1961-62

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At a Glance
NCAA Champion--Cincinnati (29-2; coached by Ed Jucker/second of five seasons with Bearcats; won Missouri Valley playoff title game, 61-46, after tying Bradley with a 10-2 record).
NIT Champion--Dayton (24-6; coached by Tom Blackburn/15th of 17 seasons with Flyers).
NCAA Probation--Indiana, Kansas, Tennessee Tech, Utah.
NCAA Consensus First-Team All-Americans--Len Chappell, C, Sr., Wake Forest (30.1 ppg, 15.2 rpg, 54.8 FG%); Terry Dischinger, F-C, Sr., Purdue (30.3 ppg, 13.4 rpg, 53.7 FG%, 83.4 FT%); Jerry Lucas, C, Sr., Ohio State (21.8 ppg, 17.8 rpg, 61.1 FG%); Billy McGill, C, Sr., Utah (38.8 ppg, 15 rpg, 55.9 FG%); Chet Walker, F, Sr., Bradley (26.4 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 53.6 FG%).
National Player of the Year--Lucas (AP/UPI/USBWA).
National Coach of the Year--Fred Taylor, Ohio State (26-2/UPI, USBWA).

The Midwest continued to assert itself as Dave DeBusschere (Detroit), Terry Dischinger (Purdue), Jerry Lucas (Ohio State) and Chet Walker (Bradley) joined Billy McGill (Utah) in a rare group of five seniors who concluded their college careers as three-time All-Americans.

Lucas departed with the three best single-season rebounding totals in Big Ten Conference history. He became the first player ever to gain five individual national statistical titles in a career (two for rebounding and three for field-goal shooting).

The only Ohio State regular-season defeat in the last two years of the Lucas/John Havlicek era after they won the 1960 NCAA title was at Wisconsin (86-67), ending the Buckeyes' 47-game regular-season winning streak and 27-game Big Ten winning string. Havlicek hit just 3 of 15 field-goal attempts in the contest against the Badgers. In preconference competition, OSU defeated two eventual Final Four teams by more than 20 points on the road--at Wake Forest (84-62) and UCLA (105-84).

McGill, the national scoring leader (38.8 points per game), accounted for 45.8 percent of Utah's output. That figure was especially impressive because the Utes were sixth in the country in team offense. McGill's season included 12 of the 19 games in school history of more than 40 points and all four contests of at least 50, including a school-record, Mountain States/Skyline Conference-record and national-high 60 at Brigham Young.

Lucas and McGill led three consecutive league champions in scoring and rebounding. . . . A deadeye duo--Arkansas' Tommy Boyer (93.3 percent) and Jerry Carlton (88.1)--became the only set to teammates to rank one-two in free-throw accuracy. Boyer's margin of victory in free-throw shooting was the largest in NCAA history. . . . One of the nation's premier field-goal shooters was Iowa's Don Nelson (55.5 percent), who would go on to play and coach in the NBA. One of his teammates was Matt Szykowny, who averaged 7.5 points per game after being the starting quarterback for the school's football squad. . . . Davidson, in its second season under coach Lefty Driesell, posted its first winning record (14-11) since 1948-49.

Wake Forest, coached by Bones McKinney, captured its only undisputed ACC regular-season championship with a 12-2 league record. The Demon Deacons reached the Final Four despite losing eight of their first 17 contests. Wake Forest's Len Chappell scored 30 points or more in an ACC-record eight consecutive games, including an ACC-game mark of 50 against Virginia when he also almost outrebounded the Cavaliers by himself (24 to 27 by UVa.). . . . A sell-out crowd watching a non-league game between Wake and another top 10 ACC rival, Duke, was enthralled by the Blue Devils' flashy new uniforms as they became the first college team to have player names on the back of the jerseys. Chappell's 37 points weren't enough to prevent a 75-73 loss to Duke, which received 33 points from Art Heyman.

The two highest-scoring teams in the nation were separated by a single basket of compiling duplicate records. Loyola of Chicago and Arizona State both posted 23-4 records, but Loyola scored two more points than the Sun Devils (2,436 to 2,434). . . . Dischinger finished his Purdue career with a 28.3-point average, but he is the only one of more than 50 two-time consensus first-team All-Americans since 1946 never to participate in the NCAA Tournament or the NIT. Dischinger, who earned a baseball letter as a senior, ranked among the nation's top 40 in field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage for the third consecutive campaign.

Indiana guard Jimmy Rayl, after averaging a modest four points per game the previous season as a sophomore, exploded for a school-record 29.8-point average to finish sixth in the country. He scored a school-record 56 points against Minnesota. . . . Other players who set school single-game scoring records were Holy Cross' Jack Foley (56 points vs. Connecticut), Penn State's Gene Harris (46 vs. Holy Cross in Quaker City Classic at Philadelphia) and Minnesota's Eric Magdanz (42 at Michigan/later tied). . . . Utah's McGill, Holy Cross' Foley (33.3), Wake Forest's Chappell (30.1) and The Citadel's Gary Daniels (23.9) also set school records for highest scoring average in a single season.

