4 Ohio State and at #2 UCLA on their resume. When the rival Bruins visited the L.A. Sports Arena on Feb. 27, 1992, USC notched its first basketball sellout in 13 years.
In a city of stars, Miner had become a must-see attraction.
By the time USC entered March Madness, a national top 10 team behind Miner’s 26 points per game average, Baby Jordan euphoria had swept the nation.
“You can't stop the guy,” Notre Dame coach John MacLeod said of Miner.
While Miner’s junior season ended in the NCAA Tournament’s second round with a 79-78 loss to Georgia Tech, there was no denying Miner’s dynamic influence on the college game. A consensus All American alongside Shaq, Christian Laettner, Alonzo Mourning, and Jimmy Jackson, Miner had elevated USC’s national standing beyond football and dazzled fans.
When Miner announced he was foregoing his final season of eligibility at USC to enter the 1992 NBA Draft, he pledged to donate $60,000 to USC’s athletic department to repay the cost of his athletic scholarship. In 2012, USC retired Miner’s number 23 jersey.
The self-selected quiet life that followed Miner’s short-lived NBA career was by choice, he told the Los Angeles Times in 2011.
“I’ve kind of purged my system and come to a point of accepting what happened with my career: that I wasn’t able to live up to my own personal expectations,” Miner told his hometown newspaper.
Whether by the weight of his own expectations or those unforgivingly thrust upon him with the Baby Jordan nickname, here’s the truth: at USC, Harold Miner was one of one, a talent who captivated and awed and rooted himself in college basketball lore.
Miner’s life today might be quiet, but his game was deafening.
Introducing the 19nine x Gettees Collection.
Friends of ours from Metro Detroit turned us onto Gettees earlier this year and we loved their story and what they were building in Michigan. We believed our brands could partner together to create something special through our shared passion for premium apparel. Additionally, with two of our founders originally from the Detroit area this was a great way to connect with a brand from our home state.
With the onset of fall here in the Midwest we chose to feature the Gettees Long Sleeve T-Shirt. We have never offered a long sleeve t-shirt before but this product was worth the wait. The shirts are crafted from 6.4 oz. Supima Interlock fabric to create a heavyweight garment that is unmatched in strength and softness. By developing a “farm to factory” production model, Gettees has developed a great product through an ethical approach that we are proud to introduce to the 19nine community.
With a premium blank long sleeve t-shirt secured, we pushed ourselves to create a unique decoration process that provides a distinct aesthetic. After a few trials, we landed on a two-step process that enhances our standard ink decoration with a hand-applied graphic for texture and style. This is a painstaking process so the initial collection will have limited availability.
The schools featured in this collection are an ode to Gettees’ Made in Michigan identity. In addition to current 19nine partners University of Michigan and Michigan State University; we are excited to feature University of Detroit Mercy in this capsule. Stay tuned for more Titans gear coming soon…
To the visitors that found us through your relationship with Gettees - nice to meet you. To our customers who are now learning about Gettees - learn more about their brand and check out their full offering at www.gettees.us.
Whether you call Michigan home, originally hail from the Mitten State or are simply looking to level up your fit this fall we hope you enjoy the 19nine x Gettees collection.
Aaron Loomer - CEO 19nine
The Most Iconic Kentucky Drop is Coming!
Remember when the rumor coming into the 1995-1996 college basketball season was the Kentucky Wildcats 2nd team would be ranked #2 in the polls behind their starters if they were their own team? And then that hype turned out to be true?
The talent on that team was next level and so were the "denim" uniforms they wore on their way to the schools 6th NCAA National Championship. It is 19nine's honor to bring back a piece of Big Blue history this Friday, August 12th.
Don’t miss out on your chance to gain early access plus free shipping on our Kentucky Wildcats 1995-1996 Away retro shorts. Exclusively at 19nine.com.
Sign Up below.
The Denim Blues
Truth be told, the Kentucky Wildcats 88-73 victory over Arkansas on February 11, 1996, was secondary.
It was true then.
And it remains true today more than a quarter-century later.
That Sunday afternoon in Rupp Arena, after all, is known less for the Wildcats beatdown of a conference rival in a national championship season and more for how the Wildcats looked doing it – and the angst that followed.
Before “jorts” became a word in the American lexicon, Kentucky incorporated denim into its on- court look with a denim blue-on-white uniform complemented by matching Converse (CONS) Blue React sneakers.