Syracuse and Georgetown haven't always been among the Beasts of the East. Syracuse finished with a 2-22 record, the worst mark in university history. The Orangemen lost their first 22 games, including a 63-point setback against NYU (122-59) and six other contests by at least 28 points, before ending a school-record 27-game losing streak with a 73-72 success at Boston College. Meanwhile, Georgetown's streak of seasons with at least 10 defeats ended at eight in a row with a 14-9 mark. The Hoyas, however, lost to Navy for the eighth consecutive time, 64-56, giving them a career 7-31 worksheet against the Midshipmen.

Delaware, coached by Irvin Wisniewski, snapped a streak of eight consecutive losing seasons by compiling an 18-5 record. . . . Forward Mike Cingiser became Brown's first three-time All-Ivy League first-team selection. He later coached his alma mater for 10 seasons from 1981-82 through 1990-91. . . . Junior Ron Petro, Manhattan's leading scorer (21.5 ppg) and rebounder (8.5 rpg), eventually became Marist's all-time winningest coach. . . . Maine senior Skip Chappelle, one of the nation's top 75 scorers with 19.5 points per game, went on to become his alma mater's all-time winningest coach. . . . Bob Duffy, who held Colgate's career scoring record for 19 seasons, coached his alma mater for three campaigns later in the decade after a three-year NBA career.

For the second time in four years, Mississippi State didn't participate in the NCAA Tournament despite compiling the best record in the country (24-1). Mississippi State's only defeat was at Vanderbilt, which finished the season with a .500 mark (12-12). . . . LSU registered its only winning record (13-11 under coach Jay McCreary) in a 13-year span until legendary Pete Maravich joined the Tigers' varsity in the late 1960s. . . . Tulane junior forward Jim Kerwin, an All-SEC first-team selection, eventually became coach at Western Illinois. . . . Tennessee's only undisputed last-place finish prior to SEC divisional competition probably wouldn't have occurred if the Volunteers had recruited African-American in-state frontcourt products Paul Hogue (Cincinnati), Les Hunter (Loyola) and Vic Rouse (Loyola). Hogue, Hunter and Rouse combined for 43.4 points and 32.4 rebounds per game.

The San Francisco Bay Area supplied the leader in team defense for the seventh time in eight years--Santa Clara (52.1). . . . San Francisco's Bob Gaillard, who would coach his alma mater to a national No. 1 ranking in 1977, led the West Coast Athletic Conference in free-throw accuracy for the second time in three seasons. He scored 41 points in a game against West Texas State. . . . Pepperdine, coached by Duck Dowell, captured the WCAC championship just one year after finishing in sixth place. . . . Junior guard Darrell Sutherland (New York Mets and Cleveland Indians), who led Stanford in free-throw percentage (80.2%), and Santa Clara starting forward Bob Garibaldi (San Francisco Giants) went on to pitch in the majors later in the decade. . . . Ladell Andersen was in his initial season as coach for Utah State when the Aggies incurred six of their seven defeats by fewer than six points. . . . Creighton's Paul Silas (38 vs. Centenary), St. John's LeRoy Ellis (30 vs. NYU), Washington's Ed Corell (30 vs. Oregon) and Utah's McGill (24 at UCLA) set school single-game rebounding records.

NIT champion Dayton compiled a 24-6 mark but didn't finish the season in the Top 20 of a final wire-service poll. The Tom Blackburn-coached Flyers resided there nine times in the previous 11 years. NIT MVP Bill Chmielewski, Dayton's leading scorer and rebounder as a sophomore, withdrew from school and played the next year with Philadelphia in the ABL. He had left school in late January after his father lost his job, but returned a few days later following talks with school officials. . . . Butler made its only NCAA Tournament appearance and enjoyed its last season with fewer than 10 defeats (22-6 record) until 1997. . . . Bowling Green (21-4) became the first Mid-American Conference team in 10 years to crack the 20-win plateau. The Falcons finished in first place by three games after tying for last the previous season. . . . St. Louis (11-15) incurred its first losing record since 1941-42. . . . Bradley finished in the Top 10 of a final AP poll for the eighth time in 14 years.