Bringing denim to the hardwood
Months before Kentucky made fashion headlines against Arkansas, Converse, the Cats’ footwear and apparel sponsor, approached UK Athletics leadership about designing a new uniform kit for the 1995-1996 season. Converse urged something bold, daring, and fashion forward, and teased a denim-inspired look as a compelling option.
After drafting multiple designs, constructing different prototypes, and testing numerous iterations in high-octane workouts, Converse and Kentucky landed on a home white uniform featuring real denim accents and an away “blue” uniform embracing a pseudo-denim mesh material, but only after using real denim proved impractical.
Converse national manager Martin Newton – coincidentally, the son of UK athletics director C.M. Newton – billed the new uniform as something that set Converse and Kentucky apart from the rest of the college basketball crowd, as if a loaded roster featuring six high school All- Americans wasn’t enough. Plus, Newton added, “denim is fun and hot on the fashion scene.”
Unable to produce the uniforms in time for the season opener, Converse planned to launch the denim look alongside a new national advertising campaign when Arkansas, a fellow Converse school coming off two consecutive national title game appearances, visited Rupp Arena in February for a nationally televised afternoon game. The new look would be the sixth uniform style for the Wildcats in three seasons, including the memorable “cat scratch” psychedelic pattern worn during the 1994-1995 campaign.
In a pre-game function longtime UK hoops beat writer Jerry Tipton termed “part pre-game news conference and part flea market,” Converse and the Cats debuted the new head-to-toe CONS Blue look publicly – the home and road kit, new warmups, and the $75 white-based Converse React sneakers featuring blue denim inserts and the Converse shooting star logo.
The immediate reaction was, let’s call it, subdued.
Kentucky guard Derek Anderson politely called the new uniforms “cute,” though clearly distanced himself from the look.
“I’ve got nothing to do with this,” Anderson said. “I just have to wear it two hours. If I got to keep it and wear it out, it’d be different.”
Big man Mark Pope insisted the game mattered most to him, not the uniform.
“If they want us to go out there naked or with snowshoes on, it wouldn’t matter to me,” Pope said. “I’m just excited to play.”
Pitino, though, swore the new look would “meet everybody’s approval.”
A day later, the Hall of Fame coach would be proven wrong.
‘Are we going to start saying, ‘Go Big Denim?’
While the Cats pounded the Razorbacks on the hardwood – Arkansas, it’s worth noting, introduced its own new look that day called “Arkansas Muscle” characterized by a bold swirl design – UK fans largely pounded the Cats’ new look, stirred, in part, by CBS commentator Billy Packer’s charge that the denim color looked more like UNC’s powder blue than Kentucky’s traditional royal blue.
Following the Cats’ 15-point win, callers to the “Wildcats Sports Line” hosted by Dick Gabriel and Tom Leach wanted to talk less about the Wildcats’ victory and more about the team’s on- court appearance. And the reaction was nearly unanimous.
Co-host Dick Gabriel said one called liked the new digs, two were undecided, and “the rest were negative to overwhelmingly negative.” One fan wondered if the color on his TV had gone out while another questioned if Adolph Rupp was turning over in his grave.
“‘It’s all right’ was about as good as it got,” Leach recounted to a local newspaper. “It ranged from that to almost ready to physically abuse whoever designed the uniforms."
To be fair, there were some who-the-hell-cares comments. One fan said he didn’t mind if the Cats wore pink so long as they won the national championship.
For days and days, the Cats’ CONS Blue look remained a topic of debate. Louisville radio station WHAS received protest calls as did UK’s Athletics Department.
“We’ve had some negative calls,” athletics director C.M. Newton acknowledged. “They’re just saying, ‘It’s not traditional Kentucky blue.’ And I agree. It’s not the traditional look. It’s a little different look. We think it’s a classy look.”
Kentucky state senator Charlie Borders said he feared capitalism was overruling tradition – Imagine that in college athletics? – and said UK’s royal blue was as traditional as apple pie.
Editorial writers at the Lexington Herald-Leader decried the new unis in an opinion piece titled “Big Blue Boo.”
“Here you have the team and its assistants draped in drab cloth popularized by laborers, but the coach (Rick Pitino) is decked out in Italy’s finest,” the editors opined.
Meanwhile, a class of eight graders from Anderson Middle School in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, penned handwritten letters to Pitino voicing their criticisms.
“The Kentucky Wildcats are a clean-cut, decent group of young guys that deserve to be dressed in more suitable attire,” student Nikki Pinkston wrote. “The residents of Kentucky are referred to, by people outside of Kentucky, as ‘rednecks,’ ‘hicks’ & other ‘hillbilly’ slangs as it is. We sure don’t need our famous Wildcats dressing the part.”