Tulsa junior guard Jim King, an All-MVC first-team selection, went on to coach his alma mater for five seasons from 1975-76 through 1979-80. . . . Creighton appeared in national postseason competition for the first time in 19 years. . . . Bradley backup Bob Ortegel went on to coach Drake for seven seasons from 1974-75 through 1980-81. . . . Wayne Hightower, the Big Eight Conference's leading scorer the previous two seasons, did not play his senior year for Kansas after electing to play pro ball in Spain to support his wife and baby daughter. . . . Oklahoma State lost 17 consecutive games to Kansas State until defeating the Wildcats, 78-68. . . . Oklahoma City guard Larry Jones, who finished 61st in the nation in scoring (20.7 ppg), went on to found Feed the Children, a non-profit ministry that provides relief for poverty and disaster victims worldwide. . . . Virginia Tech posted its lone victory over West Virginia (85-82) in a 19-game stretch of their series from 1952 through 1964. . . . Riley Wallace, finishing his Centenary playing career with an average of 10.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, later coached his alma mater before becoming Hawaii's all-time winningest coach.

Wichita State ended defending champion Cincinnati's 27-game winning streak, 52-51, on Lanny Van Eman's jumper with three seconds remaining. . . . The Border and Skyline conferences disbanded after the season to make way for the Western Athletic Conference. . . . Two-time All-Skyline second-team selection Tim Vezie, Denver's leading scorer and rebounder, went on to coach San Diego State to the NCAA playoffs in back-to-back seasons in the mid-1970s. . . . New Mexico lost its first 22 meetings with Brigham Young until defeating the Cougars, 80-70. . . . North Carolina's Dean Smith kicked off his illustrious head coaching career with a modest $9,500 annual salary and an inauspicious 8-9 record. The Tar Heels lost their first four ACC games in February by an average of 18.5 points in Smith's only losing season. Earlier, they bowed to Indiana, 76-70, at Greensboro, N.C., before a meager crowd of 3,000. . . . Clemson, coached by Press Maravich, notched its first postseason tournament victory in 23 years (67-46 over N.C. State in ACC quarterfinals).

1962 NCAA Tournament
Summary: Ohio State All-American center Jerry Lucas wrenched his left knee in the national semifinals against Wake Forest, limiting his effectiveness against Cincinnati counterpart Paul Hogue in the Bearcats' 71-59 triumph in the final. In the national semifinals against UCLA, Hogue scored 14 consecutive points for the Bearcats down the stretch to finish with 36 before Tom Thacker's desperation long-range basket, his only points of the game, gave them a 72-70 triumph. Cincinnati (29-2/coached by Ed Jucker) is the only school to capture an NCAA championship after earning a berth in the tourney by winning a conference title playoff game (tied atop the Missouri Valley standings with Bradley). Jucker became the only individual to win an NCAA title in his first two seasons as head coach at a major university.
Star Gazing: Tom Thacker, a 6-2 swingman who averaged nine rebounds per game for Cincinnati's back-to-back titlists, is the only individual to play for an NCAA champion, NBA champion (Boston Celtics '68) and ABA champion (Indiana Pacers '70). . . . Bob Knight, a backup forward who averaged 3.2 points per game for runner-up Ohio State, went on to coach Big Ten Conference rival Indiana to three NCAA championships (1976, 1981 and 1987). . . . Purdue's Terry Dischinger finished his career as the only three-time first-team All-American since the start of national postseason competition in the late 1930s never to appear in the NCAA Tournament or NIT. . . . Wake Forest's Len Chappell (34 points vs. St. Joseph's in overtime in regional semifinal) set existing school NCAA playoff single-game scoring record.
One and Only: Dave DeBusschere became the only player to post the highest-scoring game in a single tournament the same year he played major league baseball. DeBusschere scored a tourney-high 38 points for Detroit in a 90-81 defeat against Western Kentucky in the first round of the Mideast Regional. He pitched that summer for the Chicago White Sox. . . . Wake Forest forward Bill Hull became the only individual to play in the Final Four the same year he intercepted a pass in overtime of an AFL championship game (23-yard return by defensive end helped set up game-winning field goal for the Dallas Texans in a 20-17 decision over the Houston Oilers).
Celebrity Status: Scotty Baesler, the former mayor of Lexington, Ky., represented Kentucky's Sixth District in the U.S. House of Representatives before running for governor in 1994. He scored a total of 13 points in four NCAA Tournament games for the Wildcats' Mideast Regional runners-up in 1961 and 1962. . . . Cornell Green, a five-time Pro Bowl defensive back during his 13-year career with the Dallas Cowboys from 1962-'73, was one of the leading scorers in the 1962 playoffs with a 24.3-point average in three games for Utah State. But the Aggies, despite Green's game-high 26 points, were eliminated, 73-62, in the West Regional semifinals by John Wooden's first Final Four team at UCLA. Green played in Super Bowls V (16-13 last-second defeat against the Baltimore Colts) and VI (24-3 rout of the Miami Dolphins). . . . CBS analyst Billy Packer was the second-leading scorer for Wake Forest's only Final Four squad. After earning a spot on the All-East Regional team, Packer scored a total of 39 points in two Final Four games for the national third-place Demon Deacons to finish the season with a 14.1-point scoring average. The previous year, the All-ACC first-team selection scored a total of just 16 points in three NCAA Tournament games by shooting 6 of 24 from the floor. He hit just 1-of-10 field-goal attempts in a 97-74 victory over St. John's in the first round of the East Regional, but Wake Forest still became the only team to ever trail by as many as 10 points at halftime of a tournament game (46-36) and then win the contest by more than 20. Packer had been averaging 18.5 ppg after earning a spot on the All-ACC Tournament first team. Teammate Bill Hull, an All-ACC defensive end, intercepted a George Blanda pass and returned it 23 yards to help set up game-winning field goal in second overtime of 20-17 victory for Dallas over Houston in 1962 AFL championship contest. . . . UCLA starting forward Pete Blackman, who averaged 7.5 points per game in four tourney outings, went on to become his alma mater's Vice Chancellor. . . . Dennis Lynch, who scored 12 points for Yale against Wake Forest, became co-founder of Lynch & Mayer, a large-cap investment advisory group which had approximately $6 billion in assets in 1996.
Numbers Game: Utah State's Cornell Green became the only athlete to compile one of the top five scoring averages in an NCAA Tournament before playing for an NFL champion. Green, a five-time Pro Bowl defensive back during his 13-year career with the Dallas Cowboys from 1962 through 1973, tied for fourth in scoring average in the '62 playoffs (24.3 ppg in three contests). But the Aggies were eliminated by coach John Wooden's first Final Four team at UCLA despite Green's game-high 26 points (73-62 in West Regional semifinals). . . . Wooden's initial Final Four squad (18-11 record) was the only national semifinalist in 20 years from 1960 through 1979 to finish a season with double-digit defeats. The Bruins lost seven of their first 11 games. . . . Ohio State became the first school to reach the Final Four three consecutive years on two separate occasions (1944 through 1946 and 1960 through 1962). . . . Wake Forest became the only school to win back-to-back tourney games by double-digit margins in overtime (10-point victory against Yale and 11-point triumph against St. Joseph's in East Regional). . . . Massachusetts, coached by Matt Zunic, made its lone NCAA Tournament appearance until 1992.
What Might Have Been: Utah (23-3), denied a national postseason tournament appearance for the eighth straight year because it was on NCAA probation, won by nine points at UCLA, an eventual Final Four team. The Utes won 80% of their games in that eight-year span. . . . Kansas State, ranked 5th by UPI and 6th by AP the year after being eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by eventual national champion Cincinnati, finished runner-up in the Big Eight Conference to Colorado. The Wildcats' three defeats were in road games against Colorado, Kentucky and Oklahoma State.
Putting Things in Perspective: Cincinnati would have gone undefeated if not for two setbacks by a total of three points in Missouri Valley Conference road games (at Wichita State and Bradley). On the other hand, the Bearcats might not have participated in the NCAA playoffs if Bradley standout Mack Herndon didn't miss the season after becoming ineligible and dropping out of school for a year. They tied the Braves for the MVC regular-season championship before defeating them in a league playoff game, 61-46, at Evansville, Ind. Herndon, the leading scorer in the 1960 NIT final, paced the MVC in scoring in 1962-63 when he was the only non-Cincinnati all-league first-team selection. . . . The highest scoring output by an individual opponent against the Bearcats was 30 points by North Texas State's John Savage.
Scoring Leader: Len Chappell, Wake Forest (134 points, 26.8 ppg).
Rebounding Leader: Len Chappell, Wake Forest (86 rebounds, 17.2 rpg).
Highest Rebounding Average: Mel Counts, Oregon State (53 rebounds, 17.7 rpg).

All-Tournament Team
Len Chappell, F-C, Sr., Wake Forest (53 points, 29 rebounds in final two games)
John Havlicek, F, Sr., Ohio State (36 points, 25 rebounds)
*Paul Hogue, C, Sr., Cincinnati (58 points, 38 rebounds)
Jerry Lucas, C, Sr., Ohio State (30 points, 32 rebounds)
Tom Thacker, F-G, Jr., Cincinnati (23 points, 10 rebounds)
*Named Most Outstanding Player.

Championship Team Results
Regional Semifinal: Cincinnati 66 (Hogue team-high 24 points), Creighton 46 (Silas 15)
Regional Final: Cincinnati 73 (Hogue 22), Colorado 46 (Gilmore 15)
National Semifinal: Cincinnati 72 (Hogue 36), UCLA 70 (Green 27)
Championship Game: Cincinnati 71 (Hogue 22), Ohio State 59 (Bradds 15)