Pitino, presumably taken aback by the uproar, heard so much criticism of the denim uniforms during his weekly “Big Blue Line” radio call-in show that he demanded fans stop the “nonsense.”
Longtime UK equipment manager Bill Keightley, affectionately known as “Big Smooth,” injected some perspective into the dustup about the new uniforms.
“The team must be doing pretty well if [the fans] have got nothing else to complain about,” Keightley said.
And ultimately, the criticisms did subside as the Cats steamrolled their way to the program’s sixth national title wearing the much-maligned denim look.
More than a quarter-century later, UK and devoted college basketball fans remember the Cats’ CONS Blue look – for better or worse.
And maybe that’s the point, after all.
On October 12, 2012, Ole Miss and the City of Oxford combined to host the inaugural Square Jam to kick off the college basketball season. A full-length basketball court was laid on The Square directly in front of Oxford’s City Hall and then illuminated with lights for a distinct twist on the Midnight Madness-styled events commonplace across the college basketball landscape.
More than 2,500 fans filled The Square that Friday night in 2012 to view members of the Ole Miss men’s and women’s basketball teams participate in Knockout and a three-point contest, while some members of the men’s squad competed in a dunk contest. The novel event concluded Ole Miss’ Homecoming festivities and followed the annual parade.
While Square Jam proved popular and often paired with homecoming to give the weekend extra juice, the event was discontinued in 2016 and 2017 before making a triumphant return in 2018.
“Square Jam is one of the coolest concepts to tip off a season in college basketball,” Ole Miss men’s coach Kermit Davis proclaimed ahead of the event’s 2018 resurrection. “Hoops outside on the iconic Oxford Square is a fantastic combination.”
Over the years, Ole Miss has added onto the event, incorporating skills competitions, autograph sessions, a DJ, and a kids dunk contest for hoopers under age 7 to further enliven the unique event, solidify Ole Miss’ ties to its fans, and give hoops some love amid the pigskin season.
No, the hardwood rivalry between Ole Miss and Mississippi State is not the Egg Bowl, the annual gridiron clash between the two largest universities in Mississippi that generates vitriol and angst in the football-loving Magnolia State and captures ESPN headlines.
No, Ole Miss and Mississippi State are not college basketball bluebloods. Their respective arenas are not lined with banners, nor are their courts blanketed with five-star recruits – at least, not until Kentucky comes to town. Together, the programs claim a combined eight NBA first-round draft picks, 16 NCAA Tournament victories, and one Final Four appearance: MSU’s Goliath-crushing run to the 1996 national semifinals as a #5 seed.
And no, an Ole Miss-Mississippi State tilt on the court will never hold the prestige of Duke-Carolina or spawn the intrigue of Kentucky-Louisville, the intra-commonwealth rivalry in a state that puts its hoops above the pigskin.
But for all that an Ole Miss-Mississippi State basketball game isn’t, here’s what it is: the vaunted Southeastern Conference’s oldest basketball rivalry featuring games as heated and intense as any in the country. When a team travels the 100 miles up – or down, depending on one’s perspective – US Highways 278 and 45 for a Rebels-Bulldogs game, hearts beat a bit faster.
Since 1914, the Rebels and Bulldogs have tipped off 266 times with MSU holding a 147-119 series edge. For fans, alumni, and Mississippi natives, every one of those contests means something a little more. The Ole Miss-MSU rivalry is engrained in the state’s history, shaped by homelives where households pick sides and don’t dare cross.
Some of the division – and, true, it’s lessening some in today’s softer, gentler, line-blurring world – is tied to each university’s formation. When Ole Miss was founded in 1848 by a panel of the state’s aristocratic men, it signaled itself as the school for Mississippi’s elite. Starkville-based Mississippi State, by contrast, was created as the “people’s university,” established to educate the common man in the agricultural sciences.
Some view any Ole Miss-MSU athletic clash as a battle of the establishment against the commoners, the haves against the have-nots, even if those century-old labels aren’t quite as accurate in the contemporary climate. Still, that history hovers over every meeting, dancing above the court, percolating in the stands, lingering in living rooms and gathering spots across the state.
It might not be the sexiest rivalry in college basketball, but in an era of traditional rivalries evaporating in a football-fueled haze of conference realignment, a world in which Texas-Vanderbilt, UCF-Kansas, and USC-Rutgers will soon count in the conference ledger, Ole Miss-MSU means something mighty. And it always will.
Just ask the good people of Mississippi